Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Paul Scholes sees good old days return as Sir Alex Ferguson’s midfield maestro

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The ravages of time appeared to be catching up with Paul Scholes last season. The mistimed tackles have always been a fixture of the Manchester United midfield player’s game, even in his pomp, but troublingly, a little carelessness had crept into his passing and too often he was bypassed by opponents as he struggled to gain a foothold in games.

That was last season and the indifferent spell prompted some to wonder if the time was right for Scholes to bow out with his head still held high, before the demands of the Barclays Premier League — a competition with a growing emphasis on pace and power — became too much altogether. This season, it is an entirely different story.

At 34, Scholes may never quite rediscover the majestic scoring touch that had every leading figure in European football, from Zinédine Zidane to Marcello Lippi, salivating, but the hallmark of his game down the years — brisk, incisive passing of unerring accuracy — has been beautifully, if unexpectedly, restored.

Scholes is the most accurate passer in the top flight this season. A remarkable 92.6 per cent of his 309 attempted passes have been successful, a statistic that helps to explain why he has overtaken Michael Carrick and Anderson as being Sir Alex Ferguson’s first choice in the centre of midfield alongside Darren Fletcher.

There is no obvious explanation for the improvement, but it is clear that the attempts by United’s coaching to wrap Scholes in cotton wool have had their part to play. Whether it was a deliberate ploy on Ferguson’s behalf to coax a little extra from him is hard to say, but the offer of special treatment carries a whiff of a Help the Aged campaign in the player’s eyes and, as such, has been greeted as some sort of personal affront.

“You still want to impress, but the coaches are always asking how you feel and whether you want to take a day off here or there,” Scholes said yesterday.

Scholes was at his imperious best during United’s 2-0 win over Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday. Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, described him as “the best player on the pitch by a country mile” and the statistics supported the assertion. Of the 85 passes Scholes made, 80 were successful.

It has been a similar tale in the midfield player’s other outings this term. Against Birmingham City in United’s opening game, 93.2 per cent of his passes were accurate. Ninety per cent of his passes reached their intended targets against Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium and 91.1 per cent of them against Tottenham Hotspur before his controversial sending-off for two bookable offences at White Hart Lane.

The figures demonstrate why Ferguson has tended to use Scholes on United’s travels, when the importance of retaining possession arguably becomes even greater. The one away league match Scholes has missed this season — against Burnley at Turf Moor last month — United lost.

He may play a little deeper now and no longer ghost into the box with the frequency he did in his youth, but Scholes’s ability to hit all manner of passes is evidenced by him being the most accurate short passer in the league this season — 96.09 per cent of his 256 attempted short passes have been successful — and second only to Tom Huddlestone, the Tottenham Hotspur midfield player, in terms of successful long passes.

Carrick’s overall pass completion rate (82.8 per cent) and Anderson’s (72.7) are far inferior while not even England’s first-choice midfield players — Frank Lampard (72.3), Steven Gerrard (70.6) and Gareth Barry (68.1) — get close to Scholes’s record.

It was 15 years to the day last Monday since Scholes made his first-team debut for United, but while his form has already led Ferguson to suggest that he may earn another contract once his present one expires at the end of the season, the player is reluctantly beginning to look to the future and said he plans to start his coaching courses imminently.

“I’m going to give coaching a go and see how it goes,” he said. “I’ll probably start looking at that in the next couple of weeks and see how I feel doing that.”

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Super-sub Giggs inspires United to the top




Timeless Ryan Giggs sparked the double strike that took Manchester United top of the Premier League.

The veteran substitute set up Dimitar Berbatov's tap-in and John O'Shea's headed winner as Alex Ferguson's champions finally came alive in the final half-hour.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Michael Owen seals dramatic finish to thrilling Manchester derby



Michael Owen scored a dramatic late winner in the sixth minute of injury-time to seal victory for Manchester United in a pulsating derby match at Old Trafford. United won 4-3.

Craig Bellamy thought he had given Manchester City a share of the spoils with a last-minute equaliser before Owen pounced in typical poacher's style.

United led three times - through Wayne Rooney and two Darren Fletcher headers - but City fought back through Gareth Barry and Bellamy, who also scored twice.

But Owen poked in the winner, striding onto Ryan Giggs's precise pass and calmly finding the bottom right corner to end City's unbeaten start to the season.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Product Keys, CD Keys Heaven

I installed a fresh copy of Windows Ultimate 7 last night, it is cool!

While I was searching for my legal copy of Microsoft Office 2007 CD, I found an old Office 2000 CD, I thought I would go with it for now until I can find my 2007 CD.

It didn't has any serial number written on it, so I googled and found this site, http://www.serialbay.com/search-office+2000-serial.html

Best place for CD keys, product keys, serial numbers! :)


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Besiktas 0 - Man Utd 1



RED TOP Paul Scholes remains United's very own Duracell battery.

He just goes on and on.

Last night he rolled back the years once more to pop up with a goal and get the Reds' Champions League challenge off to a winning start.


Monday, September 14, 2009

Topless Car Wash!

Topless car wash, first in Singapore! :)

Spurs 1 - 3 MU



Ryan Giggs levels from free kick, Anderson makes it 2-1 before Rooney seals it with the 3rd goal after Paul Scholes was sent off for bad challenges.

Fletcher was my man-of-the-match once again with a combative display... but sadly, where is Park JS?