Team News

• Wayne Rooney is Doubtful
• Carrick has ankle knock and will probably be on bench for the game
• Gary Neville and Rafael da Silva both return to the squad. Neville likely to start

Fergie has said that he’s going to be making changes from Porto game,

When I pick my team, no matter what it is, there will be critics voicing a concern about me not playing my strongest team,

Could Macheda get his first start?

Last Five Results

• FC Porto 0 – 1 Man Utd
• Sunderland 1 – 2 Man Utd
• Man Utd 2 – 2 FC Porto
• Man Utd 3 – 2 Aston Villa
• Fulham 2 – 0 Man Utd

Misc Info:

1. United will be competing in their 26th FA Cup Semi Final, which is he joint equal record with Arsenal.
2. Hold the record for most times in final (19) and most wins (11)
3. Scored 4 goals in the last two legs of the FA Cup (0-4 against Fulham and 1-4 against Derby)

My Key Man

Rio Ferdinand

Everton Info

Team News

• Saha is doubt (surprised?!) due to illness
• Jo is cup tied
• Joseph Yobo and James Vaughan both back from injury and expected to be in squad

Last Five Results

• Aston Villa 3 – 3 Everton
• Everton 4 – 0 Wigan
• Portsmouth 2 – 1 Everton
• Everton 3 – 1 Stoke
• Everton 2 – 1 Middlesbrough

Misc Info:

1. This will be the first time Everton have played at new Wembley
2. This will be their 24th FA Cup Semi Final – 2 behind United

My Key Man

Tim Cahill

Stats

Last Five Games Against Each other

• Man Utd 1 – 0 Everton (31.01.09) (League)
• Everton 1 – 1 Man Utd (25.10.08) (League)
• Man Utd 2 – 1 Everton (23.13.07) (League)
• Everton 0 – 1 Man Utd (15.09.07) (League)
• Everton 2 – 4 Man Utd (28.04.07) (League)

Misc Info:

• United have won the FA Cup 11 times to Everton’s 5
• In the last four years the team that has knocked out Middlesbrough have reached the final but lost every time. Everton beat Middlesbrough in the quarter-final. If this was to hold true this season Everton will beat United but lose in the final.
• Have played each other 10 times in FA Cup Competition United winning 5 Everton winning 5

My Prediction

Man Utd 2 – 1 Everton

Man Utd.com shares an interview with Ryan Giggs who is “Savouring Every Game”

The Republik Of Mancunia takes a look at some of the problems United have had so far with injuries, individual errors and that fact that we’ve not hit top gear, yet.

Guardian looks at why scoring the first goal at Wembley isn’t crucial.

Daily Mail has a look at the 20 highest earning footballers in 2008, with Becks coming tops and Ronaldo, Rooney and Ferdinand making the list.

The Sun thinks the Rooney’s are going to paint the nursery for their first child in the Blue of Everton when in actual fact it’s in the colours of our third kit!

Image By: EmerandandSam

Everton are a big club, not a small one which Benitez arrogantly said

Arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt, which is what he showed Sam Allardyce last weekend

When Liverpool scored their second goal he signaled as if the game was finished. I do not think Sam deserved that

For those of you who may not have seen the Liverpool vs Blackburn match last week, here’s what Fergie was talking about,

Fergie made his comments following Big Sam talking about how he was upset with Benitez humiliating him,

And here’s the video with Fergie talking about Benitez,

It doesn’t look like the two are going to be friends any time soon!!

So on the eve of arguably Everton’s biggest game in the last 10+ year Moyes has decided to get inside the referee’s head with the following statement,

A member of the press asked me if Mike Riley is a Manchester United supporter. I think that is something you would need to bring up with the FA.

It is something that one or two managers would have something to say about. It is the FA’s appointment; it was originally supposed to be Steve Bennett

If you (the press) are saying that Mike Riley is a Manchester United supporter, you would hope the FA would look at that.

Funnily enough Moyes also went on to say,

Referees in this country are very honest. They try to get the decisions right

I think they can be influenced, I think that has been seen in a couple of games I have been involved in recently

The telling part being “I think they can be influenced”. Indeed they can.

Now we can expect any small decision that goes against Everton, even when it’s the right decision, to be treated as an injustice with all Everton players and fans getting on Mike Riley’s back.

Will it affect Mike Riley’s decisions? We’ll have to wait and see, but in all honesty what person wouldn’t fold at least once or twice giving decisions that you perhaps wouldn’t normally give.

I tip my hat to you Mr Moyes, but while you have won this battle you will not win they war!

Also Wes Brown is set to make a return to action, after being out since November, playing in the reserve match against Preston on Monday.

Fergie did admit that he was trying rush Brown back

Wes has started training with the first team and I am contemplating playing him in the reserves on Monday

Given the amount of important games we have coming up, it might be worth rushing him back

It would be great to have Wes available because he is such a fantastic defender and it will give us another option

Bad News

Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Carrick and Rooney are doubts

There aren’t any serious injuries, but we’ve got quite a few bumps and bruises. Rooney got a knock, and Carrick got an ankle knock, but nothing serious.

I’m not talking about the number of goals he’s scored or even his overall performance. It’s been his attitude.

I’ve been tearing my hair out (which isn’t a good idea when your as follicly challenged as I am!) and some times even embarrassed when he throws one of his tantrums on the pitch.

At times it’s cost us.

Instead of tracking back and helping the team he’s been whining to the ref or flapping his arms about complaining to the gods, while leaving his team mates in the crapper.

The game against Villa was a classic example, after giving the ball away he made no attempts to get it back or to help defend. Villa went on to score within seconds.

Step In Fergie

Sir Alex Ferguson decided enough was enough and had a word with Ronaldo

No, I don’t accept that he will give goals away because of the player he is, I speak to him about it. I don’t accept that from anyone

In European football, if you give the ball away it takes a long time to get it back.

He always feels he’s not getting the proper protection from referees and I think that, maybe, in quite a few cases he is right, and a few cases he is not right.

It’s hard when a player who wants to entertain doesn’t get everything his own way. But you can’t get everything your own way.

He understands that and there’s not a problem with that. It’s just a frustration that he feels he doesn’t get the decision and he gets upset about it

I think, obviously, he doesn’t enjoy that and he knows he’s letting himself down more than anything

He holds his hands up. I have had to remind him about that but I’m not getting into what has been said.

It was the first time I can remember Fergie saying something critical of Ronaldo in public. He may have done it behind closed doors but never to the press.

Most mangers wouldn’t have taken such a big risk of openly criticising their best player, a player who during the summer openly admitted he wanted to join another club.

But Fergie, the best man manger football has ever seen, knew exactly what to say and when to say it.

And he’s got the response he was looking for.

The second leg against Porto Ronaldo scored probably his best goal ever, (when you consider some of the goals he’s scored that’s no easy task) and also put in a team performance, tracking back when the team needed him, running down the clock and playing up front, a position he says he doesn’t really like playing in.

He’s even responded to Fergie’s comments by saying,

It is not a problem

I always respect the manager and coaches because I want to learn. If he says that, it is because he thinks it is true.

But I think I have been playing well and I have scored a few important goals.

Turning Point For Ronaldo’s Season

I cant help but feel this could be the turning point in his season. So far I think he’s only been playing at 60-75% of his potential, with the kick up the arse he needed I think his attitude and ultimately performances could start to emulate that of last season.

Image what that means for United!

So those of you travelling to the Riverside Stadium will need to change your travel plans.

Which means our fixtures for the end of the season now look like this

That’s assuming we don’t progress in the FA Cup and Champions League, which we obviously will!

Image By: Red Rose Exile

Here’s what Coral had to say,

“We had Giggs in as the third favourite at 11-2 behind the big two fancies, Vidic and Gerrard, and had seen a number of small bets. But then today the market really livened up when we were asked for a couple of four-figure bets for the United star, both in the Manchester area.

We cut the price to 9-2 and then, as the voting has already taken place, we thought it best to suspend”

If the winner has already been voted for and it was before our blip in form and Gerrard started to play well, then isn’t Giggs guaranteed to get the award?

Source: Guardian Image By: EmerandandSam

He was asked if he’d taken on board what the manger said about not always being able to get things his own way. It sound’s like maybe Sir Alex has got through to him and we’ll see less of his mini tantrums. I guess we’ll have to wait and see in the coming weeks.

He also talks about the goal he scored, looking forward to playing arsenal and why having Rio in defence is important.

It was one of those matches where, if in the previous weeks we’d been playing good tonight would have simply been adequate. But since we’ve been faltering this was a performance that inspires confidence and says to our up coming opponents “we’re back and our defence is going to be hard to get through”

What could have been a frustrating and tough match was made a lot easier with a brilliant strike in the 6th minute by Ronaldo from 40 yards, which only he would attempt. In truth no keeper would have been able to save. See Ronaldo’s goal here.

It was the goal in the 6th minute that really set up the whole match, it meant Porto couldn’t just defend their lead and try to counter attack, which I think was what they we’re hoping to do.

Having Rio back showed how much we’ve missed him. Not just in the defensive duty’s he performs but in the organisation he does and the calm he brings to those around.

Evra also deserves a mention. He was back to his usual little warrior self. Took a knock to the face when he headed one of their player, but carried on and didn’t let it shake him up.

The Midfield, which consisted of Rooney on the right, Carrick, Anderson and Giggs, really fulfilled their defensive duties. The didn’t perhaps hold the ball as well as they could have, but they were still good. Battled when needed, especially Anderson, and never really gave Porto any gaps they could exploit.

While Ronaldo didn’t really do much other then the goal tonight he still looked good. He tracked back when other players were out of position. He didn’t throw mini tantrums when he wasn’t getting the ball or was fouled. Towards the end he held the ball up and helped run the clock down.

Dimi was a bit of a disappointment, never really got in the game, but then I just don’t think this was the right game for him, perhaps if we hadn’t gone 1-0 up inside 6 minutes he would have been called on more.

Tonight shows that in the first match we were tied from only having two days rest after villa and that we were taken aback by how attacking they were. First match I thought Porto were really good, this match, with us rested they looked little more then average.

My Man Of Match

It’s between Wayne Rooney and Anderson for me. Both battled really well. Anderson put in a great shift considering it’s his first start since he got injured.

But for me the winner has to be Rooney, played out of position, didn’t complain, didn’t make any stupid challenges, got forward plenty and did the job Sir Alex sent him out to do.

Teams

How Man Utd Lined Up

Subs Not Used: Ben Foster, Gary Neville, Jonny Evans,  Carlos Tevez, Federico Macheda

How Porto Lined Up

Subs Not Used: Nuno, Milan Stepanov, Freddy Guarin, Andres Madrid

Stats

Goals: Ronaldo 6

Bookings: Vidic 42, Evra 59