Thanks
Nice blog. Bookmarked.

Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has taken a dig at LA Galaxy by calling the MLS outfit “weak opponents.”

The Red Devils began their pre-season campaign with a comprehensive 7-0 thrashing of LA Galaxy in the Chevrolet Cup, before going on to win the International Champions Cup in the United States.

The Premier League club will next play Valencia, who won the Emirates Cup earlier in the month, in their final pre-season game today.

And before the fixture at Old Trafford, Van Gaal insisted it is better to play good opponents like Valencia rather than facing and defeating weaker teams 7-0.

"They [Valencia] have also won a tournament in Emirates Stadium", the Dutchman told his club’s official site. 

"They are very good. I think, otherwise, they would not beat those competitors.

“It's very difficult for us but it's better to play against good opponents rather than weak opponents and we win, for example, 7-0."

The match against Valencia will be Van Gaal’s first game in charge of Manchester United, who have already defeated teams like Roma, Real Madrid and Liverpool in pre-season, at Old Trafford.

Gary Neville says Manchester United are not realistic contenders for this season's Premier League title

former right-back Neville feels that United will not be able to challenge for the title unless they bring in a number of fresh faces before the close of the transfer window.

“Unless two or three players come in I don’t think it’s realistic that he [Van Gaal] can win the league this year,” Neville told Sky Sports News.

“Although there is a potential with what Liverpool did in the fact they had free weeks of Saturday to Saturday, continual perfect preparation.

“That’s a big advantage for United if they get onto some momentum.”

During the tour, Herrera met David Beckham. “A legend,” he says. What he did not tell Beckham was how much he enjoyed one of his worst moments. In 2004, the Englishman scored a superb free-kick to give Real Madrid the lead in the Copa del Rey final only to lose 3-2 to Zaragoza in extra time. That began a slide that culminated in a historic three-year trophy drought. Herrera, a Zaragoza fan who began going at the age of “four or five”, was there. “In the corner where Galletti’s goal went in,” he says, beaming. Luciano Galletti’s goal was the second, right? “No,” he grins, “it was the orgasm! The winner.”

i thot mata were invisible yday. surprised to see herrera subbed off with fellaini in instead of kagawa for mata. rooney i think was also poor, somehow the captain role has not been able to bring out the best of him yet. they were not many passes that manage to reach roon but even when they reached him, he wasted it with i think at least 4-5 poor lay off passes to the sides that broke up the momentum. both goals were soft, the decision to straightaway to give ball back to bony when conceding a freekick was apalling as it invited the chance for that counter attack for the 2nd goal. poor performance overall

Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United reign has got off to a losing start, but supporters should not be too concerned.

The Dutchman is renowned for making slow starts at new clubs and himself has admitted it will take three months for United’s players to adapt to his new philosophy.

In his first managerial role at Ajax, there were calls for him to be replaced by Johan Cruyff just a few months into the job. He went on to lead them to a host of major honours, including the Eredivisie [on three occasions], the UEFA Cup and the Champions League.

It was a similar story at Bayern Munich after he took charge of the German side in the summer of 2009. Just one win in his first four games saw Van Gaal come under immediate pressure. But he stuck to his principles, introducing youngsters such as Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber, and also converted Bastian Schweinsteiger from a winger into a central midfielder.  Bayern went on to win the Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal.

So, fear not United fans, Van Gaal's record suggests he won't be a loser for long!

'People have been waiting for an opportunity to have a go at United for years and this is the perfect time (to do it),' the Manchester United midfielder said.

'It's a long season and I don't think they will be saying those things at the end of it.

'I believe we're going to have a very good season.

'All the players believe that too.

'Comments like that give us a greater determination, without a shadow of a doubt.'

next sunderland, I am quite scared actually. Our results per last season against Sunder were very bad

Manchester United have agreed a £16 million deal for Sporting defender Marcos Rojo, with Nani going the other way on a season-long loan, Goal understands.

Rojo is to move to Old Trafford after extensive negotiations between the two clubs, against the backdrop of the Argentina defender going on strike before apologising to his team-mates and supporters.

With United covering the majority of Nani's salary - one of the highest at the Premier League club - the deal is something of a triumph for Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho.

He had refused to accept United's initial £16m offer for Rojo, drawing the ire of both the player and Doyen Sports, an investment fund who own 75 per cent of the Argentine's economic rights.

With Sporting contractually obliged to pay 20% of any fee over £4m for Rojo to his former club Spartak Moscow, and 75% of the income going to Doyen, a £16m sale would have effectively seen the World Cup finalist leave for free.

Not gonna believe this until United officially announce it on FB,TW and their website.

What i want for deadline:
Hummels
Blind
Rojo
Vidal trade with Hernandez
Reus

    Audacious!
~You may say i'm a dreamer..but i'm not the only one.~ - John Lennon

"Van Gaal will have looked at Rooney and thought: this is a player who is not too proud to listen to criticism and not too shy to dish it out," he added.

"That is captaincy material, as Van Gaal outlined in his press conference ahead of the Swansea match. The next stage for Rooney is to think like a captain.

"When I think back to his early days at United I remember his personality and cheekiness.

"Rooney was the only player who would dare pull up a seat at the coaches' table in the canteen and ask Sir Alex Ferguson: "Am I playing tomorrow, boss?" The manager would cuff him about the head and say: "That's nothing to do with you."

We already signed up Oscar Borg or still under trial?

"I can imagine him at Bayern very well," he told Bild.

"If you can get a player of his class, you need to try it. If he doesn't go to Bayern in 2015, he will probably go to another big club like Real Madrid or Manchester United.

"Dortmund will probably not be able to hold on to him. I can understand why Dortmund don't like discussion about Reus."