DEADLY duo Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie could return for crisis club Manchester United as they look to overcome a first-leg defecit against Sunderland in the Capital One Cup semi-final on Wednesday. But the Black Cats won’t face Red Devils skipper Nemanja Vidic after he was sent off in the 3-1 defeat at Chelsea yesterday. It was all part of a bad day for boss David Moyes, who is under pressure after seeing his side stay in seventh spot in the Premier League table, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal. It makes Wednesday’s game at Old Trafford even more important for Moyes, whose side trail 2-1 after the game at the Stadium of Light a fortnight ago. The only crumb of comfort for Moyes was that Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are set to return to training. “I hope so,” Moyes said when asked if they would return to the fold today. Vidic will miss the game, however, after he was sent off for a bad challenge on Eden Hazard. Rafael was guilty of an even worse two-footed challenge on Cahill moments later, although the full-back connected with the ball rather than the player. Luckily for the Brazilian, and Moyes, referee Phil Dowd gave the right-back only a yellow card. “I thought Vidic wasn’t a sending-off, but I’ve seen Rafa’s and I think that could have been a sending off,” Moyes said. Moyes, meanwhile, rejected Jose Mourinho’s claim that Manchester United’s title hopes are effectively over despite the damaging defeat at Stamford Bridge, which saw Samuel Eto’o bag a hat-trick. “We won’t throw the towel in until we can’t get there,” the United manager said. “The job is to try and finish first. I will keep trying to do that. “Before today we’d lost one in six in the league, and I didn’t think there was a big difference between the teams today, not at all. “The difference was our defending to set-pieces. Nothing else.”
They've just said the hat trick by Eto'o was the first against Man United since 1955. Didn't Clive Walker do that in 1985-ish?
2 minutes ago @physioroom @SunderlandAFC11 ‪#‎RvP‬ hasn't returned to full training yet, would a huge risk & clearly not fit ‪#‎Rooney‬ has the best chance ...... @physioroom @SunderlandAFC11 but he only started training on grass this weekend ... Moyes might risk everything, it's his only realistic chance of @physioroom 19m @SunderlandAFC11 silverware .... Suggest at best Roo 50/50 & RvP 30/70 ...
STEVEN Fletcher is an injury doubt heading into this week’s Capital One Cup semi-final against Manchester United. The £12m striker has a niggling injury which forced him out of the starting line-up against Southampton at the weekend. And Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet says it will be touch and go whether he is involved at Old Trafford on Wednesday, when the Black Cats hope to build on their 2-1 victory in the semi-final first leg by reaching Wembley. Fletcher came off the substitutes’ bench for the ineffectual Jozy Altidore in the last 20 minutes of Sunderland’s tense game against Southampton on Saturday. But Poyet revealed: “We were trying not to play him at all because he had a problem, a little injury. “We would not have involved him if we had been doing well.” Fletcher was the only one of the Sunderland substitutes not to warm up before the game, although the former Wolves and Burnley striker seemed to be moving fairly freely once he was introduced in its later stages. “I asked him to take a risk for him and for his team-mates and, credit to him, he did,” said Poyet. “It’s a tricky injury and he could have made it worse. “But he was happy in his warm-up and on the bike indoors before the game, and he gave us a very good 20 minutes. “Sometimes you have to think of the player and I did not want to be responsible for him getting injured by starting him in the game. But he came through it OK and we just have to assess how it will be in the next few days.” Fletcher’s form in front of goal has been patchy since his return from a long-term foot injury. He has scored just three goals in 20 appearances this season, but the Scotland international is the club’s most natural finisher and came close to snatching what would have been a winning goal against the Saints. Certainly, Fletcher is a player Poyet will hope to be able to call on for a game which gives Sunderland the chance to reach a final for the first time in 22 years. The Uruguayan told the Echo before Saturday’s game that he wanted a win over Southampton to send Sunderland into Wednesday’s tie on a high from their first back-to-back league victories. But having seen his side comprehensively outplayed in the opening half-hour by the Saints, Poyet was just satisfied to see Sunderland end the game strongly and collect another Premier League point. “We finished the game well and that is an important thing,” he said. “We were fighting and tackling, which was great, and we were lucky not to have any more injuries – which is also important.” Apart from Fletcher, Sunderland have a clean bill of health – though there are, of course, a couple of longer-term injuries. Keeper Keiren Westwood is sidelined for several months following shoulder surgery, while defender Carlos Cuellar is expected to return to training next week from a troublesome hip injury which has kept him out since early November. Either that's bullshit or Fletcher is talking ****e on his instagram. Rooting for Borini up top anyway. It's written for a Liverpool player to pop up and dump them out. Just to add more injury to their season
GUS Poyet has warned his players if they start Wednesday night’s cup tie against Manchester United in the same way they started against Southampton on Saturday, they can forget any hopes of Wembley, writes GRAEME ANDERSON. The Black Cats’ boss watched in disbelief as his side failed to launch against the Saints for the first half-hour of a game in which Sunderland could easily have been swept away at the Stadium of Light. And afterwards he pointed out: “If we go to United and play the first 30 minutes like we did against Southampton, then we’re out – that is for sure. “We have to make better decisions and I include myself in that too. I have to pick the right team and the team has to make the right decisions as well.” Poyet promised to spend the weekend poring over every frame of that frightening half-hour to discover just what went wrong – which was, of course, just about everything. “Nothing worked for us in the beginning,” he conceded. “Not one bit. “No organisation, no system, no quality on the ball, no understanding of the game, no 50-50s, no second balls, nothing. “Absolutely nothing.” Despite his disappointment though, Poyet felt he could only take comfort from the fact that Sunderland did not crumble under the weight of their own ineptitude. And he was grateful for a point, which might prove to be a very important one for Sunderland in the long run. “When you don’t play well but get a point, it’s a good sign,” he said. We did something special after a poor start. “We came back from two goals down and not many teams do that in the Premier League, and not many against a side of Southampton’s quality. “So I say let’s put the negatives to one side and take the positives – it’s great that we have kept some momentum. “A team at the top of the table would take a run of one defeat in 10, so we have to be happy with that, as a team at the bottom. “We got a point, so let’s be happy, and let’s go to Man United for the cup semi-final in a better frame of mind.”
Gary neville is a footballing genius.... FACT Responding to the game on Wed night and some difficult up coming games for Utd, his response.... "So if they'd (Utd) have signed Fabregas, Bale, Ronaldo and Baines - which we know they tried to do - I think you'd be looking at a completely different Manchester United side" No **** Sherlock!!!!
Giggs: Imogen, definitely Imogen, Natasha preferred the thumb... or was that Imogen? **** sake, I'll text Rhodri and ask him at half time.
Blimey...the stars really do align. Cycling, Beer and footie. 3 of my 5 favourite pastimes rolled into 1!!
Invited to the game from my Utd pal. Sat in the Utd end but to soften the blow am in the exec seats. Not too far then from our fans. Its gonna be an amazing atmosphere. feeling nervous now.
Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone believes his side have nothing to fear when they face Manchester United in the second leg of their Capital One Cup semi-final. The Black Cats may have blown their chance to get out of the bottom three on Saturday but their inconsistent home form will be long forgotten as they aim to reach Wembley for the first time in 22 years this week. Gus Poyet’s side travel to Old Trafford on Wednesday aiming to preserve the only 100 per cent cup record in English football. +5 Red-faced: David Moyes (left) vents his fury as his Manchester United side crumble at Jose Mourinho's Chelsea +5 Dejected: Phil Jones (left), Michael Carrick (centre) and Nemanja Vidic look crestfallen at Stamford Bridge They are defending their 2-1 lead from the first leg a fortnight ago when they defied the worst home record in the Barclays Premier League to beat David Moyes’ side. Poyet is trying to install a ‘nothing-to-lose’ attitude among his players who will have 9,000 supporters following them. Mannone, linked with a move to the reigning champions last week, says it is the only way they will survive after the Black Cats battled back to a 2-2 draw against Southampton at the Stadium of Light on Saturday. The former Arsenal keeper said: 'The Premier League is a different stage. Any game you play is a big one, like a final and we just approached it in the wrong way in terms of tactics and mentality because they kept coming at us and we couldn’t relax and play our game. 'Wednesday is another game and a massive one for the club and the fans. We need to focus on the semi-final again as we did in the first leg. +5 Kept at bay: Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone is looking forward to the Capital One Cup semi-final +5 Over the line: Sunderland defender Phil Bardsley (centre floored, scoring against United in the first leg) is hoping to take advantage of his side's 2-1 advantage heading into Wednesday's return clash at Old Trafford 'We are not afraid of anything. We are unbeaten in quite a few games. I think we have lost one in 11. We’re not supposed to go there afraid. 'We go there 2-1 up with a slight advantage, but it is a new game and we have to treat it as if it is a new game and the score is 0-0. 'You don’t need any motivation to go to Old Trafford, you just need to belief you can win and if we do that we will perform better. 'We were disappointed on Saturday because each one of us was below par. The gaffer said that to us but I don’t think he needed to because we know in the last few games where our performance has to be and we knew we weren’t at the standard we could be. 'We showed character and stepped it up a gear and you could see that. 'The ability to get a result when you haven’t played well for a big chunk is important when we are fighting for our lives. The fans were unhappy and rightly so, but we were unhappy as well and in the second half we gave them something to cheer about.'
