Paul Ince was given a lesson in management by his old mentor Sir Alex Ferguson.

Wes Brown headed United in front from a Wayne Rooney cross at the back post, with Blackburn keeper Jason Brown claiming he was pushed by Nemanja Vidic.

Rooney was on the scoresheet himself in the second half after good work form Cristiano Ronaldo

Blackburn suffered a further blow when striker Roque Santa Cruz was taken off injured a few minutes into the second half.

On a wind-swept and wet pitch the first chance fell to Nemanja Vidic after seven minutes.

He failed to make clean contact from a corner when in space in the area.

Blackburn had their first opening when Matt Derbyshire got between the United defence.

His shot was saved by Edwin Van der Sar.

The heavy rain was making an impact on the game with the ball zipping off the surface.

United missed a great opportunity to open the scoring after 20 minutes.

Darren Fletcher shot just wide after a good through ball from Dimitar Berbatov.

Five minutes later Brett Emerton tried his luck on the quick surface but his 25 yard shot skidded past Van der Sar’s right hand post.

United were beginning to create the better chances and were gaining a foothold on the game with some good passing moves.

Blackburn keeper Brown was having a topsy-turvy game.

On the half hour mark he made a wonderful finger-tip save from a powerful Ryan Giggs strick.

A minute later Brown was at fault as United made the breakthrough.

Wes Brown headed in a Rooney cross at the back post when the keeper should really have claimed the ball.

The Blackburn keeper then made another good save after Wayne Rooney burst into the Blackburn penalty area.

United deservedly led at half time despite the terrible weather conditions.

Blackburn started the second half with a good chance to level the match.

Roque Santa-Cruz was denied by a good Van der Sar save.

Two minutes later he was substituted for Jason Roberts because of an injury.

As the rain continued, so too did United’s dominance of possession.

Blackburn were looking low on ideas.

Ince made his second change when Keith Treacy came on for Morten Gamst Pederson just before the hour mark.

It seemed to have little effect as Rooney scored a wonderful goal after 64 minutes after a burst of pace from Ronaldo.

His cut-back found Rooney free in the box as he struck the ball into the top left-hand corner.

Blackburn brought on Keith Andrews for Tugay.

United made some changes of their own when Carlos Tevez was brought on for Giggs a minute later and Patrice Evra made way for John O’ Shea soon after.

Rooney almost scored United’s third, but he lobbed just over the bar with 20 minutes left.

Brown made a good save at the feet of Berbatov a minute later.

United made their final change with Park Ji Sung replacing the impressive Rooney for the last twelve minutes.

Some Blackburn fans had seen enough as they donned their rain coats and headed for the exit with ten minutes left.

It was a game they will quickly try to forget.

Tevez hit the post four minutes from time as United ran out comfortable winners and looking more like the European and domestic champions of last season.

Ryan Babel scored a second half winner as Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-1 at Anfield in the Premier League’s early kick-off.

It was Liverpool’s first win against United under Rafa Benitez.

United started the match brightly with good passing football.

Debutant Dimitar Berbatov sliding a cross from the by-line into the path of Tevez, who blasted the ball across the keeper and into the top right-hand corner of the net.

United looked worth their lead as they continued to pin back the Liverpool defence.

Liverpool had the odd chance themselves.

Dirk Kuyt went close with a fizzing shot from the edge of the area three minutes later.

Van der Sar was beaten but the ball sailed wide of the far post.

Kuyt went close again six minutes later when Van der Sar flapped at a cross only to redeem himself by saving on the line after Kuyt shot low through a crowded box.

Goalscorer Tevez was booked for a clumsy challenge on Fabio Aurelio on 21 minutes.

Then disaster struck for the United defence.

Van der Sar was again at fault as he flapped another cross only this time it proved much more costly.

The ball cannoned off the oncoming Wes Brown and trickled across the line to make it 1-1.

That bit of luck seemed to rally the Liverpool fans and their team responded as they began to pressure United for the first time in the match.

At half time the score seemed a fair reflection of the game.

Ryan Giggs came on for injured Michael Carrick at the start of the second half as Liverpool continued to dominate possession.

After 56 minutes Yossi Benayoun got round the back of Nemanja Vidic after a low pass from Robbie Keane but his shot was saved by Van der Sar.

United began to look increasingly unsettled defensively as Liverpool continued to dominate possession.

Paul Scholes was replaced by Owen Hargreaves on the hour mark to try and give United a stronger foothold in the game.

Liverpool responded by bringing on Steven Gerrard to replace Benayoun a minute later.

Giggs had one of United’s scarce chances as his looping shot from outside the area was tipped over by Pepe Reina twenty minutes from time.

Rafa Benitez decided to make a change in attack as Liverpool pushed for the winner.

Ryan Babel coming on for Albert Riera.

It proved to be a master stroke for Benitez as seven minutes later Giggs failed to clear, instead giving away possession under pressure from Javier Mascherano.

Kuyt crossed low into the area and Babel powered a shot past Van der Sar, high into the centre of the goal to make it 2-1.

United looked out of ideas as they sent Vidic upfront.

Things went from bad to worse as he was sent off for a second bookable offence in the final minute.

He will now miss the trip to Chelsea next weekend.

At the final whistle Liverpool were very much deserved winners.

A delighted Benitez said: “The fans deserved the win and so do the players after their fantastic work-rate and effort they have put in.”

Ferguson on the other hand will have more questions to answer before the start of United’s Champions League title defence against Villarreal on Wednesday.

He said: “We can take nothing positive from this.

“We didn’t have one performer on the pitch apart from possibly Rio Ferdinand.

“It was disappointing.”

Premier League Results

Blackburn 0-4 Arsenal
Fulham 2-1 Bolton
Liverpool 2-1 Man Utd
Man City 1-3 Chelsea
Newcastle 1-2 Hull
Portsmouth 2-1 Middlesbrough
West Brom 3-2 West Ham
Wigan 1-1 Sunderland

]]> http://footieblog.co.uk/liverpool-vs-manchester-united-by-christopher-warren/feed 0 http://footieblog.co.uk/is-creativity-possible-in-your-job http://footieblog.co.uk/is-creativity-possible-in-your-job#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:00:56 +0000 Arthur Butler http://footieblog.co.uk/is-creativity-possible-in-your-job Is there a link between your prosperity and your creativity in your online marketing business? Surely you know the answer to that already or you would not be trying to learn how to start an online business right now.

More on Is creativity possible in your job?

China’s coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors of Sweden (C) comforts her player Han Duan after their loss to Norway at the quarterfinal match of the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup soccer tournament in Wuhan, China Sunday Sept. 23, 2007. Norway defeated China 1-0. [Xinhua]

Though Domanski-Lyfors failed to meet her own pre-tournament target of leading the hosts into the top four of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, she won universal approval with the local press and fans. The Chinese Football Association (CFA) had expressed their wish to keep everything stay put and the Swede could remain with the Chinese side in preparation for next year’s Olympic Games.

But Domanski-Lyfors thought otherwise and chose to stay with her family.

“I am happy in China and like the job, but my family comes first,” Domanski-Lyfors was quoted as telling Swedish media.

With the Olympics less than 300 days away, the Chinese football governing body has to set off a frantic hunt for a new coach for the “Steel Roses”. They have fixed their target on three candidates with Loisel tipped as the best-equipped one.

“We have to fast-track our selection process as there is not so much time left. We hope the new coach would be in position by the end of this month,” said a CFA insider.

Loisel’s contenders are April Heinrich, former head coach of the United States, and the incumbent Brazil manager Jorge Barcellos, and with a similar background in European football to Domanski-Lyfors, the former France coach is reckoned as the ideal successor to ensure a troubleless transition ahead of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

“We have sounded some revered experts on Domanski-Lyfors replacement, and most of them also prefer Loisel,” said the CFA source.

“If we chose her, the upside for her is that she shares the rather similar style with Domanski-Lyfors and that can ensure she could fit into the team soon, and the downside is she has no experience of managing a team in any major tournaments like World Cup and Olympic Games,” he said.

The quit of Domanski-Lyfors left the Chinese team agitated and unsettled.

“She is an unpretentious and jovial character, and often treated us as her daughters,” said midfielder Bi Yan.

“We sincerely hope she could continue to coach us as she has raised the team’s overall strength up a notch. A new coach is now coming and we have to cotton on to each other, and sometimes it is very painful.

“We hope the new coach could be very much like Marika,” she said.

The CFA has entered into talks with Loisel, and the French lady didn’t conceal her excitement at the prospect of taking charge of the talented but unpredictable Chinese.

“I am very interested in the job and it will come as an extraordinary challenge in my coaching career,” she told local press this week. “But negotiations are ongoing and nothing can be taken for granted for the time being.”

The case will be examined Monday by the Federation’s disciplinary commission, although the player or the team’s directors have the right to demand a second test to check the first.

International Federation of Association Football banned the use of different illegal drugs by the players. Find the information about these drugs online. The lorazepam containing anti-anxiety agent, is not banned by the federation after finding its use as tranquilizer by players.

Bolanos is the second soccer player to test positive for drugs this season, after Emelec midfielder, Michael Arroyo, tested positive for marijuana.

Bolanos’s test was taken after Oct. 3 Olmedo-Barcelona match in Guayaquil, which was part of Ecuador’s domestic tournament’s 17th playing day.

Bolanos, 17, has been training with Ecuador’s national team as a special guest, as the team prepares for November matches against Peru and Paraguay, part of the South American qualifying matches for the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

This follows the announcement by Botswana Football Association (BFA) that the newly formed national team will play in the African Women Football Championship qualifiers.

Botswana meets Namibia in the first leg of the qualifiers on the weekend of November 1-3 in Gaborone with the return scheduled for December. The winner of the tie is likely to meet the formidable Falcons of Nigeria.

The announcement of the Botswana team sounded like a joke to some soccer pundits.

Others say they have never heard of the Botswana national women team before the announcement. Women football in Botswana is at an infancy stage hence many believe BFA should be focusing on development before international competitions. It does not help that the national team was assembled last week, with about a fortnight to go before the tournament.

Some stakeholders have questioned the quality of players in the team, as they are not regular faces at their clubs. Though the team boasts of some good players like Prisons’ Tshepo Nkonyane and forward Thuto Ramafifi of Double Action, there is still a lot that needs to be done to nurture the youngsters and build their confidence.

Untouchable coach Bonny Mametse labelled BFA as the clown of the year for thinking the team can compete with the kind of players in it. Mametse is also the chairperson of Women Football Commission. He wondered how the team was selected since club coaches were not involved. He believes good players have been left out and wondered why BFA had to wait until the last minute to form the national team. “How do they expect players to understand each other in just two weeks? Why did they not form a team in time when they knew all this time that there is a tournament?” he asked.

Khanti Piet of Meat Girls also think it is too early for the team to compete. He wondered who was responsible for selecting players as club coaches were not consulted. He added that the focus should be on building the team.

Manana’s Katamelo Masilonyane shares Piet’s sentiments that it is too early to compete.

He said that even the quality of players is very questionable. He lamented that they have not been engaged in the selection of the team and wondered who the coach is. Just like Mametse, Masilonyane believes good players have been left out of the team. He said the naming of the team is a good development but it came at the wrong time.

However, Phenyo Maitshotlo of Kanye Swallows believes Botswana women are ready to compete at international level. He said the women soccer team has a number of good players who can handle tough opponents. He pleaded with those who have doubts to give the team a chance. “How are we going to judge ourselves if we do not compete?

You will never know you are ready until you try,” he said. Maitshotlo believes that to improve, the women should be allowed to compete to identify their mistakes. He lamented that BFA does not give the women football the recognition it deserves since it is developing at a snail’s pace.

He said it was not the players’ mistake that the women football is not growing at the desired pace hence they should not be punished for others’ sins. He called on the BFA to act fast to put more effort on women football development.

Tshepo Mphukuthi of BFA said Batswana should not fear anything as they have assembled a strong team. He has no doubt that the team will do Batswana proud.

He said they assembled the team at the last minute because they had anticipated that the tournament would be held next year. He said they could not engage coaches in the selection of the team because this is not the procedure.

He explained that the team coach is responsible for selecting the players that he wants. The team is under the guidance of Kagiso Gabasiane, Re Ba Bona Ha coach based in Francistown.

A poll conducted by African Response found that two thirds of South Africans agreed the threat posed in these two areas called for Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) training for South African police.

African Response said the poll reflected the views of 400 South Africans who were asked whether the areas required the attention of the police during the World Cup, it said in a statement.

The latest African Response 2010 Barometer also showed that South Africans were growing more confident in their country’s ability to host the event.