“We are delighted he has signed a new contract,” Ferguson told manutd.com

“Anderson has developed tremendously since joining us and he has fantastic potential at only 22; he is going to be a really top player.”

This is great news for United, I think Anderson is a great talent with plenty of potential and with great players like Scholes and Giggs to mentor him, he will become a great player.

Anderson recently scored his first goal for United in the Champions League against Valencia to secure top spot for United in their group.

Anderson told manutd.com: “This is the best club to be at and I would like to thank everyone for the great support I have received over the years.

“I am looking forward to winning many more trophies with this club and I am so pleased to have signed a new contract.”

What do you think? Should United have signed Anderson even after the rumored fall out with Sir Alex. or his lack of lethality offensively?

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Sir Alex gave 20 year-old Ben Amos his Champions League debut and started the Da Silva twins along with Ferdinand and Vidic. Carrick, Anderson, Park and Nani covered the midfield, while Rooney and Berbatov started up top.

United had a chance of handing Sir Alex yet another record, by becoming the only team to go through the group stage without conceding a goal.

After some good chances from both sides, it was a Valencia who would take advantage of a horrible mistake by Michael Carrick. The midfielder tried to play it back to his defender but it was read and intercepted by Dominguez before picking out Pablo, who was unmarked. Pablo made no mistake and finished in the first half hour of the match.

A great chance for United and a spark of brilliance from Wayne Rooney as he cuts in and curls one up and over Guaita but cant beat the crossbar, the ball land for Nani but the Portuguese play-maker hits it wide.

United would trail 1-0 at the half.

United would have to wait 15 minutes into the second half for the equalizer, as Park took a powerful shot from outside the 18 and Anderson ran in for the rebound. You done usually see the young Brazilian on the score sheet, but he was at the right place, at the right time and didnt disappoint.

Now all United had to do was hold on to secure top spot, and they did. United will now face

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“I am good in Manchester but I’d like to return to Portugal and my preference would be Porto. I love the country.”

Although Anderson is a good player, he lacks that ruthlessness Sir Alex was talking about.

His first season at United was a success, making 24 Premier League appearances and winning both the Premier League and Champions League, but since then has struggled due to injuries and bad decisions of the pitch. And at this point in his Manchester United spell, £17.5 million was a little much.

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Seemingly in response to his own poor judgement and poorer attitude, the Manchester United boss has banished the Brazilian midfielder to play with the reserve team this week. In late January, Anderson reportedly missed practice and Sir Alex fined him a whopping £80,000 for missing the training session. He was then left out of the squad that faced Hull City that weekend, and hasn’t been seen in the first team since the first leg of the League Cup semi-final.

The 21 year old has had a rocky season and has not been afraid to voice is discontent with the amount of playing time he has received, which has led to several reported incidents where he has butted heads with the Gaffer. It has also been widely rumored that Anderson was to go out on loan in the January transfer window to either Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain, but he was held back as an insurance policy against the seeming non-recovery of Owen Hargreaves. Perhaps this lack of a loan deal was what triggered Anderson’s latest tantrum and conflict with Sir Alex.

It is important to note that Thursday’s reserve assignment, could have been just that, an assignment to help keep him fit since he has not played for 3 matches. It could also have been intended to send a message and signal the beginning of the end for midfielder that has showed so much promise. Let’s hope Anderson can ride out this tumultuous period, learn from it, and move on. I believe he could be a fixture in the midfield for many years to come if he can find some consistency and learn to be coached.

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But Rafael da Silva tore a hamstring that will see him sidelined for a month, while Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs also failed to complete 90 minutes.

Anderson was sent for an X-ray on a suspected broken left ankle that saw him stretchered off late on, while Jonny Evans limped through the final stages in pain after appearing to sprain his ankle.

Ferguson said: “There are probably six or seven of them who have picked up injuries. It was a bad night in that respect.

“We finished with 10 men but it was effectively nine because Jonny was in great discomfort. We will just have to see what happens now.

“The serious one is Anderson. Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and Nani all picked up injuries.

“Jonny Evans has got a recurrence of the ankle injury that has bothered him for a few weeks now, but hopefully he’ll be OK in a week’s time, and Rafael has a hamstring injury and will be out for a few weeks.”

Rio Ferdinand (back), Wes Brown (ankle) and Patrice Evra (foot) are already out injured, leaving United desperately depleted – Nemanja Vidic and John O’Shea are their only recognised fully fit defenders.

Darren Fletcher is expected to be used as a makeshift full-back for this weekend’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Tottenham, while Rafael’s twin brother Fabio could make his debut at left-back, although he is also short of fitness following an injury of his own.

United are likely to face Tottenham again in the Carling Cup final on March 1, with Harry Redknapp’s side taking a three-goal advantage into their semi-final second leg against Burnley.

Ferguson said he would keep faith with youngsters such as Darron Gibson and Danny Welbeck who have performed well on the road to Wembley.

“They will all play in the final. They deserve to,” said Ferguson.

“It is always a great occasion at Wembley but the only way you can really enjoy it is by winning.”
Alex Chick/Eurosport

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According to the players agent, Cesar Bottega, United are prepared to offer as much as £20 million for the 18-year-old attacking midfielder. But Bottega doesn’t feel Douglas is ready to make the switch to a big European club.

“I think that it is too early to transfer to a team like Manchester United, but if they have offered 80 million Reais to Gremio then that is important.” Says Bottega

“I wouldn’t like him to be transferred to a European team yet because when you start to negotiate with teams from the European market like the Italian, English or Spanish, it is not always possible to make your wishes come true and that puts pressure on.”

Maybe the English and US national teams should think about naturalizing a Brazilian or two, but more on that next time.

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Brazil team doctor Jose Luiz Runco had this to say “However, it doesn’t seem so serious. We will be sure only after the MRI scans.” “Only after the scans will we be able to make a decision about Anderson’s participation in Sunday’s match.”

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This was such an important game and all the pressure was on Manchester United, Arsenal had nothing to lose since they were out of Champions and they were expected to lose.

Ferdinand, Evra, Brown, and Pique started in the back. With Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes,started in the center of the field. Ronaldo and Park started out wide and Rooney was the lone striker

Arsenal started with their typical 4 in the back, Gallas, Toure, Song, and Clichy. In the midfield they had Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb and Eboue. Van Persie and Adebayor up top.
No Theo Walcott in the starting line up for Arsenal. A big mistake if you ask me.

Both teams started very sloppy, they were both miss hitting and not trapping very routine balls. 
Fabregas attempted two very weak shots early on both were from outside the 18 and under very difficult circumstances.

Ronaldo was off to a very slow start, he lost the ball a number of times, either by taking one too many touches or not making the right pass.
But early in the first half Ronaldo looked to pass the ball off when Gilberto Silva slid and the ball made contact with his arm United got a free kick from 20 yards out. Ronaldo took the shot and hit the wall, he  got the rebound and drew another foul from Adebayor

Arsenal would get a counter attack in the 12 minute, and  if it wasn’t for Rio Ferdinand, who read the play well and stepped in front of Adebayor, Arsenal could have gone up  1-0

Hargreaves on the other side put a great ball into the center for Park and/or Rooney but neither of them could make contact with a header.

Wayne Rooney, in the 20th minute created a good chance for himself as he pushed Toure out of his way and was able to take a shot that went wide.
Scholes and other United players could not hit a good pass, every ball was a hospital ball

A Good chance in the 23rd minute for United, Ronaldo does brilliantly to get past Song and centers it to Rooney who was coming on too strong and just managed to run into it, he couldn’t give it any real direction. But he gets a corner out of it/

It took both teams about 25 minutes to get settled. Before that, both teams were playing very ugly football. Everyone was panicking and no one seemed very comfortable with the ball at their feet.

Again, Ronaldo lost the ball on a selfish run in the 31st minute.
Adebayor could not finish, he had three clear chances in the first 30 minutes and he couldn’t convert.

Rooney had a wonderful chance in the 36th minute, Song miss timed a ball and it went straight to Rooney, with good pace. He went to goal and with 3 defenders on his back he managed to take the shot, but Lehmann made an amazing save. Great anticipation by Rooney to earn that chance.

Half Time

United made no changes, unfortunately.

Tragedy struck for United in the opening minutes of the 2nd half.
United failed to clear a ball and Van Persie took the ball down the left side and put in a non-threatening ball into the middle but United were caught sleeping! Van der Sar and Rio didn’t  communicate and Adebayor snuck between both of them to redirect the ball into the back of the net. It was actually Adebayors hand that put that in and not his head.

Lack of communication put United in a very threatening situation. This was going to measure Uniteds composure and determination.
 
3 minutes later Ferdinand, while trying to clear a ball, took a “shot “ on Van der Sar! Luckily Van der Sar stayed alert and made the save, United was very close to scoring an own goal and falling behind 2 goals to 0.

In the 51st minute Gallas reached out and slapped a ball down with his arm inside the penalty box and the referee had no choice but to call it. Penalty for United! Who else, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo stepped up, approached the ball and paused before he followed through and scored!
But it was pulled back, Park was in the box before Ronaldo struck the ball and Ronaldo had to take it again.
Same approach, same spot and same result! Ronaldo made it 1-1

Paul Scholes and Park Ji-Sung came off and Anderson and Tevez on.
Sir Alex wanted the win, he was not going to settle for a tie.
Two very good changes for United in my opinion.
The intensity that Tevez brings to a match was instantly noticeable.

Theo Walcott came on for Eboue in the 61st minute. And the with a roar of “Boos” the crowed let him know “he is not welcome.”

Anderson brilliantly frustrated Adebayor. Anderson challenged Adebayor and won the ball in a physical but fair challenge. Adebayor did not get the call and retaliated against Anderson, that earned him a yellow card.

Tevez has a go from 30 yards out! So close, he took a wonderful shot but it was just wide, Tevez made an instant impact since being subbed on.

Another great save from Van der Sar, this time it came off of Wes Browns shin guard and Van der Sar was ready for it.
United defenders were keeping Van der Sar on his toes, they were almost more dangerous then Arsenals forwards

Evra had a very solid game today. In the 70th minute he would create two great scoring opportunites, first a through ball to Rooney which he missed, but immediately following, he got the rebound and volleyed Gilberto Silva to draw the foul just outside of the D, that would lead to Uniteds 2nd goal.

Lehmann set up his wall, All eyes were on Ronaldo. Until Owen Hargreaves caught everyone by surprise as he took the shot and placed it brilliantly in the bottem left hand corner!
That was the goal that would leave Arsenal out of the title race.

2 scares for United in the closing minutes, both times Bendtner was back post and found two headers. But Van der Sar was positioned  exactly where he was supposed to be positioned and denied him both times.

Ronaldo got hit deliberately in the final play after doing a little bit of show boating. Ronaldo should have expected that one. 

United have such depth! Games like this where their “All Stars” don’t have a good game, they could always count on players like Patrice Evra and Owen Hargreaves too step up and lead the team to victory!

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