Official Football Thread

Van der Sar to sign another contract extension at Manchester United

Manchester United will announce on Friday that Edwin van der Sar will continue as the club's No 1 goalkeeper next season after the Dutchman's agent Rob Jansen confirmed he will sign a one-year contract extension.

Sir Alex Ferguson has been delighted with the former Juventus and Fulham goalkeeper's form and will reward the 38-year-old with another season at Old Trafford.

The move will come as a blow to Ben Foster who, along with Tomasz Kuszczak, has been forced to wait for his first team chance.

With Foster desperate to be included in Fabio Capello's 2010 World Cup squad - assuming England qualify - the 25-year-old may be forced to look elsewhere for first team football if he wants to be involved in South Africa next summer.
 
Natalie said:
Yeah, it's been a disappointing season so far hasn't it?
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Desperately disappointing in Europe.

Like Albie said, Celtic beating Villareal isn't suprising, but drawing at Parkhead against Aalborg (and dare I say it Man U) was.
 
It's good news that van der Sar will get a new contract, his experience is valuable and he's still one of the better goalies around. However, I think Kuszczak/Foster will get more chances next year. I can't imagine Sir Alex will use Edwin all the time during what will be his final season, thus risking to lose both the younger keepers. Edwin will of course be the first choice, but I think he will be rested more often. He has been prone to injury the last couple of seasons, so even though the Daily Mail think Foster should be concerned, I don't think so. If he has the quality to challenge for the World Cup squad, he also will get more chances in the first team for United. If he doesn't have the quality to give Edwin and Kuszczak competition for the first team spot, he has nothing to do in the World Cup anyway.

(Or maybe he has, England haven't been blessed with great goalkeepers lately ...)
 
I think it's bad news for Foster; at his age he needs to be playing every week, and to have aspirations of becoming England No 1 that needs to be at a top 10 club, maybe Spurs (not top half at the mo, I know).
Whether he has the quality can only properly be proven one way or the other if he's given a substantial run in the first-team (10 games or so) - any keeper can catch and save in training.
 
Of course. My point is, I'm convinced he'll get more chances next season than the current one. If he doesn't, he'll probably agree with you and leave.
 
Dont you think Van Der Sar has been a little creaky and error prone this season? I hope he plays as many games as possible because I think hes going to cost Man U more points
 
Kopfanatic said:
Dont you think Van Der Sar has been a little creaky and error prone this season? I hope he plays as many games as possible because I think hes going to cost Man U more points
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He's not that bad - but I do see where you are coming from. :D
 
If we're talking creaky and error-prone then Kuszczak looked pretty shaky out there against Aalborg (that first goal could have been held).
 
I didn't see the game but just read a report on Beeb. Fergie had his favourite comment (the same that Wenger uses as well):

"I didn't see the incident."
 
When I saw it I thought it looked accidental, but I'd like to see it a couple more times before making up my mind completely. If it was on purpose it's a glimpse of the "old" Rooney again, which is disappointing. And if the UEFA thinks he did it on purpose, he'll probably get four matches. The FA have had a tendency to overlook bad fouls in the Premiership when done by English players (the worst example being Alan Shearer not being suspended after kicking Neil Lennon right in the face in a match between Newcastle and Leicester), but the UEFA sometimes seem to have a bias the other way around.

And I notice that we now have a duo of United-haters here. Good, that will get the temperature levels in the footie thread up a few Kelvins.

Update after round 17 in the Premiership

Interesting round as all the top 4 were held to draws. Aston Villa beat Bolton 4-2 and have now gone past Arsenal on the table - it seems they will be able to give Arsenal a real contest for the last spot in next year's Champions League qualifiers. (I'm quite sure the current top 3 will also finish top 3 in some order, Arsenal's form is varying far too much for them to catch up now - unless, of course, Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United happen to lose form completely). As it looks now, it'll be a three horse race for the title and Arsenal and Villa will fight for 4th.

I must also say Tottenham looked far better on Saturday than I've seen them before this season, they were actually quite solid in defense. Of course, attacking-wise I've seen them better, like in the second half against Liverpool (or the entire Arsenal game, 4-4), but now they seem confident while defending as well. I think they'll finish top half despite their really bad start. (Which I like, I've always had a soft spot for Spurs).
 
United hater-moi!

I don't think Liverpool will win the premier league.Am I the only supporter who thinks Benitez is a hinderance rather than an asset?Why he didn't play Keane on Saturday at some stage I'll never know.I think he's just like Ranieri was when he was at Chelsea.Neither of them can resist showing us just how clever they are with team selections and tactics even to the detriment of common sense.Its a known fact that some players improve through playing regularly, how can we get the best out of Babel when he only plays for the last 15 minutes of most games.Why play Doessina who has been A nightmare this season, when he could have played Insua who hasn't put a foot wrong whenever he's been given (limited) chances
 
If Liverpool won't win, then who do you think could? Personally, I think for a team to win the Premiership they really will have to hope that both Chelsea and Man U slip up. And that won't happen in a hurry (although Chelsea's home form is abysmal at the moment).

I would also welcome some challengers - it got a bit tedious with this Man U/Arsenal toing and froing in the late 90's early 2000's. Then along came Chelsea and now we have a Chelsea/Man U scenario. This season, I would like to see at least three teams each with a very, very realistic chance of winning the title with 5 or 6 games to go. If that be Man U, Chelsea and Liverpool then so be it - because Arsenal have gone by the wayside (and don't be too surprised if they finish fifth behind Villa this year).
 
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