Ron Dennis chose his moment to go carefully: behind him yesterday, a car designed by computer to win yet another world championship and at his side the driver he created, Lewis Hamilton, who was transformed from go-karting novice to Formula One world champion.
Dennis refuses to accept that his decision to step down as McLaren team principal is the end of an era, but his announcement - casually dropped in at the end of the unveiling of the McLaren Mercedes MP4-24 car that will contest the 2009 championship - caused jaws to drop inside the glittering steel-and-glass room at the heart of McLaren's futuristic £250 million headquarters in Woking, Surrey.
Hamilton, the protégé Dennis groomed from the age of 13 to be world champion, had talked through his chances of winning a second consecutive title, while his mentor had discussed how McLaren now designed and tested 95 per cent of their 200mph speed machine using only technology, even before a wheel is turned for the first time this morning at a track in Portugal.
And then Dennis, the most high-profile team leader in Formula One, suddenly revealed that, from March 1, he will no longer be the voice and face of the McLaren Mercedes team. He is passing the mantle he has held for almost three decades to Martin Whitmarsh, his chief executive and right-hand man.
Dennis admitted that he would have gone a year ago but for the debacle of the 2007 season when Hamilton lost the championship in his maiden season by a single point, added to which were the accusations of cheating for which McLaren were fined a record £50million by the FIA, the world governing body.
He could have walked away then and enjoyed a retirement away from the spotlight, spending some of his £200million fortune, flying in his Learjet and sailing on his new yacht.
But Dennis, 61, is the ultimate Formula One street fighter and turned McLaren into a war machine for the 2008 season.
Every waking minute was devoted to expunging the humiliations of the previous year. He succeeded - just - in the final few seconds of one of the most breathless championships in history in Brazil when Hamilton clinched the world title. That signalled the time to go.
“It is a comfortable time to do it,” Dennis said. “There were lots of reasons why it would have been an uncomfortable time a year ago. People would have thought I was doing it under duress, under personal pressure because we had narrowly lost a world championship. Now, people can understand there is no pressure, that I am doing this freely.”
Dennis will be in Australia in March for the first race of the season, but the ignition key to the McLaren race team will be held by Whitmarsh while Dennis attempts to stay in the background as the wise man, ready to be consulted, but not making decisions.
Instead, he will devote his time to the burgeoning McLaren business, which is much more than two racing cars on a grand-prix grid as a world leader in electronics, supplying race series around the world as well as to aviation companies. In the face of the economic downturn, Dennis is committing himself to the rest of the empire he has built from scratch over the past 28 years.
“Let's get it clear - I am not retiring,” he said. “I am going to work harder so that McLaren can power through this recession.” Just as Dennis powered McLaren to the top of Formula One.
source:the london times
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Andy Murray: the power and the glory
To win a Grand Slam title requires three distinct elements. You must be hugely talented, with your game as close to the peak of its potential as it is possible to be over a two-week period, and possess the style and technique suited to the conditions. Second, you must undeniably have good fortune on your side. And finally, you must be so impeccably prepared in terms of physical strength and mental resilience that you are durable enough to suffer all the demands that come with playing seven potentially lengthy matches.
Andy Murray definitely seems to have two of those boxes nicely ticked and probably thinks he is able to take his pen to the third. Don’t get me wrong, I am hugely impressed by everything he has shown going into the first major of the year and I’m firmly of the opinion that he will be the next player to be crowned a Grand Slam champion. He is undeniably a special talent who has it in him to win the greatest prizes. I’m just not yet convinced he is strong enough to show the bounce-back ability required.
I hear all the tales of Andy toughening up, putting on the necessary weight and muscle, running repetitions of 400m sprints until his lungs expanded to bursting point and his legs burnt. I see from his matches that this added strength has made his first serve a true weapon and nearly all the other facets of his game are sufficiently top drawer to emulate what Novak Djokovic did this time last year — following up a place in the US Open final by going one step better and winning the Australian title.
The impersonal computer read-out at Melbourne that takes the place of Wimbledon’s traditional velvet bag could not have been more amenable to Britain’s No 1, presenting him with the sort of potential first week that he could hardly have bettered if he tried. Another plus is the way tournament referee Wayne McKewen and his match scheduling team seem more than happy to agree with the requests of foreign television companies. I’d be amazed if Murray started any of his matches in the boiling glare of a sweltering Aussie early afternoon because that is in the middle of the night British time and the BBC would like Murray on court at breakfast time or later, when he can be seen on its interactive service. I’d love to banish such doubts because Murray is such a sensational talent that he deserves to open his Grand Slam account as soon as possible.
However, I think back to three matches last year and wonder. The first was his lacklustre exit from Wimbledon against Rafael Nadal a couple of days after sending the nation’s imagination into overdrive with that sensational fightback to beat Richard Gasquet in five sets. The second was the US Open final in September when, having finally overcome the Spaniard who was the man of the moment, he could not offer any great resistance to the supreme Roger Federer. And the last was the Tennis Masters Cup semi-final in Shanghai a couple of months later when, after beating Federer so magnificently, he was reduced to mush a day later when he faced Nikolay Davydenko.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Murray is now more than capable of beating anybody in the world on any given day. He’s proved that by taking out all the big guys at least once in the weeks since Wimbledon. I’m not totally sure, though, playing over the best-of-five sets, whether he yet has sufficient powers of recovery necessary to go through a potentially demanding climax to the second week when he could quite easily have to overcome first Nadal and then Federer. Abu Dhabi in an exhibition is one thing, the Australian Open is another.
That Murray has been installed as favourite for the title in some quarters won’t affect him in the slightest, though it would be wrong to say that when the balls start flying, top tennis players give no heed to a word that bookmakers say.
I can cast my mind back to 1988 and recall going into this tournament as the man with the shortest odds after winning Wimbledon and not thinking it exerted any added pressure. If memory serves me well, they only boosted my confidence a little more. On that occasion I came up short in the final to Mats Wilander but never once was that because I felt the pressure of expectation. He just handled the day better than I did.
In two weeks, Murray could easily be on the verge of becoming a Grand Slam champion for the first time. He has nothing to fear, the time zones work in his favour and his game is better than ever. Only one thing makes me think somebody else will win: the fact that Federer is a proven exponent at winning major titles.
Sure he’s lost to Murray in both Abu Dhabi and Doha this year but they weren’t tournaments that got Federer truly revved up. One was an exhibition and the other a lucrative season-opener that was nonetheless of modest status. The Aussie Open is one of the Grand Slams and those are events Federer knows how to win. He loves doing it and this year is determined to beat Pete Sampras’s record of 14.
source:the london times
Andy Murray definitely seems to have two of those boxes nicely ticked and probably thinks he is able to take his pen to the third. Don’t get me wrong, I am hugely impressed by everything he has shown going into the first major of the year and I’m firmly of the opinion that he will be the next player to be crowned a Grand Slam champion. He is undeniably a special talent who has it in him to win the greatest prizes. I’m just not yet convinced he is strong enough to show the bounce-back ability required.
I hear all the tales of Andy toughening up, putting on the necessary weight and muscle, running repetitions of 400m sprints until his lungs expanded to bursting point and his legs burnt. I see from his matches that this added strength has made his first serve a true weapon and nearly all the other facets of his game are sufficiently top drawer to emulate what Novak Djokovic did this time last year — following up a place in the US Open final by going one step better and winning the Australian title.
The impersonal computer read-out at Melbourne that takes the place of Wimbledon’s traditional velvet bag could not have been more amenable to Britain’s No 1, presenting him with the sort of potential first week that he could hardly have bettered if he tried. Another plus is the way tournament referee Wayne McKewen and his match scheduling team seem more than happy to agree with the requests of foreign television companies. I’d be amazed if Murray started any of his matches in the boiling glare of a sweltering Aussie early afternoon because that is in the middle of the night British time and the BBC would like Murray on court at breakfast time or later, when he can be seen on its interactive service. I’d love to banish such doubts because Murray is such a sensational talent that he deserves to open his Grand Slam account as soon as possible.
However, I think back to three matches last year and wonder. The first was his lacklustre exit from Wimbledon against Rafael Nadal a couple of days after sending the nation’s imagination into overdrive with that sensational fightback to beat Richard Gasquet in five sets. The second was the US Open final in September when, having finally overcome the Spaniard who was the man of the moment, he could not offer any great resistance to the supreme Roger Federer. And the last was the Tennis Masters Cup semi-final in Shanghai a couple of months later when, after beating Federer so magnificently, he was reduced to mush a day later when he faced Nikolay Davydenko.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Murray is now more than capable of beating anybody in the world on any given day. He’s proved that by taking out all the big guys at least once in the weeks since Wimbledon. I’m not totally sure, though, playing over the best-of-five sets, whether he yet has sufficient powers of recovery necessary to go through a potentially demanding climax to the second week when he could quite easily have to overcome first Nadal and then Federer. Abu Dhabi in an exhibition is one thing, the Australian Open is another.
That Murray has been installed as favourite for the title in some quarters won’t affect him in the slightest, though it would be wrong to say that when the balls start flying, top tennis players give no heed to a word that bookmakers say.
I can cast my mind back to 1988 and recall going into this tournament as the man with the shortest odds after winning Wimbledon and not thinking it exerted any added pressure. If memory serves me well, they only boosted my confidence a little more. On that occasion I came up short in the final to Mats Wilander but never once was that because I felt the pressure of expectation. He just handled the day better than I did.
In two weeks, Murray could easily be on the verge of becoming a Grand Slam champion for the first time. He has nothing to fear, the time zones work in his favour and his game is better than ever. Only one thing makes me think somebody else will win: the fact that Federer is a proven exponent at winning major titles.
Sure he’s lost to Murray in both Abu Dhabi and Doha this year but they weren’t tournaments that got Federer truly revved up. One was an exhibition and the other a lucrative season-opener that was nonetheless of modest status. The Aussie Open is one of the Grand Slams and those are events Federer knows how to win. He loves doing it and this year is determined to beat Pete Sampras’s record of 14.
source:the london times
Administration threat to Great Leighs’ future
The future of Britain’s newest racecourse is in serious doubt after Essex County Showground Ltd, which manages Great Leighs, went into administration last night.
Nine turbulent months after the racecourse opened, administrators were called in when the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) rejected an extension to Great Leighs’ licence to race, having been sufficiently concerned by the deteriorating financial position effectively to shut down the Essex venue.
It did so amid persistent complaints from suppliers over lack of payment as creditors mounted, and the increasing failure of the racecourse to meet its financial commitments towards prize-money. Only four months ago, the BHA had made threatening noises over a six-figure debt that Great Leighs had built up with Weatherbys, which distributes prize-money to racehorse owners. The debt was paid, but rumours persisted that building the track had put an intolerable financial burden on its owner, John Holmes.
Only yesterday, Holmes had pledged to return to the BHA’s offices next week to reapply for the licence to race. That process will now fall to the administrators, Carlton Siddle and Nick Edwards, of Deloitte. They plan to run the business as a going concern while exploring the possibility of selling the venue near Chelmsford.Great Leighs, Britain’s first new racecourse since 1927, has been stalked by controversy from the outset. After numerous delays to its start date, the track opened last April with a lauded racing surface, but precious little by way of facilities for the paying public.
At the time, Holmes maintained that facilities would quickly improve, yet few enhancements were forthcoming. One of Britain’s leading trainers, Jeremy Noseda, was so appalled on his inaugural visit that he said: “This is like going back to the Dark Ages. It’s a good track to run horses round, but as a leisure experience, it’s a disgrace.”
Speculation will centre on who could buy Great Leighs at a time when borrowing money has never been more difficult. Ironically, Holmes is understood to have rejected an eight-figure offer from Northern Racing Ltd to buy the site in the months before it opened for business.
The proprietor of ten racecourses, Northern is owned by David and Simon Reuben. The brothers, property and investment entrepreneurs, have increased to about 23 per cent their stake in Arena Leisure, which manages Great Leighs and owns five other tracks. Their position has fuelled speculation that Northern and Arena will merge into one company with control of nearly 30 per cent of Britain’s 60 racecourses.
Delayed reactions
Feb 04 Project receives official approval — opening date Dec 2005
May 05 Opening put back to June 06, then Oct 06
Aug 06 Surrenders first six fixtures, new opening date Feb 07
Jan 07 Opening date put back to June 07, then Oct 07, then Feb 08, then Apr 08
Apr 08 Licence to race rejected pending safety improvements
Apr 08 Stages first meeting but without paying customers. Racing surface praised but facilities primitive
May 08 Paying customers admitted
Sep 08 Meetings under threat until debt with Weatherbys cleared
Dec 08 Annual licence application rejected; two-week temporary licence issued
Jan 09 Temporary licence not renewed — track closed
source:the london times
Nine turbulent months after the racecourse opened, administrators were called in when the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) rejected an extension to Great Leighs’ licence to race, having been sufficiently concerned by the deteriorating financial position effectively to shut down the Essex venue.
It did so amid persistent complaints from suppliers over lack of payment as creditors mounted, and the increasing failure of the racecourse to meet its financial commitments towards prize-money. Only four months ago, the BHA had made threatening noises over a six-figure debt that Great Leighs had built up with Weatherbys, which distributes prize-money to racehorse owners. The debt was paid, but rumours persisted that building the track had put an intolerable financial burden on its owner, John Holmes.
Only yesterday, Holmes had pledged to return to the BHA’s offices next week to reapply for the licence to race. That process will now fall to the administrators, Carlton Siddle and Nick Edwards, of Deloitte. They plan to run the business as a going concern while exploring the possibility of selling the venue near Chelmsford.Great Leighs, Britain’s first new racecourse since 1927, has been stalked by controversy from the outset. After numerous delays to its start date, the track opened last April with a lauded racing surface, but precious little by way of facilities for the paying public.
At the time, Holmes maintained that facilities would quickly improve, yet few enhancements were forthcoming. One of Britain’s leading trainers, Jeremy Noseda, was so appalled on his inaugural visit that he said: “This is like going back to the Dark Ages. It’s a good track to run horses round, but as a leisure experience, it’s a disgrace.”
Speculation will centre on who could buy Great Leighs at a time when borrowing money has never been more difficult. Ironically, Holmes is understood to have rejected an eight-figure offer from Northern Racing Ltd to buy the site in the months before it opened for business.
The proprietor of ten racecourses, Northern is owned by David and Simon Reuben. The brothers, property and investment entrepreneurs, have increased to about 23 per cent their stake in Arena Leisure, which manages Great Leighs and owns five other tracks. Their position has fuelled speculation that Northern and Arena will merge into one company with control of nearly 30 per cent of Britain’s 60 racecourses.
Delayed reactions
Feb 04 Project receives official approval — opening date Dec 2005
May 05 Opening put back to June 06, then Oct 06
Aug 06 Surrenders first six fixtures, new opening date Feb 07
Jan 07 Opening date put back to June 07, then Oct 07, then Feb 08, then Apr 08
Apr 08 Licence to race rejected pending safety improvements
Apr 08 Stages first meeting but without paying customers. Racing surface praised but facilities primitive
May 08 Paying customers admitted
Sep 08 Meetings under threat until debt with Weatherbys cleared
Dec 08 Annual licence application rejected; two-week temporary licence issued
Jan 09 Temporary licence not renewed — track closed
source:the london times
Dimitar Berbatov steals last-minute win
HE MOVES quietly through most matches, a drifter more than a hustler. The opponent who swaps shirts with him might not even have to wash the garment when he gets home. Like his approach to everything else he does on the pitch, Dimitar Berbatov measures each drop of perspiration before spending it. And of all the players in the game, he is the one you must judge by quality, not quantity.
Yesterday’s contribution was classical Berbatov. He had spent most of the game on the edge of the action but there were enough good touches and perceptive passes to remind us of his worth. And there were enough raised eyebrows and hand signals of irritation to remind his colleagues that he expected more of them. He is more general than foot soldier, and just as the game seemed certain to end scoreless, he turned up in the right place to deliver the 90th-minute winner.
The ball was played towards Carlos Tevez, the danger seemed minimal, but Andy O’Brien and Sebastien Puygrenier got into a tangle and the Argentinian got free. A quick pass would have put Berbatov through, but Tevez took the ball on, eventually saw his teammate and struck a good cross for the Bulgarian to stoop low and guide his header into the net.
United had had chances before this moment, but this was Berbatov’s first opportunity, and the game was decided. Two minutes later, the final whistle sounded and you understood why Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic went to the centre-forward and gave him the kind of hug you reserve for the hero. There is more to United’s climb to the top of the table than important contributions from a talented striker. Goals win games, but it is great defence that makes the team invincible, and United have climbed above Chelsea and Liverpool on the back of their defenders. Do you remember Sami Nasri at the Emirates in November, the last player to score a Premier League goal against United? Yesterday’s was the team’s 10th consecutive clean sheet.
That equalled Chelsea’s record, and just now you wouldn’t bet on any team to score against United. At the Reebok they were without Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, but the Irishmen, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea, were excellent replacements. Evans’s rise has been impressive and it was instructive to hear Sir Alex Ferguson speak of him after the game: “I was delighted to have Jonny Evans fit for the game because there was a doubt. The young boy is maturing quickly. He has been fantastic for us.”
The Northern Ireland international is tall, quick, brave, has good positional sense and is very composed for one with such limited experience. He hardly put a foot wrong yesterday and suffered little by comparison with the outstanding Vidic.
You have to say, too, that Bolton didn’t have the class to trouble United and they sorely missed Johan Elmander, their injured centre- forward. They gave a first start to Portuguese striker Ariza Makukula. Although he won a few headers early on, he didn’t do much else except get tired in the second half.
The game started tamely. Bolton’s poor recent run made them do everything cautiously and United weren’t in the mood to rush things. Then the strangest thing: midway through the half, a man left his seat in the stands and somehow insinuated himself into the game. He just trotted on to the field as a line of orange-coated stewards looked on menacingly. As he walked towards the centre circle, the intruder waved a red-and-white scarf over his head, indicating he might have been of a United persuasion. What prompted him was the mystery. Was he there to ask for more passion? Perhaps to complain about the lack of excitement? It was a strange minute or so. Play stopped and nobody moved. He was burly, and it may have been his size that induced such trepidation. “You tell him to get lost.” “After you,” the players and stewards seemed to be saying. Tevez’s quiet diplomacy didn’t work.
Then Neville, who has been known to rush in where angels fear to tread, went to The Burly One and suggested he leave. As the full-back ushered him away, you should have seen the belated bravery of the orange coats who swarmed on to the pitch and frogmarched the fan to the waiting police. So engaging was this little distraction that it was almost a comedown to return to the sedateness of the game.
Twenty-eight minutes slowly passed before Fabrice Muamba won a little tussle with Anderson and rocketed a left-foot shot that Edwin van der Sar finger-tipped around the post. The shot was a reminder that goals weren’t out of the question, and as the game edged towards the interval United finally shook themselves awake. Was it the prospect of their mid-match chat with Sir Alex that stirred them?
Berbatov and O’Shea linked neatly down the left. When the full-back’s cross was half-cleared, Neville gave Darren Fletcher the chance to cross from the right. It was a finely delivered ball and Cristiano Ronaldo’s firm header drew a good save from Jussi Jaaskelainen, who made further good saves in the second half. His excellence has been a constant theme of the Bolton story in the past few years.
United quickened the tempo a little in the second half. As Bolton’s limbs grew weary, more of the game was played out in their half and it was simply a question of whether United would get that one goal and claim their seventh 1-0 in this campaign. Lapses of concentration by Gretar Steinsson allowed Ronaldo to stampede twice down the left. Instead of going for goal, he sought to pick out a teammate but failed.
Then the game was into its last minute and Ferguson was trying to get Danny Welbeck on for Tevez when the ball came to the Argentinian and he got clear of the defence to make the winner for Berbatov. You could be sentimental and say Bolton deserved better, but on their own ground they had played for a nil-nil draw and apart from that Muamba shot, they didn’t trouble Van der Sar.And, for facing down The Burly One, Neville deserved to be on the side that won.
“Being top is not decisive at this stage, but it is always nice because it is the best place to be,” Ferguson said. “We have been playing catch-up in terms of fixtures for a while. We still have another game in hand against Fulham on February 17. Only after that will we have a good idea of where we stand between Liverpool, Chelsea and ourselves.”
Bolton manager Gary Megson berated his centre-halves, Gary Cahill, O’Brien and Puygrenier, for not dealing more decisively with Tevez in the build-up to Berbatov’s winner. “Our part in that goal was particularly poor,” he said. “I put three centre-halves in there at the end because we were out on our feet. It looked as though we would get something but it hasn’t happened.
“I don’t know if this result was ominous for the rest of the league but if anyone finishes above United, they will win it.”
BOLTON WANDERERS: Jaaskelainen 8, Steinsson 6, Cahill 7, O’Brien 6, Samuel 7, Davies 5, Gardner 6 (Puygrenier 83min), Muamba 7, Basham 7, Taylor 5, Makukula 5 (Obadeyi 64min)
MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar 6, Neville 6, Vidic 7, Evans 7, O’Shea 7, Fletcher 5 (Giggs 69min), Carrick 6, Anderson 7 (Scholes 69min), Ronaldo 6, Tevez 6, Berbatov 7
source:the london times
Yesterday’s contribution was classical Berbatov. He had spent most of the game on the edge of the action but there were enough good touches and perceptive passes to remind us of his worth. And there were enough raised eyebrows and hand signals of irritation to remind his colleagues that he expected more of them. He is more general than foot soldier, and just as the game seemed certain to end scoreless, he turned up in the right place to deliver the 90th-minute winner.
The ball was played towards Carlos Tevez, the danger seemed minimal, but Andy O’Brien and Sebastien Puygrenier got into a tangle and the Argentinian got free. A quick pass would have put Berbatov through, but Tevez took the ball on, eventually saw his teammate and struck a good cross for the Bulgarian to stoop low and guide his header into the net.
United had had chances before this moment, but this was Berbatov’s first opportunity, and the game was decided. Two minutes later, the final whistle sounded and you understood why Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic went to the centre-forward and gave him the kind of hug you reserve for the hero. There is more to United’s climb to the top of the table than important contributions from a talented striker. Goals win games, but it is great defence that makes the team invincible, and United have climbed above Chelsea and Liverpool on the back of their defenders. Do you remember Sami Nasri at the Emirates in November, the last player to score a Premier League goal against United? Yesterday’s was the team’s 10th consecutive clean sheet.
That equalled Chelsea’s record, and just now you wouldn’t bet on any team to score against United. At the Reebok they were without Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra, but the Irishmen, Jonny Evans and John O’Shea, were excellent replacements. Evans’s rise has been impressive and it was instructive to hear Sir Alex Ferguson speak of him after the game: “I was delighted to have Jonny Evans fit for the game because there was a doubt. The young boy is maturing quickly. He has been fantastic for us.”
The Northern Ireland international is tall, quick, brave, has good positional sense and is very composed for one with such limited experience. He hardly put a foot wrong yesterday and suffered little by comparison with the outstanding Vidic.
You have to say, too, that Bolton didn’t have the class to trouble United and they sorely missed Johan Elmander, their injured centre- forward. They gave a first start to Portuguese striker Ariza Makukula. Although he won a few headers early on, he didn’t do much else except get tired in the second half.
The game started tamely. Bolton’s poor recent run made them do everything cautiously and United weren’t in the mood to rush things. Then the strangest thing: midway through the half, a man left his seat in the stands and somehow insinuated himself into the game. He just trotted on to the field as a line of orange-coated stewards looked on menacingly. As he walked towards the centre circle, the intruder waved a red-and-white scarf over his head, indicating he might have been of a United persuasion. What prompted him was the mystery. Was he there to ask for more passion? Perhaps to complain about the lack of excitement? It was a strange minute or so. Play stopped and nobody moved. He was burly, and it may have been his size that induced such trepidation. “You tell him to get lost.” “After you,” the players and stewards seemed to be saying. Tevez’s quiet diplomacy didn’t work.
Then Neville, who has been known to rush in where angels fear to tread, went to The Burly One and suggested he leave. As the full-back ushered him away, you should have seen the belated bravery of the orange coats who swarmed on to the pitch and frogmarched the fan to the waiting police. So engaging was this little distraction that it was almost a comedown to return to the sedateness of the game.
Twenty-eight minutes slowly passed before Fabrice Muamba won a little tussle with Anderson and rocketed a left-foot shot that Edwin van der Sar finger-tipped around the post. The shot was a reminder that goals weren’t out of the question, and as the game edged towards the interval United finally shook themselves awake. Was it the prospect of their mid-match chat with Sir Alex that stirred them?
Berbatov and O’Shea linked neatly down the left. When the full-back’s cross was half-cleared, Neville gave Darren Fletcher the chance to cross from the right. It was a finely delivered ball and Cristiano Ronaldo’s firm header drew a good save from Jussi Jaaskelainen, who made further good saves in the second half. His excellence has been a constant theme of the Bolton story in the past few years.
United quickened the tempo a little in the second half. As Bolton’s limbs grew weary, more of the game was played out in their half and it was simply a question of whether United would get that one goal and claim their seventh 1-0 in this campaign. Lapses of concentration by Gretar Steinsson allowed Ronaldo to stampede twice down the left. Instead of going for goal, he sought to pick out a teammate but failed.
Then the game was into its last minute and Ferguson was trying to get Danny Welbeck on for Tevez when the ball came to the Argentinian and he got clear of the defence to make the winner for Berbatov. You could be sentimental and say Bolton deserved better, but on their own ground they had played for a nil-nil draw and apart from that Muamba shot, they didn’t trouble Van der Sar.And, for facing down The Burly One, Neville deserved to be on the side that won.
“Being top is not decisive at this stage, but it is always nice because it is the best place to be,” Ferguson said. “We have been playing catch-up in terms of fixtures for a while. We still have another game in hand against Fulham on February 17. Only after that will we have a good idea of where we stand between Liverpool, Chelsea and ourselves.”
Bolton manager Gary Megson berated his centre-halves, Gary Cahill, O’Brien and Puygrenier, for not dealing more decisively with Tevez in the build-up to Berbatov’s winner. “Our part in that goal was particularly poor,” he said. “I put three centre-halves in there at the end because we were out on our feet. It looked as though we would get something but it hasn’t happened.
“I don’t know if this result was ominous for the rest of the league but if anyone finishes above United, they will win it.”
BOLTON WANDERERS: Jaaskelainen 8, Steinsson 6, Cahill 7, O’Brien 6, Samuel 7, Davies 5, Gardner 6 (Puygrenier 83min), Muamba 7, Basham 7, Taylor 5, Makukula 5 (Obadeyi 64min)
MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar 6, Neville 6, Vidic 7, Evans 7, O’Shea 7, Fletcher 5 (Giggs 69min), Carrick 6, Anderson 7 (Scholes 69min), Ronaldo 6, Tevez 6, Berbatov 7
source:the london times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
