Scholesy’s Return and Manucho

Paul Scholes looks set to return for the FA Cup game against Tottenham. He should make it to the substitutes bench at least. The manager has all reason to be optimistic about his return. “I still think we will get three more years out of Scholes because he comes back from injuries very well”, he says.

Many of us will remember the summer of 2006 when Carrick was our only signing of note; when SAF talked about the return of Scholes (from his eye condition), Ole and Giggs as new signing. With the Glazer takeover the season before that, the sale of Ruud in the summer and an underwhelming 05/06 season (when a Carling Cup win was celebrated) many dismissed the talk of ‘new signings’ as mere rhetoric. Scholes’ form last season, along with Ronaldo’s brilliance, was the driving force behind our successful 06/07 campaign.

So here’s hoping we get to see a rejuvenated Scholes breathe fresh life into our campaign.

A lot of us have gotten excited about Manucho, and for good reason. He scored an absolute belter and with his head. And if he can do something like this more often we would have someone who can head in our side. For those who have been reading the site regularly, we have been keeping tabs on him and will continue to do so — thus hoping Angola progress far into the ACN. He looks strong and from reports can hold the ball well. So, more or less, a strong (less injury prone?) version of Louis Saha. He has scored for the past three games for Angola (friendlies included, one of which was against Egypt). Here is the video of Manucho’s goal against South Africa.

About the “Ronaldo to Madrid rumours”, many of the those linking to stories on our comment section of late have been increasingly linking to Tribal Football. For heavens’ sake, please suspend judgments until you hear them from more credible sources, like the BBC or the Telegraph or the Guardian. Tribal Football usually copy paste reports from tabloids for the purpose of sensationalism and inducing traffic. Look for quotes, preferably not from Madrid (and not from Ronnie’s mom) because they usually talk shite.

Fergie thinks Beckham should complete 100 appearances for England. With Capello as coach, it looks like it might actually happen.

And EVDS says the English game makes goal keepers suffer lots of bruises. He says ‘keepers get ‘bullied’, which could be a strong word. But he will be ready and prepare himself for the Spurs game. More on that later when we preview the game.

Finally a hilarious video of an interview of SAF, Giggs and Ronaldo during their trip to Riyadh. Was that for real or a piss take! [via The Offside]