Manchester United v Liverpool - Preview

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Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal feels his side "must deliver" in their Europa League last-16 second leg tie against Liverpool on Thursday.

A desperately poor performance from the Red Devils saw them lose 2-0 in the first leg at Anfield last week.

United have failed to win in their last three matches in all competitions.

"It starts with the players, of course, but it starts also with the fans. They have a lot of impact on the pitch," said Dutchman Van Gaal.

The meeting against rivals Liverpool comes a week before the 32nd anniversary of one of their greatest comebacks.

Trailing 2-0 to Barcelona in the European Cup Winners' Cup, United won 3-0 at Old Trafford to reach the semi-finals.

They were also 2-1 down to Danish side FC Midtjylland after the first leg in the previous round, before winning 5-1 in the second.

"We have to believe in it," said Van Gaal when asked if they can rescue the tie. "I have spoken only with the players about the victory.

"We always owe to the fans a big result because the fans are paying to see that. We have to deliver."

'We can finish the job'

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal pointed to the atmosphere at Anfield being the difference for Liverpool

Liverpool last won the competition in 2001 - in its guise as the Uefa Cup - and it remains their only opportunity to win a trophy this season.

Their energetic performance in the first leg allowed them to open up an advantage which boss Jurgen Klopp feels they can keep hold of.

"We know about the job we have to do," said the German. "We will try to play similar or more intensive.

"I am absolutely optimistic [that my team will put in a good performance]. We know that we know how to play them.

"It was a good night for us last week. But at the same time it's only halfway. We'll go into the game confident we can finish the job."

Winger Ashley Young and full-back Cameron Borthwick-Jackson will not be risked by Manchester United and midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is not ready to start.

Liverpool midfielder James Milner returns after missing the first leg through illness but the visitors are still likely to be without defender Martin Skrtel, who has been out with a hamstring injury.

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Neville Back into England Squad Room

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Gary Neville will help select England’s final squad before Euro 2016 via a conference call from Spain before the Valencia head coach links up with the national team next week.

Neville gave up his media commitments after being appointed manager of Valencia in December, but continued in his role as England coach.

The former England and Manchester United right-back has endured a difficult time at Valencia but will still be joining Roy Hodgson’s squad during the international break as planned.

Neville is currently preparing for an important Europa League last-16 match with Athletic Bilbao, but will spend some of Wednesday afternoon finalising the England squad for the upcoming friendlies in Germany and at home to Holland.

The conference call with Hodgson and coach Ray Lewington will decide the squad that will be announced at Wembley on Thursday, just hours before Valencia look to overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit and reach the Europa League quarter-finals.

Neville will also lead Valencia in Sunday’s Primera Division match against Celta Vigo, before travelling to the UK along with England’s performance analysis manager Andy Scoulding, who is working at Valencia as technical coach.

The pair’s commitments in Spain meant they missed last month’s England squad meeting at St George’s Park, where around 40 of the 47 players called up by Hodgson since the World Cup got together.

Danny Welbeck was among those in attendance despite having not played for the national team since last March, but the Arsenal forward’s return to action, and form, means he is set to be included in the squad for this month’s friendlies.

Jack Wilshere attended the get-together but remains sidelined with a long-term leg injury, while his Arsenal team-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is also absent.

A knee injury means the England captain Wayne Rooney is the biggest name ruled out of this month’s matches, joining his Manchester United team-mates Phil Jones and Luke Shaw on the sidelines.

The United teenager Marcus Rashford is not expected to be included despite his remarkable emergence, but the Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge and Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster look likely to be involved after recovering from injury.

Few new faces are expected to make their way into Hodgson’s squad, but the West Ham captain Mark Noble and Leicester’s Danny Drinkwater have been pushing for call-ups.

Hodgson recently said both players were “knocking on the door” and Marc Albrighton, who downplayed his own England chances, believes his team-mate Drinkwater should be included.

“I don’t see why not,” the winger said. “He has been fantastic for us. He has really come into his own. If people are going to be picked on form, then he should be one of the first names on the squad list.”

Hodgson will not be able to call upon Fabian Delph, Danny Ings and Charlie Austin due to injury, but the Newcastle winger Andros Townsend will be hoping to be involved after a hamstring strain.

Everton’s Leighton Baines and John Stones are edging their way back to full fitness, while Ryan Mason is injury-free but struggling to get into the Tottenham line-up on a regular basis.

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Shrewsbury Town v Manchester United - Preview

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea is not expected to feature after suffering a knee injury before the Europa League loss to FC Midtjylland.

He became the 14th player on United's injury list, which includes captain Wayne Rooney,

Shrewsbury's former Manchester United midfielder Larnell Cole returns to the squad after three games out with a groin injury.

Manager Micky Mellon also confirmed defender Jack Grimmer will be fit.

"We will give it our best go and we won't be overawed.

"We will make sure that we thoroughly enjoy the game and take it all in and give the best account of ourselves that we possibly can to represent this great football town.

"We've got to do certain things in a certain way to increase our chances of getting a result, so that's what we're working on and the mentality we're approaching the game with."

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal admitted "You cannot continue with losing games," whose side were on the wrong end of results against Sunderland and Danish side Midtjylland in their last two outings.

"You have to see every match as a match you have to win. On Monday, we have to win. 

"If we win, we are in the next round and we are capable of winning The FA Cup."

Venue:

Greenhous Meadow

Date: Monday, 22 February

Kick-off: 19:45 GMT

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Van Gaal Blames Loss on Murphy

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Louis van Gaal blamed his side's 2-1 defeat at the hands at Danish side Midtjylland on "the law of Murphy".

With United's season already in the doldrums, their best hope of returning to the Champions League next season is now in peril.

United had started positively and went ahead in the 37th minute with a scrappy goal from Memphis Depay but the advantage was cancelled out a minute before halftime when Pione Sisto pounced on a mistake from Michael Carrick and scored with a low shot.

Van Gaal's men were then undone in the 77th minute by a goal from Paul Onuachu. The substitute pinched the ball after a half-hearted challenge from Juan Mata on the edge of the area and swivelled before firing home a low bouncing drive to earn the Danes victory.

David de Gea was injured in the warm-up for United with a knee injury but his replacement Sergio Romero made several fine saves and helped to at least keep the Red Devils in the tie.

"When you start the game and your goalkeeper is number 14 (players out injured) then you are not starting like usual I think," van Gaal said on BT Sport 2.

"A lot of things are happening in the heads of the players and the first 10 or 15 minutes we were not so good. But after that we came in the match, we scored, we could have scored more.

"The second half we didn't win any duel, any second ball. You cannot afford a second goal, but we could have scored also, Jesse Lingard had two remarkable chances, so it is the law of Murphy I think."

When quizzed about De Gea's injury, he added: "We have to wait and see, we have to investigate tomorrow with a scan, we cannot answer now."

Former United midfielder Michael Carrick was more scathing of the team and admitted they were not at the races.

The experienced midfielder said: "It's just not good enough, it's not acceptable, the performance and the result, it's nowhere near good enough. It's got to be a lot better.

"I think we caused a lot of our own problems. We haven't played well enough. We didn't kick on after we scored."

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Manchester United Seek Special Help

Manchester United have begun talks with Jose Mourinho's representatives over the manager's job at Old Trafford, according to reports.

The BBC claim that Mourinho's camp have held informal discussions with United but that no agreement has been reached.

Reports indicate that Mourinho's agent, Jorge Mendes, has had conversations with United - although the Portuguese super-agent regularly holds talks with executives from many Premier League clubs as part of his regular business.

There is no suggestion that an agreement has been put in place for Mourinho to succeed Louis van Gaal, whose contract still has around 18 months to run.

Van Gaal has been under intense pressure at Old Trafford following a disappointing campaign. United are facing a fight to qualify for next season's Champions League, having exited the group stage of the competition in December.

They were also knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Championship side Middlesbrough and Van Gaal has faced heavy criticism for his style of play.

Mourinho is available following his sacking by Chelsea in December and it is little secret that he covets the United job.

Scarves bearing his name were even on sale outside Old Trafford at a recent Premier League game as pressure mounted on Van Gaal.

He has come close to being appointed before, and was considered to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson when he left in 2013. On that occasion, doubts over Mourinho's personality and style of football - most notably from United non-executive director and former player Sir Bobby Charlton - led to David Moyes being appointed.

Van Gaal is understood to have offered to resign following a defeat at Stoke on Boxing Day, and was jeered by fans at Old Trafford following the 1-0 loss to Southampton last month.

However, since then he has been more bullish over his prospects of staying at United, who have progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup and beaten Stoke City in the Premier League in the last week.

“I have signed a three-year contract and I have said in all my press conferences that it’s a process, not one game,” Van Gaal said in December. “And I want to continue until the end. If I am not willing to do that, I don’t think I would have started here 1½ years ago.

“It is fantastic of course, but that also gives you a lot of pressure. When the board has such confidence, the pressure is much higher than when they say it is your last game or something like that.

“When your confidence is not so high, you can fight against it. When you can fight, you have bigger motivation than when they support you. But I am always fighting.”

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Fantastic Manager - Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has told his critics to remember he is "a fantastic manager" - even when Chelsea are losing.

The Blues boss admitted he had forgotten what it felt like to win until his side beat Maccabi Tel Aviv 4-0 in their Champions League opener on Wednesday night.

The comprehensive victory was just a second this season for the English champions, who are already 11 points off Manchester City's Premier League pace.

But Mourinho fiercely defended his managerial record in the run-up to the Maccabi game, and afterwards he warned critics against what he claims is kneejerk analysis.

"There are people who are not happy with so many successes," said Mourinho, who again denied any breakdown in his relationship with captain John Terry who was one of several high profile players dropped to the bench for the game.

"Wayne Rooney was a disaster, then he beats the record with England and he's suddenly the best player in the history of English football. Rooney is a fantastic player when he's not scoring goals or when he is.

"I am a fantastic manager when I'm not winning matches and I'm a fantastic manager when I am.

"You like 'up and down', but it's not like that. The pundits get big money not to say easy things. They have to be geniuses in their analysis or they don't deserve the money they get."

Cesc Fabregas scored Chelsea's fourth goal against Maccabi and will be up against old side Arsenal on Saturday

Mourinho welcomed the vocal support of the home fans during the Maccabi game, saying: "It shows that they don't read papers or they don't have short memories: if they don't read papers they'll support me, if they don't have short memories they'll support me.

"There's an easy way for them to think, which is: 'we won four premier Leagues, three with him and one with his team, so this guy is not bad. let's support him, and we have a chance to win a fifth'."

Next up for Mourinho is a meeting with Arsenal and old adversary Arsene Wenger, who recorded a first win over the Portuguese in last month's Community Shield.

He said: "For all of us to have woken up again after a defeat and two days before a London derby against Arsenal, I could imagine how it would feel."

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United Keep Wolfsburg at the Door

Wayne Rooney admits Manchester United must rediscover their killer instinct quickly if they are to avoid an embarrassing early exit from the Champions League.

United’s place in Europe’s top club competition was put in doubt following a disappointing 0-0 draw against PSV Eindhoven at Old Trafford on Wednesday. Rooney, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin all missed good chances as United dropped to second in Group B with one match left.

“We need to score more goals as a team,” Rooney said. “I feel we showed a lack of composure which put ourselves under pressure a lot of times. It’s a learning curve for us, but we can’t keep on saying it’s a learning curve. We have to start turning these games into victories.”

Boos reverberated around Old Trafford after the final whistle and the fans’ annoyance was understandable. United knew a win would send them through with a match to spare, but instead they rarely looked like scoring and their play was slow at times during the second half.

The last time there was a goalless Champions League fixture at Old Trafford was in September 2010, when United played Rangers. United went on to reach the final that year, but matching that feat this season seems a long shot now.

The only way United can guarantee their place in the last 16 is if they beat Wolfsburg away in two weeks’ time. If United fail to defeat the Germans and PSV beat CSKA at home, United will slip into the Europa League.

“We’re disappointed we didn’t win this game,” said Rooney, who returned to the starting XI following a throat infection. “Going out to Germany is always tough, but we have to believe in ourselves and have the confidence in ourselves.

“It’s not the way we wanted it to be before tonight’s game, but that’s the way it is and we believe we’re good enough to go out there and get the three points.”

Louis van Gaal echoed the comments of his captain. “Now we have to win in Wolfsburg and that will be difficult but we have already beaten them at home and at least we are still second in the group, in a qualifying position. Our away record is better this year as you know – but we will have to play much better than this.”

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