Fergie fumes as Van Persie's debut falls flat

August 21, 2012

V._persie

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson criticised his own players for failing to utilise Robin van Persie's talents after they crashed to a surprise 1-0 defeat at Everton.


Van Persie made his eagerly-anticipated United debut as a 68th minute substitute with his new side trailing to Marouane Fellaini's second half goal at Goodison Park on Monday.


But the Dutch striker, who completed a 24 million pound move from Arsenal last Friday, was unable to inspire Ferguson's team, who lost their opening game of the Premier League season for the first time since 2004.


"We played around him too much, we didn't show enough penetration and with Robin in your team you know you want to use his ability against centre-backs in situations he is very good at. But we didn't use him enough," Ferguson said.


Ferguson explained his decision to start van Persie on the substitutes bench by insisting the striker hadn't played enough during pre-season.


"He's not played any football, given the expectation of him playing at any given moment, it was better for him to start on the substitutes' bench," he said.


"He's a great player and there is always the temptation to play him when you have a player like that. But the sensible route is to start him on the bench."


United were lacklustre for long spells and it required a string of fine stops by Spanish keeper David De Gea to prevent Everton from winning by a bigger margin.


Midfielder Leon Osman was outstanding for the hosts, but Ferguson admitted his players failed to handle goalscorer Fellaini.


"He is a handful, he is a big, tall, gangly lad and they just lumped the ball forward to him, that's all they did," he added.


"They worked from that base all the time and they got a goal from him, so it's justified."


Everton manager David Moyes saluted his players after a fine victory, but refused to get carried away after Everton won an opening game of a season for the first time since 2007.


The hype before the game had centred around van Persie's signing and Moyes claimed his side took extra motivation from being largely ignored in the build-up.


"It was all about Manchester United prior to this game and what they have been doing, and I thought that people had called that wrong because Everton are a tough team to beat at Goodison Park," he said.


"Most people going into this game were writing us off and I thought that was a little bit strange.


"We were starting with more or less the same players that finished last season.


"In the first half David de Gea made a couple of great saves. You're never going to have the ball all the time against United, but when we didn't have it we kept a good shape and defended well.


"It was a tight game and when we scored, United picked it up and tried to find different ways to try and get back in the game."


However, Moyes was impressed by Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who made a solid debut for United, and the Everton manager believes can make a big impact after joining from Borussia Dortmund.


"United have made some good signings," added Moyes. "The Japanese player looks a good signing.


"To beat Manchester United is hard but I don't know if it's our best performance since I came here."



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News Network
February 11,2020

Dubai, Feb 11: Two Indian players-- Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi -- and three Bangladeshis have been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for involvement in the quarrel just after the U-19 cricket World Cup summit clash in Potchefstroom, South Africa on Sunday.

Akash and Bishnoi and three Bangladeshi players -- Md. Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan -- were found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct after a few players from both sides nearly came to blows after Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win their maiden U-19 World Cup title.

"Five players have been found guilty of a Level 3 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Support Personnel ... (they) were charged with violating Article 2.21 of the code, whilst Bishnoi received a further charge of breaching Article 2.5," the ICC said in a statement.

"All five players have accepted the sanctions proposed by ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup Match Referee Graeme Labrooy," it added.

A near brawl broke out after Bangladesh’s historic win over India in the final. The Bangladesh players were aggressive during the Indian innings with lead pacer Shoriful Islam frequently sledging the Indian batsmen.

As soon as the match ended, Bangladeshi players rushed into the playing area.

"India's Akash accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years," the ICC said.

Compatriot Bishnoi accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of five suspension points, which equates to five demerit points.

"Bishnoi also accepted a level 1 charge of breaching Article 2.5 for a separate incident during the match, where he used language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter following the dismissal of Avishek Das in the 23rd over," said the ICC.

"For this he received a further two demerit points meaning seven demerit points will remain on his record for the next two years."

Bangladesh's Towhid Hridoy accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of ten suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Shamim Hossain accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of eight suspension points, which equates to six demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

Rakibul Hasan accepted the charge of breaching Article 2.21 and has received a sanction of four suspension points, which equates to five demerit points, which will remain on his record for two years.

All charges were levelled by on-field umpires Sam Nogajski and Adrian Holdstock, third umpire Ravindra Wimalasiri as well as fourth umpire Patrick Bongni Jele. Level 3 breaches carry a minimum penalty of four suspension points and a maximum penalty of 12 suspension points.

The suspension points will be applied to the forthcoming international matches the players are most likely to participate in at either senior or U-19 level. One suspension point equals a player being ineligible for one ODI or T20I, U-19 or A team international match.

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Agencies
February 4,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 4: Yashasvi Jaiswal and Divyaansh Saxena guided India to a comfortable ten wickets win over Pakistan in the ICC U19 World Cup semifinal at Senwes Park on Tuesday and progressed to the final of the tournament.

Chasing 173, Indian openers Jaiswal and Saxena played cautiously and stitched an unbeaten partnership of 176 runs.

The duo built the highest opening partnership of the tournament's history. Jaiswal, the left-handed batsman, scored his maiden century of the tournament as he amassed unbeaten 105 runs studded with eight fours and four sixes.

Saxena scored 59* off 99 balls including six fours. India chased down the total in 35.2 overs. This is the first time in the history of the U19 World Cup that a team won a knockout match by ten wickets.

Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Haider Ali and skipper Rohail Nazir's half-centuries guided the side to a respectable total of 172. Ali played a knock of 56 runs while Nazir accumulated 62 runs including six boundaries.

Pakistan did not have a good start as they lost Mohammad Hurair (4) in the second over. Fahad Munir, came to bat at number three, failed to score a single run and was departed by Ravi Bishnoi on a duck in ninth over.

Apart from Ali and Nazir, Mohammad Haris was the only batsman to score runs in double digits. He played an innings of 21 runs off 15 balls. Indian bowlers showed a spirited performance as they bowled out arch-rival in 43.1 overs.

Pacers Karthik Tyagi and Sushant Mishra bagged two and three wickets respectively. Spinner Ravi Bishnoi clinched two scalps and conceded 46 runs in his ten overs.

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News Network
June 23,2020

Karachi, Jun 23: Pakistan cricketers Shadab Khan, Haris Rauf and rookie Haider Ali on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed three players - Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan - have tested positive for Covid-19," said the PCB in a statement.

"The players had shown no symptoms until they were tested in Rawalpindi on Sunday ahead of the Pakistan men's national cricket team's tour to England."

The infected players will go into self-isolation.

"The PCB medical panel is in contact with the three who have been advised to immediately go into self-isolation," the statement said.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi was tested positive for the deadly virus.

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