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
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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News Network
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: Former India skipper Rahul Dravid has praised the batting of MS Dhoni during the backend of a match, saying that the wicket-keeper often played during the period as if the result did not really matter to him.

Dravid also said that in pressure-cooker situations, not worrying about consequences can help players bring out the best in themselves.

"You watch MS Dhoni play during the backend of a match when he was at his best, you always felt like that he is doing something really important to him but he is playing it like the result does not really matter to him," Dravid told Sanjay Manjrekar during a videocast hosted by ESPNCricinfo.

"I think you need to have that or you need to train for it. It is a skill that I never had. The consequences of any decision mattered to me. It would be interesting to ask MS Dhoni that is this something that has come naturally to him or did he work on this during his career," he added.

Dhoni made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in 2004, but he truly arrived in the series against Pakistan in 2005 when he scored 148 runs in the second ODI of the six-match series at Vishakapatnam.

He is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy). Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He first led an inexperienced Indian side to the T20 World Cup triumph in 2007. He then took over ODI captaincy, but he had to wait for leading the Test side as Anil Kumble was doing the duties in the longest format.

Over his career, Dhoni has been reowned for his finishing skills and he is often viewed as the best finisher that the game has ever seen.

In December 2014, Dhoni announced his retirement from the longest format of the game.

Then in 2017, Dhoni handed over the captaincy reins to Virat Kohli in the 50-over format.

Dhoni was slated to return to the cricket field on March 29 in the IPL's opening match between CSK and Mumbai Indians. However, the tournament has been suspended indefinitely as a precautionary measure against coronavirus.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni recently had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches.

Earlier this year, Dhoni did not find a place in the list of BCCI's centrally contracted players from October 2019 to September 2020.

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News Network
March 13,2020

Mar 13: The start of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the world's most lucrative cricket competition, has been postponed from March 29 until April 15 over the coronavirus, the Indian cricket board said Friday.

"The Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to suspend IPL 2020 till 15th April 2020, as a precautionary measure against the ongoing Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation," the BCCI said in a statement.

The two-month Twenty20 competition is estimated to generate more than $11 billion for the Indian economy and involves cricket's top international stars.

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