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Sheringham off the mark as United look to Europe
By Henry Winter | |
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Everton (0) 0 Man Utd (1) 2 QUICKER in thought and deed, Manchester United comfortably dealt with Everton at Goodison Park last night. Goals from David Beckham, a header, and a first strike for Teddy Sheringham capped another day at the office for the champions of England. Maybe it was the smell of the Champions' League, but United gave a typically European-style performance, resisting early pressure, stilling the home crowd before scoring on the break. By the end, Goodison was a bowl of rancour, criticism falling down on Howard Kendall's players. Although Everton started promisingly, they faded against the high-tempo, high-pressure game of Roy Keane and his supremely competitive colleagues. Although Andy Cole was at last able to sit, however uncomfortably, on the bench, United still lacked their forward focus, a long-standing deficiency that continues to place an extra onus on the midfielders. Ryan Giggs was pushed forward, working enthusiastically with Paul Scholes and Sheringham. Such an approach initially allowed Everton room in central midfield, which Danny Williamson, Gary Speed and Graham Stuart began to use. For the opening 20 minutes, Howard Kendall's team looked invigorated, spinning the ball wide for their wing-backs and always alive to the knock-down options afforded by the towering Duncan Ferguson. The tall Scotsman also showed he is no slouch on the ground, drilling one wonderful cross-field pass to Terry Phelan. Everton seemed in the ascendancy, a false dawn prompted by Stuart's long-range shooting. Peter Schmeichel grasped the first effort cleanly but needed two attempts to smother the second. Having weathered the Everton storm, United stepped up a gear, counter-attacking with their traditional pace and gusto. After 26 minutes, Giggs appeared on the right to collect a pass from Keane, United's captain as industrious and influential a figure as ever. Giggs ran in but failed to trouble Neville Southall with a low shot. The warning went unheeded. Moments later, United moved ahead with a goal that had its roots in poor Everton marking. Taking a few short strides to the right-hand touchline, Gary Neville threw the ball powerfully into the box. It cleared a thicket of Everton defenders, eventually arriving close to Scholes, who was lurking unattended 10 yards out from the far post. The ball was at an awkward height, perhaps explaining why Scholes mishit it. Everton's defenders were still turning to deal with Scholes when the ball looped back over them towards Southall's other post. There, again untroubled, was Beckham who celebrated his second start of the season with a header directed over Southall and into the top corner. Uplifted, the champions began to play with real cohesion, retaining possession where before they had been profligate. Beckham, clearly stirred up, fouled Slaven Bilic and was lucky to escape caution for the sort of petulance that Glenn Hoddle has warned him against. Goodison, which hardly took to Beckham, then saw his more positive side, a whipped-in corner directed to Sheringham, who again was unable to exploit the opportunity. Beckham finished the half with another fine ball from the right, a cross to the far-post almost met by Nicky Butt and Sheringham. Sheringham did not have long to wait for his debut goal. When another Everton mistake again ceded possession to the opposition, Giggs went gliding down the left. Sheringham, meanwhile, was at his stealthy best, slipping unnoticed into the box. When Giggs's cross came in, nicely angled back towards the edge of the area, there was Sheringham to shoot past Southall. He was quickly enveloped in the embrace of his team-mates. Everton were stunned but any culpability lay fairly and squarely at their back-door. United were never at their rampant best. Keane and Co just made their possession count. Goodison's disatisfaction, heard in bouts of booing, was understandable. Their players were second best when it counted. Kendall sent on Tony Thomas and John Oster, having earlier made the tactical switch to a back-four in replacing Craig Short with Michael Branch. Both formations looked vulnerable to the sort of incisive attacks United favour. Contrasting seasons lie ahead. _________________________________________________________________ Everton (0) 0 Man Utd (1) 2 Beckham 29, Sheringham 51. Everton: Southall, Barrett (Thomas 66), Phelan, Williamson, Watson, Bilic, Short (Branch 46), Stuart, Ferguson, Barmby (Oster 66), Speed. Subs Not Used: Gerrard, Farrelly. Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville, Irwin, Pallister, Beckham, Butt, Sheringham (Cole 79), Giggs, Keane, Scholes, Berg. Subs Not Used: P. Neville, McClair, Poborsky, Van Der Gouw. Att: 40,079 Ref: K W Burge (Tonypandy). _________________________________________________________________ United draw level at top, Arsenal see drama (Adds detail) By Adrian Warner LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuter) - England striker Teddy Sheringham scored his first goal for Manchester United as the reigning champions won 2-0 at Everton to draw level on points with premier league leaders Blackburn on Wednesday. But the biggest drama of the night came at Leicester where championship contenders Arsenal were involved in a 3-3 draw which saw three goals in injury time, a hat-trick from Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp and problems after the final whistle. Sheringham, who moved to Old Trafford from Tottenham for nearly $6 million in June, struck home a left-footed shot in the 51st minute to clinch the victory after David Beckham had given United the lead with a first-half header. Second-placed United are now level on points with Blackburn who lead on goal difference after thrashing Sheffield Wednesday 7-2 on Monday. Arsenal and Leicester are third and fourth respectively, two points behind after their intense encounter in the Midlands. The London club seemed to be heading for a comfortable 2-0 away win with seven minutes remaining after World Cup striker Bergkamp struck a brilliant long-range goal in the ninth minute and added a second in the 61st. But Leicester drew level to 2-2 with goals from Emile Heskey and Matt Elliott, the second in the 90th minute. After Bergkamp appeared to have scored the winner three minutes into injury time Leicester defender Steve Walsh went forward to head in the equaliser two minutes later to protect the home side's unbeaten record. Many of the fans were surprised that so much injury time was played. The final whistle saw angry scenes with Arsenal's controversial striker Ian Wright, who had been substituted, involved in a confrontation on the pitch with Walsh. Wright, who has been in trouble throughout his career for physical and verbal abuse of opponents and officials, could be in serious trouble with the England football authorities because of the incident. The 33-year-old forward was told by the England Football Association (F.A.) in July that he would face a long ban if his bad behaviour continued. Arsenal, who have put together an impressive team this season under coach Arsene Wenger were unlucky not get the three points which would have also have taken them level with Blackburn. The London club played some impressive attacking football. Bergkamp's opening goal was superb. The Dutchman curled the ball from the edge of the area into the top right-hand corner. West Ham moved up to fifth, one point behind Arsenal and Leicester, after a 1-1 draw at Coventry. England international striker Les Ferdinand scored twice for his new club Tottenham in their 3-2 home defeat of Aston Villa. Chelsea won their London derby at Wimbledon 2-0 after goals from Italian Roberto Di Matteo and Romanian midfielder Dan Petrescu. _________________________________________________________________ August 28 1997FOOTBALL Sheringham opens new account as United take charge BY OLIVER HOLT FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT Everton . . . 0 Manchester United . . . 2 STILL playing a shade below their formidable best but still winning, a Manchester United team inspired by the second-half performance of Ryan Giggs eased Everton aside at Goodison Park last night with a nonchalance that did not bode well for those who would seek to wrestle their FA Carling Premiership crown from them this season. United, who moved on to the shoulders of Blackburn Rovers at the top of the table with a comfortable win over a limited Everton side, spurned a host of chances but were still good enough to leave Howard Kendall, the Everton manager, full of admiration. "Whatever side I had selected," Kendall said, "whatever changes I had made, would not have affected that result. We just could not cope with Giggs. If that is the norm for them, it is a one-horse race. They were exceptional." Sheringham, Giggs and Scholes all missed opportunities to make United's victory more emphatic but, of more importance to the visitors was the identity of the scorer of their second goal. Sheringham opened his account for his new club with a deflected second-half strike that sealed United's victory. If that is the start of United's attack functioning properly, too, their challengers will struggle to keep up and Ferguson could not disguise his delight. "I'm pleased for Teddy," Ferguson said, "because any striker wants to score as soon as possible when he moves to a new club. That will do his confidence a lot of good." For much of the first half, Everton dealt comfortably enough with the threat of United's front two of Giggs and Sheringham, snuffing out most potential problems by deploying Bilic just in front of the back four. Schmeichel was the busier goalkeeper for the first 20 minutes, leaping above Barmby to head away an awkward Pallister back-pass, then hurling himself to his right to catch Speed's deflected shot. Midway through the half, the Danish goalkeeper needed two attempts to gather Stuart's ambitious 35-yard drive but gradually, as Everton's efforts foundered, United began to ease their way into the game. In the 29th minute, the visitors broke the deadlock. Gary Neville's long throw eluded the Everton defence and after Scholes mis-hit it, it bounced up to Beckham at the far post and he nodded it unerringly back across Southall and into the far corner of the Everton net. Now United began to dominate possession. Sheringham scuffed a near-post effort from Giggs's low corner and, six minutes before half-time, United nearly scored again when Beckham's cross skidded across the face of goal in front of a trio of United attackers. Only Butt, the last of them, made any contact with it, but he could not guide his header back into the goal. In the second half, Everton's resistance crumbled completely. Kendall took Short off and pulled Bilic into the back four and they were quickly overrun. Giggs, in particular, was rampant, his pace a constant source of embarrassment to Watson and Bilic. Six minutes after half-time, the Wales international created United's second goal when he beat Watson with nonchalant ease on the left and cut the ball back for Sheringham. Bilic tried to block the United striker's shot but succeeded only in deflecting it past Southall. As Everton pressed forward, searching for a way back into the game, United exploited their openness in defence but wasted a string of chances to extend their advantage. _________________________________________________________________ Man United 28 Aug 1997 REDS LOOKING OMINOUS FOR TITLE HAT-TRICK Nobody can bet against Manchester United becoming only the fourth team ever to win the title three seasons on the trot, after their awesome demolition of Everton. But, while both Alex Ferguson and Howard Kendall were both singing the praises of the champions after their 2-0 win at Everton, Teddy Sheringham was the man for whom the night took on a more personal significance. He finally managed to score a goal for his new club, five games into his Old Trafford career. The pressure had been mounting; he'd missed a penalty at his old club Spurs and been getting gently increasing stick for his failure in front of goal. But the classy striker, new man in Glenn Hoddle's World Cup plans, broke his duck in the second half at Goodison Park to grab the killer goal in an impressive victory. Afterwards he admitted: ``I'd be lying if I said there hadn't been any pressure on me. ``As a striker you thrive on goals, and I am no different to anybody else. The first was welcomed. ``I know I'm at United to score goals and I am no different to anybody else. But I'm also around to contribute towards winning games, and that's what I've been trying to do. ``The fact that we are not losing matches had taken a bit of the pressure off me. It would have been worse if we had been losing matches 1-0 and were down at the bottom of the league.'' There had always been a fat chance of that, still more so after United's superb display at Everton. Kendall described them as ``frightening a side, if they maintain that form, who would make the title chase a one-horse race.'' Whatever the likes of Blackburn and Arsenal, plus Liverpool, are doing elsewhere, the ominous shadow of a highly professional machine like United is hanging over everybody. Whoever wants the title knows they must drag it, kicking and screaming, away from Old Trafford. Only Arsenal, Liverpool and Huddersfield have achieved title hat-tricks, and you won't find anybody who witnessed the humbling of Everton who would bet a brass farthing against United becoming the fourth club in soccer history to achieve the feat. Fergie called it: ``Our best display of the season so far.'' Kendall added: ``There was nothing I could have done to change things I told my players in the dressing room that they couldn't have done much to stop what happened. ``United were at the top of their form; few teams would have coped with them on that showing.'' Words like that have been spoken by a few managers in the past five seasons, during which United have won five crowns. United are getting better and better too. They make so few mistakes, concede so few goals and lose so few matches Kendall could just be right about that one horse race. |
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