EPL News: Wayne Rooney’s return to inspire United, Mike Phelan
Manchester United who drew their last league match in the English Premier League against Aston Villa by a score line of 2-2 face Wigan Athletic in their next league match, an encounter which might see Wayne Rooney’s return to action for
the Red Devils. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men fought it out against Aston Villa at the Villa Park as they recovered from two goals down to score two goals in ten minutes, to salvage a point from the match.
Wayne Rooney is set to have his fitness levels assessed by Manchester United’s medical staff on Monday, as he returned from Nike’s fitness HQ in U.S.A over the weekend. Rooney has been out with an ankle injury, a fitness concern that has
plagued him since March of 2010. Manchester United’s assistance manager who spoke to the press after their draw against Villa said, "Will Rooney play next weekend? We will have a look at Wayne. He is back in the country. We will have a look at him and then
we will build towards next weekend. He has trained very well. The exercise that we have put in place for him has worked well. We will assess him during the week."
United were saved their blushes through two late goals which were scored by the likes of Nemanja Vidic and Federico Macheda as Villa’s two goal lead was eventually matched by Manchester United. Phelan commented on the game saying, "We
lacked that bit of composure, got bossed in certain areas of the field and didn't take control like we normally do. We've come out of this game with a point when we should have been more than two goals behind at one stage of the game. I thought Villa were
quite wasteful when they got in front of goal and that only gives you encouragement. We kept going forward, we changed it with a couple of players and that inspired us to go forward."
United maintained their unbeaten record in the English Premier League with a draw against Villa, Phelan was yet again quick to emphasize this fact as he remarked, "We are still unbeaten but not gaining ground and wins is what this game
is all about. You can get the odd draw here and there but in the main, you've got to win football matches. It is just another draw on top of a few other draws which is not what we really want."
Villa’s two goals came through Mark Albrighton and a penalty kick which was taken by Ashley Young. The Englishmen thought that they had put the match beyond United’s reach but it wasn’t to be so as they found out to their disadvantage.
Villa’s manager, Gerard Houllier also addressed the media after the match. He said, "Off the top of my head, I don't think I've ever had a more inexperienced midfield. But I told my players 'I'm very proud of what you have done, I'm very proud of your performance'.
I told them 'I share your disappointment but there are more positives than negatives'. We were a bit disappointed with the result because at one stage it could have been 4-0. We hit the post and bar and nearly scored a third one."
The ex-Liverpool manager went onto say, "What we did in the second half, not many teams would do to Manchester United. But eventually United came back and they never give up and credit to them. The end of their game was better than ours.
It's just a shame we didn't finish it off. But, even if you are 2-0 up, it's not enough with Sir Alex and his side."
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