Van Persie gets back to scoring ways

Robin van Persie felt compelled to thank his colleagues after scoring his first goal in eleven games during United's vital victory at Stoke City.
The Dutchman won and converted a second half penalty to net his first goal since February before joining United, his staff and the substitutes on the visitors' bench at the Britannia Stadium.
"I had to score that one and thankfully it went in, and after that the relief of a couple of weeks came out, I would say,"laughed the Dutchman. "I wanted to celebrate with everyone; with the players, the staff, with all the players involved even on the bench because they've been great to me from day one.
"Even when sometimes it is a little bit harder, they still believe in me and they still support me and help me wherever they can. That's why I wanted to join everyone."
Wayne Rooney paid tribute to van Persie's bravery in deciding to take the penalty, with the weight of expectation bearing down after so long without a goal.
"I'm sure he would have thought about it (the drought) before he took the penalty, but he showed a lot of courage to step up and put it away. Credit to him for that.
"Every player in the world has had a few games on the run without scoring. Robin's kept his head down, kept working and thankfully today he's got his goal and hopefully that'll kick him on because he'll be a massive player in the next few games for us."
Robin was speaking to MUTV and Sky Sports.

Sir Alex praises his players

Sir Alex Ferguson was full of praise for his players after a deserved 2-0 win at Stoke City on Sunday.
Michael Carrick and Robin van Persie scored the goals as the Reds took an important step towards a historic 20th league title.
After losing to Chelsea in the FA Cup and to Manchester City in the derby, some pressure was on the league leaders going into the hostile environment at the Britannia Stadium.
"It was a big one coming on the back of the defeat on Monday night and it was essential for us in terms of standing up and being counted," the boss told MUTV . "Everyone did a great job today.
"I said at the beginning of the game that the wind would affect the ball and it was the worst day possible to come to Stoke. They are a handful and it was a really tough match. Credit to the players as they battled all day."
Sir Alex was delighted to see van Persie end his 11-game goal drought but less enamoured to be embraced so vigorously by his enthralled top scorer.
"He nearly killed me!" he joked. "He forgets I'm 71! I always think you should celebrate goals – the boys celebrated right away and it was an emotional part of it. The supporters were encouraged by that.
"It was an absolutely tremendous penalty under pressure, with the wind blowing the ball off the spot two or three times," the manager stated. "He arrowed it right in the corner, a perfect penalty. He did well to get us a penalty after a tremendous ball out to him by Wayne and he was brought down.
"He and the rest of them will think they've done a great job today, very well justified in terms of the performance and having to dig in deep to get that result."
Sir Alex says he hopes Stoke do not go down, even though the defeat leaves the Potters in trouble following Sunderland's 3-0 win at Newcastle.
"I hope Stoke stay up," he insisted. "I think they're a great club with fantastic support and a great manager. Tony Pulis is terrific, one of the best in the business. With the job he's done here, he doesn't deserve to be in the position they are in.
"They should be doing better but I hope they stay up and I think they will get enough points. There was a great determination about them and determination at this part of the season is a good thing to have. I really do hope they stay up."
As for the Reds, the message from the manager is clear: end the season in style.
"The responsibility and expectation is for Manchester United to win every game," he told Sky Sports . "I don't think any of the supporters would think any differently.
"Today was the start and we have got six games left. To go and win the next game is what we want to do."

Match report: Stoke City 0 vs Manchester United 2

Manchester United got the title bid back on track with a convincing 2-0 win at the Britannia that extends the lead at the top of the Barclays Premier League to 15 points.
After the derby defeat to Local rivals Manchester City, a trip to a blustery Britannia Stadium against a team battling to avoid the drop was clearly a potential banana-skin but the Reds' class showed in testing conditions with Michael Carrick and Robin van Persie, from the penalty spot, grabbing the goals.
Sir Alex Ferguson selected Wayne Rooney in midfield with Javier Hernandez handed a chance to continue his fine scoring record against the Potters while Phil Jones and Shinji Kagawa also started. Rooney looked at home and the visitors made the perfect start following a fourth-minute corner.
Van Persie's cross led to right-back Phil Jones trying to hook the ball goal wards but a scramble ensued and Carrick intelligently jabbed into the corner of the net with the outside of his foot. It was a first league goal for the majestic midfielder this term and the 100th for United in all competitions in 2012/2013.
Another van Persie corner saw Patrice Evra lift an attempt over the top while Rooney forced a decent stop out of Asmir Begovic after unleashing a ferocious shot from long range. Stoke's response to falling behind was muted until Robert Huth headed wide from a Charlie Adam cross.

Nevertheless, United controlled the game for the majority of the first half and looked pretty comfortable. Van Persie tried to end his goal drought and lobbed a cheeky effort well wide from 40 yards out after robbing Adam before firing in a snap-shot that was fumbled behind for a corner by Begovic.
Sir Alex was fuming when ex-Red Ryan Shawcross escaped punishment for blatantly wrestling Hernandez to the ground as the home side's strong-arm tactics sometimes crossed the line. Rooney had a chance to score seconds later but his free-kick flew inches wide of Begovic's right-hand post.

Stoke managed to mount some pressure in first-half injury time but a similar pattern emerged after the interval with United in control, without really ramming home the advantage. Superb passes by Rooney and Hernandez carved out an opportunity for van Persie but the Dutchman lashed into the
side-netting from a difficult angle.
As the Potters became more comfortable in defence, they tried getting the ball forward quickly and started to make attempts of their own. Jon Walters hooked over the bar and Adam worked David De Gea with a couple of wind-assisted shots. Kenwyne Jones then blazed off target but the warning signs were soon heeded by the Reds.

Phil Jones and Antonio Valencia worked the ball cleverly down the right and Rooney bided his time before releasing van Persie. Andy Wilkinson made a reckless tackle as van Persie dummied back and, ultimately, floored United's leading goalscorer inside the area to prompt referee Jon Moss to point to the spot. Calmly ignoring the fact that the wind initially blew the ball from the
spot, van Persie stepped up to place his penalty wide of Begovic before sprinting off to celebrate with Sir Alex, Rene Meulensteen and Alexander Büttner on the sidelines.
The second goal led to unrest among sections of the home support but City's response on the pitch was more impressive with De Gea forced to smother a shot by Ryan Shotton following a slip by Evra, which could have proved costly. Kenwyne Jones then tumbled over a grounded Nemanja Vidic inside the area but, despite the appeals, a spot-kick would have been ridiculously harsh.
The introduction of Danny Welbeck, for Hernandez, and Michael Owen gave the away fans the chance to go through some of the song-book as the clock ticked down on a 12th away win of the league campaign. Stoke's performance may have highlighted a lack of confidence but Adam, voted his team's man of the match on the tannoy to ironic cheers from the visiting supporters, again worked De Gea with a free-kick that drifted towards the far post.
Shotton's embarrassing miskick perhaps summed up the hosts' afternoon but United now only need seven points from six games to clinch a record 20th title - starting with Wednesday's visit to West Ham.

Rooney: Sir Alex inspires me

Wayne Rooney has heaped praise on his club manager Sir Alex Ferguson for helping to motivate the squad after last season's dramatic end, which saw rivals Manchester City win the title in the closing seconds of the campaign.
This season, Sir Alex's side have proven to be the dominant force in the Premier League, which is reflected in their 12-point advantage over second placed Manchester City.
Rooney - as Unitedprime blog exclusively revealed last month has admitted to team-mates he could leave the club in the summer,says that his boss deserves the credit for United's position at the top of the table because his man-management skills have such a positive impact on the squad.
He told the Times of India: " We have regular team meetings and he speaks to a lot of players individually too. And his team-talks are brilliant. They really inspire you. It doesn't matter that we might be a few points clear, he never lets you feel like that before a match because he wants us to keep going.
"The important thing is to go out and play each game with a positive attitude. We have to stay focused. We have to make sure we keep doing our job and keep our concentration. "
The 27-year-old said: "It's a great position to be in but nothing is over yet. We've just kept plugging away and have been getting results and thankfully the other teams have dropped points. But we have to keep things going, keep pushing on and working hard to make sure that gap stays as big as possible. It's going to be a big few weeks for us now.
"Of course, to lose the league in the last second last season was bad. But when you are at a club like United, you have to be full of motivation and desire to win every year. That comes from the manager."

Chicharito: Winning is all that matters

Chicharito insists that the Reds are not worried by a recent lack of goals and insists winning games is all that matters at the moment.
After failing to score in the FA Cup replay at Chelsea, the Reds' two goals in the last two league games have come courtesy of the opposition.
Hernandez maintains it doesn't matter who or how many goals United score, as long as the team wins. And he says the players are determined to bounce back from the Manchester derby defeat with victory at Stoke on Sunday.
"Sometimes you can score a lot of goals and sometimes you are only scoring a few. It's part of football," he told MUTV 's Countdown to Kick-off show.
"In some parts of the season we have scored a lot of goals. In December [and into January] we scored at least two goals in a few games in a row. That happens.
"We are working very hard to try and create as many chances as we can and when we have those chances we always try to score. The most important thing for us is to win the games - even if we win 1-0 we would still love that."

United only need 10 points to reclaim the Trophy, but Chicharito insists no-one at Old Trafford is thinking of anything but three points on Sunday.
"We have to forget about that [when United could win the title]. We are only thinking about Stoke," he adds. "We aretaking it game by game. It's Stoke now and then we'll thinkabout West Ham [on Wednesday] and then the next game.
"We are working very hard in training and doing what the gaffer wants us to so we can put in a performance on the pitch."

Ferdinand: no hangover from Madrid match

Rio Ferdinand insists the Reds are not suffering from any kind of hangover from last month's Real Madrid defeat, despite some disappointing results of late.
After losing out in the FA Cup quarter-final replay away at Chelsea, having initially been in control of the tie at Old Trafford, the Reds went down 2-1 in the Manchester derby on Monday night.
Ferdinand maintains the players simply didn't reach the levels needed against Chelsea and City and says the results were not affected by the Reds' Champions League exit.
"There has been no hangover at all," he told MUTV 's Countdown to Kick-Off show. "The Madrid game was a weird one - you're gutted obviously, but it didn't feel the same as when we lost to City because we didn't play well in that game.
"Against Madrid we did everything that was asked of us as players, but one decision took us off the rails and had a big impact on the way the game finished. So I wouldn't say that [about there being a hangover].
"We've had a couple of hard games against two teams [Chelsea and City] that are up there [near the top]. We've got no divine right to beat those teams, but we should have beaten them given we were playing at home. That's the disappointing thing. But no, there is no hangover."
Despite the loss to City, United remain well in control of their title destiny and Ferdinand says the players are simply focusing on finishing the job.
"Inevitably you have a bit of a down period for a day or so but you've got to dust yourself down and move on, and that's what we're doing," he added. "We go into the Stoke game [on Sunday] knowing we need to put a good performance and result together.
"What you aim for at the start of the season is to get some consistency within your team and that's what we've done. the
results we've had have been churned out through hard work and applying ourselves in the right way and we've got to continue that.
"One defeat in 19 is some going. We can't allow all that hard work to be undone by one or two bad results of late.