Serbia defender Nemanja Vidic has admitted that Manchester United must raise their game if they are to retain the Premiership title this season as they prepare for today's big kick-off against Reading at Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson's men start the new campaign as favorites to win the league again having spent in excess of ?50 million (US$101 million) on new signings Owen Hargreaves, Anderson, Nani and Carlos Tevez.
The nine-times Premiership kings denied Chelsea a hat-trick of titles by claiming their first championship in four years last term, but Vidic, who formed a crucial defensive partnership with Rio Ferdinand in United's back four, insists that it will take a big improvement if they are to thwart Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool again this season.
"We need to improve everywhere. If you want to win the Premier League and get to the Champions League final, everyone has to take one step up," Vidic said. "We have to be better this season. If we play at the same standard as last season, we will not be good enough to win the league."
"This season the Premiership will be a lot stronger than it was last season because clubs are buying more quality players and we know we'll need to work even harder than we did last season if we're going to win the title again. That is the key for us," he said. "Every game against the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal is hard, but all we can do is focus on ourselves and what we can do as a squad together. But it's true that, while we have strengthened this summer, other clubs have done the same."
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
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