Todays conference

Phelan on gap between #mufc & Barca: "I think there is a gap there, but there's a gap for a lot of teams, not just ourselves."

Top stuff from him there. Quality.

13:29 The press conference is underway, with Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic joining Mike Phelan on the top table.

13:32 Nemanja: "We have two new players with us. We've improved a bit in the middle. Nick and Shinji have done well so far. We've had more experience than last year. We had some young players play a lot of games last season and they'll have learned a lot. We all learned. In Europe we've had so much success in recent years - we've had three finals, a semi-final - and maybe we relaxed a bit last season. We were punished last season and we can't allow that to happen again. We had a few injuries last season too. I hope everyone can stay fit this season. The young players can learn from last year, so I'm confident we'll be better this year."

13:31 Wayne: "It's great to play in big games and Barcelona is one of them. It's all part of our preparation and we need to make sure we do the right things. We want to enjoy the game and get our fitness ready for the first game of the season. The result, in some ways, isn't the most important thing. What's important is the fitness and the sharpness. I'm happy with how I'm doing. I've been training for almost two weeks and I've been working hard. Everything's going well so far."

13:30 Wayne: "It's great to be in Gothenburg, especially for the likes of myself and the other players who have just returned. We need to get our fitness up to speed. We're playing against Barcelona and that's a game we're really looking forward to."

Mike Phelan: "Every game we play is important but it's still just part of our pre-season. Obviously it's an attractive fixture for our fans and we hope it's a good spectacle for the people of Gothenburg. We hope the weather improves and everybody enjoys themselves."

13:37 Wayne: "I feel good. I played two games at Euro 2012, I've since played against Valerenga. Everybody needs games to get up to match fitness - not just me. I'm training well, though, and I'm looking forward to the next few games. Hopefully by the start of the season I'll be ready to play."

13:36 Wayne on Kagawa: "Shinji's settled quite quickly. He's a talented player, he likes to get on the ball and keep it simple. He's very effective on the ball. It's great to have that sort of player in the team. I'm looking forward to playing with him and I think he'll create a lot of chances for myself and the other forwards. It's exciting to have him in the team."

13:35 Wayne on Usain Bolt reportedly wanting a trial with United: "He'd obviously add a bit of speed to the team. But they are different sports."

13:34 Mike Phelan: "I think there is a gap there [between United and Bareclona]. But there's a gap for a lot of teams, not just ourselves. Barcelona have been exceptional - they've combined experience and youth and maintained success. The challenge for us is to compete. It will take time but we're not that far away. We've been in three European finals and we've won one. Now we're hungry to continue that. Barcelona are the ones to catch."

13:33 Nemanja: "It's hard to take when you lose the league in the last few minutes, but we don't think about that now. We've had success in the past as well, but we forget about that too. We move forward. That's something we've always been good at.

13:42 Mike Phelan: "At the moment, Chris Smalling is going to be a bit longer in his recovery. He's had a setback, an injury, and he's progressing slowly. Jonny Evans will hopefully be available when we get back [from Euorpe]. He's back doing light work on the training ground. We hope he'll be available for the start of the season. He won't have had the games under his belt but if he's fit and progressing well we'll push him forward."

13:40 Mike Phelan: "As a club, you look at the issues that may have caused injuries. Some of those are created on the pitch and there's not a lot you can do about that. Maybe some have crept in through overuse or overwork but we've analysed those things and we're sure our players are prepared for what's always a hard league. All of these players are preparing for what could be a season of 60-plus games. That takes time, obviously. What we try and get to is a point where everybody is fit for selection in the first game of the season."

13:39 Wayne: "We haven't been here that long. It's obviously a nice city and it's great that two of the biggest teams in the world can play a game here. It's exciting. We just want to put on an exciting game. We don't get to see much, though. We just train and stay at the hotel."

Phelan: "Smalling is going to be a bit longer in his recovery.He's had a setback, an injury, and he's progressing slowly." #mufc

ffs, the season's not even started and players return dates from injury are already slipping

13:38 Nemanja: "We have a lot of players in defence. But that's good for the team. The last two years we've had a lot of injuries in defence and we've had to bring Carrick into that position sometimes. But I believe this year we'll all be in good shape and we'll do the best we can to help the team do well."

Anyone asked where the £#%&! Fergie is?

Where's £#%&!ing Frogson then? Lost at the airport? S2C tbdementia

http://www.manutd.com/en/Tour2012Tea....aspx?pageNo=1

Originally Posted by Time For Heroes

Where's £#%&!ing Frogson then? Lost at the airport? S2C tbdementia

On his way back to Sweden tonight.

Had a good look at Lucas though.

£#%&!ing robot @#%&!s. this statement is still giving me problems because a lot of people still believe it to be true.

It's hard to take when you lose the league in the last few minutes

We didn't lose the league in the last few seconds! There were a few seconds were we may have won the league but we lost the league long before this point.

13:49 Wayne: Just wish we'd hurry up and buy a midfielder tbh.

Originally Posted by antonin jablonsky

Anyone asked where the £#%&! Fergie is?

Busy being told to £#%&! off by Lucas and his agent.

Originally Posted by That Boy Ronaldo!

On his way back to Sweden tonight.

Had a good look at Lucas though.

You can't ask for any more than that.

It's not often big Bob Cassers is wrong - Fergie didn't go on the Tour because he stayed behind to seal the deal on Van Persie & Moura

Originally Posted by MJ Ramone

You can't ask for any more than that.

It's not often big Bob Cassers is wrong - Fergie didn't go on the Tour because he stayed behind to seal the deal on Van Persie & Moura

Fergie's obviously got his revenge of Bobby Cassy for last years Sneijder news.

I honestly dont give a £#%&! what any of the @#%&!s have to say anymore.

imagine going out of your way to listen to wayne £#%&!ing rooney string a trained sentence together.

Originally Posted by PaulParkersPubes

I honestly dont give a £#%&! what any of the @#%&!s have to say anymore.

Originally Posted by Fuzzy Dunlop

imagine going out of your way to listen to wayne £#%&!ing rooney string a trained sentence together.

Someone should ask him if he thinks he can manage to turn up to training sober for nine months. @#%&!.

Attending a press conference with Mike Phelan must be the dullest gig in journalism.

Originally Posted by The Watcher

Someone should ask him if he thinks he can manage to turn up to training sober for nine months. @#%&!.

Attending a press conference with Mike Phelan must be the dullest gig in journalism.

they're taking the piss out of the swedes something serious here. It's a slap in the face to them, not even worth a few stale pr comments from the big man.

saf is probably hoping the fans think it's because he's tying up some deal with a big signing. Chancer.