Captain Rooney Leads United to Victory (Manchester United 3 - FC Copenhagen 0)

Rooney captained the team to a 3-0 trumph in the absense of Giggs, who was not feeling well, and Rio, who somehow hurt his neck during the warm up. It was a scoreline predicted by most pundits, but to be honest, Copenhagen played really well.

Copenhagen impressed me with the way they approached the game, throwing players forward in attack and did make an impression on Van der Sar numberous times. However in throwing players forward, they were caught out at the back, and had it not been for keeper Christiansen's outstanding performance, they might have been dead and buried in the first half.

The game itself was played at a breakneck pace in the first half. Both sides played attractive attacking football with precision passing. But it was United who broke the deadlock in the 40th minute with a Scholes scoring his first of the season with a trademark thunderbolt.

And right in the beginning of the second half, O'Shea, perhaps luckily knocked the ball into the net from a corner to give us a 2-0 lead. After that goal, we somewhat took the foot off the paddle. Christiansen then fumbled a Richardson shot from outside the box to undo his first half heroics and sealed the victory for us in the 83rd minute.

Rooney was once again outstanding for us in attack. He and Saha seemed to have developed a special chemistry between them and some of the passing between the two of them was simply exquisite. Vidic was also outstanding in defense, and together with Brown, formed a formidable partnership in the heart of the defense.

Special mention must also be given to Evra. He didn't make any noteworthy mistakes, nor give the ball away....too many times. However he did get booked for kicking the ball away (stupid fuck). Let's hope he steadily improves.

The stinkers today were Carrick and O'Shea. Besides a strike at goal, Carrick was largely anonymous, as usual. Kinda sad that we paid so much for so little (seems to be a recurring theme here).

As for O'Shea, he was simply awful in the first half, playing in right-back. I would be too harsh on him for a couple of reasons. Firstly, his performance improved greatly after scoring the second goal. Must have been a confidence thing. Secondly, the poor lad has been playing all over the park in his entire career, from left-back to midfield to right-back to left wing to central defence. I even remember him playing as an auxiliary striker at one point a couple of years back. No wonder he looks so lost on the pitch sometimes.

Alan Smith was also given a second half run out to the delight of the crowd. He showed plenty of willingness, but it was pretty obvious he was extremely rusty. His first touch was poor and he missed a tap in. I'm sure if given the games, he'd improve in time to come.

With this victory, we're pretty damn close to qualifying for the next stage in the Champions League.

I personally can't wait for this Sunday's clash with Liverfool. It would be exciting to see Rooney, Saha, Giggs, Ronaldo and Scholes all playing together in the same side, especially since most of them are peaking at the same time. I'm smelling blood!