Saha's Goal Separates Sides (Manchester United 1 - Sunderland 0)

We entertained Keano's Sunderland and for a good 70 or so minutes played terrible football. We had a good portion of the possession for most of the game but failed to make any meaningful impact, resulting in possibly one of the dullest first halves Old Trafford had to endure this year.

It wasn't till the half hour mark before we had our first shot at goal. Anderson was blooded, and partnered the hardworking Tevez upfront, but apparently the mismatch pairing of Argentinian and Brazilian upfront didn't produce any South American flair. It was as clear as daylight that the pairing simply wouldn't work and Ferguson opted to replace Anderson with Saha at the half.

Immediately Saha made an impact by chesting a long ball, turning and volleying on instinct, forcing a save from Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon. At the same time, Tevez was released to roam freely, while the Sunderland defence concentrated on Saha. The game instantly became significantly more watchable from a neutral view.

On the 70th minute, Saha put us ahead with a header from a corner. I suppose given the way we dominated possession, it was possibly deserved. Sunderland provided nothing in the form of scoring and much of it due to the industry of the entire team, in particular both Owen Hargreaves and Patrice Evra (in the absence of Judas, I'm giving Evra a generous amount of love).

Perhaps it's a good thing that next week is an international weekend. I'm sure given the way we're playing right now, I can't see us producing the goods at Goodison. It would give Saha sometime to get himself match-fit. I can't emphasis how important it is to have a target man upfront (as seen from today's result). Not to mention, we'd be having Ronaldo back, which in itself is huge.