So just how good was Ronaldo's freekick yesterday? You be the judge.
*Content removed due to copyright issues*
Edit:
That just sums it up huh? Rightly or wrongly, the Premiership claims rights to all videos, hence the video has been removed from the source. Unfortunately, in the end, the fans, people like you and me, are the ones who suffer.
2nd Edit:
Well, almost as soon as I posted the above, I received an email of a working link. Let's hope this one stays up.
Manchester United 2 - Portsmouth 0
Scorers
Manchester United : Ronaldo 10, 13
Team : Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Scholes (Hargreaves 62), Carrick, Park, Nani, Ronaldo (Anderson 73), Rooney (Tevez 73)
24hrs after Arsenal had briefly taken top spot by beating a truely woeful Newcastle, we turned up heat by totally obliterating Portsmouth.
Due to some technical difficulties, I missed the entire first half but managed to catch the highlights. From everything I saw, hear and read, we were totally in our element in the first half.
It didn't take long for us to open the scoring. Nani fed a beautiful ball to Ronaldo and he scored 10 minutes into the game.
His second came 3 minutes later from a wonder goal via a freekick. It's probably one of the best freekicks I've seen in my entire life.
Portsmouth didn't know what hit them as we continually tore them apart. Scholes was outstanding in midfield and you probably couldn't tell that this was his first start since his injury 3 months ago. It was as if he never missed a game.
I managed to fix my computer by the start of the second half and was happily seated in my room, anticipating the excitement to continue, unfortunately, by then we had taken the foot off the pedal, possibly thinking of the next game against Spurs.
Actually it was Portsmouth which decided not to engage us at our game. Apparently Harry Redknapp had decided that if they continued in the same vein as in the first half, they would be soundly thrashed and I can't really argue with that train of thought. Based on the highlights, we were that good.
We still bossed the midfield, and while Portsmouth didn't threaten, we couldn't add to the scoreline. We created numerous chances but neither Rooney, nor substitutes Anderson and Tevez, could convert any of them.
All in all, it was a good result and an even better performance. I just wish I could've caught the first half.
Munich Tribute
There's been plenty going around regarding the Munich tribute 50 years on. Strangely enough, alot of the debate seems to be going around the minute's silence when England plays their friendly in a week's time and our own 4 days later against City. The issue I personally have is all the noise that is being generated even before the minute's silence. For some reason, it leaves a sour taste. If there are going to be spoilers, so be it. Let's not add to the noise.
And speaking of the tribute, I received a mail earlier today and I have to take my hat off to Arsenal. In their match programme yesterday against Newcastle, they had their own special Munich tribute. You can probably view it on their website in a couple of days. For those of you who are too Red to hop over to the enemy's place, I'll post what was written there:
Today's match is the last here at the Emirates before the football world will remember the 23 people, including eight Manchester United players and nine journalists, who perished in Munich on February 6, 1958.
The Munich disaster occurred when Manchester United were refuelling on their return from a European Cup fixture against Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia. The final match that the legendary "Busby Babes" had played prior to their trip to Yugoslavia was at Highbury, as Sir Matt Busby's team won a thrilling encounter 5-4 in front of 63,758 on February 1, 1958.
The picture on the right shows Duncan Edwards, who was already regarded as one of the world's great players when he perished aged just 21, signing an autograph on the Highbury pitch prior to this match. Edwards went on to score in the game.
Arsenal Football Club would like to extend their sympathies to all those affected by those tragic events 50 years ago.
One of the game's darkest days - it will never be forgotten.
Manchester United 3 - Tottenham 1
Scorers
Manchester United : Tevez 37, Ronaldo 69 (pen), 88
Tottenham : Keane 24
Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra (Simpson 90), Rio, Brown, O'Shea, Hargreaves, Carrick (Scholes 64), Giggs , Ronaldo, Tevez (Anderson 80), Rooney
I don't even know where to begin. Despite the scoreline, we were shit for very long periods in the game. Had it not been for individual errors for Spurs, they fully deserved to go thru in to the 3rd round of the FA Cup. But football is a cruel game.
The run up to today's game couldn't have been any more different. We spent a couple of days in the sun in Saudi Arabia playing some meaningless game, while pocketing a million pounds for our greedy American owners. While Fergie and his croonies argue that it's a good break from the cold, we all know it's greed at play. As a football club, we've fucking sold our souls to the devil. No two ways about it. We can't even have a decent tribute to the Busby Babes without having our sponsor somehow wiggling their logo in.
Spurs, on the other hand, came to Old Trafford with their tails up, after giving a pretty decent Arsenal team a good old-fashion thrashing at midweek.
And our different run up to the game showed. Spurs were sharper, hungrier and quicker to the ball, while United were busy thinking of the sun and the sand in Saudi. Evra, in particular, was horribly exposed time and time again by Lennon. Without Vidic to support him, Lennon game him a torrid time and it wasn't surprising that Lennon supplied the cross that resulted in the game's opening goal.
Lennon whisked past Evra and hit a grounder across the face of goal. Brown and, in particular, Rio were caught napping, allowing Keane a simple tap in. Suddenly we realise just how important Vidic is. Without him in the centre, everyone gets exposed for just how horrible they are at doing their job. And this happened throughout the entire game. It was just due to unlucky finishing, that we survived by the skin of our teeth.
United pressed forward in search of the equalizer but Spurs dealt with everything we threw at them rather comfortably. In the 37th minute, we did get a breakthru. The makeshift Spurs defense made their first mistake by not clearing the ball and Giggs held off his defender, giving enough time for Tevez to smash the ball into the net.
The scores were level but Spurs still had the better exchanges. Just before half time and just after the break, Spurs could've and should've gone in front when on both occasions, Jenas was one on one with Van der Sar. Thankfully both chances fell to Jenas who scuffed them both. Had it been for someone with more composure, we would have been staring defeat in the face.
The game was balanced on a knife's edge. We poured forward looking for the winner while Spurs looked terribly dangerous on the counter. Given the way we have been defending on the day, you could almost see Spurs hitting us with a counter punch. On the other side of the ground, we simply couldn't deliver the final pass.
Yet despite all that, we went in front. Dawson inexplicably handled the ball in the penalty area. The referee had no choice but to send him off and award United a penalty. Ronaldo took it and put United in front. It was definitely not deserved, but I'll take any crumbs that fall my way.
The sending off seemed to have galvanized Spurs. For the rest of the game, they were the much better side. They controlled the pace and tempo, stringing passes together and almost drawing level five minutes from time when Berbatov's effort came off the post.
That effort probably took the sting away from Spurs and minutes later, Ronaldo was given the room to roam and his strike somehow wiggled it's way under Cerny and into the goal. 3-1 up and it was game, set and match.
We were pretty terrible for most of the game but managed to wake up at crucial moments. Fergie and his coaching staff have plenty of work to do as the games are coming in thick and fast.
We would be facing Pompey in midweek and on paper should be an easy home game, considering almost half of their first teamers are away in Africa. But we're United, and for some reason this season, we tend to make things difficult for ourselves.
Reading 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United : Rooney 78, Ronaldo 90
Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Hargreaves (Nani 70), Carrick, Park (Giggs 46), Ronaldo, Tevez (Fletcher 80), Rooney
For some unforeseen reason, Reading has always been a tough team for us since they got promoted. Steve Coppell's side has always found something extra when they faced his former employers.
Today's game was no exception. Had it not been for some desperate defending, we could have concided early. We didn't help ourselves very much with some really poor passing that encouraged our opponents. Carrick just doesn't help himself. After playing brilliantly last weekend, he's come down to earth in the most emphatic fashion. Apparently he shows up once every 20 games or so. At least his presence doesn't hurt the team...much.
That's not to say that we didn't create chances ourselves. In fact we created a boatload of chances but just couldn't find the target. And when we did, that huge American, Hahnemann, stood in the way.
All I can say is that it was pretty damn frustrating to watch us pound on the door but simply cannot find a way in. It was much the same in the second half, with Reading having the early chances and us not finding the killer touch later on. For a moment there I was tempted to feel that it just wasn't our night. To be really honest, I was just glad that Reading hadn't taken their chances.
Just as the game looked like it was going to be a scoreless draw, Tevez's lofted ball found Rooney in the penalty area. With a somewhat cheeky but well intended flick, Rooney directed the ball beyond Hahnemann and into the far corner of the goal. Despite being a little unorthodox, it was a masterful touch.
The remainder of the game was quite frankly a little nerve-wrecking. Reading poured forward for the equalizer and their endeavours were nearly rewarded in the dying minutes when Harper powered thru the midfield into the penalty box. His shot, however, was just wide of the goal. It probably sums up their night, yet at the same time was way too close for comfort.
Apparently Ronaldo heard my thoughts. From a Vidic headed clearance, he received the ball from our half and ran the full length of the pitch to continue his wonderful goal scoring form.
It was a difficult test, but we weathered the storm and eventually came away with a couple of late goals to seal the victory. With Arsenal and Chelsea both winning their games, we maintained our position on the top of the table....albeit it barely.
The lads should get a good rest until the next game against Spurs in the FA Cup over a week later.
Manchester United 6 - Newcastle 0
Ronaldo 49, 70, 89
Tevez 55, 90
Ferdinand 85
Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra (Simpson 67), Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Anderson (72), Carrick, Giggs (Nani 72), Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney
This has been one helluva strange night. For starters, I can't for the hell of me remember when was the last time I've been this sick. It must have been at least 10 years ago since I last felt this ill. In anycase, I managed to crawl out of bed and catch this game. All I have to say is that it was bloody worth it.
And if you've noticed (you must have), I've screwed around with the presentation of this report with slightly more details. It's probably not going to be very permanent since it's helluva lot of work and I'm generally helluva lazy.
My initial reaction to facing the crybabies after the demise of Big Sam was probably....oh fuck. I never like facing teams with their backs against the wall. This is especially so for a fucked up team like Newcastle. It's been apparent for the past couple of months or so that the players (with the exception of Nicky Butt) have given up on Big Sam. And now without the scapegoat around, the onus falls on the players to pull up their socks. The truth is that this team has under-achieved and their position on the table does not reflect their strength.
Oh man, was I ever so wrong.
They are every bit as pathetic as their record shows. If not for the fact that there are teams like Derby, Boro, Fulham and Wigan around, they would be my prime candidates for the drop.
In the opening 15 minutes, Rooney could have had a hat-trick to add to his already impressive personal tally against Newcastle (7 in 8 games). Time and time again in that period, Rooney found himself with plenty of space for the shot. Given was impressive on the night and saved 3 times, while Rooney missed a fourth. It was a signal for things to come.
Rob Styles didn't help matter when he denied 2 genuine claims for a penalty when both Ronaldo and Giggs were fouled in the box. Quite frankly, how the hell Rob Styles is still a premiership referee is beyond me. I can only summise that the standards of refereeing is so bad that Styles still has a freaking job.
On the other side of the pitch, the linesman denied Michael Owens a genuine chance for a one on one situation when he rised his flag too early.
It was a frustrating first half. We had plenty of shots at goal but nothing to show for. Dodgy decisions aside, we were by far the better team. However, Given was outstanding in goal and Newcastle were battling hard.
Like I mentioned, it was a strange night. The half time oranges must have done their trick. United came riproaring out of the tunnel.
Ronaldo won a freekick on the edge of the box. Instead of a trademark balloon into row Z, Ronaldo cheekily struck the ball under the wall and into the net. For once the advance scouting team had done their job. They must have noted that Newcastle's wall had the tendency to jump and Ronaldo exploited it to perfection.
After taking a well-deserved lead, United drove forward with greater determination to consolidate the win and retake the top spot in the Premiership standings. True to form, Newcastle's defense crumbled when Given smacked a clearance into his defender. Giggs was onto the loose ball in a flash and Tevez had the easiest of task of poking it into an empty net.
What was perhaps more astonishing than Newcastle's defensive suicide was that Tevez whipped out a pacifier and stuck it into his mouth. It's not the first time he's done that but I'm seriously hoping it's the last time. I have nothing against extravagant celebrations, but did anyone seriously take a look at where he whipped the pacifier from? Jesus, the fucking last thing I would do, given it's previous resting place, is to put it in my mouth!
If the first goal was from a set-piece, the second from Newcastle committing harakiri, the third was pure class. Great passing from Carrick to Rooney to Tevez and finally to Ronaldo. This was United at it's finest. We simply tore Newcastle apart for that goal.
5 minutes from time, Rio added a fourth when Rooney's clipped ball found him with time and space to volley in from close range.
Ronaldo completed his hat-trick on 89 minutes. Ferguson usually substitutes Ronaldo before he gets his hat-trick but tonight he allowed Ronaldo the opportunity to bask in glory.
Tevez completed the massacre with a sixth. His volley hit the underside of the bar and the linesman flagged that it has gone beyond the line. The replays were non-conclusive. 5 goals or 6 goals, it didn't really matter. Well, actually it did for Alan Smith who was given his marching orders for protesting that last goal.
This was an incredible second half display of our ruthlessness, something that has been missing for quite sometime. If we can put this kind of performance in every now and then, we'd be a scary team to play against.
We now sit level on points with Arsenal, who drew against Birmingham. It's only a matter of time before we pull away from them. The biggest surprise for me is how Chelsea is coping with their injuries and missing players. They have pulled a string of grinding victories to keep pace at the top. As of right now, it's a three horse race.
Note:
After one of the worst perfomances last week, Michael Carrick probably had one of his best nights in a United shirt. I'm actually caught between him and Ronaldo for my man of the match. Ronaldo possibly edges it with the hat-trick, but take nothing away from an outstanding game from Carrick.
Yup, it's been one helluva strange night.
This game was utterly uninspiring. For a good 80 odd minutes, nothing special really happened.
Ronaldo and Saha were paired upfront forming an odd partnership that was doomed to failure. Saha seems to have aged 10 years since returning from injury. There is no pace in his movement and for large parts of the game seemed unable to keep up with the tempo of the game. Ronaldo, on the other hand, was a winger converted to a striker and it showed, especially with a partner who couldn't keep up with him.
It didn't help matters that Carrick looked absolutely rubbish today. Whenever he touched the ball, the sting in attack just seems to fizzle. I know he's noted for his telling passes, but when he doesn't connect (which was probably all the time today), he looks very ordinary. It's hard to see how in the bloody world we paid 17 million pounds for him.
The silver lining in today's game was that Villa were equally woeful. Maybe it was just good defending on our part. Villa rarely threatened.
That all said, the game was full of cut and thrust, yet at the same time without much excitement to go around.
In the end, we still managed to score 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to continue our proud record playing at Villa Park in the FA Cup. The first goal was supplied by Giggs down the left flank. His pass eluded the Villa defense and found Ronaldo rushing into the box.
The second was a powerful strike by substitute, Rooney after Ronaldo's inital attempt had been blocked.
No doubt it was little cruel to Villa to fall in such fashion after the game was heading towards a bore draw, but in the end it was United who show a greater desire to progress into the next round.
One thing's for sure, we've not been playing up to our lofty standards for quite sometime. Unless we address the issue, I have a feeling it's going to come back to bite us in the behind someday.
I almost missed this game. Kentona and I were caught in no-mans land when both the coffeshops in my estate decided to show the Arsenal and Middlesbrough games instead of the United one.
In a last minute decision, we took a cab down to Queens Country Club and just managed to catch Tevez's goal. It was an incisive attack with a good bit of inter-passing between Tevez and Ronaldo. Once Ronaldo's cheeky flick freed Tevez from his marker, there was only going to be one outcome. 25th minutes and we were one up to the good.
Unfortunately, that was probably the best piece of action since we arrived. United never really got a foothold on the game. There were spurts were we did look good but never really threatened the Birmingham goal.
The beginning of the second half was a much better affair. There were brief moments where we seriously looked like we were going to run all over the oppoents. Tevez possibly had the best chance when he struck a thunderbolt at the post. Ronaldo and Nani were both guilty on a number of occasions of trying too hard to pass the ball into the back of the net.
But our dominance didn't last. Once we shifted down a gear, it looked like that West Ham game again. Our inability to finish the opponents is worrying. It gave Birmingham hope as they tried to muster a comeback against the best defense in the Premiership.
Thankfully they were pretty toothless and the last 25 or so minutes of the game was quite frankly a bore to watch. We weren't able to put Birmingham to the sword, and they were pretty awful coming forward.
I suppose at the end of the day, the 3 points were the most important thing to keep the pace with Arsenal. The good thing is that we're capable of playing so much better. The only problem is when. For the past few games, we've been stuttering but at the same time grinding out the results.
I suppose that's what champions are made of....grinding out results when we don't play to potential.
