United Keeps Pace With Arsenal (Manchester United 1 - Birmingham 0)

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.