Thank You Chelsea

Manchester United 3 - Liverpool 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Brown (34), Ronaldo (79), Nani (80)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson (Tevez 73), Giggs (Nani 73), Ronaldo, Rooney

First off, I would just like to thank Chelsea for our victory, especially that man Cashley Hole. After what happened in the midweek 4-4 draw with Spurs, the entire English media (and that of the world) were vilifying Cashley Hole's actions and Mik Riley's ineptitude for not producing a red card for dissent.

Today's referee, Steve Bennett, had no such problems. The turning point of the game came at the end of the first half after we were leading 1-0 courtesy of a Wes Brown header. Rooney's cross found Brown in the penalty area and he headed it into an empty net when Pepe Reina came flapping without getting to the ball.

At the end of the half, Bennett booked Torres for dissent. Incensed by the booking, Mascherano came charging at the referee with some choiced words. He had been booked earlier in the half for a full blooded, two footed tackle at Scholes. Despite being held back by his teammates, Mascherano continued his tirade, leaving Bennett absolutely no choice but to show him a second yellow, with a 'Respect Ma Authoritah!' Eric Cartman style. Had it not been for the controversy in the weekend incident, he probably would have stayed on the pitch given the stature of the game.

Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, Bennett was made of sterner stuff than Riley. It would be interesting to hear what Bennett wrote in his review of the game because after being shown the red card, Mascherano went completely berserk and Benitez literally had to grab him by the neck to pull his wayward player off the field. More importantly, it was a strong message sent out by the FA in response to the midweek incident and what a better way than to do it in a high profile match. Let's hope for all our sakes this has set a pecedent on how to deal with players backchatting the referee, even if it means our own Rooney having to sit out games when he starts mouthing off. This is a good thing for football on the whole. Now all we need is for the referees to be consistant.....

Up to that point in the game, it was fairly balanced in my opinion. We created the better chances and were crisp with our passing, but Liverpool had shown plenty of hunger and desire, biting into the 50-50 balls.

The second half was practically all United. With a man down and their morale sapped, it became almost a walk in the park for our 3 men, Carrick, Scholes and Anderson, in midfield. We continued to spurn chances that fell our way, notably Rooney and Ronaldo the major culprits.

Just as it seemed that the score would remain 1-0, the floodgates opened. Ronaldo scored once again. This time it was a glancing header from a corner. Once again Reina was found wanting in the box. He came out to grab the ball and once again caught air instead.

A minute later, Nani finished off the scoring with a screamer after Rooney had found him. His celebrations were even more spectacular than the goal as he did a double somersault with a half twist, thankfully not landing on his head!

The game finished 3-0 to the good guys. We didn't really fire on all cylinders and really should have put the granny-stabbers away earlier if we had taken our chances. The sending off took away all the fight from them and really made things so much easier for us.

Quite frankly I'm beginning to feel alittle concerned with both Tevez and Rooney. They have been spurning chance after chance and if not for that man, Ronaldo, we wouldn't have such a comfortable lead in the table. And as I'm typing this, Chelsea has just defeated Arsenal to leapfrog into second, 5 points behind us with a crucial game at the end of the season against us at Stamford Bridge. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that game.