United's 5 Star Performance

Manchester United 5 - Stoke City 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (3,89), Carrick (45), Berbatov (48), Welbeck (84)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher (Gibson 63), Carrick, Park (Welbeck 63), Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez (Manucho 75)

Let me start off by saying what a terrible week this has been for me. I missed the QPR game in midweek and have not been able to torrent the game. I'm using a company laptop, hence do not have administrator's rights to install any programs, and that includes all the p2p programs I use for viewing games not shown in the country as well as any torrent clients. To make matters worse, I chipped a tooth and have been rather grouchy all week. At least the week ended on a high.

It's been quite sometime since we actually looked as good as we did today. I believe alot of it boils down to having Fletcher back in the lineup and scoring an early goal which demoralised Stoke.

We opened the game with a Ronaldo special. His freekick swerved and fooled veteran keeper Sorensen. Sorensen should probably have done better but could only palm the ball into the net.

United pressed on for a second but it wouldn't come despite impressive efforts from Park and Tevez. With the exception of Ronaldo, who tried to whine and dive for attention, the rest of the team played a patient game and were finally rewarded with a second before trooping in for their half time oranges.

Ronaldo's pass found Carrick at the edge of the box and quite untypical of Carrick, he dribbled a bit and let fly a stunner into net. 2-0 up and the going was good at the half.

The second started in much the same fashion as the first. Stoke barely got their feet wet, before they were hit by a Berbatov special. His bungled first touch offered the Stoke defence to clear the ball, but they allowed him time and space to rectify the mistake. And he needed no second invitation to turn and slam the ball home. Stoke were truely dead and buried.

With the game firmly in the pocket, Ferguson rung in the changes, replacing Fletcher, Park and Tevez with Gibson, Welbeck and Manucho. The game immediately went stale and we lost rhythm. Without Fletcher controlling the midfield, we allowed Stoke back into the game. Thankfully, Stoke were as poor as their position in the league table suggests.

It wasn't until the final 10 minutes before the new men blended in and we started to take control again. Welbeck announced his arrival to the big stage in a thunderous fashion in the 84th minute. His wicked strike from way beyond the box flew in beyond the outstretched arms of Sorensen. It was a brilliant strike from the 18 year old. We fully expect more to come from him.

Ronaldo ended Stoke's misery with another freekick.

Overall, this was a topnotched display. Barring the short period after removing
Fletcher from the game, we were totally on top of the game. What's more impressive was that Manucho and Welbeck provided the type of hunger we've been missing going forward. With them in the game, we were more direct without the Arsenal-style type of football of passing it into the net. But I'm kinda weary just how much they would feature in future games when Rooney returns from injury.