United Sets Up Spurs Date

Southampton 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Welbeck (20), Nani (pen 48), Gibson (80)

Red Card: Patterson (37)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Neville, O'Shea, Carrick (Possebon 56), Anderson, Giggs (Gibson 56), Nani, Berbatov, Welbeck (Rooney 62)

Spent the pregame watching a couple of really dull guys pull balls out of a hat for the FA Cup 4th round draw. The draw was such a horribly boring affair that it made Punch and Jude look like world class acts. If I had a gun, I would've shot the monitor and then myself. Better still, I would have gone to England and shot those two bozos over and over and over again. Before I rant myself out of control again, we drew Spurs in the next round. I'm frankly not looking forward to it. As you'd recall, 'arry 'ednapp plotted our downfall in the cup last season. Add to the fact that we'd probably be playing two old boys against their old team.

Ferguson seems determined to find a strike partner for Berbatov. Today he started Welbeck along side our misfiring Bulgarian. The partnership didn't really flourish as the manager had wished, but Welbeck did find the net in the opening 20 minutes in a rather fortunate fashion. O'Shea's header was saved by the keeper and it fell kindly for Welbeck to nod it in.

Southampton tried to make a game of it, but the contest effectively ended in the 37th minute when young striker Patterson served up leg-breaking challenge on Vidic that rightfully produced the red card. It was a dangerous tackle and had it been on a lesser human, body parts would have been flying all over the pitch. Vidic merely brushed it off after treatment and carried on playing as if nothing happened.

We made our numerical advantage count after the ref awarded a dubious penalty in our favour in the second half. Nani sent the keeper the wrong way and us into the next round. Because the ref had erred in giving the penalty, other more legitimate claims were ignored. In the final analysis, it didn't matter.

Rooney set Gibson up for the third with 10 minutes to go and we looked like heaping it on a really young Soton side.

Again, in this game, I had my eye on Berbatov. I can hardly pass fair judgement on him today. For the first half hour or so, he was the usual, utterly disinterested fellow. But when Soton were reduced to 10 men, he suddenly found the time and space needed, and sprung to life. Even then, it wasn't by any means a stella performance, but neither was it one to complain about.

There is still a long long part of the season to go, and we need everyone to be on their toes. I personally would love to capture the Champions League again. No team in the modern era has repeated under the gruelling format of playing extra games the following year. I would geniunely hope we become the first to do so.