United Back In Business

Manchester United 3 - West Ham United 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (38, 55), Owen (80)

Team: Foster, Vidic, Brown, Neville, Evra, Scholes, Gibson, Anderson (Park 18), Valencia, Berbatov (Owen 77), Rooney (Diouf 77)

With the weekend cup final looming, Ferguson made some crucial changes to the tired team that played on the weekend, ringing a few key changes. And what a difference it made. We were more energetic, quicker and hungrier to the challenges put forth by the Hammers.

Take nothing away from the Hammers. They are a resurgent side that recent put in a string of good results to pull away from the relegation zone. They gave a good account of themselves, but on this bitterly cold night, even with the snow falling, we were simply too hot to handle.

Our approach play tonight was simply superb. Both Rooney goals came from succulent passes from Berbatov who set Valencia free to cross the ball. Rooney nodded in both the crosses giving us a 2-0 lead. In between both Rooney's efforts, Park hit the post with a great effort.

Scholes and Gibson were impeccable in midfield and had chances from longer range but both failed to hit the back of the net. Park, on as a replacement for Anderson early in the game, was industrious as well as imaginative on the left. And just for the hell of it, Carrick had a brilliant game too....from the stands!

Owen got on the act when Scholes' brilliant thru ball allowed him a one on one chance that he rarely misses and didn't.

Overall, it was an exquisite performance. We were literally murdering West Ham with sheer brilliant passing. It's one of those days where everything fell into place. We just need to replicate this form all the way till the end of the season. As for now, I'll settle for a similar game at Wembley on Sunday.

Jaded

Everton 3 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Everton: Bilyaletdinov (19), Gosling (76), Rodwell (90)
Manchester United: Berbatov (16)

Team: Van der Sar, Brown, Evans, Neville, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Park (Obertan 66), Valencia (Owen 80), Barbatov (Scholes 66), Rooney

Terrible result, but considering just how jaded we looked, you can be thankful that we didn't lose by a larger margin. We were second best on the pitch for practically the entire game. Everton was just hungrier, as simple as that.

We didn't have the brightest start but yet took the lead thru Berbatov who reacted the fastest to a deflected Valencia cross from the right. Yet almost immediately, Bilyaletdinov levelled the score with a wonder strike that left Van der Sar stranded.

The match at midweek against Milan took it's toil on our players. Ferguson probably did his best to rotate the squad, but you could tell our key players like Rooney, Fletcher, Evans and Evra probably looked exhausted. The normal energy level was severely lacking and it was a matter of time before Everton took the initiative.

Midway thru the second half, I was commenting to Kentona that we'd be lucky to come away with a point. Everton were just the better team, and looked more dangerous. Their counters had more purpose and more direct, compared to our laboured effort just to break their backline. It wasn't that we didn't try, we just weren't up to the task. Our normal movement in the box was lacking. Partly due to Berbatov's lack of effort, partly due to Carrick having one of those games where he decides to be Mr Invisible. Fletcher and Rooney were doing double time and towards the last third of the game, they looked visibly knackered.

As a result, Gosling scored from a quick counter and Rodwell iced it for Everton in the dying minutes to seal an unlikely but well-deserved victory for the Toffeemen.

It's hard to blame the men in red on such a day. Just in my previous post, I was worrying about the lack of rest for our players and today, it's come to fruitation. Too many games in too short a period, and to make matters worse, we just didn't have to quality to rely on from the bench. At the time of writing this, Chelsea is already 2 up against Wolves and look likely victors.

Things are going to get alittle worse for us as we have another game coming up on Tuesday against West Ham, followed by the mickey mouse cup final against Villa at the weekend. Thick and fast, that's how our schedule looks. We can't afford to lose more ground, yet at the same time, we need to find time to rest our key players to prevent anther game like this from happening. All I can say is that I'm glad I'm not Ferguson. While he's probably having headaches finding a solution, I'm having migraines just thinking of it.

Pretty Epic, Huh?

AC Milan 2 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
AC Milan: Ronaldinho (3), Seedorf (85)
Manchester United: Scholes (36), Rooney (66, 74)

Red Card
Manchester United: Carrick (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Rafael (Brown 90), Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Nani (Valencia 64), Rooney

You gonna have to kick yourself in the balls if you missed this one. I almost did. All the Chinese New Year celebrations/gambling/happee times left me barely enough energy to hang on for the full 90 minutes. But at the end of it, I'm glad I spent the last 30 or so minutes literally pinching myself to stay awake to see the game out.

This is one helluva superb result to bring back to Old Trafford in 3 weeks time. The result could have been sweeter if we hadn't fallen asleep towards the end of the game. At the same time, it was what kept the game interesting.

Milan started the game extremely brightly. Ronaldinho scored in the 3rd minute via a heavily deflected shot off Carrick. Our defense was caught napping early in the game and were punished accordingly. Milan could have sealed the game before our equalizer. They had about 3-4 excellent chances to score, but Van der Sar stood in their way.

Scholes marked United's ascendancy with a fluke goal in the 36th minute. Up to that point, we were just flattering to deceive. We haven't had a shot on target and Milan were threatening to kill us off with the counter-attack. Scholes swung to meet the cross but the ball hit him on the standing leg and spun into the bottom corner of the net. It was a bizarre and fortunate goal, but at that point we were happy to take anything from the game.

We grew from strength to strength as the game wore on and the introduction of Valencia in place of Nani paid immediate dividends. With his first cross, he found Rooney who headed the ball into the net. Minutes later, Fletcher floated a beautiful ball for the man of the moment, Rooney, to head home his second and United's third.

We were in cruise control and winning everything on the pitch. It almost looked too easy until Seedorf was brought on. The wily old veteran scored late on with a cheeky flick that galvanized Milan into a frenzy looking for the equalizer. In the midst of all the helter skelter, Carrick was shown a second yellow. It was probably a case of mistaken identity, since Evra was the one who kicked the ball away. I'm sure it would all be sorted after the referee's report.

In any case, it was a frantic end to a fantastic game. Rooney validated Fergusion's earlier comments that he was one of the premier players in the modern game today. And while Rooney continues to hug the headlines, Fletcher was undoubtedly my hero today. He worked tirelessly firstly on the left of midfield, then to the centre and back to the left again. I'm sure he covered every blade of grass at the San Siro.

Which brings me to another point. It seems Evra, Fletcher and Rooney are playing every game. Given their incredible workrate, I'm beginning to worry that they might face a burn out sooner rather than later. Rooney especially has been left upfront alone rather frequently which means more running, something which he already does naturally. Our replacements don't seem to be able to carry their own weight, or at least Ferguson seems to have lost faith in them, namely Owen and Berbatov. It could all be much ado about nothing, but I'm still concerned.

Hey, don't let this grumpy fan take the joy away from today's epic victory. Let's savor the moment. It's not everyday you beat AC Milan so comprehensively.

Never Underestimate The Heart Of A Champion

Aston Villa 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Aston Villa: Cuellar (19)
Manchester United: Collins (23 og)

Red Card
Manchester United: Nani (29)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Brown, Rafael, Evra, Scholes (Valencia 45), Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs (Berbatov 74), Nani, Rooney

Damn heart of a champion. We were down to ten men early in the game, yet we played like it was Villa who were down to ten. Damn, if we had shown half the grit, determination and desire in some of our games early in the season, we would be running away with the title by this time. At least it's never too late to find that now. Too bad we couldn't muster enough against the odds tonight.

By now everyone who follows this blog should know just how utterly I hate Rob Styles, but after tonight's game, there is a new boogie man. And it's in the form of Peter Walton, who in my opinion, is the most biased piece of shit on the pitch. At least for Styles, he's just plain incompetent. Walton is a master piece.

The red card on Nani was simply ridiculous. Sure it was a reckless tackle, but it probably only warranted a yellow at best. The red card means one of our most influential players gets an immediate 3 game ban and would miss the games against Everton, West Ham and most importantly, the mickey mouse cup finals against tonight's opponents. To exacerbate matters, he allowed the Villa players to get away with blue murder on the pitch without even a single card. He also blantantly denied Rooney a freekick outside the box as well as refusing to award anything in our favour, even obvious handballs. Hell, even the normally biased commentators were questioning his decisions, or lack of it. It seems to me that after Ferguson's comments on the referees earlier in the season, the referee's association finally sent in their hatchet man to screw us royally, just as we look to sweep all before us.

As for the game itself, we were partially our own worst enemies. We failed to clear the ball and Cuellar's header looped agonizingly over the outstretched hands of Van der Sar. It was a feeling of dejavu that Villa were ahead again for the second time against us this season.

Thankfully the script was different this time around, despite plenty of outside interference from a supposedly neutral party. As it has happened so many times this season, Mr Own Goal came to our rescue. Nani's wonderful cross was met by Giggs, but his wayward volley was smashed into the net by Villa defender James Collins. It was nothing more than we deserved. We were by far the better team.

Nani, then, got his marching orders for an overly enthusiastic challenge. As I've mentioned, it was a piss poor decision that threatened to change the face of the game. But to our credit, the lads rose to the occasion and literally plummet the Villa defense.

In the end, we could only come away with a draw having played a superb game. The odds were stacked too highly against us. On a lighter and more happy note, old boy Saha did us a favour by beating Chelsea on his own, and leaving us just one point behind the league leaders.

We wouldn't get a chance to play again until the 16th this month due to the FA Cup weekend. The lads would get week to rest and to prepare against the Champions League tie against Beckham and AC Milan. Just a month ago, I would have written off our chances completely, but since, we've seem to have found our swagger and self-believe again. It promises to be a cracking game.

Finally, to all my Chinese readers, have a happy and super prosperous Lunar New Year. This year we can celebrate without any United games to distract us.

United Smashes 5 Past Sorry Pompey

Manchester United 5 - Portsmouth 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (40), Vanden Borre (45 og), Hughes (59 og), Berbatov (62), Wilson (69 og)

Team: Van der Sar, Brown, Evans, Neville, Evra, Fletcher (Gibson 67), Carrick, Valencia, Nani, Rooney (Diouf 67), Berbatov (Owen 67)

Wasn't as awesome as some of our performances in the past few weeks, but Pompey were so poor we hardly moved out of second gear to get 5 goals.

Portsmouth are destined to get relegated this season. I can't see any way this team can compete for the rest of the season with the way the squad is constituted. Injuries, keys players sold and off the pitch turmoil has robbed the players of whatever fighting spirit. And today it showed. The Pompey players were simply going thru the motions and no one was fighting for the ball. It was a token effort by players who know that their premiership days are numbered. I really pity the fans of this great football club. They deserve better.

Today's headlines once again fall on the man of the moment, Wayne Rooney. Before kickoff, he collected his Player of the Month award, and 40 minutes into the game, showed why he deserved the accolade. He headed Fletcher's cross past James and gave us the lead.

The other man of the moment contributed heavily for the second goal. Nani, starting on the left wing, dribbled past his man and into the box before attempting to cross the ball into the centre. His attempt was heavily deflected and wrong-footed David James into the net.

We enjoyed a hardly deserved 2 goal cushion going into the half. Had things been a little different, Pompey would have had a goal lead instead. Just before Rooney's goal, Belhadji had an effort saved off the line by the outstanding Evans.

The second half was all United. Both Valencia and Nani wasted good chances, but Carrick made most use of his chance with another heavily deflected goal. I'm still a little surprised that it's officially an own goal. I thought Carrick's rasping shot was already goal bound before the deflection, but TPTB decided otherwise.

Berbatov got on the act with a superb effort after the Pompey defense went literally to sleep. And Marc Wilson scored Pompey's third own goal of the night and United fifth, deflecting Evra's cross into the net as James stared in disbelief.

It probably could have gotten much worst for Pompey with plenty of time on the clock but United were conserving energy and bodies. Diouf, who came on as a sub, nearly added a sixth but scooped his effort over James.

As I mentioned, it wasn't an outstanding performance, but by all accounts an outstanding result. And one which signalled to the entire Premier League that we are back to our best, or at the very least very close to it. With the 5-0 drubbing, we also climbed up to the summit of the Premier League further throwing the gauntlet down to our challengers.

I'm seriously preparing myself to eat some major crow come May. If we keep this level of concentration and intensity, there is a very good chance we'd come away with the title and the record of winning 4 in a row.

United Brushes Off The Gooners

Arsenal 1 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Arsenal: Vermaelen (80)
Manchester United: Almunia (33 og), Rooney (37), Park (52)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Brown, Rafael, Evra, Scholes (Giggs 71), Carrick, Fletcher, Park (Valencia 87), Nani (Berbatov 89), Rooney

Awesome display by Nani and Rooney. Against a fierce rival, we've finally shown our teeth. We've been playing rather well lately, and all thanks to the scoring prowess of Rooney, who notched his 100th league goal, and the emergence of Nani who is finally being appreciated on the right flank.

The first goal was all good work done by Nani, showing his silky skills and evading 3 Gooners before floating a ball that Almunia could only palm into his own net. The goal was nothing really to crow about, but Nani's work before it was simply superb.

A quick counter minutes later saw Rooney hit a century, again superb work from Nani leading the charge.

Arsenal's meek response were long range efforts from their best player on the pitch, Febregas.

In the second half, United increased the lead with another brilliant individual effort from Park. Fletcher released Park and he ran the length of the pitch before scoring. Arsenal were rocked.

United carried on with the counter attack policy with Rooney and Nani running riot, but were unable to add to the scoreline. Arsenal did pull one back via Vermaelen, but it was too little too late.

It was a brilliant performance by the men in black. Rooney reached a milestone and Nani is proving that he has a huge part to play, having finally found his place on the right wing. It that remains to be seen is if Ferguson will continue to keep faith in Nani and stop jerking him around by playing him out of position.