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.