Clinical Finishing Wins The Day

Wigan 0 - Manchester United 4
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (17, 74) Rooney (84), Fabio (87)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Gibson 77), Fletcher, Nani (Fabio 85), Rooney, Hernandez (Berbatov 77)

Wigan were the slightly better team for 74 minutes, then Hernandez struck with his second goal of the night to seal the win. He scored early in the first half with a clinical strike after some good work from both Rooney and Nani.

United floundered after scoring the initial goal and played rather nonchalantly, allowing Wigan to play their passing gaming. Van der Sar kept the home team at bay with 3 crucial saves before Rooney set Hernandez off with only the keeper to beat and took all 3 points for the team. We'd be missing Van der Sar when he hangs up his boots at the end of the season.

Berbatov came on for Hernandez and he provided the tap-in for Rooney for the third. It was very unselfish play by Berbatov to find Rooney. He could have taken the shot himself but instead rewarded Rooney for a lung-bursting run into the box. With his play serverely threatened by the scoring prowess of Hernandez, he showed that 'team' glory was all that mattered.

Fabio scored his first goal for the team to put the icing on the cake.

We weren't exactly the better team for much of the game, but the difference between the teams was the quality we exhibited upfront when it mattered. It was a superb display of finishing where all our frontmen contributed.

Midweek - Chelsea....bring it on.

Scoreless In France

Marseille 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Vander Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Gibson (Scholes 73), Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

Crawley was bad. This was lightly better. But only marginally. Again the problem tonight was the midfield. There was little to no flow to the game, and it didn't help our cause when everyone was sloppy on the ball and giving it away like some McDonald's happy meal toy.

I've always hated 0-0 draws away from home in Europe. Not scoring away from home in a competition where away goals count for double is simply criminal. 0-0 draws simply give you a false sense that the job is half done and we've seen it with this team in this competition time and time again how complacency sets in and we end up out of the competition.

The good thing here is that Marseille is just as bad. Neither side looked like scoring and neither side came close which of course resulted in this terribly boring result.

Hopefully we'll show some fire in the second leg at home.

United Craws Into The Next Round

Manchester UNited 1 - Crawley Town 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Brown (28)

Team: Lindegaard, O'Shea, Bown, Rafael (Smalling 54), Fabio (Fletcher 69), Carrick, Gibson Anderson (Rooney 46), Obertan, Bebe, Hernandez

There have been some seriously poor performances by this team the entire season, but seriously.....what the fuck is this shit!? Although it's our second-stringers, you'd think this bunch of yahoos would have grabbed the chance to impress the boss. Instead, they went out to completely comfirm to everyone that they simply aren't good enough and the summer transfer window can't come quick enough.

The only silver lining that can be taken from this game is that there is still one department that doesn't need strengthening and that's the defense. Our porn brothers, Fabio and Rafael were outstanding, but we already knew that from past performances. O'Shea, Brown and Smalling are quite reliable. Only Lindegaard wasn't tested today.

The midfield was non-existent. As far as I'm concerned, Carrick might as well not played today. Anderson was disappointing.

Gibson had a good enough first half with a few good passes, but completely faded away in the second. There was no energy in his play and quite honestly, today's game confirms that he's not our answer in midfield. If you can't even dominate a midfield against a non-league side, especially when your career is on the line, then you can only be summed up by the word 'journeyman'. Good enough for other teams, possibly not good enough for United.

Obertan probably falls into the same catagory. In his case, he's skilfull, but he's decision-making is simply shocking. After almost 2 seasons with the reserves he still can't make a simple pass. That goes to show just what a waste of talent he is. And to think, we released Tosic!

Bebe wasn't any better. In fact he was terrible. As of right now, he's probably 5 times worse than Obertan. The only thing in his favour is that it's still his first season here and hopefully, for his case, we can see some visible strides of improvement as he moves into the second season. Ferguson must have been shaking his head over the money spent after today's underwhelming performance.

As mentioned earlier, there are so many holes in our squad right now and summer can't happen soon enough. We're lucky injuries haven't hit us hard this season. Not yet anyway. With the exception of Valencia, no one important has sustained any long term injuries. It would be really scary if a Nani or a Berbatov were to get injured and we had to rely on this bunch. Touch wood, and let's hope we get thru the season unscathed.

Sensational Rooney Strike Shuts Noisy Neighbours

Manchester United 2 - Manchester City 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Nani (41), Rooney (77)
Manchester City: Silva (65)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Scholes (Carrick 78), Fletcher, Anderson (Berbatov 67), Giggs, Nani, Rooney

It wasn't a classic Manchester derby, but Rooney's magnificent strike when it looked like a drawn game gave the good guys all 3 points and bragging rights for another season. It was a goal that was worthy to win any game, and possibly one of the best goals scored this season, if not THE goal of the season, given the circumstances, occasion and importance.

Just fresh from our first league defeat to Wolves, Ferguson opted for a conservative lineup, spreading 5 across midfield and Rooney as the target man upfront. We gave Shitty too much respect and it showed on the pitch. Our play was laboured and slow, and with Giggs misplacing passes all over the pitch, it made for a ragged performance. Although Shitty created the better chances, they weren't any better and for good periods in the game, you'd wonder if it would end as a dull 0-0 draw.

Yet, by some divine intervention, Nani found himself one on one against Hart and firmly slotted the ball home to give United the lead into the half. This time round, Giggs' misplaced pass was wonderfully controlled by Nani on a rare United counter and he made no mistake.

The second half was again poor from both sides but Shitty threw on Dzeko and it was his contribution that brought Shitty back into the game. He's powerful shot deflected heavily against Silva and wrongfooted Van der Sar, and both teams were back on level terms.

Just as the game decidedly looked like a 1-1 draw, Rooney produced a piece of magic that shattered whatever illusion Shitty had of the title race. Nani's cross was superbly met by Rooney's overhead kick and the shot thundered into the Shitty net. Hart had his feet rooted to the ground, and could only admire the majesty of the shot. The goal took the wind off Shitty's sails and they wimpered away into the night with their tails between their legs.

Until the goal, Rooney was having a terribly evening, but he reminded everyone that he possessed that little bit extra, and repaid Ferguson's faith in starting him instead of Berbatov.

The win maintained our comfortable lead at the top, but the utmost concern is still the level of our play. We're regressing back into the kind of form that has plagued us in the beginning of the season.

Some Great Stuff

Just wanna post something to rub of that taste off my mouth after yesterday's horrible game.

First off, here's a awesome article by Tony Adams on Fergie's Fledglings. Loved the part where the young ones hired a minibus out of their own pockets just to scout out the opponents. Top stuff for us to know. As fans, you just love reading these tiny bits of trivia.

Alpha Beaten By Omega

Wolves 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Wolves: Elokobi (10), Doyle (40)
Manchester United: Nani (3)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans (Smalling 65), Rafael, Evra, Carrick (Scholes 46), Fletcher, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov (Hernandez 65)

I had the strangest feeling while watching the earlier thriller between Newcastle and Arsenal, that this would be a really bad night for us. After seeing Arsenal collapse after taking a 4-goal cushion, I was pretty darn sure we were going to do one up on them. I even dropped Kentona an sms before the game to register my fears.

It's been a strange night of sorts. There were an insane number of goals scored and a couple of hattricks to go around. And when Tissue Boy (Saha) grabs 4 goals in a game, you just have to check if the moon was really blue. Sadly the only thing blue right now is my mood.

We started the game brilliantly. Nani pulled off a stunner in the opening minutes and it looked like we could very well be heading for a good night. But it was not to be. It didn't take Wolves long to find an equalizer. Elokobi rose and headed Jarvis' cross powerfully into the net.

We tried to regain the lead but were quite frankly terrible. The awful state of the pitch didn't help matters. Wolves grabbed the lead when we went to sleep from another set-piece.

Did I mention that we were really terrible? I can't remember having a shot on target in the second half when we were chasing the game and going for a record 30th game unbeaten in the league. Tempers were heated and stupid fouls were made, but we came nowhere close to finding the net.

Our terrible away form has finally come back to bite us in the arse. The only silver lining I can take from this defeat is that we can finally put to bed the whole notion of going thru the season unbeaten and emulating that fantastic Arsenal team. To put it simply, we didn't deserve it.

Now, let's just go on and fucking win the league.

Thank You, Gazza

Gary Neville announces his retirement today, with immediate effect.

Rooney Comes Good

Manchester United 3 - Aston Villa 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (1, 45), Vidic (63)
Aston Villa: Bent (58)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher (Anderson 33), Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

Ferguson fielded his first team and it showed. Murmurings that Hernandez would soon displace Rooney in the starting lineup were quickly dispelled by the man in question.

Rooney superbly collected Van der Sar's long punt and smashed it past Freidel in the first minute of the game to quickly remind all doubters that his desmise was wildly exaggerated as he once again proved all doubters, including myself wrong. What was most encouraging from the goal were that the celebrations were directed at Van der Sar, whose punt was controlled by Rooney. It's a stark reminder that how much the players and fans love and trust our soon-to-be-retired custodian.

The goal gave United the platform to play their normal cool and collected game against a strong Aston Villa side. To even suggest this Aston Villa side was 'strong' was abit of an overstatement despite their recent successes. We completely dominated proceedings. The floodgates should have been opened but for wasteful opportunities all round the pitch.

Rooney made no mistake in injury time in the first half when he tapped in Nani's incredible cross to double the scoreline at the break. Villa were nowhere to be seen at this point in time.

The second half saw a brief Villa enjoyed a brief renaissance in the second half that saw the deficit sliced in half with a wonderful breakaway goal by new boy, Bent, and could have levelled when Ashley Young's cross cum shot clipped the crossbay, but that was as close as Villa came.

Normal service was resumed when Vidic volleyed home after some good work by Rooney to etch out some space in the box. The two goal advantage was quickly restored with some flair and United went on to completely play Villa off the park.

Rooney could have ended the night with a hattrick but was unlucky on two more occasions.

This was one of the rarer performances where we played well for almost the entire 90 minutes, with Rooney standing heads and shoulders above his peers. For once since his debacle, he was worth his salary. For anyone wondering, he's still a long way from getting into my good books. For now, it's forgiven, but not forgotten.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea had come-from-behind victories to keep the status quo, but we're still standing pretty with a commanding lead. If we can maintain our current form and our feet grounded, we stand a good chance for the prize at the end of the season. This could very well turn out to be a good season despite my misgivings at the start of it.