Young Saves United Blushes

Manchester United 3 - Basel 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Welbeck (16,17), Young (90)
Basel: F. Frei (58), A. Frei (60, pen 76)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Jones, Fabio (Nani 70), Evra, Carrick, Anderson (Berbatov 82), Giggs (Park 61), Valencia, Young, Welbeck

What a game. As a football fan, this was an absolute beauty to watch, however, I'm a United fan as well, and it's seriously been a bloody rollercoaster ride. I can't even decide right now if I should be happy with the result, whether we dodged a bullet or missed the heart.

All credit to Basel for making this a fantastic game. They played without fear, creeping into the lion's den and walking tall from it with a prized tooth.

We, on the other hand, have been just pathetic behind. Ever since the Chelsea game, our injury hit backline has been allowing opponents too many chances and it's come back to bite us in the last couple of games.

The game started off exactly that way. Basel came close on a couple of occasions but it seemed that they had left their scoring boots back in Switzerland. We took full advantage of their misses and fired two good goals from Danny Welbeck. Despite going two down, Basel continued to create chances after chances but were not able to trouble De Gea in any shape, way or form. It looked pretty going into the half. All we needed to do was to keep the backline strong and the points would have been in the bag.

Again I'm just going to say, all credit to Basel. They just came at us in the second half and were duely rewarded with two quick-fire goals of their own. We were the architects of our own demise. We kept giving the ball away cheaply and our back four looked terribly hesitant. The support from midfield went the way of the dinosaurs.

Then in the 76th minute, we once more fell victim to some terrible defending and gave away a penalty. Alexander Frei added his second and Basel's third, and we were staring at a shock humiliation...at Old Trafford!

We poured forward in numbers and in typical United-style, scored in the 90th minute to level the scores. Despite a generous amount of injury time, we were unable to conjure a winner, but then again, that would have been terribly cruel to Basel's valiant effort. Even then, Berbatov could have produced something but he saw glory and hit his shot into the side-netting when Nani was in a better position for a tap-in.

This was a superb game to watch, non-stop attacking from both sides. We need to really tighten our defence in the worst way possible. It's shambolic and we're putting alot of pressure from our front men to keep up. As brilliant as Rooney, Hernandez and Welbeck have been, they are only human.

Lucky To Come Away With A Draw

Stoke City 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Stoke City: Crouch (52)
Manchester United: Nani (27)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Jones, Valencia, Evra, Fletcher, Anderson, Nani, Young (Giggs 70), Berbatov (Welbeck 70), Hernandez (Owen 10)

As mentioned in the last post, this is the hump that we needed to get over. On paper it looked like a disappointing result, especially after we got into the lead via a magical moment from Nani. However in reality, it really wasn't close. We were hammered and battered and if not for the heroics of De Gea, we really should have lost this one.

Right from the kickoff, Stoke signalled their intent to play a physical game and lenient refereeing allowed to get away with absolute murder in the opening 10 minutes. There were a number of cringe-worthy tackles by the Stoke players on ours which resulted in Hernandez being replaced by Owen in the opening 10 minutes. It was downright dirty and disgusting.

Having rubbed it in our face with their physical presence, they went on to dominate midfield and created a good number of chances. Without Rooney on the pitch, our build ups were laboured. Berbatov took too much time on the ball and most of our attacks resulted in having to punt a hopeful ball amongst the trees for Owen to gather.

Good thing we still had Nani to rely on. He's come along way from the awkward player he was 4 years back. Now he's full of confidence in his own ability and it was that self-belief that brought us the lead quite against the run of play. He sliced and diced past the entire Stoke defence and unleashed a screamer.

Stoke almost replied immediately but De Gea's reflexes saved us, pushing Wilkinson's shot to the post. He then went on the foil Walters shot.

It seemed like we would keep a clean sheet, but right after the break, slack marking allowed Crouch to head home the equalizer. The game then went thru a period where neither side wanted to defend, but neither side were able to make the breakthru either.

In the dying minutes, Stoke were happy to share the spoils as we went forward to make an attempt to grab it all. Our efforts were not enough on the night and gave up our 100% record.

Overall it was still a good result considering how poorly we played for most of the game. There was a lack of simple, quick and incisive passing that allowed us to win the past 5 games. While I don't really want to put it on Berbatov's or Fletcher's shoulders, they were indeed very slow to release the ball. They just held on to it for a tad too long, and all the attacking impetus was lost. It became very apparent once Berbatov left the pitch, the last 20 minutes saw us passing and ball faster and making inroads into the last third. Too bad after playing 70 minutes of slow, laboured football, there just wasn't enough time to rev up the engine.

A win here would have done our confidence a world of good, considering the next 3 premiership fixtures of Norwich away and Liverpool and Shitty at home. We could just steamroll them, but with a draw here, a lingering doubt might creep into the minds of our young players.

Well, I suppose the silver lining here is that we're still top of the table, albeit by a narrow goal difference.

United Shrugs Off Leeds

Leeds 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Owen (15, 31), Giggs (45)


Team: Amos, Carrick, Fryers, Fabio, Valencia, Park, Giggs (Progba 46), Diouf (Welbeck 70), Macheda (Cole 77), Berbatov, Owen

No really much to say here. This used to be a huge fixture; the battle of the roses, Yorkshire vs Lancashire, but not anymore. There was a time when Alex Ferguson used to field his best and his toughest at Ellen Road, but those days are gone. It may return someday, but unlikely in the near future. The gulf in standards is as wide as the scoreline suggests and on top of that, we fielded an experimental team with the reserves. Just to emphasize the difference, we ended the game with a centreback pairing of Carrick and Berbatov!

A number of players were fielded in positions that were unfamilar to them, but all had acquitted themselves well. Macheda and Diouf were employed at the left and right flanks respectively. While they didn't make significant contributions upfront, they were both hardworking and came back often to help the their respective fullbacks.

Valencia continues from his weekend advantures at right back and seems to be growing into the role. For his sake, I hope Ferguson doesn't get any funny ideas of playing him there full time. As it stands, we already have Rafael and to a smaller extend, both Smalling and Jones as standbys there.

Our injuries in the centre of defence and the need to rest players playing here resulted in Carrick playing along side the youngster Ezekiel Fryers. I've never seen of heard of Fryers, but they both did a masterful job. When Fryers get injured in the 77th minute, Berbatov tracked back for a cameo at that spot, and must say for the rest of the game did look the part. If the injuries continue to pile up in this department, we could see this very makeshift central pairing however unlikely.

Park and Giggs were terrific dictating play from the centre of the park. Giggs really seems to age well. His goal at the end of the half was a marvel. It probably got a deflection at the end, but the run up to it was all Giggs turning back to clock and mesmerising us with his skills. He's replacement in the second half, Progba, is still not ready for the big time or the bright lights.Too many wild passes and rash challenges. The potential is there and he needs to get first team action, be it training with the first team or out of loan to other clubs to gain alot more experience before he's the finished product.

And of course up front, Owen was Owen. Two goals to the good. Berbatov did nothing upfront and probably enjoyed his little stint behind.

Long story short, Leeds were crap and we took advantage and snuffed their light out early. The weekend's a different monster altogether. It's going to be a bruising contest against Stoke, a game I'm not relishing. I hope they can play possum like they did against Sunderland over the weekend, but it's more likely they'd be more like the tigers against Liverpool. So far I've been enjoying this season, but I somehow just have a bad feeling about this weekend....

United Comes Up Tops In A Game Of Missed Chances

Manchester United 3 - Chelsea 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Smalling (8), Nani (37), Rooney (45)
Chelsea: Torres (46)


Team: Jones, Evans, Smalling (Valencia 62), Evra, Fletcher, Anderson (Carrick 62), Young, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez (Berbatov 79)

We won our 5th consecutive game and took the top spot in the table after Shitty dropped points despite being 2-0. This wasn't a classic encounter in the attacking sense, but it definitely was an exciting one with play switching from one end of the pitch to the other in the blink of an eye. What stood out were the extrodinary number of misses from point blank range from both sets of players.

We started off poorly, continuing our poor play in midweek against Benfica. Chelsea were all over us right from kickoff and were quite unlucky to be 1-0 down by the 8th minute. Young's freekick from the right found Smalling in an offside position. The linesman didn't flag and Smalling obliged the Old Trafford crowd by nodding it into the net.

It was follwed by intense pressure from Chelsea which De Gea acquitted himself well with a couple of great saves. It gave confidence to a shaky backline and we slowly but surely built on it. Nani doubled the lead with a stunning individual goal.

Rooney added a third at the death of the first half with an easy pass into the net. We were up and comfortable with a 3 goal lead going into the half. We didn't play particularly well, but we took our chances while Chelsea fluffed their lines in front of goal.

The second half started off with a bang when Torres collected Anelka's wonderful pass and lifted it over De Gea. For a moment it looked like the Torres from Liverpool had returned. He looked lively and was really giving our defense fits. He should have added a second when he rounded De Gea with the empty net to aim at, but he returned to form and inexplicably missed the open target.

At the other end, Rooney too fluffed his line from the spot. Instead of celebrating a second goal, he slipped at the last second and sent the penalty over and wide, ala Beckham.

Berbatov also got into the act as the game was winding down. One on one with the keeper, Rooney elected to pass to Berbatov in an open position. Thepass was wretched and Berbatov could only weakly poke it into Ashley Cole.

It was a game of very badly missed chance from both sides, but we came out top despite not looking anywhere near our best. Andy Cole would have been proud of the effort put in by both sides.

Benfica, United Share Points

Benfica 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Benfica: Cardozo (24)
Manchester United: Giggs (42)


Team: Lindegaad, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Fabio (Jones 78), Carrick, Fletcher (Hernandez 70), Park, Giggs, Valencia (Nani 70), Rooney

 Putrid display in midfield. Ferguson gave the old timers a run here and after the free-flowing football we've witnessed in the last month grinded to to a halt. There was precious little movement in the centre of the park. Carrick and Fletcher were non-entities. They moved like their feet were cast in cement.

With 7 changes to the one that played against Bolton, we certainly looked like strangers on the pitch. Rooney was starved of any supply and he had to constantly track back to get a touch of the ball, of course when he did that, there was no one up front when he did get the ball.

The only players who ran their socks off from the starting eleven were possibly Evra and Park down the left flank. Fabio and Valencia tried to put in a good shift but the quality was poor and eventually both were taken out before the 90.

Benfica's goal came from a superb goal from Cardozo. He spun beautifully around Evans and whipped a wonderful shot across Lindegaard and into the net. Our reply was a little against the run of play. We created little in the first half and were perhaps fortunate to draw level when Giggs was allowed to dance his way thru the Benfica midfield to lash home the equalizer.

The second half performance was much better from our point of view. We begun to string a couple of passes together but it wasn't enough to take the 3 points. Benfica, too, had their chances but Lindegaard is pressing hard for the no.1 spot. He made a couple of outstanding saves to save our blushes.

The game ended all square and probably the right result despite our putrid first half. Thankfully our group looks really weak with Basel and Otelul as our next oppoents, both of which we should deal with, barring an Inter-like collapse.

With our top players rested, I'm optimistic we should deal with Chelsea's slow legs in defense this weekend.

United Steamrolls Bolton Towards No. 20

Bolton 0 - Manchester United 5
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (4, 58), Rooney (20, 25, 68)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans (Smalling 61), Jones, Evra, Anderson, Cleverley (Carrick 7), Young (Giggs 61), Nani, Rooney, Hernandez

I can't remember when United started a season this emphatically. As far as my memory can take recall, the only memorable start we had was in 86 when we won the first 10 games before drawing to Luton, who incidentically are no longer in the league, which only goes to show two things....it's damn long ago and I'm getting too damn old.

Like the previous fortnight, Shitty played earlier and stamped their authority on a wimpish Wigan and like the previous fortnight, we called their result and upped the stakes again, this time against a feisty Bolton. It was a robust challenge right from the kickoff and we lost Cleverley within minutes with a dreadful tackle by Kevin Davies. While Cleverley was taken out of the game for treatment, the ten men in red responded with a wonderful goal from Chicharito. He completely outsmarted Gary Cahill to find space and poked Nani's cross into the net.

Cleverley was replaced with Carrick, whom I'm actually beginning to hate, but today is a good day, so I'll just leave the ranting for another posting, if I get down to it.

Bolton's response was very positive and in the next quarter hour or so, they were easily the better team and really looked like equalising. In previous seasons, they might have, however the Manchester United in it's current form is a different animal and I almost felt sorry for Bolton. From a lightning quick attacks, Rooney scored twice in a space of 5 minutes to put the result beyond the Trotters. Both goals were supplied by Phil Jones who was making an appearance at right-back. I thought Rafael was filled with potential until Smalling came along. With his mature level of play, I thought the right-back role was Smalling's to lose, then Ferguson did what we never expected and pushed Jones to the position with Smalling starting from the bench instead. Jones responded with a man-of-the-match performance. Rooney may have scored a hattrick, but Jones stole the show and our hearts.

Chicharito made it 4 in the second half and Rooney completed his hattrick with over 20 minutes to spare. We could very well have equalled the margin against Arsenal, but the foot was significantly off the pedal. Chicarito could have added to the scoreline but was unselfish, instead passing the ball to get teammates involved.

It was a brilliant overall performance by everyone in a red shirt, including the 17 busloads of Norwegian fans who made their way down.