Robbed By Mike Jones (Fuck You!)

Manchester United 1 - Newcastle 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (49)
Newcastle: Ba (pen 64)


Red Card
Newcastle: Gutierrez (79)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Vidic, Fabio (Smalling 90), Evra (Macheda 88), Carrick, Giggs, Young, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez

I can't believe what I saw. Seriously, WTF!?! This has to be one of the worst piece of refereeings I've seen. Fuck you Mike Jones, seriously FUCK YOU!

I had intended to write some really complimentary things about Newcastle in this post, but that went flying out the window the moment Mike Jone (motherfucker!) gave the penalty to Newcastle while we were leading 1-0.

Rio had cleanly taken the ball of Ben Arfa with a beautiful challenge but instead of a corner, Mike Jones (motherfucker!) decided to make a name for himself and awarded the penalty to Newcastle.

The Barcode's goal led a charmed life after that with their back four making some incredible blocks and Tim Krul playing out of his skin. He was able to somehow put a body part between the ball and the goal line. And when he was beaten, his back four was in the way.

This was a disappointing draw as we were unable to beat the ten-men Magpies and unable to overcome a ridiculously rancid refereeing decision which will have real repercussions to the title race. Seriously....fuck you Mike Jones!

United To Sweat It Out In Switzerland

Manchester United 2 - Benfica 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (30), Fletcher (60)
Benfica: Jones (og 3), Aimar (61)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Jones, Fabio (Smalling 82), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia (Hernandez 80), Nani, Young, Berbatov

This is not a good result. A win would have qualified us but the draw leaves us with all to fight for against a feisty Basel team who won today. Even with a victory in Switzerland, we would have to hope that Benfica doesn't wallop the Romanians for a better goal difference. Damn, even if the goal difference somwhow ends up the same, we would qualify as 2nd in the group with a worse off head-to-head after today's result.

It's all not looking very rosy all of a sudden. In two week's time we'd know our fate. A loss would crash us into the Europa league, while a victory doesn't guarantee us avoiding the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the next stage of the competition. With Chelsea and Arsenal likely to qualify as winners of their respective groups, the odds look stacked against us. I suppose first thing's first, let's just get cross the hurdle in Switzerland.

The game itself started off in disasterous fashion and I'm glad I missed it. Jones opened his scoring account for United, unfortunately it was at the wrong end. It wasn't the start we wanted.

The first half was frustrating to watch as a football fan. Benfica is possibly one of the dirtiest teams in Europe out there right now. Every little touch from a red jersey resulted in a Benfica player rolling on the ground, while the presence of the medical team springs them back to life the next moment. To add to that, they are the masters of the cynical fouls whenever we looked to gain the upper hand. They weren't making bad or hard fouls, but doing just enough with subtle bodychecks and ankle taps to bring a United player down. As a result the game never got flowing for either team. We had to rely on Valencia, Young and Nani to dribble the ball to get into scoring positions.

Despite the negative play, we did manage to get an equalizer when Nani's cross found Berbatov in the box and he gleefully glanced it past the keeper.

The second half was a complete opposite from the first. United came out firing on all cylinders. We were playing at a ridiculously high level and were giving the Benfica defense fits, literally. Carrick probably had one of the best games he's had in eons. He controlled the tempo and was spraying passes left and right, finding his teammates and putting them in position to cause real damage. This was the Carrick we were hoping for when we prised him from Spurs.

The goal eventually came from Fletcher. He barely stayed onside to deliver Evra's cross for the goal. It was what we deserved from the outstanding play. However the joy was shortlived. Barely a minute after the celebrations died down, Benfica caught us napping, or should I say, caught Fabio and Rio napping, and it resulted in Aimar aka Frodo scoring.

We piled on the pressure but never really produced that level of play in that opening 15 minutes of the half. Still it looked likely that we would come away from this fixture with a much needed win. But try as we may, the Benfica defense stood firm.

They are now in pole position despite the fact that we still top the table. I'm pretty sure that would change unless we somehow ship a boatload in Switzerland.

Chicharito Does It Again

Swansea City 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Hernandez (10)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Vidic, Evra (Fabio 51), Jones, Carrick, Giggs (Fletcher 76), Park, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez (Valencia 84)

It was another uninspiring game, but we managed to squeeze out our third consecutive 1-0 victory in as many league games. We've tightened up considerably since the derby day destruction.

The results are welcomed but the product on the pitch is pretty blend. We got an early lead thanks to some really horrid passing from The Swans and Giggs capitalized to put Hernandez thru for a simple goal. From then on, we stopped trying to get the second.

We spent a huge portion of the game allowing Swansea time and space to come at us. We were content to spend our efforts and energy defending the lead. As dull as the game was, I have to admit we did a credibly good job at that, barring the open goal that Sinclair missed in the 22nd minute.

We were so dugged in that we didn't even push men forward on the counter. There were at least 2 occasions where Nani was left out, hung to dry when he brought the ball forward. Both times he held on the to ball and had to wait a good 5 seconds before anyone plodded forward to create an outlet for him to pass. As we all know, 5 seconds in football is an eternity and by the time Giggs or Carrick moved, Nani had already lost the ball. We were so entrenched in defending that we didn't even want to get the cushion of a second goal.

It was quite painful to watch, and that's just how we've been playing since 6-1 happened to us. The adventure seems to have gone, and we're just dragging towards the January transfer window, hoping it would open for a new wind to rejuvenate a broken spirit. And it can't come soon enough.

Brown Wins It For United

Manchester United 1 - Sunderland 0
Scorer
Manchester United (Brown og 45)


Team: Lindegaard, Rio, Vidic, Jones, Evra, Fletcher, Park (Carrick 83), Rooney, Nani, Welbeck (Berbatov 73), Hernandez

For those of you wondering, I did miss posting the Champions League game. Daylights saving kinda screwed my schedule. I set my alarm at 0230hrs only to realise the time was set an hour back. So I set up the computer to catch the game and fell asleep while waiting for it. I did catch glimpses here and there but to be frank it was a rather dull game and I slipped in and out of sleep.

And speaking of dull games, the first half of this one isn't any better. Sunderland is really a very very poor team this season.They couldn't string two passes together if their lives depended on it. The only reason why they are hanging around somewhere in mid-table is because they haven't met anyone good yet.

As poor as Sunderland were, we didn't do ourselves any favours. We had alot of possession but didn't know how to break the black cats. There was way too much individual play. Everyone was doing his own thing and trying hard to make it a weekend to celebrate for Ferguson's 25th year in charge.

In the end, it was an ex-United player who made the difference. Wes Brown converted Nani's corner into his own net deep into injury time in the first half to remind us what we were missing. If Ferguson was in a sharing mood, he would have invited Brown to the manager's red wine session after the game, afterall he deserved it.

As unwatchable as the first half was, the second half was a complete turn around. The lads started to play for one another instead of doing it all by themselves. Rooney started to come to life in his new midfield role and was in a take-charge mood, pulling the strings. Park was everywhere on the pitch and Fletcher cleaned up nicely in front of the back four.

As a result, the back four had a ridiculously easy time until the last 15 minutes when desperation creeped into Sunderland's game and they started to be more adventurous. They were nearly offered a lifeline when the referee pointed to the spot but after consultation with the linesman, it was ruled a handball by Sunderland's Korean striker.

Bendtner also missed an open goal with time running out, while their keeper made two outstanding saves to keep the Black Cats in the game.

Overall it was a good result, although the performance left alot to be desired, especially in the first half. At least Ferguson got his win on his 25th year. We probably wouldn't see another 25, but the last 25 have been a dream come true for us United fans, especially those of us who rememeber the dark times.