United Dispatches Schalke

Schalke 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorer
Manchester United: Giggs (67), Rooney (69)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Fabio, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park (Scholes 73), Valencia, Rooney (Nani 83), Hernandez (Anderson 73)

Surely United must be thru to the finals. I can't possibly see how Schalke can turn this around at Old Trafford in 8 days time. We were dominant in even single aspect of the game and the contest should really have been over within the first half.

Neuer was exceptional. He's a truly special goalkeeper and in my opinion, he's probably the best in the world by a huge margin. It was him who kept Schalke in the game the entire time. We curved the German defense apart at will. Whenever we moved forward, we created a goalscoring chance and by some miracle it remained goalless at the half. Neuer made a couple of point-blank saves and several one on one stops. And all that in the first 45 minutes.

We continued our dominance over the Germans in the second half and Neuer continued to frustrate all our attempts. It wasn't until the 67th minute before we found the elusive breakthru.

Rooney's pin-point passing once again split the Schalke defense and after the umpteenth attempt at goal, Giggs finally managed to slide the ball under Neuer's giant frame to give United a thorouthly deserved lead.

A couple of minutes later, Rooney doubled the lead. This time it was Hernandez who tore the Schalke defense apart with a determined run and a pass that sliced the defense to ribbons.

United took the foot off the peddle and kept possession, while still moving forward when the opportunities arose. The pace of the game dropped as we saw out a good win to bring back to Old Trafford next week.

I doubt, based on today's performance, we would be troubled at all by Schalke. Barring a miracle of epic proportions, we should have secured a path into the finals.

And as a last note, Ferguson must find a way to get Neuer to Old Trafford. If and when we lose Van der Sar next season, Neuer is definitely my first choice replacement. I've been following his exploits in the Bundesliga this season and he's definitely the best out there. And that's made more impressive with the crap defenders he's had to put up with.

2 Wins Away

Manchester United 1 - Everton 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Hernandez (84)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Fabio, O'Shea (Evra 57), Anderson, Gibson (Giggs 74), Nani (Owen 63), Valencia, Rooney, Hernandez

United took another step closer to knocking to Liverpool off the perch thanks to Hernandez's late goal against Everton.

For a good long while, it looked like a consecutive goalless draw again for the men in red. Everton looked comfortable dealing with what we threw at them and it didn't help matters that we played without any ideas going forward.

Most of our creativity came from the wing play of Nani and Valencia and their crosses were comfortably dealt with by the tall central defenders of Everton. Hernandez was a constant threat, but as the game wore on, it looked like we were fast running out of steam.

Things were looking dire until Distin lost the ball in the 84th minute and Valencia's deflected cross was headed into the net from a rather acute angle by Chicharito. It gave us the 3 points we bearly deserved, but I'll take the 3 points over style.

We're now only 2 wins away from the league title but the schedule looks grueling in the next couple of weeks where we'd have to face Schalke twice in the Champions League and title chasers Arsenal and Chelsea. The next couple of weeks will decide the season.

Time For A Change

This is going to be an exciting 2-3 weeks. Parliament was dissolved earlier today and nomination set on the 27th of this month. After which we go into the elections proper with it ending on Polling Day on the 7th.

I'll leave you to your decision but remember when GST increases (almost immediately after the elections like in 2001 and 2006) and when you struggle to make ends meet, that we had a chance to make a difference.



 All I want is accountability for the ridiculous salaries paid out.


Newcastle 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Anderson (Valencia 70), Giggs, Nani (Owen 81), Rooney, Hernandez

Sigh, we huffed and puffed and couldn't blow St James Park down. Nothing much to say about the game though.

Newcastle gave it asgood as they got in the first 25 minutes putting immense pressure on our midfield and forcing errors from Anderson, Carrick and Giggs, but there is a reason why teams don't do the same in the beginning of games against us. After that initial flurry of activity, Newcastle literally ran out of gas and we completely controlled the entire game from there.

Maybe it got too easy for us. We never looked like finding the key, let alone open the door to Newcastle's defense.

I suppose another draw away from home is a good result at this stage of the season. We couldn't take advantage of Arsenal's hopelessness yesterday and counter with our own version of extreme hopelessness, with another game gone, and only 5 left to play, a 7 point lead is a massive advantage that we can't complain. All that needs to be done is to go out into the market in the summer and get a bloody midfield.

Silenced By Noisy Neighbours

Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Manchester City: Toure (52)

Red Card
Manchester United: (Scholes 72)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea (Fabio 84), Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Park, Valencia (Hernandez 65), Nani, Berbatov (Anderson 74)

I had a bad feeling coming into this game. The moment I pressed the 'publish' button in the last post, I just had the feeling I would jinx the team just by typing in that damn word 'treble'. With this defeat, it looks like we'd just have to be content with the Premiership, that's if we don't fuck up the rest of the game.

While I think we should beat Schalke in the semis of the Champions League, there's no doubt in my mind that we'd lose badly to either Barcelona or Real Madrid should we progress to the finals. They are currently playing on an entirely different planet.

It's hard to be positive after today's tragic failure. Stupid things were said by our players before the game and it came back to bite them hard in the game. Scholes, in particular, seemed to take it exceptionally bad, evidenced by his reckless challenge on Zabaleta after we had gone one down. His red card seemed alittle harsh, but I don't think any United fan can have any complaints, after seeing Zabaleta's bleeding leg.

The goal by Shitty was a terrible mistake by Carrick. Notice that Carrick only plays well against Chelsea. Every other time, he's about as useless as Hargreaves. And possibly every 5 or so games, he does something incredibly stupid. Sadly he's signed a new contract and Ferguson, being the stubborn mule he is, will stick with him next season.

Speaking of Ferguson, tactically I thought not starting Hernandez was a fatal mistake. With Rooney out, Hernandez was the striker in fine form. Instead he started Berbatov. Although Berbatov really didn't do much wrong, except miss two sitters that Hernandez would have pounced on and given us the lead in the first half.

The team on the whole did as well as they possibly could. You could see the tired legs by the end of the game. Only the 3 substitutes and Park were scampering around the pitch, chasing and harrassing. If we had scored the equaliser, we'd probably would have lost it in extra time. Of course the counter-arguement is that Shitty is really a terrible team and had it not been for a gift by Carrick, they would never have scored anyway.

Let's put this behind us and go seal up the league title, beginning this Tuesday at St James.

United Continues To Haunt Chelsea's Champions League Dreams

Manchester United 2 - Chelsea 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (44), Park (77)
Chelsea: Drogba (77)


Red Card: Ramires (70)


Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Nani (Valencia 75), Rooney, Hernandez

That was quite a game and a shame if you missed it.

We started off slow and shaky, giving away possession easily and failing to control the midfield. Ramires, Essien and Lampard were proving a handful and we didn't help ourselves by acting like little schoolgirls on their first date. O'Shea in particular was pretty abysmal, making silly passes and playing teammates into trouble, but he turned it around for the first goal.

While Chelsea had the early dominance, they were woeful in the last third...and I mean truely woeful. If Torres was bad 6 days ago, he was terrible this week. There must be something in the water or the food at Stamford Bridge that doesn't agree with him, coz he's nowhere even close to the Torres that played at Liverpool.

With Chelsea literally firing blanks, it was a matter of time before we had our spell, and boy did we make it count. O'Shea expertly played Giggs down the byline and Giggs ran away from his defender to place the goal on a platter for Hernandez. The goal came almost at the stroke of half time, deflating Chelsea at a crucial period in the game.

Much to my chargin, the second half saw the ineffective Torres replaced by Drogba. The good thing with a 2 goal lead in the tie was that our heads were held high and we were the much better team at that point in time, creating chances while Chelsea struggled to match up.

Ramires found himself carded for the second time when he took Nani's legs away in the 70th min. It should have signaled the end of the game, but we're United and we somehow tried to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The sending off saw Chelsea find a second wind and they threw caution to the wind and came at us with renewed energy. Drogba found an equalizer with a brilliant individual play after a pass from Essien. At 1-1, all Chelsea needed was another goal to win the tie on away goals.

Earlier in the season, this would have signaled an unlikely cameback by the away team, but United at this stage of the season are made of sterner stuff. Even before Chelsea finished their muted celebrations, they were silenced from this edition of the Champions League by Giggs' quick thinking and Park's quickfire goal.

It was a deserved victory over the two legs and a likely trip to Germany in the next.

The treble dream still lives on, but we're taking it one game at a time, starting with Shitty this weekend.

United Takes Fulham Down In The First Half

Manchester United 2 - Fulham 0
Scorers: Berbatov (12), Valencia (32)


Team: Kuszczak, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Scholes, Gibson, Anderson (Fabio 76), Valencia, Nani (Carrick 87), Valencia (Owen 73), Berbatov

The contest was over in the first half. A good strike by Berbatov in the 12th minute and a free header by Valencia in the 32nd killed off Fulham.

In truth, barring an uncomfortable save by Kuszczak within the first minute of the kick off, he was never really troubled. We were completely in control of this one from start to finish. Nani and Valencia were simply awesome at the left and right wings respectively. Nani especially had an outstanding game, creating both the goals. Gone are the days where he couldn't play on the left anymore. He has come a long way since last season where he couldn't play on the left to a fabulous performance today. No one in a white shirt could keep up with his pace.

This was almost a perfect performance. We did allowed Fulham possession, but where there to nip any trouble that even looked like surfacing. And on the counter, Nani and Valencia were devastating. It's an absolute shame Nani is not one of the players in the shortlist for PFA player of the year. A bleeding shame.

So as it stands, we have a 10-point cushion, and looking good even without the services of Rooney.

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! This One's For Rooney

Chelsea 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (24)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Nani 51), Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park (Smalling 90), Valencia, Rooney, Hernandez (Berbatov 78)

Going to do a chop chop kalipok one here since it's 4.30am in the bloody morning.

Rant mode on.

First off, Rooney's been banned 2 games for mouthing off at the TV cameras on Saturday after scoring his hattrick. He's appealing it and I wqouldn't be surprised to see it extended by another game for a frivolous appeal. As it stands, he misses this weekend's game against Fulham and the following weekend's FA Cup semis against Shitty.

While I think it's wrong of Rooney to do what he did, I think the punishment is absolutely ridiculous and makes a mockery of common sense. Carragher slides in and rips Nani's legs apart and all he gets is a yellow, while Rooney gets banned for saying something naughty at the height of a passionate game. This is why the FA is run by a bunch of highly strung dicks. And after a wiki-search, I discovered that the current top dick is a David Bernstein, a life-long Shitty fan and their ex-chairman. No wonder Rooney's ban was two games. How convenient!

Bah, rant mode off.

Back to today's game, my what a good result. We not only held Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but we came away with a 1-0 victory. And the goal itself was a beauty to boot.

Carrick's long ball was take down wonderfully by Giggs and his cutback to Rooney was perfectly measured. Rooney side-footed the ball off the post and into the net for the winner.

Chelsea had their moments at the end of the first half when Torres struck the post and Evra cleared off the line.

We allowed Chelsea a healthy amount of possession in the second half but their failed to really make much impact. To say we were comfortable was an understatement. We looked really threatening on the counter.

We had to endure some late drama when Evra brought Ramires down in the box in injury time and were really fortunate that the referee waved play-on. And just before the final whistle, it was Torres' turn to be brought down in the box. Unlike the previous foul, this one was an obvious dive and Torres got a booking for it.

For some reason, Carrick seems to find a phone booth to change into his Superman costume almost everytime we face Chelsea. He had an outstanding game along the evergreen Giggs. Valencia was surprisingly good too, especially when he slotted into right back when Rafael was removed from the game via an injury.

Park did have me worried, especially with his first half performance. He kept losing the ball, but he grew from strength to strength as the game wore on. He eventually redeemed his first half performance with a number of really good tackles both in midfield and defense.

And it's great to see Rio and Vidic back in defense. Together, they kept Chelsea at bay. It's surprising to see just how poor Torres has become since making his move to Chelsea. He was hardly featured in the game and, quite frankly, is turning out to be a colossal waste of money.

Overall it's a superb result. The job's not done yet as we have a second leg in 6 days. Another good performance will see us in the semis facing Schalke who pulled off a shocker last night.

Never Write United Off

West Ham 2 - Manchester United 4
Scorer
West Ham: Noble (pen 11, pen 25)
Manchester United: Rooney (65, 73, pen 79), Hernandez (84)


Team: Kuszczak, Vidic, Smalling, Fabio, Evra (Hernandez 46), Carrick, Gibson, Park (Berbatov 64), Giggs, Valencia, Rooney (Nani 88)

We almost threw this game away. In fact at half time, both Kentona and I had conceded that we had allowed Arsenal back into the hunt. Our defending was diabolical, giving away two penalties to West Ham by the half.

Evra was the culprit for the first when he handled Charlton Cole's flick and Noble gave the Hammers an early lead. It was piss poor defending, allowing Cole to run thru.

15 minutes later, we found ourselves two down, when Vidic fouled Cole in the box. Once again Noble found himself at the spot and although Kuszczak dived the right way this time, the shot was too powerful.

Our response, although spirited, never really threatened Robert Green's goal. We were in fact lucky to enter the break with the full compliment of players. Just before the break, Vidic fouled Demba Ba on route to goal and as the last defender, should have been sent off. Instead he only got a yellow, avoiding the second league game in a row which we would have played with 10 men.

Hernandez was introduced in the second half in place of a poor Evra, and almost found himself on the scoresheet but his first touch of the ball sent the ball high and wide with the goal at his mercy. The chance probably came too early but certainly signalled the intent.

Vidic must have been wearing his lucky horseshoe when he once again fouled Ba and referee Lee Mason took a very very lenient view. On any other day, it would have been a second yellow and a suspension for our talismanic defender.

We continued to press hard and West Ham was resolute and frankly, we really never looked like scoring. That was until Rooney finally got his act together after a poor afternoon so far.

We were awarded a freekick and Rooney curled it beautifully beyond the outstretched arms of Green. It was a superb freekick worthy to win any game, but in this instance, we were glad for a fighting chance.

It didn't take long before Rooney produced a second piece of magic with Valencia's pass he received at the edge of the box. His first touch took the ball beyond the West Ham defense and with his second, smacked the  ball across the goal and into the net. Vintage Rooney.

The comeback was complete in the 79th minute when Berbatov wiggled his way in , out and around West Ham's defense before Upson finally handled the ball. Mason pointed to the spot and Rooney took up the challenge for his hattrick and an unlikely comeback.

Hernandez piled on West Ham's misery with a typical poacher's goal when he reacted quickest to Gigg's deflected pass.

It's a fabulous result and a tremendous comeback. It was particularly pleasing to see us play with 3 upfront and gratifying to see them play unselfishly, looking for the extra pass to take a better shot.

Even Carrick and Gibson had pretty good games. And Smalling was probably my man of the match, breaking up whatever West Ham threw at us. This was a team and championship performance.