Ginger Prince Returns

Manchester United 3 - Bolton 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Scholes (45), Welbeck (74), Carrick (83)


Team: Lindegaard, Rio, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Giggs 70), Valencia, Nani (Park 70), Rooney, Welbeck (Hernandez 78)

For larges parts of the first half, it looked like it wasn't going to be our day. We missed a ridiculous number of great chances, the best falling to a Rooney penalty which was superbly saved.

We controlled and reigned supreme, but were just unable to take a first half lead, until Scholes decided to announce his return to Old Trafford with a fine goal deep into added on time. His goal sent the roof down and reminded what we've been missing in midfield this season. The only cautionary was that his tackling is still as wayward as ever, and was lucky early in the game to escape with a few stern words.

We pull the foot off the pedal in the second half significantly and played a dangerous game with Bolton. The passing was not as crisp as the first, and could have been punished badly for our complacency, before Welbeck secured the win with a well taken goal at the expense of picking up an injury.

Carrick added a third moments later to add glitter to the scoreline.

This game was what the doctor ordered, after losing our last two in the league and scrapping into the 4th round of the FA Cup. It was a good first half, but the second left alot to be desired. There is still plenty of work to be done if we are serious in defending the title. Our next two fixtures are against Arsenal at the Emirates and at Anfield in the FA Cup, two games that will give us a better clue on how well our team can cope in the months to come.

United Scrambles Past Shitty

Manchester City 2 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester City: Kolarov (48), Aguero (65)
Manchester United: Rooney (10, 40), Welbeck (30)


Red Card
Manchester City: Kompany (12)


Team: Lindegaard, Rio, Smalling, Jones, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Valencia, Nani (Scholes 59), Rooney, Welbeck (Anderson 59)

Am suffering from a terrible hangover from the game celebrations so will try to make this one really short.

Still reeling from the shock that we beat Shitty at the Etihad. The scoreline doesn't tell the story of the game. In part we were gifted the game, in part was pretty impressed with Shitty spirit. Oh and I forgot to mention that Scholes came out of retirement and played a bit part role as well.

It was a bit of a crazy opening to the game. Shitty were threatening right from the start and Lindegaard's shaky touch was nearly pounced on by Aguero. However it was Rooney who opened the scoring with a wonderfully taken header that he probably knew little about. It was against the run of play but he wheeled away in celebration clutching the United emblem on his chest and kissing the badge to reinforce his commitment to the team after a week of speculation of his departure.

Shitty's woes were compounded almost instantly when Kompany was sent off for a double legged challenge on Nani. It was a terrible decision, and this is coming from a United fan. Kompany took the ball and the challenge, though double legged, was in no way putting Nani's health in danger. I suppose the referee had to play it to the letter of the law, but a bit of common sense was needed here. What made that decision really a bad one was that moments later, I recall Evra making a similar challenge that didn't even win the ball and he didn't even get a ticking off. It was simply put, a terrible decision on hindsight. Of course as a United fan, we take what we can get during this lean times.

We went on to hammer two more goals before the break. Welbeck finished superbly on the half hour when Shitty failed to clear their lines, and Rooney was first to react to his own penalty save to give us a comfortable 3-0 lead going into the break.

We were sitting pretty and looked really like avenging the 6-1 derby demolition handed to us back in October. And it really should have been against a Shitty side that looked shell-shocked with only 10 men.

Whaever they serve at the Etihad worked well for Mancini. Instead of sitting back and preventing a rugby score, Shitty came out firing and Kolarov scored a beautiful freekick to pull one back for the skyblues. In reponse, we brought on Scholes and the first contribution of the Ginger Prince was to have a throw-in nicked off by Milner. Milner's cross cum pass was expertedly taken by Aguero but was parryed by Lindegaard and the little Argentine pounced on the loose ball to bring Shitty within striking distance.

We did have our chances, but Shitty were terrifying on the break. The gameplan by Fergie by then was to hold on the possession of the football and make the 10-men work really hard for it. Having played almost 80 minutes against 11, fatigue showed, but it wasn't without a scramble by United in the final minutes to clear the ball from their penalty area.

The referee finally blew the whistle to signal the end of the game and I breathed a sigh of relief. If we struggled so hard to contain a Shitty team playing with 10 for 80 minutes, I dread to think of the league rematch in April. We really should have put Shitty to the sword, but in the end struggled to keep them at bay, only to cross the finishing line by the skin of our teeth.

On one hand, I'm thrilled to beat the Cup holders and avenge last season's ousting, yet on the other hand, very disappointed at the mental mistakes that cost us the goals. It's fortunate we escaped today.

And for all our troubles, we get Liverpool in the next game. Some reward!

Back To Back Defeats

Newcastle 3 - Manchester United 0
Scorers
Newcastle: Ba (33), Cabaye (47), Jones (og 90)


Team: Lindegaard, Rio, Jones, Valencia, Evra, Giggs, Carrick, Park (Hernandez 68), Nani, Rooney (Anderson 75), Babertov (Welbeck 57)

I'm speechless at how we performed today. To put it bluntly, we were never at the races today...not even close.

You would think after the shambolic result on Saturday, the lads would have come out firing on all cylinders, instead they did show plenty of angst but directed at all the wrong areas. Instead of focusing on getting the result, they were more intent on trying to rile the Magpies.

All credit to the Newcastle players, they kept their focus and were ridiculously unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Rio clumsily took Ba out when the scores were level. It was partly karma playing it's part as in the first leg at Old Trafford when a penalty was wrongfully awarded then. Most of the decisions were falling our way, but as mentioned, we were never in the game. Newcastle, on the other hand, were at their brilliant best, concentrating on what mattered most, the result.

And their hardwork, and positive attitude resulted in a superb Ba goal in the 33th minute. As much as I've hated Newcastle in the past, this season's recarnation of the team is an exciting one, and one that's easy to get behind. This is not Keegan's Newcastle, nor the hateful one that had that moron Barton in it either. This version boosts very likable characters like Ba, Tiote and Cabaye, not to mention a couple of ex-Uniyed players in Simpson and Obertan. Of course we must not forget the two Argentines, Coloccini and Gutierrez, both of whom took a step back in their careers to play for the Magpies when they were relegated a couple of seasons back. Definitely a very likable group, playing a brand of football that is eye-catching.

Cabaye sent the tyneside faithful into raptures at the start of the second half with a beautifully executed freekick and the game was beyond us. We did try to make a game of it, but Simpson's off the line clearance midway into the second spelt the only and last time we ever threatened Krul.

To round off our misery, Jone's sent the ball the wrong way of Lindegaard in the dying minutes which probably summed up our night in the cold and clammy SportsDirect.com stadium.

To think all the celebrations when Sunderland beat Shitty on Sunday went to waste.

I dread to think how the hell we're even going to trouble Shitty this coming Sunday in the FA Cup. They must be licking their chops at the prospect of meeting us at our most vulnerable. It may well be a good thing to exit the cup early and concentrate on the league given our injuries, if we can overcome them.

Hope You Enjoyed Your Birthday, Fergie

Manchester United 2 - Blackburn 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (52, 62)
Blackburn: Yakubu (pen 16, 51), Hanley (80)


Team: De Gea, Jones, Carrick, Valencia, Evra, Rafael (Keane 86), Park, Nani, Welbeck, Berbatov, Hernandez (Anderson 46)

Am glad I missed this one, if not I'd be fuming. I'll probably still find a way to download the game and watch it at my own time.

From all acounts I've read and from the numerous smses to Kentona and friends (dread to check my phone bill for the month), it seemed like we were our own worst enemies. Ferguson seemed to gatecrash his own birthday party by lining up a weird formation and opted to rest our best players. He seemed so cocksure that neither Giggs nor Rooney were allowed on the bench. It effectively left Will Keane to come on for Rafael on the 86th minute to make a rescue that would never come.

Sigh....this come just when we looked to be turning the screws on Shitty with a nice run of results and a fixture list that looks rather favourable. Should've known it would last with our ever busy treatment table. No doubts about it, Fergie laid a bomb on us with this one. I'd like to see him wiggle out of this one.

I'm just glad I missed this one.