United Strolls Against Stoke

Manchester United 2 - Stoke City 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Hernandez (pen 38), Berbatov (pen 53)


Team: Amos, Evans, Rio, Smalling, Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Park, Valencia, Berbatov, Hernandez (Progba 73)

First off, I was down with a terrible viral infection the past couple of weeks and although I caught the Arsenal and Liverpool games, I was way too sick to put pen to thoughts. Thankfully the viral infection is not season damaging, unlike Fletcher's, but it's still taking a huge dose of energy just to stay concentrated for 2 hrs to catch the game last night.

The good thing was that United made it easy to watch, or rather Stoke made it so one sided that it was easy to watch. Whatever Tony Pulis was thinking, it certainly wasn't working. We were given time and space throughout the game to cut, curve and slice the defence apart. There was very little harrying and Stoke's counter-attacking game was practically non-existant. It really should've been a walk in the park.

Yet, strangely enough, the statistics showed that it wasn't. We only managed a miserly two shots on goal, and both resulted in goals. Both shots came from the two penalties awarded in our favour. It should have been three but Mike Jones refused to blow the whistle on the third when Evra was fouled. The two penalties decided the game.

Scholes returning to midfield, seems to have temporarily solved the creative problems in midfield. His industry and flair was the foundation stone that allowed us to build on our attacks. Coupled with Carrick fine form, they have formed a formidable duo in the centre of the park. Progba was given a 20 minute cameo after replacing Hernandez, and did incredibly well. In fact his injection of youth and enthusiasm showed so much promise, I'm secretly wishing Fergie would give him more play time. While I thnk he's underperformed in the reserves, he's looks like he fits in with the first-teamers.

And while I was oohing and aahing over Progba, Everton did the unlikely in beating Shitty. Gibson who was sold earlier in the transfer window to Everton did the damage. And just like that, we're level on points with Shitty again.

Our next few fixtures will indicate just how far we can push Shitty. Games against Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs will determine if we can end the season with the title.