United Shakes Off Midweek Woes

Manchester United 4 - Aston Villa 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (pen 7, 73), Welbeck (43), Nani (90)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Cleverley 78), Young (Nani 60), Valencia, Rooney (Berbatov 75), Welbeck

After the midweek debacle, normal service was resumed. Just as against QPR, a dubious penalty was awarded when Young took a tumble with minimal contact. The replays did seem to suggest it looked more like a dive than a blown tackle. In any case, Rooney sent Givens the wrong way and sent Old Trafford into raptures early on.

Villa were almost non-existent as an attacking force, while United were equally as impotent upfront. It took us until the end of the first half before being gifted another goal. This time Baker stepped over Young's cross thinking that the ball would go out for a goal kick, but Welbeck was alert and industrious. He scrambled to the end of the cross and poked it home for United's second.

With the game almost secured, United started to play with abit more freewill, but we still stuttered upfront, Rooney being the culprit of numerous awful passes. However he made amends just when he was going to be substituted off. This time he scored from Valencia's cross to make the scoreline abit more reflective of our dominance.

Nani added a fouth in injury time.

Aside from the Wigan game, this was possible Rooney's worst outing the entire season despite getting his name on the scoresheet twice. It was kind of a bitter-sweet outing for him. Thankfully the rest of the team played well enough to cover for his inconsistancies.

Evra, in particular, I thought played a good game. After what he's been producing (or rather, NOT been producing), it was pleasantly surprising to see him put in a good shift. The back four was solid while not being spectacular.

The midfield laboured alittle, but that was mainly due to Villa being really woeful. Our wingers were magnificent once again and carried the team for most of the game, and the season as well. And upfront, Welbeck was sufficient and doing it alone without any significant help from Rooney.

The win bumps us 5 points above Shitty, who put on a purring performance against a bewildered Norwich. The title race is well and truly on the way. With the 'title-decider' back in the burners on the 30th of this month, we cannot afford anymore cockups along the way. Just 4 more games till the end of the season, so let's wrap this one up. It's nowhere near what I hoped we would be, but I'll take the title, warts and all.