Temporary Leave of Absence

Hi everyone, the last couple of weeks have been ridiculously hectic and I really haven't the time nor the energy to update the blog. And from the looks of things, the schedule seems to be on track until at least early August. So in short, I wouldn't have the time to continue blogging and posting as consistantly as before. That said, I'll still be squeezing in time to catch the games and hopefully celebrate number 20 in a few weeks time.

And since I'm on, I'll do a few quick thoughts on the games that I've missed.

5th March Manchester United 1 - Real Madrid 2
This one just broke the hearts. To lose the way we did via a dubious and, quite frankly, bias decision by the referee was a hard one to swallow. The words incompetent and fixed come to mind and UEFA coming out in support for the referee was another hard pill to swallow. They could have just kept quiet but they didn't.

I wonder is Qatar's Dream League project is still on the cards. Given the way we've been treated by UEFA and the fuckwits that run the system, maybe a threat to break away with the other big boys in the other leagues might give them a wake up call, afterall we're the cashcows they've been milking for god knows how long.

Too bad United has previously come out to reject the idea outright. Might wanna reconsider it now that UEFA has shown it's ugly and filthy hand.


10th March Manchester United 2 - Chelsea 2
How we drew this one was bewildering. We raced into an early 2 goal cushion and stopped playing after that. We allowed Chelsea to come at us at will, and they did. The midweek game against Real could have played on our minds, but for a team of our stature, this was just unforgiveable, to let a two goal lead slip.

To make matters worst, we were holding on for dear lives at the end of the game.

16th March Manchester United 1 - Reading 0
Pretty much routine win, although Reading did trouble us. Holding on to a single goal lead is almost always not preferred, but our defense has been keeping clean sheets in the league.

30th March Sunderland 0 - Manchester United 1
Even more routine win. Sunderland are hopeless and I really hope this bunch of no-hopers somehow get relegated. I don't think I've seen a Martin O'Neil team play this lifelessly before. Just a shameful shameful performance by the home team.

BTW, Martin O'Neil was sacked just after the game. Sunderland just didn't deserve him. I think I'll celebrate their relegation more than us winning the league. Bunch of pussies, pun fully intended.

1st April Chealsea 1 - Manchester United 0
We didn't do the job in the first leg and were deservedly dumped by a brilliant goal from Ba. Sure we played just 48hrs before, but so did Chelsea. This was a dull, drab affair.

I think we only had 3 shots on goal, and that is really not acceptable for a team that's supposedly going to win the league. This game exposes just how poor our midfield is. The only consolation is that we're probably still going to win the league, but after last season, I'm not counting my chickens.

Nani Drive United To Next Round

Manchester United 2 - Reading 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Nani (69), Hernandez (72)
Reading: McAnuff (81)

Team: De Gea, Vidic, Smalling, Jones (Nani 42), Buttner, Cleverley, Anderson (Carrick 84), Valencia, Young (Van Persie 64), Welbeck, Hernandez

The spotlight may have been on Ronaldo in the recent week, but Nani took the opportunity, coming on early for an injured Jones, and drove home the point and focus back to his own derailed campaigned. It was a sizzling performance cupped with a goal and an assist.

A good 42 points separated the sides and it showed right from the opening minute. Had it not been for Frederici's saves, which went from good to better to spectacular, Reading would have been buried by an avalanche of goals. There were short spells in the game in which Reading kept possession, but by and large, we were the more likely scorer.

Yet for a good 69 minutes, the breakthru just wouldn't come and when it did, it came deservedly to the most productive and dangerous man on the pitch. He may have had games which he would have liked to forget, but this was one to remember. He followed that with a beautiful cross for Hernandez to head home. Nani rarely put a foot wrong. All he has to do now is to keep it up, which really is his problem. The talent has always been there, the consistency hasn't.

Reading made a game out of it with some slack defending on our part, which has been our nemesis this season. It made the ending more uncomfortable than it really should be, but we saw it through.

Apart from Nani, a special mention should be given to Reading's Australian keeper, Frederici. He single-handedly kept United at bay with a superlative performance.

With the win, we face either Boro or Chelsea in the next round.

3 In 1 Post

Been a terribly busy couple of weeks and haven't really found the time to post my thoughts on the games that have been played. Hence I'll squeeze in the last 3 games into one post.

WBA 0 - Manchester United 2
Game of two halves. Water and oil, chalk and cheese. We probably play our best football in the first half, with plenty of pressure and missing loads of good opportunities, but somehow only managed to score one goal. And it was an own goal after good work from Young.

I missed about 20 minutes of the second half, but by the time I managed to get to a television set, what greeted me was some appalling football. We were absolutely getting murdered by WBA and there was nothing we could do about it. Total contrast from the football we played in the first half. The midfield was pushed back and the counter was never on with the midfield sinking so deep to protect an over-worked defence.

Only a brilliant individual goal from Van Persie brought sighs of relief.

Wigan 0 - Manchester United 4
This was probably the most controlled we've played all season. A very impressive display, especially from midfield, whom I've been very down on. We completely controlled the tempo of the game. It was a perfectly played game in the sense that we controlled every aspect. We threw people forward at the correct moments and held back when it looked like Wigan could counter. In short, it was almost a perfectly played game.

Of course doubles from Hernandez and Van Persie helped immensely to seal the victory.

West Ham 2 - Manchester United 2
I'm stating the obvious here, but Van Persie is god. We should have been sent packing from the FA Cup, but Van Persie single-handedly kept it alive.

We took the early lead but never really looked comfortable in the game. James Collins saw our goal and doubled it.

We struggled to make any impact after trailing. And as things looked pretty glum, Van Persie scored an incredible goal in injury time to make sure the teams meet again 10 days time.

As far as the season goes, it's increasingly looking likely that we're going to go as far as Van Persie is able to carry us. Ferguson pulled a rabbit out the hat with this transfer. We completely fleeced Arsenal.

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!

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 Craws Into The Next Round

Manchester UNited 1 - Crawley Town 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Brown (28)

Team: Lindegaard, O'Shea, Bown, Rafael (Smalling 54), Fabio (Fletcher 69), Carrick, Gibson Anderson (Rooney 46), Obertan, Bebe, Hernandez

There have been some seriously poor performances by this team the entire season, but seriously.....what the fuck is this shit!? Although it's our second-stringers, you'd think this bunch of yahoos would have grabbed the chance to impress the boss. Instead, they went out to completely comfirm to everyone that they simply aren't good enough and the summer transfer window can't come quick enough.

The only silver lining that can be taken from this game is that there is still one department that doesn't need strengthening and that's the defense. Our porn brothers, Fabio and Rafael were outstanding, but we already knew that from past performances. O'Shea, Brown and Smalling are quite reliable. Only Lindegaard wasn't tested today.

The midfield was non-existent. As far as I'm concerned, Carrick might as well not played today. Anderson was disappointing.

Gibson had a good enough first half with a few good passes, but completely faded away in the second. There was no energy in his play and quite honestly, today's game confirms that he's not our answer in midfield. If you can't even dominate a midfield against a non-league side, especially when your career is on the line, then you can only be summed up by the word 'journeyman'. Good enough for other teams, possibly not good enough for United.

Obertan probably falls into the same catagory. In his case, he's skilfull, but he's decision-making is simply shocking. After almost 2 seasons with the reserves he still can't make a simple pass. That goes to show just what a waste of talent he is. And to think, we released Tosic!

Bebe wasn't any better. In fact he was terrible. As of right now, he's probably 5 times worse than Obertan. The only thing in his favour is that it's still his first season here and hopefully, for his case, we can see some visible strides of improvement as he moves into the second season. Ferguson must have been shaking his head over the money spent after today's underwhelming performance.

As mentioned earlier, there are so many holes in our squad right now and summer can't happen soon enough. We're lucky injuries haven't hit us hard this season. Not yet anyway. With the exception of Valencia, no one important has sustained any long term injuries. It would be really scary if a Nani or a Berbatov were to get injured and we had to rely on this bunch. Touch wood, and let's hope we get thru the season unscathed.

Comeback Kings

Southampton 1 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Southampton: Chaplow (45)
Manchester United: Owen (65), Hernandez (75)

Team: Lindegaard, Smalling, Evans, O'Shea, Rafael (Brown 46), Scholes, Anderson (Nani 58), Gibson (Giggs 58), Obertan, Owen, Hernandez

That's twice in a week we came back from a deficit at the half to win the game. Once again we had to endure an uninspired. And once again, it was probably Giggs who made the difference when he came on for Gibson midway in the second half.

This time round, the first half performance was somewhat forgivable. In light of the packed fixture ahead, Ferguson decided to field a team largely made of reserves and second stringers.

Andes Lindegaard also made his debut and did a credible job. Didn't look like he has any weaknesses in his game, but it's still early to tell. At the moment it looks like a straight fight between him and Kuz for the position in between the posts until some of the rumours surrounding that spot do materialize.

Like midweek, we took advantage of Southamton's fatigue of closing us down all game and hit them with 2 goals to win the tie. Owen scored a poacher's header after good work by Obertan, and Hernandez sealed the win after a truly incisive pass from Giggs set him free.

With the win, we avoided adding another game to an already packed looking fixture in the next couple of weeks. More importantly, it also gave the reserves and second stringers some much needed game time, not that many did well though. Still it allowed our mainstays some rest as the next game comes on Tuesday in the form of a resurgent Villa side that has won their last 3 games.

United Bore Liverpool To 4th Round

Manchester United 1 - Liverpool 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Giggs (pen 2)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Evans (Smalling 84), Rafael, Evra, Fletcher (Anderson 62), Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez (Owen 75)

What a putrid game to sit thru. It was so boring that I immediately fell asleep right after the final whistle. Once again, we failed to find any sort of flair and probably played our worst game of the season.

We were lucky on two accounts. First, we got to face a Liverpool side that is on a huge decline. Even the appointment of Kenny Dalglish failed to movtivate this bunch. Although it was a somewhat spirited performance by the scousers, they were truely pathetic.

Then there was that penalty decision that everyone was talking about. Berbatov dived in the first minute and Howard Webb bought it line, hook and sinker. Unlike Walcott, the day before, Berbatov still insists it was a genuine penalty.

Shameful.

But not as shameful as the way we approached the game after Giggs put away the spot kick. It was as uninspired as it could get. With the exception of probably Rafael and Hernandez, no one in a red shirt gave a shit out there. No one was interested in fighting for the ball and no one was moving and making space for the passes.

Gerrard then foolishly got himself sent off for a leg-breaking tackle on Carrick. Carrick was lucky to be unhurt by the challenge and Gerrard was rightly given his marching orders. Things got worse playing against ten men.

The only reason that kept me watching the game instead of switching to the Spurs game was the prospect and hope that we would finally wake up and pound the living daylights of our once hated rivals.

Sadly, that never materialized. Barring a 20 second spell where Reina make a quintuple of fine saves, the game fettered out into a borefest.

I have absolutely no doubts that if we bring this Night of the Living Dead performance into most of the games remaining this season, there is absolutely no way we're going to win anything. There is going to be a huge injection of pride and motivation if we're going to take anything from Spurs at White Hart Lane next week.

Shocking Exit From The FA Cup

Manchester United 0 - Leeds 1
Scorer
Leeds: Beckford (19)

Team: Kuszczak, Brown, Evans, Fabio, Nevilla, Anderson (Owen 69), Gibson, Obertan (Giggs 57), Welbeck (Valencia 57), Rooney, Berbatov

This one bitter pill to swallow. Our Jekyll and Hyde season continues. The last game we're almost perfect and today, we fell straight back down to earth in the most empathic fashion. Not only we were absolutely clueless on how to break down the Leeds defense, we got humliated in the cruelest way on our home court. The crossbar saved us from futher humliation, if that was in anyway possible.

At the same time, credit to Leeds for playing as if their lives depended on it. We, on the other hand, played like the had beens we truely are. On a day where everything was going south, this defeat added the icing to a terrible day on a personal level.

Given the way we approached things, maybe it's for the best. It may seem like sour grapes, but we can fully concentrate on the league, but if we continue to sleepwalk in games, we're going to get our ass handed to us. Already this season has been peppered with way more downs than ups.

All I can say is that this is going to be one hell of a long season for us fans to endure. Maybe this result will spur Ferguson to open the pursestrings and get some needed reinforcement during this transfer window. As it stands, I have no faith the current make up of the team is going to make inroads on any of the silverware we're pursuing.

United Marches Into Semis

Fulham 0 - Manchester United 4
Scorers
Manchester United: Tevez (20, 35), Rooney (49), Park (81)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio (Evans 46), Vidic, O'Shea (Eckersley 52), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson, Park, Rooney (Welbeck 64), Tevez

You know, just when I was complaining about our lack of killer-instinct in the last post, United came up with a masterful lesson in killing off opponents. Goals from Tevez, Rooney and Park made easy work of Fulham in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

Both teams endured a jittery start to the game. Both set of defenders were pretty unstable, making mistakes that could have resulted in goals in the opening 5 minutes. Fulham settled the faster of the two and looked like giving United a run for our money.

However Rooney and Tevez had other ideas. Quite against the run of play, Rooney's header was squeezed in by Tevez from close range to give us the lead. The tide immediately turned and Fulham was left facing a sea of red that threatened to wipe them out of the competition.

Rooney had numerous chances to add to the lead but superb goalkeeping and poor linesmen's decisions kept Rooney from the scoresheet. Instead it was Tevez who added to his goal total with a brilliant curler that just bent beyond the stretching Schwarzer and just into the upright. It was an exquisite piece of finshing by the little Argentinian.

Fulham started the second half strongly but before they could stamp their authority, Rooney finally found his name on the scoresheet. A defensive mistake lead to Rooney possessing the ball and he passed it into the net to give United a 3-0 lead and end the contest.

Park completed the scoring in the 81st minute. We brushed aside Fulham to march into the semis.

The next week looks like a tough one. We have Inter in midweek and Liverpool in the weekend.

It's imperative that we build on this result on Wednesday if we're going to have to progress in the Champions League. After watching Inter play in their domestic games, I'm confident we possess what it takes to go thru. Serie A is pretty much rubbish this season, and I'm surprised that a poor team like Inter is leading their table. I'd be quite surprised if we do not get past this Inter side.

And after we dump Inter, let's beat the grannystabbers and crush their silly little hopes of the Premiership this weekend. That should make up for the terrible month I'm currently experiencing.

Reserves See United Thru

Derby 1 - Manchester United 4
Scorers
Derby: Addison (56)
Manchester United: Nani (29), Gibson (44), Ronaldo (48), Welbeck (81)

Team: Foster, Rio, Evans, Evra (O'Shea 55), Rafael, Fletcher, Gibson, Park (Welbeck 55), Nani, Giggs, Ronaldo (Possebon 72)

At first glance, the first team lineup simply baffles the mind. There were no strikers on display and in their place were Giggs and Ronaldo. My initial reaction was that we're probably fucked, but considering how our strikeforce has been performing, it wasn't really that bad to switch around against a considerably weaker opponent. To add to that, we also welcomed back Evra, Rafael and Evans back into the defence, all returning from injuries.

Despite the looks of a heavily make-shift team, we completely and utterly dominated proceedings. Derby struggled to match the pace and ingenuity of our running and passing. After a couple near misses and good saves, Nani jinked his way past his marker and rifled a shot beyond Derby's outstretched keeper.

Gibson added a second before the break, off a Ronaldo freekick which caromed off the wall.

Ronaldo scored a third with a header just after the break. The goal seemed to have woken Derby from their sleep. They came at us with furious determination and pulled one back, invigorating the crowd.

We were constantly on the backfoot, struggling to cope with Derby's approach, but as the game moved towards the last ten minutes, Welbeck finished off whatever slim hopes Derby had with a cool finish.

It was a good game for some of our younger players, whilst most of the regulars rested after the midweek internationals. Giggs, in particular, was at his inspirational best.

We move on to the quarter-finals, facing either the Swans or Fulham away.

First Half Goals See United Thru

Manchester United 2 - Tottenham 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Scholes (35), Berbatov (36)
Tottenham: Pavlyuchenko (5)

Team: Foster, Neville, Vidic, O'Shea, Rafael (Eckersley 52), Carrick, Scholes, Welbeck (Fletcher 86), Ronaldo (Tosic 72), Berbatov, Tevez

Goals from Scholes and Berbatov a minute apart in the first half saw United thru to the 5th round of the FA Cup after Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring for Spurs in the 5th minute.

Besides the opening goal for Spurs early in the game, they found it hard to keep up with United's pace and power in attack. Tevez hit the post and United had numerous chances saved or cleared by the defenders before Scoles heavily deflected goal found the net in the 35th minute.

Before Spurs even knew what hit them, former Spurs player, Berbatov added a second. If the United team put out looked somewhat make-shift due to injuries, it certainly didn't show on the pitch. The first half display was one of the finest this season.

The pace dropped significantly in the second half but we still defended stoutly. We defended from the half way line and disrupted the Tottenham midfield, causing them to make hasty passes. It wasn't pleasant to watch but very effective from United's point of view. I rarely acknowledge it but tactically, Ferguson got it right by pushing the defense up. The only downside with such tactics is that the midfield has to work extra hard to pressure the opponents' midfield.

We also saw the debuts of Fabio, Tosic and Eckersley, all of whom did credible jobs in their respective roles, although no one stood out.

Another point to add is that our injury list seems to be growing. Fabio, Welbeck and Ronaldo all seem to have picked up injuries from the game. The squad does seem to look really thin at the moment.

On paper the midweek game against WBA looks easy, but with a growing list of the walking wounded, it could very well turn into a tricky fixture to contend with.

United Sets Up Spurs Date

Southampton 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Welbeck (20), Nani (pen 48), Gibson (80)

Red Card: Patterson (37)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Neville, O'Shea, Carrick (Possebon 56), Anderson, Giggs (Gibson 56), Nani, Berbatov, Welbeck (Rooney 62)

Spent the pregame watching a couple of really dull guys pull balls out of a hat for the FA Cup 4th round draw. The draw was such a horribly boring affair that it made Punch and Jude look like world class acts. If I had a gun, I would've shot the monitor and then myself. Better still, I would have gone to England and shot those two bozos over and over and over again. Before I rant myself out of control again, we drew Spurs in the next round. I'm frankly not looking forward to it. As you'd recall, 'arry 'ednapp plotted our downfall in the cup last season. Add to the fact that we'd probably be playing two old boys against their old team.

Ferguson seems determined to find a strike partner for Berbatov. Today he started Welbeck along side our misfiring Bulgarian. The partnership didn't really flourish as the manager had wished, but Welbeck did find the net in the opening 20 minutes in a rather fortunate fashion. O'Shea's header was saved by the keeper and it fell kindly for Welbeck to nod it in.

Southampton tried to make a game of it, but the contest effectively ended in the 37th minute when young striker Patterson served up leg-breaking challenge on Vidic that rightfully produced the red card. It was a dangerous tackle and had it been on a lesser human, body parts would have been flying all over the pitch. Vidic merely brushed it off after treatment and carried on playing as if nothing happened.

We made our numerical advantage count after the ref awarded a dubious penalty in our favour in the second half. Nani sent the keeper the wrong way and us into the next round. Because the ref had erred in giving the penalty, other more legitimate claims were ignored. In the final analysis, it didn't matter.

Rooney set Gibson up for the third with 10 minutes to go and we looked like heaping it on a really young Soton side.

Again, in this game, I had my eye on Berbatov. I can hardly pass fair judgement on him today. For the first half hour or so, he was the usual, utterly disinterested fellow. But when Soton were reduced to 10 men, he suddenly found the time and space needed, and sprung to life. Even then, it wasn't by any means a stella performance, but neither was it one to complain about.

There is still a long long part of the season to go, and we need everyone to be on their toes. I personally would love to capture the Champions League again. No team in the modern era has repeated under the gruelling format of playing extra games the following year. I would geniunely hope we become the first to do so.

God Awful Ref Robs United

Manchester United 0 - Portsmouth 1
Scorers
Portsmouth : Muntari (pen 77)

Team : Van der Sar (Kuszczak 46), Evra, Vidic, Rio, Brown, Scholes, Hargreaves (Carrick 68), Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez (Anderson 68)

So many talking points to this game and I don't even know where to start.

Let me first begin with how goddamn awful blogger.com is. If you're thinking of starting a blog, I wouldn't recommend using this platform. I couldn't log in the entire day. Hell, I couldn't even view this page until now. It's frustrating as hell, especially during Sunday soccer with the guys where everyone was wondering when the review was coming.

As it was an early Saturday kickoff, Kentona and I did the usual 'keep our partners occupied while we get our fix' routine by prawn fishing at our usual haunt.

The game started off well for us. In fact it started off very well for us. In the opening minutes, Ronaldo brightly raced into the penalty area only to be crudely barged off the ball by Distin and to everyone's amazement the referee, Martin Atkinson, for the day waved play on. Only a couple of seconds earlier, a similar body-check on the same player was deemed a foul. Having set that precedent, Kentona and I could only stare wide-eyed in astonishment at the big screen TV in front of us. That was some bloody in-consistant refereeing.

But judging the way we played, we were sure it wouldn't matter in the final reckoning. We were all over Pompey. It was only a matter of time before we would erupt.

Yet as time went by, we kept missing chance after chance. If there was one criticism of our play was that we were all hat but no cattle.

In the second half, Van der Sar was replaced by Kuszczak, which could only mean that Van der Sar must have been carrying an injury. Again at that point in time, it didn't matter. United kept up the pressure from the first half and it was just a matter of time before we murdered them.

Then in the 68th minute, it all began to fall apart, in probably the most spectacular fashion. Without a striker on the bench, Fergie brought on Carrick and Anderson in place of Hargreaves and Tevez. The substitutions had me going....WTF???

If there was a dying need to bring someone out, it would have been Scholes. I can't recall him doing fuck all the entire game. Moreover I couldn't believe he took out Hargreaves. The moment Hargreaves was taken out, I was thinking of ways how Portsmouth could nick it from a quick release from a corner.

The rationale is simple. When we get corners, both Vidic and Rio would both move forward for headers, leaving both the full-backs to play the role of central defenders. Given that Brown also joins the two in front, Hargreaves is usually the other guy who plays the role of the defender. That's just the way we play from observation.

As for taking Tevez out, IMO, I thought if Fergie was going to sacrifice a frontman, it should have been Rooney. He's been in somewhat of a scoring funk lately. In fact, he's more prone to missing chances presented to him than to clinically finish them off.

In the 76th minute, the unthinkable happened. We were caught flat-footed when David James caught the ball from our corner kick and released it early down the flanks. Without Hargreaves in a defensive position and Evra and Scholes going awol, the defensive onus fell on Anderson and Rooney (????).

Unfortunately, Rooney can't defend if his life depended on it. Instead of following his man, Baros, he got sucked into following the ball leaving Baros totally unmarked. Kranjcar found Baros with a pretty easy pass, leaving him one on one with Kuszczak.

Baros rounded Kuszczak, and in the process ran into him. The referee gave a penalty and sent Kuszczak off. While I probably agree with the penalty decision, I thought the sending off decision was a god awful one. If I hadn't known better I would have thought that the pathetic Atkinson had a punt on Pompey.

Without a keeper, Rio took on the keeper's role and Muntari scored from the spot. A man and a goal down, it was going to be an incredibly tall task for the men in red.

The game ended 1-0 to Portsmouth, no thanks to some seriously dodgy refereeing.

While as United fans, and fans in general, we probably blame the referee, but we also need to look at ourselves. We created a boatful of chances and couldn't put one away.

Moreover, there were some weird decisions that baffle logic. In the past week, the coaching staff have been under-performing. If a casual fan like myself can see it, I don't understand how professionals can goof it up so badly.

At least there's a silverlining here, Chelsea got dumped by Barnsley.

Tearing Arse A New One

Manchester United 4 - Arsenal 0
Scorers
Manchester United : Rooney 16, Fletcher 20,74, Nani 38

Team : Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Anderson (Scholes 72), Carrick, Nani, Fletcher, Park, Rooney (Saha 71)

No Ronaldo. No Tevez. No Giggs. No Problem.

Fergie opted to save some legs for midweek's Champions League game against Lyon and it paid handsome dividends with a freshened lineup.

Arsenal, without their regular fullbacks, was tormented and torn apart down the flanks by a rampant United side, trying to put the nightmares of the past couple of weeks behind them.

A couple of early goals headers from Rooney and Fletcher in the first 20 minutes set the tone. Despite a healthy lead in the Premiership, Arsenal was no match for a spirited United. Park, Anderson and Fletcher were simply at their awesome best in midfield, giving the boys from London no chance whatsoever.

Nani added a third in the first half as United stamped their authority on the game. To put it simply, United were literally destroying the gooners.

Any hint of an Arsenal fight back soon evaporated early in the second half when one of the dirtiest bastards in mordern football tried to maim Evra with an x-rated tackle that would make Edison Chen blush in shame. Referee Wiley had no choice but to show the red card to Eboue. How the hell anyone with the right mind can argue with the decision is beyond me, as Eboue hung around, refusing to acknowledge the colour of the card. I'm willing to bet that Wenger probably didn't see the tackle as well.

With Arsenal down to ten men, and their spirit completely broken, United sprayed passes around in midfield and threatened to add to the scoreline. And it wasn't long before Fletcher added a fourth with a header from a really acute angle. United could very well have added more but a 4-0 result was good enough to peg Arsenal's confidence back and secure a place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.

This is the United that we know. Utterly ruthless. For some reason, we've not been performing up to par for quite sometime and let's hope we continue to show such desire for the rest of the season.

A huge part of today's performance is probably due to a world-class performance from Fletcher. He's a big game player. Whenever he gets a chance to play in a big game, he performs. He did it against Chelsea a few years back and last year against Roma and AC Milan. I'm praying that Fergie recognises his efforts after today's game and that he gets a decent run in the team, despite our riches in midfield.

Credit must also be given to Anderson, Nani, Park and, in no small way, Carrick, who all harassed the Arsenal midfield, not allowing them any space to play their brand of football.

And Anderson needs to start, period. I had my doubts about him when we got him, but he's bedded in well with the team and is our little terrier in the middle of the park. I'm really pleased with how little time he's taken to adjust to the English game....and he's only 19!

I'm really looking forward to the next game in France. We've not been doing too well against French opponents in recent years. Lyon looks particularly dangerous with frontman Benzema. If we play the kind of footbal we're so capable of playing, I'm sure we would bring a good enough result back to OT for the second leg.

Late Goals See United Thru (Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 2)

This game was utterly uninspiring. For a good 80 odd minutes, nothing special really happened.

Ronaldo and Saha were paired upfront forming an odd partnership that was doomed to failure. Saha seems to have aged 10 years since returning from injury. There is no pace in his movement and for large parts of the game seemed unable to keep up with the tempo of the game. Ronaldo, on the other hand, was a winger converted to a striker and it showed, especially with a partner who couldn't keep up with him.

It didn't help matters that Carrick looked absolutely rubbish today. Whenever he touched the ball, the sting in attack just seems to fizzle. I know he's noted for his telling passes, but when he doesn't connect (which was probably all the time today), he looks very ordinary. It's hard to see how in the bloody world we paid 17 million pounds for him.

The silver lining in today's game was that Villa were equally woeful. Maybe it was just good defending on our part. Villa rarely threatened.

That all said, the game was full of cut and thrust, yet at the same time without much excitement to go around.

In the end, we still managed to score 2 goals in the last 10 minutes to continue our proud record playing at Villa Park in the FA Cup. The first goal was supplied by Giggs down the left flank. His pass eluded the Villa defense and found Ronaldo rushing into the box.

The second was a powerful strike by substitute, Rooney after Ronaldo's inital attempt had been blocked.

No doubt it was little cruel to Villa to fall in such fashion after the game was heading towards a bore draw, but in the end it was United who show a greater desire to progress into the next round.

One thing's for sure, we've not been playing up to our lofty standards for quite sometime. Unless we address the issue, I have a feeling it's going to come back to bite us in the behind someday.

Drogba Denies United the Double (AET Chelsea 1 - Manchester United 0

This was a disappointing game to watch and the result was hard to swallow. Didn't help that LY graciously supplied us with a pre-game buffet at Cow's house, which God, Kentona, Cow and myself gouged ourselves silly. Just wish the small gathering would have had a better ending instead of Kentona and myself shaking our heads in the disbelief of our inept ability to break down a resolute Chelsea team.

Perhaps the writings had been on the wall the moment the teamsheets were announced. We had named a negative 4-5-1, intent on playing a defensive lineup packing the midfield. Chelsea, by default, named a very defensive team as well. It was apparent at the start of the game, both sides were not playing to win.....but playing not to lose. This was against our culture and style, and karma has a strange way of biting us back in the butt.

I felt by not going for the jugular right from kickoff killed our chances. It allowed Chelsea to grow in confidence as the game wore on.

The first half was a bore and neither side did much in terms of entertainment value. Both lineups had cancelled themselves and space in midfield was at a premium.

The second half was a slightly better affair. We possibly played marginally better, but the Chelsea defence was incredibly disciplined. Essien, in particular, was really really outstanding, barring that one incident when Rooney got the better of him.

The game ended nil all at full time and extra time was required to settle the draw. We threw on Smith and Ole, but it was perhaps too little too late as Drogba scored a beautifully crafted goal in the dying minutes of the game.

It was probably deserved, since Chelsea played better at their style than we had ours. What was more startling to me is that we simply didn't have a target man upfront.

Against a competent defensive side like Chelsea, we struggled to break them down. Saha would have been an ideal partner upfront for Rooney, but as we already know, he's nothing more than a tease and cannot be relied on for the full season. To be honest, I love Smith but he's just doesn't have the quality to lead the attack against accomplished players. And Ole, as much as I love him to death, is...well....old. As much as I hate to admit it, we need reinforcements upfront next season, and we desperately need it. If not, we're going to struggle against the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool when the campaign resumes in August.

As for the performances of our players, Scholes was truely outstanding. He was the only calming influence in the game, but facing Mikel, Makelele and Lampard along throughout the game eventually wore him down. Everyone else possibly played below their usual standards, with the exception of Carrick, which doesn't say much for him.

Ronaldo and Giggs had quiet games. While the defensive 4 played their hearts out, they did allow Chelsea to tear them apart for the winning goal.

Well, the season did end on a relatively sour note, but let's not forget we also achieved alot this season. We won the Premiership with a squad many (including myself) thought was impossible. And that in itself was a huge huge achievement.

If we can bring in the right pieces, the future does look bright.

Cup Concerns, Ronaldo Wins More Awards

FA Cup
We are probably going to field a strong side for this Saturday's showpiece, while Chelsea are facing trouble putting together a full complement on the subs bench. Yet, I feel somewhat uneasy going into the finals.

Has anyone taken notice of scoring in the last 4 games? We've not scored a goal from open play and the only goal we got is a penalty against a hapless Shitty. Granted 2 of the 4 were meaningless games, but it didn't hide the fact that we struggled to score. My biggest fear is a repeat of the Cup Finals 2 years back against Arsenal. We did everything but score on that day. We eventually lost that one on penalties.

I'm just hoping for abit of luck this Saturday.

Ronaldo Wins More Personal Accolades

The Latest Win

That brings his personal tally to :
Barclays Player of the Month (November, December)
PFA Fans' Player of the Month (October, February)
PFA Player of the Year
PFA Young Player of the Year
PFA Fans' Player of the Year
PFA Premiership Team of the Year
Football Writers' Footballer of the Year
Barclays Player of the Season
Portuguese Footballer of the Year
Portuguese Sports Personality
Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year
Players' Player of the Year

Club Awards
Academy Player of the Year - Craig Cathcart
Reserves Player of the Year - Kieran Lee
Goal of the Season - Paul Scholes v Aston Villa
Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo
Players' Player of the Year - Cristiano Ronaldo

We're Going To Wembley! (Manchester United 4 - Watford 1)

On paper it was David vs Goliath and the scoreline suggested so, but in truth for 67 minutes, Watford gave us a harder time than we had expected. What they lacked in quality, they made up with endeavor and determination.

Rooney belted in a stunner in the 6th minute and it looked like United would run away with the game. We were comfortably in control and threatening to score more while not even getting into second gear. Then Edwin Van der Sar probably broke his nose again, and after a lengthy treatment, Watford took advantage of our confusion and equalised thru Hamuer Bouazza's beautiful bicycle kick.

But their joy was shortlived when Ronaldo celebrated his new contract by popping up to put United back in the lead in the 28th minute. Parity was broken only 2 minutes after it was achieved. However brave Watford did not hang their heads down. They came at United with vigor and perseverance. An injury to Rio resulting in us reshuffling our backline, gave them more hope.

Cream has a way of rising to the top and on the 66th minute, Rooney scored his second of the night to effectively put an end to Watford's night. Up to this point, it was a tough fought game, and we had a hard time controlling the game, only relying on swift counter attacks.

With the cup tie firmly in our grasp, the rest of the night was spent by the players trying to get Rooney his hattrick. Richardson did eventually add to the scoreline in the 82nd minute with a delightful goal. It probably could and should have been more if Ole and Smith didn't only have eyes for Rooney.

In any case, the scoreline reflected the gulf in quality between the sides. We're going to Wembley for our third FA Cup finals in four years, quite an achievement.

Couple of things to note in the game:
1. Evra started in right back and was later slotted back to his usual left back. He looked terribly uncomfortable in right back.
2. Heinze started in left back and was moved to central defence to pair up with Wes Brown after Rio left injuried.
3. Fletcher came on as a substitute and played in right back. He had a pretty credible game there. Let's hope Fergie doesn't get any weird ideas playing him there long term.
4. Alan Smith was awesome today. He's probably my personal man of the match today. Some of his passes was pretty darn good.
5. Carrick is beginning to grow on me. He started off as Mr Invisible, then progressed to Neil Webb status, and now he's pretty much no longer my whipping boy here. That's quite an achievement in less than one season.
6. Off the ball movement was pretty awesome. If we can keep this up, we're going to out-score alot of the teams we're going to play in the next couple of weeks.
7. Injuries are hitting us hard and fast. As much as I dislike Rio, I hope his injury isn't too serious. Ditto Van der Sar. The squad is thin enough as it is.

Ronaldo's Penalty Sees United Into The Semis (Manchester United 1 - Middlesbrough 0)

How Southgate must hate to face Ronaldo. This is the third meeting between the sides this season and Ronaldo has earned 3 penalties, taking the penalties himself in the last 2.

The game itself wasn't really anything to shout about. Neither side really played well. Boro were content to sit back and let Viduka take long shots, while United didn't really create much. When they did, the chance mostly fell to Rooney who left his scoring boots at home. Credit must also be given to Mark Schwarzer. He must have made at least 3-4 utterly brilliant saves from Rooney.

Smith who was given his first start of the season looked sharp and was his usual pesky self, irritating the Boro defenders to no end. Carrick also had a pretty outstanding game, by his usual standards. Giggs started in midfield and was superb beside Carrick. I suspect alot of it was due to the fact the entire Boro midfield was playing like auxiliary defenders.

The game had looked like it was going to be a draw until the 75th minute when a Carrick (or was it Giggs?) pass down the left flank found Ronaldo. Ronaldo ran past Woodgate down the byline and was facing Schwarzer one on one. In a desperate challenge, Woodgate caught Ronaldo's trailing leg and brought him down. Penalty! No doubts about it. Just as he had earned tonight's replay 9 days back, Ronaldo stood up and smashed home the winner.

Boro could hardly muster a comeback as United looked confident playing keepball. Deep in injury time, Morrison was sent off for sliding 2 legged into Ronaldo. Somehow the referee, Mike Dean, did not send Rooney off for a second yellow for confronting Morrison. It was honestly piss poor refereeing.

Rooney was booked early in the second half for mouthing off at the referee which was the right decision. Then when the 90 minutes was up, he initiated a tussle with Boateng, which saw Boateng booked. Strangely Dean let Rooney off the hook. Then of course in injury time, he failed to book Rooney again. A stronger referee would and should have sent Rooney off. Rooney despite all his talents still cannot keep his head in check and it's really frustrating for us to see him being stupid time and time again. This time he got away with it, but he might not be so lucky next time. Of course the situation is compounded given the current squad status, which makes it doubly frustrating.

Same case for Alan Smith. Being his usual self, he too was booked for a stupid tackle which he had no chance of winning. Good thing Fergie replaced him in the second half before any real damage was done. Unfortunately, he didn't take Rooney off, and Rooney's ugly self manifested itself.

We now face Watford in the semis, and on course to meet Chelsea, who beat Spurs, in the finals. That's of course if both teams can beat their semi-final opponents.

Just a couple of small trivial before I leave:

• Boateng was actually one of the ballboys when we played Barcelona in the Cup Winners Cup finals back in 91.
• We equaled Arsenal's record in semi-final appearances of 25.
• Scholes will return in our next game against Blackburn on the 31st this month. He's served his 3 match ban.
• Our squad was so decimated by injuries that on the subs bench was a defender named, Craig Cathcart. Who? My sentiments exactly.