Hernandez Does A Macheda On Villa

Aston Villa 2 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Aston Villa: Weimann (45, 50)
Manchester United: Hernandez (58, 87), Vlaar (og 63)

Team: De Gea, Rio, Smalling, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Scholes (Cleverley 72), Young (Hernandez 46), Valencia, Rooney (Anderson 79), Van Persie

Great game. Villa's been shit for most of the season but they brought their A game today and they practically gave us fits, especially the physical play of Benteke. He was practically unplayable. Luckily, we had our own Benteke in the form of the diminutive Hernandez, who single-handedly snatch victory for us.

We didn't play too badly and both our goals results from a lack of protection from midfield, allowing Weimann to score from surging runs from midfield to connect to great hold up play from their forwards. Neither Scholes nor Carrick were able to track the runs from midfield. If I recalled correctly, Scholes was the guilty party in the second Villa goal. He gave away the ball cheaply and it resulted in the goal.

For most parts of the game, we controlled the ball and the tempo pretty well in midfield. Upfront was where the problems occurred. Villa played a tight formation and Rooney and Van Persie found little to no joy. Young and Valencia found space down the flanks but their crosses were often crowded out.

At 2-0 down, Villa seemingly were in a comfortable position, but against United, it was never enough. Hernandez pulled one back with a somewhat lucky goal after getting the ball stuck between his feet. He showed great composure digging it out and putting it between the legs of Guzan.

Hernandez then fired a Rafael cross into the on-rushing form of Vlaar and the ball took a huge deflection into the goal. The cameback was complete and the teams were level.

Van Persie, who had been anonymous, till now, struck the crossbar twice within a minute, once with his head, and the other with a venomous strike. And in the final ten minutes, United were virtually camped in the Villa half and eventually the pressure paid off when Hernandez broke free from his marker and headed home Van Persie's freekick to turn the scores around.

It was a fantastic come from behind victory, another one to add to the ridiculous amount of times we've falled behind this season. The win gives us a 4-point cushion until Chelsea and Shitty play tonight. We probably could have played better, but you can't really complain about the fighting spirit the lads have shown.

Random Thoughts
I seriously think the Belgium national team is one to look out for. They have some seriously good and young players and alot of them are already stars in the Premiership. It's only a matter of transferring that level of play to the national team.

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.

United Keeps Pace With The Leaders

Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Jones (20)


Team: Lindegaard, Rio (Giggs 64), Vidic, Smalling, Evra, Jones, Carrick, Young (Welbeck 79), Nani, Rooney, Hernandez (Valencia 12)

Strange game this. We dominated most of the possession and really kept Villa out of the game the entire time, yet despite our fine play, we hardly created any chances. For all our labours the past few weeks, or months indeed, we really came out and played some fine football and really should have hammered Villa, but we faltered at the end of almost every move.

We're desperately in need of some spark up front, or even some form of luck. The good thing is that our shyness in front of goal did not hurt us today. Villa are as incompetent as they come.

Besides the inability to score tonight, the other concern was the injury to Hernandez early in the game. He seemed to have hurt his ankle and the agony in his frantic waves for assistence probably doesn't bold well. With Owen already out, Berbatov injured in the last game, it seems our striking options are down to Rooney and Welbeck (Macheda and Diouf are just too raw). For a good bit, Nani was drafted upfront and did a credible job, he's too mercurial to be relied on fulltime in that position.

Jones was plied in midfield early on and he scored his first official United goal with a darting run into the box to connect with Nani's wonderful cross. He's partnership with Carrick was solid without giving up possession. It seems Ferguson is right in his assessment that Carrick seems to come alive at the end of the year. He's certainly put in a good shift. While not being spectacular, he's putting in a credible job while Cleverley and Anderson are on the injury table (who says I don't give Carrick any credit?).

This win allowed us to retain the 2nd spot, keeping pace with City, as Spurs and Chelsea look ominously on. Our next few Premiership fixtures look easy on paper, and we better take advantage of it to narrow the gap.

Rooney Comes Good

Manchester United 3 - Aston Villa 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (1, 45), Vidic (63)
Aston Villa: Bent (58)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher (Anderson 33), Carrick, Giggs, Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

Ferguson fielded his first team and it showed. Murmurings that Hernandez would soon displace Rooney in the starting lineup were quickly dispelled by the man in question.

Rooney superbly collected Van der Sar's long punt and smashed it past Freidel in the first minute of the game to quickly remind all doubters that his desmise was wildly exaggerated as he once again proved all doubters, including myself wrong. What was most encouraging from the goal were that the celebrations were directed at Van der Sar, whose punt was controlled by Rooney. It's a stark reminder that how much the players and fans love and trust our soon-to-be-retired custodian.

The goal gave United the platform to play their normal cool and collected game against a strong Aston Villa side. To even suggest this Aston Villa side was 'strong' was abit of an overstatement despite their recent successes. We completely dominated proceedings. The floodgates should have been opened but for wasteful opportunities all round the pitch.

Rooney made no mistake in injury time in the first half when he tapped in Nani's incredible cross to double the scoreline at the break. Villa were nowhere to be seen at this point in time.

The second half saw a brief Villa enjoyed a brief renaissance in the second half that saw the deficit sliced in half with a wonderful breakaway goal by new boy, Bent, and could have levelled when Ashley Young's cross cum shot clipped the crossbay, but that was as close as Villa came.

Normal service was resumed when Vidic volleyed home after some good work by Rooney to etch out some space in the box. The two goal advantage was quickly restored with some flair and United went on to completely play Villa off the park.

Rooney could have ended the night with a hattrick but was unlucky on two more occasions.

This was one of the rarer performances where we played well for almost the entire 90 minutes, with Rooney standing heads and shoulders above his peers. For once since his debacle, he was worth his salary. For anyone wondering, he's still a long way from getting into my good books. For now, it's forgiven, but not forgotten.

Both Arsenal and Chelsea had come-from-behind victories to keep the status quo, but we're still standing pretty with a commanding lead. If we can maintain our current form and our feet grounded, we stand a good chance for the prize at the end of the season. This could very well turn out to be a good season despite my misgivings at the start of it.

United Fails To Win Thriller

Aston Villa 2 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Aston Villa: Young (pen 72), Albrighton (76)
Manchester United: Macheda (81), Vidic (85)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Park (Smalling 86), Nani, Berbatov (Macheda 73), Hernandez ( Obertan 73)

My word, what a thriller. Don't let the scoreline fool you. We were terrible for 80 minutes and only came alive in the final ten. Against a fairly depleted Villa side, this should count as a poor result, yet the comeback in the final 10 minutes is something to savour. It's a pity we couldn't have done it earlier in the game, but our front players were so poor that I didn't think they had a shot on target the entire game.

Villa were value for their lead. Ashley Young earned a penalty which he took himself. Prior to that, Villa had come close twice, both efforts hitting the woodwork.

In response to Villa taking the lead, Ferguson replaced both his strikers with Macheda and Obertan. Berbatov was back to his usual self. Sorry, he was worse than his usual self, he was trying hard to be Carrick. Hernandez wasn't much better either. He was on a one man mission to maim every Villa defender.

Promptly after the subsitutions, Villa went 2 up with a United-styled counter attack. Albrighton was on the end of the attack and he made no mistake to put ball into the net. Things looked really bleak. 2 goals down with less than 15 minutes left on the clock.

Cue Macheda. Having made his name against Villa, Macheda popped up to rifle Fletcher's backheel to pull one back for us. And only minutes later, Vidic made it a grandstand finish when he met Nani's cross to head home from an acute angle. Villa were stunned, while we pressed on for the winner.

It was an action-packed finale as we even threw Smalling on as another striker. But in the end, our away woes continued. We drew another away game, but this one didn't have such a bad taste in our mouths. We showed our mettle, albeit coming only in the final minutes of the game. And that only came after our subsitutes came on. Both Macheda and Obertan were pretty effective after coming on.

Berbatov and Hernandez weren't the only poor ones in the game. Park had an awful time. He was guilty giving the ball on numerous occasions and totally clueless going forward. Nani wasn't any better. He plays exactly like a teammate of mine, who falls at the slightest touch. If it's a genuine injury, it's understandable, but usually it isn't. Nani has a nasty streak of trying to dive for freekicks and get opponents into trouble. It's alot like Ronaldo when he first arrived. Nani needs to stamp that habit out. It's unsportsman-like and very un-United.

That said, it is a good result given the circumstances. I probably wouldn't have liked the result against a depleted Villa team at the start of the game, but considering just how poor we were and how hard we fought with the youngsters in the last 15 or so minutes, I'll gladly take this result and look ahead to the next game. I only have one request....when/if Rooney returns, can we bench Berbatov for good?

Never Underestimate The Heart Of A Champion

Aston Villa 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Aston Villa: Cuellar (19)
Manchester United: Collins (23 og)

Red Card
Manchester United: Nani (29)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Brown, Rafael, Evra, Scholes (Valencia 45), Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs (Berbatov 74), Nani, Rooney

Damn heart of a champion. We were down to ten men early in the game, yet we played like it was Villa who were down to ten. Damn, if we had shown half the grit, determination and desire in some of our games early in the season, we would be running away with the title by this time. At least it's never too late to find that now. Too bad we couldn't muster enough against the odds tonight.

By now everyone who follows this blog should know just how utterly I hate Rob Styles, but after tonight's game, there is a new boogie man. And it's in the form of Peter Walton, who in my opinion, is the most biased piece of shit on the pitch. At least for Styles, he's just plain incompetent. Walton is a master piece.

The red card on Nani was simply ridiculous. Sure it was a reckless tackle, but it probably only warranted a yellow at best. The red card means one of our most influential players gets an immediate 3 game ban and would miss the games against Everton, West Ham and most importantly, the mickey mouse cup finals against tonight's opponents. To exacerbate matters, he allowed the Villa players to get away with blue murder on the pitch without even a single card. He also blantantly denied Rooney a freekick outside the box as well as refusing to award anything in our favour, even obvious handballs. Hell, even the normally biased commentators were questioning his decisions, or lack of it. It seems to me that after Ferguson's comments on the referees earlier in the season, the referee's association finally sent in their hatchet man to screw us royally, just as we look to sweep all before us.

As for the game itself, we were partially our own worst enemies. We failed to clear the ball and Cuellar's header looped agonizingly over the outstretched hands of Van der Sar. It was a feeling of dejavu that Villa were ahead again for the second time against us this season.

Thankfully the script was different this time around, despite plenty of outside interference from a supposedly neutral party. As it has happened so many times this season, Mr Own Goal came to our rescue. Nani's wonderful cross was met by Giggs, but his wayward volley was smashed into the net by Villa defender James Collins. It was nothing more than we deserved. We were by far the better team.

Nani, then, got his marching orders for an overly enthusiastic challenge. As I've mentioned, it was a piss poor decision that threatened to change the face of the game. But to our credit, the lads rose to the occasion and literally plummet the Villa defense.

In the end, we could only come away with a draw having played a superb game. The odds were stacked too highly against us. On a lighter and more happy note, old boy Saha did us a favour by beating Chelsea on his own, and leaving us just one point behind the league leaders.

We wouldn't get a chance to play again until the 16th this month due to the FA Cup weekend. The lads would get week to rest and to prepare against the Champions League tie against Beckham and AC Milan. Just a month ago, I would have written off our chances completely, but since, we've seem to have found our swagger and self-believe again. It promises to be a cracking game.

Finally, to all my Chinese readers, have a happy and super prosperous Lunar New Year. This year we can celebrate without any United games to distract us.

Nothing's Changed

Manchester United 0 - Aston Villa 1
Scorer
Aston Villa: Agbonlahor (21)

Team: Kuszczak, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Anderson (Gibson 68), Park (Berbatov 63), Valencia, Giggs (Owen 45), Rooney

Nothing's changed very much around here. Chelsea screwed up against an understrengthed Everton earlier in the day and we, as usual, followed suit. Actually we went one up and proceeded to lose the game. In fact this was a result just waiting to happen. We've been shit recently despite our so-called convincing wins in the past couple of Premiership fixtures. It was no surprise to me that we faltered today.

What made things worse was that Ferguson threw up a lineup that just screamed at Villa to come at us. Maybe he was thinking of quick counters, but you start one up front at home, it's just asking for trouble.

Yet despite looking like shit, we actually played a good game. We gave the Villa defense a good run around but were simply unable to find the net. This was when putting one up front hurt us the most. Rooney was left alone up there and for most of the game, he came running back to midfield to pick up the ball, leaving no one upfront to shoulder the responsibility.

Agbonlahor punished us for our failure to find the net in the 21st minute with a superb header. We spent most of the game in the Villa half but the woodwork and poor positioning kept them in front.

Perhaps realising his mistake, Ferguson put Owen into the game for Giggs. Word out there is that Giggs was injured, but personally I would have taken Park out instead. It's obvious to the neutral that Park just wasn't up for it even though he ran his socks off. He just hasn't been the same since coming back from injury.

We continued to be as toothless as an old woman without her dentures. Berbatov and Gibson were both thrown into the fray and failed to make any significant impact. I personally would have liked to see Obertan take on the Villa defense. They had a relatively easy time handling our short passes. Having someone like Obertan run at the defenders could have created more havoc.

Villa ran out 1-0 winners at Old Trafford, breaking their winless streak since god knows when. While it's not exactly at terrible result since Chelsea could only draw, we still lost ground. What was truely despairing is that I can't see how we can get better. There were poor decisions from the coaching staff right down to the players. Again I cannot put a finger on exactly what is wrong with us. Maybe it's just everything.

United Digs Deep For Victory

Manchester United 3 - Aston Villa 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (14,80), Macheda (90)
Aston Villa: Carew (30), Agbonlahor (58)

Team: Van der Sar, Evans, Neville, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani (Macheda 61), Ronaldo, Giggs, Tevez (Welback 87)

We were down to bare bones today and it showed. Vidic, Scholes and Rooney were all serving suspensions and were terribly missed. Berbatov and Rio, normally first team players, were out with injuries, although I personally didn't miss them terribly.

Villa showed absolutely no sympathy to our plight and were determined to make the most of their annual donation to Old Trafford. The opening moments of the game were totally dominated by Agbonlahor running circles around Gary Neville. They created so many chances that it was Fulham all over again.

I was watching the game with a few mates at a Clementi kopitiam, hoping to break the jinx which had followed me the last couple of games by pulling our collective karma together. And it didn't look at all good. In fact, we were hoping that we didn't dig ourselves too deep a hole before the team decided to play football.

This time it looked like our collective karma worked wonders. Friedel gifted us a freekick when he handled a backpass. Giggs rolled the ball to Ronaldo who whacked it into the top right corner giving us an undeserved lead.

Despite their good work, Villa were one down and their confidence started to fade. We couldn't exploit their brief moment of weakness and it wasn't long before Carew found himself being marked by Neville. Neville had neither the strength, pace nor height for such a tough and one-side appointment. And on the half hour mark, Carew easily lost Neville and headed a cross into the net. That was Neville's last meaningful contribution as a centre-back. He was returned to his normal position as right-back. Not that it made much difference. He continually was left huffing and puffing after speedy wingers like Agbonlahor and Ashley Young.

Villa had the upper hand and the half time whistle was just what was needed for us to regroup.

Sadly, half time was also what Villa needed to refocus and this time it was Agbonlahor who headed home Petrov's cross giving Villa the lead in a see-saw contest. Well, actually to called it a see-saw contest was giving United too much credit. We never really looked like scoring despite having a good portion of the possession.

2-1 down in a crucial game, it looked like Liverpool's season. Ferguson's response was to bring on 17-year old Italian Fedrico Macheda into the fray. Remember the name.

We still played like crap and Villa probably had the better chances until Ronaldo took over the game. With ten minutes left in the game, he took a wonderful shot that curled past Friedel to level the scores.

Tevez was sacrificed for Welback and he nearly made an immediate impact with a shot stopped point blank. Then in injury time, Macheda happened.

The young 17-year old twisted and turned in the Villa box before curling a beauty to crash Villa's dreams. It was a coolly taken goal. Huge emphasis on coolly.

It's been sometime since we've had a young player come in with such an impact. He plays hard, and more importantly he seems to have loads of confidence and spunk. I know this is probably abit premature, but I think we can afford to let Tevez go at the end of the season, as much as I hate it. But damn, Macheda's impact in this game reminds me of Ole's debut.

If he continues to get opportunites to perform like this, we may have a winner on our hands.

And to all the Liverpool fans who were crooning over their result yesterday, eat this!

Lastly, collective karma rules! The only downside is that everyone's gonna really unproductive at work in the morning.

Dull Draw

Aston Villa 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Carrick, Giggs, Park, Ronaldo (Anderson 82), Rooney, Tevez (Nani 70)

I'm down with a killer flu so I'm going to do this as fast as possible.

- Typical United. When the teams above us drop points, we do likewise. Just so typical. If I wasn't so damn sick, I would have made a fortune with my bookie.

- Tevez's days look numbered. He's terrible and wasn't really in the game at all. Considering that he's still on loan and not officially a United player yet, things are really starting to look bleak for him. I hope he sticks around, but he's got to do alot more to further his cause.

- Ditto Park. Hmmm.....actually that goes for the entire midfield.

- Surprisingly, O'Shea had a good game at right back. Everything good came from him.

- Once again, we had no midfield. Giggs and Carrick in the centre did absolutely nothing....and for dramatic effect....ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!

- We had more possession but Villa looked more likely to score. Didn't understand why Fergie brought on Anderson instead of Welbeck. We sorely needed someone upfront who can bang in the goals.

Ruthlessly Efficient

Manchester United 4 - Aston Villa 0
Scorers
Ronaldo (17), Tevez (33), Rooney (53, 70)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio (Hargreaves 62), Vidic, Brown, Evra (O'Shea 62), Carrick (Anderson 62), Scholes, Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney

That's what I'm talking about! This is easily the best performance we've put out this season. It wasn't the most exciting spectacle but we were ruthlessly efficient. By 'efficient', I mean that we didn't waste energy on defense and we took the chances that fell our way.

It also helped that Villa came to OT with with an inferiority complex. When exactly was the last time they actually beat us? Quite frankly, I can't remember off the top of my head any losses in recent history. You'd probably have to go back to as far as the opening game in 95 when we lost 3-1, with some of the fledgings taking their maiden flight. It of course prompted the famous 'You can't win anything with kids' quote by Alan Hansen. Just the memory of that brings a smile to my face, that was indeed a year to remember.

The game started pretty evenly with the villians possibly having the better of the opening exchanges but it wasn't long before that irresistible man, Ronaldo, opened the scoring for us. Villa faileded to clear a corner and Ronaldo cheekily backflicked it, catching Carson and his merry men off guard.

On the half hour, after some beautiful passing which sliced the Villa defense like hot knife on butter, Ronaldo found himself with time and space to put a pin point cross right onto the head of Tevez. 2-0. Aston Villa simply had no answer to our pace and movement in creating the goal.

We allowed Villa plenty of possession but marshalled them superbly. They hardly had a sniff of goal.

The second half was more of the same and it wasn't long before Rooney added his name to the scoresheet. Once again Villa was undone by a Ronaldo backflick. This time he did it in midfield, fooling the defence, allowing Rooney a one v one chance. Rooney rounded the keeper and passed the ball into an empty net.

With Roma looming on Tuesday, Fergie brought out a triple substitution yet surprisngly left the 3 goalscorers in the game. Although I would have preferred to have a couple of them rested, I'm not complaining.

Villa's attempts to cut the deficit were all but dashed in the 70th minute when Rooney added his second for the night. Once again, it was Ronaldo who was the provider. Rooney could have sealed a wonderful night with a hat-trick, but he was caught offside a couple of times in the last 20 minutes.

The game ended 4-0 to the good guys and my word, what an impressive victory. It wasn't exciting, but it sure was efficient. I'm not even sure we broke a sweat, that was just how comprehensive this victory was.

I don't usually feel this confident going into a Champions League game, but if Fergie names an unchanged side, I'm pretty sure we'd come away from Rome with a result.

Game notes
Ronaldo - Just how bloody good is this kid? His goal today was amazing. He made it from absolutely nothing. Reminds you of the goal Henry scored against Charlton last season. What's more ridiculous is that Ronaldo created all the other 3 goals scored today. There is just no ceiling to what he can do.

Carrick - If not for Ronaldo, he would have been my man of the match. He didn't put a foot wrong. He was effective passing the ball forward and industrious tracking back to defend. When he plays like this he's a world beater. More importantly, you can see his confidence is at an all time high, playing with a familar partner, Scholes, in the centre of the park.

Hargreaves - He came on as a sub and played in right-back. I'm seriously not comfortable with this at all. He plays best in midfield period. While he's done the job at Bayern Munich and has done credibly the two times he's played at right-back, I'm still against the idea. I'm all for keeping players familar in their designated roles rather than confusing them.

Giggs - He got injured today and left the pitch before full time. Let's hope he's alright. He played well today but personally I think he's lost a step. Ideally I would love to have someone of his experience to come on late in the game to steady the ship. More importantly, by the time he comes on, everyone else should already be playing at his pace.

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.

The Swagger is Back (Aston Villa 1 - Manchester United 4)

I'll make this one short since the Rugby World Cup finals is just around the corner.

This was a convincing performance, and it was way before Villa were down to 9 men in the second half. Despite having Ronaldo on the bench, we started out strong and determined. But it was Villa who took a shock lead when Agbonlahor headed the ball into the net on the 13th minute. With Vidic out injured, Villa had their chances to test the defence marshalled by Rio and Pique, but they couldn't convert their chances.

It was a different story on the other end of the pitch. Tevez, Nani, Scholes and Rooney combined to great effect, occasionally showing signs of tearing the Villa defence apart with their passing.

Putting his midweek disappointment behind (England lost to Russia), Rooney helped himself to a couple of goals in the 35th and 44th minute when the Villa defence went to sleep. The first was a simple tap in when Rooney came from the blindside and stroked the ball into a wide open net. The entire Villa defense went to sleep and when they realised where Rooney was, it was too late.

The second goal resulted from a good pass by Tevez. He mesmerised the Villa defense with a jerky run and found Rooney with acres of space. Rooney promptly passed the ball into the net.

A minute later, Rio added his name to the scoresheet, scoring after Villa failed to clear a United corner.

United had complete control of the second half, thanks to the sending offs of Reo Coker and Scott Carson. Reo was sent off for a second bookable offense and Carson received his marching orders for bringing Tevez down in the area. Rooney stepped up to take the penalty and and complete his hat-trick, but he was too casual with it and the substitute Taylor saved it.

With over 20 minutes on the clock and Villa down to 9 men, it looked alot like a training exercise, with Villa concentrating on defense and United keeping possession. And it wasn't long before Giggs added a 4th. His shot was deflected twice into the net. Nothing more than United deserved. Even with the full compliment, we were heads and shoulders the better team on the pitch.

The rest of the game played out without anymore goals, although there were chances aplenty. What's more important is that you have the feeling that the swagger that has been missing since the season started is back. We finally look menacing going forward.