Berbatov Grabs A Hattrick Of Hattricks

Manchester United 5 - Birmingham 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (2, 31, 52), Giggs (45), Nani (76)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra (Fabio 45), Carrick (Gibson 25), Anderson, Giggs (Owen 55), Nani, Rooney, Berbatov

If only Berbatov can play away the way he plays at Old Trafford. He grabbed a third hattrick today against a toothless Birmingham. Either Birmingham were shockingly poor or we were sensational.

We practically dominated the game from start to finish. Berbatov opened the scoring in the 2nd minute and we never looked back. We missed a boatload of chances before he added a second to leave the result beyond doubt.

Giggs added a third at the end of injury time in the first half to give us a commanding lead. The goal was a beauty, involving sweet inter-play between both Berbatov and Rooney.

We took the foot off the pedal in the second half and allowed Birmingham to have possession, but it was Berbatov who found the mark for the third time in the game.

Nani added a fifth with a fine individual effort.

We were at our finest today. If only we can build on this and play similarly week in week out. I suppose there has to be a starting point and hopefully this is the springboard for us to play at a much higher level to blow our opponents away. It's important to go into the next game against Blackpool with the same level of commitment and movement.

Today's been a really good day all round and if we can win our game in hand against Blackpool in the midweek, we should be in a commanding position to take the crown.

Oops, We Did It Again

Birmingham 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Birmingham: Bowyer (90)
Manchester United: Berbatov (58)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Anderson (Fletcher 73), Gibson (Hernandez 90), Giggs, Rooney, Berbatov

We still can't keep leads away from home. This game was a huge downer, especially how we got the lead then proceeded to give it away at the last minute of regulation time.

It wasn't a pretty game. Birmingham, mired at the bottom of the table, set up shop to frustrate the living hell outta us. We never got our passing game going, and barely 48hrs after the last game, we faced up to a fresh Birmingham team that was determined to spoil the festivities. And if that wasn't bad enough, we came in with a reputation of giving games away late when we're not at our favourite hunting ground. Everything pointed to a draw and we didn't help by living up to our reputation.

With the exception of an fabulous strike by Berbatov, there really weren't many bright spots in the game. Instead of pressing on for the kill, we sat back too deep and invited Birmingham to come forward and by doing that, the inevitable happened. Although it was a blantant handball by Zigic and a hint of offside by Bowyer, the bulk of the blame had to fall on ourselves. Spoilt by the pretty play of the past few games, we let ourselves down by not doing enough.

I suppose that on the bright side, we're still top of the heap come 2011, but barely. Our noisy neighbours have crept up and are sitting pretty alongside us, as the top gets uncomfortably crowded as a bunch of teams are within striking distance. Yet given how we're started our campaign, I suppose this is still a good position to be in. Looks like we have to pull up our socks and do what we traditionally do, and that is to finish strong into the second half of the season.

United Continue To Drop Points

Birmingham 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Birmingham: Jerome (39)
Manchester United: Dann (og 63)

Red Card
Manchester United: Fletcher (84)

Team: Kuszczak, Brown, Evans, Rafael, Evra, Scholes (Diouf 81), Fletcher, Carrick, Park (Giggs 66), Valencia, Rooney

Wow, just how awfully uncreative are we? And you wonder just what Owen has done to get doghoused by Fergie? He didn't get on the pitch when we were whipping Wigan, he didn't get on the pitch when we were being run out by Leeds and he wasn't even required to warm up in the bleeding cold at St Andrews.

I'm personally glad we dropped points today. I hate to admit this by I really am. It would have made my day if we actually lost the game today. Too bad we managed to get some help from Scott Dann with an own goal to save a point. At least after dropping two points, even someone as stubborn as Ferguson would have to admit that we have some serious issues with the squad, namely - creativity.

Ferguson put out a team that was just awful. He packed the midfield with Scholes, Fletcher and Carrick, while Rooney toed the attack alone with the occasional help coming from Valencia and Park.

We completely dominated the midfield with Scholes picking up all the loose balls. But as the game wore on, the constant thing that was bugging me was - who the hell is going to get our goals tonight? We hardly created any chances despite having the bulk of the possession.

In fact a huge portion of the game was played in Birmingham's half. Yet Kuszczak was the busier of the two keepers. Kuszczak was called into action at so many crucial points in the game that he gets my vote of the man of the match by a far margin. You could say he single-handedly saved us the solitary point.

Ferguson's tactics while made sense on paper to control the midfield, resulted in a stale and entirely forgettable performance by a team that was absolutely clueless going forward. The silverlining with this result is that even Ferguson will have to acknowledge that we're as limited as the scoreline suggests.

Quite frankly, since the departure of Ronaldo, we've found it hard to breakdown stubborn/hardworking sides anymore. More importantly, there is no one in the team, bar Rooney, who is willing to take the responsibility of carrying the team on their shoulders and push it past the barrier.

Maybe with some luck, Ferguson sees what we all see and the purse strings will open, if not this transfer window, then by the end of summer. Whatever the case is, something's gotta change. United in this current shape and form is just god awful. I'd be glad to escape with a 4th placing this season.

Where Are The Goals Going To Come From?

Manchester United 1 - Birmingham 0
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (34)

Team: Foster, O'Shea, Evans (Brown 75), Evra, Fabio, Fletcher, Scholes, Nani (Giggs 45), Valencia, Rooney, Berbatov (Owen 75)

Damn. It took a while to get this up. I had to give up trying to get this damn blog up with firefox and am currently taking baby steps with IE.

With the amount of hair-pulling and kicking the PC about, I've almost clean forgotten how the Birmingham game went. As far as I recall, we looked very much like we did at the start of last season...quite terrible. And this time without the services of Ronaldo or Tevez.

So the burning question here is, where are the goals going to come from? We know Rooney and Berbatov would get their share, and Owen might chip in abit if he gets a decent run in the team. The rest of the team's....well....quite pathetic in that department. Scholes has lost his touch in front of goal, evident in this game, taking about half a dozen long-ranged shots and hurting an equal number of pigeons flying about. The rest of the team looked equally dismal in front of goal.

We did of course score with Rooney, but were unable to put the game away beyond reasonable doubt. Moreover injuries to Vidic, Rio and just about every right-back we have, Birmingham looked threatening whenever they had the ball. Evra even had to make a goal-line clearance with his head. Thankfully Foster put last week's game behind him and had a relatively stable game.

All in all, we won, and that's what really mattered, even though we really shouldn't have had to worry in the final minutes.

The season's barely begun and Ferguson must realise that we're probably going to have trouble finding goals this season. Rooney is but one man and most of the time he tracks back too deep to collect the ball. I don't really think Berbatov is going to improve much on his goal tally from last season and based on this one game, it might take sometime before Owen gets his engine started.

United Keeps Pace With Arsenal (Manchester United 1 - Birmingham 0)

I almost missed this game. Kentona and I were caught in no-mans land when both the coffeshops in my estate decided to show the Arsenal and Middlesbrough games instead of the United one.

In a last minute decision, we took a cab down to Queens Country Club and just managed to catch Tevez's goal. It was an incisive attack with a good bit of inter-passing between Tevez and Ronaldo. Once Ronaldo's cheeky flick freed Tevez from his marker, there was only going to be one outcome. 25th minutes and we were one up to the good.

Unfortunately, that was probably the best piece of action since we arrived. United never really got a foothold on the game. There were spurts were we did look good but never really threatened the Birmingham goal.

The beginning of the second half was a much better affair. There were brief moments where we seriously looked like we were going to run all over the oppoents. Tevez possibly had the best chance when he struck a thunderbolt at the post. Ronaldo and Nani were both guilty on a number of occasions of trying too hard to pass the ball into the back of the net.

But our dominance didn't last. Once we shifted down a gear, it looked like that West Ham game again. Our inability to finish the opponents is worrying. It gave Birmingham hope as they tried to muster a comeback against the best defense in the Premiership.

Thankfully they were pretty toothless and the last 25 or so minutes of the game was quite frankly a bore to watch. We weren't able to put Birmingham to the sword, and they were pretty awful coming forward.

I suppose at the end of the day, the 3 points were the most important thing to keep the pace with Arsenal. The good thing is that we're capable of playing so much better. The only problem is when. For the past few games, we've been stuttering but at the same time grinding out the results.

I suppose that's what champions are made of....grinding out results when we don't play to potential.

Ronaldo Opens Premiership Account (Birmingham 0 - Manchester United 1)

This was, by far, not a vintage performance but we secured the points and kept a clean sheet. I almost did not catch the game, but fortunately Kentona's gf was kind enough to make a detour to pick me up and send me to Queens Country Club to catch the game with Kentona. I know this sounds abit gay, but I think I've caught every weekend game with Kentona since the season started.

Before I go into the game, I'd like to add a few comments on the game that I missed during the midweek. We were dumped out of the Mickey Mouse Cup by a determined and persistent Conventry side in front of a record home crowd (debatable) for a Cup game. A day after a very VERY youthful looking Arsenal side kick the crapshit out of an experienced Newcastle team, I was actually expecting alot from our own highly touted lads. As we all know by now, we had nothing to show for. Our 'future' didn't turn up, and quite frankly, there was little, if anything, to cheer about. Our academy had stopped producing gems since Fergie's fledglings left the perch in the 90s. Granted Brown, Fletcher and O'Shea have come thru the ranks, they are certainly not setting the world alight. The juice seems to have run dry. Already we fall far far behind the likes of Arsenal and Barcelona in terms of youth development. Slowly and surely, whether we like it or not, we're turning into a cheque book team and our summer spendings on young prodigies like Nani and Anderson do little to disspel that notion.

As for today's game, the first team turned up and did credibly. There was little style in the win, but it was backed up by substance. It wasn't an easy win by any means, but still a job well done in the end.

Steve Bruce's side could have, and probably should have, had a couple in the opening few minutes, but their lack of cutting edge in attack was cruelly exposed when they failed to capitalise on their only dangerous moments of the game. Both Rio and EVS did well to avert the danger. After that it was all United.

We didn't exactly light it up, but we controlled the tempo as well as the game, even though Birmingham shoved and tried to bully their way into the game. In a way they almost succeeded. Giggs was hurried, pushed and kicked into giving possession away cheaply everytime he had the ball. Thankfully Fergie saw what we saw and substituted Giggs on the 64th minute. Perhaps this signals the end of Giggs' reign as an automatic starter. If it comes to pass, it certainly comes a couple of games late, but in Giggs' defence, he's earned it. I, for one, would love to see him start for a few more games....just for old times' sake.

Our goal wasn't a classic, but we capitalised on our only chance when it came. Frank Queudrue dallied a Rio punt forward long enough for Ronaldo to nip in and steal it. While it was a defender's mistake, the goal itself was coolly taken. Ronaldo took his time to round Maik Taylor and score the only goal of the game.

A win's a win's a win. Take nothing away from it. I'm only worried that our lack of penetration forward and the shortage of clear cut chances will come back to haunt us soon enough. Meanwhile, we celebrate our position in second, waiting for Arsenal's long awaited slump to come.