Ronaldo Snatches A Lucky Win (Manchester United 2 - Everton 1)

Looks like Everton's dismal record against us will have to continue to the next campaign. Visiting OT on the back of a 13 game unbeaten run, this was probably Everton's best chance of taking a victory away in 15 yrs.

Taking the cue from Bolton's victory a month back, Everton came into the game with a robust presence, with the full intent to bully us into submission. Everton's hopes must have been heightened when Edwin Van der Sar (possibly dropped for his performance at Anfield), Rio (possibly dropped for his disgraceful part in the midweek Christmas celebrations) and Hargreaves (probably just rested) were missing completely from the teamsheet.

I missed the first 20 minutes of the game buying food for our own mini Christmas celebrations at Cow's place. The 'party' was a tame affair and the guys and I could really have used a Rio in our midst, even though the WAGs were present.

Thankfully, the presents were not opened during my absence. As soon as I arrived, the opening goal was scored from a pretty good individual effort from Ronaldo. It was a shot from outside the penalty area that left Tim Howard flapping.

Everton hit back barely 5 minutes later with a Tim Cahill header. United's defense just wasn't good enough to keep the lead.

Much of the game was played in Everton's half thereafter without much headway. In truth, Everton defended stoutly and looked good for a draw.

Just when it looked like a draw with Everton packing numbers in the defense and United failing to create clear cut chances, Steve Pienaar decided to send a gift our way. In the spirit of giving, he tripped Giggs in the area with 2 minutes remaining, leaving the referee with no choice but to point to the spot. It was harsh on Everton, who I felt really deserved a point, given the way they fought today. To add injury to insult, Giggs was going absolutely nowhere with the ball.

Ronaldo stepped up and clinically put the ball into the net, grabbing all three points. The honest truth was that this was a lucky victory against a quality side. Irregardless, I'm not complaining about the win. We need all the help we can get to catch Arsenal.

A couple of game notes:

• Anderson's surprised me this season. He's been superb. He's caught up to the English game faster than many have predicted and is quite possibly one of the best midfielders playing in the country right now. And he's only 19! However, if there is one down side to his game is the flashing of imaginary yellow cards to the opponents. I'm glad Howard Webb booked him for ungentlemanly conduct in today's game.
• O'Shea needs a shot of confidence in the worst way possible. When he came on for Danny Simpson in right back after half time, he kept giving the ball away. Luckily Everton had already set up stall to defend or the consequences could have been dire.
• Is it just me? Evra can't jump. Don't get me wrong, Evra's been brilliant this season. I know I have a history of ragging on him relentlessly, but since Heinze's betrayal, I've taken him as one of my binkies. His defence is still somewhat dodgy, but he makes it up with a huge dose of heart. Not to mention he's been great doubling up as a second left winger. However he still seems to get out-jumped by any and everyone. Cahill's goal was a prime example of Evra getting out-jumped again. It's really getting quite embarassing for a man of African descent.
  

Old Boys Help United Zero in on Title (Everton 2 - Manchester United 4)

This is the stuff made for legends. 2 goals down and a thrilling comeback served up a sweet taste of toffee at Goodison Park.

Speaking of legends, there was a minute's silence to mark the passing of World Cup legend Alan Ball, which was immaculately kept before the start of the game.

Everton started both halves with early goals as United struggled to find their passing game. Despite the injuries faced during the run in and a relentless persue by Chelsea, fatigue is fast becoming our greatest enemy. Our play was sloppy and we failed to make that final pass when it mattered. The players looked like they were wearing weights on their feet for most of the first half.

On the 12th minute, Alan Stubbs thundered a freekick home, albeit with a telling deflection from the unlucky Carrick. It wasn't as if we weren't warned, as Lescott had hit the crossbar from a corner minutes earlier.

Our response was almost non-existent. Although we did dominate the first half, the final pass was always lacking. The Everton defence was sordid and did not allow an inch of space to the invaders in Red.

The second half started disasterously as Manuel Fernandes scored a stunning goal which Van der Sar could only flap at. In all honestly, the strike was so damn good, no keeper in the world could have saved it. 2-0 down and things were not looking good at all. Making matters worse was that Chelsea was leading in their own game against Bolton. Things were indeed looking glim for the men from Manchester. I'm glad I don't own a pet.

Our meek response was to take off the ineffective Evra, replacing him with Richardson in left back. Against a determined Everton side, who are fighting their own battle for a UEFA spot and trailing by 2 goals, it was perhaps better to give Richardson a run out for the midweek Champanions League game against Milan.

While the management probably had throw in the towel with a negative looking substitution, the players never hung their heads. Right on the hour, Iain Turner who has been playing in place of Tim Howard, inexplicably dropped a corner from Giggs, allowing John O'Shea to stab the ball into goal.

After playing like zombies for an hour, United were thrown a life line and my did they grab it like their lives depended on it. On came Ronaldo in place of Smith and the football was flowing. There was a sudden spring in the steps and United pushed forward for the equaliser.

And it came from the most unlikely source. Old boy and goal shy, Phil Neville somehow managed to score, perhaps his most important goal for United during a mad scramble in the penalty box. I hope his Everton teammates wouldn't be to harsh on their captain in the dressing room.

The other old boy, Rooney, completed the comeback in the 79th minute. He dragged the ball wide from the Everton defence and squeezed in the winner between Turner and the far right post.

Chris Eagles, who came on as a late substitute, put the sprinkling on the toffee, curling a superb 4th in injury time.

It was a superb victory given the circumstances and it was made sweeter by the news that Chelsea had drawn against Bolton. 5 points clear and needing 4 points from the next 3 games should see us home free. Surely we can't possibly screw this one up even if we tried...right? I certainly hope not, but we're United, and we've always made things difficult for ourselves, as this game has shown.

Another thing I just want to say here......damn we gotta be one of the most exciting teams to root for. The emotional roller coaster rides that we, United fans, go thru is incredible. And it's been going on and has gone on for quite sometime. My ticky ticker has gone thru some really tough times for almost 27 years, just by watching United play. I swear I'm going to have a heart-attack one of these days before I turn 40. I suppose the point I'm trying to say is that as much as I love the emotional spins we've gone thru the past week or so, gimme a Roma-type, non-nerve wrecking game anytime. Thrashings or boring wins once in a while is good for the heart. I'm sure some of the older fans reading this will understand where I come from.

Fuckin' Late Kickoff (Manchester United 1 - Middlesbrough 1)

I can't emphasize how fucking irritated I am with our performance in late kickoffs. We were trying to be what Fergie and Giggs had said in midweek....efficient. Unfortunately it all turned out wrong as we tried to play like Chelsea. Now the cushion has almost been completely swept from under our buttocks. Chelsea now holds their own destiny in their hands. All they need to do is to win their remaining premiership games, including the one with us.

The game started brightly for us. Richardson gave us the lead after a superb pass from Scholes and some brilliant running from Rooney in the 3rd minute. Just as Chelsea has been making a habit of scoring late in games, we've been doing the same with early goals.

The difference is when you score late goals, the other hasn't a chance of hitting back. And Boro did just that at the stroke of half time. It was also partly due to Rio hurting his groin again and was practically immobile when Viduka scored the equalizer.

Our tactics after going one goal ahead early was probably to blame as the team took heed from SAR and Giggs suggestions to play 'efficiently'. We allowed Boro plenty of possession and allowed them to come at us. Although until the goal, we had been able to contain Boro somewhat comfortably. We should have gone out and tried to nick a second goal, and play the way that had worked so well for us the entire season. Of course there were other considerations like injuries and more importantly, fatigue, but we should have treated each game like it was a cup final.

SAR rang in the changes at half time bringing on Giggs as an attacking punch and Fetcher to replace the injuried Rio. Yet it was Van der Sar who was called into action, denying both Viduka and Yakubu. Perhaps our first half rhythm had set in and our attacking play just wasn't effective. We could hardly penetrate the last third of the pitch with Boro defending resolutely and hitting us on the counter, a tactic which we made almost exclusively our own throughout the season.

Ole was sent on in a desperate push forward to seek the winning goal with a quarter of the game left, which in fairness to Ole, just wasn't enough. To put things into perspective on how ineffective we were, I don't think Schwarzer was troubled to make a single save in the second half. The tension in the stadium was intense and it probably got to the United players on the pitch.

In the dying minutes, what was a already bad situation almost got worse. John O'Shea brought down a Boro player in injury time and a penalty wasn't given. It could have made a bad day turn really sour.

Despite not winning this game, things aren't dire yet. Just as Chelsea has their destiny in their hands, so do we and it always has been. The only difference is that the margin of error now is minimal. Nerves will play an important part to both teams and how they perform under that pressure will separate the men from the boys.

I don't like the situation we're in, especially after having had a 6 point cushion, but I'll take what we have considering I never gave us a lick of hope at the beginning of the season. And with all the fucking late kickoffs out of the bloody way, the only thing that worries me is facing West Ham in the last game. I believe we probably would draw Chelsea to bring the race down to the wire.

If anyone cares to remember back in 95, we faced West Ham in the last game for the title and a certain Andy Cole missed 7825 shots on goal. We drew that game as Blackburn edged us to the title. Had we won then, the title would have been ours.

Curse of Late Kickoffs (Portsmouth 2 - Manchester United 1)

The cushion which we've been sitting so comfortably on has just gotten significantly harder. Chelsea beating Spurs (seriously, who couldn't see that coming!) and us losing to Portsmouth has cut our lead in the table to just 3 points with 6 games to go. It's still a commanding lead, especially when you factor in our superior goal difference.

It's just a minor road bump on our journey to wrestle the title from Chelsea. As long as there are no major road blocks in the form of late kickoffs, we should do fine. If at the start of the season, given the option to be in this position, I would gladly grab it with both hands. That's how far we've come, and I doubt neither the players, the management team nor the fans will willingly let this one go, especially not since we've worked so hard to come this far.

As for the game, all I can say is that Portsmouth played well, we looked tired and were undone by individual errors. None more glaring than from our stand-in captain Rio and our keeper Van der Sar.

The game was played at a franatical pace right at kickoff and neither side really got a hold of the game in the first half. This, of course, didn't help our cause since we never got into our rhythm. Both teams were guilty of giving away possession under pressure from the opposite side, but Portsmouth made theirs count. On the half hour, Richardson conceded possession and Benjani took a pot shot at goal. Van der Sar parried the ball straight in front of him and Matthew Taylor, my favourite Portsmouth player, got in front of Rio and knocked in the rebound.

Kinda hard to find fault when 3 of our players were involved in the boo-boo. They were:
1. Richardson for gaving away possession in a dangerous area.
2. VDS for parrying the ball in front of him. I'm sure in goalkeeping 101, you're taught to parry the ball to the side if you can't hold it.
3. Rio for standing rooted to the ground and allowing Taylor to get in front of him to score.

We were poor and rattled by the goal. In the second half, we were significantly better and piled up the pressure on the Portsmouth goal. Unfortunately, the final ball was always found wanting. When we did get it right, David James was in outstanding form. A couple of saves he made were simply marvelous, leaving Kentona and I rooted to our seats wondering in amazement how he kept them out.

With 2 minutes left to go in regulation time, our stand-in captain decided to make our task doubly difficult. In a moment of sheer madness and lack of communication between defender and keeper, Rio and EVS somehow made a goal out of a seemingly innoculous backpass. It was an epic comedy of errors, which no United fan could find joy in. It was horrible defending and equally horrible goalkeeping. I couldn't believe how Rio could make a backpass like that without even looking up to see where his keeper was. I was equally shocked at EVS for coming off his line when there was absolutely no reason to.

Credit to the lads, they never once held their heads down and carried on plugging away. Although time was running down, they did manage to pull one back, albeit too little too late. Ole's shot was spilled by James and O'Shea was on hand to poke in the rebound.

As Kentona noted to me, Rooney was particularly disappointing. In the run up to our injury time goal, Rooney ran up to the referee to complain about something when he should be focusing on the game. It's a part of his game he must get rid off. The constant whining when decision do not go his way must stop. Ronaldo has learnt it, and now Rooney must learn it if he's going to be of any use, especially when the chips are down. If he cannot concentrate for the good of the team, then he's useless to us in such circumstances, no matter what a brilliant player he is.

Oh, and last but not least, PLEASE NO MORE CAPTAIN'S ARMBAND FOR RIO EVER!!!!!

I Believe! (Manchester United 4 - Blackburn 1)

What a performance! What a show of true character! I never really believed we would win the title even after beating Liverpool, but after today's performance, I truely believe we can and we will. We have a squad of winners and the level of desire they've shown on the pitch today was just astounding.

To be fair, we started off the game pretty tame and for most parts were sloppy on the ball. We did have a larger share of the possession, but didn't really create many chances. Then tragedy struck on the half hour when Vidic fell awkwardly going for a corner and broke his collar bone. He's by far the main guy in our defence. Chances are that the season's pretty much over for him.

O'Shea came in for him and while the defence was still readjusting to the shuffle, Blackburn struck. Morten Gambst Pedersen whipped in a delightful cross that Carrick could only deflect goalwards. Van der Sar could only parry it into the path of Derbyshire and he scored easily. Double whammy.

The game a contest almost ended there. Blackburn refused to play football. They resorted to time-wasting with the usual fake injuries, roughhouse tackling and taking forever to take freekicks and throw-ins. And this was all done in the first half!

The second half was no better. In fact the tactics got worse. The Blackburn players started to play dirty, by fouling unnecesssarily. The referee, in my opinion, was weak and did not take action. Credit to our boys, we not only weathered the storm, but we continued to play our brand of attacking and positive soccer, bringing out countless superb saves from Friedel. He single-handedly stood between the actual scoreline and what could have been a cricket scoreline.

On the half mark, we got what we deserved....the equaliser. And my word, what a brilliantly taken goal! Scholes won the ball at the edge of the penalty area and with a few herky-jerky moves, jingled his way past 2 Blackburn defenders and as calmly as a cucumber, slotted the ball beyond Friedel and into the net.

After a hail of United barrages, the Blackburn defence caved-in again at the 73rd minute. This time it was Carrick who scored after Ronaldo had taken on the entire Blackburn defence on the left byline. It was truly nothing more than we deserved. It was just a relentless onslaught of United attacks, knowing that a draw would do us no favours. Not to mention the treatment given to us by the Blackburn players.

The floodgates truly opened up in the 82nd minute when Park joined in the scoring. Ronaldo's freekick could only be parried and Park was on hand to score from the rebound, just as he had done in the Bolton game.

Ole came on as a substitute and rounded off the scoring in injury time. And, it was nothing more than we deserved. Glory Glory Man United! It was truely a gutsy performance by everyone on the pitch. You can hear the crowd singing, 'The Trophy's Coming Back' (it sounded something like that).

Special mention must go to both Scholes and Carrick. They were fabulous in the centre of the park. I know I don't say this enough (in fact I often do the opposite), but Michael Carrick was brilliant. This could easily be his best performance in a Red shirt.

Also worthy to note that Rio is lucky to be playing in England. In a rare show of emotion when we were 1-0 down, Rio kicked the ball into the stands on a referee's decision not to play the advantage and decked an elderly lady. If it happened in USA, you can be sure the lawsuits would come flying in thick and fast. Rio, being the gentleman that he is, went over a number of times to apologise and to check on the elderly fan. As you guys know, I've always wanted Rio to show more emotion in a game but after today, I'm hoping he plays it 'cool' from now on. An emotional Rio isn't exactly worth the trouble, as we already know, he's not the brightest person around.

Now let's not waste this effort and go on to win the freaking Premiership.