Defeat Ushers In A Changing Of Guard

Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0
Scorer
Manchester City: Kompany (45)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Smalling, Jones, Evra, Carrick, Park (Welbeck 58), Scholes (Valencia 78), Giggs, Nani (Young 83), Rooney

There is nothing really to say here. The statistics tell the full story. We had ZERO shots on target. We were never in this game and never looked like scoring.

We had started off well, with alot of attacking verve, but it all resulted in nothing. Once Shitty settled their nerves, it was all Shitty. They had our number and it was just a matter of time before they scored. And they did, into injury time of the first half. Kompany lost Smalling from a corner and powered his header into the net. Nothing anyone could have done about it, except Smalling getting closer to his man.

But this defeat is not about Smalling. It was on the entire team. Not only the players, but everyone from the management, from top to bottom. I dare say that this is the worst United team in the last 20 or so years. The only players who have held their weight in gold are the wingers, Young, Valencia and Nani. Without them, we wouldn't even have been close. And the small little thing of the second coming of Scholes. No one else even come close to doing what a United team should be capable of playing.

At case can be made about Rooney's contribution, but really, without the wingers, he is nothing. Carrick is our version of Charlie Adams. A worthy player for a mediocre team, in fact he may even be a star player for a mid-table team, but for a team plying it's trade in winning titles, he's worthless. Solid but worthless. Look at Yaya Toure for Shitty today. Now that's a beast of a player!

Granted we have alot of young players coming thru the ranks, but they are just that right now, young players with potential. Until (if) they reach their potential, they are still young players.

Yet, having said all that, the title is not done and dusted. There are still two games to go and Shitty still has to win them. One is away against an in-form Newcastle and the other at home against a team playing for their Premiership lives in QPR.

We, on the other hand, have to contend to playing 'Barcelona light' in Swansea, and a final game at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland. Both look easy on paper, but mind you, both look like teams that will give us loads of trouble.

Let's face it, even the most optimistic of us have already conceded the title after today's result. It's no longer in our hands. Unless either Newcastle or QPR does us a huge favour, it's really over. And even in the very unlikely scenerio they do, the chances of us fucking up our own games has a higher possibility of happening.

As what Kentona brought up last week, I suppose the silverlining for us is that it's going to be a win-win situation either way.

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!

United Handed A Thrashing

Manchester United 1 - Manchester City 6
Scorers
Manchester United: Fletcher (80)
Manchester City: Balotelli (22, 60), Aguero (69), Dzeko (89, 90), Silva (90)


Red Card
Manchester United: Evans (47)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Evans, Smalling, Evra, Anderson (Jones 66), Fletcher, Young, Nani (Hernandez 66), Rooney, Welbeck

Ouch, this one hurts. In all honesty, we had this one coming. We've been coasting for the last few games and it's come back to bite us where it really hurts. I supposed, despite the gloom emitting from the red half of Manchester, there is a silverlining here, it was a wake up call, in the worst way possible, not only to the players, but the higher-ups as well.

We can no longer afford to sleepwalk to the title. At this early stage of the season, we're already finding ourselves in a small hole, most of it by our own doing. As I've said after the Stoke game, it was the beginning of the end if we continued to play like this.

The biggest disappointment were the goals conceeded in the last 3 minutes. Some of our players, namely Rio, just stopped playing. It allowed Shitty 3 additional goals that they did not deserve. He just stood still when Shitty broke and came at us with numbers. Rio simply didn't seem interested in playing and it was a huge letdown for the fans to see a self proclaimed 'legend' throw in the towel. It's just not the United way.

Of course the bulk of the blame will fall naturally to Evans who was red-carded right at the start of the second half when he found himself on the wrong side of Balotelli and had to pull him down.

The substitutions by Ferguson also left me scratching my head. Anderson was by no means the worst player on the pitch. In fact he was one of the few who showed a willingness to plod forward despite being two down. And taking Nani off instead of Young was another head-scratcher. Young's been playing like he's been auditioning for the Night of the Living Dead for the past month, yet he remained instead of Nani.

A combination of poor decisions and the lack of quality from the creative side of midfield spelt our demise. But what's more galling was the lack of desire from a number of players that was really a smack in the face of the fans. The honeymoon is over for this team, and the management has alot of heavy lifting to bring the spirits up and more importantly, the purse strings need to be loosened in January to bring in some help in midfield.

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.

Sensational Rooney Strike Shuts Noisy Neighbours

Manchester United 2 - Manchester City 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Nani (41), Rooney (77)
Manchester City: Silva (65)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Smalling, O'Shea, Evra, Scholes (Carrick 78), Fletcher, Anderson (Berbatov 67), Giggs, Nani, Rooney

It wasn't a classic Manchester derby, but Rooney's magnificent strike when it looked like a drawn game gave the good guys all 3 points and bragging rights for another season. It was a goal that was worthy to win any game, and possibly one of the best goals scored this season, if not THE goal of the season, given the circumstances, occasion and importance.

Just fresh from our first league defeat to Wolves, Ferguson opted for a conservative lineup, spreading 5 across midfield and Rooney as the target man upfront. We gave Shitty too much respect and it showed on the pitch. Our play was laboured and slow, and with Giggs misplacing passes all over the pitch, it made for a ragged performance. Although Shitty created the better chances, they weren't any better and for good periods in the game, you'd wonder if it would end as a dull 0-0 draw.

Yet, by some divine intervention, Nani found himself one on one against Hart and firmly slotted the ball home to give United the lead into the half. This time round, Giggs' misplaced pass was wonderfully controlled by Nani on a rare United counter and he made no mistake.

The second half was again poor from both sides but Shitty threw on Dzeko and it was his contribution that brought Shitty back into the game. He's powerful shot deflected heavily against Silva and wrongfooted Van der Sar, and both teams were back on level terms.

Just as the game decidedly looked like a 1-1 draw, Rooney produced a piece of magic that shattered whatever illusion Shitty had of the title race. Nani's cross was superbly met by Rooney's overhead kick and the shot thundered into the Shitty net. Hart had his feet rooted to the ground, and could only admire the majesty of the shot. The goal took the wind off Shitty's sails and they wimpered away into the night with their tails between their legs.

Until the goal, Rooney was having a terribly evening, but he reminded everyone that he possessed that little bit extra, and repaid Ferguson's faith in starting him instead of Berbatov.

The win maintained our comfortable lead at the top, but the utmost concern is still the level of our play. We're regressing back into the kind of form that has plagued us in the beginning of the season.

Neighbours To Settle Row Another Day

Manchester City 0 - Manchester United 0

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael (Brown 49), Evra (O'Shea 69), Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Nani, Berbatov (Hernandez 78)

Don't really see what's so special about City this season. They were playing at home and were so defensive, packing the box. We weren't much better formation-wise, but at least we looked threatening going forward. The second half was probably some of the best football we've played all year, not that it says much considering how generally poor we've been all season.

What was outstanding in this game is that for once we never looked like conceeding. Our defence was super on the ball. I don't think I've seen the players concentrate so hard on the defensive end all year. All the midfielders did their part, coming back when needed, snuffing out the danger from Silva and Tevez. On the other side, the Toures brothers were outstanding.

At the end the negativity of Shitty won the day. At least it looks like we've finally woken up from our slumber and playing the type of football we've come to know and enjoy. We may have lost gound to Chelsea on this night, but if we continue to play this type of football, I'm sure we could give them a run for the money.

Scholes Goal Edges Shitty

Manchester City 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Scholes (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans, Neville, Evra, Scholes, Fletchers, Gibson (Nani 59), Valencia (Obertan 80), Giggs, Rooney (Berbatov 74)

As I'm typing this, Chelsea is trailing 2-zip to Spurs. This entry was going to be totally negative, but with Chelsea likely to lose, I might just have to change my tune here....or maybe not.

Let's face it, this was a terrible display, and once again the fault lies entirely with Ferguson. I mean, what kind of fucked up lineup is he putting out there? Seriously, Giggs, Scholes and Neville for the entire 90 minutes? He lucked out when Scholes scored a ridiculously late winner. Kudos to Scholes though, making the most of the opportunity after signing a new one-year contract. Giggs was honestly terrible and Neville really should have seen yellow for his many indiscretions throughout the game. He was lucky Bellamy didn't have his usual game or else it would have been curtains long before we even knew what hit us.

Let's not get started with Nani starting from the bench. Besides Rooney, he's been our best player for the past couple of months, and yet Fergie chooses to pit him on the bench. I don't understand it, I really don't.

The more I think of it, the more I think Fergie needs to go. He's using our players the wrong way. Scholes, Giggs and Neville are great players...in their prime. Now is the time to fully utilize their wonderful experience...ie to bring them on as subsitutes and not run them to the ground for the full 90 minutes. It's also apparent to have both Nani and Valencia on the pitch at the same time, especially if we're going to play with Rooney upfront on his own. Twin wing threats keep the defense decent. Instead we did what we did today and it was an easy task to keep Rooney and Valencia in check (not considering Giggs since he was doing a poor impression of Carrick).

Once again, Berbatov proved to the be choker. At least today he didn't whine and actually put forth a good display, not that he made any difference.

Well, the good news here is that we're actually back in the title race with Chelsea dropping points (keeping fingers crossed). Let's hope Spurs will be too busy patting themselves on the back after pegging both Chelsea and Arsenal to face us next week. It's still out of our hands, but with plenty of luck we're still in with a shout.

Rooney Sends United To Wembley

Manchester United 3 - Manchester City 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Scholes (52), Carrick (71), Rooney (90)
Manchester City: Tevez (76)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Rafael (Brown 74), Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick, Nani (Valencia 90) Giggs, Rooney

Gotta hate those weekday games. I was almost asleep by the time the game started at 4am in Singapore. It didn't make for good viewing in the first half either, making me almost regret my decision to pinch myself all night just to catch this game.

The first half was probably as putrid as it can get. Shitty were all over the place and our 5-man midfield was found lacking severely going forward. Strange tactic by Ferguson to field 5 in the midfield while chasing a game. The result left Rooney all alone upfront and a defence that continued to punt the ball forward. It was pretty awful to watch. The only bright spark in the first half was Nani taking on defenders and crossing to the lone man upfront.

I had half a mind to write this game off and sleep instead of watching Ferguson mess it all up. But I was glad I didn't. The second half proved to be one of the most exciting and emotional filled halfs in a long long time.

Shitty revved up the pressure in the second half and the crowd at Old Trafford responded in the most uncivilised manner. A coin was thrown and it hit Bellamy on the head while he was retrieving the ball for a corner. There was a brief stoppage, while Van der Sar did the right thing to stand between a fallen Bellamy and the fans. It was disgraceful behaviour shown by some of our own fans.

The incident, however, seemed to have sparked United into action. Right from clearing the Shitty corner, United broke away and Scholes fired United into a rather undeserving lead. The tides shifted towards United's direction and Shitty couldn't even get a sniff of the ball.

Our persistence was rewarded in the 71st minute when Carrick passed the ball into the net after some good work from Fletcher.

Minutes later, Tevez pulled one back with an unlikely goal. The game was finely balanced and both sides were going for the win.

As time ticked away, it looked like both sides had settled for extra time, but Rooney had other ideas. He nodded home Gigg's corner in injury time to send Shitty packing.

It was an excilarating second half packed with incidents and a minor scuffle between Fletcher and Richards that threatened to boil over. In the end, we somehow overturned the deficit and came away victorious. All that's left is a cup final date with Villa on the 28th of Feb.

Tevez Steals The Show

Manchester City 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Manchester City: Tevez (pen 42, 66)
Manchester United: Giggs (17)

Team: Van der Sar, Brown, Evans, Rafael (Diouf 90), Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson (Owen 72), Valencia (Scholes 88), Giggs, Rooney

Good game by the boys in red, but we came away trailing from the 1st leg of the Mickey Mouse Cup by a goal against rivals Shitty. We showed plenty of good and hard work in the 90 minutes played. Shay Given had a blinder and on any other given day, we could have buried the tie here. With all their newfound riches, Shitty are still shitty. Without the help of Mike Dean who made a criminal decision to award Shitty a penalty in the late stages of the first half, we would have won this tie in a canter.

Yet on the final count, we only have ourselves to blame for conceding a second in the second half with some miserable defending. At least we gave a really good account of ourselves with a rousing end to the game although it yielded no results. There is still a second leg to be played in a week's time and if all things remain the same, and the players show the same amount of desire, I'm pretty sure of a positive result.

We started the game well, almost completely dictating the pace of the game and rightfully went into the lead with a Giggs tap-in after Given had punted Rooney's effort onto his own defender. We had the early lead and were cruising. Shitty were not even in the game.

Pretty much against the run of play and a criminal decision by referee, Mike Dean, allowed Shitty back into the game. Rafael's foul was clearly outside the box, but Dean pointed to the spot and Tevez levelled the scores.

In the second half, it was Tevez who once again proved to be the bane of the United goal with a simple header after the entire United defense went walkabout in the outback admiring the kangaroos. Shameful defending.

At least this time, we responded positively. We peppered the Shitty box with crosses and only Given stood in our way. Rooney must have been the most frustrated man on the pitch. He had a hatful of chances thwarted by the former Newcastle custodian. Shitty were so overwhelmed that the last 15 minutes was played exclusively in the Shitty half, as they packed every available body into the area.

In the end, Shitty barely held on to the precious, yet slender lead to bring to Old Trafford next week. We might not get the result at OT, but if we play anywhere near the kind of intensity we did today, I have no doubts we would be able to beat this very mediocre Shitty team.

What An Incredible Game!

Manchester United 4 - Manchester City 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (2), Fletcher (48, 80), Owen (90+5)
Manchester City: Barry (16), Bellamy (52, 90)

Team: Foster, Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Evra, Fletcher, Anderson (Carrick 90), Park (Valencia 62), Giggs, Berbatov (Owen 78), Rooney

Awesome awesome game. It had practically everything a neutral would want in a football game.

We opened the game with an early goal from Rooney. Shitty were caught napping and Rooney made the most of it scoring from an Evra pass.

Unfortunately we stopped playing after that. Despite the demoralising start, Shitty grew in strength and Foster probably took pity on them and gifted one back. Instead of clearing the ball, Foster decided to show his dribbling skills and was promptly stripped by Tevez who instinctively passed the ball to Barry to slot the ball into the empty net.

Shitty grew into the ascendancy and started to control the game. Tevez came close to giving Shitty the lead, but his effort hit the post. Just when it seems inevidable that Shitty would take the lead, the half time whistle came to our rescue.

I would have liked to have whatever they had as the half time refreshment. It was a totally different team that came out of the locker room. We gave Shitty no room and started bombarding their penalty area with crosses. And it took less then 3 minutes into the half before Fletcher rose and headed one of those into the net.

As Old Trafford roared it's approval of the new scoreline, Bellamy had other ideas. He single-handedly brought Shitty level again with a rasping shot beyond the flapping Foster. It was back to the drawing board again for the lads. This time, instead of crumbling, there was a huge sense of urgency and we continued to hammer the Shitty defense with pin-point crosses from the irresistable Giggs.

The addition of Valencia in the place of Park added more crossing prowess. This time we rained in the crosses from both the left and the right. Howver, Shay Given was in outstanding form. Berbatov was extremely unlucky to have two headers saved at point blank range.

In the 80th minute, Fletcher scored his second header of the day to give United the lead for the third time. We took the foot off the peddle and paid the consequences.

This time it was Rio who made the error. Only god knows what he was thinking when he gifted the ball to Bellamy. Bellamy ran the length of the pitch and poked the ball beyond Foster who could've done more to cover his angles instead of sprawling on the ground at the first sign of danger. The the third time, Shitty had found an equalizer.

Time was running out, and running out quick. We looked at a loss and just when it seemed that we would have to settle for a draw, Shitty's rushed clearance found Giggs and he in turn found Owen in acres of space in the Shitty box. And right at the death, Owen did what he's done best all his professional career, and that was to beat his former teammate, Shay Given.

United 4 - Shitty 3. Pandemonium.

It was an utterly satisfactory victory. Giggs is god. In all my years of watching Giggs play, this is possibly his best performance. Everyone in red had an outstanding game, possibly with the exception of Foster and Rio.

I'm beginning to worry for Foster. He's proving to be a liability and if this carries on, the players in front of him would start losing confidence as well. So far his mistakes haven't cost us anything yet. We've been lucky that Rooney and gang have been finding the goals to save his blushes.

Whatever the case is, Ferguson needs to start looking around, either from within or in the market for a suitable and long term replacement for Van der Sar. We could jolly well end up in the same situation when we lose Smikes. The inability to replace him properly probably costs us a number of years in limbo.

Portugese Fucker Mars Win

Manchester United 2 - Manchester City 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Fucker (18), Tevez (45)

Team: Van der Sar, Vidic, Evans (O'Shea 70), Rafael, Fletcher, Giggs, Park (Rooney 60), Fucker (Scholes 60), Tevez, Berbatov

One step closer to the title with this win. Unfortunately, today's game shows everthing wrong with this team. Or at least everything wrong with one particular Portugese fucker. Even after beating our local rivals convincingly, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.

I've always found it hard to really hate/dislike a United player. I know there are times I'm just plain mean when I write my blog, but most of it comes from just spur of the moment irritation, tongue firmly in cheek thoughts or just being mean-spirited. The closest I've come to hating was from Heinze, but he's the past and not worthy of my attention.

But this Portugese fucker brings hate to a new level. As fans, we put up with his constant whining, his temper tantrums, his immature play and his complete lack of class but today's outburst brings out everything wrong with this kid. He just doesn't understand what it means to be a United player.

We've always been a team. We've always played for one another. Even in the dark days when Liverpuss was winning everything in sight, we've always had that team spirit, everyone plays for everyone else, even though most of it was done in the pubs. But this little piece of shit just plays for himself. It's all about him. It's ALWAYS all about him.

There was this little incident in the first half that got to me big time. He misplaced a pass, and had the audacity to blame Fletcher for not getting to it. And, of course, there was the very public outburst when he was substituted.

I'm sure if not for his skills, Ferguson would have sent him to Real Madrid in the summer. Quite frankly, I'd rather we win fewer trouphies and just get rid of him once and for all. I'm actually disappointed that he's pledged his future with us.

What's worse is that in tomorrow's papers he's probably going to apologise and sometime in the very near future, he's going to pull the same'o shit again. I'm done with forgiving him. If the price is right, ship him out. We'd do fine without him.

And just to rub it in, we're probably going to keep him over Tevez, which absolutely murders me. I love Tevez to bits although I don't agree with his recent outbursts as well. There are dirty linings you wash in public and there are those which are kept within the locker room. Still, I'll have him over that fucker anyday of the week. Honest player, and it shows on the pitch.

As for today's game, we got into an early lead via that fucker's deflect freekick. Despite his piss poor attitude, he's simply quite brilliant in that department.

Tevez added a second with a thunderous strike. Both teams were pretty sloppy, just that Shitty was sloppier. The good thing about us is that we're peaking at the right time and putting away opponents comfortably.

You know, I've just checked the schedule, and we could very well wrap up the title before Liverpuss plays. Just 4 more points from a midweek game against Wigan, who are on holiday mood, and a early kickoff on Saturday against the Arse, and we're home free. Then we can concentrate on preparing for the Champions League finals against the best team (imo) in the world.

Rooney's Winner, Ronaldo's Shame

Manchester City 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorer
Manchester United: Rooney (42)

Red Card: Ronaldo (68)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Rafael, Evra, Carrick, Fletcher, Park (O'Shea 90), Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov (Giggs 84)

Not exactly the kind of derby result I was expecting. Rooney covered himself with glory, scoring the only goal in a tight game, while Ronaldo went the opposite direction, shrouding himself in shame as he was deservedly sent off for a blatant handball.

We had the upper hand in the opening exchanges but were, as usual, not able to convert. Even when Joe Hart spilled the ball, we were not sharp enough to pounce on the City keeper. On the other end, Van der Sar once again proved what a liability he is with balls floated in from freekicks. He flapped at the ball, getting nowhere near it. Thankfully, City were as lacklustre as we were upfront.

Rooney's goal came late late in the first half thru some determined work from Park. The ball was bouncing around in the penalty area and Park's tenacity brought it to Carrick's feet. With the goal inviting, Carrick took a fine shot that Joe Hart could only parry onto the path of Rooney. The newly crowned 100-goal man wheeled away in celebration, and somewhat in relief after finally breaking the duck. Maybe with that monkey finally off his back, he might produce the kind of performance we've been used to. He's been playing like crap for the past month, at times trying too hard.

City came on strong in the second half and we barely stemmed the flood of sky blue shirts coming at us. Then inexplicably Ronaldo handled in the area to leave Howard Webb no choice but to flash the second yellow. I don't understand how anyone can defend his stupidity, let alone a well-respected manager like Ferguson.

His dismissal left his teammates a man short, and United were left to defend the remaining 20 minutes in a hostile atmosphere. We killed the game and it was pretty much a bore to see City try to break us down, at the same time watching United play the kind of football we dread to see.

Despite all that, the game somehow managed to come to life in the dying seconds. City had a goalline clearance and from the resultant ball, Rooney launched a ball from just within the City half goal wards. Joe Hart, who had been sprinting back from the corner at the other end made a diving save to prevent the scoreline from being larger. My mates who were watching the game with me were marvelling at the sequence of play.

We stayed on to watch Chelsea get humbled by a crisis-wrought Arsenal. We've closed the gap between us. Now all that remains is for Liverpool to fumble against the Hammers tomorrow to make it a good weekend.

Disgraceful Tribute To Munich Victims

Manchester United 1 - Manchester City 2
Scorers
Manchester United : Carrick 90+2
Manchester City : Vassell 25, Benjani 45

Team : Van der Sar, O'Shea (Hargreaves 74), Rio, Vidic, Brown, Scholes, Anderson (Carrick 74), Giggs, Nani (Park 63) , Ronaldo, Tevez

What an utterly disgraceful performance. Just when you thought that last week's game was a one off, United threw up this pile of dung right smack onto everyone's face. To add insult to injury, this was the one day designated as a tribute to the Munich air-crash victims of 58, the one day to remember those who had bravely worn the United jersey and played their hearts out for the club.

The only thing that went according to plan was the one minute's silence, which was impeccably kept. Everything else just totally and completely fell apart.

We entered this game without Rooney and Evra, both suspended for the game. And it showed. We were practically toothless upfront. Everytime Tevez or Ronaldo had the ball, they were crowded out by City defenders. It didn't help that Richard Dunne and Micah Richards were on top of their game.

In fact, City were by far the better team, by a mile. They were compact at the back, and at the same time pacy and powerful charging forward. It wasn't a surprise that they went ahead midway thru the first half. Even a double save from Van der Sar couldn't stop Vassell from opening the scoring. United just weren't able to clear the lines and paid the price for slack defending.

And right on half time, City debutant, Benjani headed a glancing header beyond Van der Sar's oustretched hand to put the blue side of Manchester 2-0 up.

United tried to make a game of it in the second half, but every move forward was stopped by the impenetrable City defence. Ferguson threw on desperate substitutions, without a notable goalscoring option on the bench, the result was only going to be a City victory. In fact we were lucky not to concede in the second half when City threw away numerous counter moves.

Just as last week, we brought back some respectability to the scoreline when Carrick pulled one back, deep into injury time. It was too little too late.

This was a loss that was utterly deserved and the scoreline somewhat flattered us. City could and really should have stuffed us. We walked into this game wearing our 58 replica jersey, thinking that City would roll over and play dead, given the circumstances of the occasion. Unfortunately, the jersey, like the team is just a replica of the one in 58, it didn't share the same fighting spirit of the team of 58. Someone forgot to let the team know that City is a Premiership team too, fighting for a place in the Champions League.

No one played well today. Everyone played for himself. When Nani, Giggs, Ronaldo and Tevez got the ball, all they were doing was trying to take on their own defender. Even when they did pass, it eventually went to an opponent.

Giggs in particular was a pain to watch. It's just so sad to watch Giggs labour in today's game. He's a step too slow to take on defenders, and it's just plain painful to see him try and try again today. Not to mention, his passing today was just atrocious.

What's worse, no one seemed arsed enough to want to take on the responsibility to carry the team. We simply didn't have the winners' mentality, and to be frank we haven't had it for quite sometime now.

I'm personally feeling that perhaps we're just not good enough to win the title this season. If the players just can get motivated enough to win on a special occasion like today, then perhaps they are simply not worthy of winning it all. I just hope that there is a deeper strength in character the players have than I give them credit for.

United Aids Shitty to Top With Another No Goal (Manchester City 1 - Manchester United 0)

A week into the new season of our title defence, and we're already staring up the table, a massive 7 points behind local rivals, Shitty. This is an almost unthinkable position given the fact we've spent massively after winning the title last season in one of the most stylish manners possible.

The inability to score is really hurting us this season. Again in this game we've looked the more likely team to score but again in this game, we didn't.....or more aptly put, we couldn't. I'm sure even the most optimistic of fans will find concern in our inability to find the net.

I take everything I said about Owen Hargreaves in the off season back. He was awesome. He was literally everywhere on the pitch, making the important challenges, winning the ball and pushing the play forward. There were times I actually thought Keano had returned. Yes, he was that good. It'd probably be a few more games before I'd even come close to annointing him as the next Keano, but today he certainly earned his stripes. The only think lacking from him today was willing the team to victory. To be fair to everyone else who played, they were all pretty damn good today.

We started this game with a swagger, looking to decimate Shitty with our passing and approach play. For a good 30 minutes, there was only one team playing football, and another watching in total admiration. We played like the Champions of last season and totally dominated the Shitty midfield. Shitty didn't even get a sniff of the ball let alone string any passes.

Then the unthinkable happened. Totally against the run of play, Giovanni, our tormentor from Benfica, popped up outside our penalty box and scored with the aid of a deflection. Van der Sar didn't have a chance in hell to save it. It was as if the Gods of Football were mocking us. After all we had done in the past 30 minutes, we were rewarded by going one goal down. The lads in red looked stunned while the other set of players in blue grew in confidence and started making cheeky forays into our half.

Try as we might in the second half, the equalizer simply wouldn't materialize. At this point in time my brain and heart both switched off and quite frankly, I really can't recall what happened. Maybe subconsciously my brain is saving me from a huge headache fathoming just how quickly things have changed. All that I knew was the final result and our unbeaten run had been stopped! <---tongue firmly in cheek.

While the Blue side of Manchester celebrates their ascend to the peak, we're left to ponder over how costly losing Rossi or Smith is and wonder how cruel fate is to rob us of Rooney.

Yet in the doom and gloom of it all, there were some good things to take away today.
1. Shitty is shit. It's just a matter of time before they come back down to earth.
2. Things can't possibly get any worse. When you're right at the bottom, the only way is up......except for losing to Spurs next week.
3. Hargreaves was awesome, so was Tevez.
4. Nani is almost the exact carbon copy of Ronaldo. Which means in 3 years time, he'd be a great player.
5. Rob Style royally screwed Liverpool. Yup, I just had to take a dig at both Styles and the grannystabbers.

A Point Separates United And The Title (Manchester City 0 - Manchester United 1)

Caught this game at the kopitam with Kentona and our respective better halves. The atomsphere wasn't exactly the best since we were surrounded by ABUs (Anyone But United) willing Shitty on. The game itself wasn't anywhere near our best showing but against a 'massive' club like Shitty, we did enough to etch out a win.

Shitty must have been rubbing their collective hands together in glee when they learnt that Rob Styles was in charge of this match. Given his abysmal record of not protecting United players, it was the green light for Shitty to 'hack-a-Ron', or anyone wearing Red for that matter.

It wasn't long after the kickoff that Shitty showed their true agenda. 2 minutes into the game, Michael Ball recklessly hacked at Ronaldo and Styles, true to form, completely ignored it. It set the tone for rough-house tackles by both sides. Well, it's what you would expect from a derby anyway.

To be fair, given our exhaustions in midweek, Shitty did look like the brighter of the 2 sides, forcing Van der Sar to a couple of good saves. We, on the other hand, didn't do too badly ourselves, hitting the post and crossbar with efforts from Vidic and Rio respectively.

Both sides were unable to get a foothold on the game until a decisive moment in the 33rd minute. Michael Ball once again fouled Ronaldo, but this time he did it inside the box and Styles awarded a penalty. Ronaldo came forward and slotted the spot kick giving a precious one goal advantage.

The second was none too inspiring from both sides, as Kentona and I went into deep conversation over our surprising progress this entire season. It was something neither of us had expected given our paper thin squad and recent injuries, but were nonetheless grateful for.

Then in the 81st minutes, Shitty were awarded a penalty when Brown fouled Ball. It did look like a soft penalty to give away, but hey, we're dealing with Rob Styles. I was personally uttering a half curse on Kentona for bringing his girlfriend along to watch the game with us. Given our past record of watching United games together with her for the past 2-3 years, she's been jinxing our results. This is of course no blame on her. It always solely lies with Kentona. (Sorry pal, needa score some points with Audrey)

Darius Vassell stood up and blasted the ball down the middle, only for Van der Sar to save with his legs. The curse was lifted! Although personally I felt it was the presence of my significant other that neutralized the curse, but that's another story for another day (needa score more points). For today we celebrate, not only another victory, but another gargantuan step towards reclaiming the Premiership trophy!

Now only a point separates us from taking back what we've 'loaned' out for the past 3 seasons. The fat lady hasn't sung yet, but given the way she's clearing her throat, the sweet melody isn't too far away. I'm not the type who likes to celebrate unless it's in the bag, but hell, the feeling's great to be so close to the prize after such a long journey. Please, no slip ups.

Other Significant Results Today
Wigan 0 - Middlesbrough 1
West Ham United 3 - Bolton 1

The results are significant. This was brought up by LY while I was typing entry. Assuming Chelsea wins their next 2 games against Arsenal and ourselves, we go into the final fixture against West Ham still needing a point. West Ham also needs a point to ensure Premiership existence. Without being a conspiracy theorist, both teams need just a point to meet our respective goals. If I were a betting man.....hmmm.....

Of course if Chelsea drops points tomorrow or against us on Wednesday, all bets are off and we celebrate like no tomorrow.