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.
  

Ronaldo's 2 Minute Blitz (Manchester United 2 - Blackburn 0)

After a scathing report on Ronaldo the previous game, he decided to bring his A-game today. A brace in a space of 2 minutes by the Portuguese maestro, in the first half settled the game.

I caught this game with Kentona over at Cow's place and I was completely knocked out by the time I reached home. Hence this late report.

Blackburn gave a really good account of themselves, and were probably one of the toughest opponents we've faced at OT this season. Their form and record against the other top 3 opponents spoke for itself.

The game was pretty even with both sides coming close to scoring. But it was Ronaldo who scored twice in as many minutes, to put United in front. The first was a beautifully placed header from a Giggs corner in the 34th min. The second came shortly after when Tevez found Ronaldo on a counter attack.

Early in the second half, Blackburn were reduced to 10 men. Kentona, Cow and myself were expecting another round of goals, but it didn't materialize. Sparky's team had inherited his character and spirit. Even when down to 10, Blackburn didn't hang their heads down but continued fighting. Very simply put, this Blackburn team is really quite good.

Couple of additional notes:

- Evra seems to be getting better and better. He's defending is still abit dodgy, but his forward forays adequately makes up for it. There were many instances in this game where I thought he was an awesome winger.

- Owen Hargreaves is awesome. He seems to have formed a pretty solid partnership with Anderson, who is pretty damn good himself. I still don't like the price at which we got them, but I can't deny the quality that they bring.

- Giggs. Despite missing a couple of really good chances, he was really flying in this game. He would have been my man of the match had it not been for the next guy.......

- The guy who printed Bentley's jersey. He completely butchered 'Betnley's name on the back of the jersey and provided many hilarious moments while we were watching. Hell initially we though we all suffered from collective dyslexia!

Van der Sar Heroics Standout In Pentalty Shootout (Chelsea 1 - United 1) *United wins 3-0 on Penalties

Thanks to Van der Sar's three saves, United won 3-0 on penalties to take the Charity Shield.

The game itself was a vast improvement from the dull FA Cup finals at the same venue just a couple of months or so back. At least there was more action and, more importantly, there were goals.

Evra was surprisingly a delight to watch when he was fielded at left wing. He constantly got behind the Chelsea backline and was instrumental in providing Giggs with the opening goal. He's got plenty of attack instincts and put them to good use whenever he's played on the left wing. Unfortunately when Silves was replaced by Nani in the second half, he reverted back to the bumbling fool in left back and was constantly beaten by Wright-Phllips. To be fair, Silves didn't fair too well against the same opponent either. Yup, we still need a left back.

The lead given to us by Giggs didn't last the half when Malouda powered past both Brown and Rio from the right wing and shot a beautiful ball into the goal right at half time.

United started off the second half in strong fashion but failed to capitalize on their chances. As the game got on, Chelsea gradually grew in strength and defensive discipline, cancelling out United's superior fire power. Goalmouth action was at a premier and the game fittingly ended in a draw.

Van der Sar steped up and saved 3 consecutive penalties in the shootout, winning us our first silverware of the season. Although it's an inconsequential result but the win is all about getting the psychological edge over our opponents in the 9 months ahead and putting the right foot forward in a long journey.

We Need a Left Back.....Badly (Manchester United 2 - Inter Milan 3)

All I can say is that, thankfully, this one's a friendly. Things got off to an ominous start when I had all sorts of trouble finding a reliable feed to watch this game on. In the end I settled for some really crappy Thai feed. It was already bad enough trying to make out the Thai commentary, but things got compounded when the entire feed was lost at half time. Hence I'm only able to review what I saw in the first half.

In front of what looked like a very packed and very vocal Old Trafford crowd, we faced some real competition since the FA Cup finals. Facing Inter was an entirely different prospect from the sub-par opponents we've been playing in Asia in the past month. And it showed.

Our defense was completely and utterly out-played by the Inter forwards. To put it mildly, it was embarassing that this was the best the Premiership had to offer. Rio and Brown were ok, but Vidic and Evra, in particular, were terrible. You would think given the whole Heinze-gate row, Evra would be grabbing the opportunity to seal his position in the left-back spot, instead he totally bungled it.

He was responsible for all three Inter goals (they all happened in the first half when I was watching). For the first goal, Evra failed to cleanly head the ball out of the penalty area allowing Inter to score. His timing to meet the header was horrible, and for a black guy, he didn't seem to get enough lift. In short it was embarassing to see Evra completely botch the defensive header.

For the second goal, Evra was caught in possession which subsequently resulted in the goal.

The third Inter goal was a trademark Evra defensive mistake. He went so far up the opponent's half that he entirely neglected his defensive duties. When Inter attacked, he was literally nowhere to be found. It was easy for Inter to find the open man when the numbers were in their favour.

While Evra was possibly the goat, the entire defense had to take the blame. Brown and Rio were time and time again caught out by Inter's fluid passing. Vidic was a mess, and it didn't help that he had to cover the left back position as well. The guys in front of them, O'Shea and Carrick were rubbish.

The silverlining in all this is that this is still preseason. They can make all the mistakes, but they had better have their heads screwed on the right way in less than a fortnight's time.

Just as our defense is leaky, we're always going to score goals when Ronaldo and Rooney are playing. Along side Giggs and Eagles, we played some amazing one-touch football. The Inter defense worked over-time prevent us from scoring.

Hopefully this game provides a wake up call that we're not going to canter to the finish line this upcoming season. And we need a REAL left back in the worst possible way. I wonder if there is anyway to tempt Denis Irwin out of retirement.....

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.

ROOONEY!!!!!!! (Manchester United 3 - AC Milan 2)

My god, what a game! Actually it wasn't much of a game.....but what an ending! It's not over, we still have to face Milan at the San Siro, but we're going there with a slender lead.

We started off with a fluke goal by Ronaldo in the opening 5 minutes. He headed a corner right at Dida and it carromed off him upwards and subsequently into the empty net. It was a fluke goal, not that we're complaining here.

Despite going a goal up, Milan looked comfortable. They passed the ball around efficiently and did not panick, slowly building up the play. It was much like when we faced them 2 years ago. They eventually equalised with a superb goal by Kaka in the 22nd minute. He ran past Carrick and Gabby and slotted the ball past Van der Sar to score.

15 minutes later it got worse. Evra who made a 'timely' return to the team in defence, ran into Gabby and exposed Van der Sar to Kaka. Kaka didn't need a second invitation to score his second of the night. Evra has been give a free pass and sometimes generously given a couple of praises in this blog. But on this occasion, he was simply awful! I cringed everytime he got close to the ball, and cringed again when he was making passes to the Italians.

Speaking of awful, the Greek referee was awful as well. He seemed to be doing his darnest to keep United away from Athens next month. He was on a one-man mission to keep his capital safe from the marauding United fans who have been creating 'havoc' in other lands. He booked Evra for a seemingly innocent challenge ruling him out of the second leg. Given our defensive deficiencies, it should have been a great blow, but in the context of today's performance, there couldn't have been a better gift. I rather have Fletcher in defence than Evra screwing it up again. There are some things that you do not leave to chance.

United came out of half time playing like the way they did in the first half....being dictated by a very composed Milan side. To put things simply, there was no movement whenever we got the ball. We passed the ball, but we were not moving. It made defending against us very easy. Needless to say, Kaka should have gotten his hattrick. At this point in time, I had given up on the cause. Damage limitation seemed like a good thing.

Rooney and Scholesy, however, had other ideas. Right on the hour, Scholes flicked a brilliant ball which caught the Milan defence napping and Rooney was on hand to level the scores.

Suddenly the team woke up. They began passing the ball and running into spaces. On a couple of occasions, they put Milan on the backfoot. The Italians, unable to cope against wave after wave of the Red tide pounding on their defensive walls, started to give away freekicks at the edge of the penalty area. Strangely enough, some of the tackles put in were pretty cynical and yet the referee from Greece did not book anyone. Despite the number of freekicks given, Giggs and Ronaldo combined to miss all of them.

Just when all look lost, Giggs threaded a superb pass to Rooney in the box and Rooney unleashed a thunderbolt from a narrow angle into the goal in injury time. It suddenly felt like Gigg's goal against Juve that drew us level at OT in 95!

Like I mentioned, the job's not done yet. We must not let our guard down next week. If we played like anything in the first half, we're doomed. We need to take the game to Milan and let them adjust to our style.

Man of the Match : Rooney. Had he not scored that last minute goal, I would have given it to Fletcher, who was outstanding in midifeld again. He must love playing against the Italians, having done the job against Roma and for Scotland against Italy.

Comfortable (Manchester United 2 - Sheffield United 0)

Two early goals, one in each half settled the game. We never really gotten our engine started when Carrick took on a beautiful pass from Ronaldo and lifted it deftly past Kenny in the 3rd minute of the game.

Rob Styles, as usual, was ridiculously inconsistant with his yellow card decisions. For most parts of the first half, he let Sheffied United get away with murder. The tackle on Evra which resulted in his substitution was horrendous. It could have broken a leg, yet Styles let the perpetrator off with a warning.

Smith too got a huge kick in the buttocks and his perpetrator got off with a warning. His shorts was almost ripped off in that tackle. Yet almost comically, Ronaldo's marker Geary was booked for a foul that looked really innocent. I never understand Rob Styles when he referees.

Anyway, early in the second half, Giggs made a sublime pass to Rooney and he swept it into the goal. Sheffield United, quite truthfully, never really looked like threatening our goal. They looked like they spent the entire game in a damage limitation exercise.

After going two goals up, we were also conserving our energy passing the ball around. It wasn't much of a spectacle, just a convincing win. Both sides knew there were more important games to expand their strength in the coming weeks.

Oh, and Rob Styles probably stole the show again in the second half when he denied a penalty to Sheffield United. Their chief striker, Luton Shelton, was blatantly brought down by Heinze, but Styles swallowed his whistle. Shelton's really impressed me. He gave our make-shift central defenders, Heinze and Brown a torrid time whenever he had the ball. Thankfully there weren't many opportunities for him to get the ball.

We've put the pressure back on Chelsea who faces relegation threatened West Ham tomorrow. Let's hope West Ham are desperate enough to make a fight out of it. It would be really sweet if they could do what they did to us to Chelsea.

And in the weekend, we face Boro in another late kickoff. Let's hope we fare better this time round.

FA Youth Cup
We beat Liverpool at Anfield 2-1. Couldn't catch the game yesterday. No torrents available either, so it kinda sucks all round.

PFA Awards
Ronaldo, Giggs and Scholes are in contention for the main award and Rooney and Ronaldo are in for the young player award. Quite frankly this year's awards are farcical at best.

I can't freaking believe Gerrard and Fabregas were even nominated. Gerrard isn't even the best player for Liverpool this season, and Fabregas was much better last season. Not to mention it's a travesty that Michael Essien isn't even nominated. And I haven't even mentioned players like Berbatov or Carragher, who have been outstanding for their respective clubs.

And don't even get me started on the young player award. Kevin Doyle!?!?!??! I would expect someone nominated in this category to be at least 21 or younger at the start of the season. I just don't get it.

FWIW, Ronaldo should sweep both awards. It's not a given, although the voting is done by fellow professionals, and they ain't exactly rocket scientists either. But I'm not expecting any surprises here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magnificent Seven (Manchester United 7 - Roma 1)

If you are seeing the scoreline here for the first time...yes it's SEVEN, and your eyes are not deceiving you. I'm personally finding it hard to believe the scoreline myself. I spent much of the half time break pinching myself.

After a dismal week and in danger of it getting worse, United cooked up a feast for the fans. My word, what a game. Words can't really discribe what a magnificent performance it was, they really can't. I'm glad I got to watch it with Kentona over the handphone, staring at our respective computers (btw, Kentona, I'm sending you my hp bill to you next month).

I wouldn't even try to put into words the game, it wouldn't do the performance any justice. If you haven't caught the game, go learn how to use bittorrent and torrent it at mininova.

All I can say is that every single one of the players on the pitch was brilliant. And every one of the goals scored was spectacular, each one better than it's predecessor, including the sole consolation by Roma. Once the floodgates opened in the 11th minute, the goals just kept on flowing.

By half time we were 4-0 up and the scoring continued in the second half. By the hour mark, the referee should have spared Roma the cruelty of playing out the game. United were utterly utterly awesome in every department and could've been in double digits by then.

I'd just keep it simple and post the scorers here:
Michael Carrick (11)
Alan Smith (17)
Wayne Rooney (19)
Cristiano Ronaldo (44)
Cristiano Ronaldo (49)
Michael Carrick (60)
Patrice Evra (81)

Most notably amongst the 14 men who took the pitch, one stood out as the Man of the Match....Darren Fletcher. He was outstanding beside Carrick, stopping every Roma attack at it's root. Carrick (my favourite whipping boy) was superb as well, scoring 2 incredible goals.

I'm still in a daze over what I just saw. This is probably the most dominant I've seen United play in Europe. Probably not the most exciting, but by far the most dominant. Bring on AC Milan/Bayern Munich.