07/08 Season Report Card

This should have been done much much earlier, before the NBA finals and Euro 08 started, both of which have taken up most of my time (and sleep) nowdays. I already had in mind what to write about after winning the Champions League, but in the midst of the celebrations, I accidentally deleted the spreadsheet which held all my passwords, hence haven't been able to log onto Blogger.com.

Anyway excuses aside...ahem, does anyone feel that the euphoria of winning the Champions League this season pales in comparison to 99? I know at that moment when Van der Sar made the save from Anelka, I was ecstatic and probably in cloud nine for the next couple of days, but that feeling quickly subsided. It was totally different in 99. I can remember being giddy for months on end, reliving that magical moment Ole swipe the ball into the Bayern Munich net over and over again.

Maybe it's the way we won it this time round. I mean winning on penalties doesn't conclusively mean that we're a better team than Chelsea, even though throughout the season, we outran and outlasted them twice, in the league and in Europe. Still the level of satisfaction seems wanting. Maybe it's Ronaldo's reluctance to commit in the near future. Maybe it's because we know Ferguson wouldn't be with us in 3 years. Or just maybe it's because we know we've arrived.

That all said and speculated upon, we've done tremedously well this season. We all know it's an uphill task to retain the Premiership title. Ask Wenger. Despite going thru an entire season undefeated, Arsenal hasn't been able to do so in recent history.

We've also captured the Champions League, something that has previously occurred only twice in our resume. For a club of our history, stature and size, it's quite unbelievable, although we've taken measures to rectify this year.


Edwin Van der Sar (Grade B)
I can't really complain about him this season, even though the same weaknesses still surface in his game. As the season came to a close, he's play got increasingly more nervious. He still flaps way too often on crosses and corners, although the steady play of Vidic and Rio negates it mostly. Still you wonder how much longer he can go on playing at this level.

Tomas Kuszczak (Grade B)
Didn't really bathe himself in glory whenever he got the chance to deputise Van der Sar. That said, he didn't do too badly either. I know many would have put the blame on our FA Cup exit on him, but I felt there was little he could do in that situation. Moreover the sending off was scandalous to say the least.

Nemanja Vidic (Grade A+)
The rock in defense. Without him, this battleship would have sunk a long time ago. He made everyone look good in defense. Even Drogba's knee couldn't prevent him from seeing the season out. That's how tough he is.

Rio Ferdinand (Grade A+)
Very possibly had the best season for United, even though for the brief the moment Vidic was out, he looked like utter shit. With that little titbit out of the way, he's almost as important as Vidic this season. He was a calming influence, as captain, for everyone around him. It's rare that I praise Rio, so lap it up for what it's worth. Having typed that, he looks likely to hold on to that armband for the foreseeable future. It's not exactly what I'm looking forward to, given his penchant for leaving his brain up his arse when he's not on the pitch.

Wes Brown (Grade A+)
Without Neville, Brown's made the right-back position his own. He has been brilliant this year, not only in keeping the opponents away from our flanks but being injury-free as well. Done really well this season as part of the meanest defense in the EPL.

Patrice Evra (Grade A+)
I take back every mean thing I've written and said about Evra. Please forgive me. I haven't seen such a huge turnaround by a player. After a couple of...well....not too pleasant years, he's blossomed into possibly the best left-back in the world. How in the hell Abidal is playing left-back for the French national team ahead of him is simply beyond me. Evra's been brilliant going forward, often acting as a second winger. His defense is still shaky at times, but he's so fast, he usually gets in a second challenge, and not many survivor that second bite. Not to mention, he's been at the end of some bone-crunching tackles this season, and still tough enough to carry on with the game.

John O'Shea (Grade B)
Honestly cannot remember anyting noteworthy he did this season but he didn't do much wrong either. He's still our best utility player.

Owen Hargreaves (Grade A)
You know, I was not a fan when he was first signed, but I'm pretty much a convert now. He's not the flashy sort, nor the most imaginative on the pitch. But what he brings is determination and a sense of doggedness that simply cannot be underestimated. On the occasions he cameos at right-back, he does so wonderfully, nicking at the opponents without really fouling them, an art that seems lost on alot of our players. When he plays on the right wing, he provides a unique attacking option, going into positions none of our wingers are able to. That's possibly because the opponents think little of him as an attacker in the first place. Most importantly, he brings an added variation to our freekick repertoire.

Paul Scholes (B)
I am tempted to give him a C, but his strong performances at the end of the season made me change my mind. He's best days are possibly over, but towards the end, he reminded us of what a special player he is.

Michael Carrick (Grade C)
Damn, that invisibleman act, while novel last season, is wearing dangerously thin. We signed him for his famous killer passes, but we've seen little of it this season. For most parts, all we're seeing are diagonal passes. United could've signed me to do that for alot cheaper. Hell, they could've gotten me for free! In his second year with us, you would've expected alot more, but what we've been shown is a lot less.

Darren Flectcher (Grade B)
With the new signings and stars in midfield, he's not been featured much this season. But he's still getting a solid B from me coz I simply love him, not in a gay way.

Park Ji Sung (Grade B)
He was injured for most parts of the season, but what a hardworking player. Nothing flashy about him, but he can be relied on not to fuck things up. By far our most industrious player. Of course by 'industrious', it means he's really not a very exceptional player, but we just want to say something nice about him.

Anderson (Grade A)
Absolutely no fear in the kid. When we first signed him, 95% of the United world was just asking....WHO? Now everyone knows he's the future of our midfield. He stood toe to toe with Frabegras, eyeballed Gerrard and kicked the living shit out of anyone foolish enough to come close to him. His talent is enormous and never in doubt. What would be intersting is how year two in the EPL would be. We all know the second year is the hardest to come to terms to, and next season, we would see if Anderson has it in him to justify our faith.

Nani (Grade C)
I'm going to refrain saying too many bad things about Nani. He came along with Anderson, with a higher expectation, but fell way short of it. His first season reminds us alot of Ronaldo, the eagerness to show off his skills and the desire to please the fans. It also showed us alot of immaturity associated with youth. I suppose, I'm making provisions fo him right now, seeing how Ronaldo has blossomed as a player.

Ronaldo (Grade A++)
The best player in the world bar none. He's the sole reason why we retained our title and won the Champions League. 42 goals from a winger in the modern day of football is almost unheard of. Unfortunately for all his achievements with us, his heart is still set on Real Madrid. Someone needs to let him know that it's a freaking downgrade.

Ryan Giggs (Grade C)
Unlike Scholes, his best playing days are definitely over. For a huge part of the season, we've been carrying his deadweight around. Thankfully as the season closed, Ferguson finally came to his senses and took him off the starting 11, giving him a bit-part role on the bench, limiting the damage, at the same time allowing Giggs to shine when everyone is tired and playing at his pace. Of course the grade doesn't mean that I don't love Giggs. I still do. He's been a loyal servant to the club and a huge huge part of our lore, it's just that he isn't that good as a player anymore.

Louis Saha (Grade C)
Tissueboy was a huge disappointment. I was expecting him to play a major part this season, but he constantly got injured. He still managed to score 5 goals despite his limited appearances. In anycase, it seems unlikely he would be hanging around next season. For his own sake, I hope he doesn't hurt himself on his way out.

Wayne Rooney (Grade B+)
18 goals this season. Didn't really have a spectacular season by his standards I'm sure. Alot was expected of him this season, and he didn't really rise to the occasion. At least he kept his temperament in check. Didn't really go into Berserker mode too much. And alot of that was because we didn't go behind very much.

Carlos Tevez (Grade A)
Exceptionally industrious player. Note that 'industrious' here has a wholely different meaning from Park's 'industrious'. His toughness and perseverance won over many fans, not to mention his late goals have saved us on numerous occasions. Alot would be expected from him next season. Not to mention he struck up a wonderful partnership with Rooney in the middle of the season which seemed to fade away towards the end.


The Forgotten Men
Gary Neville
Suffered from an injury last season and played only one game this season in the Champions League. With Brown doing so well and signing a new contract, you'd wonder if Neville would still be an automatic selection at right-back next season, especially when you consider his age.

Mikeal Silvestre
Injury robbed him this season. When he did return, he's played well. The question is, did he play well enough to be in the squad next season? Chances are he wouldn't be hanging around. If that is the case, we would need someone as a replacement left-back for Evra.

Ben Foster
Played a grand total of one league game. He's touted to be our future no.1, but to date, he's not been given a chance to play. You'd wonder how long it is before we get a chance to see him first hand in action.

Chris Eagle
The truely forgotten man amongst the forgotten men. Started a couple of games in the beginning of the season and a handful of substitute appearances. I can't remember him doing anything to warrant his relegation to Ferguson's scrapeheap. I bet a bunch of you even remembered he was with the team.

Gerrard Pique
He's gone back to Barcelona. Never really given a chance to shine here, despite the high praise for him. We seem to be losing our good young players like Rossi and Pique. Kinda sad, given the fact they have not been given the opportunity to play an extended number of games for us.


Alex Ferguson (Grade B+)
Last but not least, it's Ferguson's turn to get his grades. Right even after retaining the Premiership title and winning the Champions League, he falls short of a distinction. The main reason is that we still play scared in the Europe. More often than not, we play not to lose instead of playing to win. Tevez's late goal against Lyon and Barcelona's inability to score saved us this season. With the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool improving and Bayern Munich returning to the fray, we might be in for a tough time in Europe next season. We gotta start playing like we belong to the elites.

Champions! United Wins No. 17!

Wigan 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 33), Giggs (80)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Scholes (Hargreaves 67), Carrick, Park (Giggs 68), Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez

Giggs scored the vital second goal late in the game to win the Premiership title for United. It was fitting that he rounded up the scoring after coming on as a substitute, equalling Sir Bobby Charlton's United appearance of 758 games. We had to withstand some nervous moments in the game, holding on to Ronaldo's dubious penalty in the first half.

Ly, Kentona and myself decided to catch this game together at Cow's place, whilst dicussing if we should make the trip to Moscow on the 21st (yes, we're nuts). The discussion came to an abrupt end when according to reliable sources, the ticket prices had escalated to 3000 euros on the blackmarket!!!! Then there was also the additional problem of getting accomodation. Apparently the hotels were fully booked on that night, much in line with the rumours that Abramobitch had made numerous high profile bookings. Although Ly swears by the authenticity of his source, it sounds terribly dubious to me. Then again, he works in a travel related industry and I'm not.

Speaking of dubious, today's referee, Steve Bennett, was making an uncharactistically high number of them. But I really shouldn't be complaining, since most of them went our way, especially in the first half.

Wigan started the game brightly, or rather, we started the game poorly. Perhaps it was nerves, but we were quite awful. Scholes was on a one man mission to get himself sent off. He was lunging himself in every tackle and with the game barely a 15 minutes gone, he had already earned himself a yellow. Had Bennett had any balls, Scholes could've seen a second for an ugly elbow on Palacios. He was a lucky lucky man today.

Rio then handled the ball in the area and there was no call from the referee. Again we got away. Perhaps it was going to be our day afterall.

On the other end of the pitch, Boyce lunged wildly at Rooney and Bennett pointed to the spot. It looked terribly harsh on the replay. Rooney was going for the ball but probably wasn't really in control. Terribly dubious penalty to award.

Ronaldo stepped up and scored. It wasn't a beauty and had Kirkland moved in the right direction, it would've been saved. It was a nervous penalty. We were in the lead and the title was ours to lose. That's all that mattered.

In truth, it was just what the doctor ordered. Wigan were having the better of the exchanges and gaining the upper hand.

We had the better spell early in the second half, coming close on a couple of occasions. Scholes should've gotten a penalty, but Steve Bennett swallowed his whistle. I suppose this is a reflection of how the league was won. On hindsight there have been decisions that have gone against us, but over the course of the season, it evened itself out.

Slowly but surely, Steve Bruce's men got back into the game and were really beginning to look menacing. They had a couple of close attempts that caused some really nervy moments in out penalty area. This was made especially so after the news filtering into the stadium was that Chelsea were leading against Bolton.

Fergie threw on Hargreaves for Scholes and Giggs for Park. Tevez was a bag of nerves, giving the ball away everytime he touched it. Ronaldo was no better. In fact he was that whiny kid 3 years ago that we all hated. The only guy playing with a generous bag of balls upfront was Rooney.

And it was only fitting that he made the all important pass to a wide wide open Giggs to score the all important second goal. Wigan's defenders were all over the place for a good 5 seconds, allowing Giggs all the time, space and room to receive the pass.

That goal in the last ten minutes was the ritalin we all needed for both fans and players. We hung on calmly and strolled to the finish line. Over at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea drew with Bolton in the dying seconds.

It was a job well done against a tough opponent today. Wigan pushed us to the limits today but we prevailed.

It was a job well done against a tough rival over the course of the season. Chelsea pushed us to the limits and made this victory all the more sweeter.

We're now just one title away from levelling Liverpool's haul, and it would give me immerse pleasure if we can even things up next season. But before even looking that far, we have a very important game in 10 days time. Another chance to close the gap against Liverpool as the best in England.

West Ham Returns The Favour

Manchester United 4 - West Ham 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (3, 24), Tevez (26), Carrick (59)
West Ham: Ashton (28)

Red Cards
Manchester United: Nani (37)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Brown, Hargreaves, Evra, Scholes (O'Shea 72), Carrick, Park (Giggs 61), Nani, Ronaldo (Flectcher 64), Tevez

We played well, in fact we played very well but make no bones about it, West Ham were simply not interested in this game. This was similar to the same fixture at the end of last season when they visited us, needing a win to secure Premiership status, while we slept-walked thru the 90.

This time round the roles were reversed. West Ham had nothing to play for and it showed. They didn't exactly lie down for us, but they didn't pressure us as they had last year.

In fact they were so lackadaisical that Ronaldo shimmied and found a route thru goal as early as the 3rd minute and took his chance, albeit with the aid of a deflection. Before even Kentona and I had warmed our seats over at Queens Country Club, we were already one up. It certainly was a good way to start the night.

West Ham made a token attack and our made-shift defense had to clear off the line. But that was all West Ham provided in terms of attacking strength before we got our second.

Hargreaves floated a nice cross into the area that sailed past all the West Ham defenders and Ronaldo gleefully twisted his body goalwards, redirecting the ball into the net with his thighs.

A minute later, Tevez found time and space in midfield and fired a rocket in beyond the flailing arms of our ex-custodian, Carroll. It was a magnificent goal that even had the West Ham supporters applauding. Yup, they just weren't interested in the points. And we provided them with a style of attacking football that was, quite frankly, missing for quite sometime.

On a rare West Ham counter, Dean Ashton held off Rio and struck a spectacular overhead kick to really give the West Ham faithful plenty of cheer about. In the space of 5 minutes, 3 goals were scored and the atomsphere was just brilliant, not only at OT, but at Queens Country Club as well. Everyone was enjoying the game.

There was even time for some comedy, when Carlton Cole, who was supposed to replace Ashton, left his jersey in the locker room.

Then it all turned sour. Nani head-butted Lucas Neill and was promptly sent off. United was down to ten men and suddenly the game didn't seem as easy as the scoreline would suggest. From then till half time, we were in sixes and sevens, unable to hold on to the ball and the half time whistle just couldn't come quick enough. The only silverlining was that West Ham just weren't interested in anything. Their players were probably dreaming of a holiday at some exotic island.

The team reorganised and played with increasing stability after half time. We played well and extended the lead when Carrick found himself with acres of space. His shot was deflected into the net as were restored our 3 goal cushion.

It possibly could have been more, with Fletcher unluckily hitting the post.

Except for a brief period after the sending off, this was probably one of the best team performances in a long long time. For long parts of this season, we've been playing like a group of uncoordinated, individual players, but today, we actually looked like a team playing for one another. Although the goals today came from bits of individual inspiration, the bulk of the approach play and hassle was gratifying to watch.

All we need now to secure our first piece of silverware this season is to beat Wigan next Sunday. Hopefully Wigan will play like West Ham, since their status in the Premiership has been secured with an unlikely 2-0 victory against Villa. Alternatively, old nemesis, Keegan could do us a favour and take points from Chelsea. In any case, unless there is a major fuck up, it all looks good....really good.

Nani
One of the reasons why I'm so late writing this is because I really don't know what and how to think about Nani's sending off. Nani headbutted Lucas Neill and then fell over clutching his head in agony for quite sometime. It was disgusting and shameful. The headbutt was probably a spur of the moment reaction but the play acting was not.

I know Kentona is utterly pissed off at Nani, yet somehow I don't exactly share his feelings.

The truth is that I'm angry with Nani's play acting after the sending off more than the sending off itself. Spur of the moment actions can be understood, not saying that they should be accepted. But the play acting is on a whole different level. It's cheating, plain and simple.

I really do hope it's one aspect of his game that would be eliminated in time to come. I'm sure Fergie has in mind what punish to dish out and how to prevent it from surfacing again.

United Pays The Price Of Pussying Out

Chelsea 2 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Chelsea: Ballack (45, pen 85)
Manchester United: Rooney (57)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic (Hargreaves 14), Brown, Silvestre, Carrick, Fletcher, Anderson (O'Shea 65), Nani, Giggs, Rooney (Ronaldo 63)

What a disgusting way to play. Fergie has completely lost the plot, playing 4-5-1 again. Despite all the talk of taking the game to Chelsea, we slumped over and allowed Chelsea to take it up our arse. If we were going to puss out of this game, we might as well not show up and save Vidic and Rooney their injuries.

Once again we played scared and allowed Chelsea free rein all over the park. Instead of a predator going for the jugular, we played the role of the lamp waiting for the slaughter. With a full 90 minutes of practise against Barcelona in midweek, we were went one better and actually lost this game.

We were under so much pressure that Vidic had to risk putting his head to Drogba's knee early in the game. He suffered a possible concussion and a a few good teeth for his efforts. Someone should have sent him the final script before hand, then maybe he wouldn't have needed to risk so much for a fruitless exercise.

It was just a matter of time before Chelsea scored. And score they did, right at the half time whistle. Ballack rose unmarked and headed the ball beyond VDS. The defense was in shambles, but at the rate Chelsea were banging on the door, it was just a matter of time before they broke through.

Despite being one down, the second half wasn't much better. Chelsea always looked the likelier team to add to the scoreline. We were honestly shit. Anderson and Silves were the probably the only people on the pitch who actually cared about the scoreline. Rooney was suffering a hip injury and was signalling to the bench for help. Everyone else would have done just as well not to turn up.

Yet against the run of play, we equalized. Somehow Rooney latched onto a poor backpass and hit the ball past Cech, while still suffering from the hip injury. It was a beautifully taken goal, but make not mistake, it was a gift from Chelsea. We never looked close to scoring before then.

With a draw on the cards, Fergie went back to wuss mode, not that he really switched away from. He took off Rooney for Ronaldo, and Anderson for O'Shea (?!?!!?!?).

Chelsea on the other hand brought on Anelka and Shevchenko. And they reaped their reward when Carrick handled the ball in the area, his only notable contribution to the game. It was debatable if it was a penalty, but it really didn't matter. We simply didn't deserve anything from this game. Ballack stepped up and won Chelsea the game.

There was a generous amount of last minute goal mouth action as we tried to do too little too late. There was even time for a fracas on the pitch between the players both on and off the pitch. WTF was it all about didn't really concern me. What mattered was that we played like pussies and got fucked exactly where it hurt.

More damning is that after all the criticisms of Arsenal bottling it, we're not much better. The only difference is that we have the players to actually win games, whereas our manager and his ASSistant were busy gift wrapping the trophies to the opponents.

I'm finding it more and more difficult to have faith in Fergie's decisions. He's pussed out one too many times this season. Many times we got lucky and came away with a result. Lyon, Barcelona, Liverpool, Spurs, just to name a few. Even again lesser opponents like Blackburn and Boro, we were lucky to come away with something.

What makes this result worse is that the remaining two games we have are by no means done deals. We face West Ham at home, and we all know throughout the years, just what a jinx they are. Then we face Wigan away on their terrible pitch. Because of the state of their pitch, they've come away with the scalps of some big guns.

I'm absolutely not keen to face Barcelona this Tuesday. Strangely a part of me is actually wishing we crash out to save the embarassment of losing to either Chelsea or Liverpool in the finals.

Other game notes:

Nani - Woefully selfish. How the fuck he remained on the pitch instead of Anderson is beyond me. All our break-aways were single-handedly undone by him. He has the potential to be a great player, but it's going to take a long long time for that to happen. I'm willing to give him 3 years, afterall it took Ronaldo took 3 years to be the player he is now.

Anderson - Possibly our best player on the pitch today. He's the only one who stood toe to toe with the Chelsea midfield. Everyone else paled in comparison to his industry.

Van der Sar - Same story as last season. Somehow towards the end of the season, his kicking just goes to the dumps. It gave us nervous moments although it didn't hurt us in today's game, but it's certainly something to look out for in the next few games.

Carrick - What can I say? I didn't even notice that he was on the pitch until the penalty incident. Looks like Invisibleman is back.

Carlitos Snatches Vital Point

Blackburn 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Blackburn: Santa Cruz (20)
Manchester United: Tevez (88)

Team: Kuszczak, Rio, Vidic, Brown (O'Shea 80), Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs (Nani 46), Tevez, Ronaldo, Rooney (Park 90)

First off, an apology for typing this late. I got a terrible headache after yesterday's game due to too much beer (root beer).

Tevez saved our skins with a late late equalizer that shifted the momentum of the title race back into our favour. Had we lost this game, Chelsea would have had their own destiny in their hands, by winning all their remaining games. As it stands now, we can afford to lose that game at the Bridge and still go on to win the title, a vital psychological edge to have as both teams ready themselves for the final straight.

We had a nervy start to the game, and it was made worst by losing possession every now and again. Blackburn's physical approach bothered both Scholes and in particular Giggs to give away the ball far too often for anyone's liking. And seeing the two elder statesmen falter under demanding circumstances, it did little for the morale of the entire team.

Despite not playing well, we still curved out the clearer chances in the opening 20 minutes. Then disaster struck in the most unfathomable fashion. From a long throw, both Rio and Vidic got into one another's way. Rio jumped too early, while Vidic was caught dry humping Jason Roberts. The ball hit Rio's trailing leg as he landed and Santa Cruz was left with an entire goal to aim at. A striker of his quality put it away with ease.

For a huge part of the first half, we pressed forward but with Giggs leading the line, we were quite honestly terrible. Giggs was abysmal. Already with the pressure of the fans on his back, his performance on the day did little to justify his continual selection. With his pace gone, and his confidence sapping, it's quite honestly painful to watch him struggle to put on a dignified front. And this is coming from a huge huge Giggs fan.

At half time, Fergie took off his favourite son and replaced him with fit-again Nani. Once again the football flowed. We pressed forward for the equalizer at the same time exposing ourselves to Blackburn counters. Jason Roberts was a handful holding up the ball, giving both Rio and Vidic a torrid time.

On the other end, chances came in waves but Brad Friedel was having a game of his life. He was making saves that a keeper normally just didn't and shouldn't have a right to. And on the occasion he couldn't, the post came to his rescue. Blackburn's goalmouth was leading a charmed life.

Just when it all looked lost, Scholes headed on from a corner a little Tevez flicked it beyond Friedel. It was a goal we desparately needed and the players knew it. Vidic and Rio were the first to congratulate Tevez as his goal made up for the terrible mess they got us into. In the end our persistence paid off.

Squeezed between the two legs of the semis against Barcelona, we're going to face Chelsea on Saturday, undoubtedly going to be the most important game in the race to the summit. The Bridge in recent years has been a fortress. They haven't lost there in over 3 years.

I'm super confident we're going to march there and tear down the castle walls, burning the bridge as we ransack London. It's a record we would relish to take down, just as we did so against the 'Invincibles' of Arsenal. It should have ended last season, but by the time we faced them at Stamford Bridge, the title was already sewn up. Hence we could afford to field our token Chinese guy, Dong. This season it's totally different, and the winner takes all. Bring it on!

Hargeaves Ends Arsenal's Hopes

Manchester United 2 - Arsenal 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (pen 53), Hargreaves (72)
Arsenal: Adebayor (47)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Pique, Brown, Evra, Hargreaves (Giggs 89), Carrick, Scholes (Anderson 55), Park (Tevez 55), Ronaldo, Rooney

I wouldn't go into just how satisfying this win was. I was with Kentona and his friend, Danny, watching at the packed kopitiam near my place. I love watching at this place since we almost always win when we catch the game here.

There is a bitter old man who is always watching the games here and he's a well documented ABU (anything but united), always making his unwelcomed thoughts felt throughout the game, at the same time, generally pissing all the United fans. But today, all he could do was sip his beer quietly, slumped in his chair, for once not offering his sage advice to anyone who cared to listen. Damn, it's a good day to be a fan today.

We didn't make the best of starts. Fergie opted to field 5 in midfield and with the amount of possession Arsenal enjoyed in the middle of the park, you couldn't really tell. For most of the first half, it was all Arsenal, peppered by a few forays forward by Rooney, Ronaldo and Park.

Scholes in general was having a nightmare. He was spraying passes to the opposition, giving Carrick and Hargreaves a torrid time covering for him. The defence without Vidic was caught napping so often that you'd wonder when Arsenal will make the breakthrough. Hleb in particular was giving the entire defence the run around. It was a miracle that the half ended scoreless.

Unfortunately THAT breakthrough did come early in the restart. Barely 2 minutes had gone by, before the defence was once again caught napping and Adebayor nipped in between Rio and Carrick to score from a cross. There was probably a hint of handball, but in truth it was nothing more than the gooners had deserved. We were sluggish and couldn't match Arsenal's desire and intensity.

It was almost 2 just moments later when Rio slammed the ball into Van der Sar, almost causing us more embarrassment.

Then the inexplicable happened. We were pushing forward for an equalizer when Gallas handled the ball. Penalty! And a timely one, just when I was about to moan about us not having a penalty for quite sometime.

Ronaldo stepped up, stuttered towards the ball and powered it past Lehmann. The referee blew the whistle and waved the penalty away. Apparently while Ronaldo was stuttering towards the ball, a red shirt had stepped into the box and the penalty was to be retaken.

On the second bite of the cherry, Ronaldo placed the ball in beyond Lehmann who dived the correct direction. We had drawn level.

Sensing the momentum change, Fergie rung in the substitions. He brought on Tevez for Park and Anderson for the ineffective Scholes. Immediately the game turned on its head. Both players added a much needed level of intensity, skill and desire. We began to boss the midfield as Arsenal started to falter visibly.

It wasn't long before we won a freekick at the edge of the box. It was Ronaldo territory and everyone was expecting a thunderbolt from him. As he cued up for the kick, legs wide apart, it was the man beside him who took the kick, and my was it a beautifully taken one. No one in an Arsenal jersey was expecting it.

Hargeaves curled the ball beyond the wall and into the bottom left corner of the net. Lehmann stood rooted to the ground, still waiting for Ronaldo to make his run. 2-1 up and we were flying. Confidence was at an all time high as we knew we had Arsenal.

Arsenal did make a challenge out of it, even striking the post in injury time, but United stood firm, weathering whatever they threw at us. Ronaldo even had the luxury of showboating alittle, inviting a push from Hoyte, which saw him booked.

No doubt there would be complaints of Ronaldo's antics, but to be honest, if there was any team that would appreciate it, it would have been Arsenal. Afterall, weren't they lauded for playing pretty football throughout the season?

My maths is abit fuzzy, but we should now be 6 points away from the title with just 4 games left to play, and a game still to play against Chelsea.

United Barely Weathers Boro's Icy Blast

Middlesbrough 2 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Middlesbrough: Alves (35, 55)
Manchester United: Ronaldo (10), Rooney (74)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio (Pique 67), Brown, O'Shea (Hargeaves 65), Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Ronaldo, Tevez (Park 63), Rooney

Strange and painful game to watch. Even more painful to write about.

We started well and got into the lead early in the game with yet another Ronaldo goal. He just can't stop scoring. From a corner, the ball bounced about and reached Carrick on the left. His pass found Ronaldo unmarked and he swept it into goal in the opening 10 minutes.

We had controlled the game and our passing, credit to both Scholes and Carrick, was some of the best we've seen all season. Kentona and I were confident it was just a matter of time before it yielded a second. Boro, to be fair were chasing shadows.

Yet despite our dominance in midfield in the opening half hour, whenever Boro had the ball, they looked dangerous. Maybe it was the absence of Vidic. Everytime Boro came forward, they were able to create a good enough chance to score.

It was no surprise that they did with Alves opening his account on the 35th minute. A long punt found him in no man's land, with only Van der Sar to beat. The goal shattered our confidence and in the falling snow, our nerves froze. At the same time, it lit a fire up the opponents' asses.

They came at us strong and hard, and our midfield found it hard to contain the rampant Boro surges. The half time break did little to quell their desire. They were faster to the ball and more robust in their challenges.

10 minutes after the break, Boro got their second. A lucky recochet allowed Alves in and he needed no invitation to add his second for the game. We were well and truely rocked. Boro were the better team by far and value for their lead.

Fergie made 3 quick substitutions, bringing on Park, Hargeaves and Pique for Tevez, O'Shea and Rio, who limped off. It proved to be a master stroke as Park flew down the right flank and delivered a tantalising pass for Rooney to equalise.

Having drawn level, United poked and pried, trying to find a weakness in the Boro defence, knowing that a draw would open the door to Chelsea who are lurking uncomfortably close. On the other side, Alves was proving to be a handful for a defence that had neither Vidic nor Rio.

In the dying minutes, Boro could very well have found the winner, but Van der sar came to the rescue, saving from Tuncay. The game ended all square, but could very well have been very different.

It was a hard match, which we barely survived by the skin of our teeth. More worrying, despite the drop of 2 points, is that our injury problem could be growing. Rio limped off and Evra was the subject to some horrible tackling. How he walked off the pitch at full time is a mystery to me.

We're going to face Roma in the return leg of the Champions League on Wednesday, which should prove to be a mere fomality, but if we miss Rio and Evra, it might give Roma a glimmer of hope. And we don't want that.

Couple of game notes:

- Scholes and Carrick played well in the first half hour, but when Boro were revitalised by the first goal, just seemed to lack the steel and nerve. I thought having Anderson in the game would provide that steel.

- Giggs and Tevez were totally anonymous. This is probably the worst I've seen Tevez play....ever. Maybe it was the snow. He just didn't seem comfortable in the game. Giggs was simply terrible. It's painful to watch him struggle so badly in the game.

- The defence worries the hell outta me. We've already lost Vidic to injury, and a likely chance to lose Rio as well. With only 5 games left in the league, let's hope it holds up.

Ruthlessly Efficient

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank You Chelsea

Manchester United 3 - Liverpool 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Brown (34), Ronaldo (79), Nani (80)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Anderson (Tevez 73), Giggs (Nani 73), Ronaldo, Rooney

First off, I would just like to thank Chelsea for our victory, especially that man Cashley Hole. After what happened in the midweek 4-4 draw with Spurs, the entire English media (and that of the world) were vilifying Cashley Hole's actions and Mik Riley's ineptitude for not producing a red card for dissent.

Today's referee, Steve Bennett, had no such problems. The turning point of the game came at the end of the first half after we were leading 1-0 courtesy of a Wes Brown header. Rooney's cross found Brown in the penalty area and he headed it into an empty net when Pepe Reina came flapping without getting to the ball.

At the end of the half, Bennett booked Torres for dissent. Incensed by the booking, Mascherano came charging at the referee with some choiced words. He had been booked earlier in the half for a full blooded, two footed tackle at Scholes. Despite being held back by his teammates, Mascherano continued his tirade, leaving Bennett absolutely no choice but to show him a second yellow, with a 'Respect Ma Authoritah!' Eric Cartman style. Had it not been for the controversy in the weekend incident, he probably would have stayed on the pitch given the stature of the game.

Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for us, Bennett was made of sterner stuff than Riley. It would be interesting to hear what Bennett wrote in his review of the game because after being shown the red card, Mascherano went completely berserk and Benitez literally had to grab him by the neck to pull his wayward player off the field. More importantly, it was a strong message sent out by the FA in response to the midweek incident and what a better way than to do it in a high profile match. Let's hope for all our sakes this has set a pecedent on how to deal with players backchatting the referee, even if it means our own Rooney having to sit out games when he starts mouthing off. This is a good thing for football on the whole. Now all we need is for the referees to be consistant.....

Up to that point in the game, it was fairly balanced in my opinion. We created the better chances and were crisp with our passing, but Liverpool had shown plenty of hunger and desire, biting into the 50-50 balls.

The second half was practically all United. With a man down and their morale sapped, it became almost a walk in the park for our 3 men, Carrick, Scholes and Anderson, in midfield. We continued to spurn chances that fell our way, notably Rooney and Ronaldo the major culprits.

Just as it seemed that the score would remain 1-0, the floodgates opened. Ronaldo scored once again. This time it was a glancing header from a corner. Once again Reina was found wanting in the box. He came out to grab the ball and once again caught air instead.

A minute later, Nani finished off the scoring with a screamer after Rooney had found him. His celebrations were even more spectacular than the goal as he did a double somersault with a half twist, thankfully not landing on his head!

The game finished 3-0 to the good guys. We didn't really fire on all cylinders and really should have put the granny-stabbers away earlier if we had taken our chances. The sending off took away all the fight from them and really made things so much easier for us.

Quite frankly I'm beginning to feel alittle concerned with both Tevez and Rooney. They have been spurning chance after chance and if not for that man, Ronaldo, we wouldn't have such a comfortable lead in the table. And as I'm typing this, Chelsea has just defeated Arsenal to leapfrog into second, 5 points behind us with a crucial game at the end of the season against us at Stamford Bridge. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that game.

Ronaldo Smashes Bestie's Record!

Manchester United 2 - Bolton 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (9, 19)

Team: Kuszczak, Vidic (Brown 58), Pique, O'Shea, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Anderson (Scholes 70), Nani, Ronaldo, Tevez, Saha (Rooney)

Ronaldo celebrated his acension to captaincy in style. Two early goals by our captain for the day enabled him to not only equal Bestie's goal record for a season, but surpass it.

Goal no. 32 was a result of a scramble in the Bolton box. The Bolton defence failed to clear the ball and it fell kindly to Ronaldo, who needed no invitation to scoop it over the motley crew scrambling to reach it.

Goal no. 33 was a beauty. It was a trademark Ronaldo freekick that flew sweetly and dipped wickedly into the net. I have grown to stop complaining about his freekicks. There are still occasions he would send it to row Z, but that is fast becoming the exception instead of the norm. Practice and dedication to the art has paid off handsomely for Ronaldo.

Apart from the two early goals, there was really little to cheer about. Fergie had rung in the changes in poor impression of his Liverpool counterpart. The team didn't click and the normal fluency associated with United simply wasn't there. We played in starts and stops. A certain degree was probably due to the fact we were already 2 up and had shifted a gear or two down.

On the other hand, Bolton didn't help their cause too much either. They rarely threatened, and when they did, our makeshift defence stood up well. With stiff competition for the spot, Kuszczak did well enough to put his name in the hat when Fergie eventually chooses a successor.

Despite a less than stellar performance, we won the game comfortably and pulled ourselves 3 points clear of Arsenal with only 24 left up for grabs. We face Liverpool on 'super sunday' and it's imperative we win that game. It's not only a matter of pride to beat one of the hottest teams in the league, but to put pressure on both Chelsea and Arsenal, who play later that same day.

Talking Points

Hargreaves - He played leftback today and did a pretty commendable job in that position. My concern here is that Fergie might be tempted to use him there more often, especially when/if injuries occur. I'm not a huge fan of playing players out of position unless the situation warrants. We've already seen how Fergie practically ruined John O'Shea's and Phil Neville's careers by shifting them all over the shop.

Nani - He's a top player, no doubts about that. However, he's getting way too desperate to impress. Whenever he gets the ball, his first instinct is the shoot, irregardless of the options around him. There is still a long way to go in his development into a player of Ronaldo's calibre. The good thing here is that he doesn't have Ronaldo's piss poor attitude when he first arrvived.

Saha - Wtf is wrong with him? He got injured today (what's new?). He was given a starring role today and he fluffed it big time. I can't remember a telling contribution he made, except for the part where he injures himself again. I mean he hardly broke a sweat the entire game and yet ended up being substituted due to a self-inflicted injury. I want him to succeed so badly, but this entire season, it's just been one disappointment after another.

Chelsea vs Spurs - How the hell Chelsea escaped this game with the full compliment of players on the pitch is beyond me. Ashley Cole's tackle on Alan Hutton was disgraceful. But what made it worse was the conduct of the Chelsea players who surrounded the referee. Possibly intimidated, Mike Riley's balls shrunk to the size of peanuts and he only issued a yellow instead of a red.

Ronaldo Seals The Deal

Derby 0 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Manchester United: Ronaldo (75)

Team : Foster, Evra, Vidic, Brown, O'Shea, Scholes (Carrick 62), Anderson (Fletcher 73), Giggs, Park (Saha 62), Ronaldo, Rooney

The team looked kinda strange when the starting lineup appeared. Foster was given his debut after Van der Sar was injured and Kuszczak suspended. Rio was also missing from a knock. What was particularly surprising was that Tevez and Nani were not even on the substitute's bench. We can only hope everything's fine with them.

Facing a Derby side, that shouldn't have any business in the Premiership, we were all sure this was going to be an easy victory. Right from the whistle, we dominated the game and all signs were pointing to a comfortable return to the top of the table, albeit for a couple of hours.

We were decidedly the better side and really should have put the game beyond Derby. Yet, like the game the previous week, we were firing blanks.

After totally outplaying Derby for about the entire half, the tables were turned. Derby carved out two superb chances which Big Ben saved superbly. In just one half of his debut, Big Ben was staking his claim to Van der Sar's throne as the future no. 1 for the club.

For most of the second half, we couldn't make any inroads. The Derby defense was stout and stubborn. Most of our chances fell to Ronaldo, but he could only hit the side nettings. And on the occasions when he did hit the target, our former no.1, Roy Carroll, was having the game of his life. Why the hell couldn't he do that while playing for us?

Fergie threw on Saha, Carrick and Fletcher but none of them made any significant impact to the game. while Fergie took off the ineffective Scholes, he left Giggs in the game, whom IMO was having one of the worst games I've ever seen him play.

As our desperation grew, we were given a lifeline. Rooney crossed a ball onto the path of Ronaldo and he sidefooted it into the goal. While it looked a simple goal, anyone who's played the game would know just how bloody difficult it was to control the flight of the ball with the instep, while flying in mid-air. It was a great goal!

We spent the remainder of the game controlling possession and holding on to the lead. It's not a classic nor a convincing win by any means, but we got the 3 points.

Fergie and his coaching staff cannot be happy with our performance. There is something distinctly lacking in our play. We're able to dominate possession, and create chances, but we just do not have the finishing touch. We do not have an out-and-out goal poacher and we're relying too much on Ronaldo to produce the goods. So far Ronaldo's been doing the job but we need to get everyone involved.

More importantly, we need to address our shyness in goal, either from within the club resources or from the transfer markets in the summer.

Totally Unrelated
I just want to put this in writing. It's nothing to do with United.

Well, actually it's about another united, Leeds United.

Every week, I would place a small bet ($2) on a parlay of about a dozen or so teams and the payout is usually some ridiculous amount of a few thousand. It's like playing 4D and I don't really expect to win at all. It's all for fun....except for today.

Of the 13 games that I had in the parlay, I was winning 12 of them, the Leeds game being the 13th. Leeds had a 2-0 lead at the half but the bottom team Port Vale had pulled level in the second half. I really wasn't entertaining any hopes of winning until the 86th minute when Leeds took the lead. I could barely contain my euphoria and went to double check all the scores and calculate my winnings. Freaking hell, I was about to win over 4k from a $2 bet! It was a bloody winfall!

Then the unthinkable happened. Fucking Leeds concided the equalizer 3 fucking minutes into injury time! 3 MINUTES!!!!

Bloody couldn't believe it. I used to hate Leeds, but now I hate them with every single bone in my body. Bloody 3 minutes into injury time.......

United Cuts Lead To One Point

Fulham 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United : Hargreaves (15), Park (44), Davies (og 72)

Team : Van der Sar, Evra, O'Shea, Rio, Brown, Scholes, Hargreaves, Nani (Anderson 75), Park, Saha (Ronaldo 69), Tevez (Rooney)

I'll keep this one short (no...really I will).

A combination of a bad stomachache and the fact that all the coffee shops around my area were showing the Arsenal-Villa game, resulted in Kentona and I making the short trip to Queens Country Club to catch the game mid-way thru. As a result, I completely missed Hargreaves' opener. So any help describing or providing a video would be welcomed. (Jiahao, I'm banking on you to produce the goods!)

I did, however, catch the second goal. I was a well worked goal with Saha, Nani, Scholes all involved before the ball was floated into the penalty area for Park to head. We weren't doing very much due to the huge gulf in class between the teams. In other words, it was relatively easy.

We even had the luxury of giving Fulham a huge amount of possession which probably wasn't a very smart thing to do. But like I mentioned, the gulf between the two teams is huge, and in the grander scheme of things, didn't really change the scoreline.

We even managed a third, when O'Shea forced an own goal from Simon Davies. We were simply the better team, even at half pace.

The good thing about Queens is that it usually shows two matches and I was busy turning around to catch glimpses of the Arsenal game. It, of course, helped that there was a really beautiful lady sitting in that general direction....ahm....

It's rather frustrating that Arsenal managed to equalize at the last second to pull one point ahead of us in the standing. I suppose from their point of view, it was more of two points lost than one gained. It can't be denied that Arsenal are crumbling fast before our very eyes and with 10 games to go, I'm really feeling good about our chances.

United Knocks 5 Past Newcastle

Newcastle 1 - Manchester United 5
Scorers
Newcastle : Faye (79)
Manchester United : Rooney (25, 80), Ronaldo (45, 54), Saha (90)

Team : Van der Sar, Evra (O'Shea 46), Rio, Vidic (Scholes 74), Brown, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani, Ronaldo (Saha 67), Tevez, Rooney

I'll try to make this one short. It's been a long week and this is a late game, so I'm virtually exhausted from lack of sleep.

We closed to 3 points in the table with this emphatic victory against Newcastle as Arsenal dropped vital points in an earlier game which they practically dominated.

It kinda baffles the mind how far Newcastle has fallen. It's reached the stage where it's just almost catastrophic, like their sponsor Northern Rock.

Just as in the first meeting between the teams, they were utterly pathetic. While we were nowhere near top form, we still dominated the game without much effort put in. It didn't match the excitement of the first meeting but we still managed to scored 5 really outstanding goals, 2 each from Rooney and Ronaldo, with Saha rounding it all off in the dying minutes. It was a measured victory to say the least.

Rooney opened the scoring in the 25th when Ronaldo found space and time to provide an inch perfect cross right onto his feet. The defence was nowhere to be found and Rooney gleefully sidefooted it into the net.

Ronaldo got on the scoresheet at the end of the first half when Carrick sliced the already porous Newcastle defence with an absolutely beautiful pass. Showing incredible balance, Ronaldo controlled and shot while in full motion. It was a beautiful goal.

In the second half, Ronaldo added a third when he rounded Harper and smashed the ball into the empty net from an acute angle, finishing off a superb individual effort.

Newcastle managed to score a consolation goal when Faye scrambled one in from the corner. There was a suspicion of a handball involved, but quite honestly, no one really cared. We were going to win this one regardless.

The crybabies' joy was short-lived. The 3 goal cushion was quickly restored from the restart. From a blotched clearance, Rooney found just enough space to curl, what is probably the best goal of the game, into the corner of the net. It was pretty special and spectacular.

Saha finished the party with a well taken fifth. United didn't really break a sweat notching this victory. If only all the games were this easy.

Wes Brown
I can't believe Fergie actually blasted Brown's agent in an interview. While most of us probably agree that agents have hurt the game in some sense, but let's be realistic.

The players, barring a few, are not known to be good decision makers off the pitch. Without agents making deals on their behalf, who is going to prevent them from being fleeced by the clubs they play for? It's just the lesser of two evils.

As for Brown, I think he has every right to hold out for a better pay package. By United's standards, he's possibly underpaid. He's playing a key role for the best defence in the Premiership and that should account for something.

Not to mention, if he leaves on a free transfer, he'd probably be paid a singing on fee and someone like Newcastle would probably increase his current salary as well.

To put things into perspective, all we need to do is look at the guy playing on his left. That guy makes a whooping 120k a week! Just imagine your co-worker getting paid so much more than you, for practically doing the same job. I'm not saying that Brown's role is exactly like Rio's but when Rio's out, Brown is the natural replacement. That's gotta at least say something about Brown's worth.

I just don't get it why the club is being so anal over Brown's pay package...I just don't. Afterall, Brown's been with us since he was 12. That loyalty's gotta mean something.

Arsenal
I don't really like to write about Arsenal, but I would just love to pen my thoughts on them. I was out watching their game against Birmingham earlier today. I missed the foul on Eduardo, but Arsenal were pretty damn awesome in that game against virtually ten men Birmingham. Hell, there was a point in time I actually thought Arsenal were going to run up a rugby score.

But of course we know they didn't. And when it really mattered, they collapsed in the dying seconds of the game. Despite Wanker's protestations that last weekend's result was a one off, you can't help but wonder how much damage it has done to their fragile little egos.

In midweek, they failed to capitalise on numerous chances to put AC Milan away and today they simply collapsed against a much weaker opponent, despite having numerical advantage for the entire game.

Gallas' reaction when Clichy conceded the penalty was a godsend (to me). It just shows how fragile their makeup is. As the captain of the team, instead of rallying the troops, he actually threatened to walk out on the team. As the final whistle blew, he just slumped onto the ground in defeat. Imagine the impression he left on the youngsters playing beside him.

They must have been devastated to see their captain react in such manner. I know I would be absolutely disgusted if our own players did that with slightly less than a third of the season left.

I've stated time and time again that Arsenal is not a threat for the title this season (me patting my own shoulders). They just do no have the mental toughness to see it out. Their lack of testicular fortitude reared it's ugly head today.

The problem with the team is that they have no winners. The only past winners they have in the team are Gallas and to a less extent Gilberto. And today we can see just how pathetic Gallas is without Terry beside him.

I'm going to maintain that Chelsea still remains our fiercest rivals for the title. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Arsenal doesn't suddenly find their testes and make my eat a huge crow. ;o)

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.

Woeful United Steals A Point.

Tottenham 1 - Manchester United 1
Scorers
Tottenham : Berbatov 21
Manchester United : Tevez 90+3

Team : Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Scholes (Anderson 60), Hargreaves (Carrick 46), Giggs (Nani 60), Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez

This was such a poor poor performance, it's probably best forgotten. We were ridiculously lucky to nick a point off Spurs with virtually the last kick of the game.

It didn't help that the Arsenal supporters were out in force at the kopitiam were Kentona and I were watching, making watching the game extra dreadful. It seemed that after the Arsenal game (which was played earlier) ended, all the Gooners decided to stay and catch the United game, bringing all their negative energy along with them. Bitter little pricks.

Excuses aside, we really didn't show up today on the pitch. Come to think of it, we haven't really been good for a full 90 minutes for a long long time. Yet somehow we've come away with the goods. Unfortunately for today, I doubt we even played a fucking full minute of outstanding football.

But take nothing away from a spirited Spurs. After the defeat in the FA Cup, Spurs were extra motivated right from the kickoff. Their passing was simply outstanding and they bossed the midfield. And it was only fitting that they took the lead midway thru the first half.

Jenas was brushed aside in our penalty area by Hargreaves and the ball fell kindly to Lennon. There could have been a slight debate that Jenas handled the ball as he fell, but if you asked me, it looked like a clear penalty that was not given. Anyway, justice had a way of righting itself. The 'handled' ball fell to Lennon. His pass was parried away by Van der Sar, but it only fell to Babertov with an open goal in front of him. The result was a goal.

United's response was pathetic at best. We couldn't even string two passes together. Had it not been for Hargreaves basically destroying play in midfield, we could very well been another goal or two down.

Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo were kept very quiet by the outstanding Woodgate and gang in the Spurs defense. Giggs and Scholes were frankly non-existant. And Evra was just Lennon's man-bitch for the second time.

Things had to change at the break and Fergie did just that. Unfortunately he shocked both Kentona and myself when he took off Hargreaves and put in Carrick. We both felt Scholesy should have been replaced instead. It just didn't make any sense to us that the best player was taken off.

Nothing changed in the second half. Our play was still simply dreadful. Spurs were first to every 50-50 ball and once again should have punished our poor play. And perhaps hearing our pleas for subsitutions, Fergie brought on Nani and Anderson in place of Giggs and Scholes.

Instantly there was an injection of pace and energy. We started looking marginally more threatening going forward. But it didn't really last very long.

You know I've been perpetually whining about Carrick's disappearing act for the longest time since he joined. Today I just wish he was just that....invisible. At least he would still be a good guy....behind the scenes.

But today he was just ultra dreadful. I don't even think his own parents can defend he's performance today (unless they are Spurs fans). He's passing was simply abysmal. Every other time he got the ball, he gave it away to a player in white. There were numerous times out there that I felt he was still playing for Spurs. If I contract lung cancer or becoming an alcoholic, I'm going to put the blame squarely on Carrick.

Just as the game felt like it was going to be a loss (well deserved might I add), Tevez popped up and scored from a corner with virtually the last kick of the game. For 90 odd minutes, the Spurs defense had been outstanding, keeping our attackers at bay. Yet in the dying seconds, they gifted Tevez will all the space in the world to nick an equalizer.

I dare say it was a vital point for us in the grander scheme of things. It kept us within striking distance from Arsenal who won earlier.

We've not been doing well recently and it's a worrying sign. Maybe the whole Saudi trip is coming back to haunt us. Or maybe we're just getting too complacent. But one thing's for sure, something's gotta change and I dunno what.

The only thing I know is that I really don't want to see Carrick play for a long long time. Fergie's been in the news recently saying that Fletcher's been a real trooper. I say let Fletcher play. Let Fletcher take Carrick's place. Someone in the backroom staff should just smack Ferguson on the head everytime he even puts Carrick's name on the teamsheet, let alone start.

Ronaldo's Freekick

So just how good was Ronaldo's freekick yesterday? You be the judge.

*Content removed due to copyright issues*

Edit:
That just sums it up huh? Rightly or wrongly, the Premiership claims rights to all videos, hence the video has been removed from the source. Unfortunately, in the end, the fans, people like you and me, are the ones who suffer.

2nd Edit:
Well, almost as soon as I posted the above, I received an email of a working link. Let's hope this one stays up.

Ronaldo Shines In Sparkling Performance

Manchester United 2 - Portsmouth 0
Scorers
Manchester United : Ronaldo 10, 13

Team : Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Scholes (Hargreaves 62), Carrick, Park, Nani, Ronaldo (Anderson 73), Rooney (Tevez 73)

24hrs after Arsenal had briefly taken top spot by beating a truely woeful Newcastle, we turned up heat by totally obliterating Portsmouth.

Due to some technical difficulties, I missed the entire first half but managed to catch the highlights. From everything I saw, hear and read, we were totally in our element in the first half.

It didn't take long for us to open the scoring. Nani fed a beautiful ball to Ronaldo and he scored 10 minutes into the game.

His second came 3 minutes later from a wonder goal via a freekick. It's probably one of the best freekicks I've seen in my entire life.

Portsmouth didn't know what hit them as we continually tore them apart. Scholes was outstanding in midfield and you probably couldn't tell that this was his first start since his injury 3 months ago. It was as if he never missed a game.

I managed to fix my computer by the start of the second half and was happily seated in my room, anticipating the excitement to continue, unfortunately, by then we had taken the foot off the pedal, possibly thinking of the next game against Spurs.

Actually it was Portsmouth which decided not to engage us at our game. Apparently Harry Redknapp had decided that if they continued in the same vein as in the first half, they would be soundly thrashed and I can't really argue with that train of thought. Based on the highlights, we were that good.

We still bossed the midfield, and while Portsmouth didn't threaten, we couldn't add to the scoreline. We created numerous chances but neither Rooney, nor substitutes Anderson and Tevez, could convert any of them.

All in all, it was a good result and an even better performance. I just wish I could've caught the first half.

Munich Tribute
There's been plenty going around regarding the Munich tribute 50 years on. Strangely enough, alot of the debate seems to be going around the minute's silence when England plays their friendly in a week's time and our own 4 days later against City. The issue I personally have is all the noise that is being generated even before the minute's silence. For some reason, it leaves a sour taste. If there are going to be spoilers, so be it. Let's not add to the noise.

And speaking of the tribute, I received a mail earlier today and I have to take my hat off to Arsenal. In their match programme yesterday against Newcastle, they had their own special Munich tribute. You can probably view it on their website in a couple of days. For those of you who are too Red to hop over to the enemy's place, I'll post what was written there:

Today's match is the last here at the Emirates before the football world will remember the 23 people, including eight Manchester United players and nine journalists, who perished in Munich on February 6, 1958.

The Munich disaster occurred when Manchester United were refuelling on their return from a European Cup fixture against Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia. The final match that the legendary "Busby Babes" had played prior to their trip to Yugoslavia was at Highbury, as Sir Matt Busby's team won a thrilling encounter 5-4 in front of 63,758 on February 1, 1958.

The picture on the right shows Duncan Edwards, who was already regarded as one of the world's great players when he perished aged just 21, signing an autograph on the Highbury pitch prior to this match. Edwards went on to score in the game.

Arsenal Football Club would like to extend their sympathies to all those affected by those tragic events 50 years ago.

One of the game's darkest days - it will never be forgotten.

Football rivalries aside, this was indeed a classy move by them. I wonder if any of the other clubs did anything similar in their programmes.

United Wakes Up In Time To Dump Spurs

Manchester United 3 - Tottenham 1

Scorers
Manchester United : Tevez 37, Ronaldo 69 (pen), 88
Tottenham : Keane 24

Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra (Simpson 90), Rio, Brown, O'Shea, Hargreaves, Carrick (Scholes 64), Giggs , Ronaldo, Tevez (Anderson 80), Rooney

I don't even know where to begin. Despite the scoreline, we were shit for very long periods in the game. Had it not been for individual errors for Spurs, they fully deserved to go thru in to the 3rd round of the FA Cup. But football is a cruel game.

The run up to today's game couldn't have been any more different. We spent a couple of days in the sun in Saudi Arabia playing some meaningless game, while pocketing a million pounds for our greedy American owners. While Fergie and his croonies argue that it's a good break from the cold, we all know it's greed at play. As a football club, we've fucking sold our souls to the devil. No two ways about it. We can't even have a decent tribute to the Busby Babes without having our sponsor somehow wiggling their logo in.

Spurs, on the other hand, came to Old Trafford with their tails up, after giving a pretty decent Arsenal team a good old-fashion thrashing at midweek.

And our different run up to the game showed. Spurs were sharper, hungrier and quicker to the ball, while United were busy thinking of the sun and the sand in Saudi. Evra, in particular, was horribly exposed time and time again by Lennon. Without Vidic to support him, Lennon game him a torrid time and it wasn't surprising that Lennon supplied the cross that resulted in the game's opening goal.

Lennon whisked past Evra and hit a grounder across the face of goal. Brown and, in particular, Rio were caught napping, allowing Keane a simple tap in. Suddenly we realise just how important Vidic is. Without him in the centre, everyone gets exposed for just how horrible they are at doing their job. And this happened throughout the entire game. It was just due to unlucky finishing, that we survived by the skin of our teeth.

United pressed forward in search of the equalizer but Spurs dealt with everything we threw at them rather comfortably. In the 37th minute, we did get a breakthru. The makeshift Spurs defense made their first mistake by not clearing the ball and Giggs held off his defender, giving enough time for Tevez to smash the ball into the net.

The scores were level but Spurs still had the better exchanges. Just before half time and just after the break, Spurs could've and should've gone in front when on both occasions, Jenas was one on one with Van der Sar. Thankfully both chances fell to Jenas who scuffed them both. Had it been for someone with more composure, we would have been staring defeat in the face.

The game was balanced on a knife's edge. We poured forward looking for the winner while Spurs looked terribly dangerous on the counter. Given the way we have been defending on the day, you could almost see Spurs hitting us with a counter punch. On the other side of the ground, we simply couldn't deliver the final pass.

Yet despite all that, we went in front. Dawson inexplicably handled the ball in the penalty area. The referee had no choice but to send him off and award United a penalty. Ronaldo took it and put United in front. It was definitely not deserved, but I'll take any crumbs that fall my way.

The sending off seemed to have galvanized Spurs. For the rest of the game, they were the much better side. They controlled the pace and tempo, stringing passes together and almost drawing level five minutes from time when Berbatov's effort came off the post.

That effort probably took the sting away from Spurs and minutes later, Ronaldo was given the room to roam and his strike somehow wiggled it's way under Cerny and into the goal. 3-1 up and it was game, set and match.

We were pretty terrible for most of the game but managed to wake up at crucial moments. Fergie and his coaching staff have plenty of work to do as the games are coming in thick and fast.

We would be facing Pompey in midweek and on paper should be an easy home game, considering almost half of their first teamers are away in Africa. But we're United, and for some reason this season, we tend to make things difficult for ourselves.

Roo & Ron Late Show.

Reading 0 - Manchester United 2
Scorers
Manchester United : Rooney 78, Ronaldo 90

Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra, Rio, Vidic, Brown, Hargreaves (Nani 70), Carrick, Park (Giggs 46), Ronaldo, Tevez (Fletcher 80), Rooney

For some unforeseen reason, Reading has always been a tough team for us since they got promoted. Steve Coppell's side has always found something extra when they faced his former employers.

Today's game was no exception. Had it not been for some desperate defending, we could have concided early. We didn't help ourselves very much with some really poor passing that encouraged our opponents. Carrick just doesn't help himself. After playing brilliantly last weekend, he's come down to earth in the most emphatic fashion. Apparently he shows up once every 20 games or so. At least his presence doesn't hurt the team...much.

That's not to say that we didn't create chances ourselves. In fact we created a boatload of chances but just couldn't find the target. And when we did, that huge American, Hahnemann, stood in the way.

All I can say is that it was pretty damn frustrating to watch us pound on the door but simply cannot find a way in. It was much the same in the second half, with Reading having the early chances and us not finding the killer touch later on. For a moment there I was tempted to feel that it just wasn't our night. To be really honest, I was just glad that Reading hadn't taken their chances.

Just as the game looked like it was going to be a scoreless draw, Tevez's lofted ball found Rooney in the penalty area. With a somewhat cheeky but well intended flick, Rooney directed the ball beyond Hahnemann and into the far corner of the goal. Despite being a little unorthodox, it was a masterful touch.

The remainder of the game was quite frankly a little nerve-wrecking. Reading poured forward for the equalizer and their endeavours were nearly rewarded in the dying minutes when Harper powered thru the midfield into the penalty box. His shot, however, was just wide of the goal. It probably sums up their night, yet at the same time was way too close for comfort.

Apparently Ronaldo heard my thoughts. From a Vidic headed clearance, he received the ball from our half and ran the full length of the pitch to continue his wonderful goal scoring form.

It was a difficult test, but we weathered the storm and eventually came away with a couple of late goals to seal the victory. With Arsenal and Chelsea both winning their games, we maintained our position on the top of the table....albeit it barely.

The lads should get a good rest until the next game against Spurs in the FA Cup over a week later.

Lambs To The Slaughter. United Slams Six Past Barcodes.

Manchester United 6 - Newcastle 0
Ronaldo 49, 70, 89
Tevez 55, 90
Ferdinand 85

Team : Edwin Van der Sar, Evra (Simpson 67), Rio, Vidic, O'Shea, Anderson (72), Carrick, Giggs (Nani 72), Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney

This has been one helluva strange night. For starters, I can't for the hell of me remember when was the last time I've been this sick. It must have been at least 10 years ago since I last felt this ill. In anycase, I managed to crawl out of bed and catch this game. All I have to say is that it was bloody worth it.

And if you've noticed (you must have), I've screwed around with the presentation of this report with slightly more details. It's probably not going to be very permanent since it's helluva lot of work and I'm generally helluva lazy.

My initial reaction to facing the crybabies after the demise of Big Sam was probably....oh fuck. I never like facing teams with their backs against the wall. This is especially so for a fucked up team like Newcastle. It's been apparent for the past couple of months or so that the players (with the exception of Nicky Butt) have given up on Big Sam. And now without the scapegoat around, the onus falls on the players to pull up their socks. The truth is that this team has under-achieved and their position on the table does not reflect their strength.

Oh man, was I ever so wrong.

They are every bit as pathetic as their record shows. If not for the fact that there are teams like Derby, Boro, Fulham and Wigan around, they would be my prime candidates for the drop.

In the opening 15 minutes, Rooney could have had a hat-trick to add to his already impressive personal tally against Newcastle (7 in 8 games). Time and time again in that period, Rooney found himself with plenty of space for the shot. Given was impressive on the night and saved 3 times, while Rooney missed a fourth. It was a signal for things to come.

Rob Styles didn't help matter when he denied 2 genuine claims for a penalty when both Ronaldo and Giggs were fouled in the box. Quite frankly, how the hell Rob Styles is still a premiership referee is beyond me. I can only summise that the standards of refereeing is so bad that Styles still has a freaking job.

On the other side of the pitch, the linesman denied Michael Owens a genuine chance for a one on one situation when he rised his flag too early.

It was a frustrating first half. We had plenty of shots at goal but nothing to show for. Dodgy decisions aside, we were by far the better team. However, Given was outstanding in goal and Newcastle were battling hard.

Like I mentioned, it was a strange night. The half time oranges must have done their trick. United came riproaring out of the tunnel.

Ronaldo won a freekick on the edge of the box. Instead of a trademark balloon into row Z, Ronaldo cheekily struck the ball under the wall and into the net. For once the advance scouting team had done their job. They must have noted that Newcastle's wall had the tendency to jump and Ronaldo exploited it to perfection.

After taking a well-deserved lead, United drove forward with greater determination to consolidate the win and retake the top spot in the Premiership standings. True to form, Newcastle's defense crumbled when Given smacked a clearance into his defender. Giggs was onto the loose ball in a flash and Tevez had the easiest of task of poking it into an empty net.

What was perhaps more astonishing than Newcastle's defensive suicide was that Tevez whipped out a pacifier and stuck it into his mouth. It's not the first time he's done that but I'm seriously hoping it's the last time. I have nothing against extravagant celebrations, but did anyone seriously take a look at where he whipped the pacifier from? Jesus, the fucking last thing I would do, given it's previous resting place, is to put it in my mouth!

If the first goal was from a set-piece, the second from Newcastle committing harakiri, the third was pure class. Great passing from Carrick to Rooney to Tevez and finally to Ronaldo. This was United at it's finest. We simply tore Newcastle apart for that goal.

5 minutes from time, Rio added a fourth when Rooney's clipped ball found him with time and space to volley in from close range.

Ronaldo completed his hat-trick on 89 minutes. Ferguson usually substitutes Ronaldo before he gets his hat-trick but tonight he allowed Ronaldo the opportunity to bask in glory.

Tevez completed the massacre with a sixth. His volley hit the underside of the bar and the linesman flagged that it has gone beyond the line. The replays were non-conclusive. 5 goals or 6 goals, it didn't really matter. Well, actually it did for Alan Smith who was given his marching orders for protesting that last goal.

This was an incredible second half display of our ruthlessness, something that has been missing for quite sometime. If we can put this kind of performance in every now and then, we'd be a scary team to play against.

We now sit level on points with Arsenal, who drew against Birmingham. It's only a matter of time before we pull away from them. The biggest surprise for me is how Chelsea is coping with their injuries and missing players. They have pulled a string of grinding victories to keep pace at the top. As of right now, it's a three horse race.

Note:
After one of the worst perfomances last week, Michael Carrick probably had one of his best nights in a United shirt. I'm actually caught between him and Ronaldo for my man of the match. Ronaldo possibly edges it with the hat-trick, but take nothing away from an outstanding game from Carrick.

Yup, it's been one helluva strange night.