United Shrugs Off Leeds

Leeds 0 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
Manchester United: Owen (15, 31), Giggs (45)


Team: Amos, Carrick, Fryers, Fabio, Valencia, Park, Giggs (Progba 46), Diouf (Welbeck 70), Macheda (Cole 77), Berbatov, Owen

No really much to say here. This used to be a huge fixture; the battle of the roses, Yorkshire vs Lancashire, but not anymore. There was a time when Alex Ferguson used to field his best and his toughest at Ellen Road, but those days are gone. It may return someday, but unlikely in the near future. The gulf in standards is as wide as the scoreline suggests and on top of that, we fielded an experimental team with the reserves. Just to emphasize the difference, we ended the game with a centreback pairing of Carrick and Berbatov!

A number of players were fielded in positions that were unfamilar to them, but all had acquitted themselves well. Macheda and Diouf were employed at the left and right flanks respectively. While they didn't make significant contributions upfront, they were both hardworking and came back often to help the their respective fullbacks.

Valencia continues from his weekend advantures at right back and seems to be growing into the role. For his sake, I hope Ferguson doesn't get any funny ideas of playing him there full time. As it stands, we already have Rafael and to a smaller extend, both Smalling and Jones as standbys there.

Our injuries in the centre of defence and the need to rest players playing here resulted in Carrick playing along side the youngster Ezekiel Fryers. I've never seen of heard of Fryers, but they both did a masterful job. When Fryers get injured in the 77th minute, Berbatov tracked back for a cameo at that spot, and must say for the rest of the game did look the part. If the injuries continue to pile up in this department, we could see this very makeshift central pairing however unlikely.

Park and Giggs were terrific dictating play from the centre of the park. Giggs really seems to age well. His goal at the end of the half was a marvel. It probably got a deflection at the end, but the run up to it was all Giggs turning back to clock and mesmerising us with his skills. He's replacement in the second half, Progba, is still not ready for the big time or the bright lights.Too many wild passes and rash challenges. The potential is there and he needs to get first team action, be it training with the first team or out of loan to other clubs to gain alot more experience before he's the finished product.

And of course up front, Owen was Owen. Two goals to the good. Berbatov did nothing upfront and probably enjoyed his little stint behind.

Long story short, Leeds were crap and we took advantage and snuffed their light out early. The weekend's a different monster altogether. It's going to be a bruising contest against Stoke, a game I'm not relishing. I hope they can play possum like they did against Sunderland over the weekend, but it's more likely they'd be more like the tigers against Liverpool. So far I've been enjoying this season, but I somehow just have a bad feeling about this weekend....

Shocking Exit From The FA Cup

Manchester United 0 - Leeds 1
Scorer
Leeds: Beckford (19)

Team: Kuszczak, Brown, Evans, Fabio, Nevilla, Anderson (Owen 69), Gibson, Obertan (Giggs 57), Welbeck (Valencia 57), Rooney, Berbatov

This one bitter pill to swallow. Our Jekyll and Hyde season continues. The last game we're almost perfect and today, we fell straight back down to earth in the most empathic fashion. Not only we were absolutely clueless on how to break down the Leeds defense, we got humliated in the cruelest way on our home court. The crossbar saved us from futher humliation, if that was in anyway possible.

At the same time, credit to Leeds for playing as if their lives depended on it. We, on the other hand, played like the had beens we truely are. On a day where everything was going south, this defeat added the icing to a terrible day on a personal level.

Given the way we approached things, maybe it's for the best. It may seem like sour grapes, but we can fully concentrate on the league, but if we continue to sleepwalk in games, we're going to get our ass handed to us. Already this season has been peppered with way more downs than ups.

All I can say is that this is going to be one hell of a long season for us fans to endure. Maybe this result will spur Ferguson to open the pursestrings and get some needed reinforcement during this transfer window. As it stands, I have no faith the current make up of the team is going to make inroads on any of the silverware we're pursuing.

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.......