Vs West Ham United, Old Trafford - 28 Aug 2010

Having been gutted with last weekend's results, I was so eagerly waiting for this match though I know we should be winning it comfortably and the match is not expected to provide me with any thrill - But what thrill do you want other than United winning?

We once again went with 4-4-2 and I was as excited as anyone else to see Wayne Rooney back in the starting XI. For United to get on course in the season, Wayne has to be in form and none better than getting minutes under your belt - that too West Ham at home, can't ask for more.

And for the first time in many matches I could remember, the old stalwarts Giggs and Scholes started the game together.

United made a soppy start to the match and were hardly looking inspiring. We kept losing balls easily and when someone like Scholes loses possession cheaply, you start doubting if a goal would arrive.

But as always, the former England midfielder sent a searing long range pass to Giggs at the left and the latter tricked himself into the box only to be stupidly tripped by a former Manchester United man, Jonathan Spector. Rooney, who had gone over 1000 minutes on the pitch without scoring, picked up this opportunity from the spot, to break the drought and the deadlock too.

The home team would have been 2-0 up by half time had Nani timed his chip a little more delicately. The setup was brilliant - First Scholes and Giggs slid simultaneously to grab possession in our own half. Then Ryan Giggs expertly found Nani, only to see the chance go begging.

Dimitar Berbatov was busy collecting and dispatching passes at will. He topped up a perfect day with a "Beautiful" finish which he always emphasizes.

Between this and Wazza's penalty, Nani ran through a glut of defenders and scored a brilliant goal that would have provided him the much needed redemption, following his penalty miss last weekend.

SAF made a triple substitution following the 3rd Goal and though we looked threatening enough to score more, West Ham somehow held firm. The closest they came to scoring was when Kieron Dyer hit the outside of the post in the 55th Minute. Vida made a couple of noteworthy crunching tackles when Carlton Cole looked through on goal on both occasions. The importance of the Serbian to our defense cannot be overstated.

West Ham has not scored against United for the last 2 years - Dean Ashton was the last one to score in United's penultimate game (known for Nani's head butt) of the 2007-08 season. They continued to go scoreless again.

Two 3-0 home wins out of Two - time to focus hard on the away form. We go on an International break, that's one weekend wasted in life, deprived of Manchester United Football.

Off to the Goodison Park now, we have a score to settle for last season's 1-3 defeat.

Pictures courtesy: bbcsport

Vs Fulham, Craven Cottage - 22 Aug 2010

We have been historically deemed to be "Notoriously bad-starters" each season - a theory which I have found tough to accept. But for the fourth consecutive season, United have failed to grab all six points off the first two matches of the season and therefore, I would like to give in and accept the pattern.

A visit to Craven Cottage have been a thorn in recent times, the last two occasions have seen us suffer 0-2 and 0-3 reverses. These two results were good enough for me to be really charged up for this fixture to extract revenge.

Rooney was ruled out with a bug and hence didn't travel. We started with our two next best strikers in Chicharito and Berbatov. But it took a typical Paul Scholes long ranger to break the deadlock, a very sweetly timed kick indeed.


From then on we continued to be on the offensive and I was clearly under the impression that we were heading towards a annihilation of Fulham. How wrong was I? Fulham soon settled down and the combination of Bobby Zamora and Simon Davies started creating havoc for our defense, most particularly Jonny Evans who had a torrid time. Still we survived a few nervy moments, none better than the Van Der Saar double-save off Etuhu. We were soon made to pay for our frailties when Davies pulled back close to the hour mark, which our stopper almost saved again, but only almost.

Nani came in for Valencia, Giggs came in for Park.
Owen replaced Chicharito, but to be very honest this looked an irrelevant substitution in the end, as Michael only got the ball twice in 15 mins play.

United went ahead ahead with 7 minutes remaining on the clock, via a Brede Hangeland own goal from Nani's corner. We could have killed the game within the next couple of minutes when Damien Duff was punished for (not deliberately though) hand-balling in the danger area. Nani stepped up for the kick and though he was in my Fantasy League team, i had my fears that we have given it to the wrong man. Ryan Giggs was so effective last season burying two penalties out of two against Spurs. It was a real surprise that he chose to hand it over to the Portugese, who hit it low and at a predictable direction to the very impressive Fulham stopper - who promptly stopped to keep the home team in the game.


This wastefulness from the winger was made to pay dearly when the culprit became cult-status-ed in no time. Having just scored a own-goal, Hangeland leaped the highest to nod down the equalizer in the 89th Minute and thereby creating a redemption for himself. Mark Hughes - who suffered his worst injury-time nightmare last season when Michael Owen poked past Shay Given in the 95th Minute to eke out a winner - was spared the blushes this time. United couldn't do much with 4 added minutes and thereby we dropped two valuable points, though I'm not sure if we really deserved to win. One more attempt at the Cottage ending in heartbreak.


Last season, Michael Carrick missed a penalty against Burnley. For me, that miss along with Valencia's goof-up in a one-on-one situation against Blackburn in the later part of the season, were prime reasons for us missing the league. I hope we don't have to look back at Nani's miss as another pivotal moment, come May.

One of my friends (Reon) told that he wouldn't look too much into the Newcastle game as our biggest tests will come away from home. How correct he was?? In our first game on the road, we were in all sorts of trouble and hardly looked like winning, in spite of the fact that we lead twice.

C'mon United - Get on with it and Get ahead. I hate being part of the chasing pack, even though this is the very beginning.

Pictures courtesy: http://www.zimbio.com

Vs Newcastle United, Old Trafford - 16 Aug 2010

A winning start - that's all that we can look forward to. The last time we played Newcastle at home in the opening fixture, we had to be content with a draw having trailed to an Obafemi Martins' header. This time it was all the more straightforward - A conservative display for our standards, we should have pounded in half a dozen at least - As the Gaffer always emphasizes how possessing a superior goal difference is like owning an extra point. But 3-0 isn't bad after all and Newcastle isn't a side that is only Championship standards, they are a little more than that.

The Star man was obviously one of the oldest on the park that day - The Evergreen Paul Scholes. He was at absolute ease collecting the ball and distributing passes to all corners of the ground with pin-point accuracy. What he ensured was, put more pressure on the wingers Nani and Valencia to control the ball and deliver crosses. Remarkable performance from Scholesy, I am surprised he wanted to hang up his boots a few years ago. Very fortunate that Sir Alex Ferguson talked him out of retirement.

An excerpt from BBC Live commentary - "Amazingly, the usually unflappable Paul Scholes has looked thoroughly disgusted with some of his team mates on occasions today, either for not passing it straight to him or for not converting his beautifully laid-on chances. This time he's annoyed with Javier Hernandez - he's on a different level to everyone this evening."

And that piece of commentary illustrates how intent we are to regain the league that we surrendered last season.


Rooney looked off-color as he has been in recent times, but I have no doubt he will be back to his best very soon - Bring on Arsenal, Wayne's firepower will be on display. Berbatov was good in patches, but for his qualities he should have scored more, especially off the intelligent nudge that Rooney delivered that left him with only the Keeper to pass through - He didn't though. Valencia and Nani were quieter for their standards, still the latter was primarily responsible for the second goal when he expertly tapped the ball into the box for Evra. Ryan Giggs played for less than 20 minutes but he showcased his class with a thumping volley (left-footed, of course) to continue his impressive record of having scored in every premier league season so far. After that, there was this cheeky little through ball to Berbatov, very much reminiscent to his pass to Michael Owen in the Manchester Derby thriller. Berba though wasn't as clinical as Michael was.


Chicharito was lively but couldn't score as everyone wanted him to, on his Old Trafford debut. But we could already see enough of what is in store from him, as the season goes on. The defense and Van Der Saar didn't have much to do throughout the match except for the odd Andy Carroll attempt from outside the box.

Overall, it's a very good beginning, I am happy with it. I could see the trophy coming back to Old Trafford. I am looking forward to the season with a box full of excitement.


Pictures courtesy - bbcsport, zimbio.