United On Fire

A really tired performance from United and I don’t seem to write a match report up without mentioning an injury to a defender.

Apart from the first five minutes, United were lethargic and leaden, a rare day when all of United’s key players did not perform.

There were four key moments in this game. First, a great pass from Scholes to Rooney who controlled it well, rounded the keeper and would have scored if Richardson hadn’t pouched it off him (David Nugent would have been proud).

Second, a reoccurance of Rio’s groin injury meant that he was out of position when Downing put his only good cross in. Rio was static and could not get to the ball and behind him Brown failed to stop Viduka heading home the equaliser.

Third, Solskjaer was denied a perfectly good (and Besteque) goal when he robbed the Boro’ keeper as he kicked the ball. Despite not touching the keeper, raising his foot high or obstructing anyone in any way, 20Legend was booked to add insult to caution. Why do keepers get such protection?

Finally, this injustice was evened up as ‘Boro were denied was looked like a clear penalty when Dong-Gook Lee went down following a John O’Shea tackle. By then my hopes of the three points were long gone.

The key to the game was the Rio injury coming so close to half time. If it was earlier in the half, Fergie would have subbed him quickly, but he was trying to see Rio until half time. I caught a shake of the head from Rio, followed by a clenched fist from Fergie, clearly meaning “You must carry on.” This lead to the goal and cost us all three points.

Now, we must go to Chelsea and get a result as the title now lies in both teams hand.

I hope this is a temporary blip and United bounce back for their next game, AC Milan otherwise the Champions League will be a hope for next season not this.

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