United On Fire

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

A very early goal, combined with playing a team already on their summer holidays meant United moved to within 1 win of the title.   From the moment Ronaldo was allowed far too much room to take a shot and score in the third minute this was always going to be a United victory.  However, the stupid sending off of Nani threatened to change the game, and Nani will be heavily punished for his stupidity.

Whilst Ronaldo was sent off for a headbutt that was more of a eyebrow brush in the 2nd game of the season, Nani’s attempt was far more effective at hurting his opponent, and he was rightly sent off.  What was worse was the desperate attempts at play acting.  Last time he does that, one can only hope.

That black moment aside, this was a good result.  Ronaldo tucked his 2nd of the game and 40th of the season using his thigh, but a couple of minutes later Tevez scored a screamer that had his ex-fans clapping in appreciation.  Tevez has been a little underused and somewhat in the shadow of Ronaldo this season.  His performances against West Ham and Barcelona prove that he could still become a United great.

A couple of minutes later, it was the United fan’s turn to applaud an opposition goal.  A lofted ball into the box had both Dean Ashton and Rio Ferdinand backpeddling.  As Rio tried to get his head to the ball, Ashton decided he could make better use of his feet and managed to produce a magnificent overhead kick.  Unfortunately for him, he seemed to injure himself in the process.  Ashton has been tipped as a possible United signing, and whilst I don’t see it myself, he proved today was a good player he is.

Despite being down to 10 men, it was mostly cruise control for United, especially when another ex-Hammer got United’s 4th.  Carrick picked the ball up in midfield and was allowed far too much time to set himself for a shot.  There was a deflection that wrong footed the keeper, Green and the ball was in the net.  Despite conceding 4, Green was at fault for none of the goals.

The game ended 4-1 and United go to Wigan knowing that a win will see them win the league.   Wigan are clear of the relegation zone and whilst will still pose a threat, they don’t have anything to play for.  Mind you, we might still win it on Monday night when Chelsea face Newcastle.  Stranger things have happened.

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We’re in a bit of trouble, largely of our own doing.  People who laugh at Rafa Benitez for rotating his team too much can now look at Sir Alex Ferguson and smirk quite a bit.  What was that team that was put out?  I can understand the logic, the gamble if you will.  Fergie must have thought that given that even if we lose the title is in our own hands, it was worth resting Ronaldo and playing Fletcher and Silvestre.

Three out of the first four 1st choice defenders was probably a good move, but it was let down, firstly by Wes Brown giving the ball away in the first minute setting the tone for the rest of the half.  Then, the unfortunate loss of Vidic, providing that actually he isn’t a machine and does bleed if you knee him in the face hard enough.  He didn’t look pretty beforehand.

The goal was inevitable.  But then Chelsea decided that they’d do their own bit of imploding, gifting Rooney a goal and then fighting like children over freekicks.  I thought they were going to give us the title, but it turned the other way again.  It probably was a penalty.  Carrick had time to move his hand, I think.

So, we lose 2-1 and now need to win against West Ham and Wigan.  West Ham should be a win.  They are a bogey side, but usually at Upton Park.  Last season we lost at home, but West Ham needed the points and we didn’t care.  We should have and we could have sent them down.  We’d have more likely won away to the team they replaced, Sheffield United and have three more points and the league in the bag.

Congrats to Ronaldo for winning a meaningless personal award.  It will look very annoying if he can’t put a league winners medal next to it.

But it is the Champions League next.  Too close to call and likely to be another tense night.  No live blogging this time, I need to concentrate more on the game and not the laptop.  Come on you Reds.

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Manchester United 2 (Ronaldo 54 pen, Hargreaves 72) Arsenal 1 (Adebayor 48)

Owen Hargreaves scored the decisive freekick which gave United the victory over Arsenal, simultaneously ended Arsenal’s season and giving United one hand on the trophy.

This was a game United did not deserve to win, playing very poorly in the first half. Wes Brown’s ability to find an Arsenal player with his passing was matched only by Adebayor’s ability to squander chances in front of goal. The Arsenal striker was the weak link in the team as they should have been 4 goals up. That said, at the other end, Wayne Rooney was denied twice by the foot of Jens Lehman.

How the first half ended goalless I do not know, but it wasn’t long into the second half before the ball was in the net. A well crafted freekick had the United defence on the back football, but even then Ferdinand could have cleared the cross that came in from the left. Later, Ferdinand claimed that he heard the call “keepers” but he should never have left it call or not. Adebayor, deciding that he was too useless to put the ball into the net legally, flicked the ball into the net with his hand. Curiously, none of the United players protested, probably just a bit shocked that they’d let such an easy goal away.

A minute later and it could have been two. Rio Ferdinand shanked a clearance straight towards goal and only a fantastic save from Van Der Saar saved Rio from embarrassment twice in two minutes.

However, Arsenal’s ability to self implode saved the day for United. A ball in by Carrick was going past Gallas’s shoulder, but he foolishly tried to chest it down, mistiming it completely and handling the ball in the area.

The next minute was pure drama, and was probably the key moment of the season. If Ronaldo missed, it would give Arsenal fresh hope and possibly hand the momentum of the title to Chelsea. If he scored, the game would be level and United would have the momentum. Ronaldo stepped up to take the penalty. He started his run up, paused, and then first an Arsenal player ran into the box, followed Park. Ronaldo placed the ball into the net, but the referee called for it to be retaken.

Oddly enough I was really calm at this point, but the important point was that so was Ronaldo. Doing exacty the same as before, he paused in his run up and then put the ball in exactly the same place. Unsaveable. 1-1.

Fergie then gambled and won. He went 4-4-2 and brought on Anderson and Tevez, two bull like fighters who ran and harried the Arsenal defence. Eventually it was another poor clearance from Arsenal that fell to Evra on the edge of the area. He was brought down and United had a freekick.

I think everyone expected Ronaldo to take it, but Hargreaves stepped up and curled it beautifully up and over the wall and down into the bottom corner of the net. 2-1.

There were a few more chances for both teams, but United held on to win and come within two wins of the title.

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