United On Fire

Manchester United 0 Portsmouth 1 (Muntari 78 pen)

There is a bright side to this weekend.

• Chelsea got knocked out as well.
• We helped make the most interesting (for the neutral fan) FA Cup in years.
• It was a cup game and doesn’t affect our league pursuit.
• Arsenal dropped 2 points to Wigan meaning that if we win our game in hand, we’ll go top.
• City lost again.

However, it can’t mask all the bad points from the game.

• With Chelsea going out, we’d have surely won the cup
• City fans probably would have taken us losing over their team winning. They’re bitter like that
• It makes the 4-0 over Arsenal rather pointless
• If Van Der Sar has a long term injury and Kuszczak is suspended, who will play in goal for our next game?  Is Foster fit enough?
• Fergie ranting about referee Atkinson. Sure, we should have got a penalty early on, but it shouldn’t have mattered
• I’ve never seen a player walk the ball as close to the line as Carrick did and not score.
• Kuszczak (spill impossible to spell) isn’t up to standard and gave away the penalty far too easy

Where do we go from here?  Well back to the league and taking our game in hand and getting back into top spot.  There is quite a small part of me that is quite happy we are out of the FA Cup as there will be two (or more or less) less games to play this season.  The rest of me is just annoyed the double treble has gone.

Popularity: 17% [?]

It’s back to the FA Cup after the win in the Champions League against Lyon. Portsmouth come back to Old Trafford shortly after losing in Manchester comprehensively a short time ago in the league.

The good thing about playing all these Premier League teams is that we’ve had to put out fairly strong sides each time and not suffered what I call Reserve Team Syndrome like we did in the Carling Cup. It has also helped that most of the games have been at home.

Apart from long term absences (admit it; you completely forget we had Michael Silvestre, didn’t you? also admit that a shiver went through you when you realised he might play for us again) we have everyone fit, including Ryan Giggs and even Louis Saha. Fergie will role his special midfield picking dice and go for Anderson and Hargreaves.
Rooney won’t mind when he is put back on the bench.

Portsmouth are in a reasonable run of form but Jermaine Defoe is cup tied and he has scored 3 of the 5 goals Portsmouth have scored since playing us.

Prediction: 2-0 to United, one of the goals producing one of the following :-

Popularity: 16% [?]

Manchester United 2 (Ronaldo 9,11) Portsmouth 0

A walk in the park for United as Ronaldo’s two early goals saw United get an easy win at home to go back to the top of the league.

It was quite an odd team selection for United as Rooney and Ronaldo were up front and Scholes returned to partner Carrick in midfield and Nani and Park were the wide boys.  But any fears that too many wide boys would spoil the performance were gone in just nine minutes as Nani played in Ronaldo who side footed the ball past David James.  It was the culmination of total dominance from United from the kick off, and Portsmouth were swept aside by the powerful start.

David James was making his 500th Premiership start but probably wished that he’d not bothered getting up this morning after Ronaldo’s second goal.  I think the word to describe the freekick is astonishing.   When Beckham took a freekic, you sort of knew where it was going (even if you couldn’t get to it) and how he did it, but I really can’t work out how he gets the ball to move like it does.  I’ve kicked the odd free kick in my time (my technique could best be described as a slow motion Beckham curler that always went over the bar) but I couldn’t even attempt it.  Find a video of this free kick as soon as you can, just to see it as I can’t really describe it.  He gets on his tiptoes then sidefoots through the ball, across the ball and then into the net.  The movement of the ball is also very weird; left, right straight.  James had no chance as it passed a millimetre inside both the bar and post.

I might as well describe the free kick for another three paragraphs because the rest of the game was a let down.  Portsmouth never got close to the goal (Vidic back and on top form); I don’t think Van der Sar had a save to make.  United missed chance after chance.  I felt sorry for Rooney in the end, because he is being outclassed by Ronaldo, and he’s having trouble scoring.  However, say what you like about young Wayne, he keeps trying and he looks like he is happier.  Smiling with Campbell after out muscling him but the mis hitting the lob over James so that he didn’t reach the goalline.

The only downside to today was the performance of Park.  He just didn’t reach the standards of the other United players.  He got into good positions but constantly messed up once he had the ball in those positions.  It was good to see Paul Scholes back on the pitch.  His passing was superb, and there was one full blooded tackle that he actually timed right.  Scholes and Carrick were back together; making their Championship winning partnership again.  But I feel their time is numbered.  Scholes just because of age, but Carrick isn’t close to Anderson in drive, tackling and passing already, and Hargreaves is the proper defensive midfield partner to Anderson.

In the end 2-0 was flattering on Portsmouth and United stepped off the gas because it was too easy.  My only concern would have been a similar situation against a better team and that team getting back into it.  Of course, we have a great defence as well, and that wasn’t tested at all tonight.  Find the highlights of this game, but stop at half time.

The Old Trafford crowd were loud and fully part of the game too.  Was there some Fergie mind games going on with the supporters as well as players and managers 

Popularity: 24% [?]

From the action I saw on Match of the Day, this was a game United should have won. However, highlights often lie and the key facts I can take from the game are the following.

• Tevez linked up wonderfully with Nani to make the goal.
• Scholes scored a thunderbolt strike. That should in part answer the doubters as to whether he should play.
• The Portsmouth goal was a great header which should have been stopped before the cross. The cross was too good to defend and the header was too good to save (I haven’t see more than one replay of this)
• Rooney has passed on his stupid gene to Ronaldo whilst he out injured. It was so out of character for Ronaldo to react that I’m sure something else must have happened. That said, the “headbutt” was no Zidane, was it? Joe Jordan thought the sending off was harsh, but then he was a Scottish centre forward from the 70s.

In all this leaves us on 2 points from 2 games and a slightly worrying 4 points behind Chelsea.

Popularity: 26% [?]

I’m not sure this fixture could have come at a worse time. After a poor result at home, and before an away game at a seemingly rejuvenated Manchester City, comes an away fixture at a ground we have lost at 3 out of the last 4 seasons. Portsmouth are fast become our new bogey team.

As Rooney signs off for a couple of month, just the time for a new hero to make his big debut. Enter Tevez. I’ve got high hopes that he can work some magic to start United’s season. It was only one game, but it seems to have deflated a lot of fans. I think it is because of the start we got last season, the fact that the 3 main rivals all won, and the knowledge that now you have get off to a good start to win the league.

The old adage used to me “it’s a marathon, not a sprint” but with Chelsea on the scene it’s now “it’s a marathon where you have to sprint all the way”. Let’s hope we get away from the blocks tonight.

By the way, doesn’t the Portsmouth kit make them look like a bunch of hoodies or what ? What is that yellow bit on the back ?

Prediction: 1-2 (Tevez, Ronaldo)

Post game review: Portsmouth 1 Man United 1

Popularity: 55% [?]