Stoke City 0 : 1 Man United

It was one of those games which was too deceptive to predict. Stoke haven't exactly set the Premier League on fire since their promotion this year but they have come across as a very disciplined defensive side at home. Unted were coming off a successful World Club Championship campaign in Japan and everybody was quick to point that they could be affected by fatigue and jet-lag! As it turned out, Stoke seemed to be playing for their lives on the Boxing day eager to capitalize on the United situation and get a valuable point which could help their survival cause.

Stoke looked resolute in defense and the strength of their home support, supposed to be the loudest in the League, was indisputable. United found it difficult to create chances and instead it was Stoke who had better chances at the other end where Van der Sar was kept busy as Stoke's forward Fuller was giving him a tough time. Yet they didn't really come too close to scoring. So it was no surprise that it was nil-nil at half time.
Second half saw much the same from both teams. The game didn't have a definitive tempo to it which was predictable going by Stoke's defensive approach as they tried to curtail United's movement in their half through through harsh tackles. As United were going goal-less in the second half, they were growing more and more frustrated. United's star players Rooney and Ronaldo could both have got their marching orders as they were seen to vent out their frustration at their opponents but were lucky to escape with no harm done. On the contrary it was Stoke who suffered the fall out of the incidents - Wilkinson tried to take up the matters himself and went for a rather foolish challenge on Ronaldo and had to be sent off as it was his second bookable offense. United had about 15 minutes to utilize the advantage of numbers they had on their side. A tactical substitution of bringing Berbatov for John O'Shea only showed United's desperation for that elusive goal. And it turned out to be a dream move - Berbatov found space in the Stoke penalty area and got a smart cross across the goal to Tevez who was waiting to pounce on it. Tevez gleefully put the ball into the Stoke net and like so many occasions last season, he turned out to the man with the golden foot scoring the all important goal when it mattered most. United closed the game down comfortably from then on and at the end it was a real hard-fought victory and the kind of result one that could really matter looking at how easy it could have been for United to drop points against a rejuvenated Stoke side.

With the season pretty much at it's half-way stage, United don't really look in bad shape for title defense. They are technically only a point adrift from the leaders Liverpool, assuming they are going to win the matches in hand. The brighter side of a tough fixture list is that United have played most of their difficult away games already. The onus really is on the title challengers Liverpool and Chelsea to make sure they stay in the hunt as it could really get tough for them come the fag end of the season. For me United look set for another season at the top. Glory Glory !!

Man City 0 : 1 Man Utd

"Much ado about nothing" - that was the feeling you would have got after watching Man United put to rest any claims their city rivals Manchester City were making of threatening the supremacy of the Red Devils over the city of Manchester. The Red Devils came up with quite a clinical performance to silence all that City had to say since their Arab owners had declared to take Premier League by storm (of oil money!). The score obviously doesn't tell you the exact fashion of United's victory but believe me Manchester derbies are tough ones to win and United's display made a mockery of several pandits' prediction that it would the beginning of City's domination of United at home!

Man City had been deemed the most likely team to challenge the dominance of the 'Top 4' this season thanks to their ownership change which brought-in Talismanic players like Robinho. But City haven't really lived up to their own expectations so far - and have been lying in the middle of the table for most time. Having said that, their league-double against United last season, which was shocking to say the least must have given them some confidence of challenging the European champions at home. On the other side, Sir Alex Ferguson was not going to be the one to let last season's derby debacle go unavenged. So United pretty much went in full strength - young Rafeal on the right back was probably the only eye-bro-raiser. And how well the champions showed who're the Manchester bosses is a story to tell. Man United were on their money all through out. They won every minor battle there was to win on the field and kept going closer and closer to the goal right from the start. Rooney, Ronaldo, Evra, Berbatov all had shots on goal - only failing by small margins. The possession was controlled by United for most part of first half. But the first goal looked elusive and in contrast, United could have conceded at the other end when a Steven Ireland's shot hit the post. United made up for the missed chances well in time before the break - Rooney poached on an easy chance when Carrick's shot was only palmed into Rooney's path by Joe Hart. United deservedly went into the break with the lead.

Second half wasn't too different to start with, with United controlling the game well. But neither of the teams came really close to scoring. And around the 70th minute there was a bizarre sending off - Ronaldo, instead of heading what looked like a sitter of a ball to score off a corner, just tried to block off his face using his hands. Howard Webb straight away went for Ronaldo's second yellow inspite of him indicating he heard a whistle! So United were left with close to 25 minutes of defending to do with 10 men. And how well United achieved that is a testament to United's character. City couldn't really utilize the advantage and United defended well and smartly held on the ball whenever they got the possession. Rooney almost had his 2nd goal towards the end when Joe Hart had come into United's territory but made good ground to stop the shot. But in the end it didn't really matter.

With that United have achieved a difficult away victory and some ground on their main title rivals Chelsea who lost at home to Arsenal this time. Things are looking up for United again!
Glory Glory...