Hurray!!! Finally a win in the league. And what a relief it is! And what a way to score you first premiership goal. An absolute scorcher from Nani brought life into United's fading title hopes. A match in which Tottenham had more chances, we won by a solitary goal. But who cares! Hadn't we been the better team in all our previous matches? There is no substitute to a win, whichever way it may come. And I'm sure this will only spur United back into the title battle.Going into the match, in spite of their uncharacteristic start to the season, the commentators on ESPN sounded bullish on United. One of them predicted United would win 3-1. And why not, results notwithstanding, they still were playing in the typical attacking style. But Spurs seemed to have other ideas. Their very first attempt at goal came only after 25 seconds. Roby Keane hitting the cross bar even before United could touch the ball. United looked jaded in the first 20 minutes against an under pressure Martin Jol side, who were making most of the attacks in the game. With youngster Bale on the left back, they made some good openings in the first half. I must say they are a free flowing side when they get their front men going, specially the combination of Berbatov and Keane.
Second half had most of the action packed in it, particularly the last 20 minutes. Spurs again had better chances. The only good thing for United though was Hargreaves looked brilliant central midfield. United had atleast 2 scares, one when Bale brought a brilliant ball into United half to feed Berbatov who was unknowingly obstructed by Vidic. And the second was even closer, when Berabatov beautifully beat Van der Saar only to be denied by a diving Brown. There were shouts of handball right away, and most commentators felt it was a penalty. I for one thought it came off more from Brown's chest than his arm. Just when United were looking like they wouldn't going to bury the early season blues, the much needed goal came out of nowhere. Nani, who hadn't had any great impact till then, picked up the ball from about 30 yards, and sent a whistling right footer that went past a defender, past Tevez's head and past the diving Robinson into the roof of the goal. An astonishing goal, and a matching somersault for celebration. United, from then on successfully kept off Spurs from scoring, to gain their first win.
Finally the title defense is back on track. I can only see them grow from strength to strength. And with Ronaldo due after one game and with Rooney and Saha recovering faster than expected, United will be a handful by the time they get to Chelsea. Here we come Mourinho!
2 comments:
I felt tevez is proving to be totally ineffective for Man U... he just seems to be lost somewhere in the pitch...
I think he's finding it difficult staying just up front as a sole striker. With his height, it's very difficult for him to win balls off mostly tall defenders. He'll be more effective when played as a co striker. I feel we need to be patient with him though.
Post a Comment