Hail Vida, the Bravo!! Third victory in a row!!It was another hard earned victory. It has to be said that in such a well contested match, to come out 1-0, United would consider themselves lucky. And you have to give the credit to Nemanja for the superb goal. The man just puts his life on line be it at the back or near the goal on those risky corners.
The match started with a very lively pace. With Everton, who were higher in the standings compared to United, showing their intent at taking the fight to United, good attacking moves just kept coming from both teams. Yakubu in particular looked threatning in front of United goal, often muscling through the defenders with commendable strength. Evra, who started at the left of the midfield was involved in a lot of United's attacks in the first half. He had United's best chance in the first half, though not a great one. But his left foot shot was too wide to test Tim Howard's replacement, Wassel. One thing to note was that Tevez looked more comfortable playing as the a co-striker, with Giggs. He looks very much at ease in the midfield, where he finds lots space for himself. In fact, I thought he along with Giggs and Evra made a potent combination in the front. In spite of some entertaining football, we didn't see a clear-cut chance for either of the teams in the first half.
The second half saw the Toffees trying to stamp their authority from the word go. They almost scored through a Johnson header, only to be denied through a goal-line clearance from Scholes. That was followed by a decent long-range effort from Osman. As the half progressed, United seemed to gather more momentum. The best chance of the match, I should say, went to Scholes. Tevez and Giggs combined brilliantly to set up a Scholes one on one with the Everton keeper, but Scholes' volley was just over the crossbar. That would have been a beautiful goal had it come off. As we were wondering why the last match's goal-scorer Saha was still on bench, he was introduced in the 63rd minute. Then on, United grew in confidence and I thought Tevez almost got a much deserved first goal, but his shot was just over the top corner. United did have a few chances for Ronaldo through good number of free-kicks from decent positions. But it didn't seem to be his match as he spurned almost all of those chances. Just as it seemed to be headed towards a nill-nill draw, up came Nani with a brilliant dipping corner to find the big Vidic, who bulldozed through the Everton defense, to head home an invaluable goal. The solitary goal turned out to be good enough for another three points.
It wasn't as if we didn't deserve the victory, but United did look the better side overall in the second half. With such dogged performances, I'm happy we're very much remaining in the hunt. United's been showing great character through these hard-fought victories, the absence of important players notwithstanding. The whole team should be credited for the victory. I think one player who has been quitely turning up valuable performances is Nani. It's noteworthy that he's been involved in all the match-winning goals in the last three matches. And though Tevez hasn't found the net yet, I think he's been more than making his presence felt at the front. With such determined performances, I firmly believe that we're steadily regaining the "Premiership form"! Champion's League, here we come!
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