United 2 : 0 Bolton

United
(Ronaldo (pen) 60, Rooney 77)


The United bandwagon finally seems to be up and running. The first convincing victory of the season that, in the end, left fans like me asking for more.

I think, with the presence of 3 world class strikers in Rooney, Tevez and Berbatov and the possibility of just 2 of them getting to start, it's always a guessing game as to who'll start and who'll be benched! This time it was Berbatov and Tevez who got to start. Berbatov being a target man is bound to get more starts than Tevez and Rooney. With the difficult away fixtures over(which had caused United to be at 15 in the table before the start), United were expected to get back to winning ways. I'm sure that had put enough pressure on the United players. And teams like Bolton, who come to Old Trafford hoping to get a point at best, relish such situations and start with tight defensive formations. Ironically, it was Bolton who started the game brightly and kept good possession for the initial 10 minutes until United started to exert their influence on the game. To start with, some of the passing was a little rusty. And you could say the it was a team settling down, in terms of players getting to be comfortable with each other which meant we weren't as convincing inspite of the huge amount of possession. Our attacks, though bright, seemed to be lacking the tooth. Bolton on the other hand settled down to playing a defensive game and happy to break on the counter attack. Ronaldo, Anderson and Berbatov came close to scoring in the first half. But it was Bolton who could have had the lead, when Muamba found himself clear in front of the goal, with only Van der Saar to beat, but couldn't quite capitalize on that easy chance.

Come second half, United looked to be inching closer and closer to the goal. Ronaldo increasingly looked menacing. Berbatov also seemed to be coming into his own. But just as United were finding it frustrating to not find the net inspite of the chances created, the referee almost sympathized with us and awarded a penalty against Muamba, a decision which was described as "the most shocking in Premier League" by the commentator. Replays showed the defender to have won the ball! Ronaldo stepped in and coolly put it past Jaaskaleinen. With a goal in the kitty, the United players seemed to shed the nerves that seemed to be growing before the goal and settled down to entertain the crowd. At the hour mark, it was Scholes' and Rooney's turn to come in. And what a difference that made. United looked like scoring every time they attacked. The play looked trademark Old Trafford style. That phase saw Rooney score his first goal for United this season. A nice back-heel from Ronaldo helped Rooney cut in from right and put it into the corner with some ease! Though United couldn't really add more to the 2 goal lead, there was enough entertainment for the spectators to be go home happy. United's season was finally up and running.

Of the players, Evra was great all through the match, making menacing runs through Bolton on the left. Anderson was another player who looked superb - the Brazilian's passing sometimes was just beautiful. Ronaldo seems to be back into his form now. He was undboubtedly my man of the match. Another good thing was the sign that Berbatov is settling down. Though he didn't score any, he did come close. His combination with Rooney looked marvelous to say the least. Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney were just brilliant when they came on. Things look so similar to last season for United -the initial struggle and the comeback later on. But this season has had a tough set of fixtures which means we're in better shape than the table suggests. From now on, it can only be trouble for other teams!

Man of the Match : Christiano Ronaldo

Chelsea 1 : 1 United

Goals:
Chelsea : Solomon Kalou(80th min)
United : Park Ji Sung (18th min)

Chelsea have a lot to thank Wayne Rooney and Salomon Kalou. Rooney's overzealous(can there be another side to him!) rash tackle gave Chelsea a free-kick inside United's half while United were running away with the match. That free-kick lead to Kalou getting a free header in front of the United goal which he gleefully put it past Tomasz Kuszack, United's substitute keeper, to keep Chelsea's 85 match unbeaten home record intact!

Well, the result could so easily have been different. United's start to the game was another Anfield - full of life in the attack. With Rooney and Berbatov starting alongside upfront, for the first time and having more accomplished wingers to assist in a 4-4-2 formation, United looked really eager to put the Anfield disappointment behind. Chelsea on the other had were without their new midfield maestro Deco. Rooney, Park, Fletcher, Hargreaves and Evra made life difficult for Chelsea right from the opening whistle. Fletcher and Ferdinand each had a golden chance to get a goal for themselves only to be denied by Petr Cech on each occasion So could have Wayne Rooney when a cheeky volley could so easily have embarassed Cech. But United did get their deserved goal as early as the 18th minute. A searching run by Evra had Rooney feeding him and Evra found Berbatov to shoot. Berbatov's shot was fumbled by Cech and a lurking Park gleefully put it into the back of the net. But like against Liverpool, United just seemed to switch off after the goal which gave Chelsea lot of possession. Chelsea kept probing to get an equalizer - but weren't successful in the first half.
The game also lost it's fluency because of the highhanded approach of the referee and also the injury to Van der Sar who had to leave after he almost committed another howler.

Second half had Drogba and Ronaldo getting into the thick of action after their substitution. Chelsea enjoyed huge amount of possession and they looked like getting the equalizer anytime which they did around the 80th minute through Kalou. But United could so easily have killed the game through the numerous counter attacks they created. Somehow, it seemed as if the match was bound to end in a stalemate. The pace of the game was hardly anything to comment as it had huge number of disruptions. Referee Mike Riley seemed to be eager to brandish a yellow to every United player that came near him!

From United's point of view, they could have ruined Chelsea's Stamford Bridge record so easily had they taken their numerous counter-attack chances. Ronaldo particularly looked pretty inane in his runs. We also have gone for the second goal with much more vigour, something we didn't get to see and it looked as if one goal was all we were looking for. That's one characteristic I have seen in these big matches, one team gets a goal and completely goes into defensive mode. And the other side comes up with a barrage of attacks and most often than not wins an equalizer. No wonder most of the big matches end in a stalemate.


Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney for his hand in the goal and those runs to cover the defense.

Liverpool 2 : 1 Man United

Well...what started in flashy brilliant style turned into a sour saga in the end for Man United at Anfield. They conceded their first defeat to arch rivals liverpool in 4 years. What more, it was the first time Rafa Benitez got the better of Sir Alex Ferguson!

United hadn't played any league matches for 2 weeks, courtesy of the Uefa Super Cup and the International break. But something quite momentous had transpired in between - Sir Alex's prime transfer target Dimitar Berbatov had been swooped in sensational albeit controversial fashion. With a target man finally inducted into the team, the gaffer had a big decision to make - what would the formation be and who would partner Berbatov in case of a 4-4-2. He went with the safe option of having Tevez partner the big Bulgarian (he probably wanted to be fair to Tevez as he'd been putting up good displays lately) and have Rooney play wide right (he'd played wide quite a few times last year). He also had Anderson play wide on the left. So it was quite a strike force Liverpool were up against. It certainly showed when the match got off to it's start, in frantic fashion. United looked like they were out for an outright win. Berbatov had a shot on goal off his first touch! But it was blocked by Skirtel. And just in the 3rd minute we had a goal scored! And it had Berbatov's signature on it - he outsmarted his markers to put Tevez free in front of the goal and Tevez didn't disappoint any of us -the brilliant move had been started by Anderson. And for about 20 minutes or so, United seemed like they would steamroll Liverpool at in their own home.

Liverpool started to give it back to United almost immediately. They came scintillatingly close to scoring when Edwin Van der Saar almost gifted them a goal but recovered to make a good save off a Kuyt shot. But the next time he made a mistake, something he's getting used to of late I must say, he wasn't that lucky. Alonso's shot deflected off Evra and ballooned somewhat dangerously inside United's box, which VDS made a hash off, trying to push it away while he should only have collected it. He inturn pushed it straight into Browne's path, who had no time to react leading to an own goal. A huge stroke of luck for the Reds and that equalizer spurred them up like nothing else could. From then on, Liverpool looked miles apart. Remember they didn't have their two talismans - Torres and skipper Gerrard. Yet they were putting up a good show. Another reason the game changed after the equalizer was Carrick's affliction with a leg injury which kept him limping almost for the most of the first half and had to be substituted.
It was even stevens at half time both in terms of goals scored and quality delivered.

Second half saw an even more inspired show from Scousers. Their midfield duo of Alonso and Mascherano began to dominate. And on the wide left, the combination of Riera and Aurelio was outwitting their United counterparts. Liverpool were playing by far the more dominant game.
But they weren't quite able to convert that into a goal for a long time.
After around 70 they did get the goal they deserved although this time again it was through United's carelessness. Ryan Giggs, of all people, tried to be too cute when he should have conceded a safe corner and in turn lost the ball to Kuyt who fed it to Ryan Babel, a second half substitute. Babel though mis-kicked the ball and yet found the net as the ball bounced luckily for him, over United's twin center halves! So a bit of luck and some indecision from United gifted liverpool a valuable lead. United kept pressing from then on for an equalizer. But they didn't really come too close - excepting a brilliant volley from Giggs which was just about kept out by Reina. Infact, Unied looked more and more jaded with time ticking away. As the match was closing to an end, United's eagerness to change the scenario cost them a player. Namanja Vidic went for a harsh tackle in the air with Alonso and found himself at the mercy of the referee who had no other option but to give a second yellow and hence had to leave the field. That pretty much closed the doors for United. Liverpool in the end came out the deserved winners - albeit with a lot of luck helping them get the two goals they ended up scoring.

If you look at it, Liverpool were quite fortunate to get their first win against their traditional rivals, for a long time. Consider this - an own goal, a red card, an injury to the main midfielder (Carrick), make-shift wingers (Anderson and Rooney), an lucky bump ball getting a goal - all of these contributed to Liverpool to get their victory. Probably it's that tough to beat United! Yet as far as the quality of the game goes, Liverpool did produce the better quality of football after a a spirited start by the Red Devils. I must say though that I hated the sight of Rooney playing wide. He wasn't effective playing on the wings yesterday at all and I hope this was just an experiment by Sir Alex. The idea of playing him wide just to accommodate him in the team was pretty wrong according to me - You either play him upfront or bring him on in the second half. We want him running through defenses creating havoc than doing the retrieving job in the middle or at the back. I hope things change once Ronaldo returns. It's Stamford Bridge next and United can ill-afford dropping more points there. Or theyll be left doing the catching up job for most of the season! Hopefully sanity will soon return to our proceedings.