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
No comments:
Post a Comment