Hull 1 : 3 United

What a relief it was to see United secure a victory yesterday. After the twin set-backs against Villa and Fulham (if you take away the gift from Wolves!), I was wondering if United will have it easy at all anymore even if it was against a team like Hull who have perpetually been locked in the relegation battle. The worry was vindicated to a large extent yesterday. United barely looked at their best yet came away with 3 valuable points in the bag!

After the disappointment at Craven Cottage the onus was totally on us to do well against the struggling Hull. To me seeing Vidic and Browne on the starting sheet was such big news. In the wake of the worst injury crisis I have seen United go through, the make-shift defense was exposed against Villa and Fulham (I guess you should ask Bobby Zamora how he felt about playing against our Nth string defense. He looked like Torres' Guru in that game!) and having a traditional 4-4-2 was as if United had been gifted with an unlikely Christmas present! United players had to come to their own, still, and that's where the drubbing at Fulham seemed to be having a hangover effect. It was Scholes' misplaced pass that lead to Fulham's first goal (another one by Murphy) and at the KC Stadium misplaced passes was becoming the order of United's game. The Skysports commentators had lost count of the number of times United gave away possession just in the first half. Hull consequently had a few good chances but their not so accomplished strike force meant they couldn't really capitalize. United, on the other hand, still had a few good opportunities to take the lead luckily they could convert one, late in the first half, through Rooney. In spite of not having played their best football, United had their noses in front at the break!

A few minutes into the second half it pretty much seemed to be the continuation of United's possession-gifting game. Things got worse when Rooney's inexplicable back-pass straight into the path of Fagan lead to Hull's equalizer through a penalty. After the penalty was converted, United had about 30 minutes for redeeming the situation and any United supporter would have been feeling the nerves like I did. Rooney took that task upon himself and more than redeemed himself by being responsible for United's 2nd and 3rd goals. United's second came of a lightning counter-attack (happy to see that after a long time!), though through an own goal and the third was an easy tap-in for Berbatov created smartly by Rooney.

Finally United could boast of a comfortable victory (only going by the score-line mind you!) to somewhat bury ghosts of Fulham. Though we can always argue that the defeats to Villa and Fulham were due to the defensive injuries, United still have to get their act together in other parts of the pitch. Berbatov still doesn't seem to have settled and he is nowhere near the threat he used to be at Tottenham. I still have a feeling letting go Tevez for the Bulgarian (though it seemed to be the logical way) and it really hurts to see him score so many goals for City like they way he has been. More than the goals, I sorely miss Tevez's 'never say give up' attitude and his work rate which Berbatov undoubtedly lacks in tons (he says that's his style but I just don't agree!). Anyways it's Rooney who's doing all the hard work for United by getting on the score-sheet and long may it continue.

We are just 2 points off the top and what a blessing it has been. Chelsea, I would have thought, would have run away with the title by now but thanks to their inept form, we are still in with a big chance to win the title.

With half the season just over for us here is my take on the season so far : I had actually thought that Sir Alex was too ambitious in vying for the title without bringing in replacements for Ronny and Tevez. Though Sir Alex's strategy seems to be working (largely courtesy of others' dropping points), I still feel we need somebody who can account for about 10-15 goals for us. With Berbatov proving to be as less prolific as he has been and Owen being played as little as he has been, I am just not happy with our over-reliance on Wayne Rooney. Midfield (mostly Giggs and Valencia) have contributed some goals but how much can we rely on them to deliver? So the bottom line is that all our fortunes squarely rest on young Rooney's shoulders. Hopefully he will stay fit and keep that scoring rate for the whole of the season.

The midfield has been a mixture this season. Fletcher has emerged as our numero uno. Scholes started the season brilliantly until the game against Sunderland and his form since then has been patchy to say the least. Carrick and Anderson are yet to attain great consistency this season and Hargreaves' absence has been so sorely felt specially when we have lost to teams like Chelsea and Liverpool. Valencia seems to have found some form and I would say he has exceeded most people's expectation.

Our defense has been ultra reliable last 3 seasons. With Ferdinand left injured for most of this season, we have seen holes appear there with or without the likes of Browne and Evans to replace him. Just shows how much of an asset the Vidic-Rio partnership has been for us. To me, Vidic's presence at the back will determine if we are going to win the league or not.

I'm not very bullish about our chances in the Champions' League this season. I will be happy if we can make it past the quarter finals stage. From there on anything can happen!