Manchester United 3 vs West Ham 0
What a difference twelve months can make! It was only this time last year that calls for Sir Alex Ferguson to show Nani and Dimitar Berbatov the Old Trafford door were growing louder. Yet apart from each grabbing a spectacular goal on Saturday, they turned on a performances which had ‘class’ written all over it. Together with veteran Paul Scholes they ran the show in a game that United never looked like losing.
The only concern in an otherwise polished display was the amount of goalscoring opportunities which continue to go begging game after game. Both the Hammers and Newcastle could, and should, have been beaten by twice the margin this season while the failure to take the chances created at Craven Cottage proved costly. It’s a waste that Ferguson will certainly be having a serious look at.
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If previous meetings between Manchester United and West Ham are any indication, there should be plenty of goals put away on Saturday. The two clubs have often turned on the entertainment with scorelines of 5-3 at Upton Park and 6-0 at Old Trafford but the 7-1 on the first April Fools day of the ‘noughties’ stands out as the biggest defeat the Hammers ever suffered at the hands of United. One of the highlights was Paul Scholes’ first hat trick for the club but a young Rio Ferdinand lining up in the West Ham defence must have wondered what hit him. Perhaps the biggest sympathy must go to Hammers goalkeeper Craig Forrest who was on the receiving end of the heaviest Premiership defeat in history when Ipswich went down 9-0 to United five years earlier.
The much awaited draw for the European Champions League has given Manchester United an eminently winnable group which should see them qualify for the knockout stages without harming their Premiership hopes. But it will by no means be an easy task – no European Cup group ever is. Two leg matches against Glasgow Rangers, Spains Valencia and Turkeys Champions League debutants Bursaspor should nevertheless see United getting out of Group C successfully.
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Much like Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick is a player that seems to divide opinion amongst the United faithful. Ask many fans for their opinion of the midfielder, and the first response you will probably receive is “big-game bottler”, a reputation that was firmly cemented for Carrick following his performance against Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final.
Such criticism is harsh though, any good United fan will tell you that things could have been different in that final were it not for the ridiculously cruel suspension of Darren Fletcher, who would have been able to press the Barcelona midfield and free Carrick up for more creative duties. As Henry Winter pointed out in his post match analysis:
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Steve Brookes is a diehard united fan. He spent a lot of time recently to bring for you a great book called The Manchester United Premier Years. It is a statistical book which you should own and add to your Man United collections. You will find EVERY RESULT SINCE 1992, EVERY LEAGUE TABLE, EVERY SQUAD LIST, MANAGER PROFILE, PLAYER PROFILES, CHAIRMAN PROFILES, HISTORY & BACKGROUND, TROPHIES,HEAD TO HEAD V MAN CITY SINCE THE BEGINNING, FANS MEMORIES and ALOT MORE. Read the full story
Promising Manchester United ‘play anywhere’ Tom Cleverley has insisted England have their pick of a bright bunch of talented youngsters saying that the talent is in place to replace the old guard. The 20 year old Bradford raised utility player has received a huge boost after Sir Alex Ferguson declared he wasn’t releasing him on loan again following successive stays at Leicester City and Watford. The manager is prepared to give Cleverley every chance of staking a claim for a place in the senior side.
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