Win at home, draw away and you win the title. At least that was the magic formula in a previous life but that was in the days when a draw meant half rather than a third of a win. While 76 points may mean remaining in the Premiership chase it’s unlikely to be sufficient to take the trophy even though Manchester United managed to do it in 1996-97 with 75 and Arsenal took the title on goal difference with 76 in 1988-89. United retained it’s unbeaten record in their scoreless meeting with Sunderland for it’s fourth away draw of the season and while failing to get maximum points was disappointing, there were some real positives to come out of a tough encounter.
Coming on the back of a rare midweek Champions League victory in Spain against a lively Sunderland side which is proving to be a handful for anyone – as both Manchester City and Arsenal found out recently, this was more a case of a point won rather than two lost and may prove to be invaluable at the end of the season. After all, we are still in the first lap of a long marathon. A second successive clean sheet is also encouraging after conceding nine in their previous six matches and it’s no coincidence that Rio Ferdinand was back in the middle of the defence for both of them. Sir Alex Ferguson will now be praying that Ferdinand can finally stay clear of any further injuries.
Sunderland 0 vs Manchester United 0
The Guardian – The kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes after a burst water pipe brought down the ceiling in the Manchester United dressing room. And the Commonwealth Games athletes think they have it bad. The roof only fell in on United once, however, despite Sunderland’s best efforts in a first half when they were on top. They will regard this as two points dropped and with it the chance to catch Chelsea at the top of the table, but after having the better of their last two games, against Liverpool and now United, Sunderland have reason to feel the same.
With Michael Owen and Federico Macheda surprise choices to lead the visiting attack United caused Sunderland few problems in the first period and better home finishing and a bit more luck could have seen them behind by the interval.Sunderland created by far the better first-half chances and should have taken the lead when Lee Cattermole’s excellent through ball put Steed Malbranque one on one with Edwin van der Sar only for the goalkeeper’s reactions to foil a less than decisive strike. Full Report
Manchester Evening News – Edwin van der Sar was Manchester United’s saviour as Sunderland boss Steve Bruce came close to breaking his duck against Sir Alex Ferguson. The veteran Dutchman produced a fine 16th-minute save to deny Steed Malbranque and then saw compatriot Bolo Zenden hit a post eight minutes before the break as the home side enjoyed much the better of the first half.
Half-time substitute Dimitar Berbatov had a 48th-minute strike ruled out for offside and after Nani had forced a good stop from Simon Mignolet, fired inches wide 10 minutes from time as United improved after the restart, but the Black Cats were more than good value for their point in front of an appreciative crowd of 41,709. United’s preparations were rudely interrupted by the burst pipe which flooded their dressing room ahead of kick-off, and the hospitality got little better when the game eventually kicked off 20 minutes later. Full Report
Sunderland Echo – Sunderland failed to make the most of their superior chances as the visit of Manchester United ended in stalemate – the Black Cats’ fifth draw in their opening seven Barclays Premier League games. Kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes after a burst pipe sent water flooding into the visitors’ dressing room.
Whether or not the disruption affected United is debateable, but their keeper Ed van der Sar and the woodwork kept Sunderland at bay as the hosts dominated the first half at the Stadium of Light. The Dutchman pulled off a 16th-minute save to deny Steed Malbranque after Lee Cattermole had played his fellow midfielder in and Bolo Zenden saw a 37th-minute effort come back off the post. Full Report
Sunderland – Mignolet, Onuoha, Turner, Bramble, Bardsley, Malbranque (Gyan 83m), Cattermole, Henderson, Zenden (Reid 82m), Bent, Elmohamady
Manchester United – van der Sar, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, O’Shea, Nani, Scholes, Fletcher, Anderson (Bebe 80m), Macheda (Hernandez 65m), Owen (Berbatov 45m)
Was the scoreless draw at Sunderland a good result for United?
A point gained and a clean sheet so aint all bad, we got better in the 2nd half which was good see, it was just 1 of those games but hey the international break couldnt come at a better time, Sir Alex can sit back and sort things out and in 2 weeks we be back stronger…We have a fantastic squad good enough to win the title and europe…it happens every year (a poor start), yet we always come good (and will again) and be right up there come the end challenging for all major honours, believe.
Hate to spoil your fun guys but how many points did Citeh get at Sunderland a few weeks back?
Are you taking the piss? These bitters are right to be laughing at this post. We were horrific in the first half and only looked like doing anything when Hernandez came on.
If you keep writing so biased blogs the only people who’ll read them are the blues wh’ll keep laughing at u. It wouldn’t have been a bad point if we’d gotten more than 3 points in our previous 3 away games and are soon to be 5 points behind chelsea and probaby 2 behind city.
The starting line up was a joke, the team had no shape. Dropping Berba when Rooney aleady out and Sunderland on form. The team had no shape.
2 blue rags on a Utd blog article about our game, Obsession, nice know we mean more to you than your own crap stockport bunch…Utd always be number1 in a man c raggy mcrag heart, tick tock the blue shit drowning.
If 1 result, it can be a FLUKE or UNLUCKY !!!, but so far there’s no away win this season, it’s means we are completely NOT GOOD ENOUGH !!!!
Infact, this squad is comparatively the weakest sqaud in the last 5 seasons, don’t you agree with me???
In the last 3 seasons before, we’ve still got TOP CLASS players who can perform and score goals even when the team didn’t play well. Players like C.Ronaldo, and C.Tevez are rated as top class strikers. After their departure, SAF replace them with lot of suck players like Owen, Obertan, Chicharito, Bebe, etc. The team is getting worse and worse in terms of quality. In addition, Scholes, Giggs, and Neville are also getting older and older and they, with the limited of their ages, cannot perform well consistency. So, it’s down to the club and the manager to take this responsibility.
United have a huge amount of debts (from Glazer’s family), but still un-wisely spend their money for fun (OR CORRUPTION)??? We spent 7.6 million pounds for Bebe???, 10 million pounds for Chicharito???? What’s about Tosic????, and How can you pay 17 millions for the player like Anderson????
Today match against Sunderland we’re lucky not to go home empty-handed. We played VERY POOR football. Lack of class, lack of imagination, and No quality at all, especially in the first half. O’Shea and Refael were poor especially when their attack actions. Unlike Evra who can attack with pace and penetration, O’shea and Rafael were poor when they attack, and all the cross from them are HOPELESS!!!!…
If we play with the current squad, EMPTY HAND SURELY THIS SEASON
2 blue rags on a Utd blog article about our game, nice to know we mean more to you than your own stockport bunch, obsession, Utd always be number1 in a blue rags heart….Red moon sits beautifully in the sky looking down upon the blue raggy mcrags, blue c*** drowning…what ya gonna do when the Red Devil runs wild on you, oh that right nothing because you already lost.
@ Ben and Gazzaro. You may need to calm down a little guys. Discounting the result against promoted Newcastle, the other six fixtures have given us 10 points this season as against the 12 gained in the last campaign. But for the two points given up in those last few seconds at Everton, the tally would have been exactly the same…and we only missed out on the title by one point last season. For all your negativity, there’s a long, long way to go before May comes around and you can rest assured that Manchester United will be knocking on the door – as they always do.
Fergie shouldn’t start with Macheda and Owen… these two players only shine when they start from the bench… Sir Alex should concetrate in winning the premier league and start with the best eleven every week.
GGMU
I was at the game and Man U should feel very grateful that they came away with a point as they were very poor in the 1st half, a litle livlier for about 15 mins after half time, then nip and tuck for 20 mins, but they got battered again in the last 10 mins.
Understood Keith but I have to be perfectly honest. Having just come back from a high pressure game in Valencia with Rooney and Giggs out of action, I was happy to settle for a share of the points before the game. We are still in early October with a hell of a long way to go, so under the circumstances, that was a welcome point. Yes, the performance left a lot to be desired especially in the first half but surely, the first clean sheet away from home this season has got to be encouraging in the big scale of things. I’m beginning to wonder if some fans expect United to win the Premiership before Christmas!
It had nothing to do with Sunderland outplaying you did it?
The intelligence – or lack of, shown by some fans never ceases to amaze! Here we have Citeh fans having a go at United for picking up a point at Sunderland after their own club came back from there empty handed just a few weeks ago. Is that dumb or is that DUMB?
I am never one to comment after a bad performance coz it inevitably is all doom and gloom from the supporters but SERIOUSLY there is something not right at the club right now!!!
I am not going to stick it to the quality of the team or the backup coz i think on their day they can be even better than Barcelona last season. Where i think we have lost it is the attitude…
Rio coming out and effectively saying that we were playing for a point because we were tired from all the work that we had put in at valencia!!! Seriously… what will happen in March- May when we expect to be playing league-champs league-league-fa cup- league- champs league fixtures??
Will we find excuses about travelling??
I would have loved it if no one said anything and moved on without much stick coz the game was difficult by the ATTITUDE!! This is definately not united captain material talking or is it?
Last season, the same attitude lost us the league, the cockyness that however we perform, at the end of the season we will be in with a shout. We let chelsea take it off our hands and it does not seem like we have learnt.
And as far as the signings go. YES they are Baffling!! Yes Bebe or Chicharito or Anderson are not players that we should have paid so much for!! But when an Unknown Ronaldo came in for 12.6 million, you never expected what he did!!
Chicharito has already shown his quality at Valencia (mind you very few players could do what he did there) and Bebe will have his chance. With Anderson……. I have nothing to say and I rest my case, i just hope he comes good coz he does have the talent.
Great comment Anirudh, that’s what this blog is all about. Good, thoughtful opinions without any knee jerk reactions from shallow thinkers. Shows that you have an informed interest both in football and in Manchester United.