ANOTHER MUST WIN, ALBEIT TOUGH, GAME---WEST HAM UNITED VS MAN UNITED PREVIEW!

The thing about chasing the leaders of the league is that you cannot afford to drop even a single point before they do lest they disappear in thin air. United did a good job of putting some considerable pressure on Chelsea before their game at the Emirates and even though they restored their five point lead, we did at least manage to keep in touch!
Take a look at Chelsea's next few fixtures and the book makers will almost certainly tell you that tomorrow is their likeliest chance of dropping points. Manchester City a.k.a 'The Bitters' are technically....okay, statistically the league's most difficult team to beat. They've only been neaten once this season (against you know who) and they've got these numerous draws that have thankfully kept them in our shadow even after a much anticipated season of 'City dominance over United'. We United fans could do with another City draw tomorrow. There is nothing as bad as watching two teams that you want both to lose. However, if there is any day we wouldn't mind a City win, it's tomorrow.
Now the idea is that by the time that game kicks off, we should...no, we must be two points behind Chelsea such that the worst we can get out of that match is keep five points behind.
West Ham are not having the best of seasons but you have to say that the game at Upton Park every season is a potential banana skin for United. We seem to lose our way there and that they've given their fans free scarfs ahead of the visit of the champions, we must really be at our best to go away with all the points.
It took a Ryan Giggs moment of magic to win us all the points there last season but we all know what happened the season before that and the season before that.

EVDS is fit and available but it has to be said that TK has made sure that we haven't really missed him. The injured defensive trio of Evans, O'Shea and Rio is still out as is Hargreaves so we should not really change much from he team that has been going out of late. Bebatov and Wayne Rooney should re-unite in attack once more. I expect Fergie to stick with Giggs in our starting line up with Player of the Month Antonio Valencia taking the other wing spot.
Sir Alex has already made it clear to the players that every game now is a must win so hopefully the lads will be mentally tuned for this one as well.

WHAT A RESPONSE!---MAN UNITED VS TOTTENHAM REVIEW!

Okay let's not get carried away, it was not such as such a flawless victory because on any other day, Defoe would have taken that chance and who knows what might have happened then, but in the end, you must give it up for the 'kids' as some journalist branded them last week. I mean our senior team at its best would still have found such a Tottenham side tough. In fact, let's not kid ourselves, Spurs sent out a complete Premier League team that only their fans will deny it was not first choice. That our youngsters rose to the challenge and masterminded a victory over them is testament to their potential. More than anything else it was the solid performance in the second half that impressed me. The lads were not willing to give Spurs any hope of a comeback. It was a professional job seeing out the game.
Darren Gibson. Fantastic. He has the one quality I really hoped that one one of our senior players would adopt from Ronaldo and that is to shoot! When struck a shot miles wide in the opening stages, you wouldn't think that he was capable of doing what he did next. Credit to him--he can hit them and it does say a lot about his ability now that the Stretford End started urging him to shoot even when he is miles in his own half. Only Paul Scholes was given that honour before. Having said all that, Gibson does need to learn a thing or two about passing that ball cleverly. If he can add that to his game then he is home and dry. The one thing he can take heart from is that players who score goals such as he did last night are almost certain to have a future at the club.
I thought TK had another good game in goal. He certainly is doing himself no harm in his period between the sticks---if only Ben could learn a thing or two about the value of confidence.
Vidic was back to his best yesterday and only Defoe can tell how rock solid he was last night. It's not often that you realise the contribution of a defender however good he is, but when Vidic is on form, you feel his presence.
It was good to see Berbatov back so hopefully he will be available for West Ham at the weekend.

SECOND CHANCE FOR THE KIDS---MAN UNITED V TOTTENHAM PREVIEW!

First things first... Chelsea managed to restore their five point lead over us in the league by beating Arsenal. Many are now happy to declare them Champions but I really doubt that we shall relinquish our trophy that easy. We only have to keep doing our job--picking up maximum points!
Now on to tomorrow's game--Sir Alex has blasted the English media for their criticism towards our young players that featured in the defeat to Besktas. The official webs site will give you the mouthful that the fiery Scott gave them.
To be fair, I thought that the 'kids' did well and the experience will help them. I don't know how man sides in Europe can put out a team of under 22 that can challenge European opposition. It's a tribute to the guys who work with the young lads in the academy.
Thankfully for them, our second string side gets its chance to correct the wrongs of last week with a home tie against Tottenham in the Carling Cup quarterfinal. Spurs will obviously prove much tougher opposition for them than Besiktas but we have home advantage and so I really hope that the players can use that to their advantage.
It will be interesting to see who starts in goal because everyone thought that Tomas K did enough to earn a spot in tomorrow's game. He is for me, a better choice than Ben Foster--at least until the latter can regain his confidence.
Otherwise it will be pretty much the same team that lost to Besiktas last week. I only hope that Fergie can give Berba some game time to restore him back to match fitness. Park and Owen might also get a look in...and thence I ask the question--What happened to a certain United player called Nani? Does anybody know? Injured? Holiday? Sick...?
The other point of discussion today is the right back slot. O'Shea seems to have made that position his for now but he is hardly the best we can hope for in that area. I thought that Rafael would step up but he seems to play football as though he is starring in an Indianan Jones movie--that explains all the flying and lunges, and adventurous forays that have become a part of him---I'm not sure that's the best we can get either. Neville is way off the pace but he does know a thing or two about crossing that ball and he has the experience. I think that if or when Rio gets fit, Brown should resume his right back duties that served us so well in the season we won the biggest double in club football.
For the lads tomorrow, I think they can only do themselves a favour by striving to stay in the competition as I think it;s the only channel through which most of them will get an opportunity to impress. I mean only a few get to look in the first team so this is their Cup final. The FA Cup third round against Leeds or Kettering will be their next match if they blow this chance!

A TALE OF PENALTIES---PORTSMOUTH VS MAN UNITED REVIEW!

Thank God for the points!
Now that I've got that out of the way, let me point out a couple of things about our latest result. First thing first--it was a great win! I mean Fratton Park has been a sort of bogey ground for us so to get four goals there is no mean feat.
Rooney bagged a hatrick, his third for United and Giggs scored another wonderful free-kick that installs him permanently in the Premier League Hall of Fame--100 goals not out!
On the face of it, it seems to have gone all well for United but it could just as easily have gone all wrong for us. Just how the ref managed to grant Pompey a penalty for absolutely nothing will always be a mystery and you could see the impact it had on our players. To put it mildly, it was plain cheating! I really wonder what Fergie would have had to say about the ref if that penalty had cost us maximum points--I mean there he was serving a match ban for insulting an official, watching another official practically rob us of the lead. It was disgusting!

Enough of that! I thought Fergie overworked our midfield today by playing Rooney as the lone striker. It worked but if you saw that first half and what the stats said about us, you knew we lacked personnel upfront. Berbatov should have started or at least come on. I thought Neville was poor, and his lack of pace would have cost us dearly against more capable opponents.
The stand out performers include Rooney, Valencia and Giggs. The one on top of that list however is none other than Tomas Kuszcack(sp). Regular readers of this blog should know that I've always rated him ahead of Ben Foster for the simple reason that he is confident. Yes he might get beaten but confidence is all you can ask from a goalkeeper. Today he pulled off saves that I thought kept us in the game. I counted five world class saves and given our position in those respective periods, those saves might have won us the game. He was for me the man of the match and I think its time Fergie granted him the number two spot. It will be gutting to lose a keeper of his quality.
Valencia was our best player in the first half and I think that today he used his pace quite well to our benefit. Scholes had a relatively solid performance in the middle of the park but you wonder if it is he that was picked to play behind Rooney as he hardly got past the centre circle!

In the end, massive three points that put us within two points of Chelsea and hence puts them under some pressure to get a result tomorrow. It's the sort of pressure that works against the teams above you hence my emphasis on the need to win today. We've got Spurs in the Carling Cup on Tuesday but for now we can sit back and sip a lemonade or beer if you like as we watch the action unfold from the Emirates stadium. I heard that Ancelloti was supporting Rafa when we went to Anfiled a couple of weeks back. No marks for guessing who Fergie will be supporting tomorrow! cheers!

A TEST FOR UNITED'S TITLE CREDENTIALS---PORTSMOUTH VS MAN UNITED PREVIEW!

So far, not bad, as far as United's title aspirations this season are concerned--but for all their ability to spring into gear in the second half of the season, I can't see United as Champions come May if we fail to beat bottom placed Portsmouth today. For me the league champion is that side that inflicts the most psychological injury to their rivals. So far we've had one chance to do that (against Sunderland) and we've not taken it. When your rivals are clashing a day after you play, there is nothing better than winning your game a day earlier and watch them drop points the following day. Had we beaten Sunderland at home, I feel that Chelsea would have been more nervous going into their game with Liverpool. Instead, they went about their task comfortably and in the end won the match without breaking much sweat. We're now five points behind and for many we can't afford to drop any more before Chelsea do.
This weekend gives us another opportunity to eat into Chelsea's lead and watch them travel to the Emirates under all sorts of pressure to restore their advantage. The logic here is that our failure to beat Pompey will only encourage them to extend their lead even further and an eight point deficit in November is the last thing we need right now.

Now that I've made the essence to win clear, how about we assess the difficulty of the task.
On paper, it should be a straight win for United given that Pompey are mathematically the worst team in the division so far. However, they changed manager in mid-week and that, as we have come to learn does change teams radically--usually for better! It's an old foe this time--Avram Grant aka 'The Frog' will be in the dugout today. We have a little history with him as we were probably responsible for his sacking when we won the European Cup two years ago against Chelsea. The British media will love to think that this is his chance to get revenge and possibly do his old club a favour.
Sir Alex has already pointed out the effect that Grant could have on the players but I feel that we United are above that and so should be able to get the points at Fratton Park even with a spirited performance from Pompey!
The regular absentees are absent but Berba will be fit to start.
Just in case I've not made my point, here it is---this is a must win game for United!

NOT EXACTLY HOW WE PLANNED IT TO BE!---MAN UNITED VS BESIKTAS REVIEW!

Yeah so well if you read the preview, you might just as well accuse me for complacency but I made it very clear that any result bar a defeat was acceptable. In the end, we lost and in turn lost our 24 match unbeaten run at home in Europe. Well who cares! United is good at 'firsts' but we are not the kind of team that thrives on making records. Contrast our form at home in the Premier League with that of Chelsea and you'll know what I'm talking about--but who ends up with the league title more often? It was gutting to lose our record against a team that is way below us in the European rankings (no offence to Besiktas) but at least that is out of the way so we can play with a bit less pressure when tougher teams come to OT in the following stages.

As far as the game is concerned, I thought that we learnt one or two things from the players on show---Gabriel Obertan can give us what neither Valencia nor Nani can provide us with in the first team--penetration! Quite simply, I think we might benefit more from him in the first team--I mean he seems to have the 'finishing' problem that Ronaldo had when he joined us so I think more exposure could turn him into a gem just like it did for Ronaldo.

Secondly, I think that we have a 'finishing virus' in our team this season--I mean I thought it was just a problem of the first team but if you look at the chances that Besiktas had in the game and look at ours, especially in the first half, you could say that they were the likely team to score each time they attacked! When you come to think of it, they could have been two up at half-time albeit against the run of play.
They had a lethal touch when near our goal compared to our lads who were only willing to find a route through their defence or to pass the ball till the six yard box. If we are to challenge for major honours this season, we need to work on that---fast!

Hard luck on Macheda who by all logic should have beaten Rustu at the death. When you think of that chance as well as his header against the post against Wolfsburg, you wonder what we would all be making of his potential.

A point would have granted us the leadership of the table but now we have to earn that in Germany! You only hope that this defeat will not disrupt heads ahead of the game at Portsmouth--which now stands out as a must win for us--reasons in the preview!

A TIME TO RELAX----MAN UNITED VS BESIKTAS PREVIEW!

Make no mistake whilst reading the title of this post--we have to preserve our proud home record in Europe for as long as it lasts. United face Besiktas in the Champions League tomorrow and, well, it's one of those games where a preview is not needed! I'm just doing routine work here.
So the whole world expects Sir Alex to make wholesale changes for the game. I reckon that the likes of Obertan, Macheda, Welbeck, Owen, Gibson, and the captain Neville, will get a start. Unfortunately, our defensive crisis means that we cannot afford to change the back four.
Park is back so I'd think that this is the perfect stage for him to get some match fitness.
This is our last group stage home match and a win will surely grant us top spot(not that it guarantees anything given last season).
A good run of games can only do the system good so I hope that we don't upset the winning momentum that we built on Saturday for a long time to come!

EVERTON SUFFER BACKLASH!----MAN UNITED VS EVERTON REVIEW!

I doubt we have performed any better than today at home this season in the league. In the City derby, we defended like a Championship side, against Arsenal, we got lucky and the rest were pretty much close shaves.
The 3-0 scoreline today wasn't flattering and I think we could have got more. The main concern for us now should be the difficulty we are facing in getting goals. I mean we have created enough chances in our last two games to win four games comfortably but we only have three goals to show. The number of goals we have compared to the ones Chelsea and Arsenal have goes to show our weakness upfront. I wish Valencia could adopt the philosophy he took on in the second half today---shoot on sight. It's an old cliche that if you don't shoot you don't score and I hope the deflected goal he got today will show him that. Having a defender infront of you should not hinder you from taking a shot because it might as well be the reason as to why you'll beat the keeper! The same pretty much applies to Carrick who also got his reward today.

Now, today, Old Trafford witnessed one of its best goals of all time---yes, of all time--from Darren Fletcher. From the moment that ball hit the back of the net, I was reminded of Zinedine Zidane's goal in the Champions League final of 2002 against Bayer Leverkusen. It was that good and it goes to show how much the Scot has improved in the last couple of years. He was my man of the match.
I thought we did well defensively and mention must go to Evra, who ran his socks off on the left and kept trying to create the much needed spark we needed.
I thought Giggs was a notch lower than his average performance for us this term. Owen was a bit too heavy on his touches and too slow to react to situations.
In the end though solid performance, clean sheet, three points that should kick start a long run of wins. We're second now but it remains a five point gap to eat into.

A TIME TO SOW----MAN UNITED VS EVERTON PREVIEW!

It's an early preview for the weekend's game but what should one do if all he can get from Skysports news is Thierry Henry's handball last night?
After a two week break, club football resumes for the long haul this weekend and it couldn't have re-started any sooner for United. We are a club that thrives on wins so it's sickening when your last game reads 'L'! The defeat to Chelsea was hard to take given the way we played and the fact that we went five points behind means that we have it all to do between now and the new year to address our position in the league. The Champions League is not an issue now that we are into the last 16 and the Carling Cup has it's hungry players; what we really need to do now is push on the league and go on a winning run, the kind that sent us to the top of the league last season.
The players and fans alike have been talking about going on a winning run but I really hope that they realise it's not a given right that United will win all its games until the visit to the Emirates.
If we can build on the quality we showed at Stamford Bridge then we can pick up those thirty points, and I'm quite sure we'll be top then. We seem to have maintained our poor run of results against the other members of the 'big four' in the league so we cannot afford to lose points against the lower league sides.

Sir Alex's ban starts next week so he will be available to give the fourth official an earful in the Old Trafford dugout. Most of our players have been away on International duty so I hope the fitness levels will be high. You fear for the likes of Evra who played for two hours on Wednesday. O'Shea picked up a knock so it will be interesting who Fergie picks to replace him in case he fails to recover. Berbatov broke the Bulgaria goal scoring record for the national side in mid-week and he should make his return alongside Wayne Rooney. Park played for Korea in mid-week and should therefore be available and so will Nemanja Vidic. I doubt if Ferdinand will be fit till next month.
Other than that, the manager has the freshness of Owen, Giggs, Scholes and Neville to count on if he wishes so.
United have not yet started winning league games convincingly and that is largely down to the poor finishing we've shown of late. I hope we really get into the mood of finishing off teams early and taking our chances because that is what will determine our run in into the new year.
Chelsea's lead is not unassailable, but it largely means that we cannot afford to drop any further behind. That is the mentality that our players should have from now till May.

A LOT ABOUT THE WEEK!

So the fortnight without football continues but the English press--being the English press will not run out of ideas to right. We therefore have one or two decisions to discuss about what has been going on in the press recently.

In no particular order, I'm starting with what I found the most, well, interesting.
According to new EPL rules managers will be forced to talk to rights holders post match. Established United fans will know that Sir Alex has been ignoring the BBC for six years following the comments made about he and his son in 2004 for the transfer of players. Can anybody wait to see Fergie in front of the BBC cameras? Will it materialise? Roll on next season!

Darren Fletcher is maing all the right noises in the press about his desire to play for United. This is where I think the older players influence the younger ones. I mean at United we have the likes of Vida, Fletch, Rooney, Berba, O'Shea and Rio who have all taken the example of Giggs and Scholes and Neville by committing their long term future to United. You can see what Fergie is doing by granting the likes of Scholes and Giggs extensions to their deals. Scholes is 35 on Monday but he will be given a new deal----I just hope he's kept away from the big games, like Neville is.

Then there is the Nani question---One wonders which manager has the key to unlock his talents. He had an outburst about the way Fergie has been treating him and although he stated he will not be looking for a move, the manager might be. Very rarely does one face off with Sir Alex and win. You only have to look at Fergie's recent signings to determine the confidence he has in Nani's position.
Speaking of Sir Alex, he got banned by the FA for the Sunderland comments directed to Alan Wiley. He'll be on phone for Everton and Pompey. A further two game ban is suspended until nexts season (as of they are sure he'll still be in charge). There is also a 20k fine which I think he can take care of from his pocket.
We have 10 of our next 11 games against teams from the bottom half. I think if we really want our tile back, it should be at least 30points out of 33!