United 4 - 0 Aston Villa
Well it’d be pretty tough to complain if you were a United fan right now. Being the Lord of cynicism that I am this fixture looked like it might be trouble. Villa gave Arsenal one hell of a game in December and the law of averages suggests they are due a result over us. It is something ridiculous like 27 games since they beat us. The last one I can remember is the opener of the 95/96 season when they won 3-1. Our one was scored by a floppy haired teenager called David at the death, it was an absolute screamer that nobody seems to mention anymore.
What will be mentioned in the future is Ronaldo’s opener. Judge Crinkley maintains that every time you watch him play the guy does something to make the price of the ticket worth while. That is a very difficult comment to disagree with. I thought immediately after the goal that we would have to start playing him as a striker, so of course he immediately sets up Tevez with a cross that David chap would have been more than proud of. What on earth are we going to do with him?
I do have a slight concern over his attitude at certain points. Alas, he has a habit of clutching parts of his body that weren’t touched when he goes down and I thought I saw him showing a bit of dissent to Giggs at one of the free kicks. Paranoia you might say, but you only have to annoy Ferguson the tiniest amount for him to look at Real Madrid’s 100 million pounds and think, ‘maybe’.
It was great to see Rooney score two and he could have had a hat-trick but the way the press are going to town is irksome, we have still won nothing yet.
Looking at the table our goal difference is the stuff of fiction at the moment, +53 and twenty ahead of the rest, it is surely worth a point.
On a sadder note, although two of their goals were lucky Arsenal were thoroughly good value for their victory. They never gave in, two down with ten men and it was the perfect response to Bolton’s ‘throw on the defenders’ approach, my respect has been earnt.
Bring on Roma.
March 30th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Unfortunately I didn’t see the game but heard part of it on the radio. Even arch-prat Alan Green was in raptures. Saw the goals on MOTD - WOW!!!
But we have a few injuries, apparently - Carrick, Evra, Rio and Giggsy all came off with niggles of one sort or another. VDS is nursing a groin strain and Saha is, well, out of action too. And Fletch is out.
Despite all this we should be able to struggle on with Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson and, er, O’Shea. Just hope nobody gives Ronnie a genuine injury. Yes, he does act up a bit, and yes he does look like a spolit brat when someone takes the ball of him, but he has to be the Player of the Year if not the Decade if not the Universe on current form.
Roma will be tougher than ever this time. 1-0 away (to us) and 2-1 at home is my current prediction. Forget those magnificnet 7 last year - they certainly haven’t and neither has the Italian press.
Now hoping the Arse will now “do” Liverpool. That would be nice.
I am beginning to smell a trophy. Am I insanely optimistic all of a sudden?? Banana skin at Boro coming up!
March 30th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Jono,
O’shea will do us proud as long as we don’t play him up front. Annoying that I have heard nothing of all these injuries.
Are Roma to be the banana skin I wonder?
March 30th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
The “injuries” are on the Utd website. I expect Fergie made them up himself to confuse the Eye-ties. I concede that O’Pie is better than I have suggested. He has put some decent performances in for us and we might yet need him at the back. Also, has he not scored more than Haha this season?? Wesley is doing us proud too - surely he will sign rather than sneak off to Keano’s lot?
March 30th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Frankly I was depressed as the game ended yesterday. Nothing to do with the result from OT. ‘At 3.30 an empty coach turned up at the ground and the Aston Villa team emerged.’ It was a really bad result from Notlob. OK, we all expected Arsenal to win there, but their second half performance will have undone all the psychological damage done at OT in the Cup. The adored Young Guns will have now started to believe in themselves once again. Forget the Cup, they have scored against us in the last five minutes of each of the last three league games, and have taken five points of us by doing so. They are still dangerous. And our defence, despite its meagre Goals Against tally, still makes me nervous, (But then last season I was nervous against Roma until we got the fifth).
March 31st, 2008 at 6:39 am
well yes he might sneak off, but he’s got a few solid years left in him, it would be a shame. good new right back when united come calling is going to suddenly become 15 million pounds.
i mention this because its the kind of thing that impacts on ticket prices and we know how the atmosphere can be nowadays…
March 31st, 2008 at 6:50 am
My goodness,
I thought I was the cynic, Arsenal score a lucky late goal and suddenly oceans are boiling. It is good to have you around though, because clearly Jono and I are getting carried away.
The Masherano dilemma? Do not extend the ban, if you extended bans because footballers are stupid then the league would be disbanded tomorrow.