May 04
Man Utd 4-1 West Ham: One Hand On the Title
Yes, one hand on the title it is. Wigan won their game yesterday against Villa and ensured their survival. So they have nothing to play for when they face us next week. Despite it being an away game, this season’s Premier League title is only United’s to lose.
But getting back to yesterday’s game, it’s nice to see the swagger back. Presumably, the win against Barcelona could have driven the men on. Or perhaps, it’s the knowledge that, with only three games to go, prior to yesterday, they can afford to give it their all for the final push.
Either way, a warm welcome to Manchester United as we know them. What we saw over the past two-three weeks was a pale shadow, to be honest.
Now it feels so nice to be writing about a big win after a long time that you can’t really think of things to write about; the performance was top notch with every player playing so well that you can’t really spend time dwelling on shortcomings like we did in previous games. Plus, it would also be boring to be saying, Ronaldo was excellent, Rio was fantastic, Tevez was amazing, Man Utd played like Champions — in a drone similar to the puppet on Setanta Sports. So let’s just keep this short for a change, and instead bask in the happiness.
With Rooney still out, Fergie went with his strongest team — just as I thought he would — and sent the same side he did against Barcelona; Park and Nani played in the wings; Ronaldo and Tevez upfront; Carrick and Scholes in midfield; Evra, Rio, Brown, Hargreaves and EVDS at the back.
Ronaldo immediately opened the account in the third minute by making Lucas Neill look silly, cutting in and scoring goal number 39. Soon after he was to score #40 thanks to an excellent cross by Hargreaves and the Portugeezer’s gifted thighs/crotch/thigh+crotch (throtch?). Carlos Tevez belted in a screamer and apologised to the Hammers fans, who in turn applauded him. Strangely the atmosphere appeared pretty cordial as United supporters applauded Dean Ashton’s brilliant overhead kick.
As an aside, there were murmurs in the press about Fergie being interested in the Hammers striker — I read somewhere that he was a Man Utd fan too as a kid. While I can’t take this seriously, I would certainly expect this to gather weight as he’s now scored against us, and Fergie’s been a known admirer of players who perform well against United. Personally, I found him promising when he first arrived from Norwich but has now been too injury prone for my liking.
Even Michael Carrick, another ex-Hammer, scored — albeit helped by a deflection to make it 4-1.
But before this there was some drama. Lucas Neill and Nani were involved in a bit of a scuffle which ended up with Nani headbutting him and falling like he was tasered by an invisible entity. It was clear that Neill provoked him into doing what he did; the Australian himself falling down like he’d been shot. But Nani’s behaviour — both the headbutt as well as him falling down — was disgusting to watch.
It’s hard to point fingers at other teams when some of your own resort to play acting of this kind. Ronaldo did a lot of this, but has now cut it more or less from his game. Nani could do well to learn from him that diving will haunt him later on in his career as it could be a case of the boy who cried wolf. Ronaldo has been faced with countless such situations of late, and it is his reputation that has become a burden on him. When Fergie’s and CQ’s post match talk accept that it was a fair decision from the referee, you know they would have beaten some sense into Nani.
Moving on to pleasant stuff, it’s good to see Hargreaves playing so many games in a short span amid concerns over his fitness. It’s good that players like Rooney, Tevez, Hargreaves don’t have to be involved in the Euro’s. They all deserve a lot of rest and some rehabilitation to get in peak shape for the next season. I would have also wanted Ronaldo to give himself a break, but at the moment he does seem like an unstoppable machine.
Monday will see Chelsea visit St. James’ Park and could be tricky given Newcastle’s good form. But if we do our job next weekend it doesn’t really matter.
Loved the game yesterday, loved the movement. Loved Fergie addressing the crowd and appreciating their support in our last home game of the season. Hopefully the next time we return, it will be with a League trophy and a Champions’ League crown.
Related items from Red Rants:
- West Ham v Man Utd: Live
- Tevez Update: Is a Solution Finally In Sight?
- Rooney Out For A Month
- Man Utd 2010/11 Season Fixtures Announced
- West Ham United vs Manchester United: Match Preview
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (479)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (345)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
RR and JB; Truthfully, I don’t pay much attention to the Messi rumors. I think it’s rubbish too but one never knows with the kind of money Roman the Black Marketeer is capable of spending. I agree that if he were sold there would riots outside the Nou Camp. Some players are just priceless, like Messi and Ronaldo.
As for Ashton, West Ham is looking to dump some salary and Ashton is a local lad who has always been a big United fan. Yes he is injured often but he is also a pretty decent goal poacher when healthy. And unlike Saha, he seems to have the necessary heart to fight for the right to play. I know I know, I’m being unfair to poor old Louis the Balsa Boy. I personally would love Ashton to sign for 3 mil and be our stop gap #4 striker. But I still want a world class goal poacher who can destroy the opposition and who can allow us to alter our playing style when our present run and gun offense isn’t working. I’ll be totally gutted if Real Madrid or Chelsea get Huntelaar. That kid is awesome. Villa is a great player but he is too similar to Tevez and Rooney. I want us to be multi-dimensional in our offensive approach. And I don’t want that lazy bum Berbatov. A lot of talent with a two cent heart. Gomez isn’t on Fergie’s radar (a big mistake) and Benzema doesn’t want to play for us. It’s looking grim boys!
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Completely off topic, but have you guys seen the new Nike ad? It’s brilliant. Shows a player making it up the ladder and onto the next level. Has our own Roon and Ron among many, many others. (All this in a first-person view). Check it out!
link
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Yah, I first saw it during the United Barcelona game. it was pretty sweet.
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antsBoy; Cool commercial. Innovative idea doing it from a first person perspective.
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Ronaldo was excellent. He has joined the ranks of the elits. He scored with everything already. He can score with left and right foot, with his head, and against west ham, he proved to be able to use his dick to knock the ball into the net.
That boy ronaldo is amazing.
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Micah richards is not better than pique at cb position because he does not read the game well which is essential for cb.but at rb he is one of the best in epl
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yeah thats a great ad, was showed at half-time during the United Barca game it is really good.
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His dick eh Izzy? Total disrespect for his opponents isn’t it? I love it!!
Richards is a decent addition and he is versatile but I wouldn’t sacrifice Pique for him and that’s exactly what’d happen. I’d rather have someone who can play across the back four or at least right and left well, Left back is quite bare with just Silvestre there. Phillip Lahm is the perfect player for us, PERIOD. If we buy a defender its only him that would add anything to the squad, no one else.
Dean Ashton… He’s at best a 4th choice striker and we already have two of those in Manucho and Saha…
We need a striker in his Mid 20s someone with the perfect blend of maturity, energy, ability and style to fit perfectly in our attack. Someone Rooney will respect enough to learn how to finish from. Someone of world class caliber AND who plays the role we need filled. It seems like Berbatov is it, but I don’t like him too much. I like Eto’o but he’s not coming…
One things for sure a striker is our priority. Go find some ideas on Football Manager.
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This player in the ad could be Van Persie (or even Van ProPersie for those who know the Greek language) . Right footed , curly free kikcks , Arsenal – Holland player.
It’s funny though, that Wenger finds him in a local pitch and not on a French-speaking league
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van Persie is left footed…
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Yes that is what i initially thought NiKOS
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just to let you guys know, manucho scored 2 goals in a 2-1 victory yesterday. that brings his stats to 5apps and 3 goals.
RR, believe or not, i have had the chance to see the twins play, last year on eurosport. i saw them in an u17 match. They’re pacey and have good skill. i think the match i saw was a replay though.
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I am a Newcastle United fan today! Hopefully they can clinch the title for us. I think they will win 2-1 thanks to goals from Viduka and Smith! COME ON YOU….BLACK AND WHITES!
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im hoping for a 2-0 with smith and butt scoring for the toon.
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Dan; One game is nothing to base your opinions on, which is why I said you are biased, we all are, accept it. I watched the twins throughout the under-17 tournament and they were both fantastic going forward, strong runners, dribbled past players like wingers, and had great stamina. But they also left gaps open the few times that Brazil’s opponents even got a chance to counter-attack, which lead me to believe they may be found out a lot easier in the Premier League. We will have to wait and see. Simpson on the other hand will not become a regular for us, his chance was this year yet SAF was never really confident enough to play him in a run of games so clearly he thinks he is just not up to the task. I thought he showed a lot of promise like you though.
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For everyone talking about the ad, the player in it was either one of the young Dutch players Arsenal bought last summer or it is just an imaginary player, which seems more likely.
£3m for Ashton? West Ham bought him for £7.25m and he is their most important player, they would be expecting upward bids of £10m.
Grognard;
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They actually have split that commercial into 2 i think, because i saw 1 bit on soccer Am last week, and i just saw the second bit on channel 4.
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The player in the commercial is meant to be you, so you can see what it’s like to be in that world. And Smith to score today, thats a laugh isnt it.
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Micah Richards would be a brilliant signing for us, anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves. We all know Gary Neville is on his last legs and Wes Brown is not the man to be our long term right back. Hargreaves is a decent right back but he is better in midfield and do you think he would be happy playing right back for the rest of his career? im not soo sure.
The Brazilian twins are a long way off having a chance in the first team, I reckon another 2 years at least and if they are good enough they will get their chance. Simpson is not good enough end of. I wouldnt trust him to play 15-20 games in a row, decent prospect but Manchester United quality? nope.
Richards is young, english and seems to have the great knack of turning up in big games. He was immense against us. Remember he is only young himself – 19 I think? He will improve his decision making and reading of the game and for me will go on to become a great. If we dont get him then Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal will.
Its all about improving the team and he would definately improve us.
On the striker front, there is no way Sir Alex will buy Ashton. Would be a waste of money although I do rate him.
I wonder if Saha will be sold? Or if anyone would actually buy him!!
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Conor; That was the number I read was being bandied about. Remember he is coming off a lot of injuries so his value has plummeted considerably. I would see him only as a #4 striker though. We still need that ace poacher, and I don’t think we are going to get it. With all the great things this team has done as well as all the times Fergie has made us all eat crow at times, I still think he is taking a big risk if he doesn’t buy a goal scorer of world class proportions. In my opinion, that and a RB like Lahm or Richards is the missing pieces to making Man Utd almost unbeatable. If we don’t get a goal scorer of this caliber, we stand to fall behind teams both in England and in Europe who will overhaul their squads and add top talent in order to challenge us at the top. Standing pat is very dangerous business.
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