New year, new resolutions! 2011 brought United their long awaited 19th League title, an 8-2 win against Arsenal, a dramatic Charity Shield win versus Manchester City in August, and much, much more. No doubt Sir Alex Ferguson will want to make 2012 an even better year for the club, as the now 70-year old manager looks to build yet another footballing force at the kingdom that is Old Trafford. However, the year did not start well for the Red Devils. Not at all. Despite City dropping points against Sunderland, they managed to ghost past Liverpool just two days later and get a three point lead over their neighbors. A win against Newcastle would be vital for the reds, especially given the unnecessary loss to Blackburn Rovers just this weekend. United usually respond after losses, but fell short to Newcastle who dominated themselves to a 3-0 win.

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Blackburn produced arguably the shock of the season so far by defeating Manchester United 3-2 at Old Trafford in an unexpected set back for the champions.

A Dimitar Berbatov brace wasn’t enough to rescue United as goals from Yakubu and Grant Hanley sealed a famous victory for under pressure manager Steve Kean.

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Dimitar Berbatov delivered a late Christmas present to United fans, scoring three in a 5-0 demolition of 10-men Wigan, to send Ferguson’s team joint top with Manchester City, albeit behind on goal difference.

Park Ji Sung and Antonio Valencia also got on the scoresheet, as Wigan were furious with referee Phil Dowd, whose decision to send off Conor Sammon virtually sealed Roberto Martinez’ men destiny.

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Craven Cottage has been a difficult ground for Manchester United through the years, with only 1 point from 9 during the Reds’ last three visits there. If that is not bad enough, United had conceded 7 goals from those three games, which is painful reading for a team that puts a lot of emphasis on being solid in defence. But Wednesday’s game was a joyful occasion for every red, with United scoring five and keeping only their second clean sheet at the ground since Fulham joined the Premier League in 2001. Welbeck, Nani, Giggs, Rooney and Berbatov all got their name on the scoresheet, making it the second time this season that five different United players have found the net in the same match. The Red Devils now stand only 2 points behind leaders City at Christmas.

What is even more pleasing for United fans is the football on show, with chances and goals arriving at will. What has happened to United? Following 8 games where United managed to find the net only once per game, they have now scored 11 in 3, and it could easily have been more. Why the sudden change?

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Manchester United got the perfect Christmas send off as they brushed Fulham aside after a superb first half performance.

United got off to a flyer against QPR on Sunday, and things weren’t much different in their second visit to West London in four days.
With five minutes played, Nani was allowed to run down the left wing unchallenged and pull the ball back for Welbeck, setting up a simple finish for the youngster.

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Manchester United’s victory against Wolves saw the club manage to score more than 3 goals in a single game for the first time since visiting The Reebok in early September. After possibly one of the hardest weeks in Sir Alex’s career, he must be overjoyed to see his players play with the swagger and determination that’s been missing at Old Trafford for quite some time now. Despite not being the most talented side in the League, you cannot say that the Wolves lacked fighting spirit. It was going to be a challenge for United, but if there was a time the West Midlands outfit would have dreaded to face the Red Devils, it would have been on a day when they had an awful lot to prove.

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“Thursday nights, Channel 5!” was a chant designed by Manchester United fans when Liverpool failed to get a top four spot in 2010, but expect it to be heard more often the next few months. United’s loss to Basel was excruciating, humiliating, and painful. Memories of Benfica and the failings of the 2005/06 season were reminders for Ferguson going in to the game. “Back then we had a lot of injuries and young players trying to break into the squad, this time it is totally different” were the words from our manager before the Basel game. But was it different? Just like then we lost 2-1 in our final game, going out in the group qualification.

Why? How did this happen? Fergie blamed injuries and inexperience for our failings back then, but are they good enough excuses after what we saw on Wednesday?

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“How did Manchester United not win this game?” is the question on everyone’s lips after an amazing 1-1 draw at Old Trafford between the Red Devils and the Geordies from Tyneside. United created tons of chances, with everything from a great goalkeeper and posts, to miraculous goal-line clearances keeping them at bay. It must be frustrating for United to see their two best performances in a while end in draws, after strangling out poor 1-0 wins for many games running now.

As United-Newcastle games go it was a fairly entertaining game as both sides played well, and all players performed their duties admirably well. But what did the separate teams go out to do exactly?

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In all honesty, it is not often I can look back on a Manchester United draw in satisfaction. However, following a couple of weeks where attacking play seems like a taboo, United fans anticipated a strong offensive performance when Benfica visited Old Trafford for their Champions League crunch match.

After the Derby Day slaughtering at Old Trafford, the Red Devils have kept 5 clean sheets on the trot, something we have not seen from the club in over two years…..they were not destined to make it 6 though.

The Portuguese outfit entered the pitch with only one thing in mind – Attack! They started energetically and brightly, they set a high line, and pressured United from the outset.

How did United manage to get it tactically right but fail to take all three points after falling behind in the opening minutes?

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