Never ever write Manchester United off

That is a big statement to make. Very big. But this statement cannot be made for any other team in the premier league but Manchester United. The game against Bolton proved it once again. Down to 10 men. Not playing the best game of football. Probably deserved to be behind. 1 point would have been good enough from the game based on performance. But we got 3 points. We got the win. The determination and the will to win tells you what Manchester United are made of.

This hurts big time

A 3-1 loss to Liverpool hurts more than a 3-1 loss to any other team. Especially considering how poor we were. There were no bad refereeing calls in this one unlike the Chelsea game. We were outplayed completely on the pitch. Liverpool seemed to be more up for the game and rightfully won it.

Wigan 4-0 Manchester United

A trip to Wigan is effectively 3 points ensured. But the way this season has gone, we could never be sure. But belief is a big word and if you have belief you can overcome everything.

Derby ended by a class goal…

The first Manchester derby of this season turned out to be a very dull affair and honestly, I didn’t expect this one to be any better. But how wrong was I?

ManCity lined up with 3 holding mid-fielders as I expected them to be with Yaya Toure in a more advanced role. Silva was given a free role on the right and Kolarov was on the left. Tevez was up front and Richards, Kompany, Lescott and Zabaleta lining up in the defense. My big question before the game was if Fergie will start with both Berbatov and Rooney but he decided to have Rooney as the lone front man with Nani and Giggs supporting on the flanks. Midfield comprised of Scholes, Anderson and Fletcher. O’Shea, Smalling, Vidic and Evra completed the defensive line up.

We finally lose…

We are no longer unbeaten in the Premier League. We have our first loss of the season against Wolves this weekend. It was an off day for almost everyone at the office.

We were hit with an injury right before the start of the game when Rio went out. He was replaced by Evans in the starting lineup with Smalling joining the substitutes bench. Considering Evans’ performances this season I am always worried whenever he plays in. But recently he has showed glimpses of his talent once again and I was hoping that this game would witness that talent as well. But unfortunately that did not happen. We lacked our usual calmness and organization in the defense and conceded two goals from set pieces.

Lucky Win

You might not be able to score but I sure can.

We all know a impending quality of champions. They grind out victories even when they are not playing well. And the victory against West Brom goes totally into that category. Playing nowhere near our best, we still ended up winning the game. There could be numerous points where we could have lost the game but we still survived and that is the quality of the champions.

Getting a goal early in the game is always good but sometimes it also goes against you as the other team starts coming on to you and you end up not dominating the game. And this is exactly what happened after Rooney ended in ages long drough of scoring from open play in the 3rd minute. Obertan passed on to Evra who crossed into the box for Rooney to head it into the far corner.

7-1? Seriously?

Finally we have a performance from Manchester United about which we can rave about. A 7-1 mauling of Blackburn Rovers by a side which did not feature Scholes. The reason I mention Scholes was because till now we have looked very lacklustre whenever Scholes has not been playing. All the games we have played till now, it was only when Scholes was on the pitch, we have seen some of passing going well. But this weekend was another story.

The starting line up looked something this: Van Der Sar – Rafael – Ferdinand – Vidic – Evra – Nani – Carrick – Anderson – Park – Berbatov – Rooney.

Behind only on goal difference, really?

Before the weekend started, the Premier League top 3 looked like this Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United with Chelsea 3 points ahead of United and 2 points ahead of Arsenal. When United and Chelsea started their games, it was clear that Arsenal were not adding to their points tally since they already lost 2-3 to Spurs at home (a cracker of a game in its own right). Basically, what this means is that if we won against Wigan and somehow Chelsea lose, we would be level on points with them and ahead of Arsenal. Only thing as fan I was not hoping for was a poor performance which results in us dropping points once again even though Wigan game is usually a 3 pointer.

Finally an away win!!!

Isn’t it amazing and surprising at the same time. This has been the kind of start that United have made that we United fans have been made to wait 9 games before their team has recorded an away win in the premier league.

Honestly, when I saw the starting line up, I was surprised to see O’Shea’s name on the team sheet. I thought O’Shea would be playing in the midfield and Chicharito on the wing. But it was a 4-4-2 formation with Evra playing at left midifield position. Gary Neville made his 600th appearance for the club.

Frustration all around…

4 draws out of 7 games in the Premier League and if you include Champions League, its 5 draws in 9 games. Thats not exactly a run you associate with Manchester United. And those games include a home draw in the Champions League and 4 draws in away games in the Premier League.

I understand that we are still unbeaten but I do not want an unbeaten run full of draws. I can take 3 wins and 1 loss from those 4 games we drew. The biggest factor in this has been our poor defense leaking in 7 goals in 3 games. That is very un-Manchester United like.