Could you feel it?
To those of you who watched Manchester United – injury-struck, frustrated, goal-less, second-place Manchester United – on TV deliver an Old-Trafford style spanking to the boys from JJB, could you feel it?
There was something special about Old Trafford yesterday, something special about the team itself (I felt it thousands of miles away on a weak satellite signal through a decade-old TV, imagine what it would have been like at OT). They lost Vidic but they stood firm. The lost Mr. Versatility but they stood firm. New boys at the back, slow and new in the middle, uncertain and without backup up front, with the home crowd’s expectactions weighing on their shoulders. It was the perfect setting for the perfect match; Wigan had the bit between their teeth and they had their best chance in the last 3 seasons of beating Manchester United at home.
Except that this was not the perfect match. When the weekend is over, people will perhaps look at Arsenal’s potential thrashing of Keano’s men (what I wouldn’t give to see Keano don a Sunderland kit to drive his team on from midfield against the Arsenal), or the crunch game between Liverpool and Tottenham (a Torres-style decimation, methinks) as the game of the weekend. So be it.
Going into half-time at 0-0, not a single Manchester United fan in the stadium or anyone watching at home or in the pubs could feel disheartened. If you are inclined to disagree, I want to draw your attention to a single incident in the first half that brought the entire stadium to their feet to give the Argie bulldog a rapturous ovation for going all over the pitch to win back the ball (which he finally did). At that point, the Wigan players could have taken the ball in their bus back to the JJB and Tevez would still have tracked them down and won the ball back.
The crowd loved it. The fans loved it. The players, all around Tevez, knew they were still champions.
At this point, it would be remiss of me to not mention Patrice Evra’s sterling contributions in the first half, where, despite one noticeable incident of poor positioning from which he bailed himself out fantastically well, he was excellent – not that Wigan threatened much, but still, credit where credit is due.
And when the Manchester United squad came out in the second half, this is what they looked like:
Kuszczak
Simpson, Rio, Pique, Evra
Ronaldo, Anderson, Scholes, Giggs
Rooney, Tevez
I remember thinking – this is how Fergie should be blooding new players, because these are the games in which the likes of Pique and Simpson will learn their trade and excel and in the future, be a regular fixture in the Manchester United line up.
The second half – what happened in those 45 minutes – can be explained in two different ways. I could tell you the critical blogger’s point of view, where Wigan gave Anderson and Scholes too much space in midfield, where Hutchings didn’t send on a second man to support Bent nor did he urge his players to make runs at Simpson and lob balls behind Evra. I could tell you all about Wigan’s failings, but I won’t.
I want to tell you what a Manchester United fan saw.
There are teams who, once given a pass at greatness, choke and fall in despair. There are other teams who don’t need a second invitation – teams like Manchester United who will come at you from all angles, as a team and as individuals, and they will keep coming and attacking and pushing until the walls break down and they are, at the end of 90 minutes + 1, clear cut, deserving winners.
Wigan offered United that chance when several Wigan defenders couldn’t stop Carlos Tevez. Tevez, for all his critics, was born to score such goals. Where defenders committed and then let him go, he kept the ball and dodged even the keeper (who had a flawless game, such was the quality of the goals and his keeping otherwise) before slotting the ball past two defenders. The crowd was up, the manager smiled, and at that point you knew this was going to be like last season, this was going to be like old times.
The second and third goals were Ronaldo’s, and both showed the amazing composure these young players have. For the second, it is to Ronaldo’s credit that he took his shot calmly and didn’t rush it – how many players have you seen who miss the ball when it’s delivered on a silver platter? Ronaldo’s made the mistake before but with nerves of steel boy wonder’s best friend knocked in the second and lapped up the applause.
For the third though, you have to praise Rooney’s selflessness and Ronaldo’s sheer pace. These two form a fearsome partnership (who remembers that box-to-box run these two made last season?) and with Anderson, Nani and Tevez joining them in attack you cannot, in any seriousness, be worried about United’s future. The break was quick – a pass from Pique that allowed Rooney to break free and when you have Ronaldo running straight down the middle, you only need to look up and pass. Rooney’s pass was picture perfect, Ronaldo tapped it in and the match was effectively over for the crowd, and all that was left to wait for was a Rooney goal.
The gods do not disappoint – Danny Simpson’s excellent cross from the right was nodded in by Rooney in textbook fashion, pure skill and timing on both ends. Kirkland could only flap, Wigan were on the receiving end of yet ANOTHER 4-0 drubbing and Manchester United had maintained their record of scoring the most goals against Wigan.
United’s injury list – for reference:
EVDS
Neville, Vida, Brown, Silvestre
Fletcher, Carrick, O’Shea, Hargreaves, Park
Saha
That team could beat Wigan 4-0.
Sure, it was only Wigan, so we weren’t tested at all. But I didn’t hear anyone saying that when John O’Shea went off, or when we came off at halftime. But right now, we’re celebrating, we’re living the moment. Every win matters, every goal counts – if you think differently, don’t tell me about it.
An excellent second half performances, it was almost flawless. I thought anderson had a really great game. Like Chris (In the other post) said, he’s like a scholes that can tackle. When sir alex made the changes, i was bit worried to see scholes and anderson forming the midfield partnership. Cause i think they are too similar and both are attacking-minded which may leave gaps in that area. But then again, that’s when we know anderson can fit into scholes shoe and he has the one thing that scholes doesn’t, and that’s tackling. Overall, a great night for devil’s fans. PS: I’ll like to see more of simpson at right-back, he looks like G.Nev when he’s younger =)
Rest of the points, Ahmed had already pointed out all of them =D
to that injury list team ahmed, you can add a substitute in the form of foster
Also Solskjaer could be added to the injury list squad, since he was in the squad at the beginning of the season. Hopefully in next few weeks the injury situation will get better, at least there is two weeks until the next match.
For me Anderson was the man of the match. I thought it was extremely risky to put him the center of the midfield, when Vidic was forced off, as Anderson should be an attacking player by his repuration. But he made a very good overall performance, tackling, winning balls back, passing, opening defense few times. And he worked very well for the whole team, balancing the midfield also towards defense.
Also Simpson was excellent. First half he was silent, but when the pressure eased in the end, he started going forward and made a very good contribution also in the attacking third of the field.
now that we are winning comfortably, my only worry is if complacency will catch up with us…hopefully not.
blah..blah…blah….wait for the blues to rule
The whole team just FANTASTIC!!
New Boys showed they can do the business (Pique, Simpson); new signings looked more than just settled, they’re started to feel at home (Tevez, Anderson, Nani).
While Old Heads still fabulous; Giggs & Scholes still can work their socks off … Rooney & Ronaldo even still at tender age, showed once again why they’ve reached the world-class status so early.
Good to see Anderson shows his magical stuff plus work rate, & without doubt ‘SCHOLES that can TACKLE’…
Credit to defenders, clean sheet maintained in as many games… They’ve looked more solid this term. Something that we can proud of . Even we can shout loudly the ‘1-0 will do’. Rio worth every 30 million spend on him few years ago.
Without doubt, Man Utd is near to fire in all cylinders with the very own brand of attacking football.
Only Wigan, but a thousand times better than the shite teams you’ve got over there. Your teams wouldn’t last two seasons in the prem. Why do you think all your best players move abroad?
Tevez will be an old trafford legend.pure heart,pure class,pure united.
Kidding me?One of the best MU goals ever…you know,that box-to-box running…Anyway,enjoy the new team.
Don’t you think this article is a bit cliché and trite? Wow so Man Utd won at home against Wigan. Great. I could have read this anywhere, on any other mainstream site. Whats the point in writing in so much detail about another regulation win from one of the best teams in the league? Do something new.
Daniel – I think if you read Skysports’ synopsis and then this article, you will find that they are entirely different in style. This a far more personal (maybe you might want to read: biased) account of United’s victory, and it is written without the stultifying dullness of a Skysports or Man Utd official website write-up.
For those who watched yesterday from the stands of Old Trafford and on tv stations around the world, witnessed the real Manchester United in all her glory, whether it had been another club yesterday rather than Wigan, they would have had problems also.
Carlos Tevez really showed what an asset he will be to us, we already know what Rooney and Ronaldo can do when they are firing right but to have Carlos running down every ball and winning most of them, is just what we needed, this probably spurred on other players to do the same, which meant finally United were controlling the midfield for probably the first time this season and then the wonderful counter attack, that we know and love to watch at Old Trafford became more apparent, in truth with all this going on, you really didnt know where to look first, which from my part as a fan I really love to see, it shows us as we really are, the most powerful, unpredictable attacking force in the premiership, you just never know who will score the goal because you know that anyone of them could hit the back of the net at anytime.
The new guys in defence did a wonderful job and not for one minute did we really worry about their abilities, which is confidence building not just for the team but for the many fans watching around the globe.
I couldn’t really fault anyone yesterday, they finally gelled as a team and to quote the tv pundits last night ” great play by United but they are still not firing on all 4 just yet but wait until they do, then we will see some really great goals”
Watch this space, the party, is only just getting started.
Fine the style might be slightly different, but the topic remains the same. Is Man Utd winning 4-0 at home to Wigan a newsworthy story? No, of course not. Just a waste of time.
yeah yeah, United win 4-0 to Wigan is not worthy story then Arsenal and Liverpool thrashing Derby are?
Get this straight, Daniel Curtis, this is just a post to mark the milestone. United will grow from strength to strength. And the team you are supporting will be on our menu….
Daniel, if you are a United fan, any game whether it is against Wigan or Arsenal is worthy of an article and some discussion,if you look on the Wigan boards this morning they are doing exactly the same, nothing new there I know but at least it allows us to mull things over, give credit where its due and even criticise any wrong doings, by players, fans and referee’s.
Yeah ok it might well be only Wigan who have struggled in the last few games and yes you would (normally) expect United to beat them at home but we also have had problems, as everyone knows, not scoring many goals being the main focus, so when 4 goals go in, we want to celebrate that, just like when we lose, we want to put it all right again, remember everyone is a critic and wants their say, as is their right.
hugo, thanks for the backup 🙂
daniel, fair point. however, this was aimed directly at man utd fans, not anyone else. if you’re a united fan and you didn’t appreciate it, then i’m sorry, i’ll try harder next time 🙂
Otherwise, read the last paragraph of the article again 🙂
YEAH ITS A PARTY ATMOSPHERE:)
but i just keep sayin to my self it was only wigan but hell i was impressed by every player on the pitch yesterday so i really loved the game
And on the sad note just when i was saying can sunderland give us the two point advantage “silly van persie” bailed arsenal out in the ending
Shit we would have been on top damn damn
Anyways we’ve got the muscle and yeah F*****g in international break what am i gonna do for the next 10 days?
Mr d ur not worthy of our replies/reaction/comments beep off this post plz
Wow really scary second team! I bet none of the other big four would want to come across them.
If you want Soccerlens to be taken seriously you have to remove these kinds of images from your articles.
First off, they prevent people from viewing the articles at work.
Second, they are unprofessional.
Third and last, they are irrelevant
If the best you can come up with (to describe how hot United’s form was vs. Wigan) is this picture then I am not sure I can take soccerlens.com seriously.
However, MUFC is most definitely in form — beauty of a 2nd half.
FINALLY! An amazing second half.. you could just sit back and watch the team get back into the good old mesmerizing display of last season.
Finally, we’ve begun to pump in the goals!
Btw, I am a very regular reader of soccerlens and currently 12th in squadgod 😀 First time I’m commenting here though… great work Ahmed, I’ve been reading this blog for a long time and have watched it grow into a great site. KUDOS for that! Keep up the good work!
Manchester United is a second half specialist. Last season also the same. Only perform in the second half all the time. Man United rarely scores in the first half!
Ahmed – happy to back up the blog. But Mads is right – I don’t like the pictures either, they’re tasteless and irrelevant. I know you’ll argue about getting readers’ attention but the fact is that people come to this site for the football analysis and gossip and for little other reason. Putting a hot girl in the picture makes me want to read the analysis less, not more, as it suggests what you have to say is of so little substance that eye candy must be used as a smokescreen.
Mads and Hugo – fair point about the pics…but she’s hot, isn’t she 🙂
I’m sure you guys trust my analysis enough to know that I’ll have something substantial to say. The pics are for my pleasure, but … ok, there’s this last one coming up tomorrow, then i’ll give it a break 🙂
Great peformance by Anderson in only his second Premiership game. He seems to have adapted quickly, but having Nani and Ronaldo to bed him in does help alot.
If The Sunday Mirror is to be believed, Anderson is on his way back to Portugal on loan in January 😀 LOL!.
Ok, so we’ll invest a possible £20 million on Anderson and just loan him back to Portugal where he could have both his legs broken.
Typical Sunday Rags, clueless.
Squaretan we always scored early last year, thats when we went on to score 3 or 4 every game, from gettting the early goal. And Alex yeah i read that too and i just thought , why do we even bother reading that crap if we know 90% of its never true, he’ll be a quality player it seems.
manchester united played great in the second half and if you think that is manchester united at their best u are having a luagh. anderson is a amazing player always wants the ball. it stop ferdinand kicking the ball everytime. tevez and rooney what can i say amazing ronaldo play good and that was his best. PEOPLE say it only wigan but when we do that to the likes of arsenal and liverpool what is ur excuse gonna be.MANCHESTER UNITED can beat liverpool and arsenal 4-0 come on we stop chelsea having a shot on target. anderson and tevez and nani and ronaldo and rooney. NOW THATS A TEAM
Mesmerising, fabulous and solid performance.That is how I could describe this match. Anderson were just right to be dubbed as the next “Scholes”, Simpson as the next “G.Neville” and Pique just as the combination of Ferdinand and Vidic…Rooney n Ronaldo once again shows who’s the boss in the field n unforgetably, Tevez….oh….eye catching performance n the eagerness to win all the balls…this is just the beginning of a thunderous performance….there’s a lot coming up later….this whole new team gonna rock the premiership….Glory!Glory!Man Utd!!!
Sorry didn’t realise that the website was dedicated to Man Utd fans. There was me thinking it was a general football source.
‘Unitedray’ – At no point did I mention Arsenal and Liverpool beating Derby, so why did you bring that up? I know they too are not newsworthy events.
Examples of interesting stories from the weekend – Schalke and Stuttgart both lose at home to weaker opposition, giving Bayern a greater advantage. Or how about Milan’s return to form out of a crisis, with a 5-1 away victory to Lazio?
I LOVED IT. LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!!! 😀 …need to control myself. Made a bet and won it spot-on too so it was a goooood night for Me (and mate who’s a Leeds supporter :-/ ) Hope you lot enjoyed it cause I’m sure we’ve got a few more good victories like that coming up.
Front had to gel up sooner or later. As long as our back stays put (with good performances), we’ll be finnne. 🙂
🙂 🙂 🙂 Oh Yeahhh!
@Daniel Curtis
“Or how about Milan’s return to form out of a crisis, with a 5-1 away victory to Lazio?”
– Why exactly is this a newsworthy story and not the United beating Wigan match? In actual fact, not even the Milan Lazio fans bothered to show up for the game (did you see how empty the stadium was?) What exactly makes that story more ‘newsworthy’ than United finally breaking their ‘goal-drought’?
– If you’re not interested in the United game and the comments of the article, why are you then even bothering ‘refreshing’ the page to see if there’s any updates to your comments?
Me thinks personally, you’re just jealous!
@ Ahmed
Great article. I think your comment on Tevez was very fitting and funny:
“At that point, the Wigan players could have taken the ball in their bus back to the JJB and Tevez would still have tracked them down and won the ball back.” 🙂
Daniel Curtis – mate, comprehension lessons required for you. I said the article was directed towards Man Utd fans, not the site itself.
of course, you can read of it what you will, but if you’re going to misinterpret simple sentences I can’t really have a proper conversation here, eh?
daniel curtis
manchester united return to chanpionship form with a 4-0 win
how the hell is that any different from milans return to form, albeit without the crisis?
i really don’t understand your problem with the artical
this website is a general football source. . within the website there are articals dedicated to specific topics. . this topic happens to be “manchester united return to previous season form with a 4-0 win.”
if you’re pissed because there arn’t any articals about the freaking german league then sign up and write them!! i’m sure people are dying to hear how bayern are running away with the title
look if you’re going to complain about the website make a legitimet complaint. . thats all i’m saying
Thought they got a little lucky myself… 😛
Simpson has proven you quite wrong in this weekend’s game against Wigan 😉
I think I may say that I’m in the best position to judge the likes of Martin, Simpson, Evans, Dong, Campbell, Eckersly, Shawcross, Cathcart, Lea, Gibson, … since I saw / see them playing every week. My opinion: the most talented of them all is certainly Jonnie Evans, he was, simply put, to good to play for a team like Antwerp. Campbell and Dong have both scored some extraordinary goals for us, and both were very popular, especially Fraizer Campbell. However, I don’t think they will make it to MU’s squad, but I do hope they will prove me wrong as well (as did O’Shea earlier). Simpson is so usefull, becoming better every day, and I’ll reward him and Evans the best chances to turn into MU key players in the near future.
btw, that’s a good idea, we need someone talking about bayern.
Right, this is my last point on the matter.
Why is Milan’s 5-1 victory over Lazio more significant than Man Utd’s rout of Wigan, you ask?
Quite simply, trying to compare winning 5-1 in Rome to a regulation victory at home to Wigan is ridiculous. The first point to be made is that Lazio is one of the great names of world football, and given their impressive champions league display in the week, losing 5-1 at home is a complete shock. Secondly, Man Utd may have not been playing at their best but their form has been nowhere near as awful as Milan’s – possibly their worst run of games since I can remember. Indeed, Milan have had a early-season crisis, whereas Man Utd have just been a bit off colour. That is what makes the result even more newsworthy.
Thing is, doesn’t even have to be the Milan example. There were even more interesting conclusions to games in the English Premiership, that could have been covered.
Anyway, as I said thats the last I shall speak on issue, but I do find it strange the reaction I’ve received for making criticism. I mean just going along saying everythings great all the time, when its not, is pretty poor.
Daniel quote”Indeed, Milan have had a early-season crisis, whereas Man Utd have just been a bit off colour.”
Now that statement has made me laugh so much, Wayne Rooney didn’t have a broken toe he was just off colour, Gary Neville been out for 6 months, yep must be off colour, Owen Hargreaves and Louis Saha,bit off colour right?
Need I go on?
When the author of this particular article wrote
“It was only Wigan, but Manchester United were smoking hot”
did it say Milan having a crisis or any other team apart from Man Utd and Wigan? I think not.
So when it does, comment about that team but this time its United’s turn, so bugger off and write on a Milan page and whinge will ya mate, we aint interested in Milan today, if the man writes tomorrow about them, then fine we might even contribute, just to annoy the shit out of you for a change.
Maybe this site is NOT just about Manchester United but this article was, so get a life mate and stop being a pain FFS.
*Can feel some hate mail coming my way, join the queue.
P.S I like the girls but would be better in the football kit of the team in the article, much nicer then lol.
To Daniel Curtis,
the milan-lazio match was undeniably but not necessarily exclusively news-worthy..
even though lazio is one of d big teams in serie a, they themselves are facing a crisis in serie a at the moment..wat we saw last night was a match between two teams both struggling in domestic league, both worn-out by CL matches in mid-week (though Lazio fared slightly better than milan, clinching a draw wif real-madrid)..IF milan-in-crisis had beaten an in-form-lazio, then i’d agree that its more news-worthy than d man united victory..but as it is, i think that both are EQUALLY news-worthy…
@Danny
I can see the way you structure your comments (and handle the criticisms) that you actually have some good writing skills.
Why don’t you consider writing about Milan or Bayern on this site? I’m sur the guys would welcome it. (To be honest, most will criticise like hell – but they’ll appreciate it 🙂 ). Try it?
Oooppsss!
I meant Daniel (Daniel Curtus). Don’t know where Danny came from? Sorry.
HAHA i like the way how you randomly post pictures of girls all the time now
Tevez is improving so much, i guarantee he will be one of the best strikers by the end of the season. He seemed clumsy at the start but i love his consistency and he never seems to give up.
And for the Man U itself, that was the most entertaining game that I’ve watched in this season, so far.
‘That team could beat Wigan 4-0’. Priceless! And true.
actually jimmy 4-0 is a bit of a stretch for that team