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The Bulgarian was given a very bad reception from the home fans; quite an expected reaction from them given the way and manner Berbatov used to behave before leaving the club.

The 27 year old, often criticised for his so-called lazy performance, did not play any better on Saturday. He wasted a couple of good chances, especially in the first period, to put the Reds ahead.
Ronaldo slid in a great ball into the penalty box but Berbatov couldn’t connect with it; Spurs’ goalkeeper Gomes was the quickest to react.

While Manchester United’s back four – which included O’Shea as a replacement for the suspended Evra – dealt with the pressure caused by Aaron Lennon, Park and Tevez were dynamic upfront.

Cristiano Ronaldo fired in a shot into the net out of a corner, thinking he had broken the deadlock. However, the referee wrongly disallowed his goal for handball.

Manchester United did not have too many chances after that; credits should well be given to the Brazilian keeper Gomes, though.

So 0-0, the score line remained after 90 minutes, meaning that both sides had to leave the pitch sharing a point each.

Manchester United once again failed to close within four points of Liverpool who could only draw 2-2 at Anfield against Hull City. Obviously, it would have been a different story if the referee had a better judgement on Ronaldo’s clean goal.

The Reds are now already in Japan for their Fifa World Club Cup semi-final game against Gamba Osaka which takes place on Thursday.

Written by: Angela Asante

Chelsea suffered a shock defeat in the hands of Championship side Burnley, while Tottenham kicked out Liverpool’s second choice squad 4-2.

But Manchester United remain in the running after seeing off QPR thanks to a 76th minute Tevez penalty. The Red Champions escaped the risk of meeting Wenger’s wonder kids in the last 8 but they still face Premier League opposition: Paul Ince’s Blackburn.

Man United haven’t won the Carling Cup for a while. This year is therefore the perfect opportunity for youngsters like Danny Welbeck, Rodrigo Possebon, or even Rafael Da Silva, to prove to Fergie how grown they now are by bringing the League Cup back at Old Trafford.

Written by: Angela Asante

The gates of flood

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring inside three minutes with a stunning 35 yards free-kick and clinched his 100th Man United goal of his career.. Stoke managed to maintain the 1-0 deficit until the 45th minute. Ronaldo again set up Carrick who finished up the good work with a wonderful strike to double Manchester’s lead just before half time.

The Champions had learned from their mistakes against Hull City and from their defeat against Arsenal the week before, and even without Ferdinand in defence or Rooney in front, the team fulfilled its mission.

Berbatov added a third goal four minutes into the second half and with the game looking to be settled for the Reds, Fergie decided to bring on debutant strikers Danny Welbeck and Manucho. This proved to be a perfect decision as both partnered together before Welbeck fired in a powerful breathtaking shot to increase the margin 8 minutes from time.

Stoke were desperate for the final whistle to deliver them from this nightmare while Manchester showed them no mercy as they continued to attack.

88 minutes had gone on under the clock but there was still time for the titleholders to crush their opponents. Cristiano Ronaldo scored once again from the free-kick to reach his 101st goal as a Red Devil player and seal Manchester United’s emphatic 5-0 victory.

Stoke City might have been brave against Liverpool and Arsenal, but not this time against the defending Champions. It was rather the world footballer of the year, Cristiano Ronaldo, who had the first and final word.

Written by: Angela Asante

Ferguson filled his side with young players and this decision almost came at a risk.
The game was dull but the visitors managed to hold the Reds, until they conceded that penalty.
Tevez converted his kick with a cool finish to send his team through to the next round.

After a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park and a 2-1 defeat at the Emirates, last night’s performance in the Carling Cup was certainly not the response that Man United supporters were waiting for. At least though, Fergie’s side came out victorious.

Manchester United faces Stoke City in the Premier League this weekend and they can’t afford any more slip-ups.

Written by: Angela Asante

Back in September, the Reds lost their way at Anfield after Tevez scored the opener. They subsequently saw all three points blow away by a Brown own-goal and a Babel winner.

The following week at the Bridge, Man United succumbed to Chelsea’s pressure and had to settle for a controversial 1 – 1 draw.

Now in Saturday’s early kick-off, the Champions lost 2 – 1 to Arsenal at the Emirates, meaning that they have earned only one point out of the possible nine against the rest of the Big Four.

Substitute Rafael Da Silva pulled a goal back at the 90th minute but it was too little, too late. Even 6 minutes of added time wasn’t enough for Manchester United to get something out of the game. At the end, the hosts went away with all three points thanks to Samir Nasri’s double.

Inefficiency in front of goal

In fact, Manchester United have been inconsistent this season and even playing beautiful football is not the answer to their problems.

The Reds had a good performance against the Gunners and managed somehow to ease the pressure that Arsenal created each time they launched an attack.

Manchester United had the better of the ball in the second half and created an awful lot of chances. However, this could not help them win the game; as Gary Megson said it before, goals really do change fortunes.

Carrick blew his shot wide in the first moments of the match. Rooney also had a wonderful opportunity to score his 100th goal but the striker astonishingly fired over the bar, though he was right on the penalty spot.

Converting chances into goals has indeed been Manchester United’s main problem this season: the Reds really should have scored at least 10 goals against Hull City last time, and against the Hoops in the Champions League, a bit more quality in front of goal will have seen Manchester United cruise to a comfortable win at Celtic Park. Unfortunately, for the Champions, this case should not have occurred at all against Arsenal who are now two points above them in the Premiership standings.

Let’s think twice. It is obvious that Manchester United supporters will be puzzled by this goal-scoring problem: how can this be when there are so many strikers in the team?

Fergie’s fault

Well, it is the coach’s fault if Manchester United struggle to find the back of the net! Carlos Tevez was certainly right to suppose that.

The Argentine forward has been left out on the bench for much of the season so far, for an obscure reason. Fergie seems to have faith in Berbatov and Rooney as the perfect pair upfront for Manchester United… but he might be wrong to think so.

The Bulgarian, who is often criticized for being a lazy footballer, just doesn’t feet in the team although he contributes at times to the team’s success.

Unlike this 32 million pounds signing, Tevez is more the dynamic and dangerous player who can grab crucial points for the club. People may well remember how he saved Man United against Lyon in the Champions League, as well as against Blackburn or even Tottenham in the Premiership last season. And after all this hard work, the bench is his reward this year!

Well, perhaps there is a valuable reason why Tevez hasn’t featured enough for the Reds since the pre-season tour… a reason that everyone would love to hear.

Talking about the defensive area, Manchester United are not a team who usually concede that much but their recent results have been shocking.

Since Fellaini’s equalizer who broke their five consecutive clean sheets record in all competitions, Manchester United have let in five more goals in three EPL games, and six goals in all.

What is the cause of this problem? It’s simply the recent form of Ferdinand, Vidic, and Gary Neville. These three men have lacked concentration in defence lately. Consequently, Manchester United conceded three goals against Hull City (for the first time since AC Milan beat them 3 – 0 at the San Siro back in 2007).

Rafael Da Silva and Johnny Evans have been impressive and they certainly have enough quality to deal with the challenges that forwards can pose at the back.

In a very direct way, Ferguson got it all wrong against Arsenal on Saturday.

The coach kept Rooney – who wasted a bunch of chances – for far too long on the pitch. Giggs, who is best known to have a good performance on watered surfaces, came in only 20 minutes from time while Berbatov played the entire match; this really shouldn’t have been. Tevez was not in the starting line up and Cristiano Ronaldo’s dynamic Portuguese mate never came on. Evra was out on the field almost as an attacking player while Ferdinand, Vidic and Gary Neville struggled whenever Arsenal counter-attacked.

Well, Fergie’s strange decisions and Manchester United’s inefficiency in front of goal are the two major causes why the Reds lost to Arsenal – above other reasons like the Emirates Stadium factor and the controversial disallowance of a clear penalty after Clichy handled the ball in the box.

Manchester United’s run of twelve matches unbeaten has finally ended against the Gunners. Now they must look forward and start new. Learning front these two mistakes – inefficiency towards the goal post and strange decisions by the manager – will definitely power Manchester United to build a winning run of matches and go all the way to success.

Written by: Angela Asante