Our early games for the season seem perfectly set up to give all United fans high blood pressure, heart-rate fluctuations and general psychiatric problems. How else would you explain our first 4 fixtures – Newcastle (H), Fulham (A), West Ham (H), Everton (A). Admittedly, looking at how Newcastle did in their next game, we have reason to be pleased with that performance. Fulham away was a nightmare that I endured with a bunch of fellow fans last season, doing what football fans do when they are in a bunch. Needless to say, that game won ‘Worst Watching Experience of the season’ by miles. So I will actually take the draw we got at Craven Cottage, Woy or no Woy.
West Ham’s game was meant to be the break before the international break and thankfully, we treated it as one. Valencia being rested meant that Nani played on the right and Giggs (yes Giggs, on the left flank again!) on the left. Scholes was the midfielder/playmaker/puppet master/conductor/all-round good guy in the center of the field again. All in all, a pretty attacking lineup as was to be expected against the team rock bottom after two games, and expected to stay there after three.
As has happened in the last 20 years, Scholes set up Giggs with a pass whose range was in yards but precision was in millimeters and Spector repaid the faith United had kept in him through his yearly years by banging into Gigg’s knee. Cue Nani to step down after his Fulham blooper, Rooney to step up, and as some numbers-obsessed people might have noticed, score for United after 1800-odd minutes in a competitive game. It was not the prettiest, but given our Nani experience from last week and Lumplard’s experience this week, it appears penalties are not a done thing anymore. Not since van Nistelrooy missed the one against Arsenal, his first miss since time began, and the Arsenal players surrounded him in ‘celebration’. And this is the manager who talks about Rugby tactics.
The next half hour was all about Nani: The complete Psychotropic Assessment (not releasing soon in theatres near you). As he went through upper, downer, upper, downer moments alternately every 5 minutes, it dawned on you why he wasn’t claimed for 80 Million, even by Madrid. Roon, Berb and Giggs, in increasing degree of understandably, understandablier and understandabliest, were content to let Nani do the running and on that note, he didn’t disappoint. However 1-0 up, sent clean through on goal by Giggs with just the keeper to beat, he chipped the ball clean over the keeper, the goal post and the first 10 rows at the stretford end. Downer.
The upper was not long in coming though. 4 one-touch passes to move from the half-line to edge of the D, a couple of back-pedalling, slipping West Ham defenders and a thundering left-footed shot later, it’s 2-0 for United. The pace with which the ball moved across the pitch was well reminescent of how we are used to seeing United play, at the peak of the Roon-Ron-Tevez era. Pure sex.
- The Climax
It’s pretty heartening to see Berba’s done enough over the first few weeks for United to go 4-4-2 regularly these days. Apparently he’s ‘going for balls he wouldn’t have before’ and ‘taking that extra yard so that he can set up his teammate’ according to the usually-right commentary team at Sky, so I’m going to go with that. He did have a brilliant backpass moment when he set Nani up for his cross-bar rattler in the first half. Upper, that one. Either way, I think the haircut has improved his aerodynamic efficiency as was evidenced by the ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ style spinning-heel-midair-hanging finish for our third goal. You could see he enjoyed it, and Berb’s a very mood player. If he’s happy, he plays well. If he isn’t, he doesn’t play at all.
So apparently Carrick is in the England squad for the International break. Poor England, considering they also called up Joleon Lescott and Mathew Upson. Upson is surely not going to be a Premier League player next season, based on the somnolescence that West Ham displayed yesterday. I have no problems with that of course, as long as they wake up for their crucial games against Chelsea, Arsenal… Apparently they might sign good ol’ Robbie. That should be interesting.