We Came Up Short

You win some. You lose some. And occasionally you get well beaten. And tonight was one of those occasion. Citeh played well. They wanted the game more. We were lackluster. We lacked passion. We deserved to get beat. And did they not half delivered it to us. Would really hate to be in United's dressing room at this very minute. The hairdryer must be out at full blast!

Hopefully we would learn a thing or two from this mauling. We were far too comfortable. And that bread overconfidence and arrogance. I felt that we did not give enough respect to the opponent. They had certainly improved. And in all honesty, only Rooney turned up for the game.

The only consolation was this heavy defeat came early in the season, with enough time for us to adjust. Hopefully, in the next few matches, we would get things back on track, while hoping City drop a few points as well. There were times when we were soundly beaten before and went on to win the Premiership - although to be fair, these tended to be away from home.

At NZ earlier, getting my tandoori fix before the game. Obviously that did not work this time ....Sports-wise, it had certainly been an eventful day. The horrific death of Marco Simoncelli at Sepang MotoGP. The Old Blacks lifting the Webb Ellis on home soil. And then this defeat. My thoughts though goes to Simoncelli's family. RIP!

Lucky Draw at Anfield

Waiting for my take-out Tandoori from NZ before the gameSo, it was a draw. Usually I would be disappointed but considering the circumstances, we were lucky to get anything after a display like that. Plus the fact that we lost on the last three trips to Anfield.

We played badly in the first half. It was as if we were content to keep Liverpool at bay by sitting back. We put the hardworking trio of Fletcher, Park and Jones in the middle of the park, and were happy just to grab the odd chances. Nani, Chicarito and Rooney were left on the bench. So was the more attack-minded Anderson. We were lucky not to go a goal behind.

The tempo was raised on the second half, and at times, we were overrun. It took the introduction of Rooney and Nani, and later, Chica for us to get going. And that was only after we were chasing the game, courtesy of a soft freekick which Gerrard converted - with Uncle Giggsy trying to protect his balls - breaking the wall.

We were more adventurous with the substitutes on the field, and with ten minutes remaining, Chica did what he did best - finding space in a crowded penalty area while tightly marked. Superb! The game then opened up.

It could have gone either way. De Gea did some splendid saves with the defense somehow forgotten to mark Jordan Handerson on a couple of occasions. The best defensive display was by Rooney in the end. He stopped a certain goal with a headed clearance near the death.

It was a draw, and if I was a Liverpool supporter, I would be disappointed. And the game again reinforced my utter dismay towards Suarez. A good player, but a cheat on the pitch - cue the World Cup Quarter Finals in South Africa last year against Ghana ….. you know the rest.

Back to My Ritual

After hanging around for quite a bit at KLCC, we made it home at nearly 6pm. Since there would be a game tonight - United playing Norwich - I made a quick pit-stop at NZ.

After missing out on tandoori in the last couple of games which United drew, I better get back to my celebrated ritual. That would meat stopping over for a rake-out of mee ladna and tandoori chicken at NZ. I can bet Norwich would be slaughtered tonight at Old Trafford!

Away at Stoke

De Gea was definitely finding his feet last night, with the most testing of matches at Stoke. He made at least three crucial saves despite the physical intimidation of the Stoke line-up. It was Delap against De Gea, and the conclusion was, De Gea is here!

The opening exchange was cagey and physical. Nani broke the deadlock with another mazy run cutting inside from the right wing berth, exchanging a quick one-two with Fletcher, and shooting a low drive in the middle of the first half.

Stoke played a lot better in the second half, and after Peter Crouch leaped above the otherwise excellent Phil Jones, the game was wide opened. Unfortunately, United failed to capitalized, partly because of the lack of movement in the strikers - Berbatov and Owen - reducing the options for through balls despite Stoke playing a high line. It was obvious that United would be struggling with crosses with the size of the Stoke defensive line-up.

Michael Owen clearly showed that he had lost the pace and composure he was known for, and his play was best described as static. Some newspapers in England even went on to report that United were playing with ten men ever since Owen was introduced on the 11th minute, for the injured and unlucky Chicarito.

Yes, we dropped points, but in the scheme of things, it was a fair results in the end …..

Home to Chelsea

It was one of those games which we could have ended up losing. And losing badly. We were lucky, and my thoughts went with Torres. That miss in the second half would haunt him for the rest of his career.

On the whole, Chelsea did not play badly. They did what they had to do, and was still down three by halftime. United's first was offside, second was another off side, but the shot itself deserved a goal - a mother of all thunderbolt off Nani - and the third was a fluky bounce, falling down invitingly for our man Rooney. We had it easy.

AVB did something almost unthinkable. He replaced Lampard at halftime, and putting Mata in the middle seemed to make Chelsea tick. And ticked they did. Anelka opened up the defense, exposing the inexperience of Phil Jones within half a minute of the restart. And United were on the back foot since.

Poor Torres ......In preparation, I went to NZ as usual for the Tandoori and Mee Ladna take-outWe were given a lifeline when Nani hit the woodwork and was fouled in the area when he pounced on the rebound. Rooney, slipped on his standing foot, and missed. That goal would have made such a difference, restoring the three goal cushion. As it stood, pressure was mounting on United's young shoulder, and we were exposed a few times.

Then came THE miss. Torres was put through, rounded the keeper, but skewed the tap in on his unfavoured left peg. That would have made the last 15 minutes more interesting.

Not only that we were lucky, but Liverpool self-destructed, and Citeh gave away a two goal lead to just come away with a point from Craven Cottage. We were standing two points clear this morning, taking maximum points from the first five games. And it made such a refreshing change that we stopped talking about De Gea for a start.