Not a Good Idea

I was awaken by a phone call in the early hours this morning and couldn't get back to bed straight away. Then I remembered, United were playing Stoke. Switched the TV on and before I knew it, the whole game was done.

Luckily I didn't have a morning clinic but I would be in zombieland all day I was sure. Cue the coffee. At least United won ....

An Important Win

It has been a while since I rang about football. Truth be told, the last few Saturday nights had been agony. Somehow, the mojo seemed to be lost in the closet in the last few months and winning seemed to take more than just effort. But tonight, hopefully the turnaround win would galvanize the team and would be the first step in finding our mojo back.

I had to admit that little Adnan made the impact tonight. Since coming in, we seemed to be more balanced as a team, and the pace of the attack seemed to pick up. I thought that Carrick were the one who tended to slow the lace down, but Cleverley was clearly was not clever last night. He was the weak link.

With Adnan replacing Nani - who had a promising opening few moments before fleeting off the game when Stoke scored - and Rooney dropping into midfield when Chicarito took over from Cleverley, we started to tick. As soon as the equaliser arrived, there was only one winner. And Chica did not disappoint.

It nay just appear to be a home win on paper, but the manner of the victory meant a lot for the team's morale. We need to cope better physically - Stoke was just plain nasty at times - and must be stronger at important moments of games. Hopefully this win would be the turning point to David Moyes' reign 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 …..