Manchester United outclass Geordies 3-0 in Premier League
It was Chelsea who made a statement of intent at the weekend with a 6-0 drubbing of Premier ship new boys West Btomich Albion and it was clear to all and sundry that if anyone is to take the trophy away from Stamford Bridge it will have to work really hard.
Manchester United made a similar statement last night when they welcomed the Geordies at the Theatre of dreams for their opening fixture of the League.
Sir Alex Ferguson gave Paul Scholes a second consecutive start after the Community Shield last week and with him in the Central midfield was Darren Fletcher. Accompanying them on the wings were Antonio Valencia and Nani while Rooney lead the attack with Dimitar Berbatov. The defense however looked a bit out of shape with both Rio Ferdinand and Rafael Da Silva out nursing injuries. Their position in the squad was taken up by John O’Shea and Johnny Evans while Vidic and Evra partnered them.
It was not a match that the toons were expected to win. The geordies ran the home side rugged until very late in the first half when persistence paid off for United and Berba opened the scoring for the home side. United started to dominate the game then as Paul Scholes ran the show from the midfield playing the anchor role between attack and midfield and constantly providing deft passes but the final ball was somehow missing from United’s game.
In the 33rd minute Paul Scholes detected a cunning run by Bulgarian Berba into the box and played a sublime pass that was slotted excellently by the striker past Steve Harper in goal. The Bulgarian should have added to the score line when a slick one-two-three on the edge of the box had Berba with only the keeper to beat but the Bulgarian fluffed the shot as he fired miserably wide. It was Darren Fletcher who doubled the lead for Manchester United just before the break when a deft pass from Nani detected Evra’s run into the box and his drilled pass were put on the feet of Fletcher by Rooney, who turned and shot past Harper to give United a comfortable lead going into the breather.
Rooney was substituted just after the hour mark and Chicharito was given his home debut but the Mexican starlet did not impress as much despite being lively on the pitch. Ryan Giggs came on for Nani late in the game for his 858th appearance in United colors and carried on his unbeatable record of scoring in every Premier League season to date (from 1992-2010) as he drilled home a thunderous volley from another of Schole’s assist.
United had an impressive outing last night and the only disappointment for them in the match was another blank day for their star striker who has now gone 1076 minutes without scoring a single goal. His last goal came for United in the Champions League last season against Bayern Munich. Scholes was declared man of the match who said after the game that United should have scored more on the night but still he was content with a 3-0 win in the opening match of the season.
For the Giggs’ goal, Scholes said that it was a great strike that was fantastic to watch and it was even greater to see Ryan scoring in yet another season. Sir Alex Ferguson after the game was also very happy with two of his longest serving stalwarts and said that it was really nice to see Scholes and Giggs still performing like the way they do. United will now play their next Premier League match against Fulham on Sunday, the 22nd August.
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