Man Utd 5 V 1 Fulham.. We are back and we are hungry!

Well guys what a weekend it has been for Man Utd. First off can I just say I’ve missed your comments this weekend. I feel like we’ve got a great little community going here and with the new season starting like it did, I hope we go from strength to strength. Having moved to the sunny climbs of Cheltenham for work purposes, it’s a long trip over to the theatre of dreams, but one that needs to be done nonetheless. I left at 9am and subsequently bombed it down the M6 ensuring I arrived in plenty of time for kick off.

And boy was it good to be back. I always realise how much I have missed United on the first game of the season. The fans were outstanding, in full song. I have a really sore throat now from all the singing, but you have to go for it don’t you? Anyway onto the game, I’m unsure of the best way to do a match analysis so if you have any suggestions of how you would like them to go, please let me know, after all this blog is as much yours as it is mine.

As I’m sure you are all aware, most of the action came in the first 19 minutes. Luis Saha opened the account within 6 minutes, using his head to great account. 8 minutes later Saha’s cross came off Ian Pierce and into the net resulting in an own goal. No later than 1 minute on, Rooney slotted his first goal home of the afternoon with a simple tap in, before turning provider for the inspirational Ronaldo, making it four in 19 minutes. I think Chris Coleman put it perfectly “The wheels just came off, and when you play against quality like Manchester United, they will punish you”. And punish them we did. We played with a confidence and a hunger that was evident towards the tail end of last season. We used the width to great affect. The full backs were constantly overlapping, creating space all over the field.

Rio slotted home just before have time, unfortunately it was into his own goal as a deflected shot confused Van Der Sar making it 4-1. After the break United evidently wanted more and a wonderful move between Rooney, Brown and Ronaldo resulted in a fine goal on 63 minutes.

The highlights of the performance were the slick pass and move game that united played. Ryan Giggs at 32 was awesome, the Welshman often interchanging with Ronaldo, confusing a lacklustre Fulham team. United were finding space in abundance, as much created by their neat play as from a shoddy Fulham performance. Paul Scholes showed why he is still classed as one of the best midfielders in the premiership. He sat just behind Rooney, Saha, Giggs and Ronaldo and seemed to always be there to pick up the pieces if an attack broke down. He would pick the ball up and create a new attacking move almost instantly. O’Shea looked solid, although he will need to improve his game against some of the bigger teams if he is to keep his place.

Rooney and Ronaldo showed why they are the brightest stars for their respective countries with one of the most dazzling displays I have ever seen. They have an understanding of each others game that is frightening. Countless times they played each other into acres of space and seemed to take it in turns to set each other up for goal scoring opportunities. The pair were clearly enjoying themselves and this was typified when towards the end of the game Rooney put Ronaldo through for a 1 on 1, only for Ronaldo to skew his shot wide, Rooney’s reaction? A big fat grin!

Something United have been criticized for in recent years is retaining possession. Yesterday United cannot have been found guilty for such a crime. Well timed tackles from all players coupled with quick closing down meant the Fulham players were given no time to react on the ball. United turned attack into defence in an instant, ask any premiership team if they would like to face Ronaldo, Rooney, Saha and Giggs in an attack and I think you will get a resounding “NO”.

One man to mention is Patrice Evra. He has received a bit of stick from United fans during his 6 months with us and in the first 20 minutes you could understand why. His game seemed to lack a certain confidence. There were a couple of mistimed tackles and when he attempted a long ball up field and it went wrong, he seemed to go into his shell and simply pass to feet. Well returning to the simple stuff was definitely worth it, because as the game went on Evra simply got better and better. In the second half he was outstanding. He played with confidence and made some truly outstanding well timed challenges. He showed exactly what he is capable of and I just want to say well done to him.

United could not have wished for a better start to the premiership. Yesterday we sent out a message to Chelsea and the others. We are hungry and we want to win in style. I said before the start of the season that this will be our year and yesterdays performance helped to reinforce my belief.

We must now contend with 3 games without Rooney and Scholes, question is who are we going to play in their absence? Both were key to the 5-1 drumming yesterday, and we must replace them with quality, question is who? I’ll go first. First off I would move Giggs into the centre and put park on the left. Up front I would play Solskjaer for the first half, then Rossi in the second. What do you guys think?

Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney
One to watch: Patrice Evra