Everton travel to Manchester United with slight doubts over Kevin Campbell and Richard Wright, who have both picked up a virus. Ruud van Nistelrooy is also doubtful.
Rio is out too. still, should be able to take 3 pts from this one. our form has been pretty good of late.
HT 0-0 tie. We've outplayed them, but you don't get points for that. Beckham has had some chances, as have Scholes and Giggs up there. I think its only a matter of time before we find the back of the net. As for Everton, Kevin Campbell has been their offense. Let's stifle them further in the second half.
Ya, it's time to put a couple in the back of net. It is far, far from the time of season when the title can be lost. Still, 9 points from top isn't where any club wants to be if htey're going to contend.
1-0 Man U on top!!! Effin' FSW feed went out and I missed it.... Oh well, I'll take the goal either way.
YES! damn...3-0! Scholes off of a right footed shot outside the box. Where the hell was all this offence before?! Oh well, i guess this keeps our average of 3 goals per game against everton up.
And Scholes with a long shot. What a beauty. 3-0, and the ref has had enough. Yeah, FSW had it, since its the only Monday match. Sorry man. If its any consolation, you only missed about 6 minutes worth of goals. Well, Man U clearly outlasted Everton. Its a testament to Everton that they held on for so long, but in the end they just didn't have the gas.
What an amazing shot by Scholes. Clanked the iron then bounced around. And only 5 mins before that it was 0-0.
It was there, but oh so close many times. I think this will give the team some extra confidence, even though it took them so long to actually break through. The last 30 mins were all Man U, with the exception of that Everton kid coming on to sub and challenging our defense somewhat. Well-deserved win.
BBC: Man Utd late show sinks Everton I guess when it rains, it pours. Take the win, take the three points, and prepare for next week.
>Where the hell was all this offence before?! It was lost in this ridiculous 4-4-1-1 formation with Veron screwing up midfield again. Up to 63 minutes we had this formation. We had lots of possession but no cohesion, no shape and no penetration. Veron runs midfield, is often caught on the ball, plays colleagues into difficulty and goes for the "clever" passes that never come off. Occasionally he shows why he's a world class player but not too often at Premiership pace. He needs more time to work his magic than Premiership midfielders will allow. In addition there's no target for Beckham's crosses with only one up front (and he has little aerial ability) and Giggs sees little of the ball with Veron's one-sided (right) approach. Beckham and Giggs get frustrated, move into the middle looking for the action, the shape goes and everything then gets played through the middle into a packed opposition central defence and van Nistelrooy massively outnumbered. There wasn't a single shot on goal in that 63 minutes. At 63 minutes, Veron is taken off, Solksjaer is brought on (a second genuine striker) and Scholes is pulled back into midfield where he plays his "gofer" role working between the other three midfielders and prompting them to use their best abilities. In the next 37 minutes, Utd not only scored three goals (Scholes two of them from his best midfield position) but also created two easy chances for van Nistelrooy and Solksjaer (both spurned) and Beckham hit the bar with his chip over the goalkeeper. There were other threatening situations as well. You couldn't have a better illustration that Utd's best play comes from a 4-4-2 formation with a wide midfield diamond (with Giggs and Beckham out wide) and Scholes linking the other three. This is why so many fans are getting tired of Alex's pig-headedness about Veron and his willingness to destroy the cohesion of the team rather than admit his mistake in signing Veron (and questionable judgement in signing Barthez, Blanc and Forlan). He needs to sell Veron and use the money for another good striker - maybe even two if he can get his money back (which I doubt) Van Nistelrooy and Solksjaer are not a good pair. Individually they're both great goal poachers but they don't play well together because you need strikers whose skills complement one another not ones who duplicate each other's styles. Nevertheless, playing the two of them is the best bet for the moment. Utd were lucky this time. They could so easily have drawn this one - only 3 minutes from a 0-0 draw - and then 8 points behind Arsenal. They've had a couple of other similar wins this season and they can't rely on this for future games. Utd have to begin playing effective football for 90 minutes not 35 minutes or you can forget any trophies this season. The football up to 63 minutes here was barely middle of the table stuff. After the re-formation the cohesion and penetration came back and we saw a little of the old Utd.