Match Review
Manchester United 3 v 0 Portsmouth, Old Trafford, 15.00 Saturday 4th November 2006.
Goals: Manchester United - Saha (pen 3), Ronaldo (10), Vidic (66). Portsmouth - none.
Attendance: 76,004

United easily saw off another Premiership high flyer as Harry Redknapp's Pompey were the latest victims of the brilliant Reds. Within ten minutes United had ended the game as a contest, flying into a two goal lead through Louis Saha's penalty and an excellent free kick from Cristiano Ronaldo. Nemanja Vidic made it three with a fine header in the second half to claim all three points for United.

After the midweek blip SAF opted to play the same impressive side that had pulverised Bolton last weekend, giving further mystery as to why he fielded a weakened side in Copenhagen in the first place.

Within the first four minutes outstanding Captain Gary Neville took a quick throw, leaving Andy O'Brien picking his nose and Wayne Rooney without his marker. As Rooney danced into the box he was brought down by Dejan Stefanovic for a rare Old Trafford penalty. Up stepped Saha who converted an excellent strike to his left beating David James to give United the lead.

In current form United are relentless and to concede at Old Trafford so early was not what the Portsmouth fans or team alike would have wanted. More misery was to come just seven minutes later.
O'Brien again made the error with an appalling high tackle on Saha, leaving the Frenchman on the ground in agony. Ronaldo exacted revenge with his textbook toe poker, arrowing the ball past James for United's second. And fans say he needs to improve his free kicks. That feeling of sexy football has returned again.

Portsmouth had James to thank for keeping the score down with a string of saves, which ensured the former Liverpool keeper was busy all game. Gary Neville, who played as an extra winger, could so easily have scored a hat trick with a host of chances. The first resulted in James saving, after Matt Taylor's mistake allowed Neville to cut in from the right and then strike with his left.

James would then provoke Neville into a war of words as Wayne Rooney teed up Neville again for an excellent chance. Rio Ferdinand was then next victim of the James show as his header was steered away from goal. Paul Scholes went close after James' save only for his chipped to fail to beat defender O'Brien as the Irishman finally did something positive for his team.

In a rare Portsmouth attack Ferdinand headed a corner clear only for it to land near Taylor who struck a thunderbolt of a shot, which EVDS matched with a fine save.

In the second half a Harlem Globetrotters sequence of passing saw Saha backheel to Rooney only for the striker to hit his effort wide when Ronaldo was placed in a better position. How does it feel Ronnie?

United searched for a third and a goalmouth scramble saw Vidic almost score only for his close range effort to be blocked. At the other end Niko Kranjcar was guilt of the miss of the game , blasting wide of an empty goal.

Neville was still unable to score himself but the impressive fullback had the last laugh as he crossed for Vidic to headed powerfully home for his first goal at Old Trafford and United's third.

Player Ratings
van der Sar (6); Neville (9), Ferdinand (7), Vidic (8), Evra (7); Ronaldo (7), Carrick (6), Scholes (9),Giggs (6); Rooney (8), Saha (7).
Subs Used: Silvestre (6) for Carrick (71 mins), O'Shea (6) for Rooney (75 mins), Fletcher (7) for Ronaldo (75 mins).
Subs not used: Kusczak, Brown.

United's Man of the Match
Paul Scholes and Gary Neville cannot be separated for this award as both were outstanding in their required roles.

Rants Reaction
It just goes to show what 4-4-2 and a unchanged squad can do. Add a little bit of Park, maybe a dash of Hargreaves and a splash of Huntelaar to the pot and hey presto a fecking awesome outfit.

Was Our Prediction Right?
We said 3-0. United Rant 3 v 13 Wrong Predictions

Milestones
Louis Saha's 19th Premiership goal of his United career and 31st overall for the club
Cristiano Ronaldo's 22nd Premiership goal of his United career and 31st overall
Nemanja Vidic's 2nd Premiership goal of his United career and 2nd overall
Rio Ferdinand's 180th competative appearance for United

Miscellaneous Info
United's next match is on Tuesday 7th November 2006 against Southend in the League Cup with a 20.00 kick off.