Match Review
Manchester United 2 v 0 Charlton Athletic, Old Trafford, 15.00 Saturday 10th February 2007.
Goals: Manchester United: Park (24), Fletcher (82) Charlton Athletic: n/a
Attendance: 75,883

Goals from Ji Sung Park & a late Darren Fletcher goal were enough to beat a Charlton side which were quite organised throughout and didn't really look like a team in the relegation zone, with Ronaldo & Carrick both missing United looked slow in midfield with Paul Scholes not stamping his usual passing & midfield attacking play & with a very off colour Saha returning from injury & gaining match fitness the Reds were not at there best but still had enough to continue the pace.

Ji Sung Park almost scored in the first ten minutes after he collected a pass and ran at the Charlton defence before letting fly with a fierce shot which Scott Carson (who incidentally is a MUFC fan & used to live in the same town your reporter lives in) saved well keeping Charlton in the game. However Carson & Charlton luck ran out after Patrice Evra's seemingly deflected cross was ignore by the Charlton defenders only for the Korean to attack the ball with his head with little or no resistance in the form of Ben "face smasher" Thatcher finally scoring the Reds opener.

The Addicks almost equalised had it not been for a brilliant save from Polish Keeper Kuszczak who had his best game so far in a United shirt as he dived to his left after Ambrose had met the ball well with his head, one goal was not enough & the OT crowd could sense this a the 75k fans crammed into the stadium made little or no sound as the cold wind began blowing making a cold day even colder for the fans who had made the journey to Manchester.

As expected United had plenty of the ball for the second half but found it hard to create any chances of worth & with a decently organised defence Charlton kept the Reds at arms length & away from causing any danger.

As the half wore on United were dominating play with Charlton barely passing the halfway line, after Rommedahl struck the side netting after a decent build up Rooney was unlucky after brilliant ball control skill was unmatched by his finish as the England striker missed his shot for what could have been goal of the season.

A counter attack later saw Saha again miss poorly as he miscued his effort after being played into a goal scoring area from Rooney, United would then finally put the game to bed as Rooney's powershot cannoned off Carson only for the striker to capitalise on the rebound by crossing 1st time onto Fletcher's head for United 2nd and the game was finally put to bed.

United Starting Line-up
Rant Ratings in parenthesis
Kuszczak (7); Neville (7), Ferdinand (7), Vidic (7), Evra (7); Park (8), Scholes (7), Fletcher (6), Giggs (7); Rooney (7), Saha (5).

Subs Used: Larsson (6) for Giggs (63 mins), Richardson (5) for Saha (81 mins).
Subs not used: Heaton, Brown, Silvestre.

United's Man of the Match
Ji Sung Park could have had a brace if it were not for Scott Carson, The Korean scored & played in his usual busy style.

Rants Reaction
A scrappy game played in bloody freezing conditions, once which on another day Charlton may have scored, disjointed by key players missing the Reds were sloppy & stagnant but these are the game which win titles.

Was Rant's Prediction Right?
We said 3-0, United Rant 7 v 30 Wrong Predictions.

Milestones
Ji Sung Park's 3rd Premiership goal of his United career & 4th goal overall.
Darren Fletcher's 7th Premiership goal of his United career & 7th goal overall.

Miscellaneous Info
United’s next match is on Saturday 17th February 2007 (H) to Reading in the FA Cup , 17.15pm K.O.