review: MANCHESTER UNITED 1 v 0 Sunderland

Article by Mark Graham, Stats Nerd
Match Review
Manchester United v Sunderland, Old Trafford, Manchester, 17.15pm K.O., Saturday 1st September 2007.
Goals: Manchester United: Saha (72), Sunderland: n/a.
Attendance: 75,648

The Reds spluttered to another low par performance, but most importantly gained maximum points from the visitors Sunderland and with a nostalgic buzz ringing around Old Trafford many old & familiar faces would be involved before & during Keano's 1st visit as an opposing manger.  The Reds awful in the 1st half, picked up in the second after the forgotten man Saha came on to make an immediate impact.  Tired of booze, (its a long story) your reporter entered the stadium well before kick off, some 45 minutes in actual fact, and the eventual scorer of the winning goal during the Reds pre game warm up was met upon entering the field with fantastic applause.

You reporter was also quite pi**ed off to find that someone had stolen my flag space, on entering the ground a "DURHAM REDS" branch flag was very untidily left hanging in the space I have hung my own flag up for the last three years.

Another recipient of a great round of applause was Raimond Van Der Gouw who is now part of Roy Keane's Sunderland set up as goalkeeping coach, the former Dutch stopper played his career in Manchester as a back up to Schmeichel as was remembered well by the Old Trafford fans.

For Keane & for the class person he is, he would have undoubtedly have preferred nothing but the no nonsense applause that a "Harry Redknapp" or "Alan Curbishley" would have received, but the former midfield general who was born to play for the Reds was treated to many Old Trafford Keano chants & to show his appreciation, or maybe his own embarrassment the talismanic Irishman gave the Stretford end a quick wave.

As talismanic as Keano was we were all treated to a hello & goodbye from another former Legend in the form of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the former Reds Striker appeared on the pitch for the last time to say goodbye to the fans receiving as expected a rousing reception.  From the East Stand your reporter notice a very large 20LEGEND flag, which the owner will have learned a valuable lesson as his flag fell low enough into the "Away" section, struggling to keep the flag in his grasp the large flag plummeted to the floor into the away fans.

SAF had no Ryan Giggs (hamstring) as the Welshman was injured in training on Friday, with the Reds predictably running the game it was the next generation of stars that SAF had given his trust to with starts for Chris Eagles & a full but forgettable debut for Brazilian Anderson, The 1st half of the match was defiantly the most woeful of the season so far & once again United lacked any sort of penetration.

With Sunderland not mustering a single shot on goal Keeper Craig Gordon in the 1st half saved from Tevez, Eagles and Scholes.

The second half came with the introduction of the most welcome Saha, and the Frenchman a substitute for Anderson, made an immediate target improving & giving Carlos Tevez space & time to move much like Rooney does for the Reds, this switch then made United more dangerous as Saha's paced moved the Reds out of 1st gear but only into Second as there is still allot of work to be done with Wes Brown a centre half by trade being employed in the "thankless task role" at right back requiring pace & a good cross, Tevez is currently playing & learning the United way & Nani & Anderson both young, there is still a hell of a lot to come from our young team & don't forget arguably the two best players in World Football are missing, things can only get better.

A constant menace & demonstrating his nuisance ability to opposing defenders, Saha then started to create making direct runs opening avenues for Tevez & from a Rio Ferdinand long ball another former Red Danny Higginbotham was required to prevent Saha, the resulting block found Tevez but the Black Cats keeper Gordon saved.  Growing each second he was on the pitch Saha collected a pass and turned Higginbotham before letting rip with a volley which had all the ingredients for Goal of the month, however Gordon again saved well.

A Owen Hargreaves corner then saw Vidic, who promised the Reds more goals this season go close as the Big Serb clipped his effort narrowly over the bar.

Leaning over to my neighbour I claimed "they can smell blood" and the Reds didn't disappoint as soon after as Nani's dangerous corner was met by Saha, Gordon in the Sunderland goal had been flawless all game but on coming to collect the set piece found himself in no mans land & Saha scored a deserved goal breaking the deadlock & calming some nerves.

Hargreaves then went close with an effort before Darren Fletcher clipped the ball over the bar, but the Reds held on with EVDS and the back four looking bored.

So another clean sheet & three points,  Ronaldo's ban is now up, Wayne Rooney gets a scan on Monday with a view to a quick return & Chelsea got beat at Villa, the Future is bright, the future in Red.

Editor: SHIT FANS
Sunderland's fans at various points of the game embarrassed themselves after singing "You'll never get a job"

United's Man of the Match
In a game where again many seemed to underachieve Hargreaves just seems to get better.

MUFC.COM's Reaction
Tevez needs to push himself further up the pitch or the Apache will never score, still adapting to playing with the United way of attacking, the Little Argie looked far better moving into the spaces Saha creates with his directness.

Never doubting his untold & untapped talent SAF & Carlos Quiroz need to play to the little guys strengths & give him the Cantona, Rooney, Di Canio, Zola type freedom.

Was our prediction correct?
No! We said 2-0. MUFC INFO 0 v 5 Wrong Predictions.

Milestones
SAF's 369th victory of his Premiership career.
Louis Saha's 23rd Premiership goal of his United career & 37th goal overall.
Paul Scholes is now 5th in the All Time Appearances List with his 531st competitive appearance for the Reds.
Darren Fletcher's 150th competitive games for Manchester United.

United's Next Match
Saturday 15th September 2007 against Everton in the Premiership at Goodison Park with a 12:00pm kick off.

MUFCINFO.COM Reader Feedback

Name: Crimson from Georgia/USA
Email: kerplunkuga@yahoo.com
Comments: Is it just me, or is Wes Brown flat out horrible at crossing/first touching? I just remember Neville having some amazing accuracy with his crosses, but, it doesn't seem to me that Brown has even come close to giving a half-decent ball.