review: MANCHESTER UNITED 4 v 0 Wigan athletic

Article by Mark Graham, Stats Nerd
Match Review
Manchester United 4 v 0 Wigan Athletic, Old Trafford, Manchester, 12.45pm, Saturday 6th October 2007.
Goals: Manchester United: Tevez (54), Ronaldo (59), Ronaldo (76), Rooney (82)    Wigan Athletic: n/a.
Attendance: 75,300

United finally scored more than one goal from open play in a single match as a rather resilient Wigan side especially in the 1st half kept the Reds working up until the second period, goals from the brilliant Tevez, a brace from Ronaldo & a Wayne Rooney header (Editor: Rooney has only scored one other header, who was it against) swept Wigan aside.  However with victory also came casualty as United lost Saha in the warm up, Vidic & JOS during the game.

Throughout the game Wigan rarely got to see the whites of Tomasz Kuszczak eyes, keeping on average 9 men behind the ball at all times, the Polish deputising stickman was only really called into action late in the match after Wigan substitute Luis Antonio Valencia tried a stabbed effort resulting in Kuszczak making a brilliant save.

In the 1st half United's youngster were called upon as Anderson & Simpson were both required due to the injury to JOS & Vidic, the two youngsters as well as Gerard Pique did themselves no harm all eventually contributing to the goals & impressing well throughout the match while looking very comfortable.

United found themselves unlucky not to be ahead in the early stages of the 1st half as a Tevez cross was almost deflected into his own net by Salomon Olembe, had it not been for the reaction save from Chris Kirkland the visitors resilience would have buckled earlier.

United then were denied what appeared on replays to be a stone wall penalty by referee Mike Riley after Ronaldo gained possession from Kirkland's impressive save before being brought down clumsily by Michael Brown in the penalty area.

Rarely getting forward Wigan did however come close in the form of a Skoko shot and Austrian Paul Scharner gathered in United's penalty box but as he tried to steady, the ball was hooked away by Patrice Evra.

United knocked on the door twice more before half time with a Ronaldo shot & the best chance of the half, a Tevez deflected shot which sailed over the bar.

The second half began as it meant to go on with Ryan Giggs who is still struggling to find form hitting the crossbar in search of the opening goal, relentless in their pursuit of a goal, United soon found themselves ahead within ten minutes of the restart, Rooney found the animated Anderson & the young Brazilian threaded a perfectly weighted pass to Carlos Tevez.

Still with much to do & demonstrating just why SAF & MUFC tried so hard to bring the "Apache" to Old Trafford, the striker held off Kevin Kilbane with determination, beat Bramble and Kirkland then finished with style and patience waiting for the right moment to convert in the Stretford End for the opening goal.

Tevez deserved a goal for his 1st half performance alone & showed each & every United fan in just a short passage of the match when he relentlessly pursued & tackled like it mattered when the Reds had lost possession, this is the reason we sing "Argentina", "Argentina" & this is the perfect example of fan favourite earning the respect of the fans.

Well Done Son!!!

Ronaldo shortly made it 2-0 when Kirkland was seemingly taken by surprise from a Giggs in swinging shot cum cross, the man who made England look shi*e, simply nodded in the save from Kirkland scoring one of the easiest goals the winger will ever score.  Taking longer to score number three than number two Anderson picked up possession, after a dispossessing tackle the Brazilian then found Pique who expertly split the Wigan defence open after his through ball on the left arced to the on rushing Rooney, a quick look up from the White Pele then gave Rooney the opportunity to feed the on rushing Ronaldo who had ran from the half way line leaving Kilbane for dead before slotting home for United's third.

Rooney then made it 4-0 for United with a powerful header after Danny Simpson who it had to be said did not look out of place crossed from the right hand side.

United's Man of the Match
The best player of the 1st half & a goal in the second, and of course your reporter favourite bit has to be the relentless tackling & running when not in possession, "We love you Carlos we do".

MUFC.COM's Reaction
Brilliant second half performance with the big guns finding form, almost a two week layoff for our injury victims to overcome any injuries & a whole host of players to return .

On the down side, what is going on with Ryan Giggs?, slow, void of ideas & out of form, will the real Ryan Giggs please stand up!!

Also a rather large pat on the back to the following, Tevez, Anderson, Pique & Danny Simpson.

Was our prediction correct?
No!! We said 2-0. MUFC INFO 2 v 10 Wrong Predictions.

Milestones
SAF's 373rd victory of his Premiership career.
Carlos Tevez's 2nd Premiership goal of his United career & 2nd goal overall.
Cristiano Ronaldo's 37th & 38th Premiership goals of his United career & 53rd & 54th goals overall.
Wayne Rooney's 42nd Premiership goal of his United career & 61st goal overall.

Paul Scholes's 380th competitive League appearance of his United career.

Ryan Giggs Countdown = 41 competitive Games left to eclipse the All Time Record Set by Sir Bobby Charlton.

United's Next Match
Saturday 20th October 2007 against Aston Villa in the Premiership at Villa Park, with a 17.15pm kick off.

MUFCINFO.COM Reader Feedback
Name: Alex
Email: alex@dutch-mancunians.nl
 Comments: Good match report. Has anyone seen Giggsy lately?! There's an impostor on the pitch!