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Article by Mark Graham, Editor, Record Keeper & Official
Reporter @ MUFCINFO.COM.
Manchester United relentlessly marched into the semi finals
of the FA Cup after hammering Fulham 4-0 @ Craven Cottage on
Saturday in the early evening kick off.
A brace from Carlos Tevez & a goal a piece from Wayne Rooney
& Ji Sung Park put United into the hat for a semi final
against either, Chelsea, Arsenal, Everton or Middlesbrough@
the ridiculous semi final venue of Wembley stadium
(Editor: those who know me will know that I feel this takes
a little of the magic of the FA Cup having to play there
twice)
SAF rested Ronaldo as the World Player of the year failed to
even make the bench & with strong subs Giggs, Scholes &
Berbatov on the bench SAF freshened his squad further with
Anderson & Tevez returning also.
Relentless,
United forewarned Fulham as to the mood the Champions were
when after gathering a ball from the careless Brede
Hangeland, Wayne Rooney fed Carlos Tevez who smashed an
effort from the right hand side of goal which was flying
into the net before Mark Schwarzer making a brilliant save
followed by John Pantsil clearing the danger when Rooney
looked to pounce.
Since EVDS's rest
& his record being broken thanks to a gaffe against the
barcodes & a Kuszczak imho error against Blackburn, the Big
Dutch stickman has made key errors since his return and
almost looks unfocused at times & another case in question
was the mix up & positioning of the former Fulham keeper, a
mistake which the home side could have scored from.
When you play teams like Chelsea & Liverpool the long ball
over the top is a thing that United must have gotten used
to, however after Simon Davies hoofed a ball over the top,
Johnson on the edge of the area managed to, under pressure
from United's centre half's touch the ball sending the
stranded & out of position VDS in no mans land.
A footrace ensued between the Serbanator & the ball as it
travelled on course for a Fulham opener, but the United
defender cleared in time saving a red face on his keepers
behalf. Sensing some sort of wobble, Fulham continued
pressure as Clint Dempsey header just under the cross bar as
EVDS gathered before then Bobby Zamora responded with a shot
over the top.
With nerves
settling & Carrick & Anderson (especially the latter)
driving United forward, Fulham's fruitful beginning to the
match was undone by Carlos Tevez after the Argentinean
nodded in at the far post.
Anderson's corner was assisted to the back post by Rooney
where Fulham's Paul Konchesky could & should have done
better as Tevez snook in & converted for United.
Rooney looking to
be in fantastic all round form, tried a speculative effort
from 50 yards after the White Pele had spotted Mark
Schwarzer slightly off his line but the chance sailed over
the crossbar.
United's two
forwards had far too much to offer Fulham's defenders as
Rooney had a goal ruled out for offside, then should have
made it 2-0 as with an open net, after an excellent cross
from JSP, Wazza as he's known to his mates scuffed his shot
& hit the post.
Not to be outdone
by his strike partners patch of domination, Tevez rattled in
a beauty shortly after when a long run from near the half
way line & a cut in from the left had his arrow like shot
shoot straight into the top corner giving the Reds a
comfortable 2-0 lead.
Fulham before half time had their moments as Zamora appealed
for a penalty after JOS had pulled his shirt & later Rio
Ferdinand was forced to hinder Andy Johnson's effort after
going through into United's box.
Failing to return to the team for the second half due to
"going over on his ankle" in the first, Ferdinand was
replaced by Jonny Evans & remains a doubt for the big clash
with Inter Milan in midweek.
Fulham again contributing to their own down fall found
themselves with an almost impossible scenario after Etuhu's
clearance managed to reach Wayne Rooney 18 yards out & with
the miss probably still haunting him, Rooney made no mistake
with this opportunity as he stroked a curling ball into the
bottom corner for 3-0.
With United already without Neville, Brown, Rafael, Vidic,
Hargreaves, possibly Rio Ferdinand & just about anyone
else who can play in defence the last thing the Reds wanted
was another injury as Richard Eckersley replaced JOS.
With the game won, SAF opted to take off Rooney ten minutes
later especially after he had tussles with Dempsey & Etuhu.
Danny Welbeck came on for United's number 10 before the game
turned scrappy for a period.
United again
picked up the pace of the game as Carlos Tevez found the
side-netting as he searched for his 2nd hat trick of his
United career and the game was then capped off in style for
United as the quite brilliant again JSP gathered another
poor ball from Fulham's Zoltan Gera & taking the ball into
the area, placed a ball into the net for 4-0 & a excellent
day at the FA Cup office.
What's your
opinion?.....
Who would you like to play in the next round?....Chelsea,
Arsenal/Hull or Everton?
HAVE YOU'RE SAY BELOW |
Tevez (20 mins),
