Curses can present itself in many forms, and one of the worse and painful curse has finally been broken.....'The Curse Of The One-Nil wins'. Its football again ain't it? Damn right it is. It may not be as bad as the 'We Lost Our Manager Therefore We Stink' curse currently sticking to a certain team in the EPL, but who in their right minds would like to hear people chanting "one-nil to United" everytime Man Utd play, we're not the old Arsenal or Chelsea for goodness sake. Results may be the most important thing in football, but achieving it without the style and flair really takes the gist out of it. I'm glad to say that Man Utd are back in business and finally look like the team who strolled to the Premiership title last season (something Liverpool have not been able to achieve since...how long was it again? Since the Premiership was established I think, and it was even before i was born).
The match between Man Utd and Wigan wasn't the classic Premiership encounter that would make us drool, but it's Man Utd, that speaks for itself. On the back of 6 '1-0' wins in their past 8 games, it looked as if Man Utd's fortune wasn't going to turn around. Things weren't going well in the first half when Vidic and O'Shea was lost to injury along with Louis 'I got injured again' Saha who miraculously injured himself during warm up prior to the match. Vidic being the warrior he is wanted to continue the match although he suffered a mild concussion, but was eventually taken off by Fergie. Anderson and Danny Simpson got the nod to replace them, and they were unbelievable, along with Pique who started the match due to Wes Brown's injury.
With Foster, Ji Sung, Hargreaves and Silvestre already booking seats on the treatment table, further injuries only made things worse than they already are. Things changed as soon as they took to the field in the 2nd half. The goal still didn't come even though Man Utd had the lions share of possesion, and to make matters worse the ref, Mr. Riley looked incapable of even judging a kick about between 3 year olds. He waved away protests for a penalty when Ron when down under a challenge from a Wigan player, probably forgot to put your contacts on, eh ref? Anyway the righteous always prevails. Tevez opened the scoring with a cool taken finish after brushing off a challenge from a Wigan player, cutting inside another defender, dummying the goalie before taking his time to slot the ball into the net. Not even a lunging defender could keep the ball out where it belongs.
One-nil to United, but not for long. Along with the lead the goal gave, it also provided the team with confidence...the rest as they say is history. Ron scored a 2nd with an easy point blank header, and added a 3rd soon after by converting a low Rooney cross from the left flank. Rooney rounded up the goal scoring spree with a bullet header following a beautiful cross from debutant Simpson's who was playing his first Premiership game for Man Utd. It could have been more if not for Wigans goalie who was having a hard time facing shots from every angle.
Although Tevez got the honour for being the Man of The Match, my true MOTM was Anderson. I've never really admired Anderson since his move from Porto, but then today he proved himself to be a player worthy of his price tag. With enthusiasm and a willingness to impress, he gave the opposition a torrid time by creating chances for the United forwards to score, and as if that wasn't enough, he even performed a defensive midfielder's duty by closing down opponents and breaking up play of the opposition. Simpson had a good game, and so did Pique and Kuszczak who were the unsung heroes of the game.
Sorry to those who have no or little interest in football for wasting your time by giving my 'game analysis', but it was truly a breathtaking match, not in the 7-1 annihilation of Roma way though, but good enough. Anyway let me leave you guys a quote by a scouser legend (although i do hate Liverpool, I have full of respect for their legends, seriously...) Bill Shankly who famously said "football is not about life and death, it's more than that". This statement may be questionable, but I'll leave it to yourself to figure it out. Cheers...
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