UNITED DEEP FRY GUNNERS

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

Well last time round, United faced Reading in the FA Cup 5th round. The first match was at Old Trafford but due to a last minute equaliser Reading forced us to a replay. That match at the Madjeski Stadium was dramatic to say the least! United went 3-0 up within the first 10 minutes before Reading dominated the second half but United still went through with a 3-2 win. A battle of two reserves sides that wound up producing an absolute classic.

This time round, we were up against Arsenal. Well that was a rematch of the '05 final at the Millenium stadium, which finished 0-0 even after extra time only for the Gunners to beat us in a penalty shootout. Before that though, the last time actually beat them in the FA Cup was in the '04 semis at Villa Park. United won 1-0 with Scholesy hitting an early winner in what was a virtual final for the competition, the final that year proved to be a mismatch!

This time round it was a similar story to '04 - just two rounds earlier. Arsenal were headed to Old Trafford despite the fact that there were much easier teams that we could have faced. Either way, this timeout from the title race was something that both managers wanted to get out of the way with the Champions League coming up! United went 4-3-2-1. Carrick, Anderson and Fletcher in midfield, Park attacking right, Nani attacking left, Rooney up front.

Both sides looked to cancel each other out in the opening minutes but then United surged and the Gunners had little answer, resulting in Anderson seting up Wayne to open the scoring in the 16th minute then Nani crossed to Fletcher in the 20th for 2-0! The Gunners were absolutely lethargic and seemingly not interested. The match had already turned into a United demo session before half time and in the 38th minute Carrick found Nani who made it 3! Game over already, surely!

Well just when it couldn't get any worse for the Gunners, Emmanual Eboue got red carded for a high challenge. United just went into cruise mode after that, Arsenal rarely attacked, had maybe one decent chance and the only question was, how many more goals would United score? The answer was one more, Nani crossed to Fletcher in the 74th minute and the Scotsman got his second goal. There was nothing more that needed to be done. United fans deserved a performance after the last two games, they got one, though the useless Arsenal performance was less expected. I'm not complaining though.

Mugs of the round were Liverpool who faced Championship Barnsley at Anfield! Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring for the Scousers and they held the lead till half time. However fielding a weakened XI ahead of a Champions League game has it's risks and Steven Foster levelled for the underdogs. The Scousers replied by turning up the heat but their reserve goalie was dodgy but the underdogs were happy to settle for a replay, untill Brian Howard hit an injury time winner!

So, United face Portsmouth at Old Trafford in the quarter finals. Once again, despite a load of non-Premiership sides being in the pot, for the second round in a row United have the only all-Premiership tie! Which again means that we can't count chickens, Pompey have given us headaches in the Premiership over the years! However at Old Trafford, while I'd expect them to give us a match, we should be able to deal with whatever they throw at us.

North of the border, Aberdeen faced Hibs in the SPL! The Dons ran the first half with Diamond opening the scoring but the single goal lead at half time was always vulnerable to a Hibs comeback. And that comeback starting early on in the second half with a Merouane Zemmama equaliser. Dean Shiels then comleted the turnaround not long afterwards and with no signs of a Dons equaliser Steven Fletcher had the last word in injury time. Another disaster for the Dons domestically.

Elsewhere, the loss to Hibs was compounded when Falkrik beat St Mirren 4-0 at the Falkirk Stadium while Inverness CT drew 1-1 with Dundee United at the Caledonian Stadium to keep their form steady. That leaves the Dons sliding out of the top half of the table and into 8th place in the SPL! They still lie only two points behind 6th place Falkirk at the top half of the table and relegation still looks unlikely as there are twenty points ahead of bottom side Gretna(who lost 3-1 to Motherwell at Fir Park).

Next up, the Champions League returns!

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