UNITED LOOK READY FOR '09

 

 

Well last season we has a mixed run against Middlesborough in the Premiership, beating them 4-1 at Old Trafford was certainly a good thing, that match remembered for a scorcher of an opening goal before we wound up grinding out a 2-2 draw at the Riverside while I was out in Bahrain! Boro have proved to be a bogey side for us over the years, despite taking up permanent residence in midtable oblivion. Heck you have to go back to the 00/01 season for the last time we did the Premiership double over them. We won what was our third title in a row that season, Bryan Robson started as Boro manager before handing over to Terry Venables while I finished my A Levels. We won 2-1 at Old Trafford with Nicky Butt and Teddy Sheringham getting the goals then 2-0 at the Riverside with Phil Neville and Becks doing the business.

This time around, we were looking to end 2008 in a position from which we had a realistic chance of defending our title. We'd already seen off Boro in the Carling Cup but now we needed to pick up three points at Old Trafford. This time around Boro have found themselves caught up in the relegation battle so they needed every point they could get as well. For our part, wwe switched to a 4-4-1-1 with Rafael at right back, Carrick and Fletcher centre mid and Park at left mid, Rooney as a support striker and Berbatov up front. Our first home game since returning from Japan and the Club World Cup was shown off to the crowd, now it was back to the bread and butter though.

Well United were attacking from the start but came up empty and that proved to be a familiar story for a while. Chances from several classy players wearing red looked certain to hit the net only to get skimmed high and wide. Boro weren't just defending either though, and United certainly dodged a few bullets. As the game went on, United looked certain to score but again, a mixture of dodgy shooting and solid Boro defending meant that we ended the first half frstrated and Boro goalie Ross Turnbull would have been relieved. Still, it was our second league game in a row in which we had relatively low quality at our mercy and yet could not get a goal before half time.

United picked up where they left off in the second half but the Boro defence remained tight and the visitors then got their chance to counter and came very close to taking the lead while our guys got in each other's way at the other end! Finally in the 69th minute we did the business, Carrick's cross rebounding off a Boro defender before finding Berbatov who struck the ball home. We really should have gotten a second goal but some of our players clearly didn't have their shooting boots on. Still, Boro certainly didn't look like finiding an equaliser. Fergie was still worried at the number of chances we had wasted, still, we have enough time to solve that problem.

Elsewhere, the main game of interest had Hull getting beaten 1-0 by Aston Villa in the battle of the surprise packages at the Kingston Communications Stadium with Villa only winning the game late on thanks to a Hull own goal. Newcastle were also battered 5-1 by Liverpool at St James' Park. The scoreline says it all and the Scousers end 2008 looking to set up their strongest season since the Premiership as we know it began. In the meantime, United remain in third place in the Premiership, seven points behind leaders Liverpool and level on points with Villa and a detour through the Champions League preliminaries but with a +8 goal difference. That's with two games in hand, the first of which is not long away.

North of the border, the Scottish Cup 4th round isn't far away and Aberdeen are up against SD2 side Alloa at Recreation Park. Alloa and in the best of positions right now, caught up in their divisions relegation struggle, on course for a relegation playoff. In the meantime the Dons are on a four game SPL winning streak. Alloa are starting to pick up half decent form themselves but I don't see how they're going to even give their visitors a match. They say nothing's won on paper, that's why they play the games etc. I say the Dons reserves could probably beat the likes of Alloa right now. The first teamers will cruise this one and see if they get a tougher test in the next round.

We open 2009 with the FA Cup.

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