THE DISASTER CONTINUES

 

(Image taken from Manutd.com)

 

City. I don't need to say much more than that. The blue half of Manchester. The Bitters, the laughing stock. Call them what you will. Either way, they're the team in the Premiership that are the most desperate to beat us. They came out of last season dissapointed though, we beat them 3-1 at Old Trafford before beating them 1-0 at their place in the match that set up us to win the Premiership title last season. Though City had had their moments earlier on in their history.

Particularly at their place. And so we wound up in the worst possible form for what can be one of our toughest games in a season. City at the City of Manchester Stadium. With Sven Goran Ericcsson now at the helm City came into this tie with a 100% record. We came in with Ronaldo suspended and so went 4-3-3. Carrick Scholes and Owen Hargreves making his United debut made up the United midfield. Nani, Giggsy and Tevez were up front.

Well we started out by surging into the City goal with the Blues looking intidited by our arrival, pity their goalie wasn't because he was the only reason they stayed in the match. However there was no way in hell City looked like hitting the net as their attacking play was completely useless. Other than that one time in the 34th minute when Elano set up Geovanni who slammed the ball into the United net. Now United needed a rocket from Fergie to get their act together in the second half.

In the second half we were back in business. Well...ish. Once again, we battered the City goal. Once again though, we found that City's defence had other ideas. Like getting in our way all the time. Tevez had enough shots but history seems to be repeating itself and the Argie still seems unable to hit the net. We pretty much dominated the game but in the end, the only stat that matters is the one that says City 1 United 0 and for Sven, that must sound as sweet as Germany 1 England 5.

Elsewhere, Middlesborough beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage, West Ham beat Birmingham 1-0 at St Andrews and Spurs beat Derby 4-0 at White Hart Lane. That leaves United in 16th place in the Premiership, three points behind fifth place Portsmouth(beat Bolton 3-1 at Fratton Park) and a garunteed European spot for 07/08 and only one point ahead of Birmingham and the relegation spots, our worst start to the season in the Premiership era!

North of the border, Aberdeen faced their toughest match of the season so far against Celtic at Pittodrie. The Dons looked likely to cause an upset early on and Craig Brewster struck to take them into half time with the lead. However Celtic had other ideas, Massimo Donati qualised in the second half. The Dons could have retaken the lead but blew their chances and Kenny Miller hit two late goals to give the Celts a pretty jammy win up north.

Elsewhere, Hearts drew 1-1 with Gretna at Tynecaste while St Mirren beat Inverness CT 2-1 at St Mirren Park! That slides the Dons down to 10th in the SPL, already three points behind Dundee Utd and the top half of the table while only one point ahead of Inverness CT(Gretna having lifted themselves off the bottom) and relegation. So the Dons, like United have suffered a rough start to the season, though in the Don's case the fixture computer can partly be blamed.

Let's see the national sides can do any better.

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