UNITED STILL WINNING

 

 

Well, here we go again. Last time round, United won the Premiership title. It was our third title win in a row. Now we are going for our fourth in a row. Not only is that an achievement that MUFC have never pulled off before but it's something that no English club has ever done and the Football League originally started up back in 1890/91. So, immortality beckons for this particular squad of Red Devils. And yet, you could still argue that this time around, it'll be harder than ever for us. Still, we are garunteed to go in all guns blazing and have to still be the team to beat. One game at a time, see where the competition is at and take nothing for granted.

Our opening game was against Birmingham and the last time we faced them in the Premiership was during the 07/08 season. At the start of the season, Steve Bruce was manager and we saw them off 1-0 at St Andrews. Later on in the season though, Brucey got fired, Eric Black temporarilly ran the show and then Aberdeen legend Alex McLeish took the reigns in time for us to beat Brum 1-0 at Old Trafford with Carlos Tevez hitting the winner. By that point, Brum were already in relegation trouble and eventually went down. In the meantime Fergie led us to another title, then again, that's the main difference between us and Brum, they've been up-and-down for a while.

However Brum came right back up and McLeish is still in charge at Brum and their first stop on their return to the Premiership was Old Trafford. Yes they still had some familiar faces in their ranks but their defensive formation signalled McLeish's limted ambitions. As for United, well we were in injury trouble. Fabio at right back, Evans and O'Shea(as captain) in central defence. Valencia made his first competitive start in a red shirt at right mid, Scholes and Fletcher centre mid, Nani left mid. The biggest concern was our lack of opening day form in the last couple of season however this time around but you had to say this was one of our easier curtain raisers.

United were on the attack from the start and in the early stages there looked to be only one team in it but the early goal did not come this time around. Instead the Blues became more competitive and at this point I started to get a feeling of deja vu. However though we didn't seem to be quite running on all cylinders, I needn't have worried. Nani crossed to Rooney in the 34th minute. The assasin's initial header hit the post but then he stuffed in the rebound. Again, Brum looked to get big ideas coming up to half time. However, it was United that had the last word and we really should have been two up by half time. However, United fans still didn't have much to complain about.

United then had another great chance early on in the second but again we couldn't finish it off and after that we were battering the Brum goal, helped by a series of subsitutions with the obvious aim of getting us a second goal. However Brum were also bringing on fresh legs and it was one of their subs, Cristien Benitez that came close to embarassing us after being allowed to shoot from close range. As the game drew to a close though, it was clear that United had been the stronger side. We did get the net for a second time just before the match finished but it was ruled out for offside. Still, a winning start wasn't something we could complain about.

Elsewhere, Chelsea beat Hull 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. Portsmouth were beaten 1-0 by Fulham at Fratton Park. Wolves were beaten 2-0 by West Ham at Molineux. Blackburn were beaten 2-0 by Man City at Ewood Park. Bolton were beaten 1-0 by Sunderland at the Reebok Stadium. Villa were beaten 2-0 by Wigan at Villa Park. Stoke beat Burnley 2-0 at the Britannia Stadium. Everton were beaten 6-1 by Arsenal at Goodison Park. Spurs beat Liverpool 2-1 at White Hart Lane. That leaves United opening the season in 9th place in the Premiership, currently level on points with Wigan and a Europa League spot(but with a -1 goal difference deficit) but three points ahead of Burnley and the relegation zone.

North of the border, Aberdeen opened their SPL campaign against Celtic at Pittodrie. Things didn't go well for the Dons. Celtic seemingly had the match wrapped up at halftime with two goals from Aiden McGeady and a third from Scott McDonald. The Reds got booed off again by the Pittodrie crowd at half time but came out fired up for the second half. Aluko pulled one back for the Reds. However further goals proved to be harder to come by and it's fair to say that Celtic dominated the match. So far, the Mark McGhee era has not gone well. Though new defender Jeder Ifil has been signed from Swindon, Dons fans are now impatient for results.

Elsewhere, Hibs beat St Mirren 2-1 at Easter Road despite St Mirren opening the scoring. Kilmarnock beat Hamilton 3-0 at Rugby Park. Rangers beat Falkirk 4-1 at Ibrox with Falkirk briefly regaining parity with the Old Firm giant. St Johnstone drew 2-2 with Motherwell at McDiamond Park with the just promoted Saints taking the lead twice in an impressive display and Dundee United beat Hearts 2-0 at Tannadice Park in the weekend's late encounter. That leaves Aberdeen opening their season 9th in the SPL, one point behind Motherwell and the top half of the table and level on points with Hamilton and the relegation zone but with a +1 goal difference advantage.

Back south of the border, the Carling Cup 1st round matches took place. Exeter were beaten 5-0 by Championship QPR at St James Park despite coming in at halftime with the match goalless, another disasterous League Cup campaign for the Grecians. Brentford were beaten 1-0 by another Championship side, Bristol City at Griffin Park. Again the L1 side held their opponents goalless for the first half but again they faced the chop. Dissapointing results for both teams but to be fair, they couldn't take anything for granted against this kind of opposition. Still, it would have been interesting to see either side take on a Premiership club in this competition.

The second round draw has been made though and there are no all-Premiership ties. United have also yet to enter the competition. In the meantime, L1 Hartlepool face Burnley at Victoria Park, L1 Gillingham face Blackburn at the Priestfield Stadium, Hull face L1 Southend at the Kingston Communications Stadium, Portsmouth face L2 Hereford at Fratton Park, L1 Southampion face Birmingham at St Mary's. L1 Tranmere face Bolton at Prenton Park. West Ham face L1 Millwall at Upton Park. Wolves face L1 Swindon at Molineux. Championship Blackpool face Wigan at Bloomfield Road. Championship Doncaster face Spurs at the Keepmoat Stadium. L1 Leyton Orient face Stoke at the Matchroom Stadium and CHampionship Cystal Palace face Man City at Selhurst Park.

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