Manchester United go top after defeating West Bromwich Albion

Rooney's brace took Man Utd. to the top of premier league table

Rooney celebrating after scoring a penalty against West Brom

Manchester United reached the summit after defeating West Bromwich Albion. Another reason for Man Utd. reaching top was Manchester City getting defeated by Swansea.


This match started with WBA on the front foot. They looked quite comfortable in possession. But after the game settled in it was all Manchester United. Ashley Young was the main source of attack for quite sometime. United missed quite some chances.


But Rooney finally got United a deserved goal as he touched a shot from Hernandez in the 35th minute.


The second half begun pretty much like the first. West Brom started on the front foot. They had a penalty appealed turned down when Patrice Evra got Peter Odemwingie down. It seemed to be a clear penalty shout but Evra was lucky that West Brom weren't awarded a penalty.


Then on 66th minute Jonas Olsson picked up his second booking of the game and thus got sent off. This was for taking Chicharito down.


After this, it was an uphill battle for the visitors. United kept going forward, having a man advantage and created chance after chance for quite some time.


They finally got rewarded when Ashley Young got fouled in West Brom's penalty area. The penalty was coolly taken by Rooney. That goal was 26th goal of Rooney's season.


The goal meant United could afford to sub-off Scholes and so they did. He was replaced by Paul Pogba who was rumored to be heading to Juventus. But this appearance could mean that it was just a rumor. Moreover, this game also saw Tom Cleverly's return from injury which could be a huge boost for the title run in.


Chicharito set up a great cross in 82nd minute only to see Ashley Young not head the ball properly. After the sending off, the game apparently looked over, therefore this miss didn't prove too costly to United.


Just as this games end was approaching, Man City conceded a goal against Manchester City. Thus after the blow of the whistle, the fans went mad. They were all too pretty excited after knowing that this result would mean United would go top of EPL and so they did.


This could proved to be a vital twist in the EPL. But it's not all over yet. Manchester United will have to carry on their good form in EPL if they're to retain EPL this season.


Let's hope they do.

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Match Report: Manchester United 2 Athletic Bilbao 3

United had a really tough time at Old Trafford as they were largely outplayed for most of the time despite taking the lead through Wayne Rooney. He also got a late second which was not enough for the win but just to minimize the deficit. The visitors maintained their positive and attacking approach after going behind and were ruling side on the pitch and they eventually  got the goals from Fernando Llorente, Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain. Now United have it all to do at the Estadio San Mames next Thursday to proceed further into the Europa League, they atleast need a 2-0 win away from home.

Earlier than game it was all expected that a much stronger team will be landed as Sir Alex promised to field a strong team and he stuck to his word, although a handful of recent key performers, namely Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Nani and Danny Welbeck, were kept on the bench. In their place came Chris Smalling, wearing a protective hat after his head injury for England last week, Phil Jones, Ji-sung Park and Javier Hernandez.

The Spanish side were never going to come to Old Trafford just to make up the numbers – they had made that pretty clear in the build-up to the game – and they showed in the opening five minutes that, despite never having won on English soil, a visit to Old Trafford held no fears. Not only were the visitors extremely organised, they were highly motivated from the off and flooded forward at every opportunity.

Fernando Llorente was the Spaniard who had the visitors’ first sight of goal on four minutes when the skilful front man twisted and turned on the edge of the box to create space before curling an effort just wide of David De Gea’s left-hand post. In an another moment Iker Muniain found himself within a whisker of latching onto a lovely ball over the top from Javi Martinez soon after, but thankfully the pass ran through to De Gea.

United took time to get going on the attacking part – a tame low drive from Hernandez, straight at goalkeeper was all the Reds could get in the opening 20 minutes.

But after surviving a couple of scares – the referee waved away Llorente’s penalty appeals after tangling with Smalling and Markel Susaeta shot straight at De Gea, the outplayed home side took a somewhat surprise lead on 22 minutes. Hernandez played a neat one-two with Ryan Giggs before the Mexican fired low at Iraizoz who could only parry the ball into the path of the onrushing Rooney to blast home his 23rd goal of the campaign from six yards.

The goal did little to dent Athletic Club’s spirit and endeavour; in fact, the visitors appeared to grow in confidence as the openings in United’s half kept coming. Llorente headed over after a whipped cross from Oscar de Marcos down the right, before Susaeta was presented with a glorious chance just after the half-hour. Ander Herrera dinked a pass forward to Susaeta who burst clear of Jonny Evans but rather than take the ball on towards goal, he opted to lob De Gea and saw his effort drop wide. Soon after, right-back Andoni Iraola did manage to test the Spanish keeper after a burst forward, but De Gea was equal to it and turned it round the post.

After countless warnings the visitors gave it was no surprise to see Llorente get it finally just before going on the break on the 44th minute. He played his part in some neat build-up before ghosting in unmarked to powerfully head Susaeta’s right-wing cross past De Gea.

The Reds had De Gea to thank thereafter, not just for keeping them in this game, but arguably in the tie. First, the Spanish stopper, at full stretch, brilliantly tipped away Muniain’s 25-yard drive, before palming Llorente’s curling effort over the bar. Looking at the possession things were a little more even than the first period, and United had the fresh legs of Michael Carrick and Anderson who replaced Smalling and Park respectively, but it was visitors rather than hosts who still looked the most likely to score more. It did almost happen on 68 minutes when the impressive Muniain played a neat one-two with Herrera and found himself clean through - Thanks to De Gea who rescued The Reds with a smart save with his feet.

Unfortunately he again was powerless to stop de Marcos giving Athletic Club the lead on 72 minutes. After an exchange of passes on the edge of United’s box, the ball came to Herrera who scooped the ball up for de Marcos to volley home left-footed into the far corner, although replays showed the midfielder was in an offside position.

De Gea saved again from substitute Gaizka Toquero, but after parrying de Marcos’ speculative effort on 90 minutes, he was unable to prevent Muniain, who had run in unmarked, blasting the rebound into the roof of the net for Athletic's third.

The tie looked to be all over but Rooney gave United a lifeline deep into injury-time from the penalty spot after de Marcos had handled Hernandez’s shot in the box.

United still have it all to do, but there is at least some hope with just 1 goal less, they need to come up with atleast a 2-0 win to keep going on the Europa. Hope they land on much more better side with the likes of Cleverly, Valencia coming back after staying away from Injury.

Lineup

Man Utd - De Gea, Evra, Rafael, Evans, Smalling, Jones, Giggs, Ji-Sung, Young, Rooney and Hernández 

Subs - Amos, Ferdinand, Anderson, Carrick, Fabio Nani, Welbeck

Athletic Bilbao - Iraizoz, Iraola, San Jose, Aurtenetxe, Martínez, Susaeta, Iturraspe, Herrera, Llorente, Oscar and Muniaín.

Subs - Raul, Toquero, Lopez, Koikili, Perez, Ekiza, Gomes

Scorers

Man Utd - Rooney (22', pen 90')

Athletic Bilbao - Llorente (44'), Oscar (72') and Muniaín (90').

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Match Report: Manchester United 2 vs 0 Galati

So often the leading man, Wayne Rooney took centre-stage at the Theatre of Dreams, producing a stellar display in midfield to lift Manchester United top of Group C of the Champions League.

The recently retired Paul Scholes, so often the playmaker here, never resembles the most comfortable of spectators but he looked on admiringly.

Many inside Old Trafford believe the centre will eventually prove Rooney’s best position, sweeping the ball around like Scholes.

Half-close the eyes and it could have been Scholes spraying those crossfield passes. It was not simply the accuracy of Rooney’s delivery that impressed. It was the vision. Rooney clearly carries pictures in his head, almost a running movie of where his team-mates are so he can find them first-time.

Even taking into account the modest nature of the opposition, Rooney was exceptional, constantly eluding his marker Ioan Filip, picking out team-mates with perfect passes and working tirelessly in seeking to break up Galati’s intermittent attacks. He pulled the strings for United and cut Galati’s.

 “I played there a lot when I was younger,’’ Rooney told Sky Sports.

“It’s a position where you get a lot of the ball. I am a good enough footballer to play anywhere on the pitch and that is not just being big-headed. I am capable of doing that so if the manager wants me to do it I will.”

Good performances were also delivered by the excellent Phil Jones while David de Gea made one magnificent save but the headlines belonged to Rooney.

“Rooney was our best player and showed great awareness of that role,’’ said Sir Alex Ferguson. “His selection of passes was really good. He showed great energy and determination so we got a great performance out of him tonight. He has all the qualities you would need to be a central midfield player.’’

The stats backed Ferguson up: of Rooney’s 18 passes over what Uefa call “long” distance, 14 found their intended target while 61 of 68 “medium” passes were successful (and 13 of 14 “short”).

One of his passes midway through the first half paraded his ability to conjure something special under pressure. As Galati players crowded around, Rooney disguised his intentions, tricking the Romanians into believing he was looking for Antonio Valencia on the right before slipping the ball through the middle to Dimitar Berbatov.

Ferguson has been looking for some match-winning magic from a midfielder, a destroyer of defences with a killer pass from the middle third. It was why he looked at Wesley Sneijder in the summer before the club baulked at the cost. Another average performance from Anderson highlighted United’s lack of a high-class central midfielder.

Neither Darren Fletcher nor Michael Carrick, although capable in their own way, can run a midfield.

Rooney’s versatility helps Ferguson address this midfield issue, although the manager stressed that he thought Rooney’s redeployment “is a short-term thing at the moment”. He remains United’s most potent centre-forward, although Ferguson still has options in this area.

Javier Hernandez came on for Michael Owen, who injured a thigh muscle after 11 minutes, to partner Berbatov. The Bulgarian failed to score but looked lively, particularly enjoying the silver service from Rooney. Danny Welbeck, so highly rated by Ferguson, was kept in reserve.

Rooney still has elements of the role to learn. He was caught out a couple of times by sudden surges from Galati, particularly from Cristian Neagu. If his positional nous requires sharpening, his effort was immense. His sweat-soaked shift was rewarded late on, a strike from range that was granted a generous deflection to take it into the Romanians’ net. Uefa, after some deliberation, gave it as an own goal to Cristian Sarghi.

The England manager, Fabio Capello, who was sitting a few rows in front of Scholes, could have been forgiven for feeling frustrated as well as impressed, knowing that Rooney is suspended for the group stage of the Euros. Rooney had shone from the start, triggering the move that led to United’s eighth-minute opener with a superb pass to Berbatov, who quickly sent the athletic Jones away down the right.

Owen, sliding in, just failed to connect with Jones’ cross at the near post but the ball carried to Valencia, who made no mistake from close range. As all but the small knot of visitors amongst the 74,847 celebrated, it was impossible to escape the presence of a sizeable contingent of local schoolchildren. This was squeaky-voice time.

If they had come to admire Rooney, he did not disappoint. Nor did United’s full-backs, Jones and Fabio, who were in full overlapping mode.

But the ball stayed on its mission to spend time with Rooney. Like a conductor at the Halle, Rooney kept dictating the tempo, releasing Nani and then Rio Ferdinand. The centre-half was exposed for pace just before the break by Ionut Neagu. De Gea would not be beaten, stretching out a hand to repel Neagu’s strike.

Berbatov wasted a couple of chances to put the game beyond the Romanians’ reach and Old Trafford could breathe easy only three minutes from time. Rooney let fly from 25 yards out, the ball catching Sarghi and wrongfooting Grahovac. “Rooney, Rooney” thundered around the ground.

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19th Home Win For United

The 19 times Premier League title winner, Manchester United completed a club record 19th successive home league win in the Premier League grabbing the top spot with 19 points with an unconvincing 2-0 triumph over very rock solid Norwich at Old Trafford.

The visitors played really well to make it hard to The Red Devils for the first 20 minutes of the play. United had toiled for a goal due to some good defence tactics from Norwich.

The first 45 minutes were the time of ordinary match display from United whereas the visitors were on top with ball possession and solid defending. United passes were not spot on as it were used to be. They were rather clumsy in the ground with ball. The first half of the match was not as excited as the home crowd had wanted it to be.

United survived two gilt-edged Norwich chances immediately after the break. Jones has already caught the eye this season but the 19-year-old needed to show maturity way beyond his years after Morison had given Evans the slip. Knowing Pilkington was completely on his own behind him, the teenager held his ground, denying an early cross, before lunging in on Morison and coming away with the ball.

United's good fortunate was seemingly inexhaustible. When Pilkington seized on Antonio Valencia's miscontrol, the striker was left with only Lindegaard to beat. But amazingly rolled his shot wide of the far post, missing the golden opportunity to lead the match.

The match was about to go away from Norwich when Giggs came into the field as a substitute. The legendary Ryan Giggs floated over a corner, which was met by Jones and flicked on by Rooney, to Anderson, who powered home a header from close range. And United took the lead.

Still the faith of the visitors was not down even though they were a goal down at the Old Trafford.

But the luck was not in the favour of Norwich as Pilkington's shot deflected off Anderson, onto the post and back into the grateful arms of Lindegaard, who had been helpless.

Welbeck, then scored his third goal in the week with a slide passed by tactful and selfish Park to seal the victory for the night.

But yet the victory was not well convincing as United had many flaws in the match. Norwich played their heart out but were unlucky to miss good chances to stop the unbeaten triumph of United.

It was the 19th straight home league win for the 19 times League winner.

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No Rooney No Win

United kicked the match with no Wayne Rooney in the line up for the Premier League clash with Stroke at Britannica Stadium. United's 100% start to the Barclays Premier League season came to an end at the Britannia Stadium thanks to Peter Crouch's first goal for Stoke.

Woodgate did well to recover and get his foot on the ball, pulling off a challenge which sent Hernandez hurtling into Asmir Begovic. The United striker was injured in the collision and, after trying to carry on, had to admit defeat and was replaced on 11 minutes by Michael Owen. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson cried out for a penalty, referee Peter Walton allowed play to go on.

However, the lead of the exciting game was taken by United from the goal of Nani in the 27th minute, a one-two with Darren Fletcher before clipping the ball past Asmir Begovic.

De Gea proved Sir Alex in every minute of danger to United by stoke attacks,but the Spaniard had looked shaky dealing with crosses and it came as little surprise that the hosts' 52nd-minute equaliser came from a corner, which Crouch, recruited from Tottenham for a record £10million last month, met with his head to open his account for his new club.

The match was in thrill when both the teams had equal opportunities to take a lead and go home with a 3 points win. But when the attack of one team was tremendous, the defence of the another team was rock solid. Both of the keepers were made evenly busy at all times.

At the other end, Dimitar Berbatov - who had been called in as Rooney's replacement to make his first league start of the season was not in much of the form and was all over the ground.

For the Red Devils, many vital threats were created by Woodgate, Crouch and Pennant. However the first half lead was taken by United from the superb goal of Nani. The first half was fast and furious making both sides equally strong.

With second half under gone, Stoke were looking aggressive and just with 7 minutes play of second half, Crouch had an equalizer for Stoke making it 1-1. Etherington swung in a corner and with De Gea stood on his line, Crouch rose to head home.

Sir Alex had his last and ultimate weapon fired with the former Aston Villa winger came off for Ryan Giggs while Danny Welbeck replaced Berbatov. But Giggs and Welbeck could not penetrate through the Stoke to get an away point for United.

Giggs had many goal chances but was unable to find the net.

Both sides had chances to win it towards the end. Stoke would be reasonably happy with a draw whereas the United looked awful with their winning run been collapsed.

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Hatrick For Rooney in United Win

Old Trafford witnessed the rain of goals from The Giant as United crushed Arsenal 8-2 with a brilliant hat trick from Rooney. This is the 17th consecutive win for The Red Devils at home, Old Trafford.

United showed an evidence that inexperience legs with old heads can win match. The 90 minutes match was dominated completely by United's young lads whereas the Gunners were all over the grass but not in the goal tally in comparison to United.

Welbeck, the goal scorer from the last game against Spurs opened the account for The Red Devils with a superb goal at 22 minutes from Anderson's pass. But after 5 minutes the match referee, Howard Webb awarded a penalty to the visitors when Jonny Evans’s tug on Theo Walcott sent the winger tumbling to the ground. But the Spanish goalkeeper, De Gea diving low to his right, keep out the Arsenal captain’s spot-kick. It was an good penalty save from De Gea to charge United. The young chap from Spain showed right temperament with a great save which could be the point of his Man Utd. career.

One minute later the young leg of Young punished the Gunners for not equalizing the score with a stunning goal, a 20 yard curler which left Szczesny with no chance. It was a spot kick day for Rooney which began from the 41st minute free kick. The first goal from Rooney came from a free kick just outside the D-box. It was a well-executed free kick, but the ball was within the keeper’s reach and he should have pushed the shot to safety.

Welbeck pulled his hamstring, which will surely deprive England of his services against Bulgaria next week, being the only minor inconvenience, especially as his replacement was last season's star man Javier Hernandez.

In the stoppage time of play, Theo Walcott scored the first goal for the visitors. The United defenders were not aware of the situation and De Gea could not keep the goal away.
Had Van Persie's first-time volley found the net instead of being superbly repelled by De Gea , they would have been back in with a chance.

Once again, though, United responded to Arsenal missing a chance and they made it 4-1 eleven minute later when Rooney netted another free kick after being fouled by Djourou. England's number one striker to replicate his landmark United goal with his 151st.

Park joined the party with his stunning goal. The nightmare for Arsenal grew even bigger , when Carl Jenkinson was sent off for hauling down Hernandez, having already been booked. Van Persie grabbed a consolation goal for his team though. Evra was brought down by Walcott, allowing Rooney to complete his hat-trick from the spot and then, in stoppage time, Young added an eighth.

Altogether 5 yellow cards were shown with 2 for home and 3 for visitors, one red for pity Arsenal

Joy for United, pain for Arsenal.

United victory was cherished by almost 75,000 Red Devils fan at The Threatre of Dreams.

Glory Glory Man United.......

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