Man Utd vs. West Ham

United without Wayne Rooney and Vidic. Evra, Ferdinand, Brown and Hargreaves started across the back. Park, Carrick, Scholes, and Nani in the middle. While Tevez and Ronaldo started up top.

West Ham started with Asthon and Zamora up top. Boa Morte, Parker, Mullins and Noble in the middle. McCartney, Neil, Tomkins, and Pantsil in the back.

 GOAL! Only 3 minutes in Cristiano Ronaldo cut inside from the right, Neil was left in Ronaldos dust. Ronaldo made his way to goal with no defensive pressure until he was 12 yards from goal, by that time is was to late. Ronaldo snuck it in near post, with a little deflection, Ronaldo made it 1-0

A corner from West Ham gave Van der Sar some trouble, A high header caused Van der Sar to fuble it a little. Luckily Evra was on the line and was able to clear it off the line.

Tevez is given a brilliant ball by Park out to the right side. Tevez took the defender on and released a shot, but it was a tight angle. Couldn’t tell if it was a shot or a pass.

Before the 24th minute United went up 2-0 with a great cross by Owen Hargreaves, As Hargreaves was set to center, West Ham attempted the offside trap, But Ronaldo timed his run flawlessly and  redirected the ball with his right thigh. It was a great finish, Most players would have been caught off guard, not expecting the ball to go through everybody.

2 minutes later, Carlitos Tevez unleashed a rocket from 25 yards with such power that the ball went up and dipped right over Green, who was positioned pretty well and made it 3-0 against his old club.

What a Goal for West Ham’s Ashton! Only a couple minutes after Tevez’s spectacular shot. Ashton performed an acrobatic Bicycle after Wes Brown failed to clear the ball.

Ashton receiving some treatment after the strike on goal.

Nani lost his cool in the 37th minute. And was involved in a confrontation with Niel. You could argue that it’s a lack of experience, but a similar scenario saw one of the best football players ever sent off in the World Cup Final and experience was not something Zidane lacked.

Second Half

United connected much more passes and possessed much more of the ball in the first half of this match. And that is the reason for the score line at halftime.

In the 59th minute Michael Carrick made it 4-1, Carrick had all the time in the world and all the space in the world. He carried for over 15 yards undisturbed before shooting from 25 yards out. Another deflection from West Ham to aid in the 4th goal.

In the 62nd minute Giggs came on for Park.
And 2 minutes later Ronaldo was subbed off for Fletcher.
You could see the disappointment in Ronaldo’s face, but he was booked and United still have the 2 most important games of the season. Sir Alex would be stupid to keep him on.

In the 71st Fletcher was denied by the post! A brilliant play from United. Evra gave a great ball to Giggs dished off to Fletcher, and from a tough angle Fletcher hit the bottom of the post.

Scholes came off for O’Shea in the 73rd minute.

The biggest Premier League crowed of the season, with 76,000 people in attendance.
United are one step closer to the title. Now United awaits the result of Chelsea and Newcastle on Monday!

Tags: , , ,