Manchester United 1-0 Birmingham city

Well that is the Christmas period over and we have come out of it with 9 out of the possible 12 points, one less than Arsenal. That's not too bad, it's just a pity about the west ham performance or rather result. No team has played that well over the four games, and United ended yesterday looking very jaded. Indeed i think everybody was glad to hear the final whistle, the last ten minutes were a bit more tense than they needed to be. United just couldn't take one of the many chances that came along, and when Forsell came on for Birmingham, they started to pose a real danger, making a more uncomfortable final period than had seemed likely.
It was disappointing to see rooney still wasn't fit, we have really missed his energy over the last two games. It would seem Saha still isn't trusted to play back to back games as Ronaldo partnered Tevez up front, with Park starting his first game of the season with Nani on the other flank. Anderson started the game this time, he should have started the West Ham game for me, alongside Carrick in central midfield, a better balanced midfield than we had in that game also.
The first real moment of class in the match came after five minutes when Ronaldo fed the ball down the flank to put Evra through on the left and he put a quality centre into the box for Tevez to head past Taylor but against the post, a shame because it would have been a quality goal.
United's passing and moving game was in far better shape than in the previous game and United were in total control of the game. We still had to wait until the 25th minute for the first goal, but it was worth the wait. A brilliant exchange of passes between Ronaldo and Tevez saw the Argentine put through with only Taylor to beat, and beat him he duly did. It was good to see him score and great to see him back to kind of form that seemed to desert him against his former club. Birmingham did have a couple of decent chances, but they were usually down to defensive mistakes. One of them was an excellent chance but McSheffry lost his head and blazed it high and wide.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first half as United bossed the midfield, and 10 minutes into the second half Park put a great cross onto the head of Ronaldo, Ronaldo didn't do much wrong he headed it hard and down but Taylor managed instinctively to get his feet to it, to brilliantly keep it out. Next it was Tevez who went close as he hit the post again, and somehow Ronaldo saw his follow up attempt blocked by a couple of blue shirted defenders. But United couldn't take one of these chances, and when Forsell came on the game totally changed. Now Birmingham had a real threat up front, with Forsell causing Ferdinand and Vidic real problems. The game became end to end, but the Christmas period seemed to catch up on United's players and a few of the players seemed to be running on empty for the quarter of an hour. I have mentioned before that i think Anderson struggles to see out the ninety minutes, and he looked really jaded during this period. He had been excellent again during the first seventy minutes, whilst Carrick carried on with his inconsistent form again. He is really taking the safe option far too often this season, and doesn't seem confident enough to make any of the defence splitting passes that we saw from him last season. Another player to struggle again yesterday was Nani, i can't work him out at all, he obviously has all the ingredients to be a cracking footballer, but seems to lack confidence in his own ability at times. His decision making and some of his short passes are wildly inconsistent too. Park on the other flank had an excellent game, especially taking into account it was he was starting his first game of the season. The best defender on the park was that man Evra again, he has been truly magnificent this season. So we start the new year placed second and two points behind Arsenal, we can't ask for much more than that. I have to admit though, when we went above Arsenal following their draw at pompey i thought we would stay top for longer than we managed. It looks like they are going to make a proper challenge this year. As for Chelsea, i thought they were out of it, but they have had a pretty good christmas. January is going to be make or break for their title challenge though i feel, especially when they lose the large number of African players that they have for the African nations cup. As for Liverpool, they just aren't good enough, i know if they win their games in hand they would be back in touch, but i can't see them putting together the kind of run they would need to, for them to have any chance.

Tevez injury not as bad as feared
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7167508.stm
I didn't realise that it might be a bad injury to be honest. Although he did seem to be in the wars, for most of the game.

Old Trafford is quiet shock
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2234081,00.html
Well he will go and praise the Glazers, seriously it was quieter than normal, but the atmosphere is pretty abysmal most games if we are honest. And the sooner the stand up for the champions chant is binned, the better as far i am concerned, it is just embarrassing. I would love to hear some of the old classics from the seventies and eighties, Oh Manchester is wonderful, from the banks of the river irwell, we are the Manchester boys, MUFC OK, the amount of day trippers at United nowadays though, i think i have got a long wait.

Kenya erupts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7167363.stm

A leader article that couldn't have been written in a Murdoch paper
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article3300994.ece