Manchester United 3-0 Chelsea

That was a pretty good weekend, Rafa says things which may or may not be true, but were almost definitely best left unsaid. Then they put in a pretty poor display by all accounts and drop a couple of points at Stoke whilst we don't just win but crush Chelsea in a big big six pointer. And after watching the rent boys capitulate so easily at the end it's very hard to see them figuring in the title run in.
The big surprise when we got to the ground yesterday was Giggs inclusion in central midfield ahead of Carrick and Scholes. And the big disappointment was the absence of Ferdinand meaning that Jonny Evans played against Chelsea for a second time this season. The good news was that both players went on to have outstanding games. The first half was a tight affair with few chances but the chances that were created were all in Cech's penalty area. I thought the referee had a shocker and it took just three minutes for him to give his first yellow card, Lampard being the recipient. It wasn't a great tackle but it wasn't especially dirty and when you book someone so early for something like tthat you risk ruining the game. I fully expected someone to get sent off but fortunately it didn't materialise. I had expected Berbatov to have a big game and whilst he didn't play badly he didn't put in the performance i had hoped for. The best chance of the first half was created for him after 30 minutes by Rooney but he didn't make a clean contact and Cech saved easily. Then the fun and games of the last minute as we all thought we had taken the lead following a corner that Rooney touched and the Giggs delivered a great cross that Ronaldo met superbly to glance home. Unfortunately the linesman decided he would join the referee in having a howler and flagged to say the corner had been incorrectly taken. TV pictures shown that it was a very cleverly taken set piece. Justice was done as the retaken corner was glanced on and then headed in by Vidic. Just before half time is always a great time to score and everybody of a red persuasion went into the half time break with a big smile on their face.
The second half started with Chelsea having as much possession as they were to have in the game but United just mopped up everything that Chelsea tried to throw at them which admittedly wasn't much. Chelsea had took the annonymous Deco off at half time replacing him with Anelka. Anelka saw a lot of the ball but didn't do much with it whilst Drogba played like he would rather be anywhere else. One shot that ended up going for a throw rather than forcing Van Der Sar was truly woeful. He is not my favourite player but about the only offensive player on their side who wasn't embarrasing was Lampard. The second goal followed great work by Ronaldo who fed Evra who crossed to find the right foot of Rooney who managed to beat Ashley Cole to the ball and get that vital second goal. United were then robbed of another legitimate goal as Berbatov timed his pass perfectly to send Ronaldo clear and finish nicely only for another bad linesman's call. Now it was just a question for me of how much United wanted a third as Chelsea were there for the taking. And with a couple of minutes left it duly came as Ronaldo crossed for Berbatov to slot home to give United the scoreline they deserved.
Now for Wigan and Bolton, lets just hope that this was not a one off and our season is now going to really take off.

Ronaldo lifts FIFA world player of the year
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7822115.stm

Alan Hansen sees problems at Chelsea
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7824728.stm
He makes a great point about Gary Neville, i wasn't alone amongst reds who thought his best days had sadly gone but all of a sudden he looks almost back to his very best. And that is magnificent news.

Benitez has a go at Gill now, didn't we have this problem when Dein was at Arsenal and the FA and did he say anything about that. He appears to be losing it ever so slightly'
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/liverpool/article5501570.ece

Geoff Boycott on the shambles of the double sacking
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/4218818/ECB-dinosaurs-must-be-removed.html

Lancashire linked with Moores
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article5502073.ece

Anatole Kaletsky gives a forecast for 2009, seems too optimistic to me.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article5497231.ece

Larry Elliot isn't
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/12/unemployment-gordon-brown-obama-stimulus