Manchester United 2-2 Sunderland

Where did that dismal performance come from, and yet we still managed to get a point from it. The first half was a real shocker and i had visions of us getting beat by two or three at half time we were that bad. They could hardly string two passes together in the first half. Full marks to Sunderland they came and had a right go at us, especially in the first half. The mackems looked menacing going forward and won almost all the fifty fifty challenges and when Bent scored a fine goal after just 7 minutes it looked like we had got more than all of us had bargained for, fans and players alike. I must admit i saw Chelsea demolish them at their place earlier in the season and on that evidence i could see nothing but an easy three points. But a month and a half later they were a completely different proposition looking strong in midfield and menacing up top playing with two men up front in Jones and Bent.
Nani had one of those games where you wonder what anybody sees in him as he was completely bullied out of the game by first Richardson at left back and then Bardsley at right back, two ex reds. It turned out not to be the best time to give Welbeck his first senior outing of the season, he just never really got into it. He looks like he still needs to strenghten up a bit against the physical challenge posed by teams like Sunderland on Saturday. Scholes had an off day, as did Rooney and for me only Berbatov gave a real performance. Their forwards gave Evans and Vidic a hard time and even Evra looked shaky at times in the first half.
Anderson came on for Scholes at half time, but i wasn't too sure about that myself. Alright Scholes hadn't played well and we looked a bit lightwight in midfield, but that was as much about our wide men not contributing. And of course we lost our only real creative spark in midfield with no Giggs on the bench. All that talk about players having to walk up to the plate now Ronaldo has gone doesn't look any more convincing when we still rely on our last two class of 92 who still perform regularly. As if on cue the first thing Anderson did was give the ball away, but to be fair to him he had a reasonable game, no more though, and did help change the course of the game as United started to get to grips with the contest without ever playing anywhere near their best. I am as inclined to think he took Scholes off with two yellow cards a distinct possibility with us playing so poorly after his first half booking.
The equaliser fittingly enough was scored by easily our best player on the day for me. A fine acrobatic goal from a set piece from the right saw us back in the game with hopefully enough time to go on and get the winner. And then came the howler from Foster, and it was a howler, as Jones out muscled him to head it over the line. So it was back to trying to salvage a draw as the idea of scoring two when we were playing this bad was nil. We were only inches from being 3-1 down when Carrick made a desperate clearance after not long being on the pitch.
United huffed and puffed but didn't really look like blowing the Sunderland goal down until Richardson needlessly got himself sent off, the ref was absolutely correct. The one blot on the Sunderland performance was their time wasting, and i thought Fergie was absolutely right that their should have been more injury time than there was. Not that we deserved to win that is, i thought we just about did enough to deserve the draw. The goal was scrappy when it did come, but, who cares, they all count. And it's still what seperates us from the rest, the abilty to get something when everything looks lost.
Two last thoughts on the game are that the pitch didn't help us on the day with being nothing like the slick surface we saw on Wednesday. The other i'm afraid is that i am not on my own in thinking that Foster is not looking anything like the long term goalscoring replacement that we are so desperate for. It isn't just the mistakes, but his reaction to them, he threatened to go to pieces after the mistake on Saturday. He isn't the greatest with the ball at his feet at the best of times but on Saturday we all winced every time the ball was passed back to him. And we were right to do, because he had gone.

Fergie must explain his remarks about referee Wiley
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8290244.stm

Paul Hayward on Raul and Giggs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/oct/04/raul-ryan-giggs

Ronaldo doesn't play and Real get beat
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/cristianoronaldo/6261308/Cristiano-Ronaldo-absence-not-to-blame-for-Real-Madrid-defeat-says-coach.html

Cruyff thinks Messi's new contract is too long
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/6261456/Lionel-Messi-deal-was-wrong-for-Barcelona-says-Johan-Cruyff.html

Lockerbie trial gets murkier and murkier
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/oct/04/raul-ryan-giggs
I could never believe he was found guilty at the time, all the evidence was thin and circumstancial to say the least

Cameron and the tories tied in knots over Europe again
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/oct/05/tory-party-europe-row