Man Utd 1-0 Wigan

[Twan]

Manchester United hold on for a victory which takes them second in the Premier League above Chelsea. Thanks to Wayne Rooney's 54th-second goal, they are now two points behind the leaders Liverpool with a game in hand. They haven't conceded a goal in nine league games - one short of Chelsea's record of 10. AND it means the top six have all lost as many games as their position in the table, ie Liverpool 1 defeat, Man Utd 2, Chelsea 3 etc etc. Got all that?

[Lazie]

Manchester United hold on for a victory which takes them second in the Premier League above Chelsea. Thanks to Wayne Rooney's 54th-second goal, they are now two points behind the leaders Liverpool with a game in hand. They haven't conceded a goal in nine league games - one short of Chelsea's record of 10. AND it means the top six have all lost as many games as their position in the table, ie Liverpool 1 defeat, Man Utd 2, Chelsea 3 etc etc. Got all that?

Pay attention ... yuh watching cream rising to the top!

[Jangle]

Westman, this is for you. It was taken from the match report:
Wigan are an altogether different proposition to Chelsea, but Sir Alex predicted his side could expect “an equally testing time”. But, when it comes down to it, Wigan were like the Nicholas Cage action film: gone in 60 seconds. Less than a minute had elapsed when Dimitar Berbatov’s exquisite pass with the outside of his boot found Cristiano Ronaldo on the right. The Portuguese, who paraded his FIFA World Player of the Year award before kick-off, showed his class with a flurry of stepovers and a drilled pass across the face of goal that Wayne Rooney calmly tapped home.

[Westman]

Wow! I was very clear that I like stepovers. He obviously caught a surprised defender at the beginning of the game when he was not ready for the stepover. However, my problem is the overuse of the stepover. For example, the other day he used about 3 or 4 times in the same game and lost the ball everytime. Many of the top players look for it. In fact a good Big Side friend of mine, who posts on this site, joked to me this week that whenever he does that against Arsenal he almost always loses the ball and looks silly.
The element of surprise is what I like.

[Jangle]

What about the element of knowing that the move is coming yet as a defender you still can't touch the ball. That is just part of his repertoire of tricks. Robinho does it too, also Ashley Young; should Ronaldhino stop making those no-look passes? That's what makes the game sweet.

[Peter R]

The bubble soon burst...just a question of time

[Westman]

Bredrin, for the last time, I said I have a problem with the overuse of it. I am not saying anyone should stop it all together. I cited a specific example of how he used it numerous times in a single game and it did not work at all. In fact he lost the ball every time. In the last game they attacked at the very start of the game and he caught the defender off guard before anyone could settle into the game. The element of surprise worked. Have I not stated that I like stepover moves? So why misinterpret what I say?

Have a good day!

[Westman]

The KOP bubble? I think it already burst.