Glory Glory, Manchester United!!

United's Winning Ways

For United supporters, like myself, Christmas could not get any better as we have guaranteed our spot on top of the Premier League after today's win against Sunderland. 

I am excited about how great our team has come together, working well and their passing is nearly master class compared to other teams. 

Derby Match

Every football fan in the city of Manchester knew that on the 9th of December, it was going to be one of the most important matches for both teams that reside within' the city.

Going in this game, United sat on top of the League by only a handful of points against second place City, who wanted to catch United on points. 

City had an unbeaten record at home at the Etihad Stadium and were looking to push the record on, as they have made their home a pure footballing fortress. 

Start of the match, City pushed hard for fifteen minutes, really testing United defense  which has had a run of bad form with many injuries plaguing the back line, but they held the Blue advance, and on a brilliant piece of counter attacking, struck first against the home side with an amazing piece of play between Evra, Young, and Rooney.

After this goal, City took another blow as Captain and main defender, Vincent Kompany came off for Kolo Toure as he picked up an injury and had to get it checked out. 

 A bit over ten minutes saw United really start to take control of the game as Rafael and Valencia, a partnership that has proven itself over and over already for United, began their one-two run down the side lines.

As City defenders looked to close down the pair running down the wing, Rooney slowly crept into the box, getting a pass from Rafael to punt into the box, giving him a brace of goals and United a two to nill lead. 

The game went into half time, with United leading 2-0 and City left with nothing but questions, no answers. United were completely in form, dominating when they had the ball and defending really well, only allowing a couple of chances from City.

The second half started off with a bang, with United almost getting two more goals when one hit off the wood work by RVP, bouncing to Young who was deemed offside, and the other coming when Evra was clipped inside City's Box, but it was not called to much objection from United fans.

City came back though, with hunger in their eyes not to be swept under the rug so easily. City pounded on the door of the Red Wall, as United tried to defend that clean sheet, De Gea making great saves, but it was City who scored their first goal at the 60th minute by Yaya Toure from the center of the box, giving hope to all Blue supporters.

I could not get any gifs of the Manchester City goals, so I apologize.

At the 86th minute, after much pressure from Manchester City, hoping to get another goal and draw the game, Pablo Zabaleta followed up Yaya Toure's strike by pounding it home, giving them the goal they needed to tie up the game.

Then, in the third minute of injury time, Rafael was pushing up the wing, then started to press down into the box when Carlos Tevez came from behind and clipped his heels, drawing a free kick for United.

RVP and Rooney stood next to each other, covering their mouths as they chatted about who was going to take it. After the game, RVP mentioned to Sky Sports News when interviewed that he told Wayne Rooney that he wanted to take it, he could make it. 

It wound up with him being right, as Manchester City made their wall, RVP ran up and took the kick, it brushed on Nasri's leg and went soaring in, the Etihad Stadium erupting as United fans went wild, as well as City fans.

After this, City tried for the handful of seconds they had the ball, then the Ref called the game with Manchester United's 3 goals beating Manchester City's 2.

United players celebrated with each other, beating their most bitter rivals and getting revenge for last year's losses to City. The City Fans went absolutely crazy, throwing huge amounts of coins and missiles at all of the players, with Ferdinand getting clipped above the eye, giving him a nasty wound. 

A Manchester City Fan also stormed the field, going after Rio but only to be stopped by Manchester City Goal Keeper, Joe Hart, who grabbed the fan and held him till officials came and wrestled the fan off the pitch.

It was a massive win for United, obviously it is not the number one most important match since we aren't even halfway through the Premier League Season, but it is a huge boost for United, to be able to go away to City and grab all three points. 

It was a shame the game ended in the way it did, both teams did very excellent but after an emotional game like that, it's hard to not imagine something like this happening, but come on, drawing blood from a player because your team failed you is just down right silly. 

Sunderland

Today's game saw Sunderland travelling away to Old Trafford to face Manchester United at home. After coming off a huge Derby match win, there were a few pundits who wondered if United could keep carrying on their brilliant form, and today The Red Devils proved that they can.

It only took sixteen minutes before Robin Van Perise, the big summer signing for United, booted home the first goal for United, giving them an early lead.

A few minutes later, Thomas Cleverley came and slotted home a beautiful ball after receiving from Carrick, with this middle of the field partnership proving to work really well together in today's match. 

First half ended with United sitting comfortably in the game, two nill ahead.

The Blackcats tried hard to get a goal that would get them in the game, and came close many times, but eventually it was United again, who scored. RVP, who kept trying to pass the ball and get more assists, dodged two Sunderland defenders while setting up Rooney, who would tap home United's 3rd goal. 

Frazier Cambell would score a nice header after another United defense blunder, but from that the game ended 3-1, with Vidic, who was injured for a while, came on and played out the rest of the game. 

The Way Manchester United Is Playing

It's amazing to think about how many problems we had last season are seemingly not that visible lately, minus our continuing problem of keeping the ball out of the net. 

Manchester United is setting up brilliant counter attacking players, a lot of the time holding onto possession and dominating in a lot of the areas. 

Since the start of the season, United's main line up was never really known, with every game having a different line ups then the previous game. It wasn't till late October/early November that United found it's main line up, and it breaks down like this:

RVP sits comfortably out front, doing what he does best.

Rooney sits behind him, feeding him and the wingers balls all day, while managing to sneak into the box and get glorious goals

On the wings we have had the consistent line up of Young (LM) and Evra(LB) working together, while on the other side we have Valencia(RM) and Rafael(RB) working together. 

Then down the middle, we are offered with plently of options, which include today's line up of Carrick and Cleverley, working well together. We also have Fletcher, Scholes, Nick Powell, and Giggs, all who are fit right now and able to play.

Now, with Vidic playing a bit in today's match, we have our defenders almost sorted. We can have a great rotation of Rio, Vidic, Jones, Evans, and Smalling, all fighting for time to play and all, hopefully, giving their best games. 

It breaks down to a pretty fluid 4-2-3-1 which has worked out great for United and keeps proving itself over and over with every game.

Theory Crafting

One has to wonder what is next for Manchester United, with the Winter Transfer Window coming up soon and some problems still showing up in some matches, who can United bring in to fix those? 

Right now, we have Anderson, Kagawa, and Nani all out with injuries.

 Anderson has really stepped up his game and has been a beautiful player in the central midfield role, and I cannot wait to see him play again with Carrick and the others, giving Sir Alex Ferguson and United supporters faith that we won't have to worry about a shaky midfield anymore.

Kagawa, was and is an very interesting but neat buy that Fergie picked up. He played in the early stages of the season and after playing six matches, had two goals and as assist for United. 

But I am not sure how he is going to fit in, bearing in mind that he usually plays in the CAM role, which is being filled by Rooney.

I am of the opinion that Kagawa, if he wants to be playing first team a lot, will either have to adapt to another position, such as being a winger, which will make more sense for the way he plays and his build, or even trying to drop back in the CM role, which has a lot of contenders already fighting for first team play. 

He could obviously play in his more natural role at CAM, if RVP is having a bad game and Fergie feels like moving Rooney up to his spot and bringing Kagawa on, but that means he is a super sub, which isn't bad for some players but I believe he deserves more play.

It's either he changes, or the team changes and right now I do not see that happening unless this formation stops producing results for us. 

Then we end up with Mr. Problematic, Nani. There are so many rumors about him, we all really cannot be sure if he is going to stay with United throughout the rest of the season and then go, or will he go during the Winter Transfer window? He had about a half of a game that he played like himself, but otherwise he has not produce any good form since last season, and it is a bit depressing to watch. 

I am of the opinion that it is time for Nani and United need to part ways to benefit for both parties. If Nani stays, and Kagawa is able to play in a winger role, then that means Nani is going to be dropped even farther back on the pecking order and that can cause a row within' the team, which we do not need right now while our emotions are flying high.

Nani deserves to be playing every game, and maybe he just can no longer produce brilliant games for United anymore, so a move away can help him continue his great career. Especially now that Ashley Young has proven that he can play consistently and his partnership is solid with Evra. 

I really am enjoying United's style right now of play, between their formation, the players, and the fluid play is beautiful to watch and I am glad to see United bring this kind of play back to the Premier League, after struggling in the past couple of seasons with so many problems and injuries. 

Next for United, in of course my opinion, is to find Ryan Giggs replacement(s). Nick Powell is a young kid, who has gotten a couple of matches under his belt with United and is proving that he will grow into a great midfielder, but it does not help that we are still relying on our two old guard players, Ryan Giggs (39) and Paul Scholes (38). 

Both are supreme legends at Manchester United, and I believe their skills can be used better as midfield coaches to raise players like Nick Powell and others up. 

They both still posses their brilliant passing and crossing skills, but they lack the pace and stamina to last long at all. Right now, they either play in not so important matches with the kids to give them veteran experience, or they are brought on late to give United that last few minutes of brilliance and to hold the midfield. 

Michael Carrick is also 31 years old, which isn't bad but if he got a really bad injury it could be career ending at this point. Buying a more experienced CM to come in and bring support, we can make sure Ryan Giggs can have his retirement at the end of this season. 

Sadly, United missed out on some big targets this past transfer window, people like Lukas Modric and Eden Hazard, which would have really been great for United, but there are other options, including Wesley Sneijder, who United almost picked up last season and is going through contract disputes with his current club.

There are also players like Kevin Strootman, Victory Wanyama, and even Theo Walcott. The options are there, all of them very good options for United to let Giggsys off after this season. I would say let us hold onto Paul Scholes for one more season, giving us to have him as a super back up and an Veteran that we can rely on during our desperate times. 

And the Reds go marching on, on on!

Right now, I could not ask for much more from Manchester United. Their play is beautiful  we have seemingly created a solid and brilliant midfield, all of our strikers are on fire, and our two wing partnerships are working like a smooth machine. 

With the return of Vidic and De Gea working every game to better himself as a GK, the future looks great for Manchester United.