West Brom. 0-5 Man. United

Manchester United comprehensively beat West Brom by 5 goals at the Hawthorns, to move 3 points clear at the top of the League table.

United came into the match with a long injury list, but they started in imperious form. They passed the ball around full of confidence, with Ryan Giggs bossing the midfield. On 22 minuts, they broke the deadlock as some fine inter-play between Michael Carrick and Dimitar berbatov resulted in a chance for the Bulgarian, and he calmly finished past Scott Carsonto make it 1-0.

West Brom are capable of some attractive football too, and they were not looking to sit back and defend. They created a few chances, but some not0so-good finishing and some fine defending by the United back four, which included Rio Ferdinand for the first time this year, kept them from scoring. And their evening got even worse when they had Paul Robinson was sent off for a high-foot challenge on Park, although the red card seemed a bit harsh from ref Rob Styles.

United took control from then on, Carlos Tevez taking arvantage of a careless mistake by Carson to prod home and make it 2-0 before half-time. The game was effectively over as a contest when nemanja Vidic headed in a Giggs corner early in the second half, and Cristiano Ronaldo then joined the party, scoring a brace to make it 5-0.

United also broke Chelsea’s record for most consecutive clean sheets in the Premier League, as this was their 11th shut-out on the bounce.

Overall, a nice win for United, and this puts more pressure on title contenders Liverpool and Chelsea, who play on Wednesday.

Manchester United 2 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur

The Red Devils got through into the FA Cup 5th Round by beating Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. It was a tight clash for Tottenham who will also meet the Devils in the Carling Cup Final.

It was a superb goal by Berbatov who rapped up things for his side but it started with a Pavlyuchenko header in the fifth minute of the game putting the Spurs ahead. It was followed by an equalizer from Paul Scholes who struck the goal from a distance. Despite of the fact that United was playing a young side for the match the Spurs failed to win who were paying with a much stronger side. Carrick was apparently brilliant yesterday with his passes. I am sure the Spurs fans couldn’t digest Berbatov’s goal but that is part of the game.

The Spurs are already lagging in the Premiership table and the Carling and FA are two silverwares they are playing for this year but now it has just come down to the Carling Cup for them.

WAS IT WORTH IT??

Sir Alex Ferguson spent more than 30 million pounds on Berbatov making him one of biggest transfer ever. Last season Tevez -Rooney partnership blossomed through the season with Tevez scoring crucial goals in big matches making him an Old Trafford favourite. His work ethics and energy in the game is laudable too. But at times the need was felt of a fourth striker. Berbatov was a contentious choice to spend this large a money on.
Keeping in view the outcome of all these events during this season, the question arises, was the money worth it? Berbatov has scored only eight goals so far replacing Tevez who has been forced to sit on the bench which has seen him grow frustrated and has been linked with several big clubs including Real Madrid. It needs to be seen that whether this transfer purchase proves correct. With Tevez’s loan deal ending in summer; it looks unlikely that he will be tied down for few more years at least.

Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Manchester United

A 90th minute goal by Dimitar Berbatov gave Manchester United a narrow win over Bolton to send them top of the Premier League.

United dominated throughout but Bolton also threatened on the break and with the final whistle approaching it looked as though United would only get a point.

However, they were not to be denied and with the clock running down Carlos Tevez broke well down the right and found Berbatov in front of goal, the Bulgarian heading home to send his side top of the League table.

Sir Alex pleased with Berbatov

Manchester United manager has come out to praise his Bulgarian striker, Dimitar Berbatov. Although he has only managed a handful of goals since his 31 million euro move from Tottenham this summer, the manager said he was delighted with his player’s progress since joining the Red Devils.

The United boss said in The Sun, “I am delighted with the way things are going and I am especially pleased by Dimitar’s progress in settling into the team.”

Furthermore, Ferguson reckons Berbatov has had to deal with extra pressure from the press and the public due to the size of his transfer fee.

“When you pay a lot of money for a player, he inevitably comes under close scrutiny,” said the Scot.

“It happened to Juan Veron and Rio Ferdinand, and Dimitar has also suffered from the impatience of people when a new guy makes a big move.”

“At Tottenham, he orchestrated most of their play. If at times he has looked a bit isolated, it was because our players needed to adjust to him as much as he has needed to learn our ways,” he said.

“But he has settled in very well and I have the feeling that we are about to see the best of Berbatov.”

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