Saturday, September 16th - As United lines up against Stoke, an unspoken, yet collective thought dwells in the minds of every Manchester United fan watching on: "We got this." The rationale behind this confidence is simple. Manchester United has been performing fantastically, all of our starting players are fit, and Stoke isn't one of the tougher teams in the league. The reason that this thought remains unstated is also simple. In football nothing is certain. Any team can beat any other team on any day. Also, we're away from home! Let's not get ahead of ourselves!
As was expected, United dominated possession for most of the first half. Manchester's defense looked impenetrable and its attack formidable. Our passing was fluid and the creativity was there, but the final ball was simply lacking. And that is what's most important in football... I've watched far, far too many games where the "undeserving" team won. It's completely possible (and also commonplace) for a team to sit back and defend the whole match, never looking threatening, and then without notice score a goal out of nowhere that knocks the wind out of the other team for good. I pondered this frightening scenario as the first 45 minutes came to a close and the scoreline read 0-0.
The second half began and play resumed very similarly. United looked far better than Stoke, but at the same time, stagnant. Then, in the 56th minute, Sir Alex Ferguson made a tough decision to take Nani, the Portuguese winger out of the game and replace him with the seasoned veteran, Ryan Giggs. Giggs has been in this game for a long time. A very long time. At 35, he is by far the oldest player who is still considered dangerous in the premiership. In fact, Giggs has been criticized in recent months for being too old. They say he's over the hill and that he's just not physical enough for the modern game. Quite simply, they're wrong.
As soon as he came on, Giggs made an immediate impact on the match. His surging runs, expert crosses, and beautiful dribbling served to completely unsettle Stoke and really open the match up. The Red Devils' attack instantly became more potent and soon, it seemed that a goal was all but inevitable. In the 62nd minute, it was inevitable. Paul Scholes played a perfect, dissecting ball down the wing and into the box to Ryan Giggs, who showed his experience by slotting the ball to Berbatov with just one touch. Berbatov did all he needed to do: tapped the ball in and celebrated. 0-1.
Then, in the 77th minute, a Stoke foul gave us a free kick about 40 yards from goal. It was too far to have a shot, but not too far to try a cross into the box. Once again, the Welsch Wizard, Ryan Giggs, crafted the perfect pass to John O'Shea who headed it home. 0-2.
With a two goal lead against Stoke in the 77th minute, the game was United's. Reds all around the globe let out a sigh of relief and watched on in ecstasy, knowing that in just over ten minutes, they would be top of the table. The rest of the match played itself out and in the end it was 0-2 to United and three points were gained. And the Reds go marching ON ON ON!
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