Still Following the Trawler

Good. Super super Dimi . His first United league goal coming off the bench may well be his most important. The hattricks, stunning over-head kicks and five-in-a-game performances mean nothing if they don't contribute to a successful season, arguably evident in the fact that our 20 goal man has had to watch on from the bench as the Rooney-Hernandez partnership has flourished in recent games. However on a day that we were being increasingly frustrated by a resilient Bolton team and Arsenal were held by West Brom (they drew and lost two points. Remember that. So any reports you read suggesting it was a great Arsenal fight back are lies), Berbs' scrambled goal in the 87th minute was simply perfect. Our previous two league defeats on the trot were horrible and could have been utterly detrimental to our season, however thanks to legendary Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson's West Brom side playing for their lives against the Gooners, coupled with the dramatic finale to our game, tho...

Good. Nani. 2 goals and 6 assists (including one of each yesterday). The whipping boy this time last season has shockingly become our most pivotal and creative player. Who would've thought. Owen. It was three goals in two games for him last week...play him and he will score. Simple as that. Rooney's impact. Yes, he is a striker, and as a striker all we pretty much need him to do is score goals. Yet as we all know and love about the boy, Rooney's game is full of many more influential dimensions. Yesterday for example, he played a diagonal pass into the path of Berbs, beating the entire bemused Bolton defence in the process, that was so perfect, Berbatov thought the only thing he could do to complete a move created with such beauty  was to shoot and subsequently score a goal of equal treasure. But the daft bastard didn't take into account a couple of rather vital pointers. 1) The angle and distance on the shot was so impossible, not even 'super Berbatov who scores ...

After stupidly claiming yesterday that we were nicely boosted by Mr. Rooney passing his fitness test (bloody 'The Times Sport' predicted line-up!!), we were in fact NOT boosted by Mr. Rooney passing his fitness test at all. So in the absence of our top scorer, who better to capitalise on the goals than top scorers’ no.2 and no.3: Berbatov and o.g. It was the potent o.g. that struck first; yet, as always, it was all thanks to some awesome work by his team-mates. Nani’s vision and intuition played in the darting and forever sprightly Giggs, who whipped in a ball so treacherous that o.g. (this time in the form of Jlloyd Samuel) simply couldn’t miss. The game was still a bit edgy up until then (probably represented by the fact it took us nearly 40 minutes to find the net), yet it could’ve been so much worse had 2 of last seasons most reliable players not stepped up when it mattered. Firstly Vidic, who was generally immense all game (sorry, no real example there) and secondly, the ...

With games against Chelsea, Citeh and Tottenham still ahead of us, the last thing we need are points dropped today in one of the so-called easier fixtures of the run-in. But, as we all realise in this eclectic league, the words ‘easy fixtures’ are immediately synonymous with two others: ‘banana’ and ‘skin’. Owen Coyle’s not exactly setting things alight over there however it’s worth remembering that at this stage of the campaign, very few teams have nothing to play for. Bolton , as well as having a knack of enjoying themselves to a few points here and there against the bigger boys, are not quite safe yet (8 points off the drop with 7 games to go). Winning points today should all but keep them safe; and to call it doable is hardly ludicrous, especially with a manager who’s already beaten us this season. A hearty bonus for us though is the presence of a certain half-decent striker in our line-up; with Wazza, originally a doubt for today, seemingly fit enough to be involved. On a slight s...

…Well, that was all well and good, until Bolton’s one and only counter-attacking move, led by free-roaming Mark Davies – who moved comfortably from his own half to mid-way inside ours without a single challenge going in – knocked it wide to Kevin Davies, whose weak cross was rubbishy dealt with by Neville, as he was given another chance to whip it in and find Taylor for an undeserved goal. A few issues here: firstly, where was our midfield as M.Davies was untouchable running towards goal? Secondly, why did we have only 3 men inside the box as the second, successful cross went in (that's right, I counted)? And thirdly, why was Gary Neville playing?? After this well-worked yet shambolic (on our behalf) goal, Bolton were granted the sort of confidence and reassurance that nearly all other visiting teams have been offered this season; that provided by the realisation that United are actually pretty average – especially at the back – and can be broken with the right level urgency; as ...

In the 2 games I've attempted the ever-formulaic, routine convention of 'predict the result', it’s safe to say that I probably won't be running to Ladbrokes any time soon to place bets on the seasons remaining fixtures. After only 7 minutes against Sunderland, my 2-0 prediction went cock-up as Bent turned Jonny-O and squeezed his shot past Foster's post to give Sunderland a lead; and yesterday, after scoring 2 with only a third of the game gone, I thought my 2-0 prediction (well, 2-0's a safe bet really, isn't it?) was again going to be wiped right out as we took complete control of this game and dominated possession. We created chance after chance; Valencia confident on the wing, Evra attacking the left as powerfully and convincingly as ever, Berbatov's delicacy on the ball was constantly potent and dangerous, and generally, Bolton posed very little threat; happy to sit back and absorb the United attack, until, eventually, it would surely be too stron...