VIEW: United vs Wolves (a). 1-0

1-0 with just under 20 minutes go; yet the way the game was ending – with Wolves pressing and United
failing to convert their infrequent yet profound chances – the dying moments simply screamed the word ‘upset’.

And then that inevitable golden ‘oh my god I can’t believe
United dropped points at Molineux’ chance came. Carrick (who, it’s appropriate
to mention, had a poor game) cleared the ball weakly to a Wolves player, and then
with a fumbling passage of play, the ball eventually fell to the marginally
onside, and so completely unmarked, Volkes. Regardless of the legitimacy of his
status in the box (and of course the incapability’s of our defence as to why he
was alone in the first place), he had space and time to slot it in from about 6
yards. However instead he decided to sky it over. If that goal to equalise would
have all but finished our challenge (after Arsenal kept the pressure by beating
Burnley 3-1 at home), perhaps Volkes’ convenient forgetting
of the difference between football and that stupid game with conversions and
sin-bins all but saved us.

Being the pessimistic bastard I am, up until that divine
intervention in the 91st minute, I had already penned the title of
my post-match review: ‘United vs. Wolves: or why I hate International friendlies’.
It’s more than fair to say we lacked potency and a convincing attacking threat
without our most prolific and reliable front-man. Not only did Berbatov – as a
lone striker – fail to really test the Wolves defence, but our only attacking
option on the bench had an absolute shocker when he came on in an apparent and heavily failed attempt at giving us an added route to goal.

I’m still not sure what to think of Diouf, and I’m all for
not judging a player until they have had time to truly show their worth; but today,
with the half an hour of sloppy, wasteful football he played, he single
handedly and rather capably reduced the respect and praise he has earnt as a ‘promising
youngster’ to instead enter the realms of average and overrated. Harsh? Very! Especially
after all the ‘don’t judge’ crap I reeled off to introduce this paragraph. Still,
few would disagree that the boy has a lot to learn and maybe, just maybe, has
returned back from his loan spell at Molde too soon.

A win to take us top, scored by Scholesy’s 100th goal for United,
can just about overshadow the fact that we struggled – or at least failed to
impress – for much of this preconceived ‘easy 3 pointer’. However the
underlying realism is that we do in fact rely heavily on the presence, movement
and goals of Rooney.

Berbatov seemed lost, Owen’s out and Diouf…well…we’ll see.
But either way, we need to keep him fit and utilise him as cautiously and
effectively as possible. We thankfully no longer have to monitor Cappelo’s use of him for the remainder of this season,  so
it is now down to Sir Alex to keep him safe and, more importantly, find a way for Valencia's consistently immense contribution to work well with someone else other than just Rooney.

However failing that, it's looking like the only way we'll win the League is by wrapping him up in that fun poppy stuff, as well as relying on his professional attitude; one that was once reserved for today's goalscorer: he goes to work, scores goals, goes home (yet, unlike the shy retiring Mr.Scholes, feel free to add 'do stupid adverts that involved me beating myself in a game of one-on-one' in there).

Scholes, congratulations; and Wayne...come back soon please!