We finally got some of our defence back and things started to look a little better against Hull and we started to play like a team once again. It was by no means a vintage performance but we did enough to bad the points and Wayne Rooney was both the star of the show and for a short period in the 2nd half also the villain. We stole a goal on the stroke of half time that was really as much as we deserved as we had at least 3 good clear cut chances to score although it has to be said they did have a good chance of their own and had a pretty blatant penalty appeal turned down when Wes Brown made a needless tackle and caught Garcia in the process. Apart from a couple of incidents we looked a lot stronger and Vidic brought a bit of much lacking stability and leadership that had been badly missing recently, as long as we can get by Wigan at the weekend then we only have the FA cup and Leeds to worry about and our biggest injury crisis in memory will hopefully be over with minimum bother and all the big guns back for the run in.
What should have been an easy match got a little tricky in the second half as we inexplicably sat back and tried to stroke it around. We didn’t make any attacking moves and we of course invited Hull back on to us and in to the game. They weren’t really causing too many problems until Rooney tracked back and hit a beauty of a through ball which had been intended as a back pass to one of their players and in the confusion that followed they were given a very soft penalty but you couldn’t really begrudge it too much to them and old lazy bones Alan Wiley probably saw the shocker of a decision he missed in the first half and gave them the benefit of the doubt. Hull levelling up gave us the kick up the hole that we needed and we were able to step it up a gear from then on and Sir Alex brought on the industrious Park to replace Giggs who to be honest didn’t have one of his best games and could probably do with a bit of a rest of a couple of sub appearances as he had signs of tired legs and with the games coming thick and fast at this time of year he needs the batteries recharged.
We started going forward and actually thinking about attacking and had some renewed energy again and it soon payed off with Rooney breaking free down the right and firing in a low fizzing cross for an own goal. If the first goal was lucky the second had a touch of Rooney class as he played the most delicate through ball through a defenders legs that none of us mortals could even have spotted. It was the moment of class that proved the difference and it is what separates teams at the top of the league from the ones at the bottom like Hull who will run themselves in to the ground but never have the money to buy players with the class of Rooney. Thats not a slight at Hull because they were as honest as they come and on another day they could have easily got a point out of the match.
The main reason we were transformed from this time last week was not that we had a defence (although that helped) but because Fletcher was back in the middle. His energy was immense and he seemed to be everywhere and I’d go as far as saying he would be one of the first on my team sheet. The thing I like about Fletcher is that he knows his limitations and he never tries the fancy stuff or the speculative pass like the likes of Anderson. He just closes the man down, more often thqn not wins the ball and gets it to somebody creative who can do something with it. Every great team has a “Makelele” and if we are to win this league then Fletcher needs to get a prolonged run in that position now that the defence is sorting itself out.
So in the end it was a fairly comfortable victory and one that we badly needed to bring us to within two points of the faltering Chelsea. The key is backing it up with a win against Wigan on Thursday and with a decent looking side taking shape and more people coming back from injury we will hopefully be in a position to do that. We are right in the mix as the business end of the season kicks off which is exactly what Sir Alex always says we need to do.
