MATCH VIEWS FROM THE BROADSHEETS
From the embers of the Premiership fire, apparently dead by mid-December, Manchester United fanned some flames to bring their supporters a warm glow on a bitter day with their sixth victory in seven games. The leaders, Chelsea, can hardly be said to be feeling the heat, but if they should lose at Arsenal this afternoon, their lead at Christmas will be reduced to a marginally less formidable six points.
The three United collected here came gift-wrapped, poor defensive work summing up a wretched Aston Villa performance and allowing Ruud van Nistelrooy's 15th goal of the season and Wayne Rooney's 10th. If only a single extra one from either player had come in Europe, the Champions' League draw on Friday would have been even more interesting.
Small consolation as it may seem, Sir Alex Ferguson believes that his team will now feel the benefit from a less demanding programme, though he feels they may have to remain unbeaten for the rest of the campaign to deny Chelsea.
That is asking a lot, for all the promise confirmed yesterday in the outstanding attacking partnership, backed up by a dominant midfield and even a solid defence. Alan Smith, suffering from a virus, was not missed as Darren Fletcher, the much criticised young Scot, enjoyed one of his better games - and the South Korean winger Park Ji-Sung tormented his old PSV Eindhoven team-mate Wilfred Bouma. This time, chants of "There's only one Keano" were a tribute to a departed hero rather than a complaint directed at the management.
THE OBSERVER – TITLE TILT? IT WOULD BE RUUD NOT TO
There is plenty of life in Manchester United yet. Six goals in their past two games, six wins in their past seven matches and now only six points behind Chelsea, who are away to Arsenal this afternoon. Much more of this and Sir Alex Ferguson might start talking to the papers again.
Or maybe not. Whatever happens at Highbury, there are no longer any grounds for getting carried away by easy victories over Aston Villa. Conspicuous banks of empty seats at the Holte End told their own story - a sign of the times for both teams, perhaps - although when the game got under way, at least United showed they are still worth watching.
Stroking the ball around as though it was on silken strings and showing such imaginative movements off it that Villa were left scratching their heads as if baffled by a conjurer, United could have been four goals to the good in the first half alone. Villa could not have complained. They moved the ball around as if it was a bag of cement and gave it away too frequently. Villa must have hit double figures for passing straight to opponents - even from free-kicks they could not find their own men - and employing Milan Baros as a lone striker was tantamount to running out behind a white flag.
THE SUNDAY TIMES – ROONEY CUTS VILLA DOWN TO SIZE
The Manchester United of old would have put six past such palsied opposition, but this most routine of victories sufficed to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premiership to six points, sparking renewed hope for the embattled Sir Alex Ferguson and his team.
It could be nine again come teatime today, if the defending champions beat Arsenal, but winning at Highbury is never a given, and United were all smiles as they headed back up the M6 yesterday. Ferguson, however, will not be fooling himself. Wigan and Villa are not Benfica, and talk of “bouncing back” is delusive. The shortcomings that embarrassed United in Europe have not been rectified in the space of 10 days, and their manager was quick to admit that they should have scored more against a woefully weak defence.
Only Sunderland have conceded more Premiership goals than Villa who, lest we forget, were humiliated by Doncaster Rovers three weeks ago. Ferguson said he was “really pleased” by a performance that leaves his team with six wins and a draw from their past seven league games, and there should be more points to come with holiday fixtures against Birmingham and West Brom. The acid test of their improvement will come at Arsenal on January 3. For the time being, if there is a concern for the Mancunian management it will be the fact that only Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney are scoring. Both were on target again yesterday, and they have now contributed 21 of United’s 30 goals this season, which means the contribution from elsewhere has been negligible.
THE SUNDAY TORYGRAPH – EASY PICKINGS FOR UNITED
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims that everyone hates his side. But since the arrival of Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, a generation of United haters are now, in fact, secretly cheering them on, football being a sport where villains and heroes never stay constant.
The pressure may be on Ferguson after his club's exit from the Champions League 10 days ago. But how Aston Villa's David O'Leary and a few other Premiership managers would love to be in the thick of the crisis that is enveloping Fergie, whose team made it six wins from seven league games, the other ending in a draw, to close the gap on Chelsea to six points.
During the most successful days of Ferguson's time at Old Trafford, such a small margin at Christmas would have almost made United favourites to snatch the title with one of their famous sprint finishes. And with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney in such rich scoring form, one still cannot completely rule them out of it, whatever Paddy Power say and whatever Chelsea achieve at Arsenal today.
United have such a long spell of dominance over Villa, it being 10 years and 24 games since they last lost to them, that it would have been easier on the home fans if they had spared United the trip and simply put the three points under the tree for them.
As it was, they could not have come more gift-wrapped from a Villa defence that clearly never saw their boss in action during a distinguished playing career.
So desperate was O'Leary to protect his back four that he packed his midfield with five players and asked Milan Baros to take on United's defence on his own, which gave them so little to do that even Rio Ferdinand started making charging runs upfield. O'Leary said afterwards: "I don't like playing that way but I felt we had to squeeze them for space. But United were fantastic today and totally outclassed us. We were helpless."
United had to make last-minute adjustments to their squad when Alan Smith and Louis Saha were laid low with viruses. But who needs those two when you have Rooney and Van Nistelrooy, who Ferguson sarcastically described as "a promising partnership".
With so much space for them to work, it was inevitable that they would load some more booty into their treasure chest of goals.
The three United collected here came gift-wrapped, poor defensive work summing up a wretched Aston Villa performance and allowing Ruud van Nistelrooy's 15th goal of the season and Wayne Rooney's 10th. If only a single extra one from either player had come in Europe, the Champions' League draw on Friday would have been even more interesting.
Small consolation as it may seem, Sir Alex Ferguson believes that his team will now feel the benefit from a less demanding programme, though he feels they may have to remain unbeaten for the rest of the campaign to deny Chelsea.
That is asking a lot, for all the promise confirmed yesterday in the outstanding attacking partnership, backed up by a dominant midfield and even a solid defence. Alan Smith, suffering from a virus, was not missed as Darren Fletcher, the much criticised young Scot, enjoyed one of his better games - and the South Korean winger Park Ji-Sung tormented his old PSV Eindhoven team-mate Wilfred Bouma. This time, chants of "There's only one Keano" were a tribute to a departed hero rather than a complaint directed at the management.
THE OBSERVER – TITLE TILT? IT WOULD BE RUUD NOT TO
There is plenty of life in Manchester United yet. Six goals in their past two games, six wins in their past seven matches and now only six points behind Chelsea, who are away to Arsenal this afternoon. Much more of this and Sir Alex Ferguson might start talking to the papers again.
Or maybe not. Whatever happens at Highbury, there are no longer any grounds for getting carried away by easy victories over Aston Villa. Conspicuous banks of empty seats at the Holte End told their own story - a sign of the times for both teams, perhaps - although when the game got under way, at least United showed they are still worth watching.
Stroking the ball around as though it was on silken strings and showing such imaginative movements off it that Villa were left scratching their heads as if baffled by a conjurer, United could have been four goals to the good in the first half alone. Villa could not have complained. They moved the ball around as if it was a bag of cement and gave it away too frequently. Villa must have hit double figures for passing straight to opponents - even from free-kicks they could not find their own men - and employing Milan Baros as a lone striker was tantamount to running out behind a white flag.
THE SUNDAY TIMES – ROONEY CUTS VILLA DOWN TO SIZE
The Manchester United of old would have put six past such palsied opposition, but this most routine of victories sufficed to cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premiership to six points, sparking renewed hope for the embattled Sir Alex Ferguson and his team.
It could be nine again come teatime today, if the defending champions beat Arsenal, but winning at Highbury is never a given, and United were all smiles as they headed back up the M6 yesterday. Ferguson, however, will not be fooling himself. Wigan and Villa are not Benfica, and talk of “bouncing back” is delusive. The shortcomings that embarrassed United in Europe have not been rectified in the space of 10 days, and their manager was quick to admit that they should have scored more against a woefully weak defence.
Only Sunderland have conceded more Premiership goals than Villa who, lest we forget, were humiliated by Doncaster Rovers three weeks ago. Ferguson said he was “really pleased” by a performance that leaves his team with six wins and a draw from their past seven league games, and there should be more points to come with holiday fixtures against Birmingham and West Brom. The acid test of their improvement will come at Arsenal on January 3. For the time being, if there is a concern for the Mancunian management it will be the fact that only Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney are scoring. Both were on target again yesterday, and they have now contributed 21 of United’s 30 goals this season, which means the contribution from elsewhere has been negligible.
THE SUNDAY TORYGRAPH – EASY PICKINGS FOR UNITED
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claims that everyone hates his side. But since the arrival of Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, a generation of United haters are now, in fact, secretly cheering them on, football being a sport where villains and heroes never stay constant.
The pressure may be on Ferguson after his club's exit from the Champions League 10 days ago. But how Aston Villa's David O'Leary and a few other Premiership managers would love to be in the thick of the crisis that is enveloping Fergie, whose team made it six wins from seven league games, the other ending in a draw, to close the gap on Chelsea to six points.
During the most successful days of Ferguson's time at Old Trafford, such a small margin at Christmas would have almost made United favourites to snatch the title with one of their famous sprint finishes. And with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney in such rich scoring form, one still cannot completely rule them out of it, whatever Paddy Power say and whatever Chelsea achieve at Arsenal today.
United have such a long spell of dominance over Villa, it being 10 years and 24 games since they last lost to them, that it would have been easier on the home fans if they had spared United the trip and simply put the three points under the tree for them.
As it was, they could not have come more gift-wrapped from a Villa defence that clearly never saw their boss in action during a distinguished playing career.
So desperate was O'Leary to protect his back four that he packed his midfield with five players and asked Milan Baros to take on United's defence on his own, which gave them so little to do that even Rio Ferdinand started making charging runs upfield. O'Leary said afterwards: "I don't like playing that way but I felt we had to squeeze them for space. But United were fantastic today and totally outclassed us. We were helpless."
United had to make last-minute adjustments to their squad when Alan Smith and Louis Saha were laid low with viruses. But who needs those two when you have Rooney and Van Nistelrooy, who Ferguson sarcastically described as "a promising partnership".
With so much space for them to work, it was inevitable that they would load some more booty into their treasure chest of goals.