THE INDIE
There is no finer reader of a Premiership run-in than Sir Alex Ferguson, so perhaps we should not have been surprised at his prescience yesterday. Man-chester United, he warned in the match programme, could not depend on blitzing opponents every week and, not for the first time, he was right.
They defeated Charlton Athletic, but it was the sort of grinding performance that wins championships rather than the fantasy football that attracts admirers. Faced by a team whose endeavour and spirit belied their position near the foot of the table, United got the three points their title hopes demanded, but you would have got long odds on the scorers, particularly if you had predicted both goals would come from headers.
Park Ji-Sung scored his fourth goal as a United player while Darren Fletcher got his seventh eight minutes from time, and while both have their merits as midfield players, no one would describe them as budding Tommy Taylors. Championships are won frequently by teams who keep their heads; in United's case, those heads were on surprising shoulders.
"It was a difficult game," Ferguson said, applauding Charlton as much as his own players. "It was a surprising performance because teams at the bottom of the table don't always have the confidence to play. They came out and acquitted themselves well.
"One-nil means nothing, you can concede a goal in a moment, so our second was very important. For the first time this season the pitch looked dry and bouncy, and maybe that's why we weren't as fluid as we can be."
The pitch was mitigating circumstance one, but head and shoulders higher were Charlton, who have now lost their past 10 Premiership matches against United but who were anything but cowed yesterday. On paper, top versus second bottom looked a formality; in reality it was a hard game, the theme set by the opening 20 minutes. United began with a flourish, Park and Louis Saha provoking diving saves from Scott Carson within six minutes, but Charlton could have taken the lead twice minutes later. First Dennis Rommedhal found the side-netting after Marcus Bent had sliced through midfield, then Darren Ambrose caused palpitations in the home defence with a header that Tomasz Kuszczak tipped round the post.
United's great virtue this season is that their goals have come from a multitude of sources and, after 24 minutes, they found another: Park's head. The South Korean has a habit of abandoning his judgement when he gets near the goal, so it was a surprise when he reacted quicker than anyone else as Patrice Evra's cross from the left deviated off Madjid Bougherra's attempted tackle and looped in the air. Park, who had moved off his wing, spotted the opportunity and rose above Ben Thatcher to force the ball into the corner.
United played much of the second half in such a subdued manner you could have been forgiven for thinking this was a meaningless end-of-season fixture. Charlton, sensing they might be catching the League leaders dozing, pressed forward.
THE OBSERVER
The news that Manchester United had slipped from second to fourth in the world's richest clubs list might have given a Glazer brother or two the odd sleepless night last week. The club were after all top of the pile for eight consecutive years until being deposed by Real Madrid 12 months ago. Yet your average fan is unlikely to give a tinker's cuss about who owns the most pennies so long as the wins keep coming and this latest three points had a tremendous air of inevitability about it.
Charlton came to Old Trafford with the best away record of the sides in the bottom three, which sounded vaguely encouraging until you considered the abysmal form of the other two. Away defeat number 11 from 14 attempts came about thanks to a goal in each half from Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher. But this was a strangely off-colour performance by United.
On another day, Charlton could even have come away from the north-west with something. The fact that arguably the biggest cheer of the afternoon welcomed the announcement of Liverpool's demise at Newcastle says it all.
Sir Alex Ferguson's assertion in the match programme that 'I don't think you can say any one match is harder than the other' was put to the test during the opening exchanges as United set about testing Scott Carson's goal at will.
In the sixth minute Park powered into the visitors' penalty area and fired in a right-foot drive that the Charlton goalkeeper did well to push over the bar. From the resulting corner Ryan Giggs turned Ben Thatcher before delivering a right-foot cross that Louis Saha met smartly, Carson again blocking low to his left.
A United goal seemed imminent, so it came as something of a surprise even to Charlton's fans when the visitors proceeded to create two decent chances of their own. First Marcus Bent played in Dennis Rommedahl, who should have done better than find the side netting with a shot from 15 yards. Two minutes later Osei Sankofa delivered a hanging cross from the left that was met by Darren Ambrose. This time it was Tomasz Kuszczak's turn to excel in goal, diving full length to his left to concede a corner.
It was, however, too good to last. In the 24th minute Saha found just enough space on the left flank to put in a cross, the ball taking a massive deflection off Sankofa before falling to Park, whose header from five yards out gave Carson no chance.
Now normal service was resumed as United, bereft of the cold-ridden Cristiano Ronaldo, took control of the remainder of the first half. Wayne Rooney, absent from England duty here in midweek, went close to scoring a beauty even by his recent standards in collecting a chipped pass from Giggs, wrong-footing Souleymane Diawara and stabbing a right-foot shot just wide of Carson's right post.
With large sections of Old Trafford making for their prawn sandwiches, Saha found the side netting from close range, admittedly when faced by a tight angle, after Gary Neville's cross fell at his feet via a rebound off Madjid Bougherra.
THE SUNDAY TIMES
Christmas is long gone, but the fixture list for Manchester United has taken on the aspect of an advent calendar. Tick off the days, keep opening doors and a miracle will come into view.
Not many expected Sir Alex Fergu-son's side to be leading Chelsea at this stage of the season, but this was another date on the calendar checked off without mishap. With goal difference in their favour, United will be champions with nine more wins. There was nothing exciting behind the doors at Old Trafford yesterday but supporters are keen enough for the league trophy to accept a routine performance.
Not until Darren Fletcher nodded into an empty goal eight minutes from time was the result secured, with United missing the passing of Michael Carrick and Cristiano Ronaldo's X-factor against a negative yet dogged Charlton Athletic. They also suffered without Henrik Larsson, but once he arrived as a substitute, the game's best player, Wayne Rooney, had an accomplice and the pair fashioned the decisive moment for Fletcher.
Rooney found Larsson 25 yards out and the Swede calmly held the ball in close quarters before squeezing in a clever return ball. From there, Rooney displayed the footballing brain that, more than anything, makes him unique. He drove into the box and shot against Scott Carson and, when the rebound arrived at his feet, did the unexpected by leaning back and deliberately slicing the ball into the air to his right. Fletcher and Larsson stood in space and the Scot claimed the glory.
The pitch, suffering the effects of bad weather and Wednesday's England game, was buttery. Charlton are plainly in a jam. The transfer window came and went without any signings to improve the squad in terms of quality and, although the new manager has improved motivation, there is no disguising the tactical and technical deficiencies in Alan Pardew's team.
They arrived with one seeming hope, that United would have a very off, off day and that the physical presence of Marcus Bent and the loan signing Alexandre Song would make them competitive. For spells in the first half, this happened, but in other patches, they could only watch their opponents from the wrong end of a wide footballing gulf.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
It was a satisfactory afternoon for Manchester United, who took another firm step towards the restoration of their erstwhile status - six points and 18 goals ahead with just 11 matches left, they should be champions now - and not a wholly discouraging one for Charlton either.
While neither Alan Pardew nor his team enjoyed losing, they would be the first to acknowledge that their prospects of staying in the Premiership were always less likely to be affected by this match than their next. And nobody even remotely connected with Charlton will need any reminding that is two weeks hence, at home to the West Ham of Alan Curbishley, who expertly guided the club's fortunes for so many years, becoming almost a sort of mid-table Sir Alex Ferguson, before taking a rest from management at the end of last season.
Pardew, into whose job he stepped after the Norwegian take-over at Upton Park, saw his Charlton go down with a degree of honour here, limiting the number of United openings and trailing by but a single goal until the closing stages, when Darren Fletcher nodded his third of the season. Some of the credit had to go to Wayne Rooney, who, not for the first time on his return, displayed lovely control before trying a shot that Scott Carson parried but could not prevent from reaching Fletcher on the rebound.
To no one's great surprise, Rooney had recovered from the hip injury that caused him to miss England's friendly against Spain on this ground: an occasion best remembered for Andres Iniesta's smart goal and the storm of booing with which it concluded, prompting Gary Neville to berate the crowd for not being as tolerant and supportive as United's. Perhaps it would have been different had the customers been delivered a half-decent performance; this was certainly the best by a home side at Old Trafford since United beat Watford 11 days ago.
With United bent on the title and back in form after what Ferguson chose to regard as a wake-up call at Arsenal - less partial observers might have mistaken it for a thrilling vindication of the persistent passing football in which United, too, believe - the chances of Charlton interrupting their progress had seemed slim all along. Especially as they fielded two debutants. Yet Alexandre Song, a midfielder from Arsenal, and Madjid Bougherra, a defender late of Sheffield Wednesday, played their full parts in making United work and wait for a ninth consecutive home victory in the Premiership.
Man of the Match: Darren Fletcher gets more than his fair share of disparagement, but he is a good player. He made sure the injured Michael Carrick was not too greatly missed - as well as finishing Charlton off with the second goal.
Moment of the Match: Wayne Rooney's piece of magic towards the end of the first half, when he teased the Charlton defence before narrowly missing the target; with some players (above all Pele), you remember even their misses.
Rating: 6/10