It was the biggest game of the season so far on Sunday and it was one of my matches so I was happier than a happy thing and geared up for this match more than any other this season. Football is largely irrational, trying to explain why United fans hate Chelsea is somewhat rational – they have bought the title, a rat of an ex Chief Executive of ours and they have achieved a dominance of the English league, which brings with it its own jealousy. The irrational part is that Frank Lampard and John Terry are the types of players who opposition fans just love to hate and add to that ex Gooner Ashley ‘show me the money’ Cole. Some players you just aren’t going to warm to, Ashley Cole is one of them. Perhaps that is the reason I cheered more than ever and leapt around like a demented maniac when Louis scored that goal, the first half United had been playing well up to that point although we hadn’t really found a way through. There was a moment when we were all screaming at Giggsy for taking the ball wide instead of heading for goal, but the moment when Saha seemed to take an eternity to put the ball in the back of the net was classic. He stopped, moved the ball on, moved it again and then just when you were ready to scream at him he curled a sublime ball into the corner of the net. Cue yours truly leaping up and grabbing hold of my Uncle and screaming at the top of my lungs, “You legend!” Not only was it a stupendous goal at a crucial time, it was scored by the man who had been in the headlines all week for his penalty miss against Celtic. That was a middle finger to everyone who doubted the man in that moment at Celtic Park.
This season it’s like we have signed a new player, very much coming into his own in the absence of RVN. In previous seasons my Dad and I used to sit there when the ball was lumped up the centre of the park, knowing that Saha would leap to nod the ball on to absolutely no-one and we would lose possession. It’s all going right for him this season and I am delighted.
The first half United played a blinder, the second half United did not and frankly I was relieved when the referee recovered his sight (missing especially for the incidents involving, Didier Drogba’s usual cheating, Ashley Cole and Cristiano Ronaldo). The point was well received. Winning and going six points clear would have been nice but it is not the United way to make things easy for ourselves. Not for us the easy life, we make things hard for ourselves and we always have. Bayern Munich 1:0 going into final minutes of the game anyone? After the disappointments of Celtic and Southend it was nice to see us very unaffected and our scorer most of all. It was also nice, however irrational, to remind Arjen Robben that he could have joined a bigger team at Old Trafford, remind Ashley Cole what we (and now Arsenal fans) think of him, and give the money grabbing “dyed in the wool” United fan Peter Kenyon a warm welcome back to the theatre of dreams.
Believe me, for a very sweet period of time on Sunday the rent boys of Chelsea were silent and it was the best feeling ever, and they were celebrating rather a lot at full time for a team that had only drawn the game and left their rivals clear at the top of the league. Stuffing the Chelsea rent boys is a good feeling, at least twice a year it is allowed.
Given to Score 