Tuesday 31/01/2012
Premier League
Manchester United move level on points at the top of the table after comfortable victory over Stoke.
After last Saturday's disappointing defeat at Anfield last weekend, United were looking to bounce back in pursuit of the Premier League title. There was a surprise in the starting line up as Ben Amos was handed his first ever League start after Anders Lindegaard and David de Gea missed the game through injury and illness respectively. This meant that United's forgotten man Tomasz Kuszczak was United's substitute keeper. Dimitar Berbatov and Chicharito were both selected up front with Danny Welbeck on the bench.
This meant Wayne Rooney and Luis Nani were again rested as they both recovered from knocks picked up in the 2-1 win over Arsenal. The game started at a slow pace with United holding the ball in midfield with composed passing from midfield duo Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick. United lacked drive as they struggled to involve Chicharito and
Berbatov in the action. Despite the lack of guile, United were by far the better team as Stoke provided almost nothing going forward as strikers Kenwyne Jones and Peter Crouch were reduced to speculative efforts from outside the area.
One bright spark for United was again Antonio Valencia, who looked threatening down the right flank. It took until after the half an hour mark for the first clear cut chance, when Paul Scholes saw a trademark strike from the edge of the area glance wide for a corner. Just as it seemed the teams were happy to play out until the break on level terms United got a spring in their step, as Park Ji-Sung played his way into the box he was brought down by Jermaine Pennant to hand United a penalty. Chicharito stepped up and confidently stroked the ball into the corner of the net to give the reds the lead.
Moments later United should have had a second penalty as Patrice Evra was again brought down in the area, this time the referee Mike Jones waved the shout away. United went into half time one goal to the good and in complete control of the tie. The second half start much as the first finished with the home side dominated proceeding and slowly but surely stamping their authority on the game. In the 53rd minute United extended their lead, and it came from the spot again, as Berbatov placed the ball calmly past Thomas Sorensen after Antonio Valencia had been fouled by Jonathan Walters.
United were now in cruise control and took their foot of the gas, which spelled a 10 minute phase of Stoke pressure as Jermaine Pennant and second half substitute Cameron Jerome looked threatening. Stoke only mustered one chance of note in this spell forced Amos into his only save of the game as he stopped a Jerome header. For the last 20 minutes United brought on youngster Paul Pogba who made a bright league début with some smart passing and a few flashes of skill. In the dying moments United should have had a third but Berbatov skewed his shot wide following a Valencia cut back.
United picked up all three points with relative ease against a Stoke side that lacked invention. United move level on points with the leaders Manchester City and are only separated by goal difference. Next up for United is a tough away trip to Stamford Bridge.
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