Efter: United – Birmingham

United vann enkelt mot Birmingham och detta speglades av kommentarerna efter matchen.

KOMMENTARER EFTER MATCHEN
Sir Alex Ferguson var förstås belåten efter matchen. Han pekar på den fina starten med ett ledningsmål i den andra minuten som en nyckel och att segern säkrades tidigt gav United en chans att vila spelare inför tisdagens match mot Blackpool. Ferguson var också mycket nöjd med den fotboll som gav Uniteds tredje och fjärde mål. Hattrickhjälten Berbatov fick också beröm. Uniteds boss kunde dock inte låta bli att tycka att United var en aning ineffektiva och han önskar att Rooney snart får göra mål:

”It helps when you score an early goal. Getting one after a minute forces the opposition to open up. They have to face the game from a different perspective and we capitalised on that. It was a good score at half-time and I was able to take Patrice Evra off and give him a break, and bring young Fabio on. Then I was able to take Ryan Giggs off because we’ve got a big game on Tuesday.

”The third goal was a very exciting goal. First of all Berba won the ball, then there was the interplay with Wayne and a fantastic ball from Wayne to Ryan. It was a really exciting goal and coming right on half-time it killed the match. […] [Rooney was] involved in the fourth goal just after half-time with some fantastic control from Van der Sar’s ball coming out of the clouds. It was a fantastic ball from Edwin – okay, it was a clearance – but he knew the area to hit it into. The control from Rooney in setting up Ryan to square the ball for Berba – it was a fantastic goal.

”[Berbatov] was marvellous and he could have scored more. We were a little bit wasteful with our finishing, but you can’t complain at that performance. [Berbatov and Rooney] were very good together. We hope Wayne scores again soon, he deserves it because he’s working his socks off. He played some great football today.”

Om Ferguson var nöjd kan man inte säga samma sak om Birminghams manager Alex McLeish. McLeish var mycket missnöjd över sitt lags försvarsspel men medger att United förtjänade segern genom att tidvis spela underbar fotboll:

”We are angry and frustrated to have come away from Old Trafford having lost 5-0 and disappointed that we didn’t play how I know we can. We could have come and put a load of grafters behind the ball and tried to grind something out but we thought we could give ourselves a solid base but also put United under some pressure too. However the early goal was a setback. After that the home side grew in stature and confidence and at times played some wonderful football. That being said we could have definitely defended some of the goals better.”

John O’Shea var tillbaka i spel efter nästan tvÃ¥ mÃ¥naders skadefrÃ¥nvaro. Tiden borta tycker han har varit frustrerande och han medger att den tiden förlängdes av ett försök att Ã¥tervända till spel för tidigt. Annars passade O’Shea framför allt pÃ¥ att berömma den fantastiska Berbatov:

”It has been a frustrating time. I thought it was only going to be a week to ten days. But I pushed it a bit too soon did it again. I had to be more careful after that. It is frustrating when you are missing games but I am delighted to be back.

”Dimitar is an amazing talent. We know if we get the supply line to him he will create things, either for himself and other players. Some of the passes he was laying off for Wayne and Nani were great. We just have to supply him because nine out of ten times he will score.”

ÖVRIGT
Dimitar Berbatov gjorde sitt tredje hattrick för säsongen. Senaste Unitedspelare att göra tre hattrick under en säsong var Ruud van Nistelrooy 2002/03.

Rio Ferdinand deltog inte p.g.a. skada. United hoppas dock att han ska kunna spela redan mot Blackpool på tisdag. Michael Carrick gick ut efter att ha fått en smäll, det är oklart hur länge han blir borta.

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