United so Far

This is my first blog entry so it won't be very good but i'll try

The Christmas period has now been and gone and its into the second half of the season we go sitting 6 points ahead of Chelsea and looking very good. The January transfer window is an opportunity to add players to our squad and strenghten it for the remainder of the season, we've already added Henrik Larsson to our squad in a two month loan deal from Helsingborg, Dong will now head to Old Trafford after finally getting his work permit.

We all know the Hargreaves transfer saga that has been going on for a long time now,his desire to join was well publicised in august with the end of the transfer window drawing close, the move wasn't agreed and so he stayed with Bayern only for him to then break his leg, this was by no means the end of the rumours about his future with him being constantly linked with us since. Bayern clearly stated they would not sell Owen in January, then they softened there stance and suggested that they would only sell Hargreaves if they could find a replacement for him for less then what they would recieve from any possible deal, Bayern today declared their price they would consider for Hargreaves with the price at £20 million and no less than that.Other players to be linked with a move to Old Trafford have been Klaas Jan Huntelaar,Micah Richards and most recently David Bentley.

Boxing day and United faced Reading looking to stretch the lead at the top of the table to six points. United grabbed the lead just after the half hour mark as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with a header, the lead how ever was short lived reading equalised through a header from defender Sonko. 1-1 it stayed up until the 59th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo scored after Giggs and Rooney had sent Solskjaer into the area only for his to get a touch from Hahnemann which found its way only onto the post, but luck was on United's side as it fell kindly to Ronaldo who tucked it in. Reading captain Graeme Murty went off injured and was replaced by Sam Sodje who 5 minutes after replacing Murty picked up his second yellow card and he was off. United didn't ease off the gas and the lead was stretched to 3-1 with Ronaldo's second goal after good work from Giggs. The afternoons events wern't over as in the 90th minute Leroy Lita nipped in and scored Reading's second goal of the match, which insured a nervous finish from United but they held on to take a six point lead ahead of Chelsea

United faced Newcastle on New Years day at St James Park but didn't get off to the best of starts after a stunning opening goal from James Milner on 33 minutes gave the home side the lead, United came back and midfielder Paul Scholes scored the equaliser 5 minutes before the break. The two teams headed into the break on level terms at 1-1 but it wasn't level for long just after half time United turned it round and snatched the lead Paul Scholes getting his second and United's second goal of the match. It was looking good for another 3 points for United but Newcastle had other ideas and 16 minutes from time a some what unkown David Edgar popped up from 25 yards to rescuse a point and give Chelsea a chance to close the gap, a chance they subsequently wasted after a 0-0 draw with Martin O'Neil's Aston Villa

This month United will face Aston Villa twice in a matter of two games, once in the FA cup on the 7th of January at home and again in the Premiership on the 13th of January which is also at home, United then travel to the Emirates stadium for the match against rivals Arsenal on the 21st of January, United will surely be looking for revenge against arsenal after their win at Old Trafford earlier in the season thanks to Emanuel Adebayor's late goal.

Giuseppe Rossi returns from an unsucessful loan spell at Newcastle in which he was not a first team regular. Rossi's return will give a further boost to the already strong striking department and will become another option for Sir Alex to use along with:Rooney,Saha,Smith,Solskjaer,Rossi and loan signing Larsson will provide plenty of fire power for the coming few months of the season

It was Fa Cup time again,Manchester United faced Aston Villa at Old Trafford for the second meeting between the two sides in less than a month. New signing Henrik Larsson was given his debut in the number 17 shirt, considering he hadn't played a match for over a month he looked very sharp and his partnership with Rooney was already showing promising signs. Rooney and Larsson teamed up and Rooney unleashed a volley which was comfortably saved by Kiraly. Larsson was thwarted by Kiraly after being sent clear by a pass from Michael Carrick, this wasn't the end of the chances in the first half as Larsson found Rooney who allowed Villa defender Bouma to challenge him for the ball. Only 7 minutes into the second half and Milan Baros came on to replace the ineffective Juan Pablo Angel, only 2 minutes after Baros had come on United took the lead, debutant Larsson collected a pass from Rooney just on the edge of the penalty area who flicked the ball up and volleyed the ball into the top corner of the net. United continued to create chances and Ryan Giggs went close with a free kick which hit the bar. This brought Villa to life as they started to create chances for themselves with Gary Cahill hitting the post and a shot from Isaiah Osbourne which was saved by Tomasz Kuszczak. Villa finally got their goal when Milan Baros who following a blocked shot by Cahill pounced and calmly finished into the bottom corner to level the match, time was running out for both teams to snatch a winner but in the 1st minute of stoppage time subsitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer popped up from the right to fire a shot towards the goal which crept under the body of on-loan keeper Gabor Kiraly, such a cruel end to the games for Kiraly and for Villa who were out of the cup.

United will face Portsmouth in the fourth round with the match to be played at Old Trafford.