Manchester United 2 - Manchester City 0
I don't think that many of us expected the game to go like that. As a long suffering United fan I'm going to enjoy one of the good days because we all know that in a week or two they will be drawing 2-2 to a bottom three side again. There have been lots of these big performances over the past few years. Usually against a top tier team nad then struggle against the minnow a week later.
It was great to see a solid defense with Martinez and Maguire under no pressure. Wingers getting up the pitch, players jumping into tackles and throwing their weight around and attackers getting fast ball and lots of chances. 5 goals with three marginally offside and twice off the woodwork against a top tier opponent.
United were playing their best brand of football and a template going forward. Keep your defense in place and get the ball to your attackers as fast as possible. It's always been that simple to win matches and when you add in work rate it's very hard for the other team to get a foothold in the game.
So today was one of the good days. A day when they played like a team and fought like a good team. If they could play like that every week then we would be looking at competing for a title. At least they have a good chance to reach the champions league if they can string a few of these performances together.
With nothing else to play for they have enough firepower to be fresh and ready for every game from now until the end of the season. And with every team apart from Arsenal struggling for consistency this season it's a ripe opportunity for the team to sneak into the top four.
It's actually going to be a cracker of a finish to the league with so many teams competing for four spots and with so many of them bunched up together you can see it all coming down to the last one or two games in may. United actually have a decent team in there with all the players coming back from AFCON and getting some back from injury.
We're still missing a few players still but have a proper panel to compete with going forward and real options off the bench apart from teenagers. That's one of the first matches that i've really enjoyed watching in a long time and had comfort to enjoy it without worrying when they were going to score and ruin the match for us. United kept the pace up the whole way through and when they got the first goal kept it going instead of inviting City onto themselves and conceding.
Arsenal is next which is a huge one for the team after this performance and then a busy February.
March is quiet.
The same with April where I'm heading to the Leeds game with my dad and we'll get to see it all in real time. I'm hoping that the team is right in the mix for Europe at that stage and a big game against old rivals Leeds should make for a cracker.
May then will be the big month with Liverpool at home a make or break game more than likey for both teams as they could both be top 6 pushing for a champions league spot.
Even Ferguson was smiling yesterday. That's how rare it's been.
Then all they need to do is fix all those clowns running the club and try to get some proper structure and plans in place to try and stop it being a laughing stock of a club.
Let's see how it goes from here. If the players will play there is a chance. If they go back to previous from then we'll drop down the eight or ninth and repeat the same all over again next year.