Good Night On The Pitch But a Bad Night Off For Manchester United

After last night`s crowd trouble at Barnsley the F.A. has confirmed it is investigating the events during the Carling Cup tie between Barnsley and Manchester United at Oakwell.

According to South Yorkshire Police, eight fans were arrested at the match, after trouble flared at half-time. Also, some catering staff were trapped inside a food kiosk and had to barricade themselves in a store room for around half an hour as fans broke in and stole cash and food.

Stewards on the pitch also had food thrown at them during the violence.

That all spoiled a good result for the Red Devils, winning 0-2, though Gary Neville`s sending off was a black mark.

United Disappointing at Anfield

Liverpool`s 2-0 win over Manchester United rescued the Anfield club's season.

Alex Ferguson was again unhappy with the ref, claiming home fans had influenced referee Andre Marriner at key moments of the match. But not even Ferguson could deny that Liverpool merited a result that ended a damaging sequence of four successive defeats and lifted the pressure that had mounted on Benítez.

United are now two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table and Ferguson was unhappy about two incidents involving Jamie Carragher, the first when he challenged Michael Carrick inside the Liverpool area and then when he hauled former Anfield striker Michael Owen to the floor but was only booked.

Going down to 10 men didn`t help United`s cause, but in truth the game even at 1-0 was all but over.

Manchester United Victorious Over Bolton

For the second home game in succession, United were rather close to embarrassment against modest opposition. The defending champions regained pole position in the title race, courtesy of Chelsea's slip-up earlier in the day against Aston Villa.

Without Wayne Rooney, who was injured on international duty, Ferguson paired Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov in attack, and must have been reasonably pleased with the results.

Owen was involved when United took the lead in the fifth minute, but his headed response to Giggs's cross from the left was hardly in the Alan Shearer class and it needed Zat Knight's ill-judged intervention to turn the ball past Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Not long after, Valencia scored United`s second.

Bolton were markedly second best for the first 45 minutes, but still should have scored when Kevin Davies, unmarked, headed negligently wide from eight yards.

Bolton hit the gas in the second half had their reward with 15 minutes of normal time remaining, when Neville cleared straight to Kevin Davies, whose cross from the left was nodded in. Suddenly, it was all Bolton and their strong finish could so easily have extended an unbeaten run that stretched back five league games.

Striker Selection Problems For United

Manchester United face a striking problem going into their clash with Bolton at Old Trafford on Saturday.

The champions' top scorer Wayne Rooney will miss out due to the calf strain he picked up on England duty while Sir Alex Ferguson also has problems with Dimitar Berbatov.

The 28-year-old is still in Bulgaria following the birth of his daughter and may not arrive back in Manchester in time for the game.

Good news though is that Ferguson has fit-again Michael Owen available for selection after he recovered from a groin problem he picked up just over two weeks ago.

Manchester United 2 Sunderland 2

Why does Fergie so it? Rotation is ok, and often even necessary, but to put out a weakened team against Sunderland was very poor judgement in my view.

It almost lost United the match, and they were fortunate to come out of it with a draw.

Trailing to Darren Bent’s superb seventh-minute goal, the response of the champions was unusually weak and lacked coherence. Dimitar Berbatov scored a wonderful goal to equalise matters early in the second half. But, it wasn`t long till Sunderland were leading again after referee Alan Wiley played a good advantage to allow Andy Reid to advance after he weathered a reckless challenge by Darren Fletcher. Reid centred and Kenwyne Jones got between Nemanja Vidic and Ben Foster to head in.

Kieran Richardson was sent off after 86 minutesf. Rightly booked in the first half for a foul on Danny Welbeck, Richardson tapped the ball to give himself time to retreat as United looked to take a quick free kick. Technically it was kicking the ball away and Alan Wiley issued a second caution.

Anton Ferdinand deflected a shot into his own goal, giving United the 2-2 draw.

Half the man. United side looked lost, and some should never have been in the starting line-up in the first place.

Manchester United Victory in Champions League Clash

Manchester United's victory over Wolfsburg last night was a fair one all things considered.

According to Michael Carrick, scorer of the second goal for United, the trust within Manchester United’s dressing-room proved decisive as the Premier League champions overturned a 1-0 deficit to seal a 2-1 Champions League victory.

United are now in a strong position as Group B leaders after goals from Ryan Giggs and Carrick defeated the German champions at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

United next face CSKA Moscow in the Luzhniki Stadium - the scene of their third European Cup triumph 17 months ago - later this month, with qualification for the knock-out stages in sight.