Miserable Man Utd

In the past, Femme-Football has been cautiously optimistic about Man Utd's future without Cristiano Ronaldo. SAF obvi has this whole Premier League management thing pretty much down. But just as the Reds are suffering from not having found an adequate replacement for Alonso, so are United in regards to their former talisman.

But it's more than that, if Saturday's game at Craven Cottage showed anything, it was Manchester's stunning lack of depth at the back. Because of injuries, Sir Alex had to switch to his less-preferred 3-5-2 line-up and the results were disastrous. Moreover, even at full fitness, the partnership between Ferdinand and Vidic, which, in title-winning years past, has been solid, seems to be suffering under the weight of Rio's declining form (bad news for both England and Man Utd).

Speaking of declining form, it seems time that Paul "I Never Met a Tackle I Didn't Like" Scholes hang up his professional boots. Actually, it's long overdue. While Ryan Giggs relishes in adjusting his play to the reality of his potential, and has been justly rewarded another Old Trafford extension, the pace of the game has just gotten away from Scholesy, and he doesn't seem willing or able to remodel his pugnacious play based on his physical limitations. Which wouldn't be so bad, if his errors didn't often lead to wide open opposition scoring opportunities deep in the United half (witness Danny Murphy's goal in Fulham's win).

The Good, The Bad, and The Fugly: Premiere League Edition (9/12-9/13)

Ade, Ade, Ade-bay-orrrrr....uh-oh...

The Good: Quality Man Utd v. Tottenham - A high quality match all around, with a scoreline, 3-1 United, that belied how closely contested the game was, especially in the first half. Particularly impressive was Man Utd's ability to overcome Paul "I never met a tackle I didn't like" Scholes dismissal on two yellows and persevere in the face of a solid Tottenham side. Props to Rooney for a superb solo effort to cap off the win -Roo, we know that your particular brand of "bull in a china shop" play has been overshadowed in years past by CR7's dribbling pirouettes, but we do appreciate the efficiency and can't bring ourselves to hate on your shine....

The Bad: Blundering Burnley - Listen, in those heady days of August it's easy to get caught up, and we understand that after your wins against Man Utd and Tottenham, you were sticking out your chests a bit...Prem new boys showing "The Man" exactly what you were made of...but then came the set-back at Chelsea, and, then, well, the thrashing this past weekend with the Reds and one Yossi Benayoun running rampant all over your back line (so much for that international duty fatigue...) and now you've conceded seven in those last two defeats and have barely been competitive; well, at least it was good while it lasted....

The Fugly: We here at Femme Football understand that strikers are peculiar creatures often with, um, well stank attitudes (let's just call it what it is). Bitchfests are often induced when a pass is not played to feet or when a striker *God forbid* is actually asked to defend, but, even with this knowledge, we were still taken aback by Emmanuel Adebayor's overzealous celebration and stamping on Robin van Persie.

Ade reacted in both cases with all the grace and composure of a pre-teen boy, scorned by the popular girl at school. Yes, years later when he attends his reunion to find her a washed up former Miss Maine Pre-Teen Princess, he will want to rub it in her face, but he will refrain because he will have the wherewithal to understand that her demise is punishment enough - now if only Emmanuel could leave the mindspace of a pimply thirteen year old, he would realize that scoring on Arsenal was enough and everything beyond that was just cruel...