Match Report (P): United 4 - 1 Middlesbrough
GOALS: Nani; Tevez (2) Rooney /Aliadiere
Times: By the time he next stands in the home dugout at Old Trafford, when Dynamo Kiev visit on November 7, Sir Alex Ferguson will have celebrated 21 years as Manchester United manager. It is a wonderful thing for football that this Scotsman will never come of age.
It is supposed to be more hardheaded these days, more of a business off the pitch and an athletic contest on it, but nothing could make Ferguson lose the feeling that connects us all to the game as children: this is a sport of unpredictability and joy. He has never tried to constrain his players by prioritising defensive duties and nor, in selecting footballers, is he blinkered by the modern verities of power and pace.
United were smaller than Middlesbrough, less disciplined, and probably didn’t work as hard. They murdered them. For a fourth consecutive time they scored four or more goals in a game, something United last achieved in 1907. The one that cemented that statistic was impressive but the one which preceded it was as fine a goal as will be seen all season.
In an attacking quartet of stellar presences, Wayne Rooney shone bright and coaxed Carlos Tevez, who started poorly, first back into form and then a spate of grace. Owen Hargreaves started a move, Anderson clipped a pass to Tevez, and the Argentine volleyed to Rooney. Rooney controlled instantly with his right foot and backheeled the ball with his left into space 12 yards out where he knew Tevez would be arriving. Tevez rolled the ball past Mark Schwarzer. “It’s not the sort of thing you can practice,” Rooney said. “The moment Carlos gave me the ball I could see him out of the corner of my eye starting his run. He’s a clever player.”
It was bewitching stuff and with United 3-1 ahead and 25 minutes remaining the rest was always going to be a slight anticlimax. Yet there was time for one more Rooney-Tevez act. Cristiano Ronaldo released Rooney inside United’s half and the striker charged 50 yards before slipping Tevez clear inside the Middlesbrough box. Tevez drew a defender, cut back onto his right foot and drove for goal. Andrew Taylor dived across the flight path and got his arm to the shot but only succeeded in diverting it past Schwarzer.
Alan Wiley, the referee, turned a blind eye to Taylor’s offence. A red card for Middlesbrough, on top of everything else, would have been too much. The crumbs of prawn sandwiches were still being wiped from Old Trafford lips when Nani scored a scorching goal. Collecting on the left flank, he glided past Gary O’Neil and drove at Mick Young and, when the full-back stood off, took advantage of the space to shift onto his right foot. Cattermole had strained sinews to get back but his desperate tackle was too late. Nani, still 30 yards out, speared a shot over Schwarzer, high into the net.
When Rooney slipped Tevez clear with a judiciously waited pass supporters were already thinking of a rout but Tevez surprisingly did not quite have the pace to capitalise and was caught by Cattermole. Then, quite abruptly, Middlesbrough equalised.
Tuncay Sanli enjoyed the first of several impressive moments by turning John O’Shea both ways before flighting the ball into the six-yard area where Jeremie Aliadiere angled a header across Edwin Van der Sar and in off a post. There had been a dreaminess about United’s defending and Tuncay probed with another expert cross that found Stewart Downing drifting away from Wes Brown to direct a header which dropped just beyond the far post.
The last thing Middlesbrough needed was to be generous to their hosts and yet, in his own box, Downing attempted a Cruyff turn to shake Nani, seemed to have got away with it, and then to his horror found Nani’s foot getting to the ball first. It rolled to Rooney whose drive past Schwarzer was as comprehensive as it gets.
Middlesbrough knew there and then that they wouldn’t be allowed a second comeback. Only the extreme effort levels of such as Cattermole allowed them to get to half-time at 2-1 and even then United helped.
Ronaldo was too casual when trying to place an O’Shea cutback beyond Schwarzer and Rooney then chose the wrong option - Tevez rather than Ronaldo - on a break. Rooney shot over the bar after the interval but then came the wonder-goal.
“To play in this team is an honour,” Rooney said. “We play fast and fluent football and that’s the sort of football I want to be involved in.”
TEAM: Van der Sar; Brown; Ferdinand (Pique 74min); Vidic; O’Shea; Ronaldo; Hargreaves (Fletcher 66min); Anderson (Giggs 78min); Nani; Rooney; Tevez
POST-SCRIPT
Sir Alex: “As I said some weeks ago, it has been coming together for a while now. We are playing well, playing to potential. Nani, Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez are four quality players, and put in a great attacking display today. They epitomized what imagination was.
