Man Utd divided as Wigan chase Chelsea

The Riverside Stadium 4-1 defeat was an eye-opener, not astounding or shocking but certainly a surprise. Boro's performances have been slightly mediocre, they were unconvincing against Portsmouth yet did well to beat Arsenal. Liverpool were held to a 0-0 draw considering we (or perhaps Gerrard) came at them heavily. They recorded a decent away win against Birmingham, and came off a good performance at Goodison Park to deny Everton. Having Southgathe and Ehiogu missing seemed to me to be an opening for Utd to carve.

Utd were not Utd. They were divided. Paul Scholes and Alan Smith in the centre should have been more secure, Rooney and VNR equally as strong while Ferdinand and Silvestre contains pace and strength. Van der Sar is the icing on the cake, he as been their best player this season. But they played so woeful it was as if they were charged 40%. They contained a 4-4-2 but Boro held with a 3-2-3-2 which looked solid. MOTM Gaizka Mendieta revelled in a central role shared with George Boateng and Fabio Rochemback behind J F Hasselbaink and Aiyegbeni Yakubu. It was as if Utd were outnumbered in the centre allowing Boateng and Rochemback to face Scholes and Smith. leaving attacking support to the Spaniard. Van der Sar uncharacteristically allowed a usually save shot to go off his hands. It's easy to say it wasn't Utd's day but they did very little to deserve anything. Utd used the 4-5-1 and then 4-4-2 but if their energy is to be of that sort, then the formation is immaterial when players have a poor day at the office. They needed a Keane-esque wake up call but Scholes was too quiet. Ferdinand is looking all the more shaky at the back.

I wrote an article on the need for referees to stamp down on incidents with the full weight of the laws of the game. Mark Halsey was cited as a good example why this is needed so much more now, having not taken action in the Grimsby v Newcastle cup-tie. He came under such scrutiny yet again, and again it involved Sol Campbell. Having jumped up for a high ball, Campbell's right arm caught Spurs' Teemu Tainio on the side of the head, causing a gash and a stream of blood across the Finn's face. Replays suggest that again Campbell was reckless, as I opiniated he was on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Ref Halsey decided no action to be taken, which I thought was wrong. There is the point that players use their arms for further elevation but the move of the elbows are kept down towards the body, rather than out away from the body. Luis Garcia tried to wriggle away from Nigel Reo-Coker and managed to tip the ball away to another Liverpool player. He aimed a hand in Reo-Coker's direction to fend him off and the West Ham man retaliated with a flailing arm across Garcia's head, all in full view of Uriah Rennie yet no decision was made.

I want to extend congratulations to Wigan Athletic and Paul Jewell. Ten games into the season in which they were wagered as one of the favourites to struggle and drop down, they have lost twice, drawn once and sit 2nd to Chelsea. They are almost doing an Everton from last season, in winning games by the one goal (albeit they won at Villa 0-2), and it seems a rollercoaster of a ride for chairman Dave Whelan, first time in the top league and you're in the heights alongside Chelsea, it's looking a superb beginning. Next they face about as tough a challenge as they've had, where they face Portsmouth next at Fratton Park, and then it's a gauntlet of Arsenal, Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea, Man Utd respectively.

As for Portsmouth, they were facing a huge challenge themselves at The Stadium of Light, and it turned a little tougher before kick-off. Facing up to another need for a win following 5 defeats and 4 draws, Allan Perrin needed his players well focused and listening intently to his words, only to have informed Laurent Robert of his position on the bench and then witness the Frenchman walk out of the dressing room, allegedly out of the ground. The players seeing that could have been psychologically hampered and they went behind early through a penalty. The second half was Champions League 2005 again, where the losing side came out a changed team, with Sunderland in stark contrast. Alan Stubbs must have been attempting to head back but didn't manage it, then went to defend the ball only to have keeper Kelvin Davis inexplicably come out when unwarranted and become entangled with Stubbs, leading to Matt Taylor's first. Taylor then went better with a high effort from 45 yards over Davis for his second, Dario Silva scoring his first with a nicely palced firm header.

When Newcastle bought Michael Owen, it seemed too much money to outsiders but not a problem to the Geordie faithful. After having a quiet first half this afternoon, Owen showed why he is reputable as his experience came through to hit West Brom hard defensively. He stole ahead of Darren Moore with a little flick for his first and then went to the goal unmarked to spin in a second off Kieron Dyer's cutback, West Brom's Curtis Davis guilty of poor tracking. Alan Shearer came off the bench to score again, getting a leg ahead of Moore to guide in his 2nd in 4 days. Newcastle couldn't score before but Owen has brought new hope and with players fit, Newcastle look more a side contending for European place.


Redsman.