Giggs Bags 100th League Goal in United’s 4-1 Dismantling of Derby County
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by Jgiuffra
Manc Yank's Red Review
An historic event unfolded under the rainy skies of Manchester last Saturday. Old Noah and his Ark would not have looked out of place on the rain sodden pitch at Old Trafford, but the true deity came in the form of the wily Welshman Ryan Giggs.
Manchester United’s favourite left winger notched up his 100 th league goal by being quickest to the rebound of a Cristiano Ronaldo rocket from the left.
I want to digress a bit before I go into the particulars of the match simply because of the manner in which Giggsy got his ton. It is very rare in this day and age, in any sport, for arguably one of the world’s greatest players to ply his trade with only one team. This is exactly what Mr Giggs has done. In the face of offers from all over the world throughout his career he has decided to stay with the team and the man that gave him his first shot at the big time. Maybe some might say, ‘Yeah Jon, but the money’s great and his team has been at the top for almost his whole career…why would he even consider moving?’ The answer is I don’t know, but the fact is that more and more players find it impossible to stay with one side no matter how much success they have. I think Steven Gerrard might be the only player in the Premiership—outside of some others at Old Trafford of course—who has the chance to equal Ryan’s impressive record of debuting and finishing with the same team. Unfortunately for Gerrard, he will come no where near Giggs’ trophy haul. In over 700 appearances he has won the league 9 times, won 4 FA cups, 2 League Cups and 1 Champions League win to boot. It’s scary to think that after all that time, after scoring all those goals and winning all those trophies at the age of 34 he still has the energy and the inclination to outsprint a man 10 years his junior to ball in a match in the pouring rain to help his team gain an advantage. To be frank, before that goal it looked like the rain and Derby’s 5 man midfield were going to stifle the home side. But the man from the west would have none of it.
Right after the goal, the game really opened up for United. Giggs put Rooney clean through on goal. Our favourite scouser did all the hard work getting around Stephen Bywater in the Derby goal but saw his shot bounce off the base of the post. I’m sure young Wayne will be on the score-sheet again soon. It was just after this passage of play when Derby’s true defensive frailty showed itself much to manager Paul Jewell’s dismay. There was a mad scramble in the box for the ball where at least 3 Derby players could have thumped the ball away. Als none of them did which gave the diminutive South American 2 bites at the cherry. He whiffed his first shot attempted but still had time to steady himself and smash the ball past the helpless keeper. To be honest I felt a little bit bad for the Rams and their new manager. They never were going to pick up any points away to United, but it was no way to end a half.
The match was well and truly finished 5 minutes after the restart when Tevez scored again. It was a powerful shot that fizzed along the soaked pitch into the far corner. County did pull an unlikely goal back when they took advantage of some indifferent defending. The cross came in from the right and it was glanced on by County’s Steve Howard. I’m not sure the Derby front-man knew where the ball was going but the ball crossed the line nevertheless giving the visitors their first goal since September. At least they could cheer about that on their short drive back to the Peak District.
Cristiano Ronaldo extended his goal scoring streak to 6 games by converting a penalty late on. I thought he might let Tevez take it so he could get his hat trick, but no, it was Ronaldo all the way. The goal brought his tally for the season to 14; pretty impressive for a winger.
Notes:
Owen Hargreaves was pulled from the line-up just moments before the match with an unspecified injury. He was replaced by Michael Carrick who did very well in the trying conditions.
Anderson started in central midfield along side Carrick and is fast becoming the player that Fergie thinks he can be. His speed, awareness and tenacity are his best attributes. He was still chasing balls down into injury time to protect his back four. I can’t believe he’s only 19!
There has been another setback for Gary Neville. It is unrelated to the broken ankle, but it looks like he won’t be back until after Christmas.
Ji-sung Park has been training with the first team and Fergie reckons he might be able to play in the Everton match on the 23 rd.
It’s all square on games now and Arsenal only have a slim 1 point lead after losing to Middlesbrough on Sunday. Liverpool also lost leaving no undefeated teams in the Prem. United have just surpassed Arsenal in goal difference so this weekends matches between the big 4 will be all important.
Until next time….C'mon United!!!!!!!!
