Carlos Tevez scored twice at Craven Cottage to demolish Fulham 4-0 in the FA Cup quarter final.
Wonder kid Rooney and Ji-sung Park ended Fulham's hopes by adding one goal a piece to give an easy victory to Manchester UNited.
What really impressed me was the way Tevez partnered with Rooney upfront. He rarely gets a chance to come in the starting eleven, but in all his starts in the cups his scoring rate has been fantastic. Nine of the striker's 12 goals this season have come in cups, so it means that even when Tevez is on the bench for either the league games or European games, his performance does not degrade. But it only improves when he starts in the Cup games. I feel he is doing everything to make sure that Sir Alex offers him a full time contract after his loan term finishes at the end of this season.
Labels: Carlos Tevez, FA Cup results, Fulham, manchester United
With many of the senior players missing through injuries, Sir Alex had a big challenge when he entertained Tottenham at The Theatre of Dreams. But he kept his promise and we saw youngsters like Fabio and Welbeck in the starting eleven.
The match started on a worst possible way for United as Roman Pavlyuchenko's early opener stunned everyone. Nemanja Vidic got himself in a muddle and allowed Pavlyuchenko to give him the slip and turn home a deft header to give an early lead for the Londoners. But United were always in the game as they moved freely around the park, until they leveled through Paul Scholes.
Carrick spotted Scholes lurking with menace on the edge of the box and coolly rolled a corner into the veteran's path. The shot was pretty fierce and once it had flicked off Tom Huddlestone, Ben Alnwick did not have a hope of keeping it out. Within a minute Carrick floated a pass over the Spurs defence and the ball landed with Berbatov. Berbatov's first-time control was awesome. His second touch was a precise shot into the bottom corner that again left Alnwick flailing. That was it, United had done it. Now they were set to remain on track for an unprecedented quadruple after reaching the last 16 of the FA Cup.
What impressed me in this match was the way Carrick got so much space to play. He has been a very important player in Sir Alex's team. Just in the blink of an eye, he transformed the tie in United's favor. But the game saw some more injury woes as Fabio collapsed in agony in the early moments of the second period after he had landed awkwardly following an aerial duel with Spurs substitute Giovani dos Santos. Welbeck too joined the injured list late in the game.
Manchester United marched into FA Cup fourth round with an easy win against 10-man Southampton. Goals from Danny Welbeck, Nani and Gibson sealed the match with Dimitar Berbatov being named man of the Match.
17 year old Danny Welbeck headed United in front in the 20th minute after John O'Shea's header was turned on to the bar by Southampton keeper Kelvin Davis. Southampton's Matt Paterson then saw red for a wild lunge on Nemanja Vidic, reducing the home team to 10 men. Come second half and United had a chance to further increase their lead when referee Mike Riley awarded a penalty. With Rooney on bench and Cristiano Ronaldo rested, Nani scored from the spot after 48 minutes. Rooney was brought on in the second half and the wonder kid did show his class. Rooney was the creator with a display of pace and power to set up Gibson for an emphatic third goal, 9 minutes from time.
Man United will now face another date with their FA Cup nemesis Harry Redknapp, who ended their hopes in this competition at the quarter-final stage last year with eventual winners Portsmouth. Harry who now manages Spurs has FA Cup victories against United to his credit with Bournemouth and West Ham United as well. But this time around, I hope Harry bites dust.
