Charlton 1 v 3 Manchester United
The Valley, Charlton
19th November 2005
Roy Keane was gone, but not forgotten by the United fans, meaning a new captain needs to be picked, adn Ruud van Nistelrooy put himself at the head of the queue with a points-winning display.
This was a must-win game following all theri efforts against Chelsea previously, and it would have cost them the title had they lost. At 1-1 on 65 minutes, United fans could be forgiven for thinking that this was going to be another typical United display - managing only one goal despite peppering the opposition goal, and going home with a measly point. But thankfully this wasn't the case, as Rooney and Ruudy set about changing United's fortunes.
With Gary Neville due back possibly on Tuesday, United's defence is starting to look like the force it was at the start of the season. Rio and Mickael are playing with concentration and focus, whilst with gary back, Wes and O'Shea will be able to play on the other side without too much disruption.
A switch to 4-4-2 would ultimately cost one of the centre-midfielders their place in the team, leaving Fergie with the tough choice of who to drop out of Fletch, Smith and Scholes, with Scholes proving uneffective as a winger.
None of these three warrant being dropped on the back ofthis game, with Smith cleverly moving into space to open the scoring, and the other two working hard enough to cover for the fourth man in midfield (Ronaldo!) who perhaps doesn't track back as much as he should!
It was Ronaldo's skill that brought about the first goal, with his trickery creatingspace for Rooney to pass to Fletcher, who pulled the ball back for Smith to smash home from 18 yards.
Charlton equalised with their second chance of the match, Ambrose curling the ball past van der ar on 65 minutes, and suddenly it was make-or-break for United's season.
Rooney burst forwards, ran past four defenders and then chipped it across to van Nistelrooy who finished sublimely.
The game was killed on 80 minutes when Ruud scored his second, this time it was his first United goal EVER from outside the box!
Times are changing at United, but as long as Ruud, Roo and Ron are fit, we have a chance of winning everything.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Fletcher (Bardsley 89), Smith, Scholes, Ronaldo (Park 75), Rooney, van Nistelrooy (Richardson 85).
