This is a new 'corner' I have added to the blog that will be devoted to my first passion in life, Manchester United. I will publish this, on most occasions, on a Sunday evening where I will look back at the previous week, giving my take on results and upcoming fixtures.
All views expressed will be my own.
I don't know what kind of bad luck charm I have picked up recently, but both of my trips to Old Trafford this season has seen me moving at a brisk pace to get to the ground after parking the car thanks to a horrendous amount of traffic on the roads.
After watching the first half of the game at Wigan Athletic, it wouldn't have been like I had missed much after what was a disappointing and often disjointed performance.
As tepid and insomniac curing as the first half had been, the second was a complete contrast as wave after wave of United attack looked like it was going to bring goals for the side. Nani has his critics at Old Trafford, but it would be nice if the fans get off his back a little and try and support and cajole a performance out of him.
He had a terrible first half, but was very good in the second as the whole team increased their tempo and looked more threatening going forward.
Nick Powell had a good cameo, but it is when we aren't winning games that I will look to judge his impact, while Alexander Buttner had a solid debut at left back. Buttner was good going forward, but I found his positioning to be a little suspect when trying to defend, while he was rash in the tackle so there is still some work to be done that won't be exposed in games against Wigan at home.
Overall it was a solid performance in the end and the bonus of picking up our first clean sheet of the season is a positive to take forward, although I am expecting much bigger tests from the two games we have remaining this week.
The biggest thing coming out of the game this weekend wasn't the performances of the debutants, but the chants that came early in the game directed at Liverpool.
'It's Never Your Fault' isn't directed at Hillsborough and all that happened there, despite some in the media quickly pointing to that, but it was ill-timed and not well thought out by the fans who decided to go with it.
Even Sir Alex mentioned that the chants are not making light of what happened at Hillsborough, but we shouldn't have given anyone the chance to criticise this club and the fans who have been through it all in the past.
We all know what kind of chants United fans are subjected to about Munich whenever we play at Anfield, Elland Road or the Council House, but we had always been bigger than that and the 'Where's Your Famous Munich Song' chant at Anfield makes our point loud and clear.
Now we have given up the moral high-ground, even if we weren't making reference to what happened in April 1989.
On a related, but unrelated matter- what has happened to Joe Jordan that he has become deaf and blind? He claims he never heard any Munich chants during his time playing for United... That is quite astonishing as looking back at any tapes pre-1989 will show the banners that were regularly carried around grounds from opposition fans, especially the Liverpool fans.
I wish Gattuso had given him a slap around his head a couple of years ago if only to jog his clearly flagging memory!!
The Champions League will kick off this week as we host Galatasaray and I hope Fergie sticks to his word of having learnt from the mistakes of last season and he will be starting a strong side. I've never understood the need for too much rotation at this stage, unless it is a Tuesday night game off the back of a game against one of the top six sides in the Premier League, and surely it makes much more sense to get 10-12 points from our opening four games and then resting players in the last couple of games.
We have a good chance to do that this time and I would take a big step towards that mark by putting out a side to put Galatasaray to bed early and then bring off a couple of the more vital players in preparation for Liverpool. We do have until Sunday for that game so there are no real excuses and we could also give Darren Fletcher a run out in the last 10 minutes if we are comfortable.
I just don't think we should be under-estimating any team right now, not considering the last home loss in the Champions League came to Turkey's Besiktas.
I'd play: De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Carrick, Cleverley, Valencia, Nani, Kagawa and Van Persie.
Once all the Champions League games are out of the way, we can begin to look forward to the big one at Anfield on Sunday- it is going to be an emotionally draining day for players and fans alike as it is the first game at Anfield since the Hillsborough findings came out, while all the problems around Racist Bastard Number 7 and Patrice Evra are likely to be magnified ahead of the game.
Both clubs are trying to put a lid on the simmering tension, but I think the media's insistence that the United chants were directed at Hillsborough has only increased the heat and I truly hope all fans going to the game get home without getting involved in any issues outside of the ground.
On the playing field, I am nervous as I have tipped Brendan Rodgers' first win as in the League as manager of Liverpool to come in this game against our lads, especially when they blew a big chance to knock of Manchester City at Anfield last month.
We should be too good for them on paper, but they are going to be fired up with the the fans fully behind the team and it is going to be a really tough test for us I feel.
We MUST hold out in the first twenty minutes and try and take the crowd out of the game as that is when Liverpool should come out of the traps very quickly. It will take concentration, but those minutes will be crucial to our chances of picking up the points.
Hopefully the boys can put in a big performance on the pitch and we as fans can show our true Manchester United colours in the stands and show what makes us so great and unique- let us cheer the United boys on and ignore all the bile we are going to encounter from their end and hopefully we can somehow come away with the three points.
I'd play: De Gea, Rafael, Evra, Ferdinand, Vidic, Scholes, Carrick, Cleverley, Valencia, Young and Van Persie.
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