There was much mirth before the match as we put on our new kit, a nice red and black number only with pink numbers on the back and pink lettering of the sponsor on the front! To make matters worse the shirt pretty much drowns me, mind most do and with it being an unusually hot day for September I had to roll my sleeves up, which kept falling down – grrrrrrrrr!

Anyway, we were unable to break our pre season run and lost 5-2 despite having 3 great chances before half time, twice hitting the crossbar and once cleared off the line. How do you stop a losing streak? Answers on a postcard please.

To make matters worse as I left the pitch I heard the news that United lost 2-1 to Liverpool. Isn’t football a funny game? I watched Liverpool the other week against Villa and thought what a distinctly average team, how the hell did they beat United? I guess watching Match of the Day tonight will reveal all while I drown my sorrows in the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc I bought on the way home.

Like many bars over the country my local was full of grown men hugging each other as if their life depended on it, I never thought I could give so many people an involuntary piggy back in one night.

How lovely it was though to see John Terry fall on his ass as he cocked his penalty up. The better team over the season and the night won though as usual United should’ve had it sown up at half time.

A great end to the season and already I’m looking forward to see how United deal in the transfer market during the summer. I think and hope that transfer outs will include Silvestre, Park, Saha and transfer ins will be Berbatov, Owen or Gattuso. I also reckon Fergie will stay on for another few years, anyone betting United to successfully defend their Champions League trophy next season?

As it turned out, the weather was just awful! It rained most of Saturday and was so cold it felt like sub zero temperatures. I was seated in the upper tier of the North Stand which meant that I had the cover of the roof to partially protect me from the elements but boy is that far back from the pitch! In the warm up I enjoyed watching how serious some players were. For example, Kuscak probably trained the hardest, diving around a muddy pitch (and bizarrely being allowed to cut it up) but the funniest sight was Tevez. Never have I seen a player look so disinterested during a pre-match warm up. He barely broke a sweat as all other players looked determined and well prepared. As it turned out of course Tevez later stole the show but onto that in a minute.

So after patiently waiting an hour and half in my seat the game kicked off and United looked pretty average. After about half an hour they started to have better possession and when near the end of the first half Giggs scored his 100th league goal . That was effectively game over. Tevez got another before the break but the real star of the first half was Anderson. What a superb prospect he looks. Not once did he give the ball away, he seemed to win every 50/50 tackle and cover every blade of grass.

Second half Tevez scored a brilliant strike from the edge of the box. As I mentioned above, in the pre-match he looked lazy and disinterested yet for the whole 90mins he chased every ball and hassled defenders – who says foreign players don’t like the English weather?

After a mess up in defence, which probably wouldn’t have happened had Ferdinand stayed on the pitch Ronaldo dived to win a penalty. Not one for sportsmanship he wouldn’t let Tevez take the penalty but tucked it away nicely himself to leave the final score was 4-1.

The next day I was looking forward to reading the Sunday papers to see what they would report on having seen everything myself. Would they talk about Anderson’s brilliant midfield display? Perhaps how Tevez worked so hard and looked a class above with his 2 goals? Maybe they’d shine the light on Vidic who again was solid as a rock and commanding in defence? No. All reports (that I saw) were about Giggs. Man of the match they said, all because he scored his 100th league goal? Sure he played ok but there were at least 4/5 players in front of him who did better.

It makes me wonder do newspapers actually send their journalists to these matches or do they rely on Match of the Day highlights? I’d be interested in know if any other Premiership fans who regularly watch their team experience the same thing? It’s a joke really and makes you wonder why you actually bother to read the gutter press!

It’s obvious Fergie sees it as a low priority but every year he sends out a team of kids and fringe players to play in the League cup; it’s becoming a farce. I don’t see the problem with the players themselves, individually last night I’m sure most were superior to their opposition but this is a team game. Dragging 11 players together from such a huge squad just doesn’t work, not unless they play regularly together. So what’s the point I ask myself? Why does Fergie bother? It can’t be to “blood” players. What use is one game in a team that’s never played together going to do for anyone? Is it just to fulfill the fixture? Is now the time for the big clubs to opt out of competitions?

Roll on the league!