Out of the Blocks: Manchester United 3 - Fulham 2

Photo by Shanowpw on Flickr

Q. Any surprises in Saturday's starting lineup?

A. No. Unless you consider a healthy Wayne Rooney starting the game on the bench and Anderson beginning the game on the pitch to be surprises. Which approximately 599.9 million of United's 600 million worldwide fans did.

Q. Whoah!  Any other pre-game shocks?

A. Only if you allow that Fulham's first goal came so early in the contest that it might as well have occurred pre-game. In fact, Fulham were out of the blocks so quickly that even the watching Usain Bolt was impressed!

Q.  What?! That must have sucked...!

A. The only thing that sucked was all of the air from the stadium when Robin Van Persie scored for the first time in a United uniform, near the game's ten minute mark.

Q.  That injury prone 'has been' hit the mark?

A.  Yeah, and his timing was way off. He could have put the ball at least a foot higher if he really intended to steer it into in the very top corner.

Q. Did the goal set off an explosion?

A. No, not an explosion. That came after Shinji Kagawa hit the net. And then hit the post a minute later.  And then only after Rafael scored twice, with the first goal being judged offside. That's when the explosion happened.

Q. And then the sun came out, bathing Old Trafford in a warm glow?

A. No. Then the really heavy stuff began to fall from the skies.

Q. Surely the damp pitch must have helped United score more in the second half?

A. Yes, the only problem being that it was Nemanja Vidic who put the ball into the net. His own goal -- coming off a comedy of errors involving the big Serbian and United 'keeper David De Gea -- made the finish all a bit nervy.

Q. What do you think made the difference today?

A. The width. And I'm not talking about Anderson's waistline.

Q. Any worries?

A. Yeah, a couple to be honest.  Wazza's leg for one.  Our top player out for a month could be a rather big problem.  For another, the team looked as wide open as Ando's eyes in a buffet line on Saturday.  They scored a bunch, but they could have conceded a bunch, too. I'm fairly certain we won't be able to play like this against the top squads in the League. Nevertheless, it made for pretty entertaining viewing.

This is farlieonfootie for August 26.