United 1 - 0 Westham

Lindegaard

Rafael Smalling Jones Buttner

Valencia Anderson(Carrick) Giggs Nani(Scholes)

Rooney Chicharito

God that was drab! The early goal made me believe that a very good display would ensue. That definitely wasn't a good performance but hey, we still won! At the end of the day that's what matters. Rooney scored the winner after a beautiful through-ball by Anderson and an unselfish square pass from Chicha. That was the best move of the match. 

Good Build-Up for the Goal

I was really looking forward for the return of Nani. Unlike a lot of people, I think that he's a player who could make a difference. He's willing to take people on and has a potent shot from outside the box. However, the excellent performance that I was expecting from Nani didn't happen. In fact, he reminded me how frustrating the guy could be. To be fair to him, he's been out since the 1st of November so the evident rustiness is a tad excusable. On the other wing, Valencia wasn't better than Nani. We're a team renowned for wing play and currently we've got 3 wingers who are off-form. Worrying. 

What's even more worrying is Roo fading out of the game after a decent start. He wasn't at his best today. He also sent a penalty sky high when he could have calmed the game down. I've heard he missed 40% of his penalties for Man Utd. With RVP in the team, that will definitely be Roo's last penalty. 4 misses out of every 10 penalties is not a good stat. I could do better. Roo's strike partner, Chicharito, ran his socks off but was caught offside on a lot of occasions. His brilliant run created the goal though. 

Bright Start by Ando, but Faded Out

The defence did well. Not much to complain about. Central midfield? Anderson started really really well. He was willing to run for the ball and created spaces for his team mates. His passes were almost Scholesesque. After the half time break, he was anonymous and eventually ran out of steam and was replaced by the composed Carrick. That leaves us with Giggsy. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. How a 40 year old could be 10 times as effective as Nani, Valencia, Anderson and Rooney combined is beyond me. The effort the guy put in today was incredible. Man of the match. 

So we've won our replay after a pretty poor performance. This followed the original match which we managed to draw by a goal scored very late in the game. Sometimes when these things happen in cup football, you get the feeling that it could be your year. Well, let's hope so. It's been an awful long time since we won the Fa Cup! 

What next? Well on a personal note I've got sleepless study nights on the agenda. This is my final year at University and my exams start this Saturday. But I'm sure most of you don't give a damn about that. Ok then, on Sunday we'll be playing Tottenham. Not too optimistic. They won at Old Trafford and they'll probably feel they could beat us again. We'll see. 

p.s. what the heck was that 10 second countdown to half time? Cringeworthy. 

Instead of boring you with the usual stats, I'll paste some of the funniest tweets I found today. Enjoy, they're probably more entertaining than the game itself (that says a lot about the game).

News coming through that Rooney's penalty has taken out a helicopter in London

WARNING: Wayne Rooney's penalty is still travelling through the UK, only leave your house for emergency purposes   (quite predictable, I know)

Nani is like a drunk Cristiano Ronaldo 

I'd rather have Stephen Hawking on the wing than Nani! #4wheeledgenius