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United defeat QPR, get a peek at first place

Comment: 0 December 19th, 2011 by: admin

MANCHESTER United came out victorious against Queens Park Rangers 2-0 last Sunday at Loftus Road, briefly sending them to the top of the Premier League table.

The Red Devils’ eventual victory began to take shape early as Wayne Rooney met a pass by Antonio Valencia with a header that shot past Radek Cerny after a mere 52 seconds of game time.

From that point on there was no confusion as to which team was controlling the entire match.  With a lineup that manager Sir Alex Ferguson also fielded to slay the Wolves, United played with QPR throughout regulation time.

The fate of the host team was eventually sealed in the second half as Michael Carrick converted from a solo effort in the 56^th minute.

Despite an already inarguable result, there were also evident chances for United to add to their lead.  Phil Jones struck at attempt only to find nothing but the goalpost.  Jonny Evans misfired despite a clear shot.  Attempts followed from Jones and Valencia, both of which were saved by Cerny.

The victory awarded United three points, which shot them to the top of the table where they stayed for a few hours, before rivals Manchester City reclaimed it.

When asked, Ferguson was happy with the win but left wanting in terms of the number of conversions.

‘We should have scored a lot of goals and if you said before the game, “would you take 2-0?” of course we would,’ the manager said, according to Express.

‘QPR in their home games have been a real problem to a lot of teams.  But we kept them quiet for most of the game and we played some terrific football at times.’

Ferguson recalled Carrick’s shot as that which pretty much determined the match’s result.

‘When Michael Carrick scored a second, that put it to bed,’ he said.  After joking about fining Carrick who he said was ‘supposed to sit in the middle of the pitch’, Ferguson acknowledged the player’s exemplary performance.

‘He’s bang on form, along with Phil Jones,’ he said.  ‘Jones is only 19, but he was up and down the pitch, making fantastic runs through the middle.  His energy’s really important to the team at the moment.’

For QPR, a moment of opportunity opened when DJ Campbell made an astounding misfire six yards from the goal.

‘If I could have taken that chance maybe it would have been an interesting finish,’ reflected Campbell.  ‘I’d have put my house on me to bury that one.’

For QPR manager Neil Warnock, there was no other option but acknowledge a wipe-out.

‘Wayne Rooney was different class,’ he said.  ‘You don’t realise how good he is until you see him live.  He hardly gives a ball away.

‘The two goals were sloppiness in midfield and we were punished,’ he admitted.

‘It would have been interesting had we scored, just to give them 15 minutes under the cosh to see how they reacted,’ he mused.  ‘They were better than us, by they’re the champions, aren’t they?  This could be the closest title race for years.’

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