After the midweek loss to Burnley, Manchester United desperately needed to put it behind them for the weekend trip to Wigan.  Prior to the game there was some negative defensive news with United announcing that Rio Ferdinand would probably be out for another 4-5 weeks recovering from an injury.  Johnny Evans also came out saying that he would, at some point, need surgery on his ankle and currently he has to take painkillers just to play.  On a positive note Vidic was back in the starting line up after recovering from his injury, but United will need both Ferdinand and Evans fit if they are to have a chance at the title.

The result at Wigan would put the Burnley embarrassment well behind the red devils, although with the score 0-0 at half time it looked like it could be another frustrating result.

The game was full of milestones with Rooney opening the scoring in the second half; heading in a Valencia cross to reach 100 Manchester United goals.   A few minutes later Berbatov opened his premier league account for the season to make it 2-0.   Only a few minutes more and Rooney grabbed his 101st goal with a deflected shot.  In 9 minutes United had gone from frustration to demolition.

Michael Owen then came on for Rooney and duly claimed his first premier league goal for Manchester United, from Nani’s setup.  Nani then finished things off with a last minute free kick that ending up in the net.

With United winning 5-0 and Arsenal beating Portsmouth 4-1, next weekend’s match between the two should be an absolute cracker.

Manchester United have been hit hard with defensive injuries at the start of the season; with Vidic, Ferdinand, Rafael and Neville out, and in the opening match of the year against Birmingham their back line looked a bit makeshift.  However their midfield and forwards looked close to first choice.

The game began in the way that many of United games go against the smaller clubs, with Birmingham playing a lone striker and trying to soak up the United pressure.   It took the red devils 34 minutes before Rooney jumped high to head Nani’s cross into Joe Hart’s net.  It looked like United might go on to dominate from this point and grab a hand full of goals, but Birmingham fought back well.

Birmingham almost snatched an equalizer before the break but Evra for the second time in two matches headed the ball off the line.   Darren Fletch, who in my opinion did not have the best game, should have put United 2-0 up when Evra cut the ball back to him six yard out from goal, but he blazed it wide.

In the second half Manchester United certainly didn’t make it easy on the fans’ nerves by putting the game to bed, and although they came close on several occasions, still Birmingham remained just one goal away from an upset.  And when Benitez and O’Connor came on they looked like they might just be able to beat the nervy Ben Foster and grab a result for Birmingham.

One thing that was clearly lacking for Man United in the post Ronaldo era was urgency.  Whenever Ronaldo would pick up the ball from a long throw or cleared corner he would immediately start an attacked, but particularly Valencia and Berbatov seemed to want to hold the ball up and slow the game down although having acres of space to run into.

Michael Owen made his premier league debut for United and in the last 10 minutes he went through one on one with Joe Hart twice.  The first time he was a fraction offside, and the second time Hart saved his shot.  But this is still encouraging as Owen seems to be able to create these kind of chances every game; the finishing will come back with time.