Wigan Athletic 0 Manchester United 4
The final result flattered the visiting league leaders, to say the least. A solitary goal from Javier Hernandez was all the separated the sides in a lackluster first half. United's passed the ball poorly, as they've been prone to do away from home this season, and Wigan had a number of good chances. Van der Sar was in good form, though, and as Wigan pushed forward in the second half they left their defence exposed. United scored again through Hernandez - “a natural goalscorer” a common theme amongst pundits – and then from Rooney and Fabio for a relatively easy Saturday afternoon.
Almost more interesting than the match itself was a short shot of United's players in the stands. Giggs, Obertan and Bebe sat behind Sir Bobby Charlton. While the two United legends watch attentively the youngsters fiddled with their mobiles; Obertan even wearing headphones. Its not surprising the pair failed to break down non-league Crawley Town in the FA Cup last weekend with attitudes like that.
Bayern Munich 1 Borussia Dortmund 3
All the prematch talk was about Bayern. They'd won late against Inter in the midweek and had Robben in fine form after demolishing Mainz and Hoffenheim. Dortmund, not coming off the winter break in the best of form, had the midweek to rest, however and could bury Bayern's hopes of retaining the league title.
The first half set off at a frantic pace, both sides going all out. Dortmund went ahead against the run of play through Lucas Barios but Bayern shortly equalized with a debut goal from new signing Gustavo. Only two minutes later Dortmund retook the lead with as Barios produced a great run deep into the Bayern half before Gotze laid off a pass for Sahin to finish with a curling effort from outside the box.
Bayern tried to fight back but whatever chances they fashioned were snuffed out by Mitchell Langerak, the 22 year old Australian keeper making his league debut in stunning form.
With the title all but sealed the big question is what does the future hold for this talented Dortmund side. How long with Jurgen Klopp stay as manager and how long will his talented young players stay? Against Bayern Klopp fielded a team averaging 22.3 years old. Sadly its the norm for young talent in the Bundesliga to gravitate to Bavaria. Can Dortmund build on the success this year and break the flash-in-the-pan title wins of Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and Werder Bremen? And how will Klopp's break neck attacking football play out on the big stage in Europe?
Lille 1 Lyon 1
A game which started with two early goals quickly descended into a stalemate. With both sides coming off midweek European games, Lyon's arguably the tougher of the two, and with so much at stake with Rennes winning on Saturday and Marseille on Sunday, the draw comes without too much surprise. Although Lyon have been prone to conceding away from home Lille failed to put Lyon under much pressure in the final third. The pitch was in terrible shape and certainly didn't help Lille's fast counter attacking style. In the end Lyon probably deserved to win but for a number of magnificent saves from Mickael Landreau.
So, in the tightest title race in Europe, Lille and Rennes top the table with OM one point adrift, PSG two points off and Lyon four points below. Next weekend sees another title clash with OM host Lille while Rennes travel to Montpellier, who just beat Lille 1-0 a week ago.
Palermo 0 Udinese 7
Truth be told, I stopped watching after 35 minutes. 3-0 up, away from home, and Udinese looked like they were playing a pub team. All credit to Sanchez and Di Natale, who were in superb form, but this contest ended early and just descended into a farce.
I will note that Sanchez's second goal brought a smile to my face as he did a few step-overs and rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net. Most players these days take a shot early and bend the ball around the keeper, but Sanchez's style brought back the hey-day of Serie A in the 80's and 90's and not just a hint of a couple Roberto Baggio goals. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up next season as it'd be a shock for Udinese to hold onto him in this kind of form.
The Weekend Flutter Continued...
Obviously Part 1 fell flat on it face. Not the best of debuts. But hey, you win some and you lose some. Lessons learnt all around. Think positive. That kind of nonsense.
Anyway, here are tomorrow's picks:
Stoke City vs. West Brom
Stoke are usually good at home and I still don't trust Roy Hodgson to have sorted out all of WBA's defensive problems. I'm backing them at 1.90 to win but know it'll end in a dull 1-1 draw.
Milan vs. Napoli
This should be a close match between first and second in the league. I picked Napoli on the handicap (+1) at 1.84 as I don't think Milan will win by more than a goal.
