And so after a summer of eternal sunshine and laughter (well for some of us at least) we are back with the start of Premiership.

And what a start it was going to be - renewed hope and optimism that this year will bring us back to the glory days of winning league after league, cup after cup. Even our new away kit taking us back to all yellow; re-conjured half forgotten memories of the likes of Rushie and Dalglish marauding all over England battering defences cowering in groups at the edge of the box. The teams run out and line up – our new stars there for all to see – Danes, Spaniards, Brazilians and even a son of that footballing might that is God's own county – Wales (Is this line really neccessary? -Ed.). Surely this is the promised time.


Unfortunately no one told The Blades. The first half was a tough gritty affair with United putting plenty of players behind the ball and getting stuck in at every opportunity. There is nothing wrong with this and we are going to have to handle it a little better than we did in the first half if we are going to pick up away points against these teams to stay in the hunt all season.

We gave the ball away too cheaply with the main culprit being Hyypia and we had some players who seemed non existent – I’m still not sure if Zenden actually played in the first half. Obviously we weren’t helped by the early exit of Riise and Carra but the squad strength we have should enable us to deal with this securely. To be honest I thought we were quite lucky to be level at the break.


At the start of the second half Gerrard got everyone into a huddle and even screamed at Fowler and Bellamy who were taking last minute instructions from Rafa to get their arses into gear and get into the huddle. This very public show was not just for the team but surely also for the fans – making sure we knew they were as pissed off with the first half as we were.

Whatever plans they did have to sort it out were dealt a bit of a blow a minute later when our defence went to sleep at a free kick to allow Hulce a free header past Pepe.


This had the effect of galvanising us into action and in reality, from that point onwards we dominated. Hyypia was with in a whisker of restoring parity within minutes when he got is head to a Gerrard corner only to shave the post. A little later Gonzalez, Gerrard and Bellamy combined brilliantly in the move of the match that put Fowler through on goal only for Kenny to save with his foot. We pressed even harder and Bellamy got in between 2 defenders to force a good save again out of the Blades keeper.


In the 70th minute again a great move put Gerrard through on goal. A diving challenge came in which appeared to off balance Gerrard who, to his credit, carried on to try to get the ball past Kenny. Off balance his shot tamely rolled into the keepers hands.

To the surprise of most around the ref pointed to the spot. It was probably somewhat fortuitous but certainly not undeserved. Still we had to score from the spot, which failed us a couple of times last year and of course wasn’t an area in which some of our boys exactly covered ourselves in glory in the summer. Up stepped Robbie who, focussed as ever, sent the keeper the wrong way before slotting coolly into the corner.

Still we pressed on to try to take all 3 points and had a couple of chances to win it. It was not to be and in the end we had to settle for a point each – which on reflection was probably just about fair.

I think its fair to say that this probably isn't the start Rafa had in mind when he did this interview.

I don’t really like giving the 'Twat of the Week' award to officials if I can help it, but if there was some dispute over our penalty at the Blades then the one awarded to Everton at Goodison was pure comedy. Philip Walton was the man in charge though it looked like the decision may have come from one of his linesmen. Who ever made it, the final decision rests with the Ref and so he’ll get the first award.


The Watford defender, Powell slid bravely to block a Blues cross only to get a ball smacked into his face for his efforts – if that hurt then it was nothing to the hurt he got when he realised some dick head had blown for a penalty. Slotted home it was a early win for the Blues.



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