ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ulrik Fredrik also tries and mostly succeeds at blogging daily at Man Utd Musings (http://www.newmanutd.com)

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Woohoo. United were rampant in the second half in their fixture with Wigan away from home.

Rooney (2), Berbatov, Owen and Nani managed to colour the scoresheet with their names in what proved to be a resounding response to the loss against Burnley in midweek.

I was on the road during the first half so I couldn’t really comment on their performance but a friend noted that United were rather wasteful and Wigan were quick and dangerous on the counter-attack.

The 2nd half was a whole different story though. The lads didn’t exactly come out flying out of the gates, they patiently went along with a steady build-up play as Valencia looked to be more and more confident with the ball on the right flank.

Image from morethanthegames.co.uk/gettyimages

And it was the Ecuardorian’s cross from the same flank that got things started. in the  56th minute of the game. Rooney took United a goal up after connecting with Valencia’s perfectly weighted cross for goal number 100.

Image from soccernet.com

Berbatov was next in line, having a good game this time around and providing brilliant little touches for this teammates. His goal came only 2 minutes after United opener, his deft touch playing a role in his contribution, lifting the ball over Kirkland with feather-like touch and finishing off acrobatically.

Photo by AP Photo/Nick Potts

From a Berbatov pass in the 65th minute, Rooney added another to his tally after intelligent tight handling of the ball in the box although he was very much aided by a fortunate deflection off a Wigan defender and left Kirkland rather wrong-footed.

Image from telegraph.co.uk

Sir Alex Ferguson put United’s new no.7 in place of Rooney on 72 minutes and just 13 minutes later the Englishman scored his Manchester United Premier League debut goal. And a fine one it was. Nani running down the middle managed to detect Owen horizontally run across the Wigan penalty box and slid the ball into the stride of the United forward. Needing only a look and a touch, it was a stylish highlight to his debut goal.

Nani was on hand to round things off for the Red Devils in injury time. The Portuguese has been under constant fire from critics as being wasteful although possessing immense talent. And he didn’t waste this opportunity to silence critics by scoring from a dead ball situation, almost signalling his intent to replace Cristiano Ronaldo.

Photo by AFP/Liu Jin

I have to say that it was a good match to have watched, especially the second half and what’s important is that with results like these so early in the season, it gives hope to fans all around and proves that there is indeed life after Ronaldo.