Manchester United 4 Stoke City 2

A win is a win as I always say. Even if we played poorly. 3pts in the bag is always better than one or none.

1. Overall I thought we had a so-so game, but I guess we can use last week's internationals as a hangover excuse. Didn't feel all that pumped especially with Chelsea and Man City winning their games as well.

2. Our back four of Ferdinand, Evans, Evra and Rafael look like its the set four this season. They didn't have a bad game, but those two goals conceded really should not have been.

3. Rafael in particular looks to be going from strength to strength making the RB position his own. And definitely one of the few who consistently plays with urgency and a seeming want to go for more goals.

4. We started with Carrick and Scholes again and to be honest, while Scholes is pure legend, he can't be relied on for 90mins nor to start games. We saw that when he put himself in potential card trouble with 3 rash tackles. Still his passing and vision are unparalleled. Carrick is just Carrick. Sideways, backwards, short forward passes, reliable as always, if not unspectacular. We still need him to stabilize the midfield.

5. In the wings we had Welbeck and Tony V, both of whom were the poorer performers today IMHO. Valencia just hardly showed up, while Welbz really needs to work on his finishing. But at least he has very good energy and his header was sublime (even if it took 10 tries). Both were substituted to no surprise.

6. Rooney was having a hangover surely. But a 50% Rooney is still better than most anyone in the league. He lacked urgency, had quite alot of stray passes, plus his first own goal, but he made it all up with his finishing and a few sublime touches. How can you leave him out like that?

7. RVP is the man to count on when you need the goals. I think it's 8 goals in 7 games now. The guy is just one crazy scorer that is proving his enormous price tag is a bargain in disguise. Instinct is preciously in short supply in the league and this guy is oozing it. Could've scored more if he weren't such a team player.

8. Lastly we had De Gea in goal and he really kept us in the game. I thought against Stoke Lindegaard might've been a better option, but DDG, while looking uncertain as times, made up for it with several instinctive saves. He looks ripe to be our no1 shot-stopper. We'll need him against Chelsea away.

9. Substitute-wise nothing much to mention other than Nani, Ando and Hernandez getting a runout. Next up is Chelski at Stamford Bridge. Last season we came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3. Looking at Chelski's amazing frontline, I'm not very confident we will come away with any points. But still we must believe. They crushed Spurs away 4-2 last night with Oscar, Hazard and Mata in spectacular form. Thankfully they also have Torres.

10. Rio Ferdinand chose not to wear the Kick It Out racism tshirts during warm-up yesterday after SAF said his whole squad would. After the game SAF said he was disappointed and he would deal with him. Hope it does not turn into another Jaap Stam.

We got UCL action with Braga midweek and then Chelski away at the weekend! Hope we win them both!

GGMU!!!