Giggs’ Indian summer chills United rivals

THE recriminations over the fourth official’s stop-watch in the Manchester derby rumble on and the sense of injustice burns as intensely as ever in the blue half of Manchester.

But what Manchester United did against their envious neighbours was merely put them in their place for a while longer. What Ryan Giggs sparked at the Britannia stadium was a far more chilling statement of intent from the champions.

Stoke’s inhospitable stadium holds fond memories for Alex Ferguson. On St Stephen’s Day last year, he felt their victory against Tony Pulis’ bruisers was the catalyst to drive them to a third successive title and spurn the challenge of Chelsea.

Admittedly victory here, courtesy of Giggs’ sublime second-half cameo, is rather early in proceedings to be equally definitive for the United manager, but if he wants a barometer at this stage of the season to test his chances, then they must be looking more than favourable.

A couple of weeks ago, Chelsea had to rely upon a Florent Malouda goal, four minutes into stoppage time to put Stoke in their place and allow Carlo Ancelotti to escape from his first encounter with Pulis’s head-hunters with victory.

The manner in which United brushed Stoke aside to claim a seventh successive victory and what they believe to be their rightful place at the summit of the Premier League could not have been in starker contrast.

No need for stoppage time here and Pulis would happily have let referee Howard Webb end proceedings early to escape the embarrassment.

“It was an ideal game for us after the derby. We were on such a high after that, but the game against Stoke here last season was pivotal to our season,” said John O’Shea, who marked his 350th appearance with the second United goal and his first in the Premier League for 17 months, thanks to Giggs’s wonderful free-kick delivery.

“This shows we can get down and do the dirty work as well and Giggsy was superb again. He is going to be so important to us with all his experience. His run for the first goal was so clever and he just put the free-kick in the right place for me and that was a great way to celebrate my 350th appearance.”

The superlatives for Giggs seem never ending. He may well be approaching his 36th birthday in November, but his appetite and desire burns as brightly as the day Bobby Charlton saw him playing for United’s youngsters many years ago and almost fell over himself in his hurry to inform Ferguson.

Whisper it quietly, but the departure of Ronaldo may have even bought a new lease of life for the Welsh international.

The shadow of the Portugu-

ese has gone and Giggs is back in the spotlight, craving a 12th Premier League title and he has the intelligence to win it too. In contrast, Antonio Valencia and Nani, Ronaldo’s pick to fill his golden boots, have been so abject so far this season.

Nani had been in the position several times previously and could not pick the correct pass, much to the displeasure of Ferguson. Within six minutes of his arrival for Nani, Giggs’ run and simple pass for Dimitar Berbatov to open the scoring was an object lesson in wing play.

While Ronaldo was a one-man band, hell-bent on individual destruction of his opponents, to the point of demeaning them at times, Giggs is so much more “Mr Team,” just like his long-term friend Paul Scholes, who controlled matters from deep for long periods, before Giggs emerged to demonstrate just what a key weapon he will remain for United throughout this season. He cut through Stoke like a freshly-sharpened Sabatier.

“He is so intelligent. He just offers us something different all the time,” said Ferguson. “It is hard to argue with his assessment, but it will be the downright ease with which United were successful here that will have most pleased the Scot.

Stoke’s roadblock of nine players behind the ball was designed to frustrate the champions and for an hour it was successful. You could almost see the steam coming out of Wayne Rooney’s ears. This was not football the way he knows it.

However, if Stoke had delighted in getting so close against Chelsea, Pulis had to surrender well before the final whistle on this one.

The intimidating atmosphere had been dulled by Paul Scholes controlling matters throughout and any hopes of trying to exploit the fragile confidence of Ben Foster, after his derby-day troubles, were sheer folly.

The England goalkeeper in waiting had one shot to save throughout, such was United’s dominance.

“They are a quality side, but we have to look at ourselves because we did not really look like scoring at any stage,” said Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen.

“We did not cause them too many problems in front of their goal and that is disappointing. I don’t think we were overcautious, because you can’t go all out attack, but we did not even get close enough to hurt them,”

Whether Chelsea will be able to get close enough over the remainder of the season is less contentious. Whether they will hurt United is another matter entirely.

REFEREE: Howard Webb (Leeds) 7: Yet another sensible and astute display from the league’s premier referee. Correct decision not to send off Scholes for handball.

MATCH RATING: **** Not too many teams will leave the Britannia having pocketed three points with such ease. It couldhave been cigars all round for United, it was that easy.