The Premier League match report between Stoke City and Manchester United at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday Sept 26, 2009.
Ryan Giggs turned one point into three for Manchester United with a majestic performance after climbing off the bench to guide the champions to victory at Stoke.
The United veteran, a 55th minute replacement for the ineffective Nani, created both goals for Dimitar Berbatov and John O’Shea after the visitors had threatened to spurn the chance to leave the Potteries with all three points.
Giggs could even have scored his 100th Premier League goal, and 150th in all competitions, had he not shot over from close range on 80 minutes.
United’s narrow 1-0 victory at the Britannia Stadium on Boxing Day last season was viewed as a pivotal moment by Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of his team’s success of winning a third successive title.
That win was due to an 83rd minute Carlos Tevez strike and Tony Pulis’s team made United work just as hard to claim the three points on this occasion.
From the moment that defender Robert Huth floored Nani with a crunching first minute tackle, it was clear that Stoke were going to fight tooth and nail against the champions.
But Ferguson’s men withstood the physical battering and gained the upper hand through their slick passing and movement.
Almost the entire first-half was spent with the ball in the Stoke half, but United failed to take advantage of the chances they created. Wayne Rooney sent an over-head kick over the crossbar before Antonio Valencia wastefully shot wide after breaking free inside the penalty area.
Nani, who was having an infuriating performance, constantly held onto the ball for too long and, when he did deliver a cross, the accuracy was not of the quality provided by his Old Trafford predecessor on the flank – Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Portuguese winger did at least force Thomas Sorensen into his best save of the first-half, though, with a curling effort from 20 yards on 44 minutes.
Unsurprisingly, Nani was withdrawn by Ferguson following a disappointing start to the second-half, but the introduction of Giggs proved crucial. The Welshman, approaching his 36th birthday in November, possesses the maturity and experience that Nani can only hope to attain and Berbatov’s goal was a direct result of those qualities.
Having received the ball inside the penalty area from Darren Fletcher’s visionary pass, Giggs calmly squared for Berbatov to tap in from six yards. One has to wonder whether Nani, in a similar position, would have had the nous to create the goal as Giggs had done. Unlikely.
The same applies to the Giggs free-kick which teed up O’Shea to head in United’s second on 77 minutes. Perfectly floated in from the right, O’Shea outjumped the towering Stoke defenders to aim a glancing header past Sorensen and secure the points for United.
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