Fergie tames Tigers' then vows to gun down Calderon over Ronaldo..

It's a testament to Phil Brown's achievements at Hull City this season that after taking a 4-1 lead the Champions were left hanging on at the end of a pulsating, if error ridden game, that finished 4-3.

It's not often that the United home crowd see visiting teams come to Old Trafford and throw men forward in pursuit of three points, but that is precisely how the Tigers approached Saturday's encounter with the Red Devils.

Ronaldo opened the scoring after just three minutes when he linked-up with Berbatov, the goal came about after the Portuguese winger knocked the ball back to the Bulgarian on the edge of the Tigers penalty area who then played it back to Ronaldo who made no mistake with a smart finish at the near-post.

Hull fought back and equalised on 23 minutes after Vidic gave away a cheap free-kick on United's left flank for shirt-pulling, Daniel Cousin, scored with a good header from a well worked set-piece.

Six minutes later, returning from injury Michael Carrick restored the Champions advantage, following a sweeping move that was started by a somewhat out-of-sorts Wayne Rooney and then Dimitar Berbatov, who is really starting to pull the strings for United. Carrick was rather fortunate to see his low-driven arrow-like shot go through legs of Paul McShane on its way into the corner of the rigging.

United extended their lead before the break and once more it was Dimitar Berbatov was at the heart of another attacking move, which ended with Rooney being felled inside the Hull penalty area before the ball ran out of play. From the resulting corner Ronaldo crashed home a powerful header, but once again there was an element of good fortune involved as MsShane had the last touch before the ball flew into the net.

Vidic made it 4-1 on 57 minutes, but the scoring was far from over as Hull's second-half substitute, Mendy, laid to claim to the tag of man-of-the-match, after scoring with a well judged lob after out-muscling Patrice Evra and then winning a penalty after a collision with Ferdinand. Geovanni made no mistake with his spot-kick and in so doing ensured it was a nervy ending for the Champions who were mighty relieved to hear the final-whistle.

As far as entertainment goes, this was a good advert for the Premier League; however, both managers will be unhappy about the manner of some of the defending, especially on set-pieces.

Ferguson will also be slightly concerned about Wayne Rooney, who had a very frustrating afternoon, on several occasions he was left cursing team-mates who elected to shoot rather than square the ball to him. Rooney's frustrations got the better of him, as happens when the dreaded red-mist descends, he could be have been sent-off late-on when dived-in with both feet off the ground following a bounce-up.

From a tactical perspective while Berbatov is bedding-in nicely, concerns persist about the future of Carlos Tevez who made little impact after replacing, Nani, who once again didn't really do enough to warrant a starting place.

Following the introduction of the Argentine, Rooney, was somewhat bizarrely dispatched onto the right-wing which no doubt only added to his woes.

Clearly, Fergie has yet to work out how to get the very best out of his array of attacking options; the hope is that the United manager can keep all of his strikers happy and at the same time find a way of accommodating them all in the same team. With the very real danger of sounding like stuck record, this goal can be achieved if Fergie plays Rooney in an advanced central midfield attacking role and then gives Tevez the wide-left attacking berth.

Men-of-the-match:
Berbatov; showed some fancy-footwork at times, but importantly he used the ball to great effect and almost always played the right ball.

Anderson; worked tirelessly and used the ball well.

Meanwhile, in other news, the war of words between Manchester United and Real Madrid is not over following the Spanish club's failed pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo. Earlier in the week Fergie baited Ramon Calderon and his club over their links to the dictator and former backer General Franco, in response the Real Madrid president labelled Fergie as "senile".

Fergie says that he is perfectly happy that United still have Ronaldo and he's more than ready to do battle with Real Madrid in January, should they start their tiresome media games in a bid to prize away Ronaldo. The United manager even went as far as hinting that Ramon Calderon & Co could be heading for Boot-Hill following another duel in the next transfer window.


"There was no question of Ronaldo leaving anyway, absolutely no question."

Ferguson added: "Yes, it's possible that these are the first shots of another attempt to get him. They do it all the time. We're ready.

"We have enough ammunition ready. I'm only using one gun at the moment. I'll get the Gatling gun out in January!" continued Fergie.

How sweet would it be to meet and eliminate Real Madrid from the Champions League this season?...

See all the goals for free from the United vs Hull City game

Real Madrid taken for ride in Fergie's wind-up car...

When it comes to winding up the opposition, there's no better exponent of the art than Sir Alex Ferguson. The United manager famously cranked up the pressure on Kevin Keegan, manager of Newcastle, who at one point in 1996 had a 12 point advantage over the Red Devils in the title race, but following the Magpies manager's rant at Fergie they squandered their lead as United eventually ran out champions again. During Keegan's hilarious outburst which was seen by millions of viewers on SKY TV he coined the phrase "Love it" which entered the football lexicon.



Over the years Fergie has used the media to get his point across, he's managed to use the press largely to his advantage especially where winding-up rivals are concerned.

The latest victim to be taken for a ride in Fergie's wind-up car is Real Madrid present, Ramon Calderon, over his failed pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo. Ferguson has reminded the Spanish club of their links to their infamous former backer General Franco. Fergie says that Real Madrid are well used to getting what they want - a tradition started by the dictator in the 1950s. It's a fair comment really, even though this is a history lesson that Real Madrid would no doubt prefer to be brushed under the carpet.

Fergie has been winding-up Real Madrid over the last few weeks, he first made the Franco analogy in the summer months, but repeated it recently when baiting former United star Gabriel Heinze, when stating that the Spanish club had only signed the Argentine as a pawn with view to prizing his mate Ronaldo away from Old Trafford.

In response, Ramon Calderon, has resorted to calling Ferguson senile. Real Madrid's lapdogs at Marca have somewhat predictably waded-in when comparing the United manager to a dictator when morphing an image of Fergie's head into that of General Franco.

No doubting that Calderon and Madrid are hoping that Fergie will soon retire, but I wouldn't rule out them being taken for another spin or two in Fergie's wind-up car before that happens.

Brown-nosing Real Madrid trying to get Ronaldo on the cheap?

Real Madrid's silence over the future of Cristiano Ronaldo was all too short, when they knew United were not going to sell their star player to the Spaniards' in the last transfer window, they somewhat reluctantly threw in the towel and temporarily conceded defeat.

Since then we've heard the usual media wind-bags, aka 'informed sources', spinning various lines such as "Real are no longer interested in Ronaldo". However, about a week ago, Bernt Schuster, the Madrid coach, stated that, yes indeed, his club still wants to sign Ronaldo.

In the summer Real used every trick in the book to try to force United to sell Ronaldo, there was even talk that they wanted the player to go on strike and again if we believe what the 'insiders' tell us to be true, the fact that he did not withdraw his labour allegedly upset the Spanish club.

Whatever the truth behind the rumours surrounding talk that Ronaldo was to go on strike, Real Madrid's heavy-handed media assault failed - it was a total disaster because they also lost Robinho.

It came as no surprise then to hear Ramon Calderon over the weekend stating that they don't want to upset United. Clearly having failed with the battering-ram, the Madrid president has changed tactics, because he's now trying to give us the impression that his club are distancing themselves from Ronaldo.

Coming on the back of the latest spin emanating from the Real Madrid president, is it not a bit strange that Marca of all media outlets published quotes attributed to Ronaldo which state that he has committed his future to Manchester United, with the added rider that "I'm happy for now"?

When you think about Madrid's media led summer pursuit of Ronaldo, it was handled very badly, it was dumb, because Ronaldo's price was probably as high as it was ever going to be. Following on from the failed transfer coup of last summer, it appears that Madrid have launched a slightly more subtle approach, with a view to possibly capturing the player for a lot less money.

The form of Ronaldo hasn't reached the heights of last season, there has been various theories punted about this, such as he's not yet fit following his operation. Then there are those who believe that perhaps Ronaldo is holding back.

The very fact that Ronaldo's quotes appeared in Marca adds a certain amount of weight to the theory that this latest burst of media activity surrounding Ronaldo's future is suspicious to say the least. Personally, I don't trust Marca - do they have an office at the Madrid club?

My gut instinct is that Calderon's recent statement over Ronaldo should be dismissed out of hand; the same can be said of the Ronaldo quotes in Marca. What we are seeing is the beginnings of another orchestrated media-led campaign to capture the player next summer.

Ronaldo's future pledge would have more credence if he'd spoken to the British media, rather than the Real Madrid publicity machine that is Marca. Until I hear Ronaldo say that he is totally committed to United I simply do not believe it.

Like many other sensible United fans, I have been more than happy to back Ferguson over Ronaldo and I hope that his faith will be rewarded with yet more silverware. If United win the title or the Champions League again this season, Ronaldo can go as far as I'm concerned, I suspect Fergie has hinted as much to the player, but again I think we the fans should back the manager's judgement over this issue.

Time will tell if I'm right or wrong over Real Madrid's media antics.