United won on Saturday – then the scousers dropped points against relegation haunted Spurs yesterday, so not a bad weekend. The fact United played for about 20 minutes on Saturday in between stops for injuries makes the resulting hoo-har over the 4-0 win all the more bizarre.

Yet there were a great many plusses, not least the coming of age in a United shirt of Carlos Tevez and Anderson, two signings who had hitherto failed to impress in red. Anderson in particular seemed to take the game by the scruff after he came on for O’Shea in the first half. His tackling was a revelation although his distribution and eye for a killer pass should have been expected for a lad bought for the best part of £20m. Nevertheless he set up goals for Tevez and sent Rooney on his way to set-up Ronaldo for the third. The contrast between his energetic performance and another lethargic Scholes showing was vivid.

Tevez took the eye though and his first goal is bound to be a youtube classic for the next week at least. He takes up poistions intelligently and seems to have dovetailed well with Rooney and Ronnie. The 4 goal second half certainly added gloss after a poor first stanza during which United lost Vidic and O’Shea and looked in disarray.

The scousers draw on Sunday highlighted their shortcomings – Benitez’s attempts to bolster the reds title charge with the signings of Voronin and Torres looks doomed to be honest. They are far too reliant on Gerrard and his famed inconsistency will remain an achilles heel. Meanwhile Arsenal struggled to overcome a resilient Sunderland outfit while city kept up an impressive run with Elano scoring two goals…