February, whilst seeing us into the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, Nine points clear of Chelsea in the race for the title, and with a precious 1-0 advantage in the Champions League hasn’t been the best pf months for United performance-wise. A late underserved win against Fulham providing many United fans with a reality check among the hysteria of widening the gap.

The game against Lille, again we were lucky, a dubious foul on Nemanja Vidic which lead to the disallowing of a goal, which if it had happened in the oppositions penalty box we’d fell hard done by.

You may be wondering where my player of the month is going to come into this damning diatribe of United’s performances in February. Well first I shall discuss my list of 3 candidates.

1) Patrice Evra- Has come leaps and bounds this season, firmly establishing himself as a cult hero on and off the pitch. His terrier like performances at Left Back have left a critical media and sections of our support to scoff helpings of humble pie. His run and cross for Park’s goal against Charlton was typical of Evra’s inexhaustible pace and laser guided crosses. He sometimes this month has had to fulfil the rigours of playing two positions a game when Ryan Giggs goes walkabouts. Also his improved heading ability has lead to keeping Dimitar Berbatov quiet. However a poor performance at Reading may yet cost him his ROM POM award.

2) Edwin Van Der Sar- A Goalkeeper? Player of the Month? Surely not, yet Big Dutchman VDS has proved his immense worth to United this month despite missing the games against Charlton ad Reading in the Cup. Whilst Kuszczack is a capable Keeper, VDS brings a wealth of experience and a larger sense of calm at the back, His vital save from Simon Davies shortly after Half-Time at Craven Cottage, a marvellous save from a Kevin Doyle shot in tonight’s clash, and calm controlled distribution against Lille, showed that even if you can past our imperious back four, you still have to beat United’s number 1. And even with two games out of six missed VDS is a worth candidate for the ROM POM award.

3) Wayne Rooney- The Big Man Is Back, as young Scouse Scamp Rooney was infamously quoted as saying. What a month it’s been for our Number 8, written off in January by no less than the other of this article as looking laboured and trying too hard, he’s back to his best. His link up play against Tottenham was incredible, and he seems to have struck a rapport with Henke Larsson, which has taken the heat off our enigmatic number 9, Louis Saha and injury prone Legend Ole Gunnar. Also you cannot discount that even when Wayne’s been kept quiet, he always come up with one piece of brilliance, like against Charlton, through on goal with only the keeper to beat, Rooney was foiled only for him to collect the rebound and majestically scoop the ball onto the waiting Fletcher to net the second, decisive goal. A ban against Reading, and our front line was found wanting without our talismanic genius, another reason why he’s been nominated. A gritty hard fought performance in Lille saw Rooney waste a glorious chance, but again his link up play with the midfield, especially when we were under the cosh early in both halves did he prove his worth again. Always looking for space he had been found on the left, the right and even at centre half in that game. Just like in the Charlton game, The Roon was kept quiet at Fulham, only for him to force Christinval into an error which Rooney duly proceeded to make the most of with an excellent deep cross for Giggs to net his 4th of the season.

As you can maybe tell from my glowing report, Wayne Rooney is awarded the ROM POM award for February, he’s not been clinical for us this month, but has taken a lot of pressure off the likes of Ronaldo and Scholes, who have in all fairness dipped below their awesome consistency this month, and we should be thankful for that.

Written by Tatty for RoM.org