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In danger of scraping the barrel after Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool had toasted heartily for strong performances over the weekend, Manchester United came into the match against Fulham with only one thing in mind: to win.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice as United beat Fulham 2-0 at home on Monday to restore some respectability to their league standing. Arsenal still lead the pack with 36 points with a game in hand while Manchester United have 33, Chelsea 31, Liverpool and Manchester City 30. The victory was United’s seventh in a row at home in all competitions.

In the 10th minute, Ronaldo scored the opener, volleying the ball into the top corner from Vidic’s header. It was his 12th goal and seventh in the league. Barring any injuries, I believe he is on course to score at least 20 goals this season, an impressive achievement by most standards, especially for a midfielder.

Coming in as runner up to Kaka in the Ballon d’Or has turned out to be a strong motivating factor for Ronaldo. He began the work needed to win over the neutrals for next year’s award with a sparkling performance right away. Indeed, at a time when United needed goals, he answered the call of duty with a brace 13 minutes into the second half after heading in a John O’Shea’s cross.

Manchester United could have sewn up the match in the first half if they had been less wasteful. Carlos Tevez missed a hat-trick, twice heading wide inside the six-yard box and twice forcing point-blank saves from keeper Niemi. Wayne Rooney, in his first match for a month following injury, fluffed a good chance from a low pass by Tevez after 66 minutes.

Ferguson does not take the “gifts” kindly, saying: “It was a comfortable 2-0 even though Fulham had a lot of possession, but there were too many chances missed and we were too charitable in that respect.”

Though Fulham were busy defending against a romping United, they nearly sprang a surprise when Danny Murphy’s shot from the edge of the box forced a diving save from van der Sar. The resulting corner should have yielded a goal when Murphy’s shot whistled past the top corner of Van der Sar’s net. Shefki Kuqi confirmed Fulham’s lack of quality strikers by heading over Simon Davies’s high cross with the goal at his mercy.

The other highlights of this match was a penalty claim. Alex Ferguson accused Niemi of ‘conning’ referee Rob Styles after Ronaldo was booked for diving, instead of being awarded a penalty to complete his hat-trick.

After watching the replays, I concur with Alex Ferguson that the referee had made a mistake. There was no need for Ronaldo to dive. He has already accomplished the job for United and the match was fully in control. Getting a third goal will just be a bonus, certainly not so critical as to fake a fall to claim for a penalty.

Styles could have exercised better judgment seeing that Ronaldo was already cleanly put through by Tevez, has rounded the goalkeeper and just need to slot the ball home. The best Styles could do if he was uncertain was to wave play on and give the goalkeeper the benefit of the doubt, instead of flashing a yellow card.

In a way, this is a payback since Ronaldo earned a reputation for hitting the ground in theatrical fashion at the slightest touch in his early days at Manchester United. But since the World Cup, he has matured and become a fine football specimen. However, the unsavory memories still linger for referees as well as judges for the football awards.

If Ronaldo aspires to be a football legend, he will have to makeover this image by cleaning up his act. His technical skills, which he is constantly improving, have won him rave reviews from the media and the respect of his peers but if he can prove that he is not a cheater (and curb a bit of his vanity along the way), I seriously cannot see any reason why he has to be second best for the top awards. What do you guys think?

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