Easy Peasy

How disheartening it must be for title chasers to watch United purr around the pitch, stinging together passes, possession, and penetration at-will against a side playing 10 behind the ball. United’s attacking verve gets better by the day, so it’s becoming less a matter of if they’ll win, but rather, by how much. All the while, United successfully rotate in and out a host of players, and, oh yeah, there’s that little thing about 14 straight clean sheets. Eat your heart out Rafa.

Fergie maintains an almost psychic ability to judge form and know exactly when to insert a player in the line-up. At Pride Park, it was another masterful performance by Giggs, as Nani, Gibson, and Wellbeck took full advantage of their minutes as well. Today, it was Scholes’ turn to shine.

He was utterly brilliant, as he pinged together a whole collection of precise passes, from delicate chips just over defenders to 50-yard cross-field-diagonal passes to Ronaldo in-stride, not to mention his hammer-volley for his 97th Premier League goal. He makes the game look way, way too easy and was Man of the Match, hands down.

What an incredibly sad day it will be when Giggs and Scholes hangs up their boots. Both players haven’t received nearly enough headlines for their performances, unlike players such as Cantona or Keane.

That’s precisely what makes all of recent accolades for Giggsy so sweet.

After the West Ham match, La Gazzette Dello Sport made the Welshman one of 35 candidates for their weekly Europe’s Best XI, as they described the veteran as "class personified" and he wound up being voted in as a starting winger. Exactly a week later, Alan Hansen argued in his BBC column that Ryan Giggs ought to be footballer of the year, after extolling his performance overall this year and as a central striker in the FA Cup match at Derby.

Much like an aging actor who receives his first Oscar as much for his body of work than for the film in question, Giggs might just pip his own teammates for player of the year honors. And why not?! His performances have been magnificent, his versatility superb.

So, here’s to the future footballer of the year, Sir Ryan Giggs. Cheers!