Lol 
Official Match report from manutd.com
Report: Charlton 0 United 3
Goals from Darren Fletcher, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
gave United their second win of the season at the expense of
Charlton Athletic.
The second-half strikes ruined Iain Dowie's first home game in
charge of the Addicks and kept United on top of the Premiership
table.
A fluid attacking performance from United could have yielded plenty
more goals, and made a mockery of pre-match trepidation fuelled by
the absence of Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes.
Skipper Gary Neville was also absent, having failed to recover from
his persistent calf injury in time to lead his side and forcing Sir
Alex Ferguson to field a back four of Brown, Silvestre, Ferdinand
and Evra.
The high-profile absence of Rooney and Scholes prompted the
inclusion of Darren Fletcher and Ji-sung Park, while new signing
Michael Carrick was a surprising - yet highly welcomed - face on
the United bench.
Charlton themselves were hit by a suspension, with new signing
Djimi Traore replaced by Jonathan Fortune in defence.
On a rain-sodden pitch and with the home contingent audibly buoyed
by the absence of Rooney and Scholes, United's early game plan was
to remain neat and tidy.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink scuffed a volley well wide from outside the
area, but United were content to sit back and keep their opponents
at arm's length.
When it did come, in the 22nd minute, the Reds' first chance fell
to Ji-sung Park, who rose well to head Wes Brown's cross powerfully
wide.
Moments later the South Korean was in the thick of the action
again, this time drawing a solid save from Scott Carson in the
Addicks goal after the home defence went AWOL.
United were clearly in the ascendancy, and they were within a
whisker of moving into the lead just two minutes later. After
Ronaldo had been felled on the edge of the area by Luke Young, Ryan
Giggs whipped a magnificent free-kick against the inside of
Carson's near-post and watched in disbelief as the ball bounced to
safety.
After a comical series of slips and scuffs from Evra, Ferdinand and
finally Silvestre, Darren Ambrose's effort was deflected away for a
corner. In a continuation of United's unconvincing defensive play,
Silvestre escaped a penalty appeal for a lunging challenge on
Hreidarsson.
The see-saw nature of the game continued, with neither side clearly
on top. Cristiano Ronaldo, predictably booed throughout by the
Addicks faithful, battled defiantly but provoked further derision
by blazing a long-range free-kick over the bar on 35 minutes.
Giggs again came close to scoring three minutes before the
interval. Having emulated his young Portuguese colleague with a
fleet-footed stepover, the veteran saw his curling right-footed
effort brilliantly turned away by Carson.
United's next close call had nothing to do with the intervention of
the on-loan Liverpool stopper, however. Saha fed Ronaldo 20 yards
out, and his unstoppable right-footed shot almost snapped the
crossbar before hurtling back into play.
Ronaldo came close again before half-time, heading over the bar
from Giggs' corner as United somehow went into the interval only
level.
Parity didn't last long after the break. After Darren Ambrose had
clipped the outside of Edwin van der Sar's post with a long-range
drive, United moved ahead.
Ronaldo's right-wing cross looked set to be cleared by Jonathan
Fortune, but his slip presented Darren Fletcher with the ball 10
yards from goal.
The Scottish midfielder displayed remarkable assuredness in
feigning to shoot twice before lashing beyond Carson for his first
goal since his famous matchwinner against Chelsea last
season.
Ronaldo almost had another assist on 54 minutes, but again United
found themselves denied by the woodwork. Park acrobatically
volleyed the ball goalwards from Ronaldo's left-wing cross and
Carson was left rooted as the shot cannoned away to safety.
For all their dominance United were still only one goal to the
good, and the narrow nature of their lead was underlined when
Charlton were denied a penalty just after the hour.
Wes Brown's outstretched arm made the faintest of connections to a
Charlton corner, but it was still enough to put Hreidarsson off his
header.
Referee Chris Foy waved play on, however, and United were allowed a
huge let-off.
It was a rare blip in United's dominance and they threatened again
shortly afterwards, this time as Giggs' corner was headed goalwards
by Saha, only for Kishishev to clear off the line.
United continued to press, but their fragile lead was exposed again
as Darren Bent exchanged passes with namesake Marcus before firing
wide on 72 minutes.
Carrick made his debut, replacing Ji-sung Park in the 77th minute
and moving into the centre of midfield as Giggs moved out to the
left wing, and within two minutes United had made the points
safe.
Brown crossed from the left for Saha, whose chest control gave him
time to turn and, following a mix-up in the Charlton defence, the
space to hammer a low, 20-yard shot inside the far post.
It was the Frenchman's second goal in four days following his
header against Fulham, and his final action of the night as he was
replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Soon after his introduction, the Norwegian was denied a first goal
since September 2003 as Carson lunged across an open goal to
prevent Solskjaer rounding off great approach play from Carrick and
Ronaldo.
Solskjaer was not to be denied his moment of glory, however, and he
sidefooted powerfully home after good work from Saha down the
left.
It sparked pandemonium among the United following, not only because
the revered striker had ended his drought, but because they had
seen a thoroughly impressive United display.
With six points from six and a goal difference of seven already,
the signs are that United have heeded Sir Alex's call for a
blistering start to the season.
Charlton Athletic: Carson, Young, El Karkouri, Fortune,
Hreidarsson, Hughes, Holland, Faye, Ambrose, Hasselbaink (M Bent,
65), D Bent.
United: Van der Sar, Brown, Silvestre, Ferdinand, Evra, Fletcher,
O'Shea, Ronaldo, Giggs (Solskjaer, 82), Saha, Park (Carrick,
77).
I think Ronaldo is finally maturing..realy link up and passed the
ball well.Lets hope this is a permanent change 
