Addicks washed away by Devils

Barclays Premiership

For more photos, click on Charlton pictures

CHARLTON Athletic were swept away by a rampant Manchester United on a thoroughly miserable night at The Valley.

Like the driving rain and in front of Sky Sports cameras the Red Devils were relentless in their demolition of Iain Dowie's charges.

Second half goals from Darren Fletcher, Louis Saha and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer condemned the Addicks to defeat and leave them staring up from the bottom of the Premiership table.

And it could have been a lot worse had the woodwork not come to Charlton's rescue three times and had Scott Carson not pulled off two wonder saves.

More worringly for Dowie, however, is Charlton's defensive display was akin to a Keystone Cop episode.

Admittedly they were not helped by Djimi Traore's diabolical dismissal at Upton Park, and subsequent suspension, meaning Hermann Hreidarsson filled in at left back.

However, the ease with which Manchester United tore them apart must be a concern to the manager who has seen them concede six goals in two games.

Dowie said: "We lost against a very good Manchester United side who kept the ball better than we did.

"We didn't make enough effort in passing the ball, which we had talked about before the game, and we switched off at key defensive moments.

"We did not press them enough and they've got players to hurt you."

As for Manchester United they could not have had a better evening.

Not only did their arch rivals Chelsea lose at Middlesbrough but Solskjaer's goal was his first in three years and they got their first glimpse of Michael Carrick - a class act from the moment he entered the fray in the second half.

There was just one change to the Charlton side which lost to West Ham with Jonathan Fortune taking a position in central defence and Hreidarsson moving to the right in a four-man defence.

Kevin Lisbie and Radostin Kishishev were recalled to the bench while Andy Reid and Gonzalo Sorondo were missing through injury.

The match started slowly where the only interest lie in which set of fans could out-do the other in booing or cheering Ronaldo.

Charlton forced the first save when Amady Faye, making his home debut, lifted an intelligent lob onto Darren Bent's head but Edwin Van Der Sar had the easiest of pick-ups.

Carson's first test came when Ji-Sung Park, playing in place of the suspended Wayne Rooney, found himself all alone in the penalty area.

The Korean should have done better but his low shot was gathered by the Addicks' custodian.

Ronaldo was then fouled on the edge of the penalty area, much to the home fans' derision, and he and Ryan Giggs stood over the kick.

The Welshman took repsonsibility and curled a wonderful effort round the outside of the defensive wall only to see it crack the inside of the post and rebound to safety.

Charlton responded after Patrice Evra slipped making a routine clearance.

There followed a session of penalty box pinball before Darren Ambrose's shot was deflected for a corner.

For the remainder of the half it was all Manchester United and Hreidarsson, struggling to contain Ronaldo, was booked for a tackle from behind.

Giggs then took the ball into the penalty, performed a few foot-overs aka Ronaldo, before forcing a fine save from Carson with a curling shot.

Moments later a sweeping move ended with Saha laying the ball off for Ronaldo but he saw his wonderful 18-yard strike with the outside of his right boot cannon off the cross bar with Carson beaten.

Evra put a headed chance wide before Ronaldo rose highest to a Giggs corner but could only head over.

Half-time was greeted with applause and the customary booing of Ronaldo as he disappeared down the tunnel.

Manchester United started the second period as they ended the first, piling on pressure.

And although Ambrose shaved the post with a speculative shot cum cross, the Addicks' resolve was finally broken on 48 minutes.

But it was all their own doing as Fortune made a mess of clearing a low cross and presented the ball to Darren Fletcher who made no mistake from close range.

On 57 minutes Ronaldo was again in the thick of it when his cross eluded everyone apart from Park at the far post but his acrobatic volley hit the post.

Saha then saw his header off Giggs' corner cleared off the line by Luke Young as the corner and shots count rose.

An anonymous Jimmy-Floyd Hasslebaink was replaced by Marcus Bent on 64 minutes.

The two Bents combined to create an opening for Darren Bent but his shot from the edge of the area was always rising.

On 76 minutes Michael Carrick made his first Premiership appearance in a Red Devils' shirt and three minutes later, his new team put the result beyond doubt.

Saha accepted Giggs' long ball on the edge of the penalty area and seeing as the defence parted like the Red Sea in front of him, he fired an unstoppable daisy cutter past the exposed Carson for 2-0.

Charlton had a good case for a penalty turned down after Wes Brown appeared to handle Hreidarsson's cross. Dennis Rommedhal was introduced for Faye while Giggs made way for Solskjaer.

Rommedhal helped force a corner from the Addicks but from it United broke with mind-blowing speed and Mikael Silvestre, Ronaldo and Carrick carved an opening for Solskjaer but Carson kept the scores respectable with a fine block.

However, he could do nothing when, on 90 minutes, Saha's pinged ball across the six-yard box beat everyone to find Solskjaer unmarked at the back post for the easiest of re-introductions to scoring goals.

As I left the ground I heard Charlton fans mumbling about the next visitors to The Valley.

"Bolton on Saturday," the fan said. "That's going to be tricky."

It is too early to start calling for Dowie's head but there are signs a crack of uncertainty among fans has opened.

MATCH FACTS

CHARLTON ATHLETIC: Carson, 6, Young, 6, Hreidarsson, 5, Faye, 6 (Rommedhal, 81), Holland, 6, D Bent, 6, Ambrose, 6, Hughes, 6, El Karkouri, 5, Hasselbaink, 5 (M Bent, 64), Fortune, 5.

SUBS NOT USED: Myhre, Lisbie, Kishishev.

ATT: 25,422.