PL - Arsenal 1 - 0 United

All or nothing against Chelsea next week as Arsenal finally win again


Watch the highlights here


What they said


Telegraph    SkySports    7Cantonas


OK, I want to first start off by pointing out something here: We are, when you think about it deeply, no worse off this week than we were Saturday at 17:29 GMT.


Nothing has changed. We have to beat Chelsea at Old Trafford to win the league. #simples as we would Hashtag & say on the Twitterverse.


Granted, if we had have won yesterday & Gomez hadn't have thrown the ball between his legs and the the Stamford Bridge 'lino hadn't have made TWO howlers, the title would already be won (effectively). 


BUT,  just plainly to shut everyone up about how we don't deserve it, blah blah ,we would have had to have beaten Chelsea at home next week. Now however the games significance is emphasised and has a tangible importance in relation to points. 


In some ways this weekend truly brings home what's it like to be a United fan: we get ourselves in such a strong position we like to make it more interesting - almost flirt with our rivals - before, usually, finishing the job off properly. When we play Chelsea the atmosphere promises to be electric - the winner will win the league. I don't think a team will ever come to OT with more motivation given the way we outclassed them over 180mins, home and away, in the CL knowing revenge wouldn't just be a moral victory, but also a title winning one.


Anyway this isn't a preview for the Chelsea game, it's a rant about yesterdays shambolic showing.


Team
I said before the game if we went 4-4-2 similar to Schalke we would batter Arsenal. I genuinely thought keeping Rooney & Hernandez together up top and playing our typical flowing passing 4-4-2 would destroy an Arsenal side that didn't even have Fabregas come kick off. How wrong was I? Instead, we were outclassed or outpassed for a better word by a couple of uni students in CM. Even the substitutes made didn't make any real difference. 
Still happy seeing Fabio at RB. I'm gonna throw it out there and say I sometimes cannot tell any difference in the way the "twins" as their known play - they're both tenacious, enjoy a challenge, are fast and brave. Didn't help much yesterday though however.


Overview of performance
Well you don't need me to spell out how poor we were yesterday. A few key observations I guess should be pointed out are that although we were bad, Arsenal weren't great and apart from the early chance from Walcott & Van Persil header in the first-half that Vidic "stopped" (more on that below) they didn't create anything. In fact, in the first half we arguably had the best chance when Fabio was in the box and should have drilled it across Szczesny but squared it to Hernandez and it ran out for a corner. In the second-half we had a 4 on 3 situation that Nani blasted at the 'keeper 'along with dubious potential penalty decisions discussed below.


Rooney was man marked all game and was rarely given any room to fart let alone pick out a pass. Thus, Hernandez was consistently isolated up-top and was poorly caught offside anytime an over the top ball was attempted. Park worked hard as ever, but was ineffective in the final third. Carrick and Anderson didn't look like a pairing that was comfortable with one another; Nani was poor all around and even Valencia when he came on couldn't hit a barn door let alone an accurate cross. All in all for how poor Arsenal were in terms of chances created we simply weren't good enough and did not look like we wanted it - similar to the FA Cup against City. 


Vidic


Now, Vidic has probably been our best player this season. Our rock, our foundation along with VDS as to why our Goal Difference is joint best in the league and the "heart" that represents Manchester United through and through. Yesterday, what he did, was EMBARRASSING. I felt absolutely disgusted with what he did there & would, 100% hand on heart, sooner Van Persil have had the chance to score. We should NOT be lowering ourselves to needing poor refereeing to help us win games. In a week where "what is football" has been brought into question with controversy with Madrid/Barcelona & Chelsea/Tottenham what Vidic did was downright stupid and a disgrace. It comes down to "what would you do to win". Winning by cheating is equally as disgraceful as buying the title - enter Cheslea - or buying an FA Cup - enter Manchester City. Other clubs do it YES but why should we? We're better than that and to see it from your own captain was not pleasant.


Penalties?


Continuing from the above post about referees the decisions yesterday were poor. How are we, not United, but as a collective footballing community throughout the world meant to "Respect" referees if the standard simply isn't good enough? First of all, the handball (From Carricks cross) was, realistically, difficult to call. In a week where video technology has been a hot topic I guess it would iron out this decision, but if you watch the replay & where he ended up after he jumped the referee could not tell if he was in the box or not. If in doubt don't give it - Shame a certain linesman didn't heed this advice on Saturday at 18:00!


However, the Michael Owen shout from Cliche was a dead cert 100% penalty and a shocking decision. I suppose the old cliché of "it evens itself out" rings true. Would we have taken a 1-1 draw & a Vidic sending off & suspension for the rest of the season? Probably not. I am personally NOT a fan of video technology as I feel it takes away the debate & controversy that comes with this beautiful game (I will write a post over summer about why). But I feel I am somehow fighting a losing battle with decisions consistently being poor for all teams involved at every level of football.


So if we were to play Barcelona...


Playing against Arsenal is essentially like playing against Barcelona - expect for the end product... and Xavi... and Iniesta... and Villa... and Messi... and the trophies... well it's not like playing Barcelona BUT you get my point. Arsenal pass the ball as well as Barca, move quickly, play triangles, attack at pace & are vulnerable on the break.
Yesterdays performance could be deemed a dress rehearsal (or as close as) for the potential CL final (we're not there yet!). Thus, would a 4-4-2 with Hernandez & Rooney work? 
If Carrick and Anderson can't handle a couple of kids in CM then how are they meant to handle the best "spine" in the world with the ever-present orchestrators Xavi & Iniesta? Did you watch the world cup? 


I am not trying to be negative in this section I'm posing the question, tactically, how would we approach a game against a team with far superior players when we couldn't even handle Arsenal?


We're Manchester United and would never approach it like Mourinho disgraced himself last week. My faith has been and always will be with Fergie but, on only one occasion this season, Chelsea away in CL, have we handled pressure well. Wembley, 50,000 fans & 40,000 corp pricks, a global audience in the billions... How would we handle that pressure and beat Barca based on that showing yesterday? Let's put it down to a "bad day at the office" and not get carried away but it gets you thinking.


Anyway, yesterday is over. It's in the past. Let's face #facts (as Rafa likes to):

• We're top of the league with 3 games left, 2 of which are at home.
• We're in the the semi-final of the CL, with a home leg to play & 2-0 advantage
• If we beat Chelsea next week we will 99.99% win the league bar a colossal and humiliating demise which, realistically, isn't going to happen.

So we'll re-group, re-focus and turn our attention to Wednesday.  Schake aren't beaten yet. A loud OT crowd & decent performance coupled with progression to a final & Wembley showdown against a Spanish giant should more than whet the appetite for the Chelsea game.


2 wins from the next 2 and trophies will be upon us...


COME ON BOYS!




I'd like to end this post by mentioning the recent passing of Eddie Lewis - A Busby Babe. 
A more thorough tribute can be found at the Republik of Mancunia
R.I.P. Eddie

CL - Schalke 0 - 2 United

Reds Masterclass destroys Schalke fortress

Watch the Highlights Here

What they said

ManUtd.com    Telegraph    SkySports    StretfordEnd    7Cantonas

19 shots, 10 on target, 67% possession, 86% passing success rate... All of these figures mean nothing. The ones that matters are these: 

Schalke - 0 goals

United - 2 goals

Make no mistake about it, like or loath us, last night was one of the finest European performances to be produced by United in a long time. At no point were we ever threatened at the back. 

The build up to the game made it sound like a potential banana skin. The crowd were noisy, the pitch intimidatingly close to the fans and as for their home record in the CL this season?

Schalke 2-0 Benfica

Schalke 3-1 Tel Aviv

Schalke 3-0 Lyon

Schalke 3-1 Valencia

Schalke 2-1 Milan

That's 6 WINS, 13 GOALS FOR, 3 GOALS AGAINST. 

Before anybody suggests Schalke are not worthy of playing at this level and are poor think again - nobody at this level of a competition is poor. 

We must truly appreciate the performance we had the pleasure of witnessing.

Team

Very pleased with team selection. Interesting to see Fabio was retained instead of Rafael coming back into the fold. Can see a twin battle emerging there. Question is could they play together as a winger/full-back combination down one side? Would love to see it but we'd have difficult working out who's who! Elsewhere the bionic Ryan Giggs partnering Carrick in centre midfield with two DEFENSIVELY able wingers picked ahead of Nani, who generally operates a third striker was wise. Finally, the growing partnership of Rooney & Hernandez was displayed once again. No Michael Owen on the bench - pity as would have loved to see him get a few mins at the end especially with being 2-0 up.

Neuer(ly) 6, 7 or even 8!

For all the good points I've mentioned so far and will continue to do so below, there was a point last night, several actually, where I was getting very frustrated! For all of our exceptional passing and free movement we were severely lacking an end-product. Arsenalesque you might say.

This was down to non-clinical finishing but also to, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper in world football at this moment in time. I've never seen Hernandez have that many shots before and not score! Neuer's double save from Park & Hernandez in the first half (that was unbeknown to the players offside) showed this keepers true power, spreading himself & narrowing the angle. I read several discussions suggesting his communication is lacking somewhat but the way their CBs played I'm not too sure what difference this would have made. His throwing ability brought back memories of a certain Great Dane. After the game did you see Fergie have a cheeky little conversation? He has stated he has no intention of playing for us so we'll close that Chapter but what a phenomenal goalkeeping performance we witnessed.

I honestly felt the turning point happened when Hernandez had his goal rightfully ruled offside. At that point there was a belief that we could actually beat him.

Goals

1 - There are certain moments in football where you truly appreciate a pass is as good as, if not better, than a goal. The finish from Giggs was simple - through the legs of Neuer but let's take a step back. Rooney picked up the ball side on to goal, managed to shrug of the first tackle and played a perfectly weighted, reverse pass that deceived an entire GERMAN defence to put Giggs in. Absolutely magnificent!

2 - "Route 1". Watch the goal and count the touches from VDS-Goal - 5! VDS, it bounced, Valencia helped it on and there was Hernandez to tease the defender before threading in Rooney who finished first time to well and truly bury the memories from 06 at this stadium but more importantly Schalke out of the game. Both goals came less than 3 minutes apart and Schalke looked like a truly beaten side - if they weren't looking fatigued already.

Man Men of the match

I don't think we've ever had a more difficult game to choose a man of the match: Hernandez's tireless work-rate causing nightmares, Valencia's constant threat down the right, Fabio's continuous overlapping, Park's nuclear powered engine, Giggs' dictatorship in midfield or Rooney's performance that somebody quoted last night to be "that good you can't put it into words"? So many choices. My vote goes to... none of the above. Yes everybody was remarkable but there was one player that allowed this to happen: Michael Carrick.

Last night, Michael Carrick had a pass success rate of almost 90%, having passed the ball over 110 times. That, in a CL semi-final, away from home is unquestionable. The fact this consisted of both and long/short passes with either foot is all the more impressive. He was always there available to receive and collect. He sat back, protected Vidic & Ferdinand, consequently allowing Giggs to burst forwards as we saw on several occasions.

For me, the only difference between Michael Carrick and a world class holding midfielder is he has the ability in his locker to well and truly [Insert Expletive's Here] so badly it can change the course of a season in big games. 

Chelsea a couple of seasons ago and City this season spring to mind.

Nonetheless, he is the first name on the team shirt regarding central midfield right now and assuming he stays both injury and error free could be the difference between 0, 1 or even 2 trophies come-what May. Watch this space.

Final Thoughts

I said on Twitter before we played last night I was worried about the game. I genuinly was but after 5 minutes I realised Schalke were there for the taking and we rightly completed a professional job in a full-hearted display. 

If we progress to the final, which I fully expect us to, we will be the first side in history to do so without conceding an away goal. Even more impressive is we have won as many away games in Europe as the Premier league!

Funny how the attacking flair, movement and resurgence of our best player has coincided with the recent documentary United. Last night was an away performance fitting to the  Babes' of 58' - the icing on the cake is just 180 minutes away.

COME ON BOYS!!!

PL - United 1 - 0 Everton

Hernandez late header leaves us needing just 7 more points for record 19th title

What they said

Daily Mail    SkySports    The Telegraph    ManUtd.com

Here we are, 24th April 2011. Yesterday was one of those days that they say "wins you titles". Now let's not get ahead of ourselves. However, in the 83rd minute we'd huffed and puffed all game, similar to Tuesday against Newcastle, putting in no less than 34 crosses and still couldn't score against a resilient Everton defence. Suddenly, Valencia wins the ball, it falls to Anderson, he fires it out wide back to Valencia, 70,000 fans manage to actually cheer their team on (for once), I'm up on my seat, screaming for him to ping it in. He hit's it, taking a deflection to loop up and over to the far post. And there's Chicharito... When he headed it I thought it had hit the side netting (from where we sat). We thought it might have been offside - it was on of those afternoons. But no - it was in. We'd finally broken the deadlock and OT erupted. You could feel the tension release from everyone. 

As for me? I've been popping strepsils like smarties since I got back from the game for my throat!

Team

After hearing the team before the game I was khacking myself. No Vidic? Evans instead of Smalling? Fabio at RB? O'Shea instead of Evra? GIBSON? Not the most awe-inspiring line-up that breeds you with confidence but nonetheless I trust Fergie and can we say he was wrong given the result? Nope.

Game Overview

Although not vintage we were by the far the better team. Apart from the exquisite save that VDS had to make in the second-half from Rodwell, Everton were snuffed out for the most part. We created chance after chance after chance in the first-half - the easiest falling to Nani when he hit Chicharito! Ahh fuming. 

Second-half was much of a muchness but with less clear-cut chances. I felt the introduction of subs helped - O'Shea going off gave us more attacking options with Evra down the left. Nani coming off was great as he was for the most part ineffective again & Owen's fresh legs helped in the latter third, whilst his poacher instinct is still there for all to see when he hit the post. As for Giggs? Sir Ryan (of which he must surely be known as soon) needs no introduction and his calming influence helped us keep our nerve, especially when we had 10 minutes to see out the game.

Corners

I am now becoming increasingly frustrated with our corners at United. I can't remember the last time we scored from a corner. Can you? we lack a true corner kick-taker. Nani's never pass the front-post, Rooneys are hit and miss, mainly miss. Valencias tried them to no avail, Giggsy's aren't anything special - even Ando's had a go! It really frustrates me as the amount of corners we get - 13 today for example - yet we never do anything with them! Particularly the ones in the 2nd half. Everton had EVERY SINGLE MAN in the penalty box... Yet we still kept Rio & O'Shea at half-way with Gibson dropped deep. Take out the corner taker & Rooney on the edge of the box and suddenly we have an 11 on 6 situation in Evertons favour. It's an area that hopefully a new signing - something in the form of Wesley Sneijder amid many rumours this past week - will be able to add to our armoury of goal threats next season!

Anderson

"Anderson...son...son". Today he was our driving force from midfield. Everytime we had the ball in our defensive third Anderson was there ready to collect and drive. I've always felt that he doesn't pass the ball but more so "pings" it sometimes making it very difficult for players to control. Today however he seemed a little bit more relaxed. He has strength in abundance and when he's on his game, such as today, he's an absolute pain in the arse to deal with. However, he has been very inconsistent this last two seasons and only time will tell if he can regain his consistent form over time whilst staying injury free. Let's hope so!

Gibson, whom it has to be noted sat back well and thus allowed Anderson to charge forward, also did "alright". I use the term loosely because as for me, no matter what he does, I feel he will never be a "Manchester United" player. When you compare him to Hernandez who's younger than him, thousands of miles from home, in his first season and scores game defining goals such as today, against Marseille, against Chelsea? It's a star contrast.

Conclusion

Today was crucial. Arguably every game is but this time last week we'd just been KO'd out of the FA Cup against our noisy neighbours. Three days later and we drew a blank at St. James Park. Today, we missed several chances and as I previously mentioned previously mentioned we need to be more clinical. 

Tottenham did us a huge favour on wednesday (best game of season to watch!) and proved once again that Wengers kids need to score. Pretty football doesn't win games.

All we need is to take each game as it comes and beat what's in-front of us. Tuesday could have a massive affect on morale but I'm really confident we can get something in Germany. With Rooney and Hernandez blossoming together up-front, Rio returning and a general ability to play well in Europe this season I'm confident. Let's hope my confidence turns into a result.

The Everton result made my weekend! I've been on a high since - let's hope Tuesday makes my week and we go into the Arsenal game on the back of two wins. Come on reds - I can feel were so close to creating history!!!

Breaking News: Torres actually scores a goal!

Sorry, this news flash came up... I thought the TV was broken but official reports confirmed after 902 minutes Fernando Torres actually kicked a ball between two posts and below a crossbar. Now theres £50m well spent! On a serious notes, I'm slightly worried. I mentioned in this post no matter how poor he's been he'll come back to form - maybe too late for this season but as for the next? Actually... WHO CARES? We have Javier Hernandez!!!!!!

PL - Newcastle 0 - 0 United

Taking a tiny tweak in direction of the blog with a title & links to match-reports. 

สีลมคลิปสงกรานต์

Frustrating night leaves us 7 points clear with 5 games to go

What the papers said

 Telegraph   Dailymail   The Independant   SkySports

Team

No surprises in the starting 11. Valencia rightly rested for Giggs to come back in. No Rio? We won't read too much into it and assume he was rested as Smalling is more than an adequate replacement. In fact, according to Opta (@OptaJoe) Chris Smalling has won 78% of his aerial duels this season, a higher % than Ferdinand & Vidic. Not bad for a 20 year old playing non-league 2 years ago!

Interesting shout regarding Berbatov not being on the bench? Rumour had it he complained of feeling unwell on Tuesday so was not included. Speculation though and no conclusive evidence to support it.

General Overview

Despite starting well for the first 10 we were average in the first-half after that and looked to be always rushing when we had the ball. Newcastle definitely looked the more threatening in terms of possessional play, BUT we did create the two most clear-cut chances. Defence looked solid enough. Evra concentrated more on his defensive duties than the previous post highlighted, which helped. In the second half I never felt they were ever going to score. Saying that, I didn't feel we were either. Apart from Giggsy' chance and the penalty claim (both mentioned below) there wasn't even much going on in the game. Quite a disappointing game to review to be honest!

Goals

Or lack of. 

Thats now two full games we have played, with 4 different strikers (Rooney, Owen, Berbatov, Hernandez) without a goal. Very disappointing. 3 clear chances stuck out last night:

Hernandez early-on - GREAT keeping, spread himself well. Should be scoring those though

Rooney mid-way through first half - Would have bet my entire student overdraft and risked bankruptcy on him scoring here. 9 goals in 11 against Newcaslte previously and in-form! Gutted (and we didn't even get a corner!)

Giggs 2nd half - this SKIMMED the post. Absolutely devo'ed when it didn't go in.  Kind of summed up our night really.

We can't complain in the goals department this season - we've scored 70 PL goals - but as we enter the business end we need to be more clinical!

Strikers

I really felt Hernandez looked very isolated last night. He's much better now than he was in terms of physical strength in the Premiership but apart from the link up with Rooney in the first half for our two clear chances he struggled. A couple of wayward shots and no support. Not helped by Nani's reluctance to cross a ball last night & not use O'Shea on the overlap.

Rooney was consistently dropping deep which is great for creativity, but if he's not supporting Hernandez we can sometimes look lost when Rooney pings a 50 yard ball to Nani and only one person to aim at in the box. Not a criticism in anyway, merely an observation. Would a 4-4-2 with Rooney part of the 4 work (similar to Scholes)? Or does it work with the current way and the opposite winger comes into the box to the support striker in place of Rooney when he''s deep? It's easy to point fingers like this when we don't score.

Owen didn't have a lot of time to make a huge impact. Interesting to see Newcastle fans booing him. As a side-note I recommend reading this Twitter conversation between Owen & Oliver Holt about footballer/journalist relationships in Football. Interesting!

Penalty(s)?

So this is what's dominating all the papers & reports today! Were they/weren't they? Let's start with:

Newcastle

Penalty?

From my point of view... It was a penalty. There was contact and it was a stupid tackle from Anderson - he was running away from goal. What I don't get is how the ref missed it? He was THAT close the to it. Question is United being United would that have spring-boarded us into life? Possibly.

United

Difficult to judge and not as easy to say as Newcastle's. 
Having said that there was contact but what Hernandez down was the tiny little "jump" with it. I was gutted not to be given it, but maybe that was because it was the 90+ minute and we were heading towards a goalless draw? Either way contact was there, albeit small, and based on that it should have been a penalty - but more so should Newcastles. His booking was outrageous - he should have booked Nani in the first-half for his girly attempt.


Would we have taken 1-1 over 0-0? Makes no odds but saved a lot of swearing at the TV throughout the second-half had, we conceded the penalty and scored one at the end!!! Also saved United haters saying the usual "your so lucky" "they're so jammy!" Cheers ref ;)

Final Thoughts

Last night proved a really frustrating night - and a boring spectacle to see. I watched it in a bar in Leeds which isn't ideal... Nevertheless Arsenal and Chelsea both drew here. We concentrate on ourselves I know but respect has to be given to Newcastle this season for having such a decent home record against the top 3.

I've read a few United fans being negative about last night saying that was our chance to cement the league, we could have had it wrapped up and we have a tough run-in with Chelsea at home and Arsenal away. 

Yes it was and yes we do. 

But, we're good enough to beat any teams around us - we have done Chelsea twice in the last month, were unlucky not to beat them in the league and beat Arsenal with 7 defenders when they were on for the Quadruple!!!

Arsenal face Spurs at White Hart Lane tonight and the worst case scenario is an Arsenal win.

Lets conclude by heeding the wise words of Sir Alex Ferguson and remember

“At this stage of the season, we are in a better position than we were on Saturday. It’s one less game and in the same position [ahead of] Arsenal and five games left"

FA Semi - City 1 - 0 United

Bloggings great when you feel good, happy and winning. It's not the easiest thing to do when you've seen your side lose to your noisy neighbours. Nonetheless we take the good with the bad - a true life lesson.

Once again I'm not gonna give a match report you saw the game, you've read the report. Instead let's see where it all went pear shaped.

Tickets & Wembley

First of all, this should NOT be at Wembley. Wembley should be used for those special occasions that the "creme de la creme" get to play at. The finals of any tournament - even in the lower leagues as it provides a welcomed incentive for the LDV Vans trophy etc - but to play a semi-final there? The only reason it so happens is because our wonderfully functional UK government overspent on the stadium by a colossal amount and thus, they need to generate revenue from it. How so? By de-valuing it as a stadium and playing "almost there but not quite" games to recoup revenue. Poor financial management & once again another belter of a decision from us as a nation.

Regarding tickets we unfortunately didn't manage to get hold of any. Some might say "worked out for the best". Not for me. You take the up's with the down's and if a trip down the M1 (with of course long diversions due to clusre) would have been available I'd have taken it. As United fans we must remember it can't ALWAYS be good and we need to take the bad with the good to appreciate the good.

Team

No Giggs - even my Mac needs to turn off sometime to rest so the medical master that is 37-year old Mr.Giggs deserved a day off. But really Fergie, no Hernandez? Can't complain anywhere else but you know, I know, I think even my Gran knows, Berbatov is over-rated!

Berbatov

Yesterday, he was a disgrace (again) to the Manchester United shirt. Does he understand what it means to wear the shirt??? 

This season Berbatov has been "magical" being the top goal scorer. Who's a big boy? No. Let's take a closer look at Berbatovs' statistics to really see how good he's been.

All stats were taken from ESPN

He's scored 21 in 29 games with 3 assists. That's impressive: 82% of games he plays he contributes to a goal.

However:

• against the top 5 in the prem exc. us (Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, City) he has NOT SCORED THIS SEASON (He's played in 8 so far) & was not even brought on as a sub in the other 3 games!
• He has 4 goals in 20 CL games for us (11 starts 9 sub) – his goals came in only 2 games (Celtic and Aalborg) with his last CL goal coming on 21/8/08!
• He has only scored 4 goals away from home this season. (Everton, B'ham & Blackpool)
• Nani has scored in as many games as him

The moral of this story: He can't handle the pressure of honouring the Manchester United shirt without playing at home with a crowd that supports him! I really wanted my previous blog post to be an omen that he would go on to score the winning goal in every game. But, Nope. Thanks again Mr Bulgaria. 

Can he be deemed the best striker in the premiership by scoring against second-rate teams? You do the maths. I'm excepting some of you to go on about his hat-trick against Liverpool, 5 goals against Blackburn etc. Granted, twas phenomenal, yet can you live off one or two games and be deemed one of the best strikers in the premiership?

Against anyone that isn't in contention for the CL then, IMO, he is ineffective & may as well take his 90k a week and sit at home with a fag and watch us on Sky 3D - a fact probably, and hopefully, drilled home to Fergie yesterday with his two horrific misses, the second in particular. How many of you were praying a certain Mexican was on the end of that pass from Nani...

Scholes' Red Card

Anyone else think it was just a yellow? Nope, nobody. So based on this conclusive evidence REALLY what was the point. At this point in the game City began to look tired, they were up in the clouds, the thought of 35 years of waiting to even come close to a trophy was on the horizon, their arse's were beginning to fall out, their fans didn't know what to do. We were getting a grip on the game ready to pounce... and in-steps Paul Scholes. An absolutely horrific tackle and if you see the camera angle behind the city player (from the United end) you can see the intent in his eyes. I'm not saying we were going to go on and win the game but the minute that happened I just felt it was over. Scholes, for what you've given this football club over the years, arguably the best passer of a football to have ever lived, you do some stupid things! Is that the end of Scholes' career? Does he now look past it? With no current contract extension signed it could well be. Whether this is a good or bad thing is another debate.

Evra

This hasn't been in the spotlight much over the course of the season but I'd like to see how many goals we concede form the left hand-side and Evras mistakes. Since his whole "will he, won't he" contract flirtation with Mr. Gill that he ultimately sgined, he has been our weak link in defence. The problem is because Vidic's been so good in covering Evra playing in the left side of CB, it's gone unnoticed by a large selection of people but for me this truly is a problem. Looking ahead, and in my dreams, I watched Barcelona last night. I watched little Pedrito down the right and thought "if we get to the CL final vs them how the hell is he gonna stop him? He's not quick enough, he's not good enough to read his skill, his positional play is not what it was..." Ahhh I hope I'm wrong but it's another area to concentrate on next time you watch United.

Carrick

Not gonna spend time on this but once again, Carrick screws up. I was more disappointed FOR HIM as much as anything. The last three weeks he's been immense but he always seems to give away goals in key games! I'm not going to blame him because Edwin should have kicked out better, Vidic looked like a cone the way he was rounded and it went through VDS legs. Still, Is he good enough? Would he ever get in Barca's midfield? No and that's simply not good enough.

Did we deserve to go out?

Oh, I really really hate to say this. It hurts typing. On balance, a draw wouldn't have been unfair. if it was a boxing match, City would have probably edged it on points after the 12th round. That's tough to say. The sending off ended it all really.

But if you would have asked any United fan at the start of the season, ANY, would we take being in the CL semi-final & be 7 points clear mid-way throug? Yes. OH YES! Case rested.

It's hard living in Stockport, "the home of City fans", after yesterdays game, hearing Bluemoon out your window all last night from City piss heads, now knowing they're clear favourites to go on and win their first trophy for 35 years. What makes you laugh though is the fact there is no respect in their camp. Balotellis not really sure what his purpose on Earth is, this blog sums it up pretty well, but I find it funny numerous other things about this mis-fit, such as struggling to even put a bib on and being described by Mourinho as a player that doesn't know how to use his brain - what was he doing at the end yesterday? He's only scored 6 all season! Another player takes drugs, another was shipped out to Madrid because of a scrap,  Mancini hasn't washed his City scarf since he took over & they have spent over £1bn since the Sheik took over. 

So... That's £1bn for an FA Cup semi-final win against United & the highest wages in the PL? If that's good business then I'm the next Duncan Bannatyne. Watch this space...