Look at the Size of that Head!

Wayne Rooney has never been reknowned for his heading ability but over the last few games he has probably scored more goals with his head than ever before. He scored a brace with his head on this very evening!

Now, I can reveal the secret to this recent success and it stems from the fact that he is being touted as the best player in the world.

As my exclusive image clearly shows, the reason for this sudden deluge of headed goals from Wayne Rooney is simply and purely down to the fact that his head has got bigger!

Well done Wayne, may that bonce grow ever larger!

I haven’t spoken much about the ownership situation at Manchester United for a couple of weeks but I have been reading the various stories during that time with some interest.

However, one article I read in the Daily Mail this morning has spurred me into writing something because it’s starting to get a bit dirty, to my mind.

You can read the article for yourself here.

It is an interview with Keith Harris, the financier behind the alleged buy-out plan that is being put together by the so-called “Red Knights”.

He has apparently got together a group of wealthy business people who are ready to buy the club as soon as they are given any signs of encouragement from the Glazers that they may be willing to sell.

And this is where it gets a bit dirty.

Instead of just approaching the Glazers with an offer and opening some form of dialogue (which, I would have thought is the proper thing to do) he is now asking the fans to stop buying their season tickets and stop buying the merchandise.

Without these income streams, the hope is that the Glazers will be forced into selling the club.

Hmm… is it just me or is this everso slightly naughty?

Now let me just say that I am not a supporter of the Glazers but I am not exactly anti-Glazer either. I just want what is best for Manchester United and until proven otherwise, there is nothing to suggest that these Red Knights will be any better.

I simply refuse to believe that these Red Knights are simply concerned Manchester United fans and that their intentions are purely altruistic, that they are going to commit millions of their personal fortunes (I haven’t seen any details of just how many are in this group – 10, 20, 1000? ) and expect nothing in return other than a warm, cosy glow that comes from the knowledge that they have done something good for their favourite football team.

They haven’t become wealthy businessmen by being frivolous with their time and money.

Incidentally, where were these people when the Glazers were aggressively buying up all the shares in Manchester United PLC five years ago that prevented them from buying them themselves and preventing all this before it had even happened (it would have cost them a lot less that way too)? I’d hate for it to emerge that some of these people actually sold their own shares to the Glazers to make a quick buck at the time…

Whatever. I think the time is fast approaching for these people to put up or shut up and I think they should do so without asking the fans to do their dirty work for them and without resorting to these dirty, undermining tactics.

The most telling section of the whole interview is this bit:-

‘I would not talk about this if I didn’t have full confidence in our ability to raise the money to do this. I never talk publicly unless I have confidence. Getting the money together is the easy bit.

‘But we can’t make an offer until the Glazers are placed in a position where they are forced to consider it.’

That sounds like complete tosh to me.

If the Glazers are the money-grubbers that they are being portrayed as being then they will take their hand off if the offer is enough. If the offer is not enough then that’s the way it is. Everything has it’s price and you can either afford it or you can’t.

The Red Knights seem to be of the opinion that the best thing to do is to bring the United brand down to its knees so that the buying price is lower as opposed to simply raising the bid to what the club is currently worth.

This is gambling with the club just as much as the Glazers have done with their own purchase method in my eyes.

Besides, if this is the way they do business, what can we expect when/if they do run the club?

The player Fergie wants costs £50 Million? Naa, send round some boys and break his legs, we’ll get him for £10 million…

The Red Knights and their supporters have been doing everything they can to create this image of the Glazers as monsters who are screwing the Manchester United fans for every penny they can get out of them. Abusing the fans’ goodwill, I suppose you could call it.

The way the Red Knights are using the fans as political pawns in their own underhand attempts to wrest power from the Glazers doesn’t exactly shower them with glory either, as far as I’m concerned.

Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 – KO: 20:00

A highly unusual Premier League on Tuesday evening due to the fact that we have the Carling Cup Final on Sunday and this in itself is a bone of contention for me. Aston Villa (our Carling Cup Final opponents) do not have a midweek game but they have played one LESS game than us in the Premier League. Surely if anyone should be playing tonight, it should be them?

Oh well, if there is one saving grace about this fixture it is that the United players have the opportunity to vent some of the frustrations they must be feeling after the miserable performance against Everton on Saturday.

The bookies are in no doubt that United are going to win this one (as low as 1.18 in places and best priced 1.22). I can’t argue with that.

After over two weeks since the players last played at Old Trafford, they might just be glad to be back home.

Of course, a fair section of the crowd will feel that it is their duty to make the United players believe that they have landed in North Road, Newton Heath circa 1878 but that’s another story…

Our last three (League) home games have been against strugglers Burnley, Hull and Portsmouth and they finished 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0 respectively. It would be nice to keep the pattern going but I doubt we’re going to win this one 6-0!

However, the League is so tight this season that whilst West Ham currently find themselves in a respectable 13th position, they are just four points above the relegation zone and need a fair few more points yet before they can count themselves as “safe”. They are not exactly “strugglers” but they are not too far away from those who are.

Indeed, it has been their away form that has really let them down so far this season. Just one win (at Wolves on the opening day of the season) from their 13 away games is not great and they still have most of the “big guns” to play.

It must be said however that their general form has improved since the start of the year and perhaps their most impressive away result came against Aston Villa last month where they held Villa to a 0-0 draw.

In fact, this points to something that has become quite apparent in their recent results – they haven’t been scoring bucketloads but they have been conceding like a team that is traditionally associated with imminent relegation either. After a dodgy opening to the season, they do seem to be a slightly tougher nut to crack these days.

This, of course, leads me to wonder which United will turn up tonight? Will it be the one that has looked so dangerous in recent games and have scored a ton of goals or will it be the one that played against Everton where Everton could have played without a goalkeeper and still won?

There’s an old cliche that you’re only as good as your last game but I’d like to think that the performance against Everton was a blip borne of a team that momentarily lost focus and were still mentally in Milan and something nearer to the performances we have become accustomed to over the last couple of months will be what we see here tonight.

Of great interest is going to be our defence. Rio Ferdinand has now completed his ban and should step in for Brown or Evans but there also doesn’t seem to be any valid reason why Vidic won’t play tonight – unless some mysterious injury crops up again in the warm-up.

Whatever happens, I think Evans needs a rest. He looked as nervous as hell against AC Milan and still appeared to be shaking when he arrived at Everton. He’s been brilliant throughout the last couple of seasons and has let no one down when he has been called upon (which has probably been more often than anyone envisaged 18 months ago) but I think he needs a bit of space to get himself together again.

With both Rio and Vidic looking as injury-prone as a pair of osteoporitic stuntmen, his chance will come again sooner rather than later.

I think that changes at the back are 99% certain and the tricky part is determining just how many other changes Fergie will make.

It could be that Fletcher and/or Carrick will be rested and Anderson could come back in.

Will there be any changes up front? It is almost impossible to leave him out but a breather for Rooney is perhaps not totally out of the question here.

All this uncertainty surrounding Fergie’s team selection makes making a prediction tricky. I am being swayed by the idea that I think that Fergie will play a much-tinkered side (I might be completely wrong).

I think we will win the game but if Fergie tinkers too much then it might not be quite as easy as the odds suggest.

Either way though, West Ham are not conceding too many of late and will probably fancy their chances of at least limiting us to a couple of goals.

The bookies seem to think that this will be a high scoring game and whilst it wouldn’t be a major surprise, I think their prices are a bit out and I think there’s some value to be had in going for the Under market here.

The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.5 with Paddy Power.

Firstly I think I should apologise and clear something up that I mentioned in my pre-match blurb. Aston Villa have an FA Cup Replay against Crystal Palace tomorrow which I completely overlooked and explains why they aren’t playing a League game this week.

Fergie did indeed ring the changes for this one with Fletcher and Carrick both being rested to be replaced by Gibson and Anderson.

Evans was also replaced by Vidic and it was good to see Vidic back, the defence seemed a lot more composed with him in there.

There was some bad news on the Rio Ferdinand front though as he apparently felt a twinge in his back earlier in the day and Fergie reckons it will mean that he won’t even be fit for the Carling Cup Final on Sunday.

Further bad news also came during the match when Anderson seemed to twist his knee or his ankle when playing the ball and his comeback was halted with less than 20 minutes played.

The referee for this one was Alan Wiley who hasn’t been seen at Old Trafford since the Sunderland game earlier in the season which prompted Fergie to suggest that he wasn’t fit enough. Is it my imagination or does Wiley look like he has lost a few pounds since then?

Anyway, this game followed a similar pattern to the game we played against West Ham at their place where they held us at bay until almost half time but we picked them off to eventually run out comfortable 4-0 winners.

This game looked like it was going to end with a low scoreline as both defences were getting the better of the attackers and intercepting the final balls over and over again.

Our opener came from a stunning passing move where the ball didn’t even touch the ground. Berbatov floated a neat pass across to Valencia who would normally bring the ball down, take a look and cross it in low. This time he hit it first time on the volley and Rooney only had to stoop to power home the header.

It was a completely different build up to what West Ham had become accustomed to and it seemed to completely take their defence by surprise with its execution.

So, we were up 1-0 at half-time and looking pretty comfortable.

Fergie must have put something in the half time drinks though because we came out like a rocket and Park was unlucky to see his effort come back off the crossbar after just twenty seconds of the restart.

We didn’t have to wait too long for the second though as (again) a lovely pass from Berby put Valencia through who crossed in for Rooney to head home yet again.

The game again went into a bit of a lull after that and after around 78 minutes, Fergie obviously decided that we were coasting and so brought off Berby and Rooney and sent on Diouf and Owen.

Within two minutes, Owen scored a lovely goal following a great piece of movement and a through ball from Scholes.

So, the final score was 3-0 and United really won at something of a canter here.

It sounds a bit stupid to say after conceding three goals but West Ham’s defence looked generally pretty decent but they do look a bit toothless up front and Foster was rarely troubled.

As for us, we go again within a point of Chelsea although we have played a game more. The next game is the Carling Cup Final and I think Fergie’s team selection here tonight has given plenty of clues as to who will be playing in that one on Sunday.

I can’t believe some of the stories going around in the press at the moment following our defeat against Everton.

It always happens, of course. 95% of teams suffer a defeat and it is just one of those things that happen when engaged in competition. Everyone reports on it and moves on.

When Manchester United lose a game, it is given the kind of post-mortem that might be expected to be performed if someone found a dead alien in their front garden.

We lost a game. An important game, admittedely but hardly one where we were “expected” to win. This was Everton. A decent side with some great young talent. And it was at their own ground.

The excuse being put forward by Fergie is fatigue. It does sound a bit lame when you consider that he made around five changes to the team that played in midweek against AC Milan.

However, it is worth just taking a look at the fixtures we have had in the last month…

19th January – Manchester City (away) Carling Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg

23rd January – Hull (home)

27th January – Manchester City (home) Carling Cup Semi-Final 2nd Leg

31st January – Arsenal (away)

6th February – Portsmouth (home)

10th February – Aston Villa (away)

16th February – AC Milan (away) Champions League

20th February – Everton (away)

Ok, we can probably remove Hull and Portsmouth from that little list because both ended up complete routs so that leaves six massive games against top quality opposition, five of them away from home. We lost two of them and drew one of them (with ten men) but away wins against Arsenal and AC Milan suggest that there’s still plenty about this Manchester United team and the panic switch can be left alone for a little while longer yet.

Personally, I think that Evra was nearer to the mark with his assessment of the defeat. There seemed to be a lack of focus from the players. It was almost as if after so many massive and important games against top opposition that we lost sight of the fact that nothing has been won yet and this was yet another massive and important game against top opposition and was another step of the journey that the team are on this season.

In any journey, no one step is more or less important than another and each one must be taken in order. Steps cannot be “skipped”. You have to keep focus on each step. Right, left, right, left. To attempt to go right, left, left is likely to result in a slip and a fall.

I think this is exactly what happened on Saturday and the lesson has been learned.

It won’t happen again between now and the end of the season.

As I sit here in my humble Manchester abode, I sit looking through the window and it’s snowing. Where the hell did that come from? It’s a bit like Manchester United’s performance yesterday.

Where the hell did that come from? And where does it leave us in terms of the Premier League title?

The defeat to Everton was our sixth in the Premier League this season and you could argue that a team that loses that many games in a season doesn’t deserve to win the Premier League.

Perhaps the most significant thing about yesterday’s defeat is that the title is once again outside of our own control. The crunch day was always likely to be the 3rd April – the day Chelsea come to Old Trafford. A win against them was always going to be crucial. With us now four points behind, it might even be that a win might not even be enough (I am not suggesting both teams will win all of their remaining fixtures but all other things being equal, we are likely to take roughly as many points from our remaining games as Chelsea).

The good news is that there are still eleven games to play for both teams and we are not even in what I would call the “run in” yet and what this season has proved so far is that nothing can be taken for granted by any of the teams in the League.

There will be more twists and turns to come.

Hopefully we can get back on track against West Ham and win the Carling Cup next Sunday against Villa. There’s nothing like a bit of silverware to lift the spirits.

Saturday, 20th February 2010 – KO: 12:45

My biggest concern about this match after I watched the treatment Liverpool received from one or two of the players was that we might come away with a few injuries and as Rooney is likely to be the one targetted more than any other United player, that remains a big worry.

Everton of course did us a massive favour in their last game by beating Chelsea in their last game but we can expect no more favours in this game.

After a poor start to the season due to an horrendous injury list, Everton have been steadily making up for lost time and now find themselves in with a slight chance of a Europa League spot next season.

However, the injury list has started up again for them with the sickening news that Fellaini is going to be out until next season with some kind of ankle injury and the dangerous Tim Cahill is also going to miss a few games with a claf problem.

Ironically, the one player who we could never get to play in two successive games due to various injuries – Louis Saha – has enjoyed a good run of games since going to Everton and is on fire in front of goal this season with 15 goals in all competitions next to his name. He certainly appears to be the one to be wary of going into this game.

As for ourselves, Ferdinand is suspended (this is the last game of his ban) and Nani is also suspended. Giggs is obviously still injured.

The big question remains over Vidic – he has been training well all week and could make his return but we seem to have heard this before every game for the last few weeks and then something always seems to crop up just before the match.

In any case, the defense of Brown and Evans has been coping well in the absence of Rio and Vidic for much of the last couple of months so it shouldn’t be a great problem if he fails to appear again.

The loss of Nani is not so major. He has enjoyed a purple patch of late but his performance against AC Milan showed some signs of the old Nani returning and I have no doubt that Valencia would have played in this match even had Nani not been suspended.

The midfield is going to be interesting for this one. Fergie has been using the 4-5-1 formation away from home with Scholes or Giggs alternating alongside Carrick and Fletcher but Scholes played the full 90 minutes against AC Milan and I doubt he will play the full 90 minutes again here. With Park likely to take the left side of midfield and Anderson playing on Thursday night for the reserves, I can only think that either Gibson might play or we might just go for a 4-4-2 formation.

Owen and Berbatov have hardly had a look in recently as the attack has turned into the Wayne Rooney show. It is impossible to imagine Rooney being given a breather and certainly not for this match but perhaps he might find himself paired with either Owen or (more likely) Berbatov for this one?

Our record against Everton is actually extremely good – even at their place – they have beaten us just once (1-0 at Goodison in 2005) in our last 29 Premier League meetings and whilst I expect Everton and the lively Saha to give us some problems I just feel that we are on the type of roll at the moment that is going to take something more than Everton possess (especially given their key injuries) to stop it.

There’s always the chance that this one could end in a draw (I simply cannot see an Everton win) but I think the price about the United win is worth taking.

The bet is 3 points United to win @ 1.85 with Canbet

The main problem with reviewing this game is where to start.

Fergie did indeed go for the 4-4-2 in the end and I have no problems with that, in fact, I came quite close to predicting the team here but I would not have guessed Neville ahead of Rafael – I can only assume that Rafael was given a break after the runaround he was given by Ronaldinho in midweek.

However, if that was the case then why not bring in the (benched) Vidic for Evans? Evans looked completely out of sorts against AC Milan and he looked even more nervous out here today.

He wasn’t the only one as Rooney seemed incredibly nervous which is very strange for him and just about every touch he took was overhit. Perhaps in the past he has come to Everton merely wanting to show that he has come on a bit. This time he came to show his fellow Evertonians that he was perhaps the best player in the world.

It seems a contradiction to suggest that Berbatov should not have played today because he scored our goal but I saw plenty to suggest that he simply does not suit our current style today.

Many times he was well behind the play when he should have been streaking into the box or thereabouts.

All things considered, Everton beat us fair and square today. Their passing and movement was what we expect from Manchester United but we just didn’t make it happen. Everton fully deserved their win.

Perhaps after the intensity of the San Siro, this was just a game too far, too soon for us. We have had a massive fixture list in recent weeks and it is good to see the back of it.

As far as Everton go, I hope they can string a few results together and make a real go of that European spot because they are a far better side than their current position suggests.

With luck on the injury front next season, they could be right up there again. Good luck to them, they deserve it.

As for us, it’s back to the drawing board. A bit of a breather again would not go amiss but it is now full steam ahead and silverware beckons within the week.

Mame Biram Diouf scored again for the Reserves tonight as we beat Everton 2-0 (hopefully a scoreline the first team can match on Saturday!)

Anderson played for an hour just to prove that Fergie hadn’t had him abducted by aliens or something equally understandable and was very impressive.

Gabriel Obertan and Rodrigo Possebon also played and played well.

Anderson and Diouf just look too good for Reserve level but who are they going to replace in the first team?

The fact that both played tonight suggests that neither will have any say in the Everton game in less than 48 hours time but I’d like to think that Diouf will get a first team chance again sooner rather than later. He definitely has something about him that none of our other strikers has at the moment.

Rooney and Fergie

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!

IF – by Rudyard Kipling

A week ago, I recommended backing Manchester United to win the Champions League at around 10.0 with most bookies.

I said that we would get through against AC Milan and that our price would come down to around 5.5.

Well, having beaten AC Milan tonight, our price is now around the 6.5 mark and there is undoubtedly more to come from that.

We will finish AC Milan off in the second leg but just in case you’re a bit wobbly about it, lay Manchester United off right now for 7.00 at Betfair (assuming, of course, that you backed us at 10.0) for a nice profit come what may.

I do think however that our price can come down a bit further to my predicted 5.5 once we complete the job against AC Milan so you might want to hold your position for a few weeks and see what happens after the return leg against AC Milan.

Real Madrid have drifted a bit because of their defeat away to Lyon tonight but I do expect they will overcome that deficit in the return leg which might just put them above us again in the betting.

However, if they mess up and go out then our price is likely to come in even further.

My advice is to hold the position. We will go through to the quarter final so your bet will not be lost whatever happens.

See what happens after the second leg of the Real/Lyon tie.

Tuesday, 16th February 2010 – KO: 19:45

I don’t know about you but once we get to the knockout stage of the Champions League, it always hits home for me that we are now into the crucial stage of the season. This is where the mistakes get costly. This is where every inch has to be earned as we hopefully move towards some silverware.

Standing in our way of progress in the Champions League is an old and familiar foe – AC Milan.

When we last met them in the 2006/07 season, I really fancied our chances (especially when we won the first leg 3-2 at Old Trafford) but they completely blew us away in the return leg 3-0.

However, there was one man playing for AC Milan that evening who won’t be facing us this time – Kaka. He was incredible in that game.

This time round, there is a player who will be hoping to bang in the goals that we have been linked with on and off for years – Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. He scored a couple in their last game against Udinese so has clearly put himself in contention for a starting place for this one. Definitely one to be wary of. But Pato is also a big danger and even Ronaldinho has started to rediscover a bit of the old magic and is their other big danger.

The rest of the players, we all know about because most of them haven’t changed for the last ten years.

There is one, however, that is bound to attract more camera action than any other (even if he is on the bench for 70 minutes) and that is David Beckham.

Beckham was a very good player for United but he left at the right time because, let’s face it, he wouldn’t have had much of a look in once Ronaldo matured as a player. These days he is very much the same player that he always was although he can no longer do it for 90 minutes.

However, he still has magic in that right foot that can cause all kinds of trouble for a disorganised defence.

Anyway, enough of AC Milan. This is the Manchester United show and where the Italians were once the most feared of all opponents, they have been pushed down the ranks in recent years to the point where the very best that Italy has to offer (Inter Milan) were quite soundly beaten by us in last year’s competition.

I have no doubts whatsoever that we will have too much for AC Milan over the two legs of this tie.

The big question is: how will we fare in this away leg?

The general consensus in the Champions League is that the first leg result doesn’t matter too much so long as the away team scores at least one goal and the home team doesn’t win by three or more.

I think it is fair to say that AC Milan won’t be winning this one by three again and I also think it is fair to say that we have hit such a rich vein of scoring form that it is hard to believe that we will leave the San Siro without a goal next to our name.

I might appear to be dismissing AC Milan lightly but I’m not. Such is the experience they have, they certainly know their way around a football pitch but whilst they remain a pretty potent attacking force at their home ground, the defence is not what it once was and this could well be their undoing.

Not many teams go to the San Siro and come away with a win but it is not unusual anymore for a team to go there and come away with a goal or two.

I have no doubt that AC Milan will raise their game for this one and a 1-1 draw looks the likeliest result and that would suit us just fine but I do think we can go there and be a little more ambitious than that and actually come away with the win.

That we will score is almost beyond doubt in my opinion. The question is how will our defence fare against the attacking threat of AC Milan? If we can cope then we can win and that is what I am going to go for.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United to Win @ 2.7 with Paddy Power.

As the old cliche goes, this was very much a game of two halves. We were absolutely woeful for much of the first half and AC Milan could have found themselves 3-0 up by the time Paul Scholes scored his lucky equaliser.

Ronaldinho was immense in the first half tonight and caused all kinds of problems in the attacking third (you wouldn’t know a World Cup is coming up, would you?)

What was disappointing though was our defence in the first half. We just didn’t seem to be at the races. Evra attempted some kind of weird overhead kick clearance when Evans was standing right behind him and the effort only found Ronaldinho who smashed the ball in via a wicked deflection.

The other strange thing was our formation. Fergie went with some kind of 4-5-1 with Rooney up front and seemingly Park on the left with Nani on the right except Park seemed to be playing all over the place which left Evra covering the entire left side.

Fergie seems to have done just about everything to blank David Beckham out of existence in the days leading up to this match but I thought leaving the right hand side more or less completely unprotected was stretching the point a little too far especially when Leonardo played a bit of an ace by bringing Beckham into a more central position.

Anyway, 1-0 down after just three minutes and Milan denied a few more times after that, things didn’t look good for United until Scholes took a swing at a cross and completely missed it only for it to hit his standing foot and trickle in at around 3mph for 1-1 at half time.

At this point, I felt confident. We could hardly play any worse in the second half and the hopes were that Milan would not be able to match us for stamina as the game went on.

This proved to be the case. We were far better in the second half and Milan definitely slowed down and by the time Rooney scored his second and our third, the Milan defence were virtually statues.

At this point, I thought we could go on and score a fourth or even a fifth but we didn’t really go for the jugular and the momentum was lost.

We have had some great players at Manchester United but one of the greatest players during the last fifteen years has been a guy called Clarence Seedorf.

He came on as a sub with around 20 minutes to go and hardly got a touch to be fair but then, as the clock was ticking away for a decisive win for United, he popped up in the box and scored a cute goal for Milan’s second.

At 3-1, this tie was done and dusted. At 3-2, I still think it will take something more than Milan possess to overturn it but the gap is close enough for them to believe that they have it in them.

All things considered, I think we deserved our win here tonight. We played poorly in the first half and the referee was a complete homer. Many decisions went against us and in the end Carrick was sent off with around 4 seconds left on the clock (FFS, use some common sense ref!) which just about put a lid on a poor night for the officials.

AC Milan gave a good account of themselves and will perhaps be kicking themselves for not capitalising on their early chances.

3-2 as opposed to 3-1 makes the second leg that bit more interesting but I can’t see us making the mistakes we made tonight twice and at home, we really should be looking to inflict the kind of embarrassment that AC Milan inflicted upon us a few years ago.