Sunday, 28th February 2009 – KO: 15:00

This of course is now the third time we have played Villa this season and it has to be said that so far they have had the upper hand and they will really fancy their chances. Any notion that Fergie might mess about with the team here and play a few youngsters is nonsense as far as I’m concerned.

I think we will have to be at our very best to win this one.

The one thing I am not expecting here is a goal-fest. Our two League games have produced just three goals between them and Villa and United are officially the two meanest defences in the Premier League.

Add to this the fact that there have been very few goals scored in any of our Wembley appearances in recent years and I think it all adds up to another low scoring affair here today.

As to the team Fergie will pick, I can see nothing other than a full strength line-up.

Van Der Sar, Rafael, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Berbatov and Rooney.

The big decision is the formation – will he go with Scholes and drop Berby for a 4-5-1 formation?

I think Villa will go with the 4-5-1 formation with Agbonlahor causing havoc alone upfront so we might need bodies in the middle of the park so that we don’t get over-run so it might be that Fergie goes with the 4-5-1 too.

I don’t really have much more to say about this match, I think it is going to be a close one and the first goal could be crucial. Villa have already proved that they have what it takes to beat us but if we’re firing and fully focused thenwe certainly have what it takes to beat them.

I’m going to keep my betting on this one to a minimum and bet only on the belief that this will be a low scoring affair.

The bet is 2 points UNDER 2.5 goals @ 1.92 with Bet365.

Fergie sprang his usual surprise by leaving Rooney on the bench and going with Berbatov and Owen up front for this one. That Van Der Sar was replaced in goal by Kuszcak was less of a surprise. The rest of the team was pretty much as expected although Evans was restored to the centre of defence alongside Vidic.

The omission of Rooney obviously raised a few eyebrows but the partnership of Owen and Berbatov worked well while it lasted.

The game was barely three minutes old when Agbonlahor found himself through with only Vidic for company, he ran quite some distance with the ball with Vidic doing his usual grabbing and mauling and this eventually led to Vidic pulling Agbonlahor’s shirt and dragging him to the ground in the penalty area.

The referee immediately blew for the penalty but did not show Vidic a card. Having now seen this incident several times, I do believe that he was right to do so. Agbonlahor never really shook Vidic off and at the moment that Vidic pulled him down, Agbonlahor had started to go back to his outside and, technically, at that precise point, was going away from goal.

Milner scored the penalty to givehis team a dream start.

The lead didn’t last long however after some great work from Berbatov saw him dispossess the usually excellent Richard Dunne. Dunne was not to be outdone (!?) though and got back to tackle Berbatov in kind. His tackle only saw the ball come infield in the general direction of the ever-ready Michael Owen who did not need a second invitation and swept the ball first time into the far corner.

From this point onwards, Manchester United just seemed to get stronger and stronger whilst Villa’s grip on the game seemed to be slipping.

Just before half-time, Michael Owen found himself through on goal again but just as he might have been about to pull the trigger, he felt his hamstring and that was his game over. Desperately bad luck for Michael Owen but it did see Rooney take to the field as his replacement.

Much of what Rooney did was not great to be quite honest. He was giving the ball away and generally found little success with anything he tried to do.

However, he was not to be denied as he scored with his head (again) in the 74th minute from another great cross from Valencia.

Villa piled on the pressure in the closing stages but could not quite make the breakthrough and so we ran out 2-1 winners and the first trophy of 2010 is now in Manchester United’s cabinet.

Martin O’Neill was not happy at the end of the game because the referee did not send off Vidic and I had to laugh when I saw one or two interviews with the players who felt that the incident was the “turning point” in the game.

Quite how an incident that happens in the third minute can be classed as a turning point is beyond me. Especially when that turning point results in you taking the lead!

Wednesday, 27th January 2010 – KO: 20:00

There has been quite a lot of talk going into this match as to who has the advantage after the first leg scoreline.

As City come in 2-1 ahead, they have an obvious advantage but as we are at home and know exactly what we need to do in order to progress, some feel that we have the advantage.

The away goal rule that we all know from the Champions League works slightly differently in the Carling Cup.

In the Champions League, if we were to win this one 1-0 after 90 minutes we would be through but in this game, it would go to extra time as the aggregate scores would be level (2-2).

If the scores are still level at the end of extra time, then we would go through on the away goal scored.

If the match ends 2-1 to us at the end of extra time then it goes to a penalty shoot-out.

If this does happen, we could have 90 minutes of normal time, 30 minutes of extra time and 20 minutes of Fergie time, add to that the penalty shoot-out and we could all be here until midnight!

I have a feeling that this tie will be settled in ninety minutes, however.

I thought we were more than a match for City last week and should have gone in at half-time 1-0 ahead. A dodgy penalty decision that favoured City just before half-time must have been a blow for the United players.

In fact, there were several little decisions that went in City’s favour throughout the game.

Hopefully there will be no dodgy refereeing decisions in this one and if there are, the majority will favour us to balance things up from the first leg.

Probably the weak link in the City team last week was young defender Boyata and with Toure returning from Africa, he could take his place in defence.

City also have Adebayor back and he could well play a role here tonight. The main men for City at the moment however are Given, Bellamy and Tevez and all three were certainly thorns in our side last week and Bellamy was a thorn in our side in the Premier League fixture. Fergie must have been scratching his head for the last week or so, wondering what exactly to do about him.

With a bit of luck, Mancini will play Robinho!

As for us, we are starting to tick again recently. The goals are flowing and Wayne Rooney is on fire. That Rooney will spearhead the attack here is beyond question. The decision Fergie has to make is who to play alongside him.

Personally, I would have no problem with Owen, Berbatov or even Diouf although I think that initially, it could well be Berbatov who gets the nod with Diouf coming on if necessary.

The other big decision for Fergie is who to play on the right.

He rested Valencia against Hull at the weekend and brought Nani in. Valencia has been Mr Consistency this season with regular 7-8/10 performances week in, week out.

Played over on the left, Nani has been giving 5-6/10 performances when picked (and that has been quite rarely).

However, against Hull, played on the right, Nani put in a 9/10 performance and probably did better than Valencia has done at any point in the season so far.

If Nani gets the nod tonight will we get another 9/10 performance or will we be back to square one with him?

Nani won’t like it and will wonder what he has to do to impress Fergie and get the chance to play in a big game but I suspect Fergie will opt for the safety of Valencia. If he does give Nani another go then I will have to rethink my theory that Fergie has become too afraid of losing.

Personally, I would like to see Fergie realy go for this one and put ut the following team:-

Van Der Sar, Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, Rooney and Diouf.

If Nani and Giggs can supply the ammunition, Diouf will do the rest and his pace will give the dodgy City defence problems all night long.

As for what Rooney could do tonight…

This could end up a tight and cagey game (if Fergie packs the midfield and plays Rooney upfront alone, he is going for the 1-0) but I just cannot see that happening. The atmosphere here tonight will be electric. Both sets of players will be high on adrenaline and I can see mistakes. Possibly even a sending off.

I think United will win this one and, that being the case, I see no reason why we can’t win by two clear goals and I was thinking of making this the bet because whilst the bookies make United clear favourites to win the game (1.66), the price jumps up considerably for a United two goal winning margin (2.87) and whilst it might at first seem a crazy bet, I think it represents good value and worth considering

However, I am going to stick with the corner markets. We have been getting plenty of corners recently and with two attacking sides such as these, a glut of corners would not be a surprise (there were 17 in the first leg and 12 when we met City at OT in the League earlier in the season).

The bet is going to be 3 points Over 12 Corners @ 1.97 with Bet365.

There was a lot of talk beforehand about whether or not the scoreline from the first leg gave the advantage to City or United.

As this game drew to a 0-0 half-time scoreline, it was quite clear that the advantage lay with City. At that stage, they were 45 minutes away from the final.

We played the better football during the first half and had all the possession and territorial advantage but at that stage, it counted for nothing.

A goal from Paul Scholes after 52 minutes swung the balance in United’s favour and a goal from Carrick 20 minutes later appeared to seal the issue but in reality, City’s job was still the same. They had to score a goal.

When Tevez scored five minutes later, it was completely even and no one appeared to have the advantage although if anything, the goal gave City added belief and resolve. Having had the game in the bag, we were suddenly up against it again.

We upped our game again after around 80 minutes and really piled on the pressure and, as has happened so many times this season, we finally got the goal that settled it through… who else? Wayne Rooney.

Yet again, Rooney will get all the headlines and I will not begrudge him any of them. Whether he is the best player in the world according to the judges of these things or not I don’t care, I cannot think of one player who I would swap him for at this moment in time.

He has soaked in the never-say-die attitude of Manchester United past and now embodies it in the present. Long may it continue into the future.

I wasn’t far out with my team selection although I knew I was wishing for too much with Diouf and Fergie chose Paul Scholes instead and went with the 4-5-1 formation (I refuse to call it 4-3-3) with Rooney up front alone.

As usual, this left Rooney quite isolated upfront at times but Fergie definitely seemed to take action about this at half time and Carrick played a much more forward role in support of Rooney.

The difference for us as a goal-threat in the second half was there for all to see.

It was probably written in the stars that Tevez would have his say in this game and I still can’t quite decide whether it was brilliant skill from him, a bit lucky or a bit of a bad decision by Rio to go in with his head rather than just put his foot through it that led to the goal.

I’ll give it to Tevez because whatever he did, it ended in the back of the net and that is all you want from your forwards.

It was probably also written in the stars that Rooney would have the last say in this contest. He has been in incredible scoring form of late but had yet to score in this tie until well into time added on when he scored the most important goal of them all. The winning goal.

As for other stuff, I thought Fergie was spot on in selecting Nani to start here. He was immense against Hull and he was great again tonight. On the surface, he perhaps didn’t appear to do as well as he did against Hull but you have to take into account the quality of opposition. With all due respect to Hull, Manchester United are a class above but Nani did not look out of place there tonight and did his job well. Again, from the right side of midfield.

Rio Ferdinand was immense in defence and showed just what we miss when he is not playing. I was not very complimentary about him for getting into trouble with the FA immediately after returning from a three month layoff and I still don’t think he will be giving any Mastermind contestants sleepless nights but he remains a World class defender when his head is in the right place.

Giggs was excellent and it is just such a shame that he is now getting on in years and the pace he once possessed is now long behind him because there were a couple of moments when a 17 year old Giggsy would have made a difference but the 17 year old Giggsy might not have played in the cross for Rooney’s winner so it’s swings and roundabouts.

Fletcher was great too. All over the pitch, making himself a nuisance. It’s not pretty but it is incredibly effective. Without that steel in midfield, we probably would have lost this match.

I could go on. I thought everyone had a great game here tonight and we needed it because, make no mistake about it, City have proved in recent years that they can always raise their level a gear or two when we’re the opponents, even when they are not being bankrolled by a trillionaire. Now that they have the quality players afforded them by their new owner, they are even more of a threat and the desire to get one over us is as intense as ever but backed up with true quality.

The bet won quite easily (with four corners in the first four minutes, I had visions of the bet winning within 15 minutes!) so that was good too. If anyone took United to win by two clear goals… yay, you!

A great night, a great game and a great tie. For all the feelings that the Carling Cup is the fourth choice trophy for any top Premier League team, it was probably as good as any Champions League final in terms of excitement and entertainment.

Tuesday, 19th January 2010 – KO: 20:00

Fergie has been playing the usual games all week, both before and after the Burnley game, in terms of the players he has available.

Firstly Berbatov had suffered a recurrence of the knee injury but today it is just a “dead leg” and it will be a case of “seeing how he goes” as to whether he is fit to start.

Then we have new boy Diouf who certainly doesn’t seem to lack confidence and there could even be a case for throwing him into this one while he still doesn’t quite appreciate the rivalry between the two teams and what a win for either will mean to the Red and Blue halves of Manchester. Fergie has dropped his name into conversations as a teaser that he might play.

Then there are the others such as Ferdinand. It is hard to imagine Fergie throwing him into a high intensity game such as this, even if fit, but stranger things have happened and there aren’t going to be any less important games coming up in the next few weeks. Fergie insists he is still a little short of full fitness but nothing would surprise me.

He has apparently said that Giggs won’t play and that some of the youngsters will be given the chance to shine again.

Basically, anyone trying to guess the team here would have a better chance of winning the Lottery!

The advantage is ours going into this tie in that we play the second leg at home and I think the order of the day will be to keep it tight and break when the opportunity arises. Whilst it would send the Blues into new heights of hyperbole, even a one goal defeat for us would not be a disaster here as we would have to fancy ourselves to turn it around at Old Trafford.

I was going to analyse the form for this one and it is true that we have been stuttering a bit recently whilst City have been doing well (until they finally met a decent side the other day) but I don’t think any of that matters.

I only hope that the United players draw on their vast experience for this one and remain patient whilst at the same time hoping that the City players get sucked into their own hype and over-commit in an attempt to “blow us away” and show to the world that the power shift in Manchester has begun.

Such a scenario could see us pick City off and win this one fairly comfortably.

Basically though, anything could happen here tonight. We will need to take our chances a lot better than we have been doing and we will need to be better at the back. The good news is that, perhaps the Liverpool game apart, some of our better performances this season have been in the bigger games away from home.

Deciding what to be on here is not easy. The bookies have City slight favourites but expect both teams to score. They also think that it will be a low scoring game.

All of this points to a 1-1 draw and this is the correct score with the lowest price about it.

I have been thinking all along that a draw here would be a good result for Manchester United and in view of the unpredictability of a match like this, I think I will keep stakes to a minimum and go simply for the draw. It is not really the type of game to get too involved with from a betting viewpoint.

The bet is 1 point on the Draw @ 3.3 with Bet365.

After a week of Fergie denying that Giggs was fit, he played the entire 90 minutes (as Captain) in this one and as for his claims that he would field a “strongish” side, this was just about as strong a side as he could have played for this one. Whether Neville could be considered a stronger choice than Rafael at right back being the only position up for any kind of debate.

There was no sign of Welbeck, Obertan, Nani, Park or any of the other young or “fringe” players.

Forget that this was the Carling Cup. It might as well have been the European Cup. Fergie would have played exactly the same side given the players available to him.

City also played just about as strong a side as they could muster.

This meant a lot to both teams.

The first half was almost all Manchester United as City, quite surprisingly, sat back an awful lot. This gave us lots of time and space in the middle of the park to pass the ball around, almost at leisure.

The right side seemed almost vacant as time and time again, balls sent in the direction of Valencia saw him in acres of space and more often than not, he puts in a decent cross.

This was the case after 16 minutes when he fired it into Rooney who saw his deft touch saved by Given only for the ball to fall to the feet of Giggs who only had to tap it into the net for a 1-0 lead.

I thought this would have brought City out a bit more but, strangely, it didn’t really and we continued to enjoy good possession and Valencia continued to enjoy lots of room over on the right.

However, as has been the case on many occasions so far this season, we were simply unable to convert the possession and territorial advantage into goals.

Tevez was doing his usual headless chicken impression and getting nowhere fast in truth and it was Bellamy who was the real thorn in our side. Doubling up at left back one minute and then running down the left wing the next, he gave Rafael quite a few problems (he would have skinned Neville alive, in truth).

This led Rafael to take the desperate measure of grabbing his shirt. The offence started outside the penalty area and, even with the slow motion replays, it was not quite possible to determine if it had continued inside the area but that is where Bellamy decided to fall down and the ref had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.

The United players surrounded him and he held up two fingers, presumably to suggest that Rafael had done it twice during the passage of play and it was the second offence that he had been penalised for.

Shirt-pulling has been something of a pet issue for refs this season and we have already had a penalty awarded against us for the offence but if it is an offence (and it is) then surely it is an offence ALL the time and not just when the ref decides it is?

The ref should have blown the whistle as soon as Rafael grabbed Bellamy’s shirt some three yards outside the area.

And refs should do this in EVERY game EVERY week.

Anyway, it was a penalty and up stepped Tevez to take it. Van Der Sar did his bit to put him off by taking a bit of time to get himself settled (and was duly booked for it) and then Rooney was seen saying “Watch the post” as Tevez made his run up but it was all to no avail as he blasted the ball straight down the middle into the net.

Under the circumstances, it was great composure under enormous pressure from Tevez, I’ll give him that.

1-1 with half time upon us – a very good time for City to score.

The second half saw City come into the game much more and after 65 minutes, they were ahead again after a header from Tevez. It was quite a brave header and the kind that only someone with a face like Tevez would go for.

My problem with it was with our defence.

The ball fell to Vincent Kompany and both Evans and Brown were sucked in towards him, leaving a massive gap for Tevez behind them.

Now I am no defensive tactical mastermind but surely only one of the defenders should have gone to close the ball down? The other should have stayed back?

Whatever, the ball went over the pair of them and Tevez headed home from about a yard out.

2-1 to City.

After that, we created quite a few chances and had quite a few attempts on goal, most of which were dealt with by Given and the one time he was beaten, City had a man on the line to clear.

All in all, I do think a draw would have been a fair result here. United didn’t really deserve to lose but didn’t do enough to deserve to win. City let us play in the first half and we let them back into the game by not taking full advantage of their generosity.

However, whilst I felt that a draw wasn’t a bad result for us, I did say that a one goal defeat wouldn’t be the end of the world either.

We can now look forward to the return leg at Old Trafford next Wednesday when we could well have both Vidic and Ferdinand back.

City might have won the battle but the war is far from over.

Tuesday, 1st December 2009 – KO: 20:00

Where to start with this one?

I suppose the first thing to say is that the team that starts for United in this one tonight will be largely the same team that were beaten by Besiktas last week.

I would expect a couple of positions to change though and a start for Owen would not be totally surprising.

Tottenham, of course, are flying in the Premier League at the moment and their 9-1 demolition of Wigan the other week showed just what kind of form they are in at the moment, particularly in an attacking sense.

What this does mean is that perhaps Harry Redknapp has a decision or two to make regarding his own team selection here tonight. He may decide to just go for it and play his strongest side in the belief that they will be more than enough for a United team full of kids.

Or, he may decide to give one or two of his bigger stars a breather. Surely at this point, maintaining their position in the Premier League has to be Harry’s priority and realistically, he might be feeling that he doesn’t have the strength in depth to really compete on two or three fronts in the way that United and Chelsea do.

As usual, even if you say that Fletcher and Carrick will definitely not play here tonight, Fergie has all kinds of options in midfield and upfront but it is the defensive positions that are likely to give him the biggest headache. His hand is forced to a large degree to perhaps play players that he would rather not due to the injuries to Evans and Fabio.

Tomasz Kuszczak did his case no harm whatsoever with a fantastic display against Portsmouth on Saturday so Fergie will have to decide between him and Foster. Personally, I think Kuszcak deserves to keep his place. Foster had his run of games earlier in the season and didn’t exactly shower himself in glory.

Ideally, I’m sure a rest for Evra would be on the cards but I think Fabio is injured. Neville played against Portsmouth so probably will be given a rest tonight which means Rafael on the right. Brown and Vidic will probably continue in the centre.

As for the rest. Well, the team I would like to see is Welbeck, Gibson, Anderson, Obertan, Macheda and Owen but it might end up with Welbeck and Macheda up front again with Park or Nani on the left and Obertan switched to the right.

The main concern from a betting point of view is the concern I have had before most United games this season – where will the goals come from? These players generally played well against Besiktas last week but seemed a bit clueless in the final third.

It didn’t help that Besiktas played with an eight man defence and I cannot see Spurs adopting those tactics here tonight which might make it a bit more of an open game.

The bookies generally think that this will be a fairly high scoring game and that was my first thoughts too but I just have a feeling that chances will be at a premium for both teams here tonight.

I’m not totally confident, anything could happen here tonight, but a small bet on the Under market is where I’m leaning towards.
The bet is 2 points Under 2.5 Goals @ 2.02 with Bet365.

Fergie rang the changes yet again with his team selection here and was true to his word that the kids would get another chance to right the wrongs of last week’s Besiktas defeat.

However, he did use experience where it mattered most and a backline consisting of Brown, Neville and Vidic is about as experienced as it gets.

Ritchie De Laet was given a starting role alongside them and that was just about the only one I didn’t see coming.

Berbatov and Welbeck were chosen to start upfront with Anderson, Obertan, Gibson and Park playing across the middle.

Kuszcak was given the chance to shine in goal and, one or two dodgy kicks aside, he did very well again and on the evidence of the last two matches, I think  he has pushed himself ahead of Foster in the pecking order.

Tottenham played all their big guns for this one including the on-fire Defoe and probably had the best of the first half in terms of chances created but there were two Manchester United players in particular who changed the course of this tie.

The first was Vidic who snuffed out several good Tottenham attacks with some crunching tackles and blocks.

The second was the man who answered my question, “Where will the goals come from?” .

Darron Gibson.

Several times over the last couple of seasons we have played some pretty football, dominated possession and then when it came to the final third, we seem to run out of ideas and it looks at times like we always want to walk the ball into the back of the net.

What we have been lacking is someone willing to have a go from outside the box on a regular basis and this is Gibson’s forte.

Two cracking goals from him gave us a 2-0 half-time lead which left Tottenham absolutely shell-shocked.

The second half promised more goals but both teams largely cancelled each other out and neither could make the breakthrough.

So, we march on into the Semi-Final and the draw has paired us with Manchester City.

Tuesday, 27th October 2009 – KO: 19:45

A quick chance here to get back to winning ways after Sunday’s disappointing result.

As this is a Carling Cup tie, Fergie was never going to choose the same kind of team that lined up against Liverpool, that this game come just two days after that game will no doubt mean that few, if any, of the players who played 90 minutes on Sunday will appear here.

Which is all good news for a few of the Reserves who will no doubt be given a chance to shine here.

I was hoping Obertan would make an appearance in this one and it looks like that could be the case as Fergie has apparently said that he will be playing.

A few others who have been very impressive for the reserves and must surely be knocking on the door include Ritchie De Laet, Magnus Eikrem and Joshua King.

What all this means is that, as usual, the performance of the United team is made all the more difficult to predict, simply because there can be little way of knowing who exactly will play.

The midfield is likely to be the problem area. I doubt Fletcher will be used in this game even if he has recovered from the injury that kept him out on Sunday. Anderson should start however. If Obertan and Nani play on the right and left respectively then that can only really leave Eikrem to take the other midfield slot. Unless Welbeck is used on the right again with Obertan given a more central role.

Up front, this looks like a game for Owen and possibly Macheda.

In defence, Gary Neville might be used to bring some experience with perhaps Evans, Brown and Fabio taking the other three positions.

In goal, Foster or Kuszczak.

That’s my guess anyway and I think I should get an extra brownie point for every one I get right.

As for Barnsley, well, they are not having a great season in the Championship so far, having picked up just 14 points from 14 games and have been beaten at home four times already.

I have absolutely no idea what will happen here tonight, if the team Fergie puts out clicks then we could score a couple, if they don’t then we could struggle.

Barnsley are hardly prolific scorers themselves though and so might struggle to score even one goal.

What this means is that I think there might be some value to be had in going for the UNDER market here but I won’t be going overboard with the stakes.

The bet is 3 points UNDER 2.5 Goals @ 2.1 with Boylesports.

Well, I was very close with my team selection but I am sure Fergie does it on purpose – Rafael in centre midfield from made very little sense to me and there has been nothing to suggest he would ever be used in centre midfield as he is being groomed as a long term successor to Neville and he is ideally suited to that role.

I would have thought if Fergie wanted to give a Reserve player a chance on a bigger stage then Eikrem was the obvious choice but he didn’t even make the bench.

Instead Fergie opted for Obertan on the left, Rafael and Anderson in the centre with Welbeck on the right.

Of course, Fergie will just point to the scoreboard so all is well and justified in the end.

2-0 is actually the score I had in mind before the game but I must admit to feeling a bit wobbly about it when we scored from a very good header from Welbeck after just six minutes (the Barnsley defence will be kicking themselves over that one though).

Having been given a pretty painful kick up the backside, Barnsley got their act together a bit and had a very good spell towards the end of the second half as time and time again they delivered some great balls into the area which their front players couldn’t finish.

They seemed to have an awful lot of attempts on goal without really troubling Foster too much.

The game became a lot more of an even contest for a while until Michael Owen was played in by Anderson and worked a little bit of Owen magic to slot home as though it was the easiest thing in the world.

There were some more moments and at any point, the bet could have been scuppered but it ended up winning and United are through to the next round.

A couple of points worth picking up on with this one are:-

Obertan – he didn’t really get the chance to show what he can do in this one although we did see examples of the pace he possesses. He is rapid. One of the things that was mentioned when we signed him was that he lacks a bit of self-belief and perhaps this showed through at times. It is one thing to play in the reserve team where results aren’t necessarily the be all and end all of the competition but it is another thing to do your thing when a mistake really could mean something.

I think he’s still a bit of a raw diamond though and one for the future.

The other thing was the sending off of Gary Neville. I think the ref got it spot on. His studs were high but dropping and he seemed to raise them at the last second quite maliciously. It was a straight red and a player such as Gary Neville who needs all the favours he can get in order to have a run in the first team will know that the ban incurred from this red card is the last thing he needs.

Brought in for his experience and a cool head when the youngsters might be losing theirs, it was hardly a great example.

Not much else to say about this one. Barnsley were as toothless as their record this season suggested and United just had that extra bit of class all around the pitch.

A deserved win and we march on into the next round.

Wednesday, 23rd September 2009 – KO: 20:00

Of all the Competitions we have participated in over the years, the League Cup has always been a strange one for us.

Widely viewed from the outside and probably considered from the inside as the lowest of our priorities every season, it hasn’t stopped us from having a fair degree of success in the competition in recent years (three final appearances, two of them as winners in the last six seasons).

This is perhaps partly because Fergie always used to use this competition to give his reserves (then mostly “kids”) a bit of experience and match-time. These days, as the squad has become stronger and stronger, the team he puts out, even when not a recognised “first team” is still strong enough to give most teams in the competition a good run for their money.

What this has meant however is that trying to guess the team Fergie is likely to play is a job in itself (and perhaps provides some of the reason for our success, actually).

Some clues are usually provided by who didn’t play a big part in the most recent game before the Carling Cup fixture.

So, some names that spring immediately to mind are the likes of Kuszczak, Evans, Brown, Neville, Fabio, Gibson, Carrick, Nani, Scholes, Owen and Macheda.

Hardly what you would call a “weak” team but I’m still probably a mile off anyway!

As for Wolves. Well, luxuries such as tinkering wildly with the team are not within their scope at the moment and I think we’ll be seeing a more or less full-strength team put out for this one.

As far as I am aware, they have no real injury concerns going into this one.

They have started their Premier League campaign quite well with seven points from their opening six games and have won a game away from home and managed to keep City down to 1-0 at Eastlands.

All Fergie ever asks for in these cup competitions is a Home tie as he always believes that no matter the team he puts out, they should be winning at home.

The bookies are certainly giving nothing away on the United win here with United being priced at around 1.33.

Personally, I think that is a bit skinny. Wolves will give this one hell of a go and with a United defence that is bound to consist of four players who have hardly played with each other before (if ever) and a goalkeeper who has almost disappeared off the radar as far as first team (or even Reserve) appearances are concerned, there is certainly a chink in the armour there and the slightest wobble from any of them will only encourage Wolves even more.

United should win this but I don’t think it will be as comfortable as those odds suggest.

Wolves are not the most prolific team in the world in terms of goals but they haven’t been conceding many either. As for us, we don’t normally concede too many but what we do up front is still a bit hit and miss. We might score four or we might make hard work of even scoring one.

I am basing this bet on us keeping a clean sheet and winning 2-0 at most.

The bet is going to be 2 points UNDER 2.5 Goals @ 2.25 with VC Bet.

There’s not an awful lot to say about this game… the scoreline pretty much says it all.

I was close with the team though with only Scholes being the name I mentioned not playing. Welbeck started on the left side of midfield.

Danny Welbeck Does Usain Bolt

United came out strongly and looked quite dominant for much of the opening stages without really creating anything in front of goal. If anything, despite our territorial and possession superiority, it was probably Wolves who carved out the better chances.

All was going fairly well really but with such an attacking line-up (especially with Fabio on the left side of defence) there is always the chance of over-committing and this is what happened around the thirtieth minute as Wolves found themselves on a clear break. Fabio tried to get back at the attacking Wolves player but slipped at a crucial stage. Realising that the Wolves player was through on goal Fabio cynically brought the player down with a flailing arm as he hit the deck. As the last defender, the ref had no choice but to send him off.

So, we basically had an hour still to play with just ten men.

Fergie had no choice but to shuffle the pack a bit and Macheda was brought off with De Laet coming on to fill the left side of defence.

I think a note on De Laet is worthwhile here. He looks a very tidy player and most of what he did was clean and efficient and only an attempted shot he made right at the end of the game took the gloss off his performance. It really must go down as one of the worst shots in history and I think he sliced it so badly that it actually finished behind him!

Anyway…

An hour to play, down to ten men and if ever Fergie wanted an excuse to take a dive in this tournament, tonight was the night but there was none of it.

The ten men of United were still more than a match for the eleven of Wolves.

Wes Brown was immense in defence and we can only hope that for the rest of his United career he can stay clear of any major injury problems because he remains a top-notch defender.

The player who seemed to get more of the ball than any other was Nani and this was one his more frustrating performances in that he did everything brilliantly except the most important bits (i.e. the final ball, the shot, the corner etc).

However, I’m not going to dwell on this kind of stuff here. I’m going to skip forward to the goal.

It was, quite frankly, a work of art.

Carrick was in possession just outside the Wolves box and he pinged a ball at Welbeck who controlled it and slipped it to Owen. Owen knew exactly what kind of ball Welbeck would like to receive in return and played it to perfection. The angle was superb, the weight of pass was superb and Welbeck only really had to decide where to place the shot. He did that brilliantly and a slog of a match was practically settled in the blink of an eye and a one-two that dreams are made of.

Wolves huffed and puffed, made some decent chances but could never quite find a way through and we held on for a well-deserved win.

Other things to be noted here are that everything Kuszczak had to do he did very well.

The other thing to mention is the debut of Josh King. This is a player who has impressed me in the reserves and he had a couple of chances here tonight despite coming on so late. One of them just underlined his youth and inexperience as a ball into the box was the option rather than the shot but he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Anyway, all in all, it’s job done here tonight. Wolves will probably be kicking themselves that they didn’t give that extra 10% and take a few risks when we went down to ten men but nothing can be taken away from Manchester United and we have our name in the hat for the fourth round – hopefully the draw will be kind to us.