Without wanting to sound disrespectful to Crystal Palace (and with thoughts of what Leeds did to us here in the FA Cup a couple of years ago still fresh in the memory) the Carling Cup draw appears to have been kind to us once again for this, our quarter final match.

Not that I would have been too bothered had we drawn City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool in this round from a progress point of view but it might have meant that Fergie wouldn’t be quite so bold with some of the selections he will undoubtedly make this evening and that would have been a shame for the lads concerned.

I’m talking, of course, about players like Paul Pogba, Ravel Morrison and (possibly) Zeki Fryers who have been given their first team chances away from home so far in the competition but tonight might be expected to make their Old Trafford debuts and from the start, rather than from the bench.

Of course, none of us really knows what Fergie has in mind for the game this evening and trying to guess his team selection for any match these days is a little like trying to guess Saturday’s Lottery numbers, only you don’t get seven million quid for getting it right.

What we do know, however, is that he will be playing a team which he believes will be good enough to win the match.

Crystal Palace are not the force they once were and came quite close to being relegated from the Championship last season and this season is not shaping up much better for them as they sit in mid-division and without a win in their last six games but, somewhat bizarrely, they have beaten two of the better teams in the Championship (including leaders Southampton) to get to this stage of this competition.

However, I simply have to believe that we will have too much for them at Old Trafford this evening. The team Fergie puts out will have a smattering of “kids” but there will also be a lot of experience and quality in there. Berbatov was used in our last Carling Cup game and it seemed to rejuvenate him. Players such as Park and Valencia could also be included.

We have won both of our previous Carling Cup games 3-0 so far and it would seem unlikely that we’ll repeat that scoreline again but Crystal Palace are struggling for goals at the moment (the same could be said about us, I suppose) and have scored just two in their last seven league games.

I suspect Lindegaard will be given his chance in goal and, given competition for places, whoever Fergie chooses in defence will be giving everything to ensure that a clean sheet is kept so this won’t help Palace in their quest to get on the scoresheet so I’ll be very surprised if they score tonight.

The bookies are pretty convinced that we’ll win this one comfortably and that it will be a high scoring game, though. We certainly could win this 2-0 or 3-0 (or even beyond that) but I’d really like to see who will be playing upfront before going overboard on that kind of bet.

For this one, I am going to have a tentative bet on the corners market. I can see a lot of the play being in Palace’s half and if this doesn’t result in goals for us then it could result in plenty of corners.

The bet is 2 points Manchester United -4 on the Corner Handicap @ 2.00 with Paddy Power.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Playing a game just 48 hours after your last is not something is normally welcomed but for most United fans, this match couldn’t come quickly enough. A different day, a different competition, a different challenge.

It was also, obviously, quite a different team than the one that went down against Manchester City at the weekend.

Ben Amos was given a chance in goal and did superbly well. The defensive line-up was Fabio on the right, Vidic and Jones in the centre and young Fryers was given the chance to build on his fantastic display in our first game against Leeds but this time played over on the left and, as far as I could see, didn’t put a foot wrong again all evening.

Seeing Vidic get through a full 90 minutes was great but, as usual, he sailed close to the wind on occasion and picked up a booking for a messy foul with the game barely a few minutes old – he probably needed this 90 minutes and it cast some light on why he wasn’t selected for the game against City at the weekend.

The midfield was something along the lines of Diouf on the left, Valencia on the right with Park and Cleverly in the middle.

Cleverley managed to get in an hour on this is comeback from injury so that was a welcome sight and Park put in a typically hard-working performance and added some composure to the midfield.

Up front, we had Owen and Berbatov and these two – Berba, in particular, did their causes no harm whatsoever with fine displays.

Anyway, the game itself was probably as you would expect, United dominating possession throughout and piling the pressure on Aldershot from the off. As already mentioned, Berba had a great game and really did look like he had a point to prove. He often gets accused of being lazy (or at least, looking a bit disinterested at times) but that criticism couldn’t be leveled at him in this game – he was everywhere and he thoroughly deserved his goal to open the scoring after fifteen minutes and then played a fantastic assist for Owen to grab our second just before half-time.

However, there was one moment later in the game which perhaps sums Berba up. He went on a fantastic run almost from one box to the other, showing great strength and determination to get himself into a position where a goal looked likely only to slip it wide with an almost nonchalant effort. It could be that he was just knackered after such a lung-bursting run or it could just have been Berba being Berba –   it’s hard to decide but it is moments such as those that divide people’s opinion of him to such an extent.

However, for a guy who has almost become a forgotten man this season, he showed great character in this game and did as much as anyone else on the pitch.

The goal of the match, however, was our third which came just after half-time from Antonio Valencia. With the ball at his feet, hovering a few yards outside the penalty area, everyone expected him to try to pick out a pass or perhaps attempt to go back down the outside but he stunned everyone by unleashing a terrific swerving drive that beat the Aldershot keeper all over the place. It was so good and so unusual that even Antonio himself broke into a smile.

Whilst we always looked in control here, Aldershot had one or two chances of their own, especially towards the end of the match when Fergie started to make his changes (Michael Keane on for Fryers, Paul Pogba on for Cleverly, Ravel Morrison on for Diouf) and we perhaps started to take our foot off the gas but the timing of our second and third goals (just before and after half time) had knocked most of the stuffing out of the Aldershot players who were just looking for a souvenir of the occasion by the end of the game.

And so we go through to the Fifth Round, another 3-0 victory with plenty of the youngsters getting their chance to shine.

We are, of course, now getting towards the stage of the competition where getting drawn against tougher opposition is inevitable but I hope that Fergie will give these lads another chance if the draw is kind to us again when it is drawn this Saturday.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

Well, I haven’t even had time to do a review of the City match (I’ve had chance to watch it through again though and it was less painful to watch than I thought it was as I do intend to give my thoughts on the match) but such is life as for anyone involved with Manchester United that we have to put Sunday’s game behind us and pick ourselves us for another important match just two days later.

Yes, tonight, we travel to Aldershot Town for our Carling Cup Fourth Round match.

Aldershot are currently playing their football in League Two which is obviously now the fourth tier in English football so there’s quite a distance between the two teams but I think it is fair to say that Fergie will be fielding a team tonight that will be unrecognisable from the one that plays in the Premier League.

We saw a few clues in our opening Carling Cup campaign as he handed debuts to the likes of Pogba, Fryers and Cole and whilst Cole didn’t really get enough time to make any impression either way, Fryers looked very good and Pogba improved as the match progressed. Of the three, I would certainly expect Pogba to feature tonight and it might even be that Fergie plays the other two and maybe even a couple more of the young reserves at some stage.

However, it won’t be a complete team of kids, we do have some of the senior players in need of action and, similar to the first game in this competition against Leeds, this might be the chance to give the likes of Owen and Berbatov a run.

As for Aldershot, well, they enjoyed a very good result over the weekend as they beat Dag & Red 5-2 away from home but that came on the back of four straight league defeats and it is their home form which has been letting them down somewhat having won just one of their six games at the Recreation Ground so far this season.

It seems pointless trying to analyse this one too much but I think we’ll win here tonight. We’ve done well in this competition for several years now and whoever Fergie picks will play to the best of their ability and, given the talent we have in the youth ranks allied with the top notch pros we have in the experienced ranks, that is often more than enough for most teams and it will come as almost as big a shock as Sunday’s result should we get a thumping here tonight.

Picking a decent bet isn’t easy though. The bookies expect us to win and win easily. They also seem to think that there will be at least three goals scored but, judging by the prices, seem to think that Aldershot will score at least one goal of their own and I’m not too convinced about that so the bet is going to be based on us keeping a clean sheet.

The bet is 3 points Both Teams to Score NO @ 1.83 with Stan James.

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This competition has long been viewed as considerably less important to Manchester United than the other three (unless it’s the only trophy we win and then it becomes a “major trophy of considerable importance”!) and I guess the fact that we have been handed this fixture a mere 48 hours after such a massive Premier League match and no one on the United side appears to have complained (there’s no reason why this match could not have been played on Wednesday, as far as I can see) and no one on the Carling Cup organisational committee appear to have noted that this might not be an ideal placement for the fixture as far as we’re concerned would suggest that all parties are accepting of and comfortable with the fact that the top teams are going to use it as an opportunity to experiment with personnel.

And this is undoubtedly what will happen here tonight as several of the players who played against Chelsea on Sunday will likely be sat up in the stands wearing a suit and tie and nowhere near the pitch. Amongst these, I would expect the likes of Nani, Young, Rooney and perhaps Evra for starters.

Our defence is a bit threadbare at the moment and I really can’t see Fergie risking Rio in a game like this so he’s either going to stick with the Jones, Smalling, Evans trio (with perhaps Fabio taking Evra’s place) or he’s going to spring a big surprise and perhaps even bring in Wes Brown’s younger brother, Reece into the defence – certainly if not now then when?

The option of Valencia at right-back is another possibility.

The midfield is going to be interesting and whilst we have plenty of senior players in need of minutes (Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, Park etc) Fergie has said that he will be playing Paul Pogba which might just be Fergie being Fergie or it might be the truth and I, for one, hope he’s being serious because this lad has me very excited.

For those who haven’t had the opportunity to see Pogba play yet, let me just tell you that he’s a tall, powerful midfielder who is developing a reputation for scoring spectacular long-range goals and, despite being just 18 years of age and probably still in need of some physical development, looks set to be a top, top player. Whilst an away fixture at a cauldron such as Elland Road might not be the ideal fixture in which to bring him through, it could be argued that if he can handle it then that will be one big tick against his name and a step in the direction of him playing a more regular role as the season progresses.

Up-front, if Fergie does play two strikers then we’re probably looking at two from Berba, Owen and Macheda and I wouldn’t like to guess which combination he will go for there although I would like to see Owen play as he still does the business when called upon but hasn’t been given a chance so far this season. However, if Fergie is going to use this one to give some of the younger players a chance then I would love to see Will Keane given an chance because he’s been a favourite of mine for a couple of years now. He reminds me of Solskjaer in that, to look at him, you’d just think that he just looks like a sweet, harmless lad but put him in front of goal and he turns into a deadly assassin!

As for Leeds, well, what can I say? We took them a bit too lightly, I think, when we played them in the FA Cup last year and we paid the price as they beat us 1-0 at Old Trafford and that lesson should be fresh in the memory of even those who didn’t play that day and with this being at Elland Road, they will be looking to repeat the feat in front of their passionate home support.

Certainly, I think we can expect them to play in a manner that belies their current mid-Championship table position – they always do when Manchester United are in town.

This could make for a feisty encounter with tackles flying in all over the place and I believe the referee for this one is Mike Jones who was the ref for the Tottenham/Liverpool game over the weekend which saw two Liverpool players sent off. Indeed, he has already dished out sixteen yellows and three reds in four games in charge so far this season – I suspect he will add to this tally tonight and that could end up being an important aspect of this game.

Due to the large number of unknowns as regards our line-up (and then the unknown of how well they will play together – we often struggle to look like a cohesive unit when too many changes are made) it is difficult to make any kind of prediction as to the result here. The bookies seem to be convinced that we will win by a score of 2-1 and that does sound feasible but I wouldn’t bet on it.

However, I do have to put forward a bet and, so far, my predictions have been pretty appalling this season with several “close but no cigar” calls made.

I am going to have a tiny dabble on the bookings for this one and I do believe that it will be Leeds who pick up the most.

The bet is going to be 1 point Leeds United to pick up the most booking point @ 2.00 with BlueSQ.

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It looks almost certain that we will be fielding a more “second-string” type side for this one this evening but when that second string contains the likes of Hernandez, it remains a very dangerous side and I fully expect us to give a struggling West Ham side a hard game, even at their place.

West Ham themselves will be without one or two key players as the talismanic Scott Parker in particular looks certain to miss out.

Games between us and West Ham usually end up with us as winners but they have given us a few problems down the years when we have travelled to Upton Park and a 4-0 win for us when we met them there in the league around this time last year aside, the goal count tends to be fairly low.

Our record in this tournament in recent years suggests that everyone concerned will be giving it 100% to win this game and so I have no concerns on that score.

I feel that if our defence can keep West Ham out (and they have not exactly been prolific scorers so far this season with just 14 goals in 15 league games then we should have enough to score one or two at the other end and I am going to base the bet on something like this being the case.

The bookies think that this will be a fairly high scoring game but I’m not too sure…

The bet will be 2 points UNDER 2.5 goals @ 2.2 with Victor Chandler.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

It has become pretty standard practice for Fergie to employ something of a “second-string” team for the early rounds of the Carling Cup but as this one comes just two days after our trip to Stoke, I think it is virtually guaranteed that we will be seeing something in the region of nine changes (at least) for tonight’s game against Wolves.

This, of course, makes any kind of prediction of what will happen here tonight incredibly difficult.

One thing we know though is that, despite fielding “weaker” teams, Manchester United’s desire to win this competition is high – we have won it for the two previous years and are obviously the defending Champions. The fact that a lot of the big teams have already been knocked out of the competition means that a third consecutive Carling Cup win is very much a strong possibility and that in itself provides enormous incentive to ensure that we continue our own progress.

The team I expect to see tonight would be something along the lines of:-

Kusczak, Fabio, Brown, Smalling, Rafael, Obertan, Gibson, Carrick, Bebe, Macheda, Owen.

Anderson could be in there somewhere (possibly in place of Bebe) but obviously, despite being a weakened team, that is not a bad line up at all (I am also not entirely sure what the situation is with Giggs and he could be in there somewhere, too). Whether it will be good enough to beat a Premier League team who will no doubt come into this one feeling that they have a chance of staking their own claim to the trophy (because of all the big teams that have gone out already) remains to be seen and it could depend largely on Wolves’ own ambitions in this tournament.

I’m not going to over-analyse this one. If I am in any way close with my line-up then I am a little concerned about our fire-power – Owen is coming back from a slight injury and we know what he’s like – he could score a hat-trick or he could struggle. Macheda is still a bit hit and miss for me too, at the moment. The rest are hardly prolific although there’s goals in there with the likes of Carrick, Obertan and Gibson.

The bookies make United very strong favourites and whilst I expect United to win, I think the odds (around 1.33) are a bit silly.

This game is a bit like the game against Stoke in that I can’t see a landslide win for United and I wouldn’t put a goal past Wolves and so another 2-1 scoreline wouldn’t come as a massive surprise but this kind of scoreline makes it borderline for several bets.

Not one to get too heavily involved with from a betting perspective, I think and so I’m just going to have a small dabble on the corners market.

The bet is 2 points Over 11.5 Corners @ 1.9 with Bet365.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

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!

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

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.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

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.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog

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.

The Red Devil - A Manchester United and Football Blog