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.