What a cracking game. The season is really starting to come alive now and everything that happened in the last six months was just practice. Some of United’s movement tonight was wonderful and our boys in the stands of the San Siro did us proud too. Several times during the first half the Red Army out-sang their Italian counterparts and that is no mean feat in a stadium that size.
There are no words to describe how much respect I have for Darren Fletcher at the moment. Less than 24hrs after his house was burgled and his fiancée held at knifepoint, the man takes the field in a foreign land to defend the shirt. Nobody could have blamed him if he was on the first flight back to Manchester but he stayed and got on with it. O’Shea too deserves special mention, he has never let us down this guy and on at least two occasions he made vital clearing headers from a position that he is not entirely familiar with.
We have learnt that Fergie is getting wilier and wilier in his old age but we aren’t the only learners here. Inter’s players have seen ours up close now and they will certainly have a better idea of what to expect at Old Trafford. For all the talk of us being a much stronger team, any element of surprise we had is well and truly gone now.
On the plus side, Ronaldo has really started to stand up in the big games now [insert pun here] and our hashed together defence managed to keep their wolves at bay. But,
we did have an awful lot of free-kicks that we didn’t score from and that is going to cause me some sleepless nights over the next two weeks.
“Should†is a helluva big word in English. We really should have scored tonight. Time and again we have seen how important the away goal is in European football and we are palpably going home without one. Having played pretty well we now brandish some kind of moral victory which essentially means nothing.
The majority of United fans were a little worried before this game and we needn’t have been. Our biggest sin going into the second leg would be overconfidence. There is no suggestion that this will be a cakewalk from here on in but we are entitled to at least feel relieved we weren’t beaten. However, you should never underestimate Mourinho.
Firstly, lets all agree that our respect for Fletcher is mutual, fair play to the guy, I honestly don’t know if I’d of been able to play after what had happened but he stepped up. Top Man.
This game summed up all that is bad about Inter. No discipline, bad tempered and at times ugly. Watch Cordoba’s challenge on Rooney again and it is a horrendous tackle, a leg-breaker. Just because Rooney did not have a snapped Tibia does not mean it should go unpunished, and on top of that it was Rooney who was booked.
Only Francesco Toldo could get booked for dissent when a sub goalie. The guy could start a fight in solitary confinement. Stackovic also waved imaginary cards which is my number bugbear at the moment, and Ibrahimovic battled with Berbatov for the title of the Invisable man. In my opinion they are a good team, with some great players, but Inter Milan quite simply do not scare me. Apart from Zanetti and Cambiasso – both of whom I have great respect for – only the goalie can hold his head up for them after last night. In the first half they lurched from pathetic to average and back, and they are not a team I would be upset about being dumped out of Europe.
Finally, Jose’s comments since have been hilarious. His team were outplayed at home and he is not so much the special one as the lucky one that he’s not going to OT with at least a two goal margin to make up. If Inter are losing with 10 minutes left in Manchester, I predict at least two of their players will be sent off. That is the Inter way, they do not go quietly.
I expect us to win. Simple as.
Rant over!
Yeah we should have scored. Ronaldo was a star as was Fletch and, yes even the great O’Pie. But where was Berbatov? Hugely disappointing show. Pity Rooney got booked but he should start the return leg with Berba in the stands. Rooney – if he can control his own rages – could frighten Inter to death. 2-0 at OT. Or maybe 2-1 with a nerve-shredding last 1/4 hour.
What we need at Man-U isA powerful midfielder, think of this team with Michael Esien from Chelsea, or Mascherona from Liverpool,and Ronald has as much power as Torres at Liverpool, if not more, he has to use his stength. Yes everyone is fouling him he must fight through the bad challeges and he will beat them and start getting the calls. I wish Vidic was a mid fielder. The isn’t a team in the world that could beat us.
Richard