The Devil In Me

Martin Tyler is not all bad.
I suppose we should probably look at ‘this’ again too.

Oh just watch it. 

After the final ball had been kicked, and saved, two besuited men strode onto the pitch to address the players of their clubs. Peter Kenyon, the embodiment of the back-stabbing, money takes all culture at Chelsea spoke to the men in blue. Sir Bobby Charlton, the embodiment of attacking football, the traditions of Manchester United and the history of the world game spoke to the men in red. Tonight was a victory for football.

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We are there again and whilst I think Chelsea are a fine side and that the game was close, too close, I am certain that we deserved it. As soon as they started hitting posts I knew it was our night, luck only smiles on one participant.

One man who will not be smiling tonight is John Terry. Well sorry mate, no karaoke parties for you this week. As a small aside I found it greatly amusing that Michel Platini cannot disguise the contempt he has for some players. Every Frenchman who collected a medal was given a hug and a smile whereas he looked like he could have watched Michael Ballack burn at the stake

It is easy to look back at the game and say that it was perfect in many ways. Scholes played, Ronaldo showed up, Giggs surpassed the appearances record and all of this under the cloak of the Munich anniversary. It just feels great to be a United fan right now and we should allow ourselves a pinch, just a pinch, of whimsical thinking here and there.

When we look back on this season we will do so with a great sense of happiness, but it is important to remember that we were one kick away from losing this final. The reason for that is simply because they make us suffer. But more often than not, they make us smile too.

FOOTNOTE:

Ronaldo had better stay.

The moment is upon us chaps. Frankly words fail me, all I can say is that even though we are separated, tonight we shall all be United.

To put it mildly, that’ll do. This is a result and a message to Chelsea at the same time. Despite the guff in the papers I actually thought that West Ham showed up in this match. True they can’t defend but that is why they are tenth in the table. They chased every ball and were giving us grief until Ronaldo’s third minute hop skip and jump. Aston’s overhead kick was also a corker and we have been linked with him recently, can’t say I disapprove.

We have learnt a lot of thing s about the players this season. Anderson can’t shoot, Hargreaves is a great crosser of the ball, Tevez will not be signing any modelling contracts in his spare time and Nani can be a useless plonker. The fact that we played and controlled the game for sixty minutes a man down is a sign of durability. Which is precisely what we are going to need in Moscow.

We have been written off over the last three days and if we are honest, by ourselves too, almost. Last chances don’t come any more final than this and they don’t come even more brutal than the one facing a certain Mr. Scholes in what could well be his final season.

All of our minds drifted back to Turin, all of us thought we needed an old head to calm the nerves and show experience. I for one thought that Scholes was the man for the job but that he was too much of a quiet chap to actually do it. Luckily his feet did the talking and it was truly a goal worthy of winning any football match.

Although you do (in pun terms only) feel slightly confident against players going by the names of Shabby and Messy, it is noticeable that Ronaldo spent the evening diving and complaining. He deserved his yellow card. Messi was, Rio aside, virtually undefendable and never complained or dived once. An interesting point and frankly, I think, a truly great player.

This really was a victory for mental fortitude (and perhaps a pinch of luck) and I agree completely with Jono that this turns the season around again. Fergie is a genius once more. So it’s Russian gangsters or scousers in the final now. Sadly I expect English football fans to let themselves down whatever the outcome, I hope I am wrong.

MAN OF THE MATCH: Park Ji-Sung:
Although Tevez and Evra have shouts to say they matched him for work-rate I can think of no other man in a red shirt who deserves it more. He never, ever accepts that anything is a lost cause and is the only player we have at the moment who is picking himself. Significantly on a field containing Messi and Ronaldo, he was by far the best winger on the pitch.

Never before in the field of human history have so many, been so gobsmacked, by one mis-kick. Well maybe Platini’s penalty miss in 86, or the famous Mark Payne free kick debacle from the Appleton 93/94 season.

Positives.

• We didn’t lose.
• We survived without Vidic, that hasn’t happened in a big game for a while.
• They had to foul Ronaldo constantly to stop him (6 in the first 14 minutes).
• Scholes looks to be picking up.
• Running out of positives.
• Completely dried up.

In which case we have to start thinking about the next six days. Having an entire season hinge on three games in such quick succession is ludicrous. Aren’t there usually two weeks between semi-final legs? Look at what it has done to Arsenal, a team who deserved something out of the season (though not more than us of course).

I expect to lose all of my hair in the next week, I honestly think we are wobbling.

How did he, how could he miss?

When Gallileo first pointed his telescope to the sky and began to observe the stars he is widely reported to have exclaimed “Blackburn away looks pretty tricky.” What he did not say was “Brad Friedal is a git”, which would have been equally accurate. Nostradamus he was not, but were he looking up at the skies yesterday he may well have seen my fist flying by as it clenched the air after Tevez’s late, late goal.

A chap on the Guardian blogs called Didsbury64 wrote this morning about United making us suffer and I wonder if he has ever had a conversation with the Crinkleys. Frankly I do not think that I can take much more of this. Beating Chelsea at Stamford Bridge is looking like more and more of a must and our form is beginning to wobble, four dropped points in the last three league games.

Blackburn were very good yesterday, slightly annoying after they capitulated to Liverpool the previous week, and I am sure that the boffins in Barcelona and London will be studying the tape carefully to see how Ronaldo could be kept so quiet. Newcastle will no doubt roll over and allow Chelsea to tickle them when they go up north and West Ham have started to look like a bogey team the last couple of years. This could indeed go right to the wire.

Can anybody recommend a good place to have a pacemaker fitted?

Ronaldo, Ronaldo, diving and Ronaldo. By heck he can play but do I have to spend every saturday night defending him in the pub from people who say he dives?

And Lo and behold we fall flat on our faces.  I think it was basically just an off day but lets have a look at things analytically.  The Bad News:

• we lost
• Arsenal keep scoring late goals
• Liverpool are still very much in touch
• Arsenal
• Without Rooney, Ronaldo and Vidic we look a lot less than killer

The Good news:

• It is only November

Now which list is longer?