We’re in a bit of trouble, largely of our own doing. People who laugh at Rafa Benitez for rotating his team too much can now look at Sir Alex Ferguson and smirk quite a bit. What was that team that was put out? I can understand the logic, the gamble if you will. Fergie must have thought that given that even if we lose the title is in our own hands, it was worth resting Ronaldo and playing Fletcher and Silvestre.
Three out of the first four 1st choice defenders was probably a good move, but it was let down, firstly by Wes Brown giving the ball away in the first minute setting the tone for the rest of the half. Then, the unfortunate loss of Vidic, providing that actually he isn’t a machine and does bleed if you knee him in the face hard enough. He didn’t look pretty beforehand.
The goal was inevitable. But then Chelsea decided that they’d do their own bit of imploding, gifting Rooney a goal and then fighting like children over freekicks. I thought they were going to give us the title, but it turned the other way again. It probably was a penalty. Carrick had time to move his hand, I think.
So, we lose 2-1 and now need to win against West Ham and Wigan. West Ham should be a win. They are a bogey side, but usually at Upton Park. Last season we lost at home, but West Ham needed the points and we didn’t care. We should have and we could have sent them down. We’d have more likely won away to the team they replaced, Sheffield United and have three more points and the league in the bag.
Congrats to Ronaldo for winning a meaningless personal award. It will look very annoying if he can’t put a league winners medal next to it.
But it is the Champions League next. Too close to call and likely to be another tense night. No live blogging this time, I need to concentrate more on the game and not the laptop. Come on you Reds.
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It comes down to this game at Stamford Bridge, 12:45 BST to decide the title, more or less. A win and the title is our (except not mathematically), a draw and we need one more victory to be sure. A defeat would not be good news, but unless we lose 20-0, the title would still be in our hands, but we’d have to beat West Ham at home and Wigan away.
At this point, it is pointless trying to predict or demand the team that should play. Fergie is the expert at winning close run ins. Can you remember any season where United haven’t won the league when they have been in the position to do so with less than 3 games to play? Except for 1995. Because that doesn’t count. Because of Eric Cantona and that Crystal Palace fan. If Ronaldo had attacked a fan in February and been banned we wouldn’t be close to winning the league this season.
Let’s just say no other team deserves to win the league this season. Arsenal fell away badly and blew it after doing so well early on. Chelsea are no where near as strong this season and are hanging onto our coat tales this season, instead of pushing us over the line. I think we’ll prove that tomorrow lunchtime and get the three points.
I sort of think that was the plan in Barcelona. The performance was defensive, and we played well within ourselves, but made sure we were still in the contest. We are still very fresh for Chelsea. Fergie even took off Rooney, probably to rest him for this match. Tevez started on Wednesday because he won’t be starting tomorrow. Anderson will be. I’m not sure about Giggs. Will Fergie go for the experience, or send in Nani to try to blow a hole on the slower legs of the Chelsea rightback. Ashley Cole is quick, so is Carvalho. Terry and Ferreira are not.
Let’s see. I’m going for a 2-1 win (Ronaldo and Rooney).
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The gap is back down to three points but United’s goal difference is so much better, those three points are more like four. United would have to lose to Chelsea and drop more points to either West Ham or Wigan. West Ham at Old Trafford is certainly not the same as West Ham at Upton Park. Wigan away is more of an issue, especially if Wigan are somehow dragged back into relegation trouble. So the job is to get a point or more from Chelsea.
If we win against Chelsea, only some rather freakish set of 5-0 loses for United and 5-0 wins for Chelsea would give the London side the title. Actually even then, United would win the league on goals scored, but only a statistics freak would have calculated that !
If the more likely draw occurs at Stanford Bridge, United would one need a further win (assuming an extra freakish 10-0 defeat didn’t happen ….)
But first, the small matter of a trip to the Nou Camp for a semi-final of small importance. I’ll be live blogging again, as long as I can persuade the wife to record The Apprentice, so come back here on Wednesday night.
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Well, Wigan, Steve Bruce and Emile Heskey did United a great favour last night, getting a last minute equaliser against Chelsea. The gap at the top is now 5 points not 3. The away draw at Middlesbrough is wiped out. The result means that the title is two games away. Two away wins and we win back to back titles for the first time since we completed three in a row in 2001.
If we win at Blackburn, assuming Chelsea beat Everton which is by no means certain, it means we go to Stanford Bridge with a chance to win the league by ending their unbeaten home record. Some motivation for that game.
Assuming Chelsea win all their other games apart from the United match, here is what we need to do :-
- If we beat Chelsea, we need one further win either at Blackburn or Wigan, or at home to West Hame.
- If we draw with Chelsea, we need one win and a draw against those teams. In this case, we’d win the league on goal difference.
- Even if we lose to Chelsea, we would still win the league with two wins and a draw against the opposition. Again, we’d win on goal difference.
It is not at all certain Chelsea will win all their other fixtures considering their draw last night. They play Everton (a), Newcastle (a) and Bolton (h). Everton still have a chance at 4th spot and need to points to make sure they don’t lose their UEFA cup spot to Portsmouth. Newcastle are on something of a run finally under Kevin Keegan, and Bolton are fighting for their lives down at the bottom, only two points from safety.
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At short notice, work has sent me on a training course next week (someone else canceled). Which means unfortunately, I’ll miss both the Middlesbrough and Roma games. Thankfully, as the Roma game is somewhat under control what with the 2 goal advantage, I feel confident that they will manage without me. Sometimes, life sucks.
On the bright side, the course is in Barcelona. Life doesn’t suck that much after all.
My work colleague in the Barca office has said he will see what he can about getting me tickets for the Barca Champions League clash, but I don’t hold out much hope. And the chance of finding a bar not showing the Barcelona game and showing United instead is even lower.
Anyway, enough about midweek. Tomorrow we face Middlesbrough away, and it has always been a tricky fixture for some reason. In fact, this season, Middlesbrough have made a speciality of beating the big times whilst losing to the lower placed sides.
I had a bad dream last night that United lost (but it was to Watford) and the defence consisted of Brown, O’Shea, Silvestre and myself. Disaster as I got sent off as well. The referee was a nightmare. But enough about my noctural imagination. If Fergie does go for a defence including Silvestre and O’Shea we could be quite a bit of trouble. I just hope that Sir Alex goes for a full strength team and rests the big guns against Roma on Wednesday.
The championship race became much clearer today as Arsenal drew (5th home draw in a row) to Liverpool, making it a more or less 2 horse race with Chelsea who saw off City quite easily. The gap is 2 points and there is all to play for.
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