Schalke 04 0-2 Manchester United

A magnificent display, even if the opposition were never really up to much, it was still the semi finals of the champions league. You can only beat what is put in front of you and United did that and more last night. The freshness of the squad as Fergie has said has given us a great chance of another champions league and premier league double. Being able to chop and change the squad has been a big plus, Anderson and Gibson in central midfield on Saturday wasn't pretty but it meant Carrick was fresh and fit for last night.
From one to eleven, in old parlance the team was on fire, i don't know if Fabio would have played if O'Shea had been fit but i have been very impressed with him recently and wasn't surprised that he was so impressive. I though that Ferdinand might not make last night's line as he didn't look 100% fit to me on Saturday but he was on top form last night too, not that he was called upon too much. Everybody chipped in but Rooney seems to be on fire, the pairing with Hernandez and the deeper role seems to have transformed him. As Jonathan Wilson pointed out before last night's game he has been as influential if not more influential from his deeper role than he was when scroing a hatful of games last season. Is now the time to wonder whether he is glad he stayed at the club and is his long term future still at the club.
I would expect a fairly similar team to last night's for Sunday's trip to the Emirates with big changes for the second leg with Scholes and a few others coming back into that side. The defeat to City and last night's result has made the end of season run in far more manageable, though knowing now what i know now, i would still have took the victory over City to the victory over Chelsea. If we did manage the double of league title and champions league victory, that outlook would look unbelievably small time, but i can't get away from it.
We shouldn't get too carried away but two away goals with no reply must mean we are guaranteed to be at Wembley at May and for the big one itself, the champions league final. Of course Real would be a big hurdle and if Barca won we would almost certainly have to give our performance of the season, but it will be a one off game and anything can happen.
We shouldn't have been totally surprised by the easy manner of last night's victory i suppose, it's easy to forget that was our fourth semi final in five years, of course it should have been five in five, but we won't go into that and that if we complete the job next week, it will be a third final in five years. That was what we hoped would happen after 1999, better late than never. Fergie had been quoted as saying that he was a little envious of the the record of our competitors champions league victories and that he would like United to climb that ladder. We have given ourselves a great chance.

Fergie euloguises over Ryan Giggs and is quoted as wishing he could go on for years as he wonders when his career will finally peak. He also showered praise in Schalke goalie Neuer, the Bayern bound goalie who United were purportedly interested who had an absolute stormer last night making some aboslutely stunning saves.
He wouldn't be a like for like replacement for Van Der Sar a goalie who makes real the Dutch ideal of total football by having a goalie good enough with his feet to have been an oufield player. And such an organiser of the defence he would never have to make as many saves as Neuer was called into making last night. Of course it hepls to have Ferdinand and Vidic in front of him, but it is a fair argument.

The accolades come in thick and fast for Rooney and United in the press this morning with Graham Taylor arguing you rarely see as one sided a game in such a high profile fixture as last night, picking out Carrick and Rooney for special praise. James Lawton has to bring Rooney's England career into the mix arguing that he helped erase the memory of his last appearance at Gelsenkirchen.
Martin Keown thinks Rooney was that good that his performance reminded him of Michel Platini, high praise indeed.

Daniel Taylor argues that Fabio's performance last night showed he has come of age and is now a Manchester United player in his five things we learned from last night article. I have to admit that whilst both brothers excited me when they first arrived that last season i started to have doubts about both of them. Not now though, neither is the finished article, but they are both going to be terrific players. Whenever we have to chase a game one or both of the pair have to be on the pitch, that is for sure. I thought Fergie should have brought him on sooner against City, he made on great run, where he unfortunately found himself offside at the crucial moment. But it was the kind of run nobody else was making. My only worry is that i'm not sure Fabio is really the answer on the left, they are both going to be great right backs though.

Th Indy reports how Ian Hislop and private eye hounded Andrew Marr into his embarrassing volte face in the Daily Mail yesterday.

Robert Fisk wonders whether Syria and President Assad are on the brink of civil war.

The economy stood still with this mornings growth rate announced as 0.5 %. George Eaton argues this means Osborne's economic plan isn't working. Most economists see the figure as disappointing and think an interest rise just got further away. Apart from inflation nutter Andrew Sentence, that is, who seems to have a death wish for the British economy, he is like an old fashioned Marxist ideologue.