So near but so far, i'm gutted for the young lads, but fucking proud of that performance. When the draw was made, knowing that they always pick a strong team in this competition i presumed that tonight would be the end of the line in this competition for this year. After all the shit that went down on Sunday i thought Fergie may go with a stronger team. So when i saw that back line, i was just hoping to see us put in a creditable performance.
We certainly got that, right from the kick off, United took the game to the hosts, which made sense as the front six was the strongest part of the team. United were looking more likely to take the lead, but some comical defending as Anderson, of all people stole the ball and fed Giggs who made no mistake the finish saw us fulfil the promise. United continued to play good stuff going forward and defensively looked alright, except for Buttner, who it's fair to say had a bit of a mare. Even before conceding the penalty that led to their first equaliser he'd looked shaky as fuck with the ball at his feet. When Moses attacked him you ended up fearing the worst. This was a big pity, because Keane and Wooton were excelling in the middle and Rafael was continuing his good form.
United didn't take the equaliser laying down and Anderson once again turned provider, feeding Hernandez with a pin point pass that the Mexican finished superbly. Whilst i didn't think Anderson was as good as other reds tonight, on that form he would be a useful member of the squad. Unfortunately he showed why, ultimately he isn't, and never will be, as he completely ran ouf of juice after 70 minutes and virtually begged to be brought off with ten minutes to go. When you look at Giggs doing the full two hours, that's just shocking.
Fergie took the shellshocked Buttner off at half time, replacing him with Powell, shifting Flecther to right back and moving Rafael over to the left. We started the second half well, and Powell almost scored with a fine shot with his first touch of the contest. But as the half went on, the home team started to find a lot of joy down our flanks. It wasn't a particular shock when they equalised, but once again United's response was magnificent. United's third was the moment of the match for me, a brilliant passing move, finished off with a glorious finish from the returning Nani. It was a pity the rest of his game was as hit and miss as usual.
Chelsea now pushed forward, and the removal of Welbeck for Macheda didn't help our cause as we stopped looking as dangerous on the break and had to soak up more pressure. Still it looked like we were going to do it until Wooton gave the penalty away in the last minute. I saw Fergie blame Nani for giving the ball away in the lead up to the goal, but, it wasn't great defending in fairness, it's not like they sliced us open or anything.
With Tunnicliffe also now on for Anderon it was always going to be a hard task, but the crucial fourth goal was hard to take as Wooton misjudged a back header and the hapless Sturridge for once kept his head and gave the home team the lead. I felt sorry for the lad, he doesn't have the talent of Michael Keane, but he is a whole hearted player.
United saw plenty of the ball after that but never really threatened, not carrying the same threat going forward. Their fifth came as we threw everybody up for a corner, they countered and finished the move off with a class goal. Amazingly we managed to go straight to the other end and win a penalty to reduce the deficit back to a single goal, but there was no fairytale ending for us.
I won't say it was a moral victory for us, for fear of sounding like a bertie, but we can definitely take as much from that game as the victors. The spirit and self belief in our camp at the moment, even with all those young lads, is as good as it has been for ages. Our creativity and attacking play, again with a revamped front six against a far stronger Chelsea back four than ours, was impressive.
Some of the younger lads look like they could have a future at the club. I'd love to have seen Powell on from the start and though we didn't see the best of him, he didn't look out of place on the big stage. As for Michael Keane, i've already predicted big things for him, and the longer the game went on tonight, the better he got. Sure he made a couple of errors, but the way he read the game and Sturridge, even started to come forward with the ball in the latter stages of the game, showed he is made of the right stuff as well as having the talent. A local United fan as well, what's not to like there.
Giggs showed he may have another season in him as Fergie keeps suggesting, whilst others, myself included, i have to admit, have wondered if this will be the final season. One last piece of praise, i've been critical of Hernandez over the last season or so, but tonight was his best perfomance in a United shirt in ages, not just the goals, his movement and all round leadership of the line reminded us just what he provided us with in his debut season.
So we go out in a blaze of glory and now look forward to Arsenal on Saturday, and for those of us a bit on the skint side, no need to fork out any more on the least important trophy of the season. I'd have took the before the game began.
We certainly got that, right from the kick off, United took the game to the hosts, which made sense as the front six was the strongest part of the team. United were looking more likely to take the lead, but some comical defending as Anderson, of all people stole the ball and fed Giggs who made no mistake the finish saw us fulfil the promise. United continued to play good stuff going forward and defensively looked alright, except for Buttner, who it's fair to say had a bit of a mare. Even before conceding the penalty that led to their first equaliser he'd looked shaky as fuck with the ball at his feet. When Moses attacked him you ended up fearing the worst. This was a big pity, because Keane and Wooton were excelling in the middle and Rafael was continuing his good form.
United didn't take the equaliser laying down and Anderson once again turned provider, feeding Hernandez with a pin point pass that the Mexican finished superbly. Whilst i didn't think Anderson was as good as other reds tonight, on that form he would be a useful member of the squad. Unfortunately he showed why, ultimately he isn't, and never will be, as he completely ran ouf of juice after 70 minutes and virtually begged to be brought off with ten minutes to go. When you look at Giggs doing the full two hours, that's just shocking.
Fergie took the shellshocked Buttner off at half time, replacing him with Powell, shifting Flecther to right back and moving Rafael over to the left. We started the second half well, and Powell almost scored with a fine shot with his first touch of the contest. But as the half went on, the home team started to find a lot of joy down our flanks. It wasn't a particular shock when they equalised, but once again United's response was magnificent. United's third was the moment of the match for me, a brilliant passing move, finished off with a glorious finish from the returning Nani. It was a pity the rest of his game was as hit and miss as usual.
Chelsea now pushed forward, and the removal of Welbeck for Macheda didn't help our cause as we stopped looking as dangerous on the break and had to soak up more pressure. Still it looked like we were going to do it until Wooton gave the penalty away in the last minute. I saw Fergie blame Nani for giving the ball away in the lead up to the goal, but, it wasn't great defending in fairness, it's not like they sliced us open or anything.
With Tunnicliffe also now on for Anderon it was always going to be a hard task, but the crucial fourth goal was hard to take as Wooton misjudged a back header and the hapless Sturridge for once kept his head and gave the home team the lead. I felt sorry for the lad, he doesn't have the talent of Michael Keane, but he is a whole hearted player.
United saw plenty of the ball after that but never really threatened, not carrying the same threat going forward. Their fifth came as we threw everybody up for a corner, they countered and finished the move off with a class goal. Amazingly we managed to go straight to the other end and win a penalty to reduce the deficit back to a single goal, but there was no fairytale ending for us.
I won't say it was a moral victory for us, for fear of sounding like a bertie, but we can definitely take as much from that game as the victors. The spirit and self belief in our camp at the moment, even with all those young lads, is as good as it has been for ages. Our creativity and attacking play, again with a revamped front six against a far stronger Chelsea back four than ours, was impressive.
Some of the younger lads look like they could have a future at the club. I'd love to have seen Powell on from the start and though we didn't see the best of him, he didn't look out of place on the big stage. As for Michael Keane, i've already predicted big things for him, and the longer the game went on tonight, the better he got. Sure he made a couple of errors, but the way he read the game and Sturridge, even started to come forward with the ball in the latter stages of the game, showed he is made of the right stuff as well as having the talent. A local United fan as well, what's not to like there.
Giggs showed he may have another season in him as Fergie keeps suggesting, whilst others, myself included, i have to admit, have wondered if this will be the final season. One last piece of praise, i've been critical of Hernandez over the last season or so, but tonight was his best perfomance in a United shirt in ages, not just the goals, his movement and all round leadership of the line reminded us just what he provided us with in his debut season.
So we go out in a blaze of glory and now look forward to Arsenal on Saturday, and for those of us a bit on the skint side, no need to fork out any more on the least important trophy of the season. I'd have took the before the game began.
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