Milan V United SL second leg

RasTa

seansouth wrote:

pwnd tbh

Aye I had the rage when I was bashing out my statements. Calm and collective now.

Aquos76

Something to lighten the mood...

The champions league 3rd and 4th place play off is being played at Wembley. They're calling it the FA cup final this year though.;)

Mr. Presentable

UnLuckyLloyd wrote:

against weaker opposition he can be fantastic.

And that defines him. Spot on

joe.

Aquos76 wrote:

Something to lighten the mood...

The champions league 3rd and 4th place play off is being played at Wembley. They're calling it the FA cup final this year though.;)

Nice..

BaZmO*

Flukey wrote:

If they had not been lucky enough to score those 7 goals, they'd have lost. You can't dispute that.

Haha, that's hilarious!!

So if they didn't score all the goals they would of lost? Well duhh!

Aquos76 wrote:

Something to lighten the mood...

The champions league 3rd and 4th place play off is being played at Wembley. They're calling it the FA cup final this year though.

LOL.
I wonder how many times I'll get that in a text message tomorrow...

Savman

Ronaldo does deserve Player of the Year award, no doubt. But he was poor tonight.
Ronaldinho & Kaka were muck for Brazil in Germany '06, what does that prove?
Feck all. Good players have bad days, great players have awful days. It didnt matter who United had tonight, it was all about Milan who showed them no respect. Probably woulda been the same regardless of Milan's opposition.
It takes some team to make Man Utd look crap.

Kaka & Gattuso could go out in the final and have a mare, that's football...

Aquos76

Sir Alex gracious in defeat...

Sir Alex held his hands up and admitted the best team had won as United crashed to a 3-0 defeat in the San Siro.

Defensive errors have plagued the Reds in recent weeks and AC Milan showed no mercy as they marched toward the Champions League final.

"We gave away goals very cheaply and at this level you can't do that," the United boss told Sky Sports. "Credit to them, they pressed us really well and were very well prepared. They were certainly sharper and quicker to the ball. They've been good winners."

Certainly, Kaka and Gennaro Gattuso excelled in Milan's midfield and gave Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick little room in which to operate.

"Without question, we were on the back foot all the time," added Sir Alex. "Even in possession of the ball we found it difficult. I think they were better prepared, physically. They've been resting players and that can make a difference. We've had to play the same players all the time.

"For fifteen minutes after half-time we looked like we were getting some momentum and had a few shots blocked. But we needed that goal to turn the game around. In fairness, we didn't really look like we were going to score."

The Reds' attentions now turn back to the Premiership, where United travel to Manchester City on Saturday for a lunchtime kick-off.

"You have to put the disappointment behind you," insisted Sir Alex. "That's always been a measure of this club for many years now. The players have handled it in the past and I'm sure they'll handle it on Saturday.

"They know it's a big game and that they can win the title this weekend. That's a big incentive. I think Louis Saha will start on Saturday and Rio Ferdinand could be okay too, so we have some glimmers of a stronger squad over the next few weeks."

Chucky the tree

RasTa wrote:

We beat Roma 7-1 at home who are run away leaders in their league. What does that tell you? Absolutely nothing.

haha, eh you mean run away leaders in the battle for 2nd place yea?

redspider

That was a very impressive display by Milan and Kaka (again), it has to be said, and an underwhelming performance from Man Utd. I thought Vidic was 'ring rusty', and was complicit in problems in the defence. But hats off to Milan for prising Man Utd open and creating some good chances.

From a Man Utd perspective, the lack of teeth up front was dissapointing as nothing seemed to click. Indeed, it was van der Sar who kept Man Utd in the game. I think the San Siro atmosphere is a hostile one for them in which they have failed to cope with on too numerous occasions. Milan's "old men", such as Seedorf and Inzaghi were creating trouble, but the star of the show was Kaka. Of course backed by the efforts of Gattuso and the solid defence with Nesta.

But one thing which people may be forgetting, and that is that Man Utd partially lost this tie in the 1st leg! A 3-2 margin was only the slenderest of margins and as soon as Milan scored, which they had a good chance of doing over 90 mins, it was advantage Milan. For me, the 1st leg was not a major coup at all, albeit that it ended on a high note, but that I believe it led to some false confidence.

Ironically, this euphoria led to Giles proclaiming that he would "bet his house" on Man Utd getting through, etc. But football matches seldom work out the same pattern when home changes to away. He has the magniminity to say that he got it wrong.

So, a Milan (in red) v Liverpool (in white and black or yellow?) final beckons. A rematch of 2005 which will be savoured by both clubs.

Man Utd do have consolations though, as I have no doubt that they will win the league, which is a major achievement in itself. And they should have the edge in the FA Cup too, although what type of Chelsea shows up there is anyone's guess.

Redspider

RasTa

Chucky the tree wrote:

haha, eh you mean run away leaders in the battle for 2nd place yea?

Aye, I admitted I was wrong above.

Zapp Brannigan

Are Milan definitely in red? Hope not, LFC have never lost a final in red, but then before 2005 AC had never lost a final in white.

RasTa

Slurms wrote:

Are Milan definitely in red? Hope not LFC have never lost a final in red, but then before 2005 AC had never lost a final in white.

I think so, there was talk that the United would wear red if we won.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Hobart

Manu just simply outclassed tonight. No argument. I had a feeling that they would become unstuck in Milan as the national and local Italian press where talking Milan up so much over the past couple of weeks.

There also seemed to be a hunger within the Milan 11, from the moment they walked onto the pitch, that was there in Liverpool last night but obviously lacking in Manu tonight. Player for player and in every position Milan won every battle on the pitch tonight.

Ronaldo, deservedly the PFA player of the year, was found out once more, as he came up against real class in Gattusso. He's simply not at the level. Carrick was once again conspicuous by his abscence and played some terrible balls when he did get possesion. He's begining to confirm his detractors correct and unless he strongly improves could be on his way out of Manu in a season or two.

All in all, Manu were not allowed to play and are a class below Milan, when Milan are at their best.

Here's to a good final and a win for Liverpool on the 23rd.

Zapp Brannigan

RasTa wrote:

I think so, there was talk that the United would wear red if we won.

Okay, time to break another tradition me thinks

Call Me Jimmy

MisterAnarchy wrote:

It tells you that attitude is paramount in Sport.
Against Roma, United were aggressive,hard working,clinical and working as a unit.
Tonight they were disjointed,lazy,sloppy and lacked effort.
They handed the initiative to Milan who oozed in confidence off Uniteds tentativeness.

Good call. Right from the start I was worrying about the attitude of the united players. Milan, as you said "oozed in confidence". United looked scared ****less on the ball.

I don't really want to critisize players not tracking back (Ronaldo, Giggs and Rooney) because they were probably explicitly told not to by fergie. However the quality just wasn't there when they were called upon.

Chucky the tree

RasTa wrote:

Aye, I admitted I was wrong above.

about 7 pages of complete ****e i scanned over so didnt see it. Fair enough.

aidan24326

RasTa wrote:

Rooney's first touch was also awful tonight, another player who has gone missing in the big games.

True, so why does everyone keep slagging off Ronaldo all the time and not Rooney, who has been hyped every bit as much (if not more) over the last few years and has also rarely done it in the big games? (for United or England)

Dunphy,Brady and Giles went on and on about Ronaldo again this evening even highlighting his mistakes,stupid backheels etc. Fair enough he was very poor tonight but then Rooney played every bit as poorly yet they hardly said a word about him. I don't get it.

IMHO Giggs hasn't got it at this level anymore.

MisterAnarchy

aidan24326 wrote:

IMHO Giggs hasn't got it at this level anymore.

He is being played out of position alot.

davyjose

Aquos76 wrote:

Something to lighten the mood...

The champions league 3rd and 4th place play off is being played at Wembley. They're calling it the FA cup final this year though.;)

The "Champions" league - for teams who finish 3rd or 4th place in their championship?

Nunu

I'm absolutely crest fallen after tonight:(
When a team performs like Milan did tonight I'd usually be drooling with admiration, but when it's at the expense of your own team it kills you inside.
I couldn't believe how assured they were - especially in the first half when the rain was teaming down. It almost defied belief - every pass was inch perfect, every touch sublime. Utd didn't know what had hit them and never recovered.

Of course, reading through the posts here I knew there'd be the gloating and Utd bashing, but come on tell me what team would have lived against that Milan side tonight?...I can't think of one.

The Ronaldo baiting is absurd and only exists because of RTE's relentless crusade against him, so people latch onto it and it's on their minds. To single him out on tonights performance is grossly unfair - in fact I would say pathetic...gloating after the game how poor he is and showing the most surreal run of clips to supposedly show this(one included a crap O'Shea cross and Ronaldo throwing his arms in tha air) . Giggs for one was shambolic - Carrick, Rooney, Scholes etc were equally culpable as Ronaldo. And not one person has mentioned how Ronaldo was played out of position....yet again in europe. He started the game on the flank and was moved to a central role I mean for Gods sake play him on the right were he has excelled this season and deservedly received his player of the year accolades for - anyone who thinks he isn't the best performer in the Premiership this season has been sucked in by RTEs ridiculous campaign against the kid.

I'm not gonna pretend winning the league is more important because to me they both mean so much. Losing in a Champions league semi final has always hurt me more than any other Utd defeats. It'll take a while to get over this.

Zapp Brannigan

Nunu wrote:

I'm absolutely crest fallen after tonight:(
When a team performs like Milan did tonight I'd usually be drooling with admiration, but when it's at the expense of your own team it kills you inside.
I couldn't believe how assured they were - especially in the first half when the rain was teaming down. It almost defied belief - every pass was inch perfect, every touch sublime. Utd didn't know what had hit them and never recovered.

Of course, reading through the posts here I knew there'd be the gloating and Utd bashing, but come on tell me what team would have lived against that Milan side tonight?...I can't think of one.

It really is absurd the amount of hatred in this thread. I'm a die-hard Liverpool fan yet I don't wanna get involved in any of this bullsh*t cos at the end of the day Milan would have made any decent team look ordinary. Ronaldo had a bad game, so what!? He can't be expected to play perfect all the time, nobody is.

People need to cop on and just accept the loss. And for the bitter Utd. fans who are now saying the CL is worthless... Are you guys Serious!?

Nunu

You won't hear me saying that. I have nothing but envy for Liverpool getting to the final for a crack to win that great trophy

county

well,back from the pub and very sick,utd were taught a lesson tonight and its tough to take,at least the league should be there for the taking,some consolation but we were gutless tonight:(

MisterAnarchy

Nunu wrote:

You won't hear me saying that. I have nothing but envy for Liverpool getting to the final for a crack to win that great trophy

I'd gladly trade 3 Premierships for one Champions League,that is the benchmark for United.

jesus_thats_gre

smemon wrote:

important to keep things in perspective.. semi final of the Champions League, The premiership and final of the FA Cup is not a poor season and does not for one second suggest Utd are a poor side.

Tonight's performance was woeful from Utd. Disgraceful in fact. No heart, class, barely a shot on goal, total lack of basic work rate. Rooney was disgraceful, so to was Ronaldo. Carrick should have a look at himself.

We all know o'shea and fletcher can't do anything, it's not their fault they've been picked so they are immune to criticism.

Fergie said Utd were going to attack. :rolleyes: . They came to protect a slender lead - a stupid thing to do. Utter stupidity from Ferguson. You play to your strengths.

With a patched up defence, Utd needed 4-4-2 formation with smith and rooney up front. Tell them to go out and break milan's legs. Stir it up with gattuso, break up the play and keep the ball in the air.

Milan totally outclassed Utd tonight. Again, like two years ago, no complaints. Quality finishes. They toyed with Utd and drew 22 fouls.

Total inexperience from Utd. Lack of desire and too much respect shown to Milan. Fletcher and Carrick should have been hounding and hacking gattuso all night, forcing him into reacting.

You are literally criticising United for lacking everything that you criticised Liverpool for having last night..


One thing that really stood out for me tonight though, why would United spend 18mil on Carrick and chase Hargreaves for similar money when players like Seedorf are out there. Not saying that United could pry Seedorf away from Milan now or would even want to, but it sort of puts things into perspective.

TwoShedsJackson

NotWormBoy wrote:

That third goal didn't really matter from United's point of view. They still had to score two to get anything out of the game. I don't know why all the fans in the stadium and all that were going so nuts. Or why people here thought it was such a killer blow. Ok, it was a setback, but a negligible one compared to the having been 2-0 down.

Anyways, fair play to Milan they really did outplay United on all fronts. The Men and Boys comment earlier was spot on. Milan were so relaxed and calm on the ball... it was amazing at times. Even under pressure.

Well they were probably happy to see their team score a third goal without reply against one of Europe's better teams, and being football fans and all decided they might celebrate that fact?

Plus what with their team generally giving a masterclass in how to play to football and all, they might have been moderately pleased with that.

Just guessing, now.

Sizzler

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

One thing that really stood out for me tonight though, why would United spend 18mil on Carrick and chase Hargreaves for similar money when players like Seedorf are out there. Not saying that United could pry Seedorf away from Milan now or would even want to, but it sort of puts things into perspective.

Seedorf has played at the top level for a host of europes best clubs over the years, he must be 32 now CLASS player though and the sort of player Utd could do with...maybe a few years younger tho! But you cant buy that sort of experience easy. In saying that though I would have put Davids in the same bracket tbh and look what happened to him when he came to play in the premiership :eek: He was shíte!

Utd lost by 2 goals over the 2 legs,not disgraced by that. They played shíte last night and got what their performance deserved. We move on.

I thnk most Utd fans would have taken the premiership at the start of the season and I hope they now haul their asses over the finish line.

Mitch Connor

United were completely out classed last night, and one thing i will say to all the gloaters is this: United were completely outclassed, but are top of the league, how good are the rest of you?

As for the Ronaldo bashing, i think it is unfair. IMO, only himself and Scholes can take anything from last night, they kept going all night, and Ronnie created a couple of openings for himself. Rooney and Giggs in particular deserve a lot more criticism - especially Giggs who is one of the players that should have been leading by example; he was shockingly poor last night, i would say it was his worst perfomance of the season, and i feel he has had a few stinkers. I just don't get why everyone focuses on Ronaldo, who was double and triple marked all night, while seemingly letting Giggs off. Ronaldo is still young and is still learning - what is Giggs' excuse?

shane86

Slurms wrote:

It really is absurd the amount of hatred in this thread.

People need to cop on and just accept the loss. And for the bitter Utd. fans who are now saying the CL is worthless... Are you guys Serious!?

Im afraid the hate is justified. Just look over the last few days on this board. People acting as if they already won the treble. People who probably think that Dunphy is dillusional in his Ronaldo rants and yet had the gall to call the pool/Chelsea match crap and poor quality? How sweet revenge is. And now people are waffling that an internal competition (the PL) is more important than being crowned the champions of all Europe? Ah good luck

Last night was one of the worst Utd matches Ive ever seen. Overall, the worst performance by any team Ive seen since San Marino v ourselves. Where was the Ronaldo attacking runs? The second goal was given away by possibly the worst defending Ive ever seen. Im talking Paul Robinson in Croatia bad here. Who gave it away? (i was in the pub watching from very far down the back, hard to make out)

Woeful stuff. Im sorry they wont meet Liverpool in the final mind, but an awful awful game.

Oh and Tauren, you are 5 points clear from some lucky results. If Utd keep last nights form in the remaining games it is not impossible that Chelsea can catch them.

iregk

Well I'm not going to bash united by any means. I think they were given a lesson last night. Milan when they play like that are the best team in the world bar none and Kaka is by far the best player in the world. United looked shell shocked. They are not used to coming up against that very often and didn't know how to cope. Fantastic football by Milan.

Will be a very interesting final...

Mitch Connor

shane86 wrote:

Oh and Tauren, you are 5 points clear from some lucky results. If Utd keep last nights form in the remaining games it is not impossible that Chelsea can catch them.

5 points clear is still 5 points clear, and yes, we have got some lucky results (Everton being a prime one) but so have other sides; in fact Chelsea were very lucky to come away with a win from goodison themselves this season, so your comment about 'lucky results' is just silly. United are where they are in the league because they deserve to be, and if chelsea continue their form from Tuesday, Arsenal could take them on Sunday.

redspider

Nunu wrote:

I'm absolutely crest fallen after tonight:(
When a team performs like Milan did tonight I'd usually be drooling with admiration, but when it's at the expense of your own team it kills you inside.
I couldn't believe how assured they were - especially in the first half when the rain was teaming down. It almost defied belief - every pass was inch perfect, every touch sublime. Utd didn't know what had hit them and never recovered.

Of course, reading through the posts here I knew there'd be the gloating and Utd bashing, but come on tell me what team would have lived against that Milan side tonight?...I can't think of one.

The Ronaldo baiting is absurd and only exists because of RTE's relentless crusade against him, so people latch onto it and it's on their minds. To single him out on tonights performance is grossly unfair - in fact I would say pathetic...gloating after the game how poor he is and showing the most surreal run of clips to supposedly show this(one included a crap O'Shea cross and Ronaldo throwing his arms in tha air) . Giggs for one was shambolic - Carrick, Rooney, Scholes etc were equally culpable as Ronaldo. And not one person has mentioned how Ronaldo was played out of position....yet again in europe. He started the game on the flank and was moved to a central role I mean for Gods sake play him on the right were he has excelled this season and deservedly received his player of the year accolades for - anyone who thinks he isn't the best performer in the Premiership this season has been sucked in by RTEs ridiculous campaign against the kid.

I'm not gonna pretend winning the league is more important because to me they both mean so much. Losing in a Champions league semi final has always hurt me more than any other Utd defeats. It'll take a while to get over this.

I agree with a lot of your post there Nunu. Milan performed at the highest level from the off through that lashing rain, and were really up for this game, every player. Whereas Man Utd players seemed to be 'drifting' in the game and didnt play with concentration.

I fully agree with you that the RTE bashing of C.Ronaldo is at the obsessive level and totally unnecessary. And their 'low-lights' package of him was petty. Several of the Man Utd players just didnt have a good night last night, passes didnt come off, even controlling the ball was difficult, and the size of the Milan pitch gave them so much room to pass the ball around. At times Milan were doing 'triangles' and they used their ball control and passing. C.Ronaldo tried at times to go on a one-man run but Milan players were experienced enough to bottle him up, and the moves that Rooney tried were quickly gobbled up as he was fighting a one man show.

If there is a lesson to be learned, its that Man Utd are weak away from home and need to factor that into their home match games. For me, the 3-2 margin coming into this match was very slim indeed and liable to be turned over, and I didnt "bet the house" on them getting through, like Giles thought when caught up in the euphoria.

The reality as well is that the scoreline could have been a lot more. Four or indeed 5 nil would not have been unrelfective of the chances they created and their dominance.

Kaka is a masterclass in football and is a decent guy as well. He doesnt showboat, he is humble, and he doesnt think he is god's gift. I have a lot of time for him.

Overall, Ferguson knows that the CL is the big one. For him, with so much premiership success over the years, and just one CL title in 99 which barely came about and was to some extent a steal, he knows just how precious it is. he knows that turniong over Juventus when 2-0 down and winning 3-2 doesnt happen often.

However, having said that, Man Utd will be more than happy to win the league, and with a stong chance of a double, there is a lot of solace, so this CL loss will be quickly forgotten in the next couple of weeks I think.

For Man Utd fans, time to lick the wounds, dont dwell, and enjoy the run-in as it will be your most succesful season for several now.

Redspider

Mitch Connor

redspider wrote:

I agree with a lot of your post there Nunu. Milan performed at the highest level from the off through that lashing rain, and were really up for this game, every player. Whereas Man Utd players seemed to be 'drifting' in the game and didnt play with concentration.

I fully agree with you that the RTE bashing of C.Ronaldo is at the obsessive level and totally unnecessary. And their 'low-lights' package of him was petty. Several of the Man Utd players just didnt have a good night last night, passes didnt come off, even controlling the ball was difficult, and the size of the Milan pitch gave them so much room to pass the ball around. At times Milan were doing 'triangles' and they used their ball control and passing. C.Ronaldo tried at times to go on a one-man run but Milan players were experienced enough to bottle him up, and the moves that Rooney tried were quickly gobbled up as he was fighting a one man show.

If there is a lesson to be learned, its that Man Utd are weak away from home and need to factor that into their home match games. For me, the 3-2 margin coming into this match was very slim indeed and liable to be turned over, and I didnt "bet the house" on them getting through, like Giles thought when caught up in the euphoria.

The reality as well is that the scoreline could have been a lot more. Four or indeed 5 nil would not have been unrelfective of the chances they created and their dominance.

Kaka is a masterclass in football and is a decent guy as well. He doesnt showboat, he is humble, and he doesnt think he is god's gift. I have a lot of time for him.

Overall, Ferguson knows that the CL is the big one. For him, with so much premiership success over the years, and just one CL title in 99 which barely came about and was to some extent a steal, he knows just how precious it is. he knows that turniong over Juventus when 2-0 down and winning 3-2 doesnt happen often.

However, having said that, Man Utd will be more than happy to win the league, and with a stong chance of a double, there is a lot of solace, so this CL loss will be quickly forgotten in the next couple of weeks I think.

For Man Utd fans, time to lick the wounds, dont dwell, and enjoy the run-in as it will be your most succesful season for several now.

Redspider

Good post.

Personally, I am not to down after last night. Sure, I would have liked to see United win the CL again, but at the start of the season i was one of the people wondering if United would even qualify for it this season, let alone win it, so the fact we got to the semi's of it, and are on top in the league, is great, and i'm happy with how the season has gone so far. If someone had told me at the start of the season we would be top by 5 points with 3 games to go, in the FA Cup final, but get knocked out by Milan in the semi of the CL, I wouldn't have believed them!

Sizzler

How did Celtic manage to keep Milan to 1 goal over the 2 legs

I presume now for all the punters on here that say Kaka is THE best player etc etc that he will now go on and score more goals in the final ? If he gets shackled and fails to perform in the final will Dunphy et al change their minds ?

If what punters have been saying on here and reality *is* Kaka then I better go and put a crisp fifty on him scoring in the final

A Dub in Glasgo

Sizzler wrote:

How did Celtic manage to keep Milan to 1 goal over the 2 legs

Excellent defending and some misses from Milan.

Don't forget that Celtic had 2 very decent penalty shouts in the San Siro at 0 - 0 that were turned down.

Mr. Presentable

Tauren wrote:

and yes, we have got some lucky results (Everton being a prime one)

Lucky, yes. I'm sure this will rankle some, but if that game had been played in Italy there'd be an investigation.

Raytown Rocks

Here I am another disappointed Manchester United fan, but to be honest
Milan were by far a better team over 2 legs and thoroughly deserved to win.

I also belive Liverpool were a better side than Chelsea over their 2 legs.

So now we have an AC Milan-v- Liverpool final, and lets be honest if we get half as good a game as we saw in 2005 were in for a good nights football.

Yeah I am disappointed as are all Man U fans, and I dont agree with the rubbish that the league is more Important beacuse to be honest every trophy that your in the running for should be important at this stage of the year.

But hey no one died, life goes on, and in the imortal words of Monty Python

ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHt SIDE OF LIFE...DO DO..DO DO DO DO DO DO
Everyone together now!!!!
ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE....etc etc......

shane86

Savman wrote:

Ronaldinho & Kaka were muck for Brazil in Germany '06, what does that prove?
Feck all. Good players have bad days, great players have awful days.

Indeed. We are talking about a tournament where a fat, chronically out of form player managed to be top goalscorer through some bumbling right place right time shots that was like the plot from Forrest Gump.

Personally I didnt think Milan were particularly amazing last night, however I think both them and Liverpool will put in a hell of a battle come the final. Liverpool have already shown that they can put in a hell of a battle against one of the best teams in Europe, who were having a slightly off night. Milan put in reasonable play agiainst a team that had little attack and some of the worst defending seen since the Cyrpus game. Having to fight so hard will hopefully give Liverpool the psychological edge.

Attractive Nun

I'm not as disappointed as I was last night about the result. It was a shockingly bad performance from United, and a shockingly good one from Milan and that's that. Kaka, Gattuso and Seedorf showed real class last night and they deserve to be in the final - I hope they win. From United's point of view, I think Rooney, Ronaldo, Carrick and Vidic (granted be was coming back from injury) need to look at themselves and ask if they are really as good as they - and we - think they are. Hopefully a night like this has taught them a few lessons about their limitations and they will work hard to improve their game over the coming years. If that is the case, this could really be a great United team.

Despite some good form of late, I think O'Shea, Brown and Fletcher have shown themselves to be little more than squad players - which is fair enough and probably as expected - as they never looked comfortable on the ball. Van der Sar and Scholes, the latter in particular, showed some class and should be commended for their courage, and I thought Heinze played quite bravely also, though he was at fault for the second goal. Giggs is past it at this level, I feel, which is a shame. There were times he picked up the ball on the wing, facing a single Milan player, but simply stood there waiting for support. He will be missed.

Obviously the priority now is the double - which is an achievement we could only have dreamed about in August - but I think another real shot at Europe over the next two years is on the cards. Giggs needs to be replaced but I think Scholes has a year or two in him, as probably does Neville. We need a striker who'll get us goals so Rooney isn't a lone front man - I don't know that Saha/Smith/Solskjaer will do. We can't be relying on the likes of Fletcher to play perhaps the most important role in the team against players like Kaka so hopefully Hargreaves is up to it. All in all, I think things bode alright for the future.

As a final point, RTÉ are a disgrace. I had to turn off their coverage on Ronaldo I was getting so annoyed. For weeks - months - they've been backpeddling and squirming to make excuses for his superlative form and how's they've got it wrong about him. So as soon as he puts in a bad performance like this one (and, yes, it was very bad - but he was not the only one) they jump on him showing petty 'worst of Ronaldo' footage and proclaiming the wonders of their insight. I had generally put their constant Ronaldo bashing down to a desire to correct the hype which surrounds him (which, admittedly, is excessive - he's not the best player in the world) and there's nothing wrong with that, but on last night's evidence their attitude towards him has become little more than blind, petty and frankly ridiculous. Where I can help it, I will not be watching RTÉ coverage of football again.

RE*AC*TOR

A few ManU regulars who seem to always be posting are strangely absent since last night.

I wonder why...

On RTE and Ronaldo - I broadly agree with Giles and Dunphy. He's got a lot of talent, but he doesn't always use it in the best way, and if I supported UTD, I'd be constantly annoyed at his incessant unnecessary flicks and stepovers. The RTE panel judgment on him is just in reaction to the English pundits who constantly hype players in the Premiership out of all reality. I don't see why so many people take such umbridge with this issue.

LuckyLloyd

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

A few ManU regulars who seem to always be posting are strangely absent since last night.

I wonder why...

On RTE and Ronaldo - I broadly agree with Giles and Dunphy. He's got a lot of talent, but he doesn't always use it in the best way, and if I supported UTD, I'd be constantly annoyed at his incessant unnecessary flicks and stepovers. The RTE panel judgment on him is just in reaction to the English pundits who constantly hype players in the Premiership out of all reality. I don't see why so many people take such umbridge with this issue.

I am interested to see what PHB made of it all.

And I think you make a very good point in your main paragraph.

PHB

he doesnt think he is god's gift

Funnily enough, he actually thinks his skills are a gift from god, and his whole looking up after he scores is his thanking god. I'd say if I had his footballing ability and his wife, I'd probably believe in god too

I think RTE are laughable, they always are, I've just stopped watching them. The only one of them that I even listen to a bit is Liam Brady, Arsenal fan, because sometimes he just gets so annoyed at them, he stops talking Ronaldo had a bad game, whatcha gona do. He can't win them all on his own, and for RTE to highlight him, when there were much worse performers out there, is not only petty, it's just pathetic. Ronaldo was the best player in the premiership this year, but not in the champions league. Last year, he was neither. Sounds like lots of progress to me.

I think Milan totally outclassed us last night, not just in terms of players, but in terms of tactics.
The way they played, the tightness of the whole game, took away all of Uniteds strength', mainly exploiting space. From that, United were just unable to play.
Gattuso was immense last night.
Kaka's first goal was incredible.
Vidic probably wasn't ready to play, and to be honest, we missed Ferdinand. Things might have been different with our first choice defense, but that's the way it goes. I think we all knew Brown and O'Shea are squad players, but without them, we would have had a ****ing woeful defense. I still think Fletcher can make it, he's still young.

The only player from United I'd actually criticise from last night was Giggs, who was ****ing atrocious. Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes were all effectivly shackled by Milan, but Giggs had a lot more space, and just gave away the ball constantly.

Either way, Milan just raped us last night, no other word for it. I'm not anywhere near as disappointed as I thought I would be. It makes me feel better than I can't go to the final because of exams Also the double looking like a possibility makes you feel a bit better too.

Ultimately we were beaten by a better team, who attacked better than we did, and that's that.

I think it'll be a really tight final, Milan won't be able to rip Liverpool apart due to their strength in central midfield, but I think we could see Kaka destroy another English team. The question is, can Milan's defense hold up?
If Gattuso puts in another performance like that, Milan will walk it.

p.s. Oh yeh, I didn't post till now for a obvious reason to most people, I'm ****ing hungover.

p.p.s. As my memory returns, while I can't begrudge Milan, I certainly can the ref, who just allowed Ronaldo to get fouled non-stop. Gattuso fouled him four times, each time was individually a yellow card, none of it was given. Good for Gattuso for doing it, it shackled Ronaldo's whole game, but the ref, especially in Europe, should have booked him for at least one of them way way way earlier.

By the way, to all the Ronaldo bashers? Was Ronaldo not United's best player last night? I thought he was. He was our only outlet really, he made a good few runs, and mostly got free kicks from them. Unfortunately the free kicks didn't work out, but they were our best chances.

Attractive Nun

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

The RTE panel judgment on him is just in reaction to the English pundits who constantly hype players in the Premiership out of all reality. I don't see why so many people take such umbridge with this issue.

I get annoyed with Ronaldo too, but really, there's reasoned reaction to admittedly excessive coverage of him in the English/Irish press (maybe guilty about their shameless reaction to his world cup antics?) and there's a blinding obsession - seriously, they never stop going on about him.

BaZmO*

Strangely enough when the teams lined up last night I had a gut feeling that Utd. wouldn't do it and oh how I was right. They just didn't turn up last night and Milan were fantastic on the night and fairplay to them, the better team won. Because Milan so outplayed and outclassed Utd. I'm not as disappointed as I would have been had it of been a close call.

Just discussing with mates whether Liverpool will get the overwhelming amount of support from neutrals as they did in 2005, something tells me maybe not. But fairplay to Rafa and the boys, once again they've proven a lot of people wrong, and to think that Stevie Gerrard was gonna move to Chelsea.......

Pighead

BaZmO* wrote:

and to think that Stevie Gerrard was gonna move to Chelsea.......

Eh, he still would have been going to Athens in May. Theres no way in hell Liverpool would have beaten a Chelsea side with Gerrard playing against them.

BaZmO*

Pighead wrote:

Eh, he still would have been going to Athens in May. Theres no way in hell Liverpool would have beaten a Chelsea side with Gerrard playing against them.

Maybe, maybe not.

gimmick

Yes, because he played so well over both legs.

Mr Magnolia

Pighead wrote:

Eh, he still would have been going to Athens in May. Theres no way in hell Liverpool would have beaten a Chelsea side with Gerrard playing against them.

Agree, reminds me of when Michael Owen left liverpool in august '04 to join a team and challange for the Champions League, later that season.....

Aquos76

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

A few ManU regulars who seem to always be posting are strangely absent since last night.

And who would they be?