See you there!

Picture of United’s Champions League medals from Edwin.11 on Flickr

OK. We’ve got 7 teams to choose from. There’s no protection from facing teams from your own country. So we could draw any of the following:

Arsenal
Barcelona
Chelsea
Fenerbahçe
Liverpool
Roma
Schalke 04

Who do we fancy for our quarter-final opponents, then? Let me know in the comments box…

I’d argue that United lost the least from these results. It was deeply irritating (see my previous post for irritable musings on this) losing to Portsmouth, especially at Old Trafford, but the cup was our third priority. We’re better placed in the league than Chelsea, although I certainly don’t think they’re out of it, and Avram Grant is hardly covering himself in glory at the moment. One more route to trophies cordoned off for Chelsea; one step closer to the door marked ‘Exit’ for Avram.

With a draw Arsenal theoretically fared the best of the Champion’s Leaguesters. In truth, they forfeited the most. The ‘bird in the hand’ view is that they are two points clear of United at the top of the league. The more telling fact is that they have taken only 3 points from the last 9 available. The pitch was in a shocking state but both teams had to play on it and Arsenal’s league form is starting to look very shaky indeed. They have dropped points against Birmingham, Villa and Wigan. They would reasonably have expected at least 7 points from that lot.

Image of JJB Stadium from Free-ers on Flickr

Sadly for the Gooners, the fixture list doesn’t provide much comfort. Next up are Middlesbrough at the Emirates, who were just awful against Cardiff at the weekend but remain the only team to have beaten Arsenal in the league so far. Then they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where I just can’t see them getting a result. After that they travel to Bolton (not somewhere Arsenal fans would choose to go at a time of crisis). Then they welcome Liverpool to the Emirates and we can be fairly sure that Benitez will play both Gerrard and Torres for this game! This fun run ends with a nice trip to the Theatre of Dreams to face the reigning champions.

Over the same period Manchester United face many of the same opponents in Derby, Bolton, Liverpool, Villa, Middlesbrough and, of course, Arsenal. There is, however, no trip to Stamford Bridge until later in the season, we’ve already faced the trip to the Reebok and have no reason to fear a visit to the Riverside.

Time for a bold, unwarranted and really really rash prediction:

Arsenal will emerge from Old Trafford with 73 points, United with 80. Chelsea play Wigan the following day by which stage I expect them to hold 77 points. In other words, the title could be decided not at Old Trafford but at Stamford Bridge.

Anyway, all in all maybe losing to Portsmouth wasn’t such bad news after all!

I try not to make a big deal of refereeing mistakes. All it does is distract you from what really went wrong and makes you old and bitter. Just at the moment, though, I am feeling old and bitter.

Two simple complaints: firstly, everybody, absolutely everybody (OK, not Harry Redknapp) recognised Distin’s foul on Ronaldo should have brought a penalty; secondly, what was Kuszczak actually sent off for? He tried (with the elegance of a sea cow) to get to the ball but succeeded only in bringing Baros down with his face but it was not a professional foul. He tried to reach the ball. Was he the last man? No. Rooney, having screwed up by letting Baros have a free run, was behind the goalkeeper, so he wasn’t the last man. Now clearly, even had Tomas stayed on we may well have lost the game but the referee certainly made victory a harder task for Manchester United than it was for Pompey.

Still, we failed to take our chances, which at least we carved out with gratifying regularity, and Portsmouth defended deep and desperately. We also left only Rooney and Anderson to defend any breakaway from Nani’s free kick. That’s the true story of why we lost. I’m a little worried about Rooney’s form (as an striker rather than a centre half!). He’s still probably the best out-of-form striker in the world but… I used to love seeing him run at defenders before putting his foot through the ball. He doesn’t seem to either very much any more, which may be the legacy of too many games being asked to play either up front on is own or wide left.

We have learned a couple of things from the game (or at least had them confirmed). We need another striker. Someone tall and powerful who can help to change the way we play when we need to. Vidic did this for us towards the end of the awful derby game. Sadly, Vidic didn’t know what to do once he went up there!

Also, Kuzszcak isn’t Old Trafford material. He reminded me very much of our brief Spanish import, Ricardo, in his rush to bring down the opposing striker.

Anyway, there’s lots more to say but I’m too irritated to say it. We’re now out of our third and fourth priority competitions. No more cock-ups pleas, Lads (and refs).

One silver lining to the day was the Chelsea result, even if it was to a bunch from the wrong side of the Pennines…

Still, we are through to the last 8, which is bloody marvellous. It was no vintage performance but we defended with customary maturity (forgetting about the derby). Fletcher did a good job in his burgeoning Phil Neville impersonation, harrying the opposition midfield and robbing them of time to make decisions. (He seems to like playing against French teams – Lyon, Arsenal…). Carrick played well with some typically incisive passes. Of the central midfield 3, only Anderson looked a bit off his game, but for a 19 year-old who has already moved mountains this season and looks like he could be a long-term fixture in the engine room I think we can cut him some slack.

It was in the final third that United let themselves down. Sir Alex Ferguson has singled Wayne Rooney out as his man of the match, which is a sure sign that he feels Rooney needs a boost to his morale. In truth, it was a typically dogged and hard working perfromance from Rooney in the lone striker role, but it was far from his most effective. His passing and positioning in receiving the ball were not up to his high standards. JW reckons that, while goalscorer Ronaldo is pretty much the fully developed article, Rooney has some way to go yet (Any chance you could set this argument down in print for us some time, Mate?).

Nice goal from Ronaldo squeezed in from a tight angle, when I was sure the shot would only trouble the side netting. As I say we’re wonderfully through to the last 8. What’s more we did it with with a record equalling 10th consecutive European victory at home. Old Trafford is taking on the look of a citadel once more.

Quiz night apart, there was only one sour note… Arsenal’s progress. I cannot pretend to be anything other than childish and churlish in my desire to see all other English clubs fail in the Champion’s League. Ironically I don’t think I was this churlish when I was a child. Still, fair play to Arsenal. Wenger’s team have recently acquired what Ferguson’s has had for more than a decade – the ability to score late important goals, as evidenced not only by last night’s events at the San Siro but also by last minute equalisers against United and Villa at the Emirates . The only thing that would trouble me if I was a Arsenal fan would be the readiness of the team to celebrate two draws at home like they’d won the league. Last night, however, they had every reason to celebrate.

I’ll be doing a short post on the implications for United of Arsenal’s progress some time in the near future.