Everyone connected with Manchester United will surely be hoping that Arsenal somehow defy the odds and go on to win in the Nou Camp this evening. The Gunners' have a depleted squad and therefore a win looks even more unlikely, but stranger things have happened due to football being the unpredictable game that it is.
Conventional logic suggests a handsome victory for the Catalans'; but if Arsene Wenger and his team do go on to win tonight it will be one of the most notable results in Champions League history to date.
United and the remaining clubs in the competition all have good reason to be rooting for the Arsenal. No one wants to face Barcelona right now.
United's hopes of progressing into the semi final are clinging by a thread, following woeful showing against Bayern Munich last week; it finished up 2-1 to the Germans, but it could have been much worse.
On Saturday, United faced Chelsea and were every bit as poor as we had been against Bayern Munich in the opening period and it remains to be seen if those tasked with turning the tie around have the legs and stomach for the fight; what is beyond question is United need to improve in midfield where we have been found so wanting in the last two fixtures.
IF the Gunners' somehow pull off a shock win in Spain, it will give the champions (and Bayern) further incentive to progress on Wednesday night at Old Trafford when the two sides meet.
Ya, it's been getting tougher and tougher for United over the last week. We must appreciate the fact that this clearly limited squad has gotten so far, with injuries to our most important players at many junctures this season.
ReplyDeleteIf United end trophy-less, I would still be proud, and consider it a great effort by the squad. This might or might not give clarity to Ferguson regarding his future, but with Bordeaux on a downward slope, maybe we can look at Blanc apprenticeship sometime in the next couple of years.
What I'm trying to say is, as a United fan, I'm proud we've come so far despite such a low net transfer spend, and the hunger of all the players (ok, maybe not Vidic) has been nothing short of excellent. We've started playing beyond our available resources, but given Van der Sar's impending exit, we must move fast to make sure we don't have the same problems again next season.
Uday,
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't go as far as stating I'm proud of this squad, because it is going nowhere fast.
Fergie knew he needed to improve all departments last summer, but he only signed Valencia (of note). We need at least one new centre half - Pique is now the best in Europe and how daft does Fergie look now? Fergie could have made a move to sign Lucio - but he never even tried and Jose snapped him up for just 5million Euros. Then we have Sneijder ( who scored tonight against CSKA and masterminded Chelsea's exit) who Jose also signed for 15million Euros. Both of those players would have added a lot to our squad. But instead we have countless deluded United fans saying "there's no obvious targets"...
Arsenal are taking a real battering in the Nou Camp thanks to Messi. It might have been different if Diaby hadn't played the wrong ball when the Gunners were one up. Still, I might back Inter to knockout Barca in the semi, because they are extremely well organised at the back.