The End of the Treble Bid

There will be no treble this year. That’s for sure, after another defeat at Wembley in the FA Cup. The defeat this time was inflicted by the bitters that are Manchester City. Now we need either Bolton or Stoke (most likely Bolton) to do make us not stopping taunting them about their trophyless years.
It’s particularly hard to swallow because we had two good chances in succession to score in the first half and that could have changed the complexion of the game. We didn’t score and as they say, the rest is now history.
The recently improved performances of Michael Carrick continued (yes, you can point at the obvious error that lead to the goal, but it was a string of errors) and Luis Nani continually providing a bright spark. I have to say that the name of John O’shea on any Manchester United lineup usually scares me before he makes too many errors and he’s usually to scared to join the attack. He’s like a ‘safe’ option for Sir Alex. The safe option, one would think, is to attack and that bring the twins into contention. It was good to see Fabio come in late on, I hope he starts on the left against Newcastle with his twin on the right. It’s a must win game and we need our full backs joining the attack.
I’m advocating for Fabio on the left not because I think Evra is bad, but because I think he badly need a rest. I thought he’d have been rested against City, but he wasn’t. he needs a rest and I think Newcastle should be the place to rest him considering our next few games..
Knowing the amount of spirit and character inherent in this United team, we can expect them to bounce back at St. James’ Park (or whatever name it’s called these days) and pick up the three points required to maintain the lead at the top of the table.
We’ve got another massive few weeks ahead of us, every week is massive until the season ends, with games in the league to come along with the European Champions league semi-final against Schalke 04.
A lot of people have seemingly written the German side off talking about a final at Wembley against one of the Spanish giants. Schalke may be in performing poorly in the Bundesliga, but that’s because of how they started. They’re a good side and they’ve knocked out for Valencia and Internazionale.
I do remember the 01/02 season of the European Champions league, united were facing Dimitar Berbatov’s Bayer Leverkusen after dispatching Deportivo La Coruña in the quarter finals. People were already looking to the final. But united were eliminated, after a 3-3 aggregate draw, on the away goals rule. We have to be very careful this time.
Here’s hoping the lads can go on and claim a double as we did in 07/08.