Well. That kind of sucked. And I'm not just saying that because my team lost. But the game seemed kind of anti-climactic, with both teams seeing it as nothing more than a consolation prize. And it was roughly one-tenth as exciting as last year's final between Liverpool and West Ham.

I've seen various comments blaming the pitch at Wembley for the dullness of the game, and it may have been a factor, but I think the real problem is that Sir Alex got his tactics wrong. United lined up in a 4-5-1 to match Chelsea's formation -- which means that they essentially played right into the opposition's hands. Trying to out-Chelsea Chelsea is hardly ever a good idea; Liverpool can do it, yes, but United aren't designed that way.

Plus, using Wayne Rooney as the lone striker nullified one of their biggest assets. Rooney's at his best not when he's playing with his back to goal but when he has some room to run at the defence and get up a head of steam. He made a few surging runs where you could see the potential, but generally he didn't have enough support from the rest of the team, and although he worked hard, he inevitably got frustrated.

As for the supposed Player of the Year...Ronaldo wasn't terrible, but he didn't have a great game either. Paulo Ferreira, who was covering him most of the time, did play reasonably well, but Ronaldo still ought to have been able to do more against him. I think this is what Ronaldo needs to add to his game next season: learning how to cope when the defenders are trying to stifle him, and to step up in the really big games. Although he's been absolutely brilliant in some matches, he hasn't been consistent enough when it counts. But I think he's a smart enough player -- and Sir Alex is a smart enough manager -- that he'll figure it out, just like this season he figured out how much more effective he could be if he stayed on his feet.

There weren't that many notable incidents in the game, but the big one, of course, was that play where Giggs forced the ball -- and Petr Cech -- into the net. And I hate to admit it, but I think the referee got it right. First things first, the ball was definitely over the line. But it was only over the line because of the way Giggs slid into Cech. I suppose then maybe it should've been a free kick for Chelsea, but it wasn't an intentional foul. Now, United are claiming they should have had a penalty, for Essien tackling Giggs from behind. But I've watched the replay a few times now, and I'm not sure there was enough contact to give a penalty. I do think it put Giggs off, though, just enough that he scuffed his shot -- if he'd connected cleanly, then it almost certainly would have been a goal.

I'd predicted before the game that it would probably go to penalties, and I was almost right. Drogba finally broke the stalemate for Chelsea five minutes from the end of extra time, playing a neat one-two with Lampard -- quite possibly the first useful thing Lampard had done in 120 minutes of football, if you exclude smashing a free kick into the wall and looking huffy -- and then clipping the ball over Van der Sar (who arguably could have done better in coming out to close him down). If anybody was going to score for Chelsea, you just knew it was going to be Drogba; he lifted them yet again here, just as he's done all year.

So. A disappointing way to end the season for United, but I still think I'd take the Premiership title over the two cups.

I should be more excited about this game. But with United and Chelsea knocked out of the Champions League and the last game between them turning out to be meaningless, it's hard to remember that they are still fighting for something. The quadruple and the treble are out of reach, but both teams will be trying for the double and -- perhaps more importantly -- hoping to deny the other the same. (Although Chelsea's would only be a measly little cup double anyway.) With that background, I expect it to be a nasty, chippy sort of grudge match that eventually gets decided on penalties.

Injury news
Gary Neville's ongoing ankle problem means he won't be able to lead the team out on Saturday. Louis Saha is also out with a knee injury (and rumour has it that Alex Ferguson is not best pleased about him being injured yet again). Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic should be back in the lineup after having been rested in the past couple of games.

For Chelsea, Richardo Carvalho, Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and his bone chip in a jar are all definitely out. Ashley Cole, Arjen Robben and Jon Obi Mikel are doubtful as well. The number of injuries means that Jose Mourinho has half-threatened to use Hilario as a substitute striker, although it's more likely that he'll name one of the young players like Ben Sahar on the bench.

Tactics:
Most of United's lineup picks itself. I expect Patrice Evra to come back into the team at left-back in place of the erratic Gabriel Heinze, and Wes Brown to get the nod at right-back ahead of John O'Shea. The question is how Sir Alex decides to arrange his attackers -- whether he'll start Alan Smith up front or use Wayne Rooney as a lone striker. I'd prefer to see the former, but as part of a standard 4-4-2, rather than the 4-2-3-1 they've used recently. That means playing Ryan Giggs wide on the left, not tucked in behind the strikers -- for the simple reason that Chelsea tend to be stronger through the middle, so I think it makes sense to use the wings as much as possible.

Jose Mourinho's squad is harder to predict, both because of their injury problems and because, well, it's Mourinho. He'd probably name Gullit the Yorkie among the substitutes if he could. Anyway, the absence of Carvalho is the biggest blow to Chelsea because it weakens both their defence and their midfield, with Michael Essien probably dropping back to partner John Terry at centre-half. That leaves a spot in midfield for Makelele, and I expect Mikel to start too -- he's claimed that he'll be fit -- although he could be substituted early for Robben or Wright-Phillips. The injuries to Ballack and Shevchenko aren't such a big deal (except to Roman Abramovich), as it gives them a reason to revert back to last year's 4-3-3 formation.

Team predictions:
Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs; Rooney, Smith. Subs: Kuszczak, Heinze, O'Shea, Fletcher, Solskjaer.

Chelsea: Cech; Ferreira, Essien, Terry, Bridge; Makelele, Mikel, Lampard, J. Cole*; Drogba, Kalou. Subs: Cudicini, Boulahrouz, A. Cole, Wright-Phillips, Robben.

*I've put Joe Cole in the lineup even though I don't see him on the squad list on the BBC website. I assume that's just an oversight, but if he doesn't start, it'll probably be SWP.

This was actually a more nerve-wracking game than the scoreline suggests -- mostly due to the gaping holes where the United defence used to be. With Neville, Vidic, Silvestre and O'Shea all injured, they started the game with a rejigged back line that included Patrice Evra at right-back. (You do see right-footed players at left-back quite often, but they're usually competent with either foot. Evra? Not so much.)

And then they lost Rio Ferdinand to a groin strain in the first half, which meant another reshuffle, with Evra moving to the left and Heinze in the middle (Why didn't he start there, you ask, and then move Wes Brown to right-back? Heinze does play centre-back for Argentina, after all. Well, yes, but it's on the left of a back three. And I don't think he's quite tall enough for a traditional centre-half.) Oh, and then we had Darren Fletcher at right-back. That's the sort of thing that makes me pine for John O'Shea -- although Fletcher did acquit himself reasonably well.

Having said all that, United got off to a good start with an early goal from Rooney, and were continuing to pile on the pressure. But then, to compound their problems at the back, Van der Sar got whacked in the face (part of the treatment involved getting what looked like tampons shoved up his nose) and was still looking a bit groggy when play restarted and Watford scored, with a quasi-bicycle kick from Hameur Bouazza. I have to wonder if Van der Sar might've saved it in other circumstances -- and he didn't have the best game again on Saturday -- but then again, with the way Kuszszszak has played recently, they were probably just as well off leaving Van der Sar in.

United recovered the lead almost immediately, with Rooney setting up Ronaldo. Rooney was United's best player, and he, Ronaldo and Alan Smith were combining well. Smith has surprised me, actually -- I didn't see him as the ideal choice to play as the lone striker, but he's been very good in the past couple matches. Although there were a few chances in this game where I thought he should have taken a shot instead of trying to set Rooney up for the hat-trick.

Watford started the second half much more strongly, keeping United pinned back for quite a while. The makeshift defence were having real trouble dealing with set pieces and clearing their lines, especially against a big, physical team like Watford -- every single one of their players apparently built like a built shithouse. But Rooney scored again for United to give them some breathing room, and there was even a goal for Kieran Richardson, coming on as a sub -- in both cases, Watford guilty of some shocking defending of their own, as they were giving United acres of space.

I guess it was a comfortable win in the end, but now I'm nervous about how United will do in the next few games, until they can get a few more players back from injury. Come back, John O'Pies! All is forgiven!

Although United were basically fielding their reserve team (I counted at most four players who'd make the first-choice XI), even so, this was a disappointing result for the Red Devils. Reading may not exactly be Premiership guppies anymore, considering that they're currently sitting sixth in the table, but they rested a lot of their key players as well -- which should have meant an easier game for United. It didn't.

I've commented before that the teams who do best against Man United are the ones that come out strongly and attack, rather than just sitting back with ten men behind the ball, and that's exactly what Reading did here. And United were their own worst enemy: they managed to pass the ball around well enough, but they squandered far too many chances at goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo in particular had all his tricks on display, but apparently forgot his shooting boots, and Louis Saha's finishing wasn't sharp enough either. I think the changes to the lineup also hampered them because, with Ronaldo and Park Ji-Sung cutting inside a lot, Wes Brown and Gabriel Heinze didn't get forward to support them on the wings as much as Gary Neville and Patrice Evra usually do.

United went in 1-0 up at the break, thanks to a low drive from Michael Carrick that crept in at the far post (if that goalpost had been a foot or two farther over, the final score could've been 3- or 4-1). But they were left to pay for their wastefulness in the second half when Brynjar Gunnarsson scored with an unmarked header from a corner to even things up.

After that United tried to press for the winning goal -- with Sir Alex even making a triple substitution -- but it was too little, too late. So now they've got to face a replay at the Madejski in a couple of weeks, which is the last thing they need with the Champions League starting up again.

I had originally thought of doing some kind of proper preview of the third round, predicting which teams would win and so on. And then I looked at all the games and thought, crap, there's a lot of teams still left, and I've never even heard of a lot of them (in my own defence, everything below the Premiership sort of doesn't exist in Canada). As a result, I will be falling back on my usual strategy of cheering for whoever are the underdogs and/or have the best nicknames.

So here's the complete list of games for Saturday and Sunday, with the clubs that you ought to be supporting in bold (all completely fair and unbiased; no, really):

1. Tamworth FC v Norwich City FC
Tamworth originally played at a place called the Jolly Sailor Ground. That is awesome.

2. Blackpool FC v Aldershot Town FC
Purely because I grew up in a place called Aldershot. Plus, they've never even made it past the second round before.

3. Barnet FC v Colchester United FC
Barnet are known as the Bees, and they play at Underhill Stadium. Which makes you think they're a bunch of apiary-inclined hobbits or something. Colchester, on the other hand, are called the U's, which is just lame.

4. Sheffield United FC v Swansea City FC
Sean Bean likes them, so you should too. Also: The Greasy Chip Butty Song.

5. Reading FC v Burnley FC
Ok, they're not underdogs, but they are the Official Plucky Little Team of the Premiership this year. They also hold the embarrassing honour of having experienced more FA Cup defeats than any other team. So, they're due.

6. Portsmouth FC v Wigan Athletic FC
Well, they need a chance to win something. Plus, Harry Redknapp bugs me. He looks like his face is melting.

7. Doncaster Rovers FC v Bolton Wanderers FC
Doncaster frankly don't seem all that interesting. But I hate Bolton, so there you go.

8. West Ham United FC v Brighton & Hove Albion FC
Fatboy Slim is apparently a fan. You can decide for yourself if that's a point in their favour or not. Also, they have a centre half called "Guy Butters," which amuses me.

9. Leicester City FC v Fulham FC
Leicester have managed to set a record by making it to the FA Cup final four times and never winning. That's something to be proud of. I have nothing against Fulham, really, but nothing particularly for them, either (other than Moritz Volz, the only German with a sense of humor).

10. Derby County FC v Wrexham FC
Wrexham are apparently known as both the Red Dragons and the Robins, which seems odd to me, but what do I know. Anyway, they have the distinction of knocking Arsenal out of the Cup in 1992, so good for them.

11. Wolverhampton Wanderers FC v Oldham Athletic FC
Paul Scholes is a fan. Good enough for me.

12. Chester City FC v Ipswich Town FC
The Blues versus, um, the Blues. Tough call. Scrappy little underdogs it is, then.

13. Nottingham Forest FC v Charlton Athletic FC
They've won both the FA Cup and the European Cup, and now they're down in League One. Imagine how that feels. Still, not that much worse than being a Charlton fan, I imagine.

14. Preston North End FC v Sunderland AFC FC
The Lilywhites versus the Black Cats. A primal showdown of good versus evil, if you will. But evil is always more fun. Plus, Sunderland apparently list Olga Korbut as one of their supporters. The hell?

15. Watford FC v Stockport County FC
For no other reason than that their nickname is the Hatters. Yeah, I don't know either.

16. Crystal Palace FC v Swindon Town FC
Because they're desperate for glory, having last made it to the semi-finals in 1912. Also, Billie Piper is supposedly a fan. Ok then.

17. Bristol City FC v Coventry City FC
Another team called the Robins. Somebody needs to come up with some new and improved nicknames. Like the Flaming Mutant Robins Of Doom. Or something.

18. Peterborough United FC v Plymouth Argyle FC
I used to play with somebody who was a fan of the Posh (and no, I don't mean Victoria Beckham). Plus, at least they're not named after a kind of sock.

19. Queens Park Rangers FC v Luton Town FC
I have a soft spot for them after that 5-3 loss to Liverpool last year.

20. Southend United FC v Barnsley FC
Yes, even though the Shrimpers. They knocked Man United out of the League Cup this year.

21. West Bromwich Albion FC v Leeds United AFC FC
Because they're not Leeds. Enough said.

22. Hull City FC v Middlesbrough FC
I'm not sure that even people in Middlesbrough cheer for them.

23. Birmingham City FC v Newcastle United FC
I know they're not the underdogs here. And yet somehow I like them. At least when they're not scrounging draws against my team, that is.

24. Torquay United FC v Southampton FC
Because Southampton beat Man United to win the cup in 1976. And they list Craig David as a supporter. Uck.

25. Chelsea FC v Macclesfield Town FC
Unquestionably the biggest mismatch of the round. Chelsea could have their entire back line out injured and still win. But nevertheless: Come on you Silkmen!

26. Liverpool FC v Arsenal FC
Because I really want to see Steven Gerrard spazzing around inthe final again this year. Yes.

27. Manchester United FC v Aston Villa FC
And this would be where my "support the underdog" theory goes out the window.

28. Sheffield Wednesday FC v Manchester City FC
I know that I shouldn't have picked both Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United. And yet. At least they're not City.

29. Everton FC v Blackburn Rovers FC
Another tough one. But it'll be so easy to hate Blackburn in the next round.

30. Cardiff City FC v Tottenham Hotspur FC
Just to bug the Arsenal fans.