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.

Both teams have it all to play for at the San Siro, after a whirlwind first leg.

Milan lined up as expected, although with the terminally ineffective Gilardino instead of Inzaghi at the top of the Christmas tree. United were in the predicted 4-2-3-1, but with Wayne Rooney leading the line in place of Alan Smith. With Patrice Evra fit to start, Darren Fletcher moved into midfield, as the Gattuso to Michael Carrick's Pirlo. (I know, that sounds like a ridiculous comparison. And it's true that Carrick faded in and out of the game, but Fletcher -- although he didn't manage to stifle Kaka -- played his little cotton socks off, bless him.)

United got off to a good start, imposing lots of pressure on Milan -- and actually putting in some decent corners, something that shouldn't be notable but is. And it paid off with an early goal as Dida flapped at Cristiano Ronaldo's header from Giggs' corner, but managed only to push it into his own net. The first 15 minutes or so were all United, but Milan worked themselves into the game. United still looked dangerous when they got the chance to attack with speed, but Milan weren't panicking, just patiently shutting them down.

Milan's equalizer came from Kaka, who got away from Carrick; the defenders didn't close him down quickly enough, and he finished with a perfectly placed shot past Van der Sar. Fifteen minutes later it was Kaka again, controlling the ball well to slip past the defenders into the box. But United looked like the Keystone Kops out there -- Heinze was trying to catch Kaka, Evra came over to cover but body-checked his own player out of the way instead, leaving Kaka with a clear shot on goal.

Kaka easily won the battle of the young superstars between him and Ronaldo -- who was eager to run at the Milan defence and show off his tricks, but not so eager to actually pass the damned ball before two or three players closed him down and took it away. Wayne Rooney, though, made a case for himself with two beautifully taken goals that gave United the lead.

Milan had lost Paolo Maldini at halftime, but were still looking much the better side. Then, probably more detrimental, Gattuso went off injured not long afterwards, and that let United back into the game. Just when I was starting to think they should substitute Paul Scholes -- because he wasn't doing much other than lunging at people and practically begging to be booked -- he flipped the ball up over the Milan defence for Rooney chest down and slot past Dida. Rooney's second goal came in stoppage time, as Giggs broke from the halfway line and played a through ball for him to run on to, and he hammered it past Dida at the near post. It was a great finish but once again some dodgy keeping from Dida, who had made a couple of excellent saves but gave him way too much space to aim at here.

That third goal gives United a lifeline for the second leg, but I think the tie is still too close to call. Although United have the lead, Milan have those two away goals, which means a 1-0 victory at the San Siro would be enough to send them through. But they'll regret not killing United off when they had the chance -- they may have thought it was all over at 2-1, but then they took their foot off the gas and paid for it.

The issue for United in Italy will be patching up their defence again. Evra was booked on Tuesday, so he'll miss the next leg. They've got to hope that Ferdinand and/or Neville is back fit by then, or else start Fletcher at right-back. (On the other hand, it's not all bad, because it gives them an excuse to move Heinze back to the left; I'm really not comfortable with him in the centre.) They also could use at least one goal to increase the pressure on Milan. And they absolutely have to figure out how to deal with Kaka, although I have no suggestions for that other than maybe attaching lead weights to his ankles.

As for Milan, I think they shouldn't rely too much on the Brazilian choirboy -- they need to find goals from their strikers too, though that's not likely with Gilardino faffing around up front. And they also need to remember that games last 90 mintes, not 45. You'd think they would have learned that in Istanbul, but apparently not.

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!

Liverpool 0 - 1 Manchester United
John O'Shea's late goal robbed Liverpool of what would have been a well-deserved point and meant that United maintained their lead at the top of the table. The ironic bit is that O'Shea probably wouldn't have been on the pitch at all if Wayne Rooney hadn't had to be substituted after Jamie Carragher took a chunk out of his thigh with his studs.

It looked at that point as if the game was heading for the inevitable scoreless draw -- and even more so after Paul Scholes was sent off for taking a swing at Xabi Alonso in the 86th minute. But then Ryan Giggs won a free kick just outside the Liverpool box. Cristiano Ronaldo swung in a shot towards the near post, which Pepe Reina stopped but wasn't able to hold on to, and there was O'Shea to poke home the winning goal.

There's no doubt that United were lucky to win; they probably would have been happy with the draw. For 90 minutes Liverpool had done everything right except put the ball in the net (actually, that's not true: Craig Bellamy did once but it was correctly ruled out for offside). But the bottom line is that you can't win if you don't score.

Liverpool mustered 15 shots on goal to United's 5, but not enough of those were really a goal threat, and they were also denied by a couple of excellent saves by Van der Sar. I was surprised that they took Bellamy off so early, because he'd been terrorizing Nemanja Vidic all game, and although the end product hadn't materialized, he still looked the most likely to score. At the opposite end of the pitch, Liverpool's other outstanding player was Jamie Carragher, who was a defensive rock as usual and threw himself into some vital blocks.

The game was really a battle of the two midfields, though: Liverpool closed United down quickly and pressed them high up the pitch rather than sitting back. They didn't let them get their passing game going -- Michael Carrick was particularly invisible; in fact, the first time I noticed him was when he got booked just before halftime -- and closed down the service to the strikers. But Liverpool struggled to settle into their attacking rhythm too, especially since Momo Sissoko seemed determined to give the ball away as often as possible.

Liverpool could find it demoralizing to have dominated this game and still lost, but I expect that Rafa will get them to focus on the positives: they've beaten Barcelona away and shut down United at home, so there's no reason why they can't similarly shut down Barcelona at Anfield on Tuesday. As for United, the main repercussion is that Paul Scholes' red card means he'll miss their next three matches, although he can still play in this week's Champions League game against Lille.

United will be aiming to pick up another three points and expand their lead over Chelsea, who don't play until later that day, to 12. Liverpool, on the other hand, have the opportunity to take themselves to within four points of second-place Chelsea if they win. And they would dearly love to stick a wrench into things for United.

In their last few games, Man United have eked out a 1-0 win against Lille in the Champions League and a nervy 2-1 victory over Fulham in the Premiership, plus a 3-2 defeat of Reading in the FA Cup that they made much more difficult than it should have been.

Liverpool may actually be in slightly better form at the moment: they're coming off a 4-0 drubbing of Sheffield United last weekend and a 2-1 away win over Barcelona a few days before, which may have been ugly but will certainly boost morale. Although it's also possible that they'll be distracted from Saturday's match by the upcoming second leg of the Champions League tie.

There's no question that Liverpool are very tough to beat at Anfield. They're currently on a string of 30 unbeaten games and 9 clean sheets at home. But if any team can do it, it's the Premiership leaders. Although they've been winning ugly in recent matches, I think they actually play better when they go in expecting a tough game -- where they give themselves problems is if they don't respect the opposition.

I expect Sir Alex to stick with his usual starting XI, with Henrik Larsson getting the nod ahead of Louis Saha so that they can make the most of him as long as he's here. The only question is whether Gary Neville will be on the bench, or if he'll be let out of the doghouse after his snit against Lille. For Liverpool, I've given up on trying to predict Rafa's lineups. The only thing you can predict is that he'll be unpredictable. Oh, and that Peter Crouch, who broke his nose in the Sheffield United match, is probably not going to play. Javier Mascherano and Arvalo Arbeloa have both made their debut for the Reds recently, and it's quite possible that one or both of them will feature on Saturday.

Honours have come out even in the last three meetings: Liverpool beat United 1-0 to knock them out of the FA Cup last year and drew with them 0-0 at Anfield in the Premiership, but United won 2-0 at Old Trafford this September, with goals from Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand.

My prediction: A 1-1 draw. Which means that neither team will really be happy.

Congratulations, Lille! You have been officially awarded the prestigious title of Pissy French Bitches 2007 (previous holders: Arsenal). They are now (a) blaming Man United for the over-crowding in the away end and (b) claiming that the game should be replayed because the referee let Giggs's goal stand. Both of which are bullshit.

Let's start with the free-kick. Yes, quite often the referee tells the teams that they have to wait for the whistle to restart play. He didn't do that this time. So when Lille spent too much time faffing around setting up their wall and Giggs took advantage of that, they have only themselves to blame. It's understandable that they feel hard done by, especially since they'd previously had a goal disallowed for a push on Vidic, but reacting as if they were going to take their ball and go home is needlessly petulant. It's the sort of behaviour I'd expect in my rec league (where, instead of referees, you call your own fouls and the teams award each other "spirit points" after the game; yeah, it works about as well as you'd expect), not from professional footballers.

As much attention as is being paid to this -- and when I finally saw the game, I was a little disappointed, because I was expecting a bigger kerfuffle -- the more serious issue is the trouble with the away fans. There are conflicting reports as to what exactly happened, but basically: there were too many fans in the away section of the stands, possibly because of people using fake tickets, possibly because of stadium staff not actually checking tickets and just letting people in. Some of those fans felt that they were in danger of being crushed and tried to climb out, and the security people dealt with this by spraying tear gas at the crowd. Which, as you can imagine, was a big help. The whole thing is just boggling to me. I mean, having to segregate away fans behind wire fences is boggling enough in the first place, considering that I'm used to North American stadiums where you can sit anywhere. I can accept that it's necessary in other places, but if you're going to do it, isn't the point to make it less dangerous for the fans, rather than more so?

Right, so: Massive organizational fuck-ups aside, what about the game? Well, United started brightly enough, with lots of possession, but not enough of it was in the final third of the pitch. Although they lined up in the 4-4-2 I was hoping for (hallelujah!), they were lacking the final ball to the strikers or players really driving forward from midfield. Lille did a good job of harrying them and closing down space in the midfield; I thought Jean Makoun was their best player and it's easy to see why United were interested in him. Gradually, though, it was looking as if the game would peter out into a scoreless draw, until Giggs stepped up to give United a crucial away goal. I hope they'll go all out to win the return leg at Old Trafford, because I thought a lot of their problem on Tuesday was due to their usual caution in European away games, despite the purportedly attacking formation.

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 haven't wanted to talk about it before, just in case I jinx them, but with less than a dozen games left in the season and Man United still firmly in first place, the idea that they could bring home the Premiership trophy for the first time since 2003 is starting to look like a real possibility.

There are a few key issues that could determine whether this is their year:

Will their key players stay fit?
United have been incredibly lucky with injuries this season. Compare that with last year, when they were without Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, Gabriel Heinze, Louis Saha, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Alan Smith and -- perhaps most importantly -- Paul Scholes for long stretches of time. You only have to look at Chelsea's recent problems to see how injuries to even a couple of key players can throw off the rest of the team. Edwin van der Sar is out with a broken nose at the moment, but that's about it, and Tomasz Kuszczak is a more than able replacement.

Will Henrik Larsson go back to Sweden once his loan is up?
Larsson is supposed to rejoin Helsingborg once the Swedish domestic season starts up again on March 12. But there's a possibility that United could extend his loan spell until the end of the English season, and I think they should take that chance with both hands. Larsson has proven his quality and his importance to United over the past month, and it goes beyond just scoring goals -- he's got the experience of playing, and coming through for the team, in the big games.

Can they keep their players happy?
Again, you only have to look at Chelsea and Andriy "Teacher's Pet" Shevchenko to see what an impact dressing-room tension can have on a team. United seem to be, well, united this year: no Roy Keane storming out, no Ruud Van Nistelrooy sulking on the bench. I think the main challenges in this department will be juggling the strikers -- with Larsson, Saha and Rooney all fighting to start, plus Alan Smith coming back from injury -- and keeping Cristiano Ronaldo from being distracted by thoughts of a transfer to Spain.

How far will they go in the Champions League?
I'm sure Sir Alex would love to win another treble, but I think that would be asking too much of the team. The Premiership and the FA Cup, sure, but adding the Champions League title to that puts a huge burden on a squad that doesn't seem to have a lot of depth. There's always the possibility of injuries, not to mention the physical and mental drain that comes with midweek European games. This is not to say that I'm hoping United get knocked out quickly, but if they do go out, I hope that it's relatively painless, unlike the mediocre group stage last year, which I'm convinced put a huge damper on their domestic season as well.

Who do they have left to play?
United's run-in looks like this: Fulham (H), Liverpool (A), Bolton (H), Blackburn (H), Portsmouth (A), Sheffield United (H), Chelsea (A), Middlesbrough (H), Everton (A), Man City (A), West Ham (H). The fixture that stands out is of course the match against Chelsea on April 15, which the Sky programming department is no doubt salivating over even as we speak. But apart from that and the visit to Anfield, it's not too bad. And I should note that Chelsea play five of the same teams (Bolton, Portsmouth, Sheffield United, Everton, West Ham and Man City), plus Arsenal away, so they won't have things any easier as they try to make up some ground.

I'm only mentioning Chelsea here, because with Liverpool and Arsenal 16 and 17 points back of United, respectively, I think they're out of the equation. But now that Chelsea seem to have got their act together again, there's still enough time left for them to catch United. At the moment, United have a 6-point lead over the forces of darkness, not to mention that +45 goal difference, which Sir Alex is only too happy to tell you is as good as an extra point, but that only translates into two or three games. So it's not a done deal, but United have momentum on their side, and I think the title is theirs to lose.

And now, if you'll excuse me, having tempted fate sufficiently for one night, I'm off to make a sacrifice to the footballing gods.

I know this weekend's match between Arsenal and Manchester United has already been covered to death here, but not from a Man United perspective, so bear with me.

It featured two teams who are probably playing the best football in the Premiership right now, and as you'd expect, they were fairly evenly matched. If I'd been a neutral (or, god forbid, a Gooner), it would have been a great game to watch. As it was, meh.

And there was one simple reason for that: Sir Alex's spineless decision to field a 4-5-1 formation instead of their usual 4-4-2.

Now, there are certainly some arguments in favour of doing that:

- United were playing away from home, against one of the best teams in the league.
- Chelsea's loss to Liverpool the day before gave them some breathing space and meant that even a draw would be a decent result.
- Arsenal often play 4-5-1, so matching that would make it harder for them to build play through the midfield and get their fullbacks forward.

But there are some equally good arguments against it:

- United are playing great football right now, whether they're home or away, and they shouldn't have to be afraid of the other top teams.
- Chelsea dropping points meant they had an opportunity to increase their lead even more.
- Arsenal actually started with a 4-4-2 formation, so why not switch too -- especially since United's formation was demonstrably not working.

And the most important argument against: It simply doesn't play to their strengths. For Arsenal, 4-5-1 is still an attacking formation, as all of their midfielders seem to work interchangeably and get forward at various times. For United, on the other hand, it's just code for "play defensively," and it isolates the lone striker way too much.

All this is not to say that United played badly on Sunday. I think they deserved a point from the game, at least. But with Ryan Giggs in the hole behind Henrik Larsson and Wayne Rooney (mostly) on the left wing, they were only playing at about 80% of their capacity, and that's just not good enough when you're playing Arsenal in peak form.

You'd think that Sir Alex would have learned after their last Champions League game, where they started with the same 4-5-1 formation and promptly went down by one goal against Benfica. And then switched to 4-4-2 and ended up winning 3-1. Enough said.