United = Carling Cup Champions

Hello,

Although not a great game from the players nor perhaps the manager (Owen?) but United has its first trophy of the season at the expense of a good Villa team.

The game started off with pace and energy until, at least for United fans, Vidic brought down Agbonlahor in the box. It was a penalty and I still do not know how Vidic avoided a card of some kind. Refs confuse me. A similar play happened later against Owen: last man back, free kick but the yellow card came out. Strange. United dominated the first half but even with the Owen goal, I am still not a fan. He does not create anything and, really, only cost us a sub which could have been used to get Scholes on the pitch and pull a struggling Carrick.

Second half sucked the life out of the crowd and, it seemed, out of our club until Rooney headed the winning goal. His header that hit the post was like a lightning bolt or something. Clearly, Burba was injured and forced Rooney to play rover, a position I do not like seeing him in. I often wonder if Chelsea were to ask Drogba to play that role as often as Rooney has if he would. In a final, at Wembley, Rooney showed even more class, playing rover and even defending to allow Berbatov to rest in the striker position. Rooney is the class act of the Premier League.

This may not sound like a RED TILL DEAD thing-to-say but I like Villa and hope they go on to win the FA CUP. They are a good team with a good work ethic and deserve something. Hopefully this cup final will inspire them to push. They played fine today but even at the top of their game, United seems to find a way.

Congratulations to Tomasz Kuszczak who deserved to play the cup final after being solid post Foster. Fergie knows the game and knows how to inspire even the 2nd or 3rd string players. He is a motivator in the biggest sense of the word. I think the team needs to congratulate Rafael who played his role through this competition well and is beginning to fit into the squad very well. Let's not forget Evra who seems to put in a well-above-average performance week-in and week-out.

Winning trophies means something, despite what other managers seem to think. It is a spring-board to confidence and positive team-energy. I think other teams such as Arsenal and Liverpool need to start thinking about this. Are you listening Rafa/Liverpool? I think if you win the Europa League, you will be a bigger threat next year.

Cheers and see you in a week for the CL.

Derek