It will be interesting tonight to see what teams the respective managers field for the semi-final of the Carling Cup. Personally I feel that both teams will be really going for it over two legs.
Manchester City would really love to end their long trophy drought after all these years and Manchester United may find that the Carling Cup could be their only chance of silverware this season.
They trail Chelsea by 1pt with the Blues having a game in hand and if Arsenal win their game in hand as well then they will move above United. All this means of course that United are odds against retaining their title and they also have a tough Champions League draw as well.
I have been thinking for a while that the previous three seasons may have seen a peak for United. Losing to Leeds Utd in the FA Cup was a blow to United, I think they will be in a similar position to Chelsea last season where they had to win the FA Cup to finish the season with something.
I would love to be proved wrong and see Fergie’s boys win another Champions League but I don’t think so. No Ronaldo or Tevez and the money spent on inconsistent Michael Owen and Dimitar Berbatov isn’t going to retain the league. Even when beating Burnley 3-0 at the weekend they could have been two or even three goals down.
So I am really looking forward to this tie and I am finding it hard to pick a winner. One good thing for United though is that without Ferdinand and Vidic for so long that they are still in contention to win the league.
But I have watched football for too long and everything goes in cycles. No team has ever won 4 consecutive titles, both Liverpool and United have won three in the modern era and that in itself says something.
Carl
