Last night would have been a night for heart-stopping celebrations if one or two extra things had gone our way.
United went into the game a goal down following their first leg "failure to turn up" performance.
What I prayed for even before kick-off was an early goal as I knew the longer we took to score, the stronger Derby would get--and what a goal we got for the opener! Luis Nani--who has been criticised on this blog for failing to develop gave me a reminder of what he is capable of. The lad has certainly banged in a few pile-drivers since joining but his failure to make it a more regular occurrence is what has frustrated many a United fans this season. For as long as it's only his second season, he'll always get the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully, we'll get to see more performances from him like the one we saw last night.
John O'Shea did well to get himself a goal. If there is one thing that he has that Evra doesn't it's to stick the ball in the back of the net. Unfortunately for him, that's just about as much as he does have. Given that somewhere in him he has a goal, the manager will always keep him.
Tevez, as expected,bagged yet another goal in the Carling Cup and I'm beginning to wonder if there is a golden boot for this tournament. He certainly deserves it. He certainly isn't complaining any more given the number of games he's played these past 10 days. He's already a sure starter on Saturday evening, but I bet he's been having all this energy in him to burn since the season started.
Ronaldo sealed our progress with a penalty. I'm not too concerned about the goals we conceded as they were merely academic. What bothers me though is the ill-luck we are getting as far as injuries are concerned. Anderson, Nani, Evans, and Rafael joined an already long list of casualties yesterday. It's getting very bleak as far as our strongest squad at the moment is concerned! I know we are one of the teams with strength in depth but we do not have strength beneath depth. If our fringe players start picking up injuries, then you wonder where the reserve energy will come from. We go into the clash with Spurs on Saturday in the FA Cup without Evra, Ferdinand, Rooney, Rafael, Anderson---I mean it's getting a little ridiculous!
