I've always blogged here that the League title every season would do just fine for me. The difference this season however is that we've had the title in the bag so early on (excuse the hubris) that we could have easily bagged more than just the one trophy.
Granted, that's being greedy and spoilt but what's the point of progressing so far in domestic Cup competitions if its not to win it.
I was hence disappointed (not with the team line-up) but with the energy and desire on display at Stamford Bridge on Monday. It spoke volumes that the boss himself couldn't see us scoring a goal. To be fair Chelsea deserved to go through but we didn't make them sweat as much as they should have. I thought the player played as though the league was just enough for them while Chelsea knew that could be the only trophy they win this year. I don't think we would have turned in such a performance if we were in their shoes.
I mean for all the talk at the start of the season regarding how the players wanted to win the Cup, you thought they'd play with heart and desire for it, but alas, we wait to be treated to the same old tirade next season.
Thankfully though, we remain with a title to cling to this season. That should just about save face for another season but it's increasingly appearing that we will need a better winger than the current crop to challenge better next season. It's amazing that David Beckham still rates higher than Nani, Young and Valencia for what they contribute on an average day out. It wouldn't be so much of a bother if we were not such a wing-based team. It is apparent for rival managers that United rely heavily on their wing play and that has made us vulnerable in the Cups. There was no way Benitez (the Cup man) would have let that one detail past him. As it was, he virtually ensured that we were pointless out-wide and in effect dealing with just about every attack we could muster. The couple of crosses that went through failed to materialise into goals and that was that. This is where you hope the manager would have introduced Shinji Kagawa to open up Chelsea from right down the middle. It would have caught them out by surprise and would have added that little variety to our play.
Ultimately though its just the league for us now. We've been very poor since the Real Madrid game and so I hope we really step it up to the finish line. The City derby is up next on Monday and what a perfect opportunity for our players to redeem themselves from what has been so far a lifeless start to the month.
Let's show Mancini just how many points he is behind us.
Labels: THE FA CUP
