That’s my main reaction to this. I’ve had a day to digest it and that’s how I feel.

As I watched the penalty shootout preparations I had a feeling in my gut that we weren’t going to win it. From how the match had gone, and the players that we had on the pitch (from a penalty-taking perspective), I just didn’t have a good feeling.

It wasn’t a bad match for us, or Everton. It was very even and in a way, neither side deserved to concede or score during the course of the match. Both sides had some chances, Macheda and Welbeck linked up very well and created some nice opportunities which just couldn’t be put away. Welbeck was (at least I thought) fouled by Jagielka in the box during the second half but it was one of those incidents that can go either way, and this time it went the Toffees’ way. Everton, to their credit, looked like they really thought they could win it. They attacked as much as United did and had some good opportunities, with a slightly shaky Ben Foster saving on more than one occasion.

The game passed from normal time to extra-time and from extra-time to penalties. When Tim Cahill stepped up and missed Everton’s first penalty the feeling of inevitable defeat in my stomach subsided briefly, but returned even faster after Berba’s awful attempt, an attempt which to me epitomizes his time at United so far. Everton scored the remainder of their penalties with the Jag converting the killer penalty. Tim Howard was the hero for Everton, saving from Rio and Berba (useless bastard).

But, as I said, you can’t win ‘em all! We have had good luck in penalty shootouts in recent times, with the Champions League Final and the Carling Cup Final especially coming to mind.

So we’re out of the FA Cup at the Semi-Final stage, and the ‘dreams’ of a clean sweep are over, even though strictly speaking the clean sweep ‘dreams’ ended in Monaco against Zenit.

I’m quite philosophical about this defeat. It was an even game against a good team who worked hard and deserve their overdue success. So I’m not disappointed, I’m not annoyed about the starting XI as I believe that these young players will only grow stronger from their experience at Wembley. We lost the Semi-Final, and now we must forget about it and focus on the Pompey match on Wednesday.

Hopefully Arsenal can do us a favour on Tuesday against Liverpool, but let’s concentrate on us, not them. So congrats to Everton, who I wish the best of luck in the FA Cup Final against Chelsea.

Also, congrats to our young players, I’m talking about Welbeck, Rafael, Gibson and co. for reaching the Semi-Final of this great cup competition and working hard for the team, and in my view, doing us proud. Now, bring on Pompey!

So, first off, what a game on Saturday! Many people had predicted a tight match and Daryl even predicted United’s Quintuple dream to end. How wrong some people were. United were brilliant against Fulham, controlling the match from start to finish and showing again what depth we have. Two goals from Tevez and goals from Park and Rooney settled a tie that United never looked like losing, or drawing! If you haven’t seen them already, highlights here.

The FA Cup Semi-Final draw was yesterday and United drew Everton, who disposed of Middlesbrough 2-1 at Goodison yesterday. I’m kinda happy with the draw. Don’t get me wrong, Everton are good but I’m glad we haven’t drawn Arsenal or Chelsea. Of course Arsenal still have to play Hull, but I expect Arsenal to overpower Hull. I hope that it’s an Arsenal-United Final. The reason I say this is that I don’t want a repeat of the borefest of an FA Cup Final that was United vs Chelsea in 06/07. Aside from losing that one, it was such a poor match to boot. I don’t think United vs Arsenal would be that bad.

I’m really looking forward to the Everton match. They’re a good side with shitloads of spirit and it’ll be a good test for United to play against them.

So, Fergie took my hint and rested Ronnie for the FA Cup game. So presumably the boy from Madeira will be fresh as a daisy on Wednesday. A note of worry however is that Rio got injured after 40 minutes at Craven Cottage and is a doubt for Inter on Wednesday. Of course, Jonny Evans can stand in, preferebly we’d have Rio playing but Evans showed what he can do at San Siro.

As I said, this is a short post so I’m gonna end it with some intriguing tidbits I found on my travels;
Over at TEAMtalk, Simon Welkes thinks that Fergie should retire if United win the Quintuple, to be replaced by one man, and one man only.
While over at the Guardian, Sir Alex thinks that Internazionale will play for penalties.

He could be right. Until next time (either tomorrow or Wednesday), peace out!

Going first with the title subject. A mate and I were having a chat in college today about United’s upcoming matches. My mate is a Mancunian and an avid United fan. We were talking about the Fulham match in the FA Cup at the weekend and the Inter match in the Champions League on Wednesday. Basically, he suggested that Ronaldo be rested for the Fulham match so to ensure sharpness for our biggest match of the season so far; Inter at Old Trafford on Wednesday. I was thinking about it and it makes sense. Only Nemanja Vidic has played more for United than Ronaldo this season; Ronaldo having made 38 appearances (including 4 sub apps.), while Vidic has made 39 appearances (including 3 sub apps.). If it weren’t for Ronaldo’s early season injury he’d have played about 7 more games by now. Vidic has been rested on a fairly regular basis while Ronaldo has been an ever present since returning from injury. Of course, Evans is there as a replacement for Vidic, while there isn’t any top-grade stand-ins for Ronnie. But it just seems after playing 15 straight games that Ronaldo could do with a rest, ready to come out swinging against the Nerazurri on Wednesday. United should be able to cope without him against the Cottagers (haha, Cottagers), of course they have a good home record but we still should beat them, I don’t care what anyone says. If Ron picked up an injury at Craven Cottage it’d be a real blow for Wednesday night. Playing him could be an unnecessary risk.

Tell me what you think. I was gonna create a poll but can’t get it on here, so post your opinion in the comments section.

Secondly, a cool wee thing over at the United Official Website. They have a video of classic games between United and Fulham and Craven Cottage. Among others, it features Giggsy’s stunning volley from the 06/07 season. It’s such a fucking unbelievable goal. Check out the video here. You may have to be registered to view it though.

Other tidbit, Fabio scored the winner in a reserve match against ‘Boro tonight. Dunno if it’s his first goal but still a good thing.

Fuck, there really is nothing going on today…

According to The Guardian, Wayne Rooney has suffered a setback in training during his rehabilitation from the hamstring injury he suffered against Wigan in January. The injury ruled him out of England’s friendly tonight with Spain and out of United’s past few games.

Ferguson had been saying last week that he would let Fabio Capello decide whether or not to bring Rooney into the squad, but he has apparently suffered an injury in training and it’s said that Ferguson has already ruled him out of the weekend’s FA Cup tie with Derby. He’s only a ‘maybe’ to be back for the midweek against Fulham.

There’s not been much on this so I can’t imagine it’s too serious, especially as Fergie regards him as a ‘maybe’ for the Cottagers match. Hopefully he’ll be up and scoring soon.

Little United fact that I read over on the Man Utd website; 923, yes 923 Football League managers have lost their jobs since Fergie took the United reins in 1986! That is one hell of a statistic, in my opinion.

Wayne’s Fact Of The Day: Although Fulham’s nickname is The Cottagers, a ‘cottager’ is actually a man who has anonymous sex with other men in public toilets, rendering Fulham’s nickname rather amusing. Hope that’s brightened up your day!

A good day today for United. An exciting if not very solid win against Derby County in the Carling Cup Semi-Final sees us through to the Final to face either Spurs or Burnley, probably Spurs.

Aside from the usual stuff, turns out that Sir Alex was today voted the best manager of the last 12 years. The IFFHS, or the International Federation of Football History and Statistics have released their new list of the best football managers of the last dozen years. Why do it over 12 years? I have no idea, but I’m sure a federation with a name as important sounding as that doesn’t need a reason. Anyway, Fergie sits in first place, followed by Italy manager Marcello Lippi and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. I’m not going to go through the whole list, mainly because it’s not much of a laugh. But at least we know that historically and statistically Ferguson’s the best manager of the last 12 years.

Second bit o’ news is taken from yesterday’s Daily Dose, posted by Chris. Amongst the many interesting pieces, there was one that surprised me. It was news of United’s home kit for next season, a red jersey with a white v-shaped sash down the front (much like Bordeaux’s jersey).

Apparently it will be made by Nike to commemorate United’s first FA Cup win 100 years ago in 1909 against Bristol City. United will allegedly wear the kit for the whole of the 2009/10 season. I’m really looking forward to what it will look like. Will Nike go with a real traditional look or try to glam it up? Only time will tell. I can’t upload a pic at the mo so check it out here.

Some other potentially important news that I read over at the Football Shirt Culture Blog is that Indian company Sahara India Pariwar, shirts sponsors of the India cricket team and multi-conglomerate involved in real estate and finances and other shit, have been approached by Man Utd with a sponsorship proposal. Sahara’s head of Corporate Communications Sahara Abhijit Sarkar said; “Yes! We have definitely received a proposal from Manchester United. It is an elaborate proposal from Manchester United. We are still studying it and I cannot comment further.”

Love the firmness of his ‘yes’.

Apparently, United sent over samples to the Indian company and photos of Rooney and Ronaldo wearing United jerseys with the company’s name across them. Sounds a bit desperate by United, or maybe that’s how these things work.

That’s all the random news for now. Peace plebs…

It’s pretty clear exactly what they meant to me. But then again, I’m biased.

A quick visit to Wikipedia reveals the Pompey’s last FA Cup triumph was in 1939, West Brom’s in 1968, Cardiff City’s in 1927 and Barsley’s in 1912. They’re all due!

In the video below, Rio Ferdinand’s admirable attempt to save the penalty sends the Portsmouth faithful into giddy celebrations. Good stuff.

Poor Martin Taylor — sure to forever be reminded about that tackle.