Well, almost. To be
more precise I witnessed United’s Carling Cup semi-final victory against Derby
from the second row of Old Trafford’s South Stand. A fantastic seat to catch the first glimpse
of new signing Zoran Tosic warm up along the touchline right in front of me, as
well as a more familiar Cristiano Ronaldo.
United got going right from the off, dispossessing Derby
right after they took centre and this was the case for the rest of the first
half – other than another belter from Kris Commons which nearly caught United
out again.My mate and I were sitting in
the right-hand side of the South Stand, nearer the away section of the crowds,
and credit where credit’s due – Derby fans were getting behind their team.A cracker from Nani soon gave reason for the
home fans to turn up the volume, the bass and the whole lot.Despite being surrounded by some of the
quieter fans where we were sitting: me, my mate and another two guys joined in
with the Old Trafford band and made sure we were heard.The remainder of the half was spent at a high
volume with goals coming from O’Shea – who had all the time in the world to
tuck his chance away – and a strong header from a Tevez who has very much been
proving a point lately.
Half time beckoned and we were sad to see Rafael, who’d been
bombing up and down the wing right in front of us all half, be subbed due to an
injury and our fellow Scotsman Fletcher took to the field. Rafael was fantastic to watch and was having a
great game, nearly getting a goal of his own, and would’ve contested for man of
the match if he’d been able to stay on and carry on playing as he was.However, we were happy to see our fellow
Scotsman Fletcher get on and he did a good job filling in at right back.
Now I’m not going to go into too much detail about the match,
that’s in another article, I just want to share with you a few observations I
made during the match.Firstly, Darron
Gibson had a superb game.Despite a few
misplaced passes, he got stuck right in and never game Derby room to move in
the centre of the park. He closed every player down, did his best to shut every
gap and contributed going forward too.I’ve
already mentioned Rafael, who I rate extremely highly, so my next mention’s
going to go to my man of the match: Anderson.I think it was Tevez who got the official man of the match and fair
enough he was very good, however, for me, Anderson was superb throughout – his aggression,
vision and passing all helping him win me over on the day.Some of the passing opportunities he even saw
were impressive enough; but when he completed most, if not all, of those passes
you couldn’t help but envy that talent.Having watched him there, at Old Trafford, in person made me appreciate
this part of his game more and makes those worries of what’ll happen when
Scholes retires go away as both he and Carrick are proving to be excellent
central midfielders.Speaking of
Carrick, I was slightly gutted he wasn’t featuring for this match as he’s my
favourite player and I can’t help but appreciate his world class, yet subtle,
talent.
Now while I dream of the day when I’m the proud owner of a
season ticket for the amazing Theatre of Dreams I’ll leave you with my final
thoughts. All in all, it was a fantastic match to witness at Old Trafford and
the only negative was the injuries we picked up – including a brilliant Jonny
Evans, an exciting Rafael and a reassuring Anderson.My mate and I hung around after the match
(the stewards weren’t too happy with us) as Anderson still lay on the pitch
having not got up from being injured, to applaud him on an excellent
performance while he was taken off on the stretcher.
And my final observation of the day for you, the Bishops
Blaize is an excellent pub!
