The Famous five forgotten with double trouble on the horizon

UGH. I think it’s safe to say that was the worst FA Cup semi-final I have seen United involved in since I started watching them in 1976, and that’s not just because we lost one for the first time in my memory.

Yet I couldn’t bring myself to join the predictable crowd of over-excited grief-monkeys who were hopping around on Sunday night calling for the heads of Berbatov, Ferdinand and Uncle Tom Cobbley. After all, just days earlier we had witnessed a historic European performance, showing grit of a level last displayed during 2008’s Barcelona semi-finals; and a second successive clean sheet shouldn’t be ignored either, especially after the recent defensive horrors.

Normally I’d be happy to join those battering Fergie around the head for his rotational over-indulgence but let’s not forget the game would surely have been won had Riley given the obvious penalty for the felling of Welbeck — and then we’d have all been hailing Fergie’s mastery of squad-play.