UCL SF 1st Leg: Manchester United vs. Milan

Originally Posted by Stezagud

I actually said this at the time in another thread, that the must win games werent the big 2 (Liverpool and Chelsea) but the smaller games. As long as Utd won those then the league was ours no matter what happened in the other 2 games. The Liverpool win was a bomus that basically let Fergie risk a weakened side against Pompey to keep players fresh for Roma, if we had lost to Liverpool the team would have been stronger, at least from the start.

mmmm, you make it sound as if ManU didn't care about the "big' games ... let's not go there, shall we?

My whole point from sentence one was that manU is where it is namely because they were consistent enough in getting points from smaller teams which made up for their less than impressive record vs Pool, Chelski and Arsenal ... this however doesn't mean that ManU treated big games as "whatever pts we get, it's a bonus" thing but did their best to win them ... and remember, the argument of the intense rivalry in the derbies goes both ways .

I also think that there is lot more lying in ManU's less than stellar record vs big teams in EPL - IMO, it shows not enough overall quality when it comes to measuring up with the best at the highest level ... or at least, definite lack of consistency of showing such capability of this ManU team ... and that's exactly the type of match-ups one could expect in CL (0 pts or 10 pts vs. teams like Pompey don't count here for anything) and the thing is - there is only one Roma out there, so for how long will the gifts keep coming at the hands of Rooney, Giggsy and Co?

true, Milan don't have much of a record in big games themselves but the first 2/3 of our season were average at best for a number of reasons - calciopoli, lack in physical preparation over the summer due to WC and calciopoli, etc, etc - so that's more or less understandable.
The first 1/3 of our season was just plain bad, the second 1/3 was used to make up for the lack in fitness and raise the team on it's feet (although we were still shaky), and the final 1/3 - the one we are currently in - we should be finally reaping the fruits of our work ... and so far, that's what has been going on.

the point is, it's is just now that we are starting to see the good old Milan come to form and this current side has little to do with the one that set those "bad" records in the first half of the serie A season ... Hence my belief we have more than a 50-50 chance of seeing ManU off, although if you ask the experts, ManU annihilated Roma, so Milan doesn't stand a chance too.

Personally the one thing that worries me about Milan is not the supposedly old defense that has no chance vs C. Ronaldos speed and stepovers but whether our fitness will hold up for the rest of the season ... if we keep away from injuries, I guess we should be able to keep players fresh with proper rotation.