United in Quarters of Champions League (Manchester United 1 - Lille 0)

After all the harsh words exchanged in the media, the complains to UEFA, the appeals and the general nastiness surrounding the first leg, the second leg proved to be a dull affair. United, as usual, was nowhere to be found on the pitch, but yet we somehow managed to pull out a victory to send the French side packing.

I though Lille had the better possession and worked Van der Sar, without really looking like scoring. Even though they came forward looking for the all important goal, there was a lack of conviction in their attacks. As for us, we were not too shabby and looked good on the counter attack but we never troubled the Lille keeper.

Our goal was scored in the 72nd minute. Ronaldo did brilliantly running down the left wing and somehow managed to find space to cross from the byline despite having two covering defenders around him. The cross found an unmarked Larsson to head the ball into the net. It was a sweet goal to shatter the French hearts.

I usually sympathise with the underdogs and hardworking teams, but despite their good performance, I was glad that this bunch of French pussies were out of the competition. The constant whining to the press was really getting on my nerves. The evening was made even better when the other French team playing tonight was also knocked out. Bye Arsenal!

Overall it was a good enough performance for us. We barely did enough to draw, but yet the football gods must have been smiling on us when we scored. The game however ended on a sour note. Silves got into a nasty, nasty collision and it took the medical team over 6 minutes to stretcher him off the pitch. It looked like a horrible head injury, and he could also have hurt the right side of the body. Despite him being French, I really hope he's alright.

A couple of comments I just thought I'd make:

• Silvestre was chosen over Heinze. I'm surprised.
  

• Alan Smith replaced Larsson and looked pretty sharp.

• Larsson will probably be leaving on the 12th of March. Pity we couldn't make him stay.

• Saha is too injury-prone for my liking. When Larsson leaves, we'd only be left with Rooney and Smith upfront.

• Carrick is shit.

• I'm souring on Park. He's workrate is top class, but he's as light as a feather.

• Scholes is God. We're going to sorely miss him for 3 matches, especially with no one in midfield marginally good enough to start along side him, let alone replace him.

• As mentioned, the squad us waffle-thin and now that the injuries are mounting, it's showing.