Listening to talk sport on the way home Jose was once again branded the enemy of football and accused of single handedly ruining the FA cup final, exact words went some thing like this "he's killing great english talent, more than that he's killing great players and i cant wait till he leaves the english premier league"

Well it seems the blame for a poor cup final showing has fallen squarely on our shoulders, ignoring the fact that there where two teams in that final, ignoring the fact that two years ago united played out a goalless draw with Gooners and ignoring that there game with liverpool many years ago was dire!! I don't remember any one being slated for running a cup final then all i can actually remember is the media creaming them selves over cantona's goal! (good goal though has to be said)

So what are we guilty off? was it stopping ronaldo from running with the ball, not insisting that gigs had scored? copying uniteds formation...

The way i saw it both teams looked nervy knowing one goal might win it misplaced passes as a result of nerves and good defending!!

One things for sure, football has short a memories. even on the CSR where some of our own feel that Jose has killed football, maybe a little, last season we scored far and away more goals that any one else, how do you go about doing that when your winning 1-0 every week, some one got there math's very wrong!! second top goal scores this season, but again we'r scraping games...

This season we are going to be one game short of the maximum any team that qualifies straight for the champions league can play! i some times think people underestimate how many games that is and if im right in thinking we started the season with a smaller squad than usual (maybe by one player) in the cores of this season we lost both chec and carlo for long periods of time! ! ! robben aka mr glass has not been fit all season, even in the small periods where he hasn't been carrying a knock he's been playing with a recent injury in the back of his mind. Cole gone for the whole season, the camio at the end was to little to late and he was no where near fit!

We had little to no option but to play the formation and players we have, i havent enjoyed ballak this season thats for sure but put your self in Jose's position your in a corner, no options, play SWP who hasn't really been doing it or go with the german captain and a proven quality player who's also playing p*nts... kalou's not a winger any way and sheva has been little of anything this season if we'r honest!!

Jose has done what he had to do to keep us in with a shout the whole way through, in the end some prizes were just out of

reach, but i guarantee you this, regardless of the cash and the players we have there our maybe 3 other managers in the world that could have kept us in with a shout of every thing as long as he did and Old red nose and wenger our not two of them!!

Im not naive enough to think we play the same football arsenal of 4 seasons ago did or barca of a year ago, but we are not the monster people would have you all believe we have a plan B and even a plan C some times when things aren't rolling the right way and its not always pretty but we'd all soon be moaning if there was no back up plan.

For the first time in ages im looking forwards to next season because hopefully with a fully fit squad we can shut a few people up!!

The day Jose leaves will probably rock me more than when Gullit was booted and that hurt!

Sorry to any one that got to the bottom of this for the esay... radio got me blood boiling...

The thing is, Man United were playing for exactly the same thing as us - to scrape a 1-0 win. They knew that if they came out all guns blazing like they do against the likes of Watford and Charlton that they would get beaten.

I don't think I have ever seen a game where their fullbacks stayed back as much as they did against us - that's why Ronaldo and Giggs had such bad games - they were constantly doubled-up as their fullbacks were sitting back in their own half.

And picking Fletcher as an extra man in midfield instead of either Smith of Solksjaer up front, leaving Rooney woefully isolated wasn't exactly an attacking move. It was a defensive ploy that Ferguson had to do, because Scholes and Carrick alone in the middle would have been completely overrun by Maka, Mikel and Lamps.

Compare that to the tactics we used - for better or worse, we played Man United pretty much the same way we have played every team all season - 3 central midfielders, 3 isolated attackers, fullbacks too deep, relying on magic from Drogba. I don't think we changed an awful lot from our usual tactics.

Basically the match was a predictable stalemate between two quality teams - decided by a moment of brilliance from Lamps and Drogba (or a moment of stupidity from Ferdinand - depending on which way you look at it).

That is the way 90% of matches between two big teams pan out - especially cup finals. To lay the blame on Chelsea (who didn't really change tactics to suit the match at all) is a bit of a joke.

The bottom line is it simply doesn't matter what formation we play, what tactics we employ or what players we have to select from (or not) if we are successful we will get slated simply because of who we are!!

A couple of years ago when we first won the title, much of our football was quiet simply superb and every now and then we would receive the occasional praise worthy accolade given through gritted teeth simply because it couldn't be avoided, but for a lot of the time we were still called "boring" because we didn't concede goals, I can remember a period from Oct/Dec that year when during a 9 game stretch we scored 29 while only conceding 6, then we beat Villa 1-0 at home on Boxing day in a difficult to watch type of game, the next day the rags all had their guns blazing "JOSE BORE-INHO", "YAWN-NIL CHELSEA", etc.

Also for much of the time they preferred to concentrate on the Frisk/Barcelona affair and join UEFA in condemning everything the club & JM did or said, at one point even calling for us to be kicked out of Europe, this is our own media I am talking about here BTW, culminating in that farcical episode against Bayern when the TV cameras decided that zooming in on people on our bench fiddling with "a hidden earpiece" made for better viewing than what was happening on the field.

This has now all been put to bed, we have been fined, Jose has had his touchline ban and had his arse dragged over hot coals we have learned our lesson, but still it goes on, we now behave ourselves (to a degree) and tow the line, so no more tapping up of players no more slagging off officials no more blatant diving by our players (after all "NO OTHER TEAMS DO IT "!) so what else can we slag them of for?? "I know let's all accuse them of killing the game by being defensively sound in the cup final and refusing to give Ronaldo,Giggs & co the freedom of Wembley to run riot and pile up an entertaining 3-0 win for Utd and so give the new stadium the opening it deserves and watch the demi gods from O/T carry of the double".

No! while JM & RA are at the helm this kind of rubbish will continue and I suppose we will just have to grin and bear it, the bias will never go away and we will never truly get the credit for what we may achieve, because we "bought it" and we can all try to argue differently til the cows come home but it will never make any difference because how ever hard you try you cannot make a blind man see nor educate the ignorant, so we will just have to put up with it.

don't think I have ever seen a game where their fullbacks stayed back as much as they did against us - that's why Ronaldo and Giggs had such bad games - they were constantly doubled-up as their fullbacks were sitting back in their own half.

They were under orders and picked to do a job!

They started with Heinze and Wes Brown who are much more defensive than O'shea or Evra, yet it was us who were negative. We played 1 up front, Drogba, someone who can hold the line and has played there, on his own, for most of the season. They played Rooney upfront on his own, and we all know what folly that is after the last world cup. These are the same hacks who slated Ericsson for his tactis then, but when Sir Alex employes them he escapes the wrath of the media.

Oh.... and I watched the game again last night and we controlled it for 90% and scored with the best move of the match.

The better side won!

I'm sure, no certain this won't be the 1st time I type this during the summer...........'F*ck the press'

Well said Bluenut. I couldn't disagree more with the press. Yes it wasn't a particularly good spectacle (particularly in the first half) but there was plenty of tension and excitement knowing that neither team wanted to give an inch. Most neutrals probably wanted a 3-3 like last year but that game was full of mistakes and poor play. This game was dominated by defense and a midfield where Mikel showed how much he has grown as a player this season.

The reason why we get the blame is that the press were desperate for their United to win so that they could back up their claim that United are superior to us. Their bitterness is laughable.

United are a much improved team this season and deserved to win the league over the course of the season. But when you look at their form against the other top teams this result was hardly that surprising. They failed to beat us in 3 games, lost twice to an Arsenal team in transition, and scrambled 2 lucky wins against Liverpool. Add to that their humiliation in Milan and it is clear that this United team has a long way to go before they can be held up against the treble side of 99. Perhaps the press should put that in their pipe and smoke it!

A few of us down here (who unfortunately couldn't make it over much to our enduring disappointment) had an interesting chat/speculation about what the media (english in particular) would say if we won it 1-0 and it was a tight, defensive contest (ie. the sort of contest that has characterised most of the recent games between Chels and Manure where Jose has mostly had the wood over SAF).

We came up with an entirely predictable list of media comments on the one hand (that has mostly come to pass) and a separate list of "comments" that would not be published about such a result.

Those lists have been mostly made out in the spot on analysis/comments above.

The only thing that I'd add is how quickly the media in general have dropped any stories or any in depth analysis about the contest in terms of what it means for Manure next season in terms of their adopted style of play (presumably on the pretext of Athens). I spose what I'm trying to say is that apart from the toffee aberation late on, IMO many of the better teams in the league have started to work out how to hamper Manure's free-wheelin counter-attacking style and that because of this I'd say it was a good bet that Manure will score far fewer goals next season. If that happens, we won't, of course, be reading headlines & stories prasing the good tactical job the other managers have performed in thwarting Manure's "exciting" counter-attack but more of the same drivel about how the "Beautiful", "English" or "[add own epithet here]" is being diseased/viralled/imploded by stultifying defense and that the cause of this malaise is none other than ours truly, Jose Mourinho.

No doubt, as said above, we'll also continue to see much the same sort of harping by some on here. At least we know who they're likely to be and what they're likely to say.

For much the same reason, I hope Milan beat the Pool by say, 1-0, and in so doing totally close down any Liverpool threat (if any such threat is concievable) and control the tempo for the entire match: That is, play like the great italian teams in the past in much the same way that Chels did at Wembley last Saturday.

If that occurs, I bet we won't see any (or many) comparisons of praise between Chels and Milan but I suppose we always live in hope for more objective, incisive journalism, otherwise we would stop reading much of the twaddle put about altogether.

Im beginning to believe that there's a certain , if not huge majority within the media being influenced by individuals associated with 2 or 3 big clubs in the premiership.

Money and success creates , hatred , bitterness and jealousy and theres absolutely no doubt its stinking to high heaven from certain chairmen and managers . Jesus you only have to look at the evidence to smell a rat here. Im also convinced that because J.M. has stolen the limelight , theres a huge vendetta towards the club in general . They cant handle him and the only way to react is to critisise in an effort to undermine his achievements.

Alex F is the darling of the media , he can do no wrong . His constant intimidation of officials , players and journalists went un noticed because they were afraid of him , and still are .

When J.M. came along they thought they could bully him , they thought he was just a big mouth until he achieved the success . Now there on a mission to drive him out of English football .

So the best way to shut them up is to keep on winning .

and compare the hammer we got to that muppet in the sun today slagging milan off for saying that liverpool will play defensively and go for a tight game. he then say s its an excellent plan by fat rafa and only the result matters. this just days after hammering us for doiing the same thing. tossers, the lot of them.