Semi final - Manchester United vs AC Milan

First leg - Old Trafford Tuesday April 24th
Second leg - San Siro Wednesday May 2nd

Hopefully be two cracking games of football.

I support a Milan - Cheslea final!

BTW We already know at least one Dutchman will lift the "Cup with the Big Ears" this year!!!!!

VDS
Seedorf
Robben, Boulahrouz
Kuyt, Zenden

i'd put Man Utd as favourites - who wouldnt after they beat Roma 7-1.

Milan are starting to come into form though. Gila and Inzaghi are at least hitting the back of the net. Kaka is always dangerous and Seedorf is doing great. Nesta and Maldini looked very strong against Bayern but it will be interesting to see how they deal with the pace of Man Utd. I also wonder how the fullbacks of Milan will deal with Man Utd's attacks down the wings. I think Ancelotti may be tempted to play one of Bonera or Kaladze at fullback in the first leg.

I really wanted to play Bayern (we would rip them apart IMO).

Milan worry me. I wanted Roma but there is always the chance that Milan will have one of those evenings when they are perfect defensively. They also have that experience there.

Should be good. Looking forward to it.

P.S. What has Maldini been eating to still be playing first team football?

Should be a good game, I dont want to write Milan of, as despite not really impressing me all season, they have the players to pull something out the bag.

I would normally say we have too much pace for them, but they suffocate the game, so pace will not become an issue. Also I have been slating Gilardino for ages and he will probably now go and break his CL duck and play a blinder against us.

I think the first goal at OT is so important if we get it, then I think we will win the tie, as it will force Milan to commit more players and push higher up the field, leaving space for Rooney, Saha, Ronaldo and Giggs to run into. If Milan score first, they have the abilty to kill the game. Alot depends on the midfield battle, Ronaldo and Rooney playing to there strengths and of course how we handle the splendid Kaka.

Anyway I think we will progress to the final as Ronaldo is untouchable at the moment, the 2 goal will help Rooneys confidence and the Roma game would have given the whole team huge confidence and the belief that they can win it.

William Hill:

Man Utd 2/1

Chelsea 2/1

Liverpool 3/1

A C Milan 4/1

Ladbrokes:

Man U 2/1

Chelsea 9/4

Liverpool 3/1

AC Milan 7/2

Coral:

Man U 2/1

Chelsea 11/5

Liverpool 3/1

AC Milan 4/1

So thats what the bookies say, Man U slight favourites ahead of Chelsea, Milan the outsiders.

I don't trust bookies.

How many times did bookies get it right....? Not so many times

Ricardo Jol wrote:How many times did bookies get it right....? Not so many times

They can never be right or wrong.

English teams are bound to be favourites with our bookies.

Basically same odds all across the world, if there wasnt people could cover each bet. There needs to be really a lot bet on something for the odds to change that way. Most foreign bookmakers use the english ones as a guide to what the odds should be anyway.

Manchester's pace will be a worry, defensively we haven't been great this season. But we are capable of putting on a good performance to get a good result. Nesta is playing well since returning, the away game will be crucial, even a 1-1 draw would be a good result as I'm confident we can win at the San Siro.

What do some of the European bookmakers say? Are they also putting Milan last? And I'm sure Liverpool wouldn't be third if they had beaten us in the Quarters rather than Round of 16.

As LRD said Kas, bookies often go with who the most money is put down on.

Not suprised if in England most of the money is on us at the moment even if we are the favourites or not.

kas wrote:What do some of the European bookmakers say? Are they also putting Milan last? And I'm sure Liverpool wouldn't be third if they had beaten us in the Quarters rather than Round of 16.

we were most people's favourites before united played Roma football is fickle

Doesn't mean anything anyway

both ties are 50/50

I'd have rather played Bayern, Bayern are a solid team but you just can't see game breakers in that team, players who can produce a moment of magic. Bastain, Makaay, Bommel, Heagreaves, Poldi were all very good players but none I could see could produce a moment of audacity.

Milan have class, experience and all the gifted players.

Reading recent analysis, it's dejavu to what happened when we last played them. We were in good form with Keane, Scholes, + other midfielder(Fletcher, Fortune) Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs all playing well we were playing free flowing free scoring football and all we heard was, how will those old defenders deal with this pace and power.

Those old defenders bitch slapped all our players into submission over 180 mins. I have a De javu feeling again.

I really don't like how people (neutrals as well) are saying our attack will be much to good for them.

They've got so much experience in the likes of Nesta, Maldini, Pirlo, Gattuso and Seedorf. Kaka is obviously quality as well.

We're going to need some control in midfield if we want to get the attack firing on full speed.

I honestly don't think you have that much to worry about.. put Carrick on Kaká with a CB as back up and you are set..

Milan's fullbacks are ok, but nothing special and should be to occupied to provide any width to their team, and Pirlo's passes will be wasted with the current Milan attack comprised of an ageing Inzaghi and a young Gilardino..

Inzaghi is the kind of annoying player that'll nick an important goal though, despite doing nothing else but bother the linesman.

I'd even consider playing super Fletcher and get him to do the same job on Kaka that he did on Totti, just annoy the hell out of him.

If you ask me the problem with the last game was our cagey "European" approach. It works for teams like Liverpool but they are alot more adept at playing it. Also, Italian teams are notorious for not being able to handle fast wing play.

We should attack them from the off. If we get stuck in another "European" strategy, cagey game we will lose.

OwenThomas4 wrote:

We should attack them from the off. If we get stuck in another "European" strategy, cagey game we will lose.

Agree with that. As Pierre would say, they are smarter than us.

If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

zen and the art of wrote:If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

Hey man...what do you think of this tie? Do you fancy Milan's chances?

zen and the art of wrote:If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

Well I'd hope Scholes wouldn't do a Gerrard and go charging round the pitch and also Giggs will obviously be told not to bomb forward as much as Ronaldo on the other wing.

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:

zen and the art of wrote:If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

Hey man...what do you think of this tie? Do you fancy Milan's chances?

Depends on how Gilardino/Inzaghi (who ever is likely to play upfront) does in the next few weeks. But yeah, I think you can beat them. I certainly do not get why everyone's jumping on this "United have too much pace they'll blow Milan away" arguement. They've got no more pace than they had two years ago (unless Saha returns).

I still think the key to the game is that Milan have a top class destroyer in Gattuso (and a couple of decent ones in Ambrosini and Brocchi) whereas United don't have a single destroyer fullstop. Maybe Darren Fletcher, it's still not 'his game' as such. Though he's done a job there.

My opinion on the match is simply that I feel Gattuso can give Ronaldo a far tougher time in a personal battle than O'Shea/Smith/Fletcher can Kaká.

Parks lives wrote:

zen and the art of wrote:If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

Well I'd hope Scholes wouldn't do a Gerrard and go charging round the pitch and also Giggs will obviously be told not to bomb forward as much as Ronaldo on the other wing.

It wasn't just that Gerrard charged around the pitch Pip. It was that there was a very obvious gap in between midfield and defence and Kaká spent the duration of the half there. Everytime Xabi tried to drop into the position Gerrard would be overrun in the centre by Pirlo at Gattuso, who would tuck in midfield and leave Riise up against Cafu, knowing full well that Traore wouldn't be a great threat on the overlap.

Well as I've said, I'm not against Fletcher playing next to Carrick and then having 4 in front of them out of Giggs, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Park and Saha. Park and Saha may not be fit for the first leg anyway, so our team could be picked for us.

If he goes with Scholes and Carrick I still think they can do a good job of staying deep like they have done on many occassions this season, with maybe more guidance on Giggs helping them out.

Is Oddo any good? I've never been impressed with him and he dealt with Salihamidiwrvknlbvefjnktb fine but i have my doubts that hed be able to contain Giggs...

Still remember Downing ripping him apart last season.

zen and the art of wrote:If at any point Ferguson thinks "Carrick and Scholes would be good here" he should immediately put on the first half of Istanbul and watch Kaká when he has free reign to do as he pleases.

In the first leg, Bayern did very well with having one midfielder on Kaká and then backing him up with Van Buyten.. can't see why that shouldn't work with a Carrick plus Rio combination..

Kaká did very little of note over the two legs against Bayern..