On Sunday, Raji, Stephen and I watched the Carling Cup final together and I have to say, it was a thoroughly enjoyable match. I was naturally hoping Villa would win – for Dunnie as well as for ABU, and was delighted when Vidic gave away a penalty in just 4 minutes. What none of us could understand was why Vidic didn’t get so much as a yellow card, never mind a red. I think maybe the ref wasn’t brave enough so early in the game and had it occurred later, perhaps he may have shown the red card merited. Vidic did then go on to commit fouls throughout the game and should have had yellows on a couple of occasions- so in any event, should have been off at some stage.

That aside, ManUre looked the better team once Rooney came on, and Villa tired in the second half. There was only one team going to win it, and of course, they did. Much as I dislike them, they were worthy winners. City fans couldn’t help noticing that had we been playing Villa, we too, would have fancied our chances of winning. But it wasn’t to be.

In the evening, I was pottering around on my computer but checking progress of the Stoke v Arsenal game via the text commentary. Late in the game, I saw that Aaron Ramsey had suffered a horrible leg fracture after a 50:50 challenge by Shawcross. Having subsequently seen the videos and photos I feel very sorry for a young lad who has a long road to recovery ahead of him. Whilst he has youth on his side physically, it may go against him mentally – though hopefully he will benefit from advice and support from Eduardo who was in a similar horrific incident a couple of years ago. I also feel for Shawcross who was undoubtedly upset by what happened and clearly had not intended it to end that way. That said, Stoke generally play a physical game (City fans should know, having watched our team play them 4 times this season!) and you have to think that it was only a matter of time before this kind of thing happened. Little has been said about Glenn Whelan who was the one player to stay with Ramsey whilst he was waiting for medical attention. He comforted him, stopped him looking at the broken leg which was hanging at a sickening angle and stayed with him throughout. All the other players (of both teams) simply looked stunned so well done to Whelan for his actions. No matter what colour of shirt a player wears, none of them ever deserve this kind of horrific injury and I hope both Ramsey and Shawcross recover from this fully.

On Wednesday night, England were playing a friendly against Egypt at Wembley, and as ever, I planned to watch it. One of our good friends is going through a tough time at the moment and he asked if we wanted to go to the pub and watch it with him. Billy was already committed to going to cricket nets but I went along, and Simon and Claire did too. Our friend was quite quiet throughout the evening but I’d like to think having us around helped him a bit. The match was entertaining enough, though England were very poor initially. Not sure if this was because it was a friendly, or because they’d underestimated Egypt or what. The Egyptian goal when it came, was no surprise really but it seemed to wake our own players up a bit. I was very pleased for SWP making such an impact when he came on, and Barry did a solid job as ever – sadly for Bridge, I think he’d have been better at LB than Baines. I’m still not convinced by Crouch and never will be – and yet he can pop up with a much needed goal at times. I think I mainly object to our predictable play when he’s on – long balls hoofed his way and hoping for his height to somehow win the ball despite the fact he doesn’t jump! Happily, his Bambi-on-ice style of ball “control” causes the opposition defences as much confusion as me and it pays off when we do get the ball to his feet. Rooney was as in form as he has been at club level and you can’t help admire him even if he does play for “them”! There was a man sitting near us who was very, very drunk, and when he overheard us discussing this, leaned over and said “What’s wrong with his team, hm?” As I was wearing my City away shirt, I grinned, pointed to my shirt and said “This is what’s wrong with it.” The man was so drunk, he didn’t recognise the shirt and proudly showed me his ManUre one, grabbed my hand and smiled at me saying “Best team in the world love. Best in the world.” I just gave up – he was too far gone to bother with

What a great week – watching so much football. Love it!