So it's Roma!
The quarter-final draw was made today and I'm reasonably happy with it.
They'll certainly be looking for revenge after last year's 7-1 result - gained in the best game I've ever seen United play.
But hopefully we can focus and concentrate and get through. I wouldn't count on anything though as United are notorious for making life more difficult for themselves.
I would have actually preferred an English club, strange as that may sound. The problem I think with United, and one of the reasons we've failed so often, is that Ferguson has a tendency to change the tactics and tends to play a much more defensive formation.
The players are expected to do jobs they're not necessarily comfortable or familiar with, and it shows.
We were excellent away, but really struggled at home against Lyon, and I think that was due to our defensive tactics, a 4-5-1 formation was played, when really we should have taken them apart.
It's almost as if Fergie's afraid of going all out attack, but that when we are at our best, the 7-1 game last season proved that, and when we won the European Cup, our football was so exciting.
Anyway, we'll see.

So, Spurs manager Juande Ramos says he is confident that yesterday's Carling Cup Final victory over Chelsea is just the start of something huge for the North London club, which has been in the shadow of their Emirates Stadium-dwelling rivals for too long.
We shall see.
They have some very good, but not great, players. Robbie Keane is solid and dependable, Berbatov shows flashes of brilliance, and I think Ledley King could have become a world-class defender if not for his ongoing injury problems, but there are too many players who seem to be unable to step up a notch.
Jermaine Jenas looked like a class player when he began at Nottingham Forest, but he has never quite delivered on that early promise, while Aaron Lennon is too inconsistent and struggles against top defenders.
The answer to these problems would appear to be a massive re-building project, bringing in new top-quality players. But they may struggle.
Their name is not what it was in the 1980s, when they were associated with glamorous passing football, thanks to the likes of Glen Hoddle, and though you could argue that Chelsea's name was never very well-known world-wide before their recent success, the little issue of Russian money, and bags of it, was undoubtedly the reason why they became English champions two years on the trot and continue to threaten.

FABIO Capello's tenure begins in just a few hours.
How long it will last is anybody's guess, but he has already impressed many with his willingness to do it his way.
This week the press has been full of reports of mobile phone and WAG bans, curfews, and zero tolerance on lateness.
Capello says this is his way, and I think it has to be welcomed. Steve MacClaren was too matey with the players.
It is perhaps unfair to criticise the players for making the most of their celebrity lifestyles and getting carried away with the bling culture (what would you do with all that money?), but it's fair to say that many of the players have forgotten that the main priority for a footballer is to play football, not drive a Bentley.
I doubt Capello will eradicate the bling culture from the modern game, but the fact that he is imposing ground rules from the start can only be a good thing, and hopefully it will make the players put the football first.

IT'S good for football that Keegan is back in the Premiership.
Many observers have commented on the fact that he has never won anything at the top level as a manager, and I think most football fans would agree that he is fatally flawed, too emotional and not defensively astute.
But who cares? He's a true football man through and through. He cares about the game so much, and as a football fan, I can understand why he would get emotional and worked up when things don't go right.
Of course, it's hard for me to ignore the fact that he used to play for Liverpool, and I must give him penalty points for that, but I really admire his passion and enthusiasm.
It's gonna make Match of the Day a lot more interesting.

WHY oh why have Newcastle United got rid of Sam Allardyce?!
Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think he's a great manager, but what was the point of employing him if you're going to sack him after such a short time period? What happened to a bit of patience?
Is it just me, or do Toon fans put far too much pressure on their managers?
Even Bobby Robson, whose record was fantastic at Newcastle, was given the boot after several games of being booed.
Bobby Robson!! I mean, I ask you!!
This is the man who took England to the semi-finals of the World Cup and could easily have won the tournament if not for some bad luck and two dreadful penalties!
So where now for the so-called sleeping giant of a team? There aren't that many top managers out of a job at the moment.
Jose Mourinho - I doubt even he could satisfy the overwhelming demands of the Newcastle fans.

LIVERPOOL TO CHALLENGE?

FEAR is overtaking my mind at the moment.
Fear that Liverpool are going to make a return. I hate to admit it but the fact that they remain unbeaten is a real worry.
As a Manchester United devotee, I remember only too well the dark days of the 1980s, when the red side of Liverpool were dominant.
Thankfully, they've been nowhere near realistically winning the premiership since its inception, but with Torres I think they could challenge this year.
And I just cannot face it.
I would definitely have to leave the country.

MOURINHO FOR ENGLAND?

I have to admit that I am not overly bothered about England - MUFC take up too much of my time.
But I must say I am saddened by the fact that the country is not going to Euro 2008.
It was obvious from the start that Steve McClaren was not the right man for the job. Although he did well at United as Fergie's right hand man, the fact is he hadn't been particularly impressive at Middlesbrough - he did okay, but several managers do okay.
What England needed, and what it needs now more than ever, is someone exceptional, and you have to say that Mourinho fits the bill.
His tactics may not be thrilling, and as a United fan he used to drive me mad - not least when he flew down the touchline at Old Trafford shouting obscenities and making rude gestures at the United fans after Porto equalised in the last minute of our European Cup tie to take them through to the next round in 2003.
But there's no doubting he's the man for the job, and if the FA don't get him, there'll be no excuses.