As a Manchester United fan, waking up this morning it didn't seem like we had got to a Cup Final, our first domestic one since the largely disappointing 1-0 loss to Chelsea, in what was supposed to be the glorious curtain-raiser at the new Wembley. I suppose the fact that the team was completely depleated by injuries, along with Derby's late rally, scoring twice in the last 10 minutes, put a bit of a downer on things. Nevertheless, United are through, and will play Burnley, or most likely, Tottenham in February.
Sir Alex Ferguson will know the real cost of reaching the final after their next couple of more high-profile matches. With Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown and Patrice Evra all out injured currently, and Gary Neville easing his way back into the team, the last thing the manager needed was more defensive problems. Defensive problems are exactly what he got. Rafael, one of the men completely transformed from the 1-0 first leg loss at Pride Park, limped off before half-time, and Jonny Evans, the magnificent stand-in for Ferdinand in recent weeks, struggled through the final exchanges.
United ended the night with a back four unrecognisable to most fans, John O'Shea at left back being accompanied by debutant James Chester and a half-fit Evans, and makeshift right-back Darren Fletcher. Ryan Giggs also limped off for United, but replacement Cristiano Ronaldo was obviously under instruction to "take it easy". The Portugese winger hardly touched the ball in the half an hour run-out he received. It was his fellow countryman, Nani, that set the game alight after a quarter of an hour.
Having seen Kris Commons try to repeat his first-leg heroics with a spectacular effort early on, Nani cut inside from the left and unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner, from a good 30 yards. The inquest into how he managed to get that far unchallenged should take nothing away from a stunningly sweet strike, but Derby's "defenders" gave Nani permission to waltz past them.
Schoolboy defending led to United's second, too. John O'Shea made a storming run from left back, and found himself with the ball at his feet 12 yards out. In truth, he had enough time to score the goal 5 times over before Derby got a tackle in. Almost apologetically, O'Shea stroked the ball in, admitting afterwards: "I'm sure I was offside!" Before limping off Rafael delivered a beauty of a cross for Tevez to head home United's third, again after criminal defending. Derby were simply blown away by United's football in the first half, and it looked like a damage limitation job when they came out after the break.
But the rhythm of the Champions was disrupted by injuries and substitutions, Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Rafael all subbed because of knocks. Anderson finished the night on a stretcher whilst Evans limped down the tunnel. The visitors took advantage of Evans' lack of mobility, winning a penalty after a rash challenge from the centre-half. Sub Giles Barnes stroked home, and the talented youngster also scored a marvellous free-kick in stoppage time. It makes you wonder, if it wasn't for his terrible knee injury last season, a bigger move would have surely been on the cards.
Yet it turned out not to be enough, as ex-United 'keeper Roy Carroll did his old team a favour by bringing down Carlos Tevez in the 89th minute. Carroll was booked, and Ronaldo stepped up to comfortably strike the pivotal blow. It was 4-2 on the night, 4-3 on aggregate, but new manager Nigel Clough's fairytale start has turned into somewhat of a nightmare.
They were abysmal by his own reckoning in the defeat at QPR on Saturday, and although put up more of a fight tonight, it will be hard for Clough Jr to not think "what if" after the awful first-half show of defending. The late rally will give them some confidence going into Friday's massive cup-tie with neighbours Nottingham Forest, whilst for United, it's the first of a potential two Cup dates with Spurs, but don't be surprised to see a string of changes because of injury for Sir Alex's men.
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