Last night, we just didn’t do enough. A 0-0 draw is not the worst result in the world but it is the lost opportunities that frustrated more than anything. We almost totally dominated Milan, and we had the perfect opportunity to finish them off at home before a really tough game at the San Siro … and we failed.

The game was decent, and our midfield was superb, while our defending was even better. The finishing was off for the night, and I don’t just mean Adebayor. Eduardo, Fabregas, Eboue, Walcott all had very decent chances that were wasted, or fluffed to be more accurate. If I remember correctly, every single shot we had was at the same exact spot, almost straight at the keeper. That was very frustrating!

Our last chance of the game pretty much sums up our night. In the 93rd minute, Adebayor ’s header from less than 5 yards away hit the crossbar.

Contrary to what I said in the preview of the game, Milan’s defence proved to be the strongest part of the team yesterday. Nesta and Maldini were brilliant in annoying Adebayor and not giving him enough space. Thats not to say we didn’t create openings, because we did … quite a few. Any other day and we would have scored at least 2, but that wasn’t the case last night.

Pato was ineffective alone against Gallas and Senderos, who came in for the injured Toure. In the second half, Pato gave up on breaking the back two and started drifting right and left and was again faced with Clichy and Sagna who did well defensively and offensively. In midfield Hleb did a brilliant job in containing Pirlo, who’s only contribution as far as I can remember is two wasted long distance free kicks. Flamini and Fabregas handled Kaka perfectly, although Fabregas had a poor game yet again going forward. On the other hand, Eboue had an excellent game going forward, created a few chances with decent crosses and maneuvering his way into the area more than once.

It was a joy watching the Gattuso Flamini contest. Both of them were like machines, moving around everywhere, and surprisingly Gattuso had most passes in Milan and not so surprisingly covered more ground than anyone.

There are two positives we should take from the game -

1. The main positive about the game is that our boys can feel confident in their abilities ahead of the away leg in two weeks time. They know that they totally outplayed a full Milan side and that can only add on their confidence and desire.
2. Milan didn’t score, which is always good as a home team. The away goals could prove decisive in Milan.

We need to forget the game and focus on the upcoming game against Birmingham on Saturday. It is more important than the Milan game and is 1 of the remaining 12 games for the title race.