Success still tastes sweet

It was a great achievement for us to have a trophy in our cabinet by the end of February thanks to our 2-1 victory over Aston Villa in last Sunday's Carling Cup final, and we hope it will be a springboard for more success this season.

It perhaps wasn't the great game that some were expecting. Villa started very well and looked dangerous in the first 20 minutes. They put us on the back foot, and when James Milner scored a penalty for them after only five minutes it wasn't looking good for us.

But we have to take credit for playing ourselves back into the game and once again we showed great character to come from behind and win. Michael Owen scored a typically good goal to equalise, and when he had to go off injured, Wayne Rooney came off the bench to do what he has been doing all season: score a crucial goal which won us the game.

Villa finished strongly with some long balls into our box in the last five minutes but generally I think we can say we deserved to win for our all-round solid team performance. Antonio Valencia stood out as an outstanding performer with his dribbling and crossing which Villa found very difficult to deal with. But I think it was the all-round team performance that won it for us in the end; it won't go down as one of those finals remembered for an individual display.

It has been suggested that Nemanja Vidic should have been sent off early on for his foul on Gabriel Agbonglahor which led to the penalty, but I disagree. Patrice Evra might have been able to cover and it wasn't clear if Agbonglahor was heading directly for goal. I think it would have ruined the game if he had been sent off so early, although maybe he could have got a yellow card. It certainly would have been very difficult for us to get back in the game had we gone down to 10 men, because Villa are very dangerous in attack.

It's very unfortunate that Owen was injured and will be out for the rest of the season, and we obviously don't want anyone injured for the run-in. But we have a big squad and we should be able to cope, as long as we don't get lots of injuries in the same position like we did earlier in the season.

I played a part on the pitch in the second half and it is still very special for me to play in big finals. As a young player at a club as successful as ours, when you get to finals there is perhaps a sense that there will be many more to come. As I get older, I can appreciate the occasion even more.

This year's Carling Cup is the 34th trophy Sir Alex Ferguson has won as manager of Manchester United and his record is just incredible. When you talk about the greatest managers, there is no doubt that our gaffer would be right up there. He's had over 20 years at Manchester United, which is unheard of in this day and age. It seems like every other week we're talking about a manager being sacked and not been given enough time, and yet at one of the greatest clubs in the world our manager has stayed and delivered a phenomenal amount of success.

Winning trophies is what our club is all about and we certainly hope the Carling Cup won't be our only trophy this season. We have a great chance in the league now after Chelsea lost 4-2 to Manchester City last weekend, and we will do everything we can to take that chance.

Arsenal are obviously back in it and the race is wide open once again. Some people have looked at Arsenal's remaining fixtures and said they have the easiest run-in, but I don't believe in easy run-ins.

You have to think that ourselves, Chelsea and Arsenal will be favourites to win almost every game we play in the league until the end of the season, but we are also the teams that everyone will want to beat. We will have to see which team is best at keeping their nerves.

Milan still in it

We have the second leg of our Champions League tie with AC Milan coming up on Wednesday at Old Trafford and we will need to be patient in the game and constantly aware of their threats.

Although we hold a 3-2 advantage from the first leg, I doubt we will be looking to blitz them from the kick-off to kill the tie early on. Sometimes in can happen that you win comfortably in the Champions League, but it is not a common occurrence.

We have played a lot in Europe and we will need to be sensible and use all our experience. Milan are a fantastic team and we are taking nothing for granted.

David Beckham will return to Old Trafford for the first time as an opposition player, which will add to the occasion. I spoke to him before the tie and I know he is excited to return.

World Cup warm-up

I watched England's 3-1 victory over Egypt last Wednesday and thought it was a very good game.

Egypt looked like a good team and they impressed me in the first half with their willingness to attack, so England have to be pleased with the result. There were some good performances on the night. I thought the United players did well; Wayne Rooney looked dangerous and Wes Brown and Michael Carrick gave good accounts of themselves.

There is always optimism in England about the national team's chances at major tournaments and this year is no different. We have been drawn in a good group which the players will be confident of progressing from. The squad will need a bit of luck, and high concentration levels, and key players will need to stay fit to give England the best chance of success.

Send your questions to Gary Neville to sunday@timesofmalta.com.