I thought we played really well in the first leg of Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester City, despite losing 2-1.

We controlled the match for 40 minutes until conceding a penalty which, to be fair, shouldn't have been a penalty. I think the replays proved the decision was wrong and everyone could see it, but that goal just before half-time lifted City a little bit.

For the first 40 minutes and the last half hour we were the stronger team and certainly deserved at least a draw for our performance. We conceded two goals, which was disappointing, but the great thing about this tie is we've got another opportunity to put it right on Wednesday. It's all to play for.

It's happened quite a bit lately - we've had chances to take something out of matches but haven't done so. Even in the Leeds match we had chances, although we didn't play well. I thought in the last 20 minutes of the match against City, some of the play between Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Mame Diouf was excellent. Antonio Valancia had a great chance and Ryan Giggs had a good effort stopped by Shay Given, who made some very good saves.

We need to start taking our chances and we should be OK. But in football, probably the hardest thing to do is score a goal. Last Tuesday, our attacking play probably deserved more than one goal, particularly in the last half hour when we started to cut through them. Unfortunately, we couldn't capitalise on it and they got a few goals to take the lead into the Old Trafford match, but the beauty of a two-legged tie is we live to fight another day.

The atmosphere was very good last Tuesday. All Manchester derbies have a great atmosphere and Wednesday will be no different at our ground. The night atmospheres at Old Trafford are always special, whether in European, league or cup matches. Our fans never let us down in the important matches and they will be well up for it on Wednesday. It will be a great environment to play football in.

The fact that we played a strong team in the Carling Cup against City shows how important the match was. We want to get a consistent run of performances now. We were playing against a good side in a good run of form and we had to play a strong team. I think it will be the same on Wednesday, because at the moment we have to play a strong team to try and win every match and hopefully win trophies.

We are getting to the business end of the season and we want to make sure we are competing in finals and competing for the championship.

Solid defence at Arsenal

At the time of writing, everyone is talking about our matches against Manchester City on Wednesday and Arsenal in the league the following Sunday, but we have a match before that against Hull City and we are focusing on that.

We have to get three points against Hull, who drew at Tottenham last week. The Hull match is our first priority; when that is over we can turn our attentions elsewhere.

The City and Arsenal matches will take care of themselves in the sense that they are big matches and all our players will be up for them. It's always difficult to go to Emirates, and Arsenal are a very good side in good form, so it's a big week for us and one for us to look forward to.

The change in Arsenal this season may be that they have had a settled defence. Thomas Vermaelen coming alongside William Gallas has done well, as have the two full-backs. They have always been excellent in attack but perhaps they have had some problems defensively over the past few years. That has probably been down to injuries and rotation rather than a lack of quality. Now they seem to have a settled back four and we know from our experience that if you get a settled back four it can really give you a lot of security and solidity to build from in a football match.

Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas is a fantastic player. When he first came over we played against him in the Charity Shield in one of his very first matches in 2004. To look at the player now from the player he was then, the development is fantastic. He was always a good football player, someone who could control the ball and pass. But the recent development of his running power and his capacity to influence and control games means he is one of the top midfield players and someone we will have to look out for.

Nothing is won and lost in January, but at the moment Arsenal, ourselves and Chelsea are looking like the teams most likely to mount a championship challenge, although it's not too late for teams behind us to put a run together. But there is a gap now between the top three and the rest, and it can be very difficult to close such gaps.

Over to you

Do you see Rafael as your long-term replacement at Manchester United?
Marat Omarov

There is no doubt that Rafael is an outstanding talent. What impresses me most is that he is not fazed by any occasion. He's quick and energetic, he has the aggression which is needed in the Premier League, he gets forward well and he has the potential to be a great full-back for Manchester United.

Whether he will be the long-term full-back is difficult to predict because anything can happen in football. You can have injuries and other players can come through the ranks. John O'Shea and Wes Brown will be around for some time, and both can play full-back. But Rafael certainly has the potential to be a great player, he works hard in training and I like the way he plays. I like both him and his brother as people, they are exactly what I like to see in young players - they have that enthusiasm to want to play all the time.

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