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Hiddink should get all the credit for this. Has this bloke ever made a mistake in his managerial career? (Apart from the 'tache, which looked for all the world like the errant squiggle of a chimp's biro). Some people put his incredible success with South Korea in '02 down to dodgy refs and Duracell batteries, but clearly the man knows his stuff.

If you compare his short reign with his predecessors, it's hard not to be impressed. Jose left all the entertainment on the touchline once he ditched Duffman and Robben. Successful but about as pretty as an over-80s Ms Universe competition.

brought the dour into the press conference too, to such an extent that you half-expected the bloke to finish the interrogations with the phrase 'Now where is the family of the deceased?' Very nearly successful - and about as uplifting as the grey brassiere the missus keeps at the back of the cupboard.

, besides which the team had a midfield three that moved the ball from side to side like a bunch of old Etonians passing the port. Entertaining for a bit but about as credible as the Team McLaren Book of Excuses.

They're by and large still Mourinho's team, but maybe at last they've plastered over the secret recess in the home dressing room which is a shrine to the Great Churl.

But like Capello and even 'Arry will tell you, it's basic stuff sometimes: play the right players in their best positions and you get a team. A bit of confidence doesn't harm you either. Plus the wit to shackle the likes of Gerrard to the heavy anvil that is Essien in the first leg.

Mind you, it still required some Dutch fury at half-time on Tuesday night. Clearly Chelsea were hoping for some of that zonal marking to come to their aid. Now I don't know much about zonal marking, but it seems clear that marking an area of grass is what dogs, not defenders, do.

It must be easier to keep tabs on another person rather than the area into which he might stray. For the zonal marking to work, I suggest Rafa gets his team to use walky-talkies like on The Bill when they're doing a surveillance operation.

"Ste G here, like... have a visual of suspect Superserb... is coming your way, JC... over."

"Copy Ste G..."

"No, wait, suspect is gone walkabout, JC... heading for... S***!... heading for Martin!"

"Dammit, Ste G! We've been well and truly Skrtled!"

But that after Kuyt scored I was baying for the Reds to get the fifth. And that's another thing that Hiddink has brought, real entertainment to the Bridge.

And there's more coming. I watched the first half of Barca versus Bayern and by crikey Messi has to be the best player in the world right now (apart from Macheda, of course, who's been dipped in wax at Madame Tussauds as we speak - I'm familiar with this process having watched the Boro back four for two thirds of this season).

The way was reminscent of one of them sublime middle-pocket roll-ins that Stephen Hendry mastered in his pomp. Trying to stop the lad is like trying to catch one of them sunbathing lizards on a rocky Mediterranean beach.

Henry and Eto'o - sounds less like a front pairing and more an up itself lasses' hair salon - are a mite good as well, and then you've got Xavi and the ghostly Iniesta floating around with the ball under their spell. I tell you what, it's bleeding art is what it is. Why would some berks want to watch the ballet or the opera when they could soak up this sort of stuff?

The other semi looks tasty, too. You know Wenger's confident when all he talks about is his team's youth, desire and mental strength. And just as the Blue Bell was relishing how the the United defence was becoming about as coordinated as a platoon full of Clive Dunns, back come Rio and Vidic and the job's a good 'un. Mind that was a fluky strike by Ronaldo, wasn't it?

Here's hoping

And I thought the was very moving. Losing to Chelsea put in perspective. It's not that important really, football. Not as important as honouring the people who died for the love of it.