Everton 0-1 Manchester United

Everton 0-1 Manchester United
Well you shouldn't moan at coming away from Goodison points with all the points, and i am not going to. But i am also not going to pretend it was a good performance either. We just have not got going at all this season, we seem to be passing it around nicely enough in midfield, but it is just not happening up front. Of course the lack of Rooney, Saha and latterly Ronaldo through suspension haven't helped much.
The first half was a bit of a non event really, both goalies having barely a save to make between them. I wasn't mad at the starting line up, Evra lining in front of Silvestre. Neither did anything wrong, but surely we have got enough players in the squad to not play two full backs on the left hand side. Silvestre has not had any luck with injuries over the last couple of seasons, and i am afraid the injury that saw him leave the pitch on a stretcher looked pretty nasty. It looked like the kind of injury that puts you out for the season, but the only news on it so far is he is being sent for a scan. Of course after that Evra reverted to left back as Nani came on to play on the left.
The second half was barely more entertaining, even after Saha came on for Giggs we didn't really look like we would be able to nick a goal. We did create one really good chance following probably the best move of the match, that saw Scholes eventually ghost his way into the box. Unfortunately and unusually for Scholes he missed the target, not even forcing the goalie into a save. Everton's best chance predictably enough came from a set piece that saw Johnson get in front of Ronaldo to head towards goal only to see the ginger prince doing his defensive duties and clear off the line.
It was fitting for United that the goal came from our best player on the day, Vidic, and not too much surprise the goal came from a defender from a set piece, if either team was going to score that seemed the most likely route. Ferdinand must be credited with a great block after Van Der Sar could only parry McFadden's left footed strike and the ball fell at the feet of Yobo, but alert reactions from Ferdinand snuffed out the chance and the three points were virtually secure.
Bar the Arsenal result it was a pretty good day with Liverpool and Chelsea both only managing to draw. Who would have thought after we lost at the boo camp three games later we would be entering the rent boy match above them in the table, admittedly only on goal difference. I suppose it just shows that nobody is really on fire at the moment, Chelsea's form seems to be as poor as ours at the moment. Arsenal seem to have made the best start and that was a really good performance and result against their old enemies, but i am still not totally convinced they have improved that much. The one time they have played in the type of game they don't usually like, against Blackburn, they still looked like it was the kind of game they don't really relish.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,2170116,00.html
Lets not start hearing about the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster and the champions league campaign about to start. It was bad enough when the final was in Glasgow and we heard it was our destiny to get to the final.


Review of The shock doctrine : The rise of disaster capitalism
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/politicsphilosophyandsociety/0,,2169298,00.html


Don't panic, don't panic. Northern rock
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2169906,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6997264.stm

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/analysis_and_features/article2966848.ece

It may well be right that there is no reason to panic, but seeing as though it is in their interests to say that, i don't blame anybody for erring on the side of caution.
Will Hutton writes sense as usual, although some of the comments are a joke

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2170439,00.html

Greenspan : Iraq invaded for oil
A statement of the bleeding obvious for anyone with eyes to see, but there are plenty without, so it's glad to hear such a staunch establishment conservative stating the real reason for the invasion. Of course it is also the reason for the sabre rattling with Iran. The part about Bush's incompetence is a bit rich coming from him though. What is happening now is at least partly down to decisions he made as chairman of the fed.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2461415.ece
Control
Paul Morley writes in the observer about the forthcoming film control about Ian Curtis,
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,,2167397,00.html