Manchester United 2-0 Fulham

A run of the mill 2-0 victory that probably would have been 5 or 6 if the officials had been up to the job. The return of Rooney saw United return to form eventually anyway, with him playing as if the injury had never happened, bang on form again, making the front line a lot harder for the opposition to combat. I thought United started at a better tempo than they had against Bolton, but i was glad we scored when we did when we did as i thought our good start looked like it was staring to peter out. Fulham won't be happy with the goal though as Giggs corner seemed to have come to nothing as it landed straight on the head of Davies. But instead of heading out and clearing the danger, he miscued the header sideways and it landed right in front of Ronaldo who hit a pearler of a volley into the top corner of the net to put us 1-0 up. Tevez had a decent chance shortly after, but Niemi managed to keep it out. United seemed to lose their way a bit after that and Fulham played well having a few decent chances as Van Der Sar was forced into action with a couple of decent chances. I haven't really seen much of Fulham since Sanchez took over, it looks like he may be a decent manager, he did a good job at Northern Ireland and he seems to have Fulham playing attractive passing football.
Thankfully United seemed to up a level in the second half, and when United scored the second, the threat from Fulham was extinguished and United really started to play. It was a cracking header from Ronaldo, he seemed to get really high and then hung in the air before powering the ball into the net. He has started to score headers regularly now that old fashioned centre forwards would be happy with. Yet another potent weapon in his armoury. He seemed nearer to the Ronaldo of last season last night, lets hope the season clicks into gear for him now. I know that sounds an odd thing to say about a player who has scored 13 goals already this season, but i still think he has not rediscovered his all conquering form of last season. Mind you if he scores the amount of goals, and the quality of goals he has so far this season i am not complaining.
After this it was as much about the referee and linesman, as it was about the players. To add insult to injury the referee not only didn't award Ronaldo a blatant penalty that would have given him, a chance to notch his first hatrick for the club, he then proceeded to book him for diving. The TV replays show pretty conclusively it was a penalty, and even if you were still unconvinced it was clear he didn't dive.
The linesman had a mare, I don't know how he gave some of the offsides he did in the second half, some were nowhere near offside. He must have denied us two or three potential one on one situations with the goalie that would have boosted our goal difference if we had took at least one of them. I hope the bug that affected Evra and Ferdinand doesn't affect the rest of the team. I didn't notice Ferdinand struggling until he took that pill early in the second half, but i had noticed Evra not looking right about halfway through the first half.
I have got a feeling that when Scholes returns to the team, Hargreaves may get a few run outs at right back for the whole ninety minutes in the new year. Hargreaves and Anderson didn't seem to gel as well in central midfield last night, with neither of them playing to their usual standards. I am not sure we really need a midfield destroyer in games like these at home to be honest, but with Carrick not living up to last seasons standards, i suppose you pick the players in form if you only have one game in the week.
It was nice to see Rooney looking so pissed off when he was brought off, he looks in the mood to try and take us to even more glory than last season.

The FA cup draw could have been kinder, i know Villa park is a great ground for us, but at some stage we are going to lose there. And Martin O'Neil is starting to get the team is playing in his image.

Ferguson in secret meeting with FA
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/12/04/sfnnev104.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox
Over his thoughts on who to appoint for the England job.

Morrissey speaks up
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/12/morrissey_responds.html
And makes the NME and especially the interviewer sound terrible, how will he ever be able to write music journalism again after that brilliant demolition of his musical knowledge.


The perfect chilli?
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/food/2007/12/blumenthals_spicy_secrets_reve.html
Blumenthal style, it reminds me of that Simpson's episode, where there is a competition to eat the hottest chilli.

Ooh erh misses
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2000/feb/24/spaceexploration.internationalnews1
Astronauts test sex in space

Putin's election meddling is baffling
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2221508,00.html

Voters reject Chavez constitutional change
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3220969.ece
A good day for democracy in Venezuela, if his programme is truly popular as it seems to be, then someone else will carry the torch forward.
A ridiculous leader article on the subject from the telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TPUKIOBAPKRFTQFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/opinion/2007/12/04/dl0401.xml
Obviously the neocons are ecstatic about the result, i am not too sure why, the continent has drifted away from control by uncle Sam regardless of Chavez. But trying to tell us American democracy is in rude health and claiming that US party funding is in a healthy state. What kind of democracy is it when you have to be a millionaire to run for anything, and the higher you aim the richer you need to be.

Craig Murray's blog is a must read at the moment
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/



I watched the film Bobby at the weekend, written and directed by Emilio Estevez. It is about events in the hotel that Robert Kennedy was assassinated in, during the hours before the grizzly deed was done. It is a superb film, it was not a biopic, Kennedy just appeared in occasional news clips from the time, yet was a brilliant tribute to the real Liberal hero of the Kennedy clan.

Woody Guthrie - Struggle : The inspiration for the early Bob Dylan. I saw a documentary on the beeb a few years ago and it was a fascinating view. This was the first time i had heard him properly, and it was pretty good. the quality of the recording was reasonably good. One thing that puts me off listening to pre rock 'n' roll music is the quality of the recording.
Bruce Springsteen - Magic : Top stuff. This album seemed to get some lukewarm reviews, but i can't see why. It's real toe tapping rock for the most part, even if the lyrics are the opposite of that.
It's just been announced he will be playing at old trafford in the summer
http://www.nme.com/news/bruce-springsteen/32930
The mother hips - Kiss the crystal Flake : A cracking album, the one thing that i notice when i hear American rock bands at the moment, is that they seem to be able to play their instruments a whole lot better than a lot of our so called hot new bands. And this lot add some real songwriting craft.
Ricardo Villalobos - Fizheuer Zieheuer : I read a piece in the guardian a few weeks ago about this new musical trend/genre, call it what you will, minimalist techno. And this album was hailed as one of the masterpieces of the genre so far. It is the type of thing that you will love or hate, for me it was hypnotic and i loved it, it reminded me of John Coltrane trance music, not that it sounds like that , it just kind gives that vibe off.
Tuung - Comments of the inner chorus : I have been meaning to listen to these for ages and have finally got around to it. And i will be going back for more, it's a good album. Part of the folktronica movement, and that is a pretty good description of their music.
Giant Drag - Hearts and Unicorns: Another good American rock album. I like the singers voice, i have always liked the contrast between the rock guitar and female voice.