Manchester United 1-0 Middlesbrough

A weird night really, united never really seemed to ever hit the heights that we know that they can and yet created enough chances to have scored as many as the mickeys had unfortunately scored at the barcodes the day before. In fact the chances seemed to come and go that regularly you did start to wonder whether it might become one of those nights.
The line up reverted to what we have become used to for most of the first half of the season. Park came in on the left with Fletcher partnering Carrick in midfield and Berbatov returning alongside Rooney.The defence had a changed look though with no Rio and Evra again, Evans deputising for him O'Shea continuing at left back and Rafael Da Silva coming back at right back.
The first half started slowly but the chances did start to come, Ronaldo missed two great chances to score. Middlesbrough were having their moments but without threatning Van Der Sar. Vidic was the next to have a decent chance as he had a clear header but put it wide. The next chance fell to the right foot of Rafael who you felt sure would blast it into the net, but instead blasted it over the ball. The best move of the half saw Ronaldo and Rooney involved in the move that ended with a rasping shot from Rooney that Boro goalie turned over the ball. The last chance saw Carrick inexplicably take a touch after having it put on a plate for him by Ronaldo and the chance was lost.
So even though the passing and movement in the first half had never hit the heights United could have beeen 3 or 4 up. Fergie made no changes at half time but Middlesbrough now started to get more of a foot in the game possession and chance wise and had a great chance that Tuncay couldn't convert. Fergie decided to change things immediately after that chance, bringing on Scholes and Gary Neville. It has to be said that a lot of fans were a bit nonplussed that Neville was brought on for Da Silva, but credit to Fergie he got it right and Neville made a big impact both defending and going forward. Needless to say Scholes made the impression you would expext. His cross field ball for Ronaldo later in the half was the pass of the night.
United now took control of the half and with just over 20 minutes finally broke the deadlock. Carrick was the man who put the cross in that for once the Boro defence couldn't deal with and the ball ended at the feet of Berbatov who made no mistake. How it stayed at only 1-0 is a mystery as Park had 3 chances, one of which it was harder to miss. Another vital 3 points and that game at home to Chelsea is going to be huge.

Ronaldo out of sorts says Paul Wilson, he isn't wrong.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/dec/30/manchester-united-cristiano-ronaldo
He is right about the title chase as well, i would be unbelievably gutted if that 18th title went to Anfield instead for their 19th. I get the feeling that Fergie and the team fancy the Champions league this season when what surely matters to most of us is equaling that 18 title mark.

Ronaldo to have a break?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article5421109.ece

Rooney confident the goals will come, i wish i shared his confidence
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/rooney-confident-of-hitting-goal-trail-to-haul-in-top-two-1218050.html

All,s well at the Bridge i see
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/chelsea/4043978/Luiz-Felipe-Scolaris-Chelsea-showdown-leaves-Didier-Drogbas-future-unclear.html
And with rumours that Abramovitch might want to sell the club too.

How will the January transfer window go what with the credit crunch and recession about to really turn up the heat on clubs finances.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/30/premier-league-transfer-window

A bad year ends for Aussie sport
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/4043914/Panic-spreads-through-Australian-media-after-series-defeat-to-South-Africa.html

More suspicion of the big brother state
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/31/privacy-civil-liberties

Simon Jenkins thinks we it would be wiser to hand out money to the people to spend, instead of giving it to the banks who will just use it build up their books again after their incompetence was shown up by the credit crunch.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/31/simon-jenkins-comment-debate-banks

Israel carries on on the road to nowhere
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-rejects-ceasefire-deal-1218982.html

Where will the Madoff trail end up and what is he going to say asks the indy
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/madoff-so-wheres-the-money-bernie-1218247.html

The resurrection of Stalin in Putin's Russia
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/4015983/The-sinister-resurrection-of-Stalin.html

A new film starring Daniel Craig about the Bielski partisans shows there was nothing black and white about the second world war on the eastern front.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5420709.ece

Stoke City 0-1 Manchester United

Not the best performance but after coming back from an unnseeded trip half way around the world, the result was all that mattered. I've got to admit it looked like it was going to be one of those days as in some of our other away day we had loads of possession but couldn't seem to create many chances and when we did we couldn't take them. We'll never know for sure of course but the sending off seemed to me to be the turning point.
Losing Ferdinand was a bit off a blow just before kick off but if we are honest it wasn't the worst game in the world for this to happen. And this what the big squad is for and this is when youngsters like Evans must come in and show us what they are worth. And apart from an almost catastrophic misunderstanding between Evans and Van Der Sar in the very first minute he didn't let us down. Surprisingly Fergie elected to play Scholes, Giggs and Gary Neville, this must have been the first time and it may well be the only time he does it this season. None of them let us down but Scholes was unsurprisingly the pick of the class of 92.
Tevez came in for Berbatov to partner Rooney with Giggs picked to play on the left with Ronaldo on the right. It was a surprise to see Giggs on the elft as Fergie has said he would play the rest of his career through the middle. Whilst Giggs didn't stand out at all he was the equal of Ronaldo who once again didn't turn up away from home. In fact Ronaldo's main contribution was to wind up his full back into getting him sent off. To say he is not the player of last season would be some understatement. I don't know if Nani is injured but if he is rated by Fergie you would have thought he would play over the christmas period.
Chances were few and far between the whole game, but fortunately for us Tevez who had been one of our underperformers on the day took his chance after a smart piece of play from the substitute Berbatov. I would like to see Welbeck given a game wide on the right over the next month either coming off the bench or in the starting line up. We know he is skillful, he has got pace, he is pretty good in the air and he scores goals. And that is what we have got to start doing in our remaining away games.

Rooney thinks he is in control
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3997418/Wayne-Rooney-defends-his-conduct.html

Australian cricket woes continue as Steyn scores 76 for South Africa as he shares in a 9th wicket stand of 180
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/3997288/Duminy-stuns-Australia.html

Ex Aussie captain Ian Chappell thinks Englad must have a good chance in next summers ashes series, pity they won't be playing at Old Trafford when they have such a good record over the last few summers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/3981824/England-will-never-have-a-better-chance-of-winning-back-the-Ashes.html

Britain falling behind in the rush for faster broadband access
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/28/broadband-uk-ri-christmas-lectures

Will Hutton on the state of the British economy and the future of capitalism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/28/economy-banking

Maddoff may have hidden his ill gotten gains in offshore tax havens. Ironic and fitting that something they all use to hide their money and pay as little tax as possible should come back to bite them on the arse.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/28/bernard-madoff-fraud-investigation-offshore

Manchester United club world cup champions

I wished i could get a bit more worked up about it, but to be honest i would take 3 points at Stoke city on boxing day. It looked like the players were up for it and really wanted to win it if the clebrations were anything to go by. Rooney scored and was the best player on the park closely folowd by Carrick and Anderson. Despite Anderson having a fine game i would hope and expect Fletcher to be back for the vist to the potteries.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7793438.stm

Inter in the last 16, so much for an easy draw. I don't really think it matters whether you win your group or not. Will we get revenge for Porto knocking us out?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/special-one-back-to-haunt-united-1204877.html

Trouble at the Arse, off the pitch this time
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/3868458/Arsenal-coup-reveals-Danny-Fiszmans-ruthless-streak.html

Henry Poter on the Madoff affair
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/21/bernard-madoff-fraud-daniel-dibartolomeo

William Keegan's Observer column on the economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/21/recession-madoff-tax-cuts

Music
David Holmes - The holy pictures: An excellent follow up to his previous proper band outing the free association. Driving psychedelia, krautrock mixed in with his usual electronica make for a top listen.
Efterkland - Under gianr trees: It took me a fair few listens to really get this but it was worth it. I'm not sure what you what you would their music as, it has shades of progressive, ambient, classical and traditional folk.
Glasvegas - Glasvegas: The much hyped debut of the the Glasgow band lives up to the hype. It is a really strong debut with now weak points, just great tunes. Their music mixes rock and pop whilst adding classical pieces in an unconventional way.
Kings of leon - Only by the night: I was a bit underwhelmed by this i'm afraid. It's not that it's a bad record, it's just that their last album was so good with it's myriad of interesting influences The Pixies amongst them, and this seems like a big step back away from that.
Primal Scream - Beautiful future: Another exellent effort from Bobby Gillespie and co. A great mix of their usual array of classic rock sounds. The excellent can't go back representing the heavier side of things and Uptown the catchier side of things.
School of seven bells - Alpinisms: It is hard to believe that this group boasts a former guitarist of the Secret Machines so different is the musical style. But maybe he has made a wise move as their last album was fairly mediocre after a cracking debut album effort. This in a different way is an equally cracking debut album. Joining him are identical twins Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and together they make dreamy yet catchy drone indie pop.

Ferguson against 39th game

Nice to see him come out so unequivocally against this premier league bollocks
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/16/premierleague-manchester-united-ferguson-rio-ferdinand-arsenal

United will not appeal against Evra's ban, disappointing, obviously they have been told there is no chance of overturning the decision.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-accept-evra-punishment-1164592.html
It stinks, 4 games for that.

Capello thinks World club cup will do United no favours as the season progresses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3792501/Manchester-Uniteds-Japan-trip-could-affect-Premier-League-title-bid-says-Fabio-Capello.html
It's not ideal that's for sure

Jeremy Warner on how investors have only themselves to blame over the Madoof fiasco
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jeremy-warner/jeremy-warner-investors-should-have-looked-at-madoffs-golf-scores-1135374.html

Galbraith on the great crash of 1929 or 2008?
http://amcsmith.livejournal.com/2158.html
What a superb book that is.

I finished Craig Murray's superb book a couple of weeks ago about his period as British ambassador to Uzbekistan. It's a great read and shows up what a complete shower Blair , Sraw et al all are. This is the kind of thing that went on there during Craig Murray's time and unfortunately still does.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/15/humanrights
It was one of the business cronies of Karimov who has been trying to buy into Arsenal. If Usmanov ever set foot into a british football clubs boardroon we might as well all give up.

I missed seeing Davy Graham died Yesterday, what a brilliant guitarist. Here is the Guardians youtube tribute with pride of place going to Anji
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/dec/16/davy-graham-video-tribute

Tottenham hotspur 0-0 Mnchester United

Another disappointing away day for the reds. For whatever reason we just haven't fired away from home this season. We have had some good first halves and some good domination, but for the most part we are not totally controling games away from home like we did last season. I can't fault either Carrick or Fletcher who both had reasonable games, the problem it seems to me is up front. Whether it is not getting the move he wanted in the summer, the injury that maybe he came back from too soon or just whether defenders are playing better against him i don't know. But it is plain to see that Ronaldo is not the force that he has been for the two preceeding seasons. Tevz started the season like a house on fire but once Berbatov was bought and stuck straight into the team when he has got back into the team he has blown a bit hot and cold struggling for consistency. And it has got to be said so far Berbatov has been a bit of a let down to say the least. Fergie seems to be getting a bit hot under the collar by the attention his lack of form has come in far. But even he must be getting a bit worried at his lack of impact in games. He said it wasn't his day yesterday, but that could be said about most of his performances recently.
Losing Rooney and Evra was a big blow for this game because it could be argued and i would be one to argue it that they have been our two most consistent attackers and i say that know even though Evra is a left back. As i have said before O'Shea can come in and do a job at left back but we sadly miss the contribution that Evra makes going forward.
Although United didn't play badly you were never really convinced they were going to score. And indeed we didn't really carve out any really clear cut chances in the first half. Spurs did have a couple of long range efforts, one a speculative long range shot that looked to catch Van Der Sar off his line but the big keeper was up to the challenge diving full stretch to keep it out. When Woodgate went off shortly after this i thought maybe it might be our day even though we hadn't really got going as an attacking force. But it wasn't really to be as the final ball was just never good enough. Lennon had a shot saved and then just before half time Modric had a great chance with a diving header, from our point of view it probably fell to just the right man.
Shortly after half time United had the ball in the back of the Spurs net but it was disallowed for hand ball. I dont think it was deliberate but it's pretty unlikely you will get the decision away from home. Finally United started to get a grip on the game and the chances did start to come. Vidic has a shot saved and Ferdinand might have done better with a header form a corner. Park also went close as United took Tevez and Fletcher off and brought the two old timers Giggs and Scholes on. And it was Giggs who was to go closest for the reds as his superb curling free kick was pushed onto the bar by Spurs once dodgy keeper who seems to have come back into from just in time for our visit.
I suppose you can look at the weekend as a missed opportunity when you see all the other top teams drawing Villa apart. But even though i was disappointed in the display overall a point away to Spurs is not to be sniffed at. It doesn't seem like anybody is going to step up to the plate at present and go on a strong run. In fact with the way Liverpool and Chelsea can't seem to beat anybody at home in the league at the moment and we are struggling away, if Villa can put a run to gether who knows they could be in the shake up for the title at the end of the season. With United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelski all safely in the qualifying stages of The chamions league it probably wouldn't do any harm for Villa to get knocked out of their European competition.

James Lawton on the lack of a Keane type figure at United
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/james-lawton-ferguson-haunted-by-absence-of-character-in-the-keane-mould-1064413.html

A leader article in the Indy that hits all the right notes on the De Menezes affair
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-reckless-incompetent-and-lethal-policing-1064488.html
Cressida Dicks should get the chop according the relatives of De Menezes
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/crispin-black-let-us-hope-the-met-can-do-better-than-cressida-dick-1065881.html

The man who broke HBOS
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5333439.ece

William Keegan is gloomy about the world economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/14/economy-recession

Nick Cohen on tax havens
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/14/sark-barclay-brothers-labour

Andrew Rawnsley moving away from new labourism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/14/recession-tax-spending-economic-politics

A Smiths reunion, i can't see it myself
http://www.nme.com/news/the-smiths/41636

Berbatov the jury is out

The Guardian's Manchester man picks up on the rumblings of discontent amongst reds over the Bulgarians performances so far.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/dec/12/manchesterunited-premierleague
It's too early to say yet, but i had expected a bit more from him than we have seen from him so far. I was in two minds whether we should really sign him from Spurs. On the one hand i thought he was just what we needed up front a man with the skill, vision and a bit of presence. but the thing nagging me was the negative stories you heard personality and character wise about him from both Spurs and for his country. Those moaning about his lack of work rate are a bit of the mark for me, let's face it we all knew he doesn't put a shift in work wise. What worries me is that when goes quiet in a game he seems to forget he is participating in it sometimes. Unlike Eric who would disappear for 20 minutes and then pop up losing his marker to make or score the all decisive goals. He has had good games and has had the occasional game where he has done an Eric but not enough yet to convince that he is the player we thought we were getting. I just hope given time he will prove that he is that player because that would take us to another level.

Van Der Sar signs another one year extension to his contract. It's beginning to look like Fergie either doesn't think Foster is good enough or he is worried about his injury record. We can't know about the former as we haven't seen him play enough for United which is a totally different proposition than playing for Watford. But i have to admit i would be worried about his injury record, this is one position that you want your main man in goal in almost every game to give your defence the confidence it needs in the man behind them.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/van-der-sar-signs-new-contract-at-manchester-united-1063411.html

Rooney could face 2 match Euro ban which would effectively rule him out of the next round.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/rooney-may-be-handed-uefa-ban-for-stamp-1062605.html
I suppose after the Evra debacle it's ods on he'll get it.
Jim White ( whose new history of United i will have to buy) on how to curb Rooney's temper.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3709454/Heres-how-to-tame-Wayne-Rooneys-temper.html

If MUST win this is will be great news for all football fans in the country
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1084996_reds_fans_trigger_ticket_probe

The Barca way
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/dec/12/barcelona-la-liga-messi-sid-lowe

Lords to lose out on new proposals
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/3722124/Lords-fears-over-new-ECB-Test-deal.html
I am not too sure what they are moaning about they will probably be the only ground that will be guaranteed at least one test per summer. That sems like a good deal to me.

Hard times ahead for Deroit motor city
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article5328529.ece
Once more ordinary working people paying for the greed and ideology of the rich and the cowardice of the democrats for failing to stand up to them.

The Germans start to remind Brown who and what economic model is responsible for the economic woes we face. Not that it makes them right about what should be done next, but he should be reminded the Germans have stayed where they are Politically and economically. Unlike most new labour politicos who started out on the socialist left then veered sharply to the Thatcherite right making once right wing labour figures like Hattersly seem left wing and now abandoning another set of supposedly rigidly held beliefs.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/germans-turn-the-screw-on-brown-1062874.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jeremy-warner/jeremy-warner-crass-keynesianism-should-be-replaced-with-pure-keynes-1063033.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-germany-has-dispelled-the-myth-of-britisheu-unity-1062784.html

Sterlings plummet should worry us warns Jeremy Warner
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jeremy-warner/jeremy-warner-sterling-becomes-a-victim-of-deleveraging-1063028.html

The Times top albums of the year, that top 5 is completely on the money
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5293605.ece

I have just finished watching the DVD of the Alan Bleasdale 80's series boys from the black stuff and it was just as good as i had remembered. The interesting feature was the original Play for today that i had never seen. It is the Middlesbrough incident where they all lost there jobs that is referred to a number of times in the later series. It was good enough anyway but it makes even more sense watching that. I just wished i had watched that first instead of going back watching it as if it was a special feature instead of being absolutely integral to the series. You see the incident that pushes Yozzer over the edge and much else that helps to explain the charcaters attitudes to each other.

Manchester United 2-2 Aalborg

A disappointing result, but i can't say it came from totally out of the blue. With changes made and not a great deal to play for, whatever Fergie said about finishing top of the group, United never really hit top gear. Though you wouldn't have thought that after the first 15 minutes as United could have been 2 or 3 goals to the good.
I couldn't really agree with or even understand the starting line up, there were a couple of positional changes that didn't make much sense to me. I don't know a single United fan who goes regularly or even watches them on the box who thinks that Kuszczak is ever going to be good enough to be the next number 1 at old trafford. So why let everybody including Foster himself presumably think that he was going to start and then start with the Pole. It's time Fergie stopped trying to keep 3 goalies happy, if Foster is thought of as the goalie that will eventually replace the big Dutchman then it should be him and him alone who plays in these cup games. The other decision was to play Gibson on the right hand flank again. His true position i would say is as a defensive midfielder and sadly i am pretty certain that he won't be good enough for United in central midfield so can't see what purpose there was playing him there. And to make matters for him he had Gary Neville behind him. I am not knocking Gary Neville because he has had a magnificent career at United but he can't really get up and down the flanks to overlap his wide man any more. So it meant that United didn't have too much attacking threat coming from the right hand side in the first half.
But the way United started none of that seemed like it was going to matter. A neat passage of passes saw Rooney and Giggs combine to send Tevez through and he made no mistake to give United the lead after just 3 minutes. Minutes later another fine piece of play saw Rooney put the ball on a plate for the Argentine but somehow Tevez managed to put it wide. United were in total control of the game and Jonny Evans also came close during United's domination of the game at this point.
But as can always happen and sometimes does if you don't take your chances and on the half hour Aalborg scored completely out of the blue as a free kick from the right was headed home to make it all square. Kuszczak seemed to be wrong footed, though he did seem to make his mind up a bit too early. Just when we thought we would have to settle for United going in at half time all square when at one time it looked like it might be a cricket score, the unthinkable happened and Aalborg took the lead. A cross from the left found Curth at the back post in acres of space and he took his chance superbly heading into the far corner giving Kuszczak no chance.
The second half saw Giggswho hadn't been at his best, though no worse than Anderson i thought, and Gibson come off. The replacements Scholes and Park gave United a far better balance and United immediately took the game to the opponents. After seven minutes of the half Anderson finally made one of his passes from midfield pay as he he found the great run made by Rooney who finished it off no mistake with a low hard drive to make it 2-2. I like Anderson but i saw an interview with captain marvel a bit ago where he said he had his improve his passing and i would have to agree. He had a much better second period with Scholes next to him. But once again when Scholes comes on you see what you have been missing as he kept it simple and then next minute would spray inch perfect passes out wide to spread the play out.
United had enough chances during the rest of the game to have won it, but it seemed to be one of those nights where it wasn't going to happen. Though Rooney got involved in a bit of a physical scape with Aalborg's defence he still found time to remind us what we are going to miss on Saturday at White hart lane. One fantastic pass that was superbly brought down first touch by Neville looked sure to bring the winning goal but Neville could only shoot straight at the goaliewho put it round for a corner. Tevez had another great chance to give United the lead but after doing the hard part of taking it round the goalie he blasted it wide instead of rolling into the empty net.
But with Villareal unsurprisingly getting beat at Celtic, well they had already got through, United still managed to end the night as group winners. The record isn't that great though 2 wins and 4 draws, still it's getting through that matters and he has been able to rotate the squad during the group stages. I just wish we would have been able to see a bit more of Foster and the unlucky Welbeck who seems to be a bit injury prone at this stage of his career.

Aalborg unhappy with Rooney
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7776630.stm

Fergie not worried about Tevez contract delay
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferguson-relaxed-over-tevez-contract-1058972.html

United not hapy about Evra ban
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferguson-stunned-by-evra-ban-1058919.html
What a joke, let's hope the appeal gets some reward as we saw last night O'Shea may be able to do a job at left back but he isn't a replacement.

Schuster goes as Real Madrid are in turmoil, Ramos steps in until the end of the season
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/09/juande-ramos-madrid-bernd-schuster
It couldn't happen to a nicer club, will Ronaldo still see them as his dream club. It doesn't look like he would be winning Ballon d'or's any time soon there, especially with my idea of the best player in the world turning it on at Barca.

Sid Lowe on the weekend's shenanigans that led to the departure of the German
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/08/realmadrid-laligafootball

Robert Peston puts the credit crunch into historical perspective
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5309917.ece

Bad and getting worse in the States
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5309718.ece

Larry Elliot on the solutions and the time and patience needed to remedy our economic woes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/08/global-economy-credit-crunch-banks

Matthew Norman on the disgrace that is New Labour's ( old Thatcherites ) welfare reforms
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-norman/matthew-norman-it-takes-a-rich-man-to-pour-such-scorn-on-the-poor-1061132.html
And the timing of it, after we have been told for how many years that the tax dogging fithy rich were the price we had to pay for our countries financial well being. Well it's a price a lot of people that this bill will affect are definitely going to have to pay. And so will the rest of us in one way or another. How will history treat new labour?

The first but not the last famous name to go down thanks to the credit crunch and how many of it's workforce will be hit through those welfare reforms through no good fault of their own.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/woolies-the-sale-of-a-century-1061266.html

Mugabe on fantasy island still
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/11/zimbabwe-cholera-crisis-mugabe

Blur to reform, i hope they do something up here, i always liked them and think Graham Coxon is a tremendous guitarist.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/blur-to-reunite-for-gig-in-the-park-1058879.html

Manchester United 1-0 Sunderland

It's been a while since we have a late late show so it's good to know we can still keep going right to the end. You never know how an opposition are going to perform after they lose a manager, they either just go to pieces or rally and give a performance. Unfortunately the Sunderland players chose the latter option getting every body behind the ball and fighting for everything.
United didn't play badly, it just seemed to be one of those days where if we had got that first goal then there could have been an avalanche. But the longer the game went without that first goal the more belief that the mackems got that they could actually get something from the game.
United had chances with Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov all having reasonable chances, but an inspired performance by the stand in goalie Fulop and some determined defending kept United out in a not very memorable first half. The second half saw United step up a gear and take complete grip of the game with Sunderland defending with absolutely every body behind the ball and not even really bothering to even hit us on the break.
I thought Carrick had a good game and he was constantly the one that made the probing passes. Fletcher didn't have a bad game but as the game went on it was becoming obvious we needed somebody from the middle to make some forward runs and drive at them. So the substitution of Anderson for Fletcher seemed the correct move to me. This was the time i thought we started to look like we might actuaally get that all important goal. The introduction of Tevez for Park was important too as he added some much needed work rate up front. Losing Ronaldo with 20 minutes to go should have been a big blow but to be honest he wasn't really having a great game and the introduction of Giggs didn't harm us any. To those of us that always thought the signing of Berbatov would be the final part of the jigsaw it has got to be admitted these are worrying times. Yet again he didn't really make much of a contribution to the game and missed one glorious header from a great Carrick cross that he should have buried. When we bought Berbatov and City bought Robhino on transfer deadline day i thought we had made the shrewder acquisition knowing that the Brazillian was regarded as a good player but too lightwight. Where as we all knew that Berbatov had done it in our league and against the top teams. But i can't say i am as confident that we made the better signing at the moment.
Anderson was denied by by a great block as United kept knocking at the door as time started to fly by. The announcement that there would be 4 minutes of injury time was greeted with some relief. And then the goal came, and it was no thing of great beauty but as the saying goes they all count. I'm not sure why Vidic was up there to hit the rebound in but who cares. As we knew all the results before hand we knew we had to win and win we had.

The telegraph on Ronaldo's walk off
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3629130/Cristiano-Ronaldos-bizarre-walk-out-overshadows-late-winner-by-Nemanja-Vidic-Football.html

Robert Peston's BBC blog which is always pretty interesting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston/

Trouble brewing in Amsterdam
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/07/amsterdam-crackdown-prostitution-drugs-crime

Will Hutton on the US car industry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/07/car-future-general-motors-bailout

Manchester United 5-3 Blackburn Rovers

This was a far better game than i had expected, though it's got to be said that was mainly due to the piss poor performance of the opposition. On a freezing cold night this was just what the doctor ordered as all the action took your mind of the temperature. Tevez was partnered by Giggs up front and the central midfield was an all Brazillian affair with Anderson partnered by Possebon. Nani started on the left flank with Gibson on the right . Jonny Evans joined Gary Neville in the centre of defence and Da Silva was the only player on show from the derby on sunday.
The first half wasn't particularly great though and Blackburn even had a couple of decent chances to take the lead but Foster getting a rare start was up to the challenge saving well. United were playing reasonably well but with what was to come they were just warming up really. Gibson saw a header cleared off the line as United upped the pressure and started to totally dominate possession. The first goal came with 35 minutes gone when initially it looked like Tevez had got his head to a Giggs free kick but apparently it has now been awarded as an own goal. Minutes later a one two between Nani and Tevez saw Nani do what he does best beating the goal with his right foot to make it 2-0. It's a pity the rest of his game isn't up to the standard of his finishing as he gave another mixed displaydoing some good things but not enough to make you think he is going to be the real deal at Old Trafford. To be honest i thought 2-0 falttered us a bit at half time we had played the better football but they had created chances though it has to be said they hadn't played football very attractive to the eye and looked very dodgy at the back.
Ince made a change at half time bringing on McCarthy on for Emmerton and he was immediately rewarded as McCarthy got the better of Neville ( not that hard these days i'm afraid) to make it 2-1. It didn't take United long to get their 2 goal cushion back as a nicely wighted ball from Giggs set Tevez away and he was clumsily brought down by Ooijer. Tevez got up to take the penalty and made no mistake . The fourth was a superbly crafted move that saw Anderson surge forward and play a one two with Tevez to put him through on goal with the chance to get his first goal for the club. Unselfishly he crossed it to the unmarked Tevez to pass it into the back of the net to make it 4-1 and all of us at the ground thought that it was Tevez's hatrick.
For some reason United now took the foot off the pedal and allowed Blackburn to sneak 2 goals out of nowhere to make it an uncomfortable 4-3 with 4 minutes of injury time left. But as it turned out it was just enough for Tevez to really get his hatrick witha superb finish with a shot across the goalie to make it 5-3. Great entertainment and maybe more importantly Tevez looked like the player we saw last season and at the beginning of this as hardly ever lost the ball shielding it and being very hard to knock off it. Anderson had his best game for some time and with Scholes coming on for the final 20 minutes and looking like he hadn't been away competition for places is going to be keen over the rest of the season.

Ferguson is happy
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leaguecup/3547040/Manchester-Uniteds-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-hails-Carlos-Tevez-as-Paul-Ince-skips-questioning-Football.html

Keano walks away from Sunderland
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/dec/04/sunderland-roy-keane

What a waste says Henry Winter
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/sunderland/3548012/Roy-Keane-departure-from-Sunderland-a-waste-as-Stadium-of-Light-turns-dark.html

It looks like England's cricketers are going to go back to India. And that is the right thing to do as far as i am concerned, because if you don't the terrorists have won.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/pietersen-very-confident-of-playing-tests-1051467.html

Putin says Russia isn't in a crisis. So it obviously is in one then.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/putin-forecasts-minimal-losses-from-finance-crisis-1052132.html

MUSIC
AC/DC - Black ice: The first AC/DC album in years is ok but nothing more. They were never really the same for me after Bon Scott died even though Black in back was a great album. Not one track of this album would get on their really classic records of the seventies and is suppose that tells it's own story. Nothing stands out.
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles: I really like this, it sounds eighties and noughties all at the same time. I read it called synth pop and i suppose in it's catchier moments it is but it has it's edgier moments too.
John Martyn - London Conversation : I love his early singer songwiter early folk stuff and this is a good example of that work.
- One world: A million miles from London conversation, much more experimental and yet maybe more commercial at the same time. Classic tracks include Dealer,big muff,dancing and the experimental closer small hours which i love.
Rodriguez - Cold Fact: A killer album, this should have been a classic but it disappeared without trace in 1970. I have no idea why because it is absolutely brilliant, there are so many claasic tracks i can't metion them all. But Sugar man is a gem.
The Verve - Forth: A good return from the wigam men, it veers more into History territory than Urban hymns. I always preferred Richard Ashcroft in the Verve than solo as Nick McCabe is such a great musician.
Thea Gilmore - Liejacker: A decent effort from the singer songwriter with old soul and dance in New York amongst the stand out tracks for me.

Manchester City 0-1 Manchester United

A performance to match what the occasion demanded, the occasion being not just the derby but our league position which would have been getting seriously worrying if we'd have had another bad away day. Even the second half sending off of Ronaldo didn't really dent our supremacy.
It looks like Ferguson regards this as his strongest team at least until the return of Scholes. I was surprised that he picked Rafael at right back, but with no Wes Brown i would pick Rafael over Gary Neville myself . Fortunately he was up to the occasion and had a pretty good game.
United got on top almost straight away with the midfield combination of Carrick and Fletcher getting total control of the middle of the park. With Evra and Rafael overlapping to great effect things were looking good. Ronaldo headed over the bar from a corner, Berbatov saw a header brilliant header superbly saved by City's number one Hart. Earlier Hart had almost fumbled the ball straight to the feet of Fletcher but recovered just in time to nick it from the feet of the Scot. Evra was having one of his best games of the season and he nearly capped with a goal but hit it just too high. But for all our domination we almost slipped up as Van Der Sar made yet another bad fumble from a free kick that should have ended with Richards putting the ball in the net but saw him watch the ball hit the outside of the post. But United came back and just before half time at last converted one of the chances we had been creating. A bit of a melee ended with Park winning the ball and nudging the ball to Carrick who hit the ball acroos the goalie who managed to get a hand on it, but only pushing onto the right foot of the incoming Rooney who didn't waste this chance. This was his 100th goal and a there couldn't have been a better time to score it.
It was absolutely vital we had scored after being so dominant as City couldn't be as bad in the second half.
Sure enough City made changes at half time and came out and tried to have a go at United. But it didn't really amount to much and United started to wrestle control of the game back again. The seending off of Ronaldo was bizarre, i was waiting for him to power it into the back of the net. You can't argue with the red card i'm afraid, though you definitely could argue with his first yellow card where he had won the ball legitimately. The game changed here as United obviously had to get a bit more negative and Berbatov was sacrificed. But City still hardly created a thing until the last minute when Dunne had a chance cleared of the line which was followed by a magnificent effort from the halfway by Rooney which almost caught Hart out but he raced back to his area after going upfield for the preceeding corner to make an excellent save.
So a good day which was topped of later by Arseanl going to Chelski and taking the points.

Daniel Taylor on the divs fans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/30/premierleague-manchesterunited

The Indy on Ronaldo
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ronaldos-bizarre-red-card-raises-eyebrows-1042834.html

Reality check for City
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/cristianoronaldo/3537233/Painful-reality-check-for-Manchester-City-as-Manchester-United-expose-gulf-in-class-Football.html

I went to see the youth team at Old Trafford in the 3rd round of the youth cup last Thursday and despite the defeat to Chelsea there were a lot of encouraging signs for us. The scorer of the first goal Ravel Morrison looks a real prospect. So when i read reports the day after and found out he was only 15 i was a bit gobsmacked. The scoreline was a bit of a travesty, but unfortunately the central defence was the weak point of the team. Gill's son looked out of his depth and made a couple of bad blunders. United scored first through Morrison and had other great chances that fell to Welbeck and another great run from Morrison that saw him beat defenders for fun but then overelaborate when he really should have scored. The just before half time Chelsea scored twice with virtually their first efforts on goal. United created more chances in the second period but couldn't convert and then another defensive blunder saw Chelsea notch a third goal. To the young lads credit they still kept going forward and Welbeck managed to score a second in the last minute, but it was too late. I wasn,t impressed by Chelsea, they were much like the first team, big, functional and not very pretty. Petrucci came on near the end, the lad we got from Roma that they weren't too happy about and he showed a few nice touches. There seem to be quite a few lads in with a chance from this bunch. The irony of the defeat was thinking how many young centre backs we have brought through over the last few seasons and that this was the weak spot in this team.

Scolari feels the pressure
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3537476/Luiz-Felipe-Scolari-knows-Chelsea-do-not-take-prisoners-Football.html

Strachan put in the frame to follow Ferguson
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/jeremywilson/blog/2008/12/01/why_gordon_strachan_could_be_the_man_to_succeed_sir_alex_ferguson_at_manchester_united



I have just finished the last series of Six feet under and was a bit disappointed to be honest. The first four series were excellent but i never really believed in the last series, it just didn't work for me.

Villareal 0-0 Manchester United

The fourth scoreless draw in a row against the Spaniards didn't really come as much of a shock did it. Both teams needed just the point to be sure of going through to the next round. For Villareal that was crucial as if Celtic had won in Denmark as they had every chance of doing that would left them with an unenviable trip to Glasgow where they would have had to get a point. I think they would have done that but you can't blame them for wanting to make sure last night. As for us we have got a derby coming up on sunday where our players might actually put in as much effort as their lot usually do. I know i see Liverpool as a bigger game than the Derby but it is still a massive game! This season with them doing the double over us last year and now having untold riches i think we can expect our lot to treat it with the respect it warrants. Besides all that we have to get on a winning streak and soon because we still don't seem to have clicked this season.
I have to admit being surprised by the starting line up, i wasn't that surprised that Nani started but i expected it to be at the expense of Ronaldo not Tevez. Fergie said Ronaldo was desperate to play, well it's not too hard to guess why. This is after all the country where he had his heart set on in the summer. I think we can safely say he might have wanted to remind Real he is still out there should they want next season, which of course they do whatever they say.
As for the game the first half was a complete damp squib as they got everybody behind the ball and although United had a lot of possession it took until the last couple of minutes for them to create a really worth while chance. A great ball from Anderson found Rooney in the middle just outside the penalty area who touched it expertly into the path of Ronaldo who let rip first time and hit a venomous shot that took a slight deflection forcing the goalie into a fingertip save forcing it onto the cross bar. Just before half time A free kick from just ouside the area saw another fine strike from Ronaldo which brought out another impressive save from their number 1 Lopez.
The second hald was a better specatcle and saw United really gain control of the match and this time create more chances. But we couldn't really open them up and we didn't really create any guilt edge chances to be honest. Carrick and Fletcher bossed the midfield, Rooney tried hard to create room up front, Evra tried to get forward with negligible help from Nani who once again was very disappointing, not so much as he played badly as being anonnymous. Jonny Evans partnered Ferdinand and had a decent game though to be fair he didn't have too much to do. By the 65th minute they had lost both Senna and Pires and after that they rarely ventured over the half way line. It was disappointing to see Rooney stoop to some of Ronaldo's lesser traits though i have to admit i was willing the ref to give a penalty as that would have netted me a tidy sum even though i knew he hadn't beeen touched.
Rooney was involved in most of our best moments in the second half with a chip that he rushed a fine first time left foot volley that unfortunately straight at the goalie and lastly a run and centre that was almost deflected into the back of the net. I'm not a fan of the amount of times Ronaldo goes to ground but the Villareal defender Capdevila can have no complaints about the red card as it was a nasty foul that would have wrecked.
So through to the next round, it maybe a bit presumptious but it will be surely as group winners with Aalborg at home in the last game. Now for the game of the week.

Rooney says sorry
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/26/manchester-united-villarreal-champions-league1

MP backs MUST's campaign against United's price ticketing policy, the more supporters the better.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1081788_mp_backs_ticket_campaign

The credit crunch even affecting Dubai apparently
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5233280.ece

The economy still going from bad to worse, the tactic of having Gordon Brown being the supposed hero saving thw world's economies might not look too clever when the jobs really start to go, as it looks like they are staring to
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5236433.ece
Woolies to go into administration
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/woolworths-stores-set-for-administration-1035497.html

Fergie satisfied with draw

So was I
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3507772/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-unruffled-by-points-dropped-against-Aston-Villa-Football.html

Ronaldo travels to Spain, though he may not start according to some reports
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/ronaldo-heads-to-spain-despite-injury-worries-1033051.html
Villreal got spnaked 3-0 at home at the weekend, preparing for the visit of the European champions?

The past counts for nothing in German football.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2008/nov/24/bundesliga-stuttgart-armin-veh
There is something to be said for that, but does that mean you don't clebrate the great players of the past, that's going too far.

Deflation seeems to be a bigger threat all of a sudden
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article5219293.ece
I am starting to think the pessimistic stance is the more realistic one myself, after all everything else has turned out to be worse than evreybody predicted.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/stephen-king/stephen-king-if-interest-rate-cuts-cannot-solve-the-money-shortage-turn-on-the-printing-press-1032363.html

Germany in economic trouble also according to Hamish McRae. But they always bounce back, to be in the financial position they were before the credit crunch after taking on East Germany was one hell of an achievement. They are in a better position than us that's for sure.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-nobody-does-it-better--so-the-signs-are-bad-if-even-germany-is-in-the-mire-1030825.html

Larry Elliot on the woes of the British economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/24/pre-budget-report-uk-economy
and Max Hastings on leadership
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/24/gordon-brown-economic-crisis

Aston Villa 0-0 Manchester United

Well our record at Villa park had to come to an end sometime, at least it didn't end with us losing. This wasn't the greatest of games with Villa sitting back and making it hard for us, chances were thin on the ground. It was a pity Fletcher was injured as i am pretty sure he would have featured in this game.
United were the better team and bossed the posession but found it hard to really make that penetrating final pass. Ronaldo made one good run that saw him hit a fierce drive but Friedal had no problem parrying it out for a corner.Tevez and Rooney worked hard as usual but the only other real chances fell to Park and Vidic in the first half. Park looked to have been put through clean on goal but a brilliant late tackle from Young stole the ball away from him at the last minute. A couple of minutes later he was inches away from converting a cross from Rooney. Vidic went close from a dead ball from Giggs but 0-0 at half time was probably a fair scoreline.
The second half followed a similar pattern with United having most of the possession but struggling to convert the posesssion into chances. Probably the best chance of the match fell to Rooney after Carrick had cleverly lobbed a pass over the Villa defence to give Rooney a chance with a right foot volley but he only managed to put it into the top tier of the north stand. Tevez was replaced by Nani and shook his head in disappointment. I can't see the Argentine being here next season, it will be interesting if Campbell does come back as i think next season would see two products of the youth team in the first team pool.
Villa had a shout for a penalty on the hour after Vidic tangled with Agbonlahor but the ref didn't give it. A foul outside the area would have been the correct decision but he didn't give anything. With Liverpool and Chelsea but having disappointing results some might think that this was chance missed. In a way obviously it was, but i would have took a draw before the game so i am not too disappointed. It looks like Arsenal are in freefall after their thumping at the boo camp, it wasn't just the result but more the performance. Gallas has opened up a right can of worms there.

The Observer match report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/23/aston-villa-manchester-united

Campbell could return, says Fergie
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7743233.stm

Rossi the one that got away
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article5212782.ece
I had a lot of time for him, he was a really good player.

Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky on what the great man would have done faced with todays situation
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/robert-skidelsky-what-would-keynes-have-done-1029916.html

An article on the artist Rodriguez and his great lost album Cold Fact. I have been listening to this recently and it is a classic, amazing that it never sold.
http://www.djouls.com/index.php/rodriguez-cold-fact

New red kids on the block

The next batch of youngsters to come through the ranks hopefully
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3474126/Manchester-Uniteds-future-is-bright-with-Sir-Alex-Fergusons-focus-on-youth-players-Football.html

Charlton backs Ronaldo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article5179882.ece

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is back
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fpwb4

Inflation to fall like a stone
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/biggest-fall-in-inflation-for-16-years-1023539.html

George Monibot on Keynes and Bretton woods
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/18/lord-keynes-international-monetary-fund

Ronan Bennett on the English civil war and a new series starting on channel4 by the writer who gave us the brilliant our friends inthe north
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/nov/14/monarchy-television

I saw John Martyn at the Lowry on sunday night and an excellent gig it was too. It veered more towards the jazz side of things than i'd expected but that didn't upset me. The saxophonist and bassist were allowed to strut their stuff as much as John Martyn on the guitar. In fact that would be my only gripe, as excellent as they both were i would have loved to have seen a bit more of his brilliant guitar work. He did one blues number solo as the rest of the band had a break and it was brilliant. After it he joked he used to do this for a living, it's a pity he doesn't do a bit more now. He was pretty funny between songs too, you weren't sure whether he wasn't a bit barking sometimes, but then he'd make a funny quip just to let you know he wasn't.

Music
Antibalas - Security: I absolutely love this fusion of Afrobeat, latin, funk and jazz. Superb rhythms and great brass creates a glorious groove.
I am kloot - I am kloot play moolah rouge: I thought i had listened to this before i saw them at the free spinningfields gig but i was wrong. Another cracker from one of Manchester's finest, the tracks i heard before the show are the stand outs such as one man brawl, hey little bird and someone like you.
Modest Mouse - We were dead before the ship even sank: Another cracker of an album for the US alternative outfit, though not as immmediate as it's predecessor. I think they are pretty big in the states if not they should be and they should definitely bigger over here, especially when you see some of the dross that passes for indie at the moment.
Seth Lakeman - Poor mans heaven: This has grown on me, i wasn't too keen on it at first. He has still to bring out an equal to Kitty jay for me though.
Tricky - Knowle west boy: Most of this as far away from his trip hop hey day as you can get, but he is still out there. It's an excellent album with an array of different styles but slightly veering towards the rock side of things. It gets off to a good start with Puppy toy other top tracks are C'mon baby, Baligaga and cross to bear.

Manchester United 5-0 Stoke City

It's not too often you win a game 5-0 and all the goals are crackers but that was the case yesterday. The day began with a Ronaldo screamer and ended with another. With Rooney ruled out through illness Tevez partnered Berbatov and Jonny Evans stepped in for Ferdinand.
It took just 3 minutes for United to open the scoring, Tevez was brought down and Ronaldo stepped up to take the free kick. I've got to be honest i wouldn't have minded someone else taking it as he hasn't really been up to scratch with his free kicks since he came back from his operation. But what a screamer it was, i have seen some pundits saying the goalie should have saved it. But i can't agree with that, it was right in front of us and we had a really good view of it. What you don't see that well on the TV is how late it moved in the air and at what speed, it was like a late out swinger at 90 MPH. Unfortunately as Fergie has said this seemed to relax United and they just coasted the rest of the half without really creating too much. We had all the possession but seemed content to pass it around. I was a bit disappointed with Berbatov in the first half to be honest he didn't really contribute much.
The second came in injury time, a great time to score obviously. Ronaldo ran down the left wing and squared the ball to the edge of the box for Carrick who fended of the challengers and hammered home a left foot shot that gave the goalie no chance. Stoke hardly had a chance in the game and it seemed as if they were going to rely on Delap's long throws. That wasn't a great idea as United fans started to boo, whistle wave their hands about aiming to put him off. Amazingly it worked to such an extent that he had given up the long throws before the 90 minutes were up. His very first one did create a bit of trouble as Van Der Sar flapped at it but after that there was no problem.
The second half began as the first half had ended with United attacking and scoring. This time Tevez crossed to Berbatov who controlled it and then volleyed past the goalie at his near post. After that it was wave after wave of United attacks. Welbeck and Gibson then came on for Tevez and Fletcher who had given another excellent performance. Slightly later Manucho came on and Welbeck played on the right hand side of the attack. That is another useful weapon for Welbeck being able to play on the right. I hope we are going to see more of him in the first team because he is definitely going to be a top player. And it was Welbeck who got the fourth with an absolute pearler of a shot. Playing a one two with Manucho just inside the Stoke half he then adavanced and took aim from around 25 yards out and hit a magnificent shot. All around this United had been creating chances with Ronaldo in particular trying to put it on a plate for Manucho. A surging run from Carrick saw ex red Shawcross bring him down just outside the area. Bad idea as up stepped Ronaldo again and this time he hit it low and into the corner of the net to make it 5.
A great day with Ronaldo starting to look like the player of the last two seasons again and a young local lad break into the side for his first premier league game and cap it with a brilliant game, the first of many me thinks.

Ferdinand still rues the Portsmouth FA cup defeat by Pompey last season.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/16/premierleague-manchesterunited
To be honest i don't think it was such a bad thing i'm not sure we had a treble in us and it gave us a nice rest before that big night in Moscow.

Platini wants to ban transfers involving under 18's
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3463911/English-football-on-a-collision-course-with-Uefa-president-Michel-Platini-Football.html
It may be a good idea, it must help smaller clubs as they will get more money for their players at 18 than 17 or 16.

Will Hutton on the Euro
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/16/comment-will-hutton-euro

William Keegan on the economy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/16/william-keegan-economics-recession

Da Silva's are something special

An article by Daniel Taylor in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/15/manchesterunited-premierleague

Scholes could be back for the derby
http://www.soccerglobe.net/2008/11/13/paul-scholes-to-make-return-in-manchester-derby/
Fantastico

Ferguson hits 50
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/ferguson-hits-50-with-no-regrets-1019482.html

Who would you back Brooking or a useless ex Tory cabinet minister
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article5159169.ece

Robert Fisk on the middle east
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-double-agents-car-bombs-and-antics-worthy-of-james-bond-1015858.html

Johann on star wars
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-obamas-chance-to-end-the--fantasy-that-is-star-wars-1015509.html

Manchester United 1-0 QPR

Not the greatest game of the season i'm afraid, in fact a complete contrast to the Boro game from the last round. The first half in particular was one to forget. There weren't as many youngsters as i would have liked or should i say there was no Danny Welbeck who was left on the bench.
There isn't a great deal to say about the first half, QPR put everybody behind the ball and let United have it. But United with an inexperienced midfield of Possebon, fellow BrazillianAnderson and Gibson just passed it and passed it but with no penetration at all. I didn't know Welbeck had been out injured so long, it was a pity because it would have ben a good work out for him and it would have given Tevez some much needed support.
United upped their game in the second half and at long last Started to test the goalie Cerny, unfortunately he was up to most of what he had to deal with. The best move of the match saw Da Silva show some dazzling skill to beat his man on the touchline and race towards the penalty area where he fed Park who hit a Fierce shot against the upright.The forward line of Nani, Park and Tevez was pretty disappointing for me, none of the played badly, Tevez as usual worked his socks off, but it just didn't really happen for them. With just over a quarter of an hour to go Welbeck came on and all of a sudden we looked far more dangerous. His speed and trickery were evident immediately and it took just 4 minutes for him to earn the penalty that won the game. Receiving the ball from Nani in the penalty area he tried to run forward to goal but was brought down by a blatant foul. Tevez made no mistake from the spot and that was that we thought. But QPR had other ideas and at long last as they had no option but to attack they sarted to show what they could do for the first time in the game. They did put the ball in the back of the net that was ruled out for offside and had one other decent effort bu the right team had won.

The match report from the Torygraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leaguecup/3441223/Carlos-Tevez-on-the-spot-to-spare-Manchester-Uniteds-blushes-against-QPR-Football.html

Hargreaves out for the season, maybe for good?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3442154/Owen-Hargeaves-ruled-out-of-Manchester-Uniteds-season-with-tendinitis-Football.html

United in for Xavi
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/3445821/Manchester-United-eye-Barcelonas-Xavi-as-doubts-surround-Owen-Hargreaves-future-Football.html
I've got a lot of time for this guy, he is one of the very few players around who could replace the ginger prince. But i can't believe he will leave Barca or that United would be able to afford him anyway.

David Conn talks to Keith Harris
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/12/premierleague-westhamunited
He seems to go a bit shy of having a go at the Glazers, he must know they are in trouble. Maybe he sees some work their in the future and is keen not to ffend anyone.

Polly Toynbee has a go at the editor of the nastiest paper in the land, but who would be our Stanley Baldwin
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/11/paul-dacre-privacy-daily-mail

Jeff Randall doesn't like the smell of Lloyd's takeover of HBOS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/3442788/Whats-wrong-with-Lloyds-takeover-of-HBOS-Just-follow-your-nose.html

Hamish McRae on the tax cutting mania being exhibited by out politicians
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-cut-taxes-but-dont-expect-miracles-1012228.html
I'm afraid i'm cynical over this, for me it's just politics and not much to do with economics. Whoever cuts taxes will eventually have to raise them, anybody with half a brain knows that.
Larry Elliot agrees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/12/economy-economics-crisis-watch-tax

Robert Fox on the Afghan scandal, what are we actually doing there
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/12/afghanistan-helmand

Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United

Not the result i had expected i have got to admit, before the game i had been pretty confident that we would beat them. But then again if we had took our chances we would have would have. We could have been two up before they had their first attack. But i am not going to be too critical if we are going to get beat this is the way i want us to get beat, playing football the right way. We started the game where we had finished it on wednesday playing superbly. Rooney should have scored at least one, Berbatov had a goal disallowed for offside, Anderson had a good chance and we kept on creating chances the whole game.
I can only be critical of our poor finshing and our defending of crosses which was pretty poor throughout the game. I can't believe some of the press reports though, i can't see how they can go so over the top about Arsenal's performance sying that they deserved the victory. I suppose you could say they deserved to win because they took their chances and we didn't but then again the first goal had a big slice of fortune with the Gary Neville deflection taking it past Van Der Sar when it was going to be blocked. I can't b anything about the second as that was a great goal. Van Der Sar's performance was a negative though, i would like to see Foster given a run of games, then we can see if he can be the next number one or not i don't see how we will find out if he keeps playing the odd game here and there. He should at least be the regular substitute, as well know Kuszczak isn't going to be the answer.
We had a clear cut case for a penalty turned down almost straight after they had gone a goal up. That was the kind of day it was, they get a fortunate deflected goal and then we have a blatant penalty appeal turned down. Then we come out for the second half and they produce their best moment of the match and Nasri gets his second goal of the game. I am not sure how good a player he is but he gave Neville a pretty hard time. I am not very convinced by Neville i am afraid, it definitely looks we have the seen the best of him now. And although Da Silva came on and did well and scored a superb goal i would be picking Wes Brown as first choice at the moment. It's a pity he seeems to be injured at the moment. Da Silva is definitely the future but i'm not too convinced his defending is consistent enough yet to be a regualr starter in the big games.
Of course after the second went in United had to go all out attack and throw caution to the wind which meant we did leave ourselves wide open at times. But we just didn't seem to have the luck, when Ronaldo side footed wide stright after the second it seemed pretty obvious it wasn't going to be our day. But to their credit United stuck at it and never gave up, finally getting on the scoresheet in the last minute through an exquite shot from Da Silva.
Two defeats and one draw are not what i thought we we would end up with our three away encounters in the top four encounters but i suppose we have got these games out of the way now and they have all got to come to our place. The snag now though is we really need to be winning those game, any defeat would be an absolute disaster.

The Independent asks what's wrong with United
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/animated-wenger-forces-ferguson-on-to-back-foot-1003690.html
And never mentions Scholes once, even at the age he is now and even when he isn't always at his best we still miss him.

Will Hutton on a new Bretton woods
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/09/bretton-woods-global-economy-imf

I saw Steve Coogan at the Apollo last thursday. I saw him on his last tour in 97 i think, and he was excellent, at the time Alan Partridge was probably the best comedy on the TV. He was great again, the show was divided into two halfs with Paul and Pauline calf, Tommy Saxondale and Duncan Thickett comprising the first half. This was a bit hit and miss, especially the Paul Calf which i didn't think was as good as i had expecetd. But the second half was just Alan Partridge and it was absolutely brilliant. The sketch with the PC in the backgorund had me in stitches, even the final song was brilliant ( i'm not generally a fan of comic songs ).

Celtic 1-1 Manchester United

Well i suppose this time at least we got a draw, as once again we go to Celtic Park and completely dominate proceedings. Fergie decided to rest a few players with Saturday dinner time's biggie at Arsenal. There was no Berbatov and no Rooney, Giggs was brought in to play just behind Tevez. Central midfield was solid enough with Carrrick partnering Fletcher and out wide Nani and Ronaldo. Evra was given a break with O'S hea coming in for him whilst Da Silva was given another outing at right back.
United started reasonably well establishing a majority of the possession without actually creating much. Tevez doesn't look like the rotation policy that Fergie has brought in is going to suit him. I don't know whether he is trying too hard or he is just a player who needs to be playing most of the time but he isn't a patch on the man who was our outstanding player at the beginning of the season.
As last time we played there every time we had the ball we had a wall of 10 green and white hoops behind the ball. Out of nowhere 14 minutes into the game we found ourselves a goal down as a corner that came across was headed out but put back into the left hand side of the penalty area to find an unmarked McDonald who superbly lobbed Foster on his first start of the season. One of the big goalies few touches of the ball with his hand in the 90 minutes. United pressed hard for the rest of the half and did have chances but they were mainly from corners and just wouldn't go in.
The second half saw the introduction of Berbatovfor the disappointing Nani, it could equally have been Giggs to be honest he had had one of his lesser game, what a good job it wasn't as he improved after the break and was in the right place at the right time later on in the match. Berbatov made an immediate impact as United took complete control of the match for the first 20 minutes of the second period. But still United through a mixture of great Celtic blocks, bad luck and nobody having their shooting boots on couldn't get that goal their play deserved.
The intorduction of Rooney and Evra gave United an extra impetus as United now had almost their first eleven on the pitch.
Still it took a wickedly swerving shot from Ronaldo 6 minutes from the end that Boruc could only parry out which the in rushing Giggs managed throw his body at first and get his head to in and into the back of the net. Now was there time for a winner as Celtic were just basically camped in their own half with everybody behind the ball. Well United did try and with the last kick of the match had an absolutely glorious chance to snatch it. A cross from the left found Ronaldo at the back post who rose high and headed it back into the cetntre of the penalty area where the two Celtic players proceeded to make a compltete balls of it to leave the surprised Berbatov with a magnificent chance to put us through to the next stage. Agonisingly he put it just wide and we have to wait one or two more games to go through. Still with the other game ending in a draw we are as good as through, so now we can look forward to saturday. With Arsenal's recent dodgy spell hopefully this will be a good time to play them, we could certainly do with winning our firstgame against on of the big four.

Kevin McCarra's match report from the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/06/championsleague-celtic

Obama wins big, though even though i preferred Obama to Clinton she would have probably won by a bigger margin.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/barack-obama-wins-his-place-in-history-992750.html

Well i did predict when McCain picked Palin as his running mate that he had gone and handed the Presidency to Obama and it would seem most Republicans now agree
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/uselections2008-palin-republicans

What will an Obama presiency mean for us
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/nov/05/foreignpolicy-barackobama
It can't be as bad as the last disastrous 8 years for a start, mind you Bush may be the best thing that has happened for the democrats and American liberals, he has completely discredited the neocon movement and the free market zealots.

Manchester United 4-3 Hull City

It's hard to know what to say about yesterday's game. It was exciting end to end, just what you want to watch, Hull came and took the game to us and never stopped trying to attack. Yet i would think most reds would have been disappointed coming out of the ground. We missed a golden chance to boost our goal difference when Hull got the two goals that had some reds whistling at the end for the ref to call time on the match. And when the Chelsea result came through we realised we really had made a mess of it. The Arsenal and Liverpool results helped to put it into perspective though, at least we won.
The side didn't change drastically Fletcher was rested and Carrick made his first start since the opening day of the season and Rooney came back into the side at the expense of Tevez. United started well and it didn't take long for the first goal to come, courtesy of that man Ronaldo. Berbatov found him with a nice ball and he controlled it first time and hit with his left foot and beat the goalie at his near post. Hull were trying hard but weren't really a threat but they equalised after 20 minutes with a well planned set piece that was headed home by Cousin. United were startled and 7 minutes later they were back in front when a fine counter attack saw Berbatov stride forward with plenty of options, he released Carrick to his left who took aim with his left foot and hit a low shot that went in off the post. It was now all United and just before half time Ronaldo rose above the Hull defence to powerfully head home Nani's corner.
As they went in at the break it seemed like the second half would be the golden chance to improve the goal difference. And when Vidic side footed home a Rooney corner 10 minutes into the second half it looked it was going to happen. Ronaldo missed two golden chances to get his hatrick and Rooney missed a great chance after being set up after another fine run from Berbatov. Tevez came on for Nani and United kept on going forward creating chances and contriving to not put them away.
But with 20 minutes to go it was the away team that scored with Vidic making a valiant attempt to clear it off the line from Mendy's lob but the linesman ruled that it had crossed the line. Still United attacked and still couldn't put the ball in the net. Then with 8 minutes and the match going end to end it was Hull going forward with Mendy taking on Ferdinand down the left hand side of the penalty area and forcing Ferdinand into a clumsy challenge that saw the ref give Hull a penalty. It was a rare poor performance from Ferdinand it has to be said. Geovani made no mistake from the spot and United had a nervous last 8 minutes to survive which they did. But it was a big disappointment to have only advanced our goal difference by 1 when it should have been by 5 or 6.

The Telegraphs match report
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/3331261/Manchester-United-allow-Hull-City-fightback-in-seven-goal-thriller-Football.html

Rooney wants to stay at United for as long as United want him
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_united/s/1077228_rooney_a_red_for_life

Barclays bank, greedy piggies at the trough
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/02/barclays-qatar-capital-varley

Fergie wants a winter break

I don't agree i am afraid, it is a winter sport.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/nov/01/premier-league-winter-break
Football is for winter cricket is for summer, i know rugby league changed but that was after they sold out to Murdoch ( they had no choice to be fair to the sport as it was going bankrupt )

He also has another pop at Generalissimo Franco's team again, having another go at Calderon
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/31/ferguson-ronaldo-real-madrid-manchester-united
Maybe he is angling for a job at Barca, he'd go down a storm with comments like that

Tevez not a happy man. He doesn't like the forward rotation policy, you can't blame him really, when Berbatov arrived he was the best player on the pitch in most games.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/tevez-frustrated-by-rotation-policy-981783.html
But then Berbatov was the man Ferguson always wanted and to be fair most of us would agree that he is just what we needed, a big proper centre forward. With a lot of class of course.

Ronaldo realises he is not the flavour of the month with real hardcore reds, but vows to win us over.
http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/08/11/01/SOCCER_Man_Utd_Ronaldo.html

Peter Marron quits as groundsman at Lancashire, sad news he has helped make Old Trafford the best test match wicket in the country for me.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/counties/lancashire/7702440.stm

Two of the better articles i have read about the Brand Ross affair
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/adrian-edmondson-is-that-a-joke-in-bad-taste-youd-better-watch-out-979990.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/howard-jacobson/howard-jacobson-russell-brand-winked-at-me-once-and-when-he-winks-at-you-you-stay-winked-981764.html

With the Presidential election looming on Tuesday a state of the nation piece by the Independent's Rupert Cornwell
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/race-for-whitehouse/is-this-troubled-nation-ready-for-change-981733.html

Christpher Hitchens on Palin
http://www.slate.com/id/2203120/
the phrase "only in America" springs to mind, of course we exported all that milleniarianism nonesense to them in the 17th century.

A real American liberal breathes his last
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/01/studs-terkel-dies-author-broadcaster