Manchester United 4-1 West Ham United

I wasn't sure what to expect from this game beforehand to be honest. You are not sure how the team will react after such a titanic game as Tuesday's and when you throw in our current bogey team West Ham as the opponents even more uncertain. They haven't had much of a season at West Ham and apart from beating us they haven't really threatened the top half of the table. Still i suppose compared to last season they have seen real progression.
Fortunately it was a West Ham that looked like it couldn't wait for the end of the season and a lie down on the beach, and United did the business. Though not without a little trepidation as after a blistering start that saw United 3-0 up after 25 minutes Nani inexplicably got himself sent off for a ridiculous head butt on Lucas Neill. Ronaldo got the first after just 3 minutes as he ran at the heart of the hammers defence and showed us the difference between a poor to average premiership outfits defence and one of the giants of Europe. Turning inside from the byeline Ronaldo's marker slipped and the number 7 sensing his chance ran straight into the penalty area and unleashed a strike that beat Green with the help of a slight deflection. That was the kind of start we could only dream of after our three consecutive defeats at their hands.
United kept the pressure up with Ronaldo, Tevez and Scholes all looking in top nick, and Tevez in particular looking a different player than the one that had been so innocuous at their place earlier in the season. An unchanged team saw no place for Rooney or Vidic again and the rumour doing the rounds is that Rooney has a hernia rather than a hip injury. I don't know whether that is correct, but i am pretty certain it is not a hip injury. If it is a hernia he must be struggling for Moscow and that would be a big big blow for United and for him obviously. Hargreaves seemed to be enjoying his stint at right back as he was overlapping to good effect in the opening half hour. And it was through a Hargreaves cross that the second goal arrived. Hargreaves cut back inside and delivered a cross with his left foot that evaded everybody but Ronaldo who reacted quickly to touch it home through his thigh. Two minutes later we were all in dream land as the game seemed as good as over and the title almost within our grasp as Tevez added a third. And what an absolute screamer it was, Ronaldo passed him the ball, the made a run past him taking two defenders with him leaving Tevez to cut inside and unleash a vicious shot from about 25 yards. Green had no chance as the ball served and dipped at the last minute.
The game seemed as good as over but then 2 minutes later an uncertain piece of defending from Brown saw Ashton hit a magnificent overhead kick that gave Van Der Sar no chance. All of a sudden it was a bit of a contest again. Then about 5 minutes after this Nani inexplicably got himself sent off after a seemingly innocuous challenge between himself and Neill saw both of them go head to head and then Nani to decide to give him the gentlest of headbutts. It was totally ridiculous, United were 3-1 up, probably one game away from a consecutive title and with a Champions league final to come up at the end of the season. He should have just laughed and reminded him of all those facts and left the scene, instead he gave West Ham an opening into the game that thankfully they weren't good enough or motivated enough to take.
Still the game was now delicately balanced and if West Ham had got the second goal it would have been a totally different game with both team and fans on tenterhooks. For me Nani hasn't been playing well enough to get into the Champions league team anyway but his actions yesterday should seal the matter.
The second half saw United trying to play possession football to try and take the sting out of West Ham and keep our fitness levels up i presume. But 10 minutes into the half the West Ham defence seemed to part like the Red Sea, inviting Carrick to run at the heart of the defence and unleash a shot that took a slightly bigger deflection this time to see a second ex hammer get on the score sheet and this time definitely seal the game up. From then on, even though United were a man down there was only one team in it. Giggs and Fletcher came on for Scholes and Ronaldo with about 25 minutes left and both seemed to have carte blanche to get forward. Indeed Giggs fed a beautiful ball through for Fletcher where the Scot seemed to do everything right hitting it across the goalie onto the inside of the post only to see the ball come out instead of going in. You can guess how hard the rest of the game was if i tell you the Stretford end sang Tevez, Tevez give us a wave and he did. I didn't know his English was that good to be honest, but he deserved it because he has been magnificent over the last month.
The game ended 4-1 to United and then the players did their end of season lap of honour, and it has to be said it looked a pretty happy together group of players. And of course so they should.

Rooney will be fit for Moscow says Fergie in the Mail

Paul Wilson applauds Fergies( Quieroz's ) tactics in the Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/may/04/chelsea.manchesterunited

David Lacey on Shinawatra continuing a fine City tradition
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/05/03/thaksin_is_a_chairman_in_the_t.html

The new Joy Division documentary is reviewed by Philip French, and it's a thumbs up.
http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Observer_Film_of_the_week/0,,2277810,00.html

Henry Porter on cynicism and optimism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/04/3
Its a thought provoking article, especially for me as i am generally cynical about most things, yet at the end of the day i think that we will see progress. So i guess i must be a short term pessimist and long term optimist. It'll be alright on the night.

Steve Tongue wants to see United flair in Moscow, don't we all.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/champions-league-united-must-produce-final-flourish-820783.html

The Champions league final will kick off at 10.45 PM, how late is that, you would have to leave it until a bit later to start your pre match drink.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/05/04/sfnmos104.xml

Will Hutton on the super rich
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/04/globaleconomy.economy

I have to say my response to Boris Johnson winning the London Mayor ship was to laugh. Everything seems to be going wrong for London at the moment. The credit crunch and the rise of China and India will eventually eat away at it's position of the worlds financial centre. The chaos at Heathrow shows the ineptitude of the private sector that those financiers have been telling us for the last 30 years were so much more efficient than the state. An Olympics that is going to run wildly over budget and that it had better fall to London to pay, not the rest of the country. You just know that isn't going to happen though. And now they go and elect a complete buffoon as Mayor. That stumble as he walked up to give his victory speech is going to look very apposite over his term as Mayor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-fears-loose-cannon-boris-johnson-will-hit-his-hopes-of-winning-the-next-election-820852.html
I am not surprised senior Tories are privately crossing their fingers and hoping for the best