Manchester Uited 0-0 Villareal

Our sluggish start to the season continues with another iffy performance in last nights goaless draw. I can't say i was too confident before the game to be honest. With our early season patchy form and no Scholes or Carrick in midfield it's easy to see why. Then with no Berbatov and Ronaldo on the benchi thought we were a bit lightweight up front.
But to be fair we played some decent stuff in the first half without ever really threatning the Spanish sides goal. Ferdinand had a decent chance form a coner early on but wasn't quite sharp enough to stick the chance away. Not sharp enough sums United up at the moment. Again playing 4-4-2 with Nani and Park the wide men and Hargreaves and Fletcher in the middle there was a lack of creativity that was only o be expected with no Scholes or Carrick. I was pretty surprised that Anderson wasn't involved, i am assuming he is going to play on Sunday, but at his age he should be able to play on wednesday then Sunday. I thought we missed his drive from midfield, Hargreaves doesn't really look fit. I know he will only get fit by playing games, but we need to start winning and we can't really afford passengers at the moment. The other surprise was to see Vidic and Wes Brown on the bench. It was nice to see Johhny Evans get a run out and pleasing to see that he has got a chance at United. He must have a chance of playing on Sunday because i thought Gary Neville again looked a bit of the pace. Literally, at some points he didn't seem to have the energy or pace of old to make the overlapping runs that were a trademark. My only decision would be whether to play Brown at right back or centre half. It might be better to play Evans in his normal position instead of trying him out at right back in such a big game.
Nani and Tevez both had long range shots but United didn't really create a clear cut chance in the first half, though we could have been awarded a penalty when Park was brought down just before half time. The first 20 minutes of the second half was the real disappointment for me. We just seemed to be going through the motions with no spark of creativity at all. In fact It was Villareal who had the best chance in this stage of the match hitting the post on the hour. I wouldn't say that woke United up but they did raise their game a bit.
Ronaldo came on a couple of minutes after that effort and livened things up immediately. I thought we had scored with 20 minutes to go when Ronaldo and Rooney combined to put Tevez in only for the Argentine to see his effort cleared off the line. Ronaldo had a decent chance but couldn't put the header in the back of the net. Ronaldo then set up Johnny Evans but his diving header hit the post. And that was the closet United were to come.
Sunday will be interesting, we aren't playing that well, but it will click for us at some point, let's hope it is on Sunday. Scholes and Anderson will be back, hopefully Berbatov and i think Ronaldo will start, though not necessarily finish the game. So there is no real reason to be that worried, we won't get a spanking anyway.

Evans in with a chance of facing Chelsea
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7613923.stm

Fergie has a go a go at the FA on Terry's suspension escape
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/7620692.stm

Alan McGee with an interestin piece on classic cover versions. I am going to listen to some Davy Graham myself in the near future. I watched the documentary Folk Britannica and his guitar playing look the dogs bollocks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/sep/16/definitive.cover.versions

Credit crunch latest As the US government now sponsors United's shirt.
Short selling to be banned form midnight for 3 months, let us hope they have the balls to extend that to indefinitely to permanent.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/watchdog-cracks-down-on-shortselling-935186.html

Markets rally as central banks intervene
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4780913.ece

Anatole Kaletsky seems to have gone form economic optimist to pessimist in a short space of time.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article4776149.ece

Auditors should take some of the blame argues Prem Sikka
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/18/marketturmoil.economics

William Gumede on the massive let down that Thabo Mbeki has been
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/17/southafrica.zimbabwe

Lancs in trouble
http://www.lccc.co.uk/index.php?p=news&id=2372