West Ham United 0-1 Manchester United

A good end to the weekend after Portsmouth gifted the scoucers 3 points on a plate the evening before. Despite Pompey leading in that game twice they were easily the worst team i have seen this season, which of course doesn't say much for Liverpool. In contrast we gave yet another excellent performance, we were never at our best and yet you always fancied that when the goal came it would be us scoring it.
The one thing about West ham is when they play us at their place they aren't scared and always try to play football and have a go at us. And with Zola seemingly doing an excellent job so far you knew this was going to be a tough game. And so it proved, with Carlton Cole in particular giving Ferdinand and Vidic the toughest 90 minutes they have had since the Arsenal game. I don't particularly like West hame but i do have time for the way they have always been a football team. And under Zola it looks like they may be back on their way to being a decent footballing team again, credit crunch and Icelandic ownership permitting.
United went with Giggs on the right and Ronaldo on the left, it look more and more likely that Nani will be shown the door in the summer. Carrick and Scholes partnered each other in central midield with Rafael Da Silva at right back and O'Shea continuing to deputise for Evra.
United played reasonable stuff in the first half but we didn't really create any clear cut chances although Berbatov found the net but it was ruled offside. I thought he was miles offside during the game but when i saw it after it looked like it had come off a home defender, so really it should have stood. At the other end Lucas Neil had one chance that he hit straight at Van Der Sar and Cole got the better of Rio only to attempt a weak chance that didn't really trouble the big Dutchman who after 30 minutes went on to beat the British record for keeping clean sheets. Ronaldo made Green work after diverting a Scholes shot that was going wide but he didn't really have too many shots to save in the first half.
The second half saw United take a bit more of a hold of the game in midfield as they probed and passed trying to break the mean home defence down. When the goal came it was worth the wait. A corner was cleared by West ham but the ball ended up at Scoles feet, virtually without looking he hit a superb ball out to right where Giggs received it. Just like the teenage Giggs from all those years ago he cut in beating two men effortlessly and the delivered the coup de grace hitting the back of the net through a crowded penalty area with his right foot. United saw the remaining time out comfortably and with Rooney and Evra to hopefully be back in a couple of weeks everything is looking good at the moment.

Henry Winter's match report in the Torygraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/4549452/Manchester-United-back-on-top-after-Ryan-Giggs-brilliance-stuns-West-Ham.html

Zola thinks Giggs should carry on next season
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/4563598/Gianfranco-Zola-urges-Ryan-Giggs-to-prolong-career.html

Scolari is sacked
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7879638.stm
I had a feeling he wouldn't be succesful for them, but it is ridiculous to judge a manager on what half a season. I suppose there is some rational behind it if you might go down and lose millions of pounds. But when it's because you might not win something that is just wrong and no good for the sport, nobody has a divine right to win anything, how ever many ill gotten roubles you possess.

Ferguson amazed and says press partly to blame, i don't think this is the case here myself
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/feb/09/ferguson-shocked-scolari-sacking

So much for Chelsea being run like a normal club, where is rent a quote gobshite Kenyon
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/chelsea/4571940/Chelsea-face-15m-bill-for-sacking-Luiz-Felipe-Scolari.html

Alan Hansen questions Wenger's judgement
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/arsenal/4561570/Andrei-Arshavin-is-wrong-player-for-Arsenal.html

Geoffery Boycott on the latest English cricket debacle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/4560492/England-locked-in-a-time-warp.html

Duncan Fletcher weighs in as well
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/feb/09/cricket-england-west-indies

Jonathan Fenby on the migrant workers of China
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/09/china-internationaltrade

Hemut Scmidt blames the anglo saxon countries over the credit crunch
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/29/crisis-schmidt-us-britain

Stephen King concurs with Larry Elliot's last column on the need for banks to regain trust
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/stephen-king/stephen-king-fiscal-and-monetary-policy-can-do-little-without-some-return-of-trust-1604651.html

Anatole Kaletsky's fascinating column in today's Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/article5689642.ece

This sounds interesting, it's a pity it's on a Saturday though
http://www.manchesterhistoriesfestival.org.uk/