Portsmouth 1-4 Manchester United

A very nice result, i would have been happy with just the three points so 4 goals and a bit of an improvement on our goal difference was a nice bonus. After the youngsters were given the opportunity to show their worth the oldies were back in force for the visit to Fratton park. Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs all played and all played their part in this victory. We played 4-4-3 with Rooney up front on his own. I am not sure how this system suits us now Ronaldo has gone, it worked up to a point at Stamford bridge as we dominated midfield but we didn't get men past Rooney often enough for my liking. Still we had the chances to win that game so maybe it can work.
We started the game reasonably but weren't creating too much whilst Pompey under new manager Grant were not playing like a team at the foot of the table. Kuszczak had been picked ahead of Foster with Van Der Sar presumably injured. It says how underwhelmed i have been by Foster's form that i couldn't argue with that. To be fair to the Pole in goal ( pig ) he had to be on his best form and he was making a number of good stops and one excellent save.
United took the lead as Brown clumsily brought Rooney down in the area and Rooney got himself up to calmly convert the penalty. The lead didn't last long however. As the linesman flagged the referee after a corner and a penalty was awarded to Portsmouth. Nobody knew what he had given it for, but numerous replays seemed to suggest he gave it for Vidic grabbing hold of a shirt. Seeing as though both players were at it, to say it was harsh would be an understatement. Yet again the referee in charge of a United match had a stinker, you virtually expect it at the moment.
The second half was only a couple of minutes old when United regained the lead. Fletcher having an excellent game as usual found Giggs who tapped it across for Rooney who made no mistake slotting it home for his and United's second. Five minutes later and it was three for Rooney, three for United and three points. Giggs made a run down the left, looked like he had lost it only to win and back and then got brought down in the box. Up stepped Rooney again this time on a hatrick and as cool as you like despatched it to the other side for his third treble in a United shirt.
Portsmouth showed good character to keep on playing their footbal and continued to create chances. But the final say went to Giggs who hit a superb free kick to make it four with just minutes remaining. 4-1 was probably a bit harsh on Pompey but was just what the doctor ordered from our point of view.
It's a pity about Sunday's results but all we can do is win our games. I think we can safetly say that Arsenal aren't anywhere nearer winning the title after that demilition. I hadn't fancied them to be fair, that's the second time in a row they have been murdered by the ren boys on their own patch. Oh well they will have to pick themselves up for the trip to Maine road, that will be an interesting game, won't it.

Rooney happy with the win and the performance of Giggs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8384604.stm

Leeds in the third round, should be tasty. I want as strong a team as possible for that and as many goals as possible.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6936803.ece

Ferguson happy to have Wes back
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6669166/Manchester-United-defender-Wes-Brown-proving-himself-in-absence-of-Rio-Ferdinand.html
It is certainly nice timing for us to have a fit Wes back whilst Rio and Jonny Evans are out.

Patrick Barclay laments the effects of the new class of football owners
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/patrick_barclay/article6935408.ece
Spot on

Obertan doesn't want to be compared to Ronaldo, yet.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/obertan-keen-to-avoid-ronaldo-comparisons-1829225.html

Marina Hyde won't lament the passing of GMTV if the rumours are true
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/27/gmtv-slimy-padded-seat-power
Neither would i, more dumbed down garbage.

Miranda Sawyer has a go at the man behind another piece of dumbed down British TV
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/nov/29/simon-cowell-miranda-sawyer
About as dangerous as the good old days

Steve Richards on what he thinks was the real reason Blair supported Bush and the invasion of Iraq
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-the-real-reasons-why-blair-went-to-war-1828412.html
Meyer said it wasn't as poodleish as that at the Iraq inquiry earlier this week, if Richards is right maybe not, but it wouldn't enhance his reputation any if it was either.

Seymour Hersh interviewed in the New Statesman
http://www.newstatesman.com/media/2009/11/interview-obama-afghanistan

I am not much of a fan of Jeff Randall but this a decent article bemoaning the status of Britains bosses.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/jeffrandall/6664637/If-Britains-got-talent-why-are-we-being-run-by-foreigners.html

Will Hutton bemoans British takeover laws as it looks like a great British company will get sold to make some already rich financiers richer whilst the workorce lose their jobs and prospects.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/29/cadbury-kraft-takeover-will-hutton

Manchester United 0-1 Besiktas

Well that is the end of United's unbeaten run at old trafford in the champions league and it has to be said if it was going to happen this was the best night it could have happened. With nothing at stake Ferguson rested most of his big guns and gave some of our promising youngsters some European experience. With Tottenham at home in the league cup next week as well this is a chance for them to show us whether they have got what it takes. Of course the down side of this is you usually get a disjointed performance as the team doesn't have that much understanding. Which is what we got at times.
Overall it wasn't too bad a performance, the defence did ok, Gibson and Anderson were ok without really staking a claim, Obertan looked promising again but Welbeck and Macheda don't seem to click as a pair when i have seen them and i thought they were a bit disappointing. ( having seen it again i got that wrong they did well until the ey scored then seemed to go off the boil ) If Macheda could have got a touch on Obertan's cross early on it could have been a different game. United played some decent football in the first half without having enough cutting edge. When they did threaten it usually came through Obertan. Park was back in the first team for the first time in a while and it showed he looked well off the pace.
Besiktas hadn't been showing much going forward when after 20 minute an innocuos looking attack led the only goal of the match. I thought Rafael gave Tello too much room and the Besiktas man accepted the invitation to shoot. The shot took a deflection of Rafael and beat Foster at the far post. Some pundits have blamed Foster but i'm not sure he was too much at fault. Both sides had further chances as the half wore on with Besiktas having a glorious chance to get a second just before half time but hitting the outside of the upright instead.
Ferguson showed he was going to let the inexperienced line up show if they had got the mettle to turn the game around by making no substitutions at half time. Besiktas now got everybody behind the ball and played for the 1-0 putting the onus on United to break them down. United kept possesion but didn't really look like breaking them down. Obertan looked most likely and his dribble and shot half way through the half was our best moment in the match. Owen and Evra came on near the end and Evra should have been awarded a penalty but the ref turned United's appeals away. United had two great chances right at the death as they desperately tried to salvage a point but Rustu saved brilliantly from Macheda and Wes Brown. So a disappointing night but not disastrous, just ask the bindippers


Paul Wilson with a pretty fair piece on last nights game
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/25/champions-league-manchester-united-besiktas

Valencias improving form is not going unnoticed
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/markogden/100003084/antonio-valencia-emerging-from-cristiano-ronaldos-shadow-at-manchester-united/

A Guardian piece on Michael McIntyre
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/nov/20/michael-mcintyre-comedy-success
I'm afraid i am with his peers, i can't stand him.

Larry Elliot on the tories economic plans
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/25/camerons-deficit-of-patience

An econmic discussion from the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/audio/2009/nov/25/business-podcast-economics-john-maynard-keynes

Ben Mcintyre on the Chilcott inquiry and the example of Robin Cook
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article6932403.ece

Deja vu, a review of the condition of England by Charles Masterman
http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/11/masterman-england-times-world

Manchester United 3-0 Everton

Three goals and three points was just what the doctor ordered after the disappointment of stamford bridge. It was a decent performance without ever really hitting the heights, a bit like the season so far really. Yet again the the three players of the season were the oustanding performers in a red shirt. Evra is a magnificent player who must love playing at old trafford because i saw him for France against Ireland in that now infamous play off. He obviously does not get the freedom to roam forward and express himself under Domenech as he does under Fergie. Fletcher likewise, with the current crop of scottish players it is hard to see him getting to a world cup any time soon. Yet for me and most reds i should think he is unquestionably the first name to go down when it comes to midfield places nowadays. And after his performances against Arsenal, City and then Chelsea when he was our best player in all three i would say we can safely assume all of us that thought we badly missed him against Barca in Rome have been proved right. And lastly Valencia is coming on in leaps and bounds. He works hard for the team and is a permanent threat to the opposition. With his crosses, his running, his subtle passes that seem to go unoticed by those who still don't rate him and i think he will have scored a reasonable number of goals come May. He is looking a real Manchester United player if only we had someone on the left. Obertan may be that player but it's early days yet we will have to see him start more games to see whether that potential will make him the real deal on the left. With a European game to come where we have already qualified and a league cup tie against Spurs to come up he may well have two games in the starting line up.
United started reasonably well, though with Everton showing no adventure and obviously trying to contain us rather than making a game off it, the final ball needed to be spot on but it wasn't quite happening for us. Rooney had another in and out game and if he'd have had his shooting boots on we may have took the lead long before we did as he missed a couple of reasonable chances. But the goal was worth waiting for when it did come but not too many people would have been putting money on it coming from Fletcher. In fact the move involved those three players mentioned above again. Evra worked his way down the left and managed to get a decent cross over that found Valencia at the back post. Valencia cleverly nodded towards Fletcher who showed superb technique to volley it into the top left hand corner of the net. It was a superb shot and probably the best goal he has scored for United.
Everton brought Yakubu on to partner Saha in the second half and Everton looked a threat all of a sudden as the goal made them come forward. Of course that also meant that United would find it easier to make iroads towards the scousers goal. This made for a far more entertaining game and though United reallt did start to create chances Everton did have one or two themsleves and Yakubu went really close seeing his shot go inches wide with Van Der Sar beaten. But that second had to come and when it did it sort of summed up Rooney's afternoon. Giggs corner fell to him at the back post but Rooney's shot was so poor it ended up at Giggs feet who then took stock of the situation to play the pass of the day finding Carrick who sidefooted the ball past Howard for the second goal. Game over as Ferguson took Rooney off, which was fair enough for me, he hadn't had a great game and nobody should be guarenteed a place on the park if they are not performing and there are plenty of matches coming up. The third came from a surging run forward from substitute Scholes who drew his man before finding Valencia in space on the right hand side of the box and whose deflected shot beat Howard to give Valencia his fourth goal of the season. That was his season's total for Wigan last season, i definitely expect him to get into double figures for us by the end of the season. I suppose that shows what playing with better players plus a bit of coaching can do. People forget Ronaldo was hardly a prolific score for us over his first couple of years at the club.

Gary Neville asks why players need to pay agents 5 to 15 % of their wages to set up a bank account or buy a fridge, fair point.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6630343/Manchester-Uniteds-Gary-Neville-urges-players-to-take-back-control-from-agents.html

The Independent pay tribute to Ryan Giggs still first choice on the left hand side according to Sam Wallace
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/sam-wallace-giggs-recipe-for-success-hard-work-diplomacy-ndash-and-avoid-best-practice-1825957.html

A BBC Northern Ireland piece on Jonny Evans
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8373458.stm

Ferdinand injury pinpointed !

says Fergie, my first thoughts are we have heard that before. We can only hope he is right this time as a fit Ferdinand is vital to any hopes of silverware at the end of the season. The most vital task for our scouts is to find the long term successor.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-identify-ferdinand-injury-problem-1824408.html

Foster may as well have asked for a transfer as to be allowed out on loan in the new year. The lack of commitment to United and the lack of confidence in his own ability to oust Van Der Sar from the first team will surely have marked his cards with Fergie. To be honest as much as i don't rate Kuszcszak, from what we have seen of Foster this season i am not sure i wouldn't be too troubled if they did let him go out on loan. How damning is that.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/foster-wants-out-of-united-to-claim-england-no-1-shirt-1821789.html
I was amazed how good a press Foster got after an average display against the Brazillians for England. Did they not see that lousy clearance in the second half that could have destroyed all his good work before. I am afraid we have got a second and third goalkeeper at United and neither can be confidently relied on with their ball at their feet. What are our goalkeeping scouts doing, since the back pass law changed a goalie has to be as confident with the ball at his feet as an outfield player.

Nani seems to have admirers in Italy or gamblers willing to take a punt that they can get out of him what Fergie can't. Take the money and run.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6588395/Manchester-United-winger-Nani-wanted-by-Fiorentina.html

Andy Cole thinks United made a mistake not buying Torres and they know it.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6613015/Manchester-Uniteds-biggest-mistake-was-not-signing-Fernando-Torres-says-Andy-Cole.html
I think we can safely say that he is right.

Fergie thinks Video technology must be brought into football as the Henry handball incident hogs the back pages
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6925111.ece

No more Mr nice guy, Thierry Henry take a bow. There is cheating and there is cheating, to have handled it once would have been bad enough but to have another go, well i don't think he will be welcome back in these islands again. Desperate times for all those Irish north London wankers who follow the Arse. How can they worship him now.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article6922619.ece
Cascarino stick the knife in.

Funny money still alive and well as Birmingham now don't know who owns the club. When will the authorities, whether the Premier league or the government introduce laws that stop this kind of crap.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/birminghamcity/6588979/Birmingham-assure-fans-that-Carson-Yeung-is-not-just-a-front-man-and-remains-in-charge.html

Amid the furore over the world cup bid David Conn wonders whether this is pay back time for Triesman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/nov/18/world-cup-2018-worldcupthemedia

Martin Kettle asks the euro sceptics to admit they were wrong again over Europe, fat chance they are fanatics.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/20/herman-van-rompuy-victory-cheer

Hilarious old Guardian Weekend column from Jon Ronson
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/jul/28/weekend.jonronson

Rooney happy at United

He wants to start talks on a new contract, good news.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6559558/Wayne-Rooney-ready-to-commit-to-Manchester-United-for-life.html

Kevin McCarra on Rooney's desire to keep on learning
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/13/wayne-rooney-england-brazil

Capello thinks Rooney is ready to lead from the front.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/internationals/capello-rooney-can-lead-from-front-1820446.html

Jim White thinks Nani might as well have asked for a transfer
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6554695/Nani-revelations-sure-to-invoke-the-wrath-of-Sir-Alex-Ferguson.html
There is not much to argue about there.

Fergie gets 2 match ban with 2 match suspended, but Henry Winter thinks he deserves more respect
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6555854/Henry-Winter-what-Sir-Alex-Ferguson-has-done-for-English-football-deserves-respect.html

But has he turned referees against us, asks Rob Smyth that's the way it seems to me as well.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/12/referees-closed-ranks-manchester-united

Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky interviewed in the new statesman thinks George Osborne hasn't been nailed yet.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2009/11/160-uncertainty-crisis
If the worst happens and they win the next election there will be no hiding place if he becomes chancellor and he and the tories will be found out. They are obviously even more wedded to the pre credit crunch era than new labour.

Ex MPC member David Balnchflower hits out at the economics profession that was took over the neo liberal thatcherites as being divorced from the real world. Of course their economic theories suited their political prejudices.
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2009/11/economics-world-economists

Nani not happy

Unfortunately we are not too happy with him. I thought he would go in the summer when his mate went. But i suppose a lack of funds and the need to keep a balanced squad persuaded Fergie to keep him and give him one more chance. I have to admit i thought he started the season reasonably well. But it was yet another false dawn as all his numerous faults have crept back into his game. He may well be right that he needs to play regularly and to have an arm put round him from time to time. But all that proves is besides the fact for all his skill and ability you can add lack of the temperament neded by a Manchester United player to his stunning lack of a football brain.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/nani-reveals-ferguson-fury-1819249.html

Mark Ogden of the Telegraph thinks Nani has got his timing all wrong again. Unless of course it his way of angling for an exit from Manchester.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/markogden/100003404/manchester-uniteds-nani-gets-timing-all-wrong-again/

Hargreaves near to a comeback for the reds
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/hargreaves-eyes-manchester-united-comeback-1818551.html
Although i am not his biggest fan, i do recognise his defensive qualities but will he ever be the same player again. It's hard to think he will be.

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian thinks that as well as United played against Chelsea it does show that the old guard are coming to the end of the road and Fergie will have to spend the Ronaldo millions. Ahem and pigs might fly that money is well spoken for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/nov/10/manchester-united-sir-alex-ferguson-chelsea
Given all the circumstances we are doing pretty well really. He is right that we must be looking to the future but who is the past master of that, if not Fergie. It does look like we are going for the youngsters coming through or being bought route. I am not going to argue with that. You can't win the league every year as much as we would like to. The fact that it seems to me that we will probably be involved at the death and who knows might pull off a fourth title in a row shows all the money in the world couldn't buy a better manager. Look at the club that spent £80 million on ronaldo and millions on the rest of the squad, not doing too great are they. How long before the number 7 grows wary of that club.

Espn say Barca struggling to get the money together to take Robinho from his boo camp nightmare
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=696974&sec=transfers&cc=5739
The most interesting part of that story for me was the last three paragraphs

"Barcelona have been prepared to meet Robinho's £160,000-a-week personal terms, but the club is concerned if the Spanish government rescind the 'Beckham Law' and the liabilities for overseas football stars almost doubles, making the cost of hiring Robinho prohibitive.

Moves are in place to scrap tax breaks for high-earning foreigner footballers, but Robinho can get around new legislation only if he signs a contract before January 1, and clearly time is running out.

Currently, foreigners pay 24 % tax, rising to the 43 % paid by locals after five years in the country. The government wants everyone to pay 43 % from the start of next year."

I couldn't see how a goverment of the left or indeed any government could keep that in place in the current economic climate especially as it has hit Spain as hard as it has hit us.

Newcastle fans to launch official bid to but the club from Ashley

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/championship/newcastleunited/6538700/Newcastle-United-fans-launch-official-attempt-to-buy-club-from-owner-Mike-Ashley.html

Robert Fisk with his thoughts on Armistice day
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/armistice-day-the-great-war-and-the-words-we-mustnt-forget-1818092.html

Oil resources much lower than official estimates according to whistleblower
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/09/peak-oil-international-energy-agency
And you wonder why the neocons were so keen to enter Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Armistice day goes by for another year and the Brown Janes affair dies down it's good to read an article that reminds us the reality of war not the governments and for that matter it seems to me most people's pretence that you can fight wars on the cheap with no casualties.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/11/war-soldiers-equipment-afghanistan


Music
Acoustic Ladyland - Living with a tiger: Absolutely love this, though i don't know how to categorise it. It' supposed to be jazz rock but it's far more rock than jazz to me, jazz punk sounds more like it. I can't get enough of it, it's got the punk energy but the jazz playing and the sax sounds great. I would love to see this lot live.


Astra - The weirding: I wasn't too sure of this at first, i liked the style of music and the songs. A kind of a smoother Black Sabbath mixed with Floyd but some of the songs do tend to be on the overlong side. But the more i have listened to it the more i have accepted that. I still feel there is room for editing more songs to the three, four minute mark.


Maxwell - Black summer's night: More US neo soul and good stuff it is too, i saw him on Jools Holland recently and he and his band impressed. It's got a great live sound, that's the only kind of soul i can listen too.


Sonic Youth - The eternal: A classic group come back with another belter. There are some deep down and dirty guitar driven indie rock killers on this.


Tha Mars Volta - Octahedron: Not the usual punk/progressive crossover that i love but a more subtler sound. I still like it, though it took abit of getting used to, i kept expecting it to burst into some kind of whig out which never happened on first listen.


The Rumble Strips - Welcome to the walk alone: This had a mixed reception when it came out, but i would go with positive reviews. The songwriting is good and they don't really sound like anybody else around at the moment on the indie sound. It 's influences seem to me to come primarily from this ound of the pond, the kinks etc.

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United

This was as galling a defeat as the one at Anfield but for entirely different reasons. As Fergie said in one of last weeks press conference's United just didn't turn up at Anfield for the second season on the bounce and that wasn't what he or us would have expected. But yesterday after being written off and told by the London press that Chelsea and their star performers were the side in form and were looking good for the league it was us that put the performance in. Only for another diabolical refereeing performance to hand Chelsea the points. An offside after five minutes when Rooney was clearly onside, though that was down to the linesman. A penalty when the dangerous Valencia was about to get behind Terry only for Terry to snidely bring him down. And then the free kick against Fletcher that clearly wasn't followed by Drogba bringing Wes Brown down and maybe intefering with Van Der Sar's sight of the ball. I suppose the game was a moral victory and shows that the press do write us off a their peril. But it's three points to Chelsea and a five point gap. It's not insurmountable and i can't see anybody being five points above us come May, but how much better would it have been if we had got the draw or even the victory our performance deserved.
The negative aspect of the game was that we weren't as effective in the final third as our build up play warranted. Rooney had a good game as did Valencia but we didn't really have anybody attacking down the left to hurt them. And when our midfielders did get ahead of the strikers more often than not they didn't recieve the ball. Anderson and Valencia did get in great positions in the first half but the final ball didn't arrive. But credit to the defence and mifield which were excellent. Brown and Evans showed that they are more than mere back up by completely shacking Drogba who hardly got a kick.The much vaunted rent boy midfiled that we were told was where they were so much better didn't fare much better as none of the quartet could really impose themselves on the game. Fletcher as we have come to expect was immense but Anderson and Carrick each had one of their best games of the season.
Giggs didn't have a bad game but obviously doesn't have the pace of old anymore. If we had someone on the left side of the attacking three with the pace of Valencia and to a lesser extent Rooney we would have been that much more effective. We have got to hope that Obertan fulfills the potential that is there for all to see. Another improvement yesterday was whereas at Anfield when Torres scored we had been so bad before it was hard to see where a goal would come from, yesterday i really thought that we had every chance to equalise and the players attacked like they clearly believed that too. Whilst we are still a work in progress after the sale of Ronaldo and Tevez ( City fans aren't crowing about him too much anymore are they )there are promising signs for the season ahead despite the defeat. We just need to get the balance right between midfield control and attacking threat.

Kevin Garside in the Telegraph on United's lack of goals
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6527152/Kevin-Garside-Manchester-Uniteds-defeat-by-Chelsea-shows-their-problem-is-scoring-goals.html

United not happy with the officials, Rooney in trouble?
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferguson-vents-his-fury-at-ridiculous-referee-1817291.html

Lee Dixon thinks Flecther was magnificent yesterday and is now one of the first three on the teamsheet nowadays. I am not quite sure how he wasn't named as the man of the match.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8349992.stm

Will Hutton on the insider trading affair that has rocked Wall street
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/08/will-hutton-wall-street-corruption

William Keegan thinks the our fellow Europeans have been right to shun Anglo saxon capitalism, yet another embarrasment for the Atlantasist new labour and Brown in particular as they were obviously right.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/08/g20-britain-keynes-eurozone

Larry Elliot thinks the tobin tax is an idea whose time has come whilst Blairite Rentoul does not.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/09/bank-tax-pays-for-development
http://johnrentoul.independentminds.livejournal.com/197624.html

Kuszczak mistranslated

says Fergie, we'll see.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6513851/Sir-Alex-Ferguson-denies-rift-between-Manchester-United-goalkeepers.html

Ferdinand out until United get to the bottom of claf injury
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferdinand-to-miss-manchester-united-trip-to-chelsea-1816136.html

Fletcher to play on despite injury, amen to that.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-uniteds-fletcher-desperate-to-avoid-surgery-1815197.html

Ronaldo out for four weeks or maybe more according to other reports. It's turning out to have been a good time to sell him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/cristianoronaldo/6508138/Cristiano-Ronaldo-out-for-four-more-weeks.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/ronaldo-is-concerned-by-injury-admits-casillas-1816170.html

This is what the west is fighting for in Afghanistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html?_r=3
Not exactly a surprise. Some country, it resembles China in the first half of the twentieth century under it's various warlords. I don't know how it will ever join the ranks of the civilised world but i know it won't be imposed on it by the outside world. Especially by countries with western values. The sooner we get out the better.

Adrian Hamilton onCameron and his parties troubles over Europe.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/adrian-hamilton/adrian-hamilton-cameron-europe-and-pure-waffle-1814806.html
It's amazing what a good press he has had this week as all he has done is postpone all the troubles that his party will suffer over Europe. It will be Major mark 11 if he manages to win the election, grim news.

Hedge fund insider trading surprise in New York
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article6897548.ece

Meanwhile the financial disaster that these self interested arseholes helped to perpetrate shows no sign of getting better any time soon.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/05/zombie-economy-banks-recession

Murdoch's plan to charge for the internet falter, what a shame. Not the best climate to be attemting to force this through in any case i would have thought.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/05/murdoch-online-news-charge-delay

When Radio 6 started i used to listen to it most days. But i stopped listening over the lastcouple of years until last winter i gave it a go again. Wow had it gone downhill and this guy symbolised it to me. Glad to see he has gone, unfortunately it still isn't much better.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2009/nov/02/george-lamb-six-music
Now they need to get rid of Shaun Keaveney as he is almost as bad. Both of them belong on commercial radio surely.

Manchester United 3-3 CSKA Moscow

Well what a game of football that was. I have to admit i go to these european qualifying games not expecting too much in the way of entertainment these days. The quality of the opposition combined with our European tactics and the aim of just doing enough to save themselves for the premiership means that is a pretty justified expectation usually. But last night you wouldn't have guessed that they were the same team we played in Moscow. They had good players, passed well and really took the game to us when they had the ball. Allied to that our defensive woes continue whoever plays centre half it seems.
Even though we went in 2-1 down at half time i thought our attacking performance was an improvement on some of the not too imaginative fare we have had to endure at times this season. Owen and Macheda started up front meaning we played 4-4-2 with Fletcher coming into midfield alongside Scholes. Even though he didn't reach the heights of his form before his enforced layoff i thought he still showed why we have missed him. I even had him for first goal and he nearly repaid me with a fine shot that flew just wide. He showed his usual energy and good use of the ball collecting the ball constantly off Van Der Sar and the centre halves. Nani was given another go on the left and Valencia started on the right. I was a bit surprised that Valencis started as he has played about 5 games on the trot now. It was a good job he did though as yet again he was one of our very best players on the night. Nani disappointed again and when he was took off to allow Rooney to come on it said everything to me that Fergie preferred to put Macheda, an out and out centre forward on the left rather than keep Nani on. Macheda and Owen had reasonable games and indeed Owen should have scored after 5 minutes but miscued a Valencia cross. It's a bit disturbing how Owen seems to need 2 great chances before he gets his goal and it almost always seems to be the second chance he tucks away. There will be games where he won't get that second chance. Evans and Van Der Sar have come in for a bit of stick over the first goal but i thought it was a great shot. It didn't take long for us to equalise as Nani's one good moment of the night saw him flick on Valencia's cross onto the right foot of Owen who turned and despatched the ball into the corner of the net. But just minutes later the Russinas were back in front as Krasic ghosted himself into the penalty area and round Van Der Sar to fire home. I really liked the look of Krasic he looked a real quality player. They had played well but i don't think we deserved to go in behind at half time.
But worse was to come as United conceded a really soft goal from a set piece as Beretzutski crept in unmarked at the far post to head home. We were really up against it now as their confidence was sky high and as we left ourselves open chasing the game and they looked threatning on the break. Rooney surprisingly on the bench after the birth of the baby was now warming up and eventually came on for the hapless Nani. And for the last half hour United attacked like we have only really seen in the second half performance against City this season. But potential United target Akinfeev was having a stormer in goal has repelling all comers. He had made some fine saves in the first half but he really earned his corn and wasn't to blame for any of the goals. The big talking point of the night was the refs decision to book Fletcher for a supposed dive when he had blatantly been tripped in the penalty area. It couldn't really have been a more obvious penalty and showed that whilst Champions league referee's in general seem to be much better our premier league refs there is always one bad'un, i suppose.
Five minues from time the pressure at last told as Scholes nodded home Gary Neville's free kick. Fergie has praised Neville's performance as like Gary Neville at his peak and i can't argue with that. He was a big part of our siege of the Moscow half in the last half hour as he overlapped and crossed like the last three years had never happened. He seems to have a good understanding with Valencia and if he can perform like that in consecutive games he would be worth a go against Chelsea as think O'Shea needs to be given a bit of reminder that the right back spot is not automatically his. The other big part of the comeback was the introduction of Evra who was oustanding going forward and linked up well with Macheda who had a reasonable game out of position on the left and then with Obertan when he came on who looked more like the Obertan we saw against Barnsley. Obertan caused CSKA more problems in the 10 minutes he was on than Nani had in the hour that he was on the pitch. The equaliser was lucky when it came as Valencia's shot took a deflection that gave Akinfeev no chance but it was thoroughly deserved and capped off a fine evening of football.

The Independent's match report
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/rooneys-inspiration-sees-united-through-1814304.html

Ferguson not happ about Flecther's booking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/04/sir-alex-ferguson-cska-moscow

Our defensive problems continue
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/6497357/Jonny-Evans-and-Wes-Brown-give-Manchester-United-cause-for-concern.html

Simon Jenkins on what passes for our ludicous drugs policy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/03/nutt-johnson-drugs-rightwing-press

Whilst Andrew Sullivan in the times thinks that in 10 years time the US will have legalised Marajuana and that people will comare our present drug laws as we consider prohibition. I am not sure about the 10 year part but i am sure that it will be compared to prohibition in the future because that is what it deseves to be compared with.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6897958.ece

Ferdinand playing with injuries

So says Fergie. A bit bizarre, one week he is having a go at him now as the report says putting his arm around him. It still looks like we have seen the best of him whichever way you look at it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/ferguson-on-defensive-as-critics-write-off-ferdinand-1813675.html
A blip according to the guardian, yes but the worry for me is it's not just a blip with Ferdinand it's with Vidic as well
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/nov/02/rio-ferdinand-alex-ferguson-manchester-united

Owen doesn't lie awake at night thinking of England
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6900212.ece

I hadn't read that Ramos had been dismissed as CSKA boss. It looks like they are going back to the old Soviet model.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2009/nov/03/cska-moscow-leonid-slutsky-zico

Michel Platini, a football man not a suit who i have a fair bit of time for is interviewed in the Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/6488300/Michel-Platini-who-would-be-stupid-enough-to-buy-Manchester-United-or-Chelsea.html

The Afghan election that never was and never would have been according to Peter Galbraith
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/02/afghanistan-karzai-election-un-west

Manchester United 2-0 Blackburn Rovers

Not the greatest game or performance but three points all the same. Blackburn came with no intention of playing football, just getting everynody behind the ball and trying to make if difficult for United to get through them. I suppose after their recent drubbings and illness problems you can understand it to a degree. But they didn't try to play football at all and didn't contribute a thing to the match as a spectacle. Unfortunately they were helped by a pretty lacklustre performance by a United line up that didn't have that much spark on paper or on the pitch.
There wasn't much invention in midfield with no Scholes or Giggs leaving the centre of the park in the hands of Carrick and Anderson. Anderson played ok but i thought Carrick's display showed no improvement over recent weeks. I hope Fletcher and Giggs are ready for next week, because if they are i would pick between those two and Scholes for central midfield against Chelsea. If we lose the central midield battle at the bridge as badly as we lost it Anfield i fear the worst next week. Rooney played as if his mind was miles away as perhaps it was with him about to become a dad. And that didn't help the creative side of things as United struggled to create anything in the first half.
Brown and Evans came into the defence as our main pairing were either injured or given a wake up call. Who knows what the answer to that is. I think it's about time O'Shea was given a rest because his game has gone downhill in recent weeks. He has been giving the ball away for fun in recent weeks and maybe he is taking the right back spot for granted. There is no harm in giving one of the twins a go or maybe even De Laet who i like the look of. Next week if Vidic and Rio are back i would seiously think about playing Wes Brown at right back.The one United player who does seem on top of his game is Valencia who has been our best player for the last 3 or 4 games and is really looking the part. He was involved in almost all the decent moves that we put together. Unfotunately that meant we could judge the hapless Nani against him and once again he didn't fail to disapoint with yet another anonymous display. Berbatov had the best chance of the first half with a free header that he should have put it away but gave Robinson the chance to save which he did. He did put the ball away later in the half but Rooney was ruled offside out wide.
The second half was better but it was still hard work for United as they huffed and puffed a bit. The goal finally came as Berbatov made the most of a nothing effort from Evra. The ball came from the left and Berbatov controlled it brilliantly first time flicking it up and volleying past Robinson who never moved. Still Blackburn didn't come forward and United whilst still playing for a second didn't go all out for it. Obertan came on for Nani and after the promise of midweek came a bit of a reality check for him and for him i suspect. He looked a bit nervous which isn't really what you want to see in a United player making his debut at Old Trafford. He had two great chances to score, the first almost immediately, finishing weakly after a great run. But the second was a terrible miss and it has to be said that as poor as Nani plays he would probably have buried both those chances.
The game was finished three minutes from time as Rooney swept home a great cross from Anderson. Blackburn had a goal disallowed in injury time but 2-0 was a fair reflection of the game.

Giggs interviewed in the Independent wants to carry on playing.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ryan-giggs-a-humble-genius-the-man-who-is-the-very-heart-of-united-1812841.html

Fergie unconcerned if Rio and Vidic don't make the Chelsea game
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article6898800.ece

New labour do a christian republican right as they disregard the scientific evidenceof their dugs advisory board. Some progressive party!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/01/david-nutt-gordon-brown-drugs

Will Hutton on private versus public
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/01/david-nutt-gordon-brown-drugs

Larry Elliot thinks the seeds of the next financial crisis are being sown
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/02/globalisation-financial-markets-reforms

Afghan debacle continues
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/afghan-election-officials-declare-karzai-president--again-1813401.html