Manchester United 3-1 Tottenham

All united can do is win their games and hope that Chelsea drop some points somewhere, most likely Anfield next week. And this was unquestionably that hardest game left, so it was a great three points to hopefully keep the pressure on the rent boys. The day didn't start too well with the news that Rooney was out, and the rumour was, he may be out for the remainder of the season. So under the circumstances the team put out was about as strong as we could have hoped for. With no Ferdinand again, is his season as well, over i wonder, Evans carried on alongside Vidic with Rafael coming in Gary Neville. Valencia and Nani flanked Berbatov with Giggs, Scholes and Fletcher making up central midfiled.
With Spurs lining up 4-4-2, Fergie didn't take long to decide to push Giggs further up playing just behind Berbatov. The first half wasn't a great spectacle but United were the better team, though we didn't manage to open the away defence up as often as we wwould have liked. It took about 20 minutes or so for United to start to create chances with the best falling to Berbatov who couldn't convert as his effort was blocked and Valencia who ran straight through the middle of the Tottenham defence and decided to shoot instead of squaring to Berbatov. If that had been Rooney i would have wanted him to square it, but the way it's ben going for the Bulgarian, i thought shooting was a fair enough option. As the half time whistle went, it seemed we were going to be in for a long tense second 45 minutes. And we would have to start to convert one of the chances we had been making.
Spurs hadn't created much but there were a couple of occasions where they looked capable of unlocking our defence without actually achieving it. You felt the longer the game went on the more you felt they were bound to craft at least one decent chance.
But the second half carried on where the first half had finished with United, in the main, bossing the game. Berbatov's head down for Fletcher should have seen the opening goal but the Scot somehow failed to connect with the ball. On the hour Berbatov was involved again in the area this time back heeling for Evra who was brought down for a clear penalty. Giggs and Nani both wanted to take it, but Giggs wears the armband and there was only one winner as he put the ball on the spot and struck a perfect penalty to the right of Gomes to give United the lead. Evra had been ill on the pitch earlier and when Redknapp brought Lennon on, that was the cue for O'Shea to replace him.
Spurs started to get into the game seriously for the first time now but without really carving out any clear cut chances. But a corner on 70 minutes changed all that, as King rose highest to power home the goal. Whilst i was at the game i didn't think rafael had done much wrong, but when i saw the highlights last night i had to change my mind. If he had stayed on the line as he should have done, he should have been able to clear it off the line. There is an argument that he should be given more games to gain experience. But when he makes such poor mistakes it's not an argument i can go along with.
The tide seemed to turn now with Spurs looking as likely to get another goal as United. Now Ferguson took off Rafael and brought Macheda on dropping Fletcher to right back. We now seemed to get stronger down the right hand flank with Nani having switched to the right earlier. And it was down this flank that saw the decisive move and moment of the match as Nani played a 1-2 with Macheda and the superbly chipped Gomes to put us back in the lead with 9 minutes to go.
Could we hold on, was all i could think now, as we once again seemed a bit leggy. Fergie changed back to 4-4-3 and then 5 minutes later Nani set off on a great run terrorising the Spurs defence and being brought down eventually by Palacios. Giggs, again grabbed hold of the ball, and this time sent it into the opposite corner to give us a 2 goal cushion that eventually saw us home.
So now it's over to Chelsea again. I'm not too hopeful of anything tomorrow, to be honest though. Stoke are dangerous opponents on their own ground but don't seem to travel well especially against the top sides. Still Chelsea do have some injuries and haven't played well in their last two games, so we live in hope.

It looks like Rooney's season could be over, not great news, though hopefully we have got the hard games out of the way just in time.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article7107243.ece

Henry Winter on Fergie's eyes and ears on the pitch, Ryan Giggs.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/manutd/7629551/Henry-Winter-Manchester-United-winger-Ryan-Giggs-the-most-golden-of-oldies.html

MUST had fun on Friday night projecting anti-Glazer slogans onto Old Trafford. Top work
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/23/manchester-united-glazer-family-protest

MUST takes the fight to the clubs sponsors
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/24/manchester-united-corporate-sponsors-glazers-red-knights

Fergie mocks retirement talk, again.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/ferguson-mocks-retirement-talk-as-antiglazer-moves-hit-home-1952854.html

Ian Ridley ponders Fergie's future
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1268574/Ian-Ridley-Is-Ferguson-looking-Eric-Cantona-way-out.html

Steve Bruce on the Ayatollah and not doing him any favours over the coming weeks.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7106682.ece

Steve Richards warns us that the progressive moment might not happen, the tories could still win. I fucking hope not, and to be honest as long as there are no major gaffes from either the Lib dems of for that matter Labour, i can't see it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-talk-of-revolution-is-still-premature-1953010.html

Matthew Parris thinks the last thing Clegg wants to do is prop up Gordon Brown in the next Parliament. He may very well be right, but the Lib dems are more of a democratic party than that. The party activists would have to be listened to, so he will have to put forward one hell of a good argument forward for propping up the tories.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article7106631.ece

Will Hutton on the importance of changing our electoral system.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/25/proportional-representation-voting-will-hutton

Is the Murdoch empire feeling the strain asks Steve Hewlett, we can only hope so.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/apr/23/murdoch-independent-simon-kelner

Goldman Sachs under pressure again.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article7107198.ece

This looks well worth a watch, a documentary of the recording of the Stones classic, Exile on main street on BBC 4 next month. I saw the Dr. Feelgood doc Oil city confidential on Friday and it was excellent, i liked the way towards the end they didn't gloss over the fact that they never really fulfilled their potntial. Wilco Johnson seemed the type of guy who is funny in short doses but would be a pain the arse all the time, a little bit barking.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/25/stones-exile-on-main-street

Orbital at Glastonbury