Manchester United 3-0 West Ham United

Another easy home win that could have and maybe should have bagged us more goals as we aim to chip away at Chelsea's advantage in the goal difference stakes. It was a bit of weird game really, as poor as West Ham were, until the Giggs bit of magic that conjured up the penalty United were huffing and puffing to no avail really.
Rooney returned to the fold and Giggs got his first start of the season on the left with Nani on the right. Other than that it was the usual suspects so far this season, in the starting line up. I was a bit surprised i thought Rafael might get a start and thought Carrick might get on the pitch for his first start of the season.
Once again our best two offensive players were Scholes and Berbatov, Vidic should get a mention as he was imperious in handling the limited but physically intimidtaing Carlton Cole with two vital blocks one in each half. Rooney looked to be getting somewhere near to full fitness as the game went on without ever hitting the heights. Even though Fletcher has started each game so far, he hasn't really hit the ground running as well as he did last season when he started the season on fire. He hasn't played badly but his passing as been up to standard, he has given it away a bit more than he usually does.
The first twenty minutes saw United create very little but chances did start to come eventually. Nani came closest when a fierce shot was tipped onto and over the bar by Green. With just over half an hour gone a superb bit of magic from Giggs saw him ghost past ex red Spector only for the US international to drag him back in the box. Rooney picked the ball up and made no mistake from the box.
With five minutes of the second half gone Nani made amends for his shocking miss just before the break with a superb run, shot and goal. We will be wanting to see more of that this season, if he gets enough games, which i'm certain he will, he should be getting into double fgures by the end of the season.
United were totally on top now and after some glorious chances went begging, Nani turned provider with a lovely cross that just invited Berbatov to smash it home which he duly did with a sweet volley.
The big disappointent of the day was the way the performance dipped so alarmingly when our two best performers went off. When Scholes and Berbatov wet off to be replaced by Carrick and Owen, United's penetration just went with them. Surely the point of having a strong squad is so when the players on the bench get their chance they get out onto the pitch and show the manager why they shoud have started. I'm afraid when Carrick and Owen came they seemed to settle for the easy pass and the 3-0 scoreline.
I didn't think Smalling had the greatest fo starts either when he came on, that pass across his own box that somehow found its way to a red shirt was horrendous. He may turn out to be Ferdinand's replacement eventually, may, but he is nowhere near ready to be trusted as first team starter regularly at the moment. What a vital bit of business it was getting Vidic his new improved contract

Duncan White writes that Bebe is undergoing a special training programme to get him game ready, and the rumours of him mot being up to scratch are nonesense. Well i suppose we will find out for ourselves eventually.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7969600/Bebe-will-go-from-strength-to-strength-for-United-says-Sir-Alex-Feguson.html

Mike Phelan thinks Rooney needs a few more games yet before we start to see the best of him.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/wayne-rooney/7970370/Manchester-United-striker-Wayne-Rooney-dishevelled-from-Englands-World-Cup-flop.html

Kevin McCarra laments the sorry state of Scottish soccer after the departure of McGeady to Russia. I actually think the fact he is using his departure highlights his point, because whilst being not a bad player, he is nowhere near the heights of the real greats of Scottish football.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/29/scottish-football-aiden-mcgeady

Wenger, a hypocrite, never
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/wenger-is-a-hypocrite-and-loser-who-lacks-respect-according-to-his-rivals-2064119.html

Sid Lowe writes of Real Madrid's great gamble, the special one, and where do they go then if it doesn't work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/aug/29/jose-mourinho-real-madrid

The BBC's Mark Thompson lays into Murdoch's BSkyB, accusing it of lack of investment in British broadcasting. The argument that they should pay a retransmission fee is a bit of a minefield for Murdoch's Tory allies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/for-bbc-chief-mark-thompson-revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold-2064011.html

Martin Kettle writes about the contest between the Milibands for the keadership of the labour party. I don't take Ed Miliband's stance over the lib dems that seriously and i'm not that sure to many labour members will. As for his position over Nick Clegg, if Labour did end up the biggest party at the next election but without an overall majority, there would probably a fair proportion of lib dems happy to see the end of Nick Clegg. If i was a Labour member i think i would vote for Ed Miliband, but i wouldn't be absolutely sure i had made the right decision.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/27/labour-miliband-politics-religion

Hamish McRae thinks once the recovery is well established, poilcymakers will have to start to tackle the mountain. And then can we get around the rebuilding of a fairer and more workable economic model.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-the-debt-mountain-is-the-backdrop-to-the-bankers-bash-in-the-rockies-2064651.html

Which is what Ruth Sutherland uses her last Observer column to ask for.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/aug/29/four-years-that-shook-the-world

Robert Chesshyre writes of how the lucky generation got it wrong, can't argue with much of that. I am not too sure how many actually realise it though.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/robert-chesshyre-we-were-the-lucky-generation-ndash-and-we-got-it-wrong-2064048.html

Googe is attempting to enter the phone market via it's Gmail service
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/7968595/Google-Gmail-calls-calling-time-on-the-telephone.html

Johnny Marr talks toMojo about writing soundtracks. I'm looking forward to the David Cross comedy that he talks about.
http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2010/08/johnny_marrs_epic_soundtracks.html