Utd reserves beat the Elite 3-1

That must have been the strongest reserve eleven United have put out in a while. Maybe it was down to the fact that quite a few of them haven't played that much football that it took them most of the first half to get going. I'm not sure how much we learnt, though. Macheda took his goals well but is still nowhere near the finished article outside the box. Cleverley looks a first teamer and the sooner he starts appearing on the bench and in the team the better.
The Telegraph reporter must be the only spectator of that game that thinks that the sixty minutes or so from Anderson makes him anywhere near a first team recall. His appearance recalled our first sightings of him in a United shirt, where the size of him made us wonder just what kind of athlete we had bought.
Gibson doesn't even impress me even at this level, surely somebody striving to get into the first team squad should stand out more at this level than he does. Shooting aside, and even that is a hit and miss affair, i really can't see what the coaching staff see that makes them think he could be United first team material.
Smalling played well but given the opposition, City didn't take the opportunity to give their squad an outing, it was all youngsters, so he should have done. Gary Neville showed a willingness to get forward and overlap that is sorely missed at first team level where O'Shea just seems to go through the motions sometimes. Carrick did alright and i would like to think West Ham at home is the kind of game where we might get away with two creative central midfielders, either him and Scholes or Giggs.
Of the youngsters that came on, Will Keane showed a few nice touches, but the game was finished as a contest really by then.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/7962896/Manchester-United-midfielder-Anderson-returns-to-action-for-first-time-since-cruciate-injury.html

I didn't expect all the twitter and messageboard rumours about Bebe to make the back pages so soon. It's a bit soon to say we are worrying about signing a flop, though obviously it wouldn't be the first time.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305825/Manchester-Uniteds-7m-man-Bebe-fails-make-reserve-squad-mini-derby.html
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Manchester-United-s-Bebe-pulled-out-of-reserve-game-over-fears-that-he-could-be-a-flop-article563497.html

Glazers shopping mall operation facing even more difficulties, according to Andersred's latest blog. I would think he had done most of that research before the terrible US economic results that have come out during the last two weeks. Something will have to give, but will it be the Bucs or United.
http://andersred.blogspot.com/2010/08/first-allied-corporation-watch-no-2.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/aug/24/manchester-united-glazers-mortgage-malls

Mourinho thinks it's crazy Scholes isn't playing for England, hailing him as still one of the best midfield players in the world. He then goes on to have a bit of a dig at United's tactical approach in Europe, thinking it not conducive to winning champions league titles. I would read that as meaning we are not defensive enough, exactly why i would never want him in charge at old trafford.
http://foreign.peacefmonline.com/sports/201008/74474.php

Evra will appeal against his five match French international ban. From a United perspective i'd rather he didn't bother, but after what happened in the summer i don't think he will have much chance in overturning it anyway.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1305749/Patrice-Evra-appeal-game-France-ban.html

Bear shits in the woods moment as the IFS claim the budget is regressive and will hit the poorest hard. As if the tories were ever going to do anything else. Osborne won't be able to label them as labour loving lefties, and it will be another weapon for the lib dem left to use against the orange bookers.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/budget/7963080/Budget-hits-families-and-pensioners-twice-as-hard.html

Is the economy on the path to a perfect storm as yet more gloomy news and forcasts appear by the day.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/double-dip-concerns-send-gilt-yields-to-an-alltime-low-2061133.html

Hopi Sen wonders what lib dem leader labour could work with in the future. I agree with him that there is no reason for labour not to let everyone know now that there is no way they could work with a lib dem party led by Clegg.
Maybe Michael White was right yesterday, a liberal split is the most likely result of the coalition. Unfortunately if that turns out to be the case, Cameron will have secured a brilliant result for the centre right from a poor general election performance.
Instead of being a country with an anti conservative majority, Britain that is, not England, he could well position the tories and orange book liberals, if they haven't gone the whole hog and repeated the history of the national liberals as the majority in the country.
http://hopisen.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/ed-miliband-is-right/

John Harris thinks talk of lib dem upheavals are being undone.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/25/lib-dem-civil-war-power

The latest film by the maker of the brilliant Belleville rendezvous is admiringly reviewed in the New Statesman.
http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2010/08/edinburgh-film-tatischeff

The brilliant Fleet Foxes