Fergie to the rescue

Ian Herbert thinks it's time for Fergie's incomparable man management skills to kick in. I think this will be all down to Rooney myself and whether he thinks he needs guidance. Unfortunately i think this makes it less likely that he will stay at old trafford for the rest of his career. Percentage wise that is, there is still a good chance that he might, but it's not as big a chance than it was. Most importantly for us, in the here and now is to get him back to the form that terrorised defences last season.
Jagielka warns Rooney to expect a rough ride from Evertonians on Saturday. I think he will know what to expect, whether he will be able to handle, is the question. I don't want to see a Rooney walking on egg shells not getting in the game, equally you don't want him stomping around like a bull in a china shop. It's a big call for Fergie as we could do with the three points.

Sam Wallace tells us what he thinks Capello should have learned from the two internations England have just won. Well i think his first point is the most important one, they played two poor sides so however well they played don't think that these tactics would automatically work against the better sides.
A point he doesn't really flag up is that in neither game was the defence seriously tested. Jagielka may be one for the future, but we can't know that for sure until he has played against a couple of the big boys. So whilst Wallace would like to England's strongest side play against France and Argentina, i think a couple of experiments such as Jagielka partnered by a fit ( assuming that he will be, that is )Ferdinand would be in order.
As well as Defoe has played in these two games, he isn't international class in my eyes and i wouldn't be think he has nailed that centre forward position down as his own.
Danny Welbeck who starred for the under 21's intheir 3-0 win over Lithuania says the under 21's look up to Milner as an example of where success at that level could to. Well i am positive Welbeck will play for England, and more importantly so does Fergie. He didn't make South Africa, as Fergie had predicted he would, but will he make the 2012 European championships in Poland and Ukraine? A good season for Sunderland and he will have a chance.
City fans are getting giddy at the amount of blues in the England squad, but in two years time there will be as many reds in that squad as our youngsters start to come through.

Van Der Sar hopes to earn a one year extension to his contract, but he will have to play thirty game this season to earn it. That may be what is written down, but it will not come to that. If his form holds up and he is fit enough for most of the big games, he will definitely get another year. Our search for a goalie doesn't seem to be getting anywhere and that is one large transfer fee the gimps don't have to pay out.

Gary Neville lets slip that he thought his career was coming to an end at the end of April. I think it's fair to say he wasn't the only one. I saw him play against City's elite reserves and he was outstanding bombing up and down the flank as if he was still in his twenties. Oh how we could do with him rolling back the years to give us that week in, week out.
It will be interesting to see how much first team action he gets this season. Right back is still a bit of a weak spot in the team for me. O'Shea is steady but he isn't great at getting forward and giving the wide man much support. Whilst Rafael is the opposite he can get forward to good effect but is still less than steady at the back.

The Mail reckon that the Welsh FA will ask United for permission to talk to Giggs about offering him a place in the national teams coaching set up when Toshack relinquishes his role.


Johann Cruff is alarmed by the boardroon unrest that continues to stir at the camp nou since Laporta finished and Rossell took over. I watched the storyville documentary that followed Laporta after he took over in 2003 and when they were once comrade in arms. Yet another football partnership that ended in tears. I have absolutely no idea who is in the right.

Ian Burrell asks if Rupe's Times firewall gamble is paying off. It looks like Coulson is living on borrowed time as more witnesses come forward to claim phone hacking was rife under his editorship.

Rohan Rickets with an excellent piece on the truth between sex and footballers. It surely is an us and them world. There aren't any easy answers on this, i'm afraid.

David Hare writes a piece about the brilliant mad men which started on BBC4 last night. Unsurprisingly he is in love with the writing of the show and maybe rightly points out that the show could just as well be about now as about the 60's. I missed last night so will have to watch it on sunday or on the iplayer. I would class it as must watch TV.

Deborah Hargreaves describes how two years after the great bank bail out all we get is two fingers as the appointment of Bob Diamond shows the banking community preparing to take on the politicians. I wish i could believe we had a Lloyd George or an Attlee who who could take them on and win. But we almost certainly haven't, which makes the banks tactics more than understandable

Anthony Barnett uses a New Stesman article to argue that David Miliband's defence of the decision to go to war over Iraq should count against him in his bid to win the leadership of the party.

XX win the mercury prize, an album that i haven't listened to yet. I haven't heard Iam kloot's latest yet either, but i wanted them to win, for Manchester of course.

The French markets are back on St Annes square this weekend, i like the sound of those meats and baguettes.
To continue the French theme i have just started to read Charles Williams boigraphy of De Gaulle and so far it's a riveting read. With his upbringing and background it easier to see where the nickname Monsieur non came from. He was a typical product of the French right, Catholic, monarchist and anti british.


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