Rooney unhindered in Basel

First of all it has to be remembered that England haven't really played anybody, but still you have to give credit where credit is due, they have just given two good performances where the team looked unrecognisable from the shambolic mess we saw in South Africa.
It was nice to see Rooney score last night, though i'm not sure he would have been as bothered by his run of matches without a goal as the media have made out. In fact if Capello continues to play him as deep as deep as he has in the last two games he won't be scoring as many full stop. I said in my last blog that Capello had reverted to using Rooney in the hole. He was so far back last night he was almost an attacking midfielder, albeit a non tackling midfielder. It's been a bit weird watching Rooney during the course of last last two games, it's been like watching a different player.
Richard Williams senses a new purpose in his play, i presume he means whilst playing for England. What United don't need is for him to come back to United playing like that. The last thing United need is him losing the ability to get in the box and finish chances off as he did last year. Watching him last night he seemed to have been given orders to hover round the edge of the box, drop deep and only rarely enter the box. Which of course he can do, but that is not the player that terrorised all comers until that injury in Munich.
Steve Gerrard and Capello were as happy with the performance as with the scoreline. That's fair enough, before the game i had thought that this would be a far harder test than a very poor Bulgaria had given them on Friday. But England were in total control of the game in the first half and for most of the second half.

England's under 21's continued in their winning ways with a 3-0 win over Lithuania. Once again United's trio impressed with Pearce very happy with two goal Danny Welbeck coming in for special praise.
I saw the last game against Portugal and thought Welbeck had a good game in that. It's obvious he is going to be a far better player than the highly rated Sturridge that Chelsea bought from City. Whilst Welbeck can be brilliant individually he knows when a player is better placed and can create as well as finish. Sturridge can't, he gets the ball and wants to beat five men, a real selfish glory hunter. Somebody should be telling him there is as much glory in a great pass as in a great finish.

Bebe scored for Portugal's under 21's and the Mail has a clip of it.

Goal.com's website seems to have received the latest e-mail from MUST by the looks of it. My only problem with that interview is, when the Glazer's look at it, i'm sure they will look at the boasts that the red knights have got more than enough money to afford a takeoveras a motivation to try and hang on for as long as possible to raise the price. But i presume that they know more about these things than i do. It's an arsehole having to wait, but if it proves a successful strategy it will have been well worth it, equally imortant for United and English football.

Darron Gibson is unhappy about talk that he should leave United in search of first team football. He will have to do it eventually if he wants a decent career, that is actually playing football, not sitting on the bench. Irish manager Trappatoni denies that this is what he said, not very convincingly, it has to be said.

One of the younger breed that is coming through behind Irishman Gibson is enjoying his time in south Wales and Danny Drinkwater is happy with his form and looking forward to challenge of the season ahead. The fact Gibson still hasn't made it at old trafford and the likes of James, Drinkwater and then Pogba, Morrison and maybe even Eikram could well come through the ranks says to me that Trappatoni may well be right. There are plenty of player knocking about the premier league and in fact in all the football leagues that have started at United and gone on to enjoy reasonable careers at present. If you look at it honestly Ginson hasn't played eough football over the last two years.

Steve Richards wanted a new police inquiry over the News of the world phone tapping saga as the latest details released in the New York Times stir the controversey again. The latest news is that a new key witness is ready to step forward to give eveidence as bothe police and home affairs select committee reopen their inquiry.
Meanwhile lawyer and blogger David Allen Green thinks government stonewalling and political evasion will not work as the strands are too complicated and this case will not go away.

Leading tory pundit Tim Montgomerie thinks the coalition has hit it's high water mark, that is if you are right wing or a right wing tory. For the coalition to survive, keep lib dem activists and MP's happy in other words, the coalition will have tilt leftward, is his view. I wish i was as confident that the lib dems will prove to be sufficiently centre left, but i'm not.

The Tax system seems to be in crisis as job losses and failed IT systems are blamed for the very serious miscalculations that have led to the news that one in five tax records may record errors. Whilst Hamish McRae argues that Brown is the man to point the finger at, not officials.
I can see the validity of both those arguments, Brown was too clever for his own good at trying to hide changes in the tax system, making them far too complicated. Whilst new Labour as a whole was far too gullible in thinking IT systems were the answer to everything, having ditched any kind of progressive ideology.

Paul Mason on Newsnight examines the latest rumours that the IMF are seriously looking at proposals for a tax on financial activities or a Robin Hood tax as it seems to have come to be known as

The Indy wonders whether Kelsey Grammer is considering bringing Frasier back. One of the best comedies of all time, not sure about this though.

Graham Coxon with the brilliant Freakin out