Aston Villa 2-2 Manchester United

Another away draw, and whilst this time the game couldn't be described as " forgettable" United's performance, for the first 80 minutes anyway, once again could. This season just isn't happening and unless Rooney returns to the kind of form he showed last season when he makes his return hopefully next week, it's increasingly hard to see it doing so.
With no Giggs again due to his hamstring, and no Scholes due to his booking on Wednesday night, once again we were found badly wanting in the creativity stakes. Before the sides were announced i would have took a draw, due to our current away form and the players mentioned missing. But when i saw Villa's midfield four, i honestly thought even with our current indifferent form we should have been capable of gaining the three points to keep us on the rent boys tail.
I should have known better. The first half was a cagey affair where Villa's young side felt their way into the game and United once again struggled to produce anything resembling a coherent display. I thought we would enjoy long periods of domination of the possession but though we had short periods of control the longer the half went on the more Villa got into it and gained the confidence to go in at half time having spent the last five minutes of the half looking the more likely side to score.
United had the better of what chances were actually created in that half with the best falling to Berbatov who having been put through by Hernandez but managed to miss the target. What has happened to the Bulgarian, he had a half decent game on Wednesday but yesterday he was back to the player of no confidence that we saw at the end of the last season.
I felt sorry for Hernandez, he didn't have a great game but the service to him was almsot non existant. Carrick and Fletcher didn't boss the midfield as i had expected but i can't attach much blame to Fletcher, just as last season he has had to play almost every game and thus lost his sharpness. In his best seasons Fletcher was often rested, especially before the big games. We are so short of quality in central midfield now Fergie can't afford to rest him. Hopefully Cleverley will come back in the new year and give us a bit more depth here or we will almost certainly finish the season as we did last year, running on empty.
I had the horrible feeling that if Villa came out with a bit more belief in the second half we might be in for a torrid day. Unfortunately that is precisely what they did and the worst did follow as they took us apart in a fashion we haven't really seen for a long time. If they had been four or five up before our last ten minute fight back we couldn't have complained.
There were no arguments on the penalty decision, it was a clumsy challenge from Brown and a definite penalty. The wonder was that it had taken them so long, having missed a couple of great chances as well as hitting the woodwork. Ashley Young made no mistake and i thought that was that, the way we had played the only team i could see scoring another was Villa.
Fergie then made a double substitution bringing off the front two and replacing them with Macheda and Obertan. I'll hold my hands up, i thought that was as good as handing them the three points. And when the first thing Macheda did was lose it and set Villa up on a counter attack which saw Downing fire in a cross that Albrighton couldn't miss from i was wondering whether this was going to turn into one of those hammerings we get now and then.
At last United started to at least a little bit threatning as Ferdinand had one shot cleared off the line, but i was worried we would be caught on the break throwing men forward. United went forward again and this time the industrious Fletcher outwitted the Villa devence with a back flick that Macheda fired home from inside the box to make amends for his mistake at the start of Villa's second goal. Villa then almost killed us completely when Downing cut inside and hit a thunderous shot which had Van Der Sar well beaten but it just flew over. United went straight to the other end and the first great piece of play from Nani as he beat two men in front of him and put in a great cross to the back post for Vidic to superbly head back across Friedal to amazingly level up the scores.
Fergie now brought Smalling on for Park as United tried to steal the three points. It wasn't that far from happening as a great run from Obertan saw him force Friedal into a great save, even if he didn't know much about it. A United win would have been a serious miscarriage of justice nut that was the last real chance of the match. So mixed emotions at the end, jubilation and relief at the rescue of a seemingly lost cause and a realisation that as things stand we just are not good enough to win any of the trophies that matter.

Mark Ogden reports on Rooney's probable return next Week and the questions about his future still to resolved. I don't think anyone really knows what the score is on this front. There a lot of sceptics out there, regarding his long term future at United, that much is certain. The Mirror reckons Rooney's teammates are still unhappy with his implied criticism of some of them and will have to patch it up with them. If there is an ounce of truth in any of that, there may well be new depths to plumb as the season progresses, as there is nothing worse than a split dressing room.

The Irish government again denies it is in talks to conduct a bail out of it's economy as the rumours keep on coming. As the melftdown of the Irish economy continues, the age old Irish problem of immigration rears it's head as it's young people despair of a bright future in their homeland. Fintan O'Toole argues Ireland can still have a bright future but only if it uses this crisis to sweep the old guard away and thoroughly reform its democratic structures. There must be a reckoning for its political elite and it's cosy come corrupt relationship with those greedy property developers who have led into this crisis.

Johann Hari demolishes the promises and record of Nick Clegg and predicts that he will lose his Sheffield seat at the next election. I don't know enough about his constituency to know how precarious his position is, but i would have thought he would be in big trouble. All i can say is good, he deserves to lose his seat. Maybe the lib dems can return to being the centre left party that it was and should be.

Matthew d'Ancona warns the coalition that the student protests were a sign of things to come, although he thinks that last weeks protests won't have done the government any harm, protests to come might not paint them in so favourable a light. This isn't how John Harris sees things and reminds us of some of the promises that David Cameron made before the election, there are almost as many hostages to fortune as Clegg in that. list.
Will Huton also thinks this is a sign of things to come and warns that demonstrations against the poll tax and the Iraq war were the beginning of the end for Thatcher and Blair.
Benedict Brogan wonders if Cameron will learn anything from the spate of memoirs to have come out recently. Are the goverment already thinking about their leagcy. The most interesting fact to come from the article is the assertion that they have already decided to govern as if they will be a one term government, enact reforms rather than run for re-election, or slash and burn.
From there point of view it tmakes total sense and the biggest indictment of new labour is it was permanently running for re-election and doing whatever would least alienate the electorate rather than trying to radically reform the rotten state of democracy left by 18 years of tory rule.
Peter Oborne hoped Cameron would be the man to clean up parliament after the stench of new labour's period i office. He is a disappointed man so far as he describes our legislative chamber as rotten to the core.
Peter Hoskin lists ten points you need to know about the welfare white paper.

Edward Conway comments on the the state of flux that is the present state of the global economic system. He is another who thinks the system of the last 35 years is shattered and just as the gold standard was replaced by Breton woods and that was replaced by the Thatcherite consensus we have just watch collapse a new consensus emerge. He argues that this may take time as it may not emerge until China have replaced the US as the global economic superpower.
A system where the freedom of capital is curtailed would be one of the main starting points in an ideal world as far as i am concerned. What an irony if it was a totalitarian regime that allowed a proper democratic supervision of the interests of our so called financial elite to emerge.
Paul Mason argues that we must find a new settlement to return to a rerun of the 30's and all the misery that floowed on from that decade. He sees no reasonto be cheerful after the G20 that put a a sticking plaster on the disagreements currently in evidence.
Nick Cohen comments on the disgrace that was vodafone's deal with HMRC. If freedom of capital was to be curtailed, corporate tax evasion and offshore tax evasion may be a problem that a proper centre left government will be able to get on top of. He is right to attack our establishments love affair with big business and the wordl of the rich and famous.

Suu Kyi released by the Burmese Junta at last calls for freedom of speech as the basis as a new democratic start for the country. It will be interesting to watch how much support she actually now receives after being freed. After reading John Kampfner's Freedom for sale she will be swimming against the tide as southern Asia's curent trend is for a preference for economic wealth over democratic freedoms. So whilst we may laud her, if the Burmese generals play it canny and follow the Chinese model they could retain power and gain enough support from the population to keep them in the gravy.

Johnny Vegas is inetrviewed in the Independent ahead of starring in Chekov's Cherry Orchard for Sky arts.

Richard Williams reviews The Promise: The darknes on the edge of town story. As one of my favourite if not the favourite of Springsteen albums i was always going to get this, but that review means sooner rather than later.