Southampton 1-2 Manchester United

It's getting ridiculous, our away form is embarrassing, the performance in the first half was yet another shocker. Gibson, Owen and Obertan might as well have not been on the pitch for all the influence they had on the game in that 45 minutes. It's getting cruel having to watch Gibson's limitations shown up and then see him hauled off to get some real United players on. But in that first half he wasn't alone, the plan to play Owen behind Obertan and Hernandez may have looked good on paper but it didn't work out on the pitch.
Once again we couldn't dominate possession in the middle of the pitch and apart from the first ten minutes we posed the home teams rearguard no real problems. I wouldn't go as far as to say they deserved to go in at the break a goal up, but Southampton definitely took all the plaudits for their first half performance as they played some nice football and created one or two decent chances.
Having picked Hernandez he was given aboslutley no service in a midfield where there was only Scholes playing to any kind or acceptable level. Anderson's run of form seems to have fizzzled out and he was no more influential than Gibson. Ferguson picked the right two men to take off, as once Giggs and Nani came on we really started to play and dominated the game.
The reversion to 4-4-2 after the bizarre decision to start with a diamond shaped midfield undoubtedly helped us change the game as well. Once again it took the introduction of Giggs to completely change the game, this time playing alongside Scholes in the middle of the park.The first goal had an element of fortune as Nani's cross took a slight touch which put it straight onto the head of Michael Owen who made no mistake. The winner was more like it though, as Giggs stole the ball and set Hernandez free with the kind of service he hadn't seen in the preceeding seventy five minutes. Hernandez made no mistake prodding home with his left foot, and United saw out the game reasonably comfortably.
Lindegaard had a pretty useful debut, looking confident and making no errors. He looks like he could be a good addition to the squad. Whatever happens during the rest of this season i'm looking forward to next season when we get Cleverley and Welbeck back and hopefully we'll see some transfer activity with regards to our central midfield. Even if Scholes stays, which i hope and think he will, we are in desperate need of strengthening  in that area of the squad. It would be nice if we had something coming through the ranks, which indeed we have but Pogba, Tunnicliffe and maybe even Petrucci if he can get over his injury problems are two to three years away from the first team squad yet. I'm not sure how good Matty James is going to be i haven't seen enough of him.
I'm expecting to see more exciting football next season and who knows may be even a dominant away performance or two.

The Telegraph's match report

Are United going to go Dutch again as Stekelenburg seems to have emerged as the favourite to replace Van Der Sar as United's next number one. I haven't seen much of him apart from last years world cup but i have read that he is good with his feet. He seems to have impressed Van Der Sar when he has been with the Dutch squad which is a feather in his cap.

The Guardian's new secret footballer column gives us a football insiders view of Gray and Keys sacking and their views of football pundits in general, they aren't much impressed. I turn off as soon as the games finish as they never tell you anything you can't already work out for yourself. They are all as bad as each other, though maybe the BBC is unfortunately the worst with its jobs for the boys approach. I mean how bad is Alan Shearer.
Paul Hayward argues that the British public is short changed by its football TV punditry and wonders why Sky can't replicate its Excellent cricket coverage over at it' football department.
A very interesting article on the all Jewish football club Hakoah Vienna that eventually bit the dust under the Nazi's. I find the inter war years Danube football school fascinating. Though i'm not really a fan of a Jewish football club, or a muslim one or whatever. You will eventually end up with a Glasgow situation, Celtic and Rangers and the sectarian overtones involved with that, which is not what football should be about.

I don't know credibility this report has but if there is anything in it, United will lose another tranche of real fans who they will never get back this summer. My ticket will be getting perilously close to unaffordable that's for sure.

Lancashire's horrible ground redevelopment plans saw the club lose £2 million last year as the delays hit the club hard.

Roy Hattersley has been impressed by Miliband's low key start as Labour leader but warns him that now is the time get noticed and be heard. To be fair that is what he and Balls have started to do, Osborne seems to be more than a little rattled to me.Andrew Grice uses his Indie column to tell us that the coalition is rattled as the fears of a double dip stalk the coalition, but there is still no sign of a plan B. It's not as if they would announce it if there were though, is it.
The bad news came thick and fast for the coalition last week as Friday saw consumer confidence stats hit the floor. What happens when the cuts really start to bite.
Mehdi Hasan argues that Labour has regained it's appetite for power again.
Paul Mason gives his overview of where the economy and where the political situtation are at in his latest BBC blog. I read that as him thinking that the coalition will break up if the economy does double dip.

Bernanke told the financial crisis inquiry commission that all but one major US bank was on the brink of failiure during the 2008 credit crunch meltdown. That's probably what they wouldn't have wanted to come out during their attempts at reputational rehabilitation at last weeks Davos get together.
David Blanchflower certainly gave his critics both barrels last week after the weeks bad figures gave credence to his views that the coalitions policies will send the economy into a double dip recesion. He certainly gave Torygraph political writer Bennedict Brogan a going over.

Mark Mardell highlights the tricky issues that arise from current events in Egypt. Let's hope he puts his faith in democracy and the people of Egypt however messy that may be. As Peter Oborne argued yesterday this is for the people of Egypt to decide, that will go against the grain for that portion of the US political establishment that led the neocon project.
Robert Fisk reports from the streets of Cairo as the people rise up against Mubarak, even Fisk seems taken aback by the strength of the uprising.

Bruce Guthrie gives an insiders view on why Murdoch's word is not to be trusted. You only have to read Harold Evans book on his editorship of the Times to know that his word is never to be trusted. Stephen Glover writes how about Murdoch lost control of his own story and praises Nick Davies even though he doesn't agree with Davies's views on the rotten state of the British media. The new statesman's resident Tory argues that News international is now Cameron's problem. Whilst Alexander Chancellor asks why Cameron like Blair before him is so deferential to Murdoch. A lack of cojones.

The Guardian interviews the Coen brothers, the makers of a host of my favourite films, as their remake of True grit is about to open. Maybe i shouldn't call it a remake as apparently they have stayed closer to the book. It's bound to be worth watching they always are.
The Telegraph talk to Steve Buscemi star of HBO's latest probable hit Boardwalk empire, a pity it's on Sky, i'll have to find a way of watching it. The storyline sounds great.
News that a new film is to be centred around the legendary Stone roses Spike island is interesting. I didn't go to the gig which according to many wasn't actually that legendary, but the premise of the film sounds promising.

The filmakers behind the Folk Britannia and other Britannia music documentaries look like they have come up with another gem with this new effort, Reggae Britannia.
Jon Savage remembers the Roy Harper classic Stormcock, 40 years on. It certainly is a classic.
The Quietus interviews the main man of heavy rock Lemmy.

Roy Harper

Van Der sar to call it a day

The dreaded day has arrived where our big Dutch number one has announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. I have said before that i think he has been a very under rated part of the success we have seen since we regained the title in 2006-07.
I have always thought i wouldn't see a better keeper at Old trafford than Peter Schmeichel. I still think as a pure goalkeeper the big Dane was the number one, but Van Der Sar was such a different goalie it is hard to compare them.
Some pundits talk of a back five, meaning the back four plus the goalie. But in Van Der Sar's case that literally was the case. He is so good with the ball at his feet, that he became almost an extra outfield player. He gives the back four total confidence because they knew they could always give him the ball. Something they so obviously didn't have in Foster and don't have in Kuszczak. Vidic and Ferdinand have been as good as centre half pairing as there has been in Europe in recent years but having Van Der Sar behind them sweeping up undoubtedly made them even better.
Replacing him will be no easy task, that's for sure. I have absolutely no idea who will be the best replacement, but i can't help thinking there will be times next season when we wish he was still here.

He has apparently told the club he is going to take a complete break from football after he hangs up his boots. Apparently the club would have liked him to go onto the coaching staff and still hope to persuade him to when if he returns to the game.

With Giggs confirming that he will be continuing to pull on the red shirt next year and now Van Der Sar confirming he is to hang up his boots that only leaves us to find out what the ginger prince will be doing next season. Apparently he has told MUTV that he still doesn't know what his plans are going to be, at the moment he just wants to concentrate on the rest of this season.
On the evidence of this season if i was Fergie i would be desperate for him to stay. He is still by far the best midfield player at the club. I would also like Cleverley and Welbeck to have the chance to play and train for one season with such a great player.

The Telegraph use Tuesday night's escapdes to run a piece on United's great escapes this season. We have had as many go the other way this season. A better piece would have been asking why our away form has been so awful this season. With all due respect to Blackpool, who i admire for the way they have approached the game on their return to the top flight, we only really played for twenty minutes after they had run out of legs. We have yet to go anywhere and give a real performance for ninety minutes. And it all stems from out toal inability to dominate possession.
At Blackpool as at West brom we were out fought in the middle and in fact all over the pitch. I know no team is perfect an there will be times in a season when you go away from home and this happens, as it has in the past. But this season it's almost every game. Where would we be without the contribution of Giggs and Scholes.

Good news from Tuesday is that Rafael only suffered concussion, nothing else and whilst he will miss the weekend trip to Southampton he should be fit for next Tuesday's game at home to Villa. Really good news as i'm sure he would have been rested on Saturday anyway.

MUST have submitted their thoughts on the future of football governance today as the governments select committee continue their inquiry into the future of football governance. I wish i could have some faith in this, but with a government who believe in as little government inteference with market forces as possible, it's impossible. It's not as if they got anywhere with the last lot.

It doesn't seem that how to win friends and influence people was a motto that Gray and Keys lived by, the number of articles by Sky insiders annonymously puching the air that they have been booted out and exposed as not very nice pieces of work. Whilst there is no doubting they both had to go, and not particularly having that much time for either of them, i can't help feeling Andy Gray was punished as much for his court case in the phone hacking scandal as he was for his off air sexism.

With Mourinho allegedly at loggerheads with Real Madrid director of football Valdano will he last more than one season. And what will that mean for those that allege his plan is to take over from Fergie at United. Could it mean that this will be Fergie's last season as well as Van Der Sar's?

Iain Martin thinks Ed Balls, described as a killing machine to him by on cabinet minister will not find Osborne easy prey. Well Osborne's defence of the GDP figures, blaming the snow, wasn't exactly Norman Hunter defending. That description of Balls as a killing machine does tend to lead you to believe that not all the tories or their friends in the press were jumping for joy when Johnson stood down.
With long term youth unemployment around the million mark and approaching the kind of figures we saw in Thatchers first term when the tories decimated British manufacturing, ( the manufacting that has suddenly become fashionable again ) Martin Bright asks if the coalition hates young people. Well young people certainly hate Nick Clegg, though Cameron and Osborne seemed to have escaped their ire, another poor piece of positioning by the Lib dem leader.
Let's hope that this is the year that Cameron and especially Osborne get found out, because things haven't got anywhere near as bad as they are going to get.
Telegraph columnist Benedict Brogan describes the Lords crisis as at boiling point and wonders who will blink first. Good question, i would think the pressure within the labour party is to make sure Miliband isn't first to blink.

Whilst Europe and the States stagnates, though the US is supposedly showing signs of coming back to life, the Chinese economy grew by 10%, boosted by a £trillion of new money and easy credit. Stephen King warns the US in the Indie that it can't keep blaming the Chinese for all it's woes and argues it will have to learn to advocate the Chinese dragon. This Economist article seems to argue the exact opposite. Chinese foreign policy has become too tough and could prove dangerous and counter productive and the Chinese need to learn how to acknowledge the favours that US foreign policy occasionally does Chinese interests.
Whilst in Europe a Chinese shopping spree is rasing fear and hope in Europe, with Europe arguing that they want to see reciprocity for European maunfacturers in Chinese markets. French bank and others start to bet on a Chinese hard landing as it bets that the Chinese have let their economy rip too far and will have to rein it in, possibly slamming the breaks on hard. That is the one thing i can't see them doing. The overheated Chinese economy has the markets spooked as they are hit and fall on the news of the 10% growth.
I can't begin to understand the analysis but Gavyn Davies of the FT thinks the Chinese economy has exceeded its speed limit but too much has been made of it. He argues as a country in the process of catching up with the west it's growth figures have to be treated differently.

Music
Amy Winehouse - Back in black: I have heard virtually all of this individually and liked most of it but hadn't listened to it as an album up to now. It's even better all together on one disc, a superb album.

Caribou - Swim: This made it onto a couple of the best album lists of 2010 and i can see why. The last album was pretty good and this is an excellent electronica album for want of a better categorisation.

Panda Bear - Person pitch: Animal Collective's NoahLennox in his solo guise delivers Brian Wilson meets electronica. I like this, but that is a pretty good description, nicked i'm afraid. Not anywhere near as good as the last Animal collective though.

Portico quartet - Knee deep in the noth sea: Cracking modern jazz heavy on the percussion side of things. According to the wiki sire devoted to them their distinctive sound is created through the use of the Hang a 21st century percussion instrument used on all their tracks. It's an excellent album, though you would like to hear a future album without the Hang, just to see what it would be like.

Spoon - Ga ga ga ga ga: A highly thought of US indie rock group this album froma couple of years ago sold well in the States apparently. It's easy to see why with a radio friendly sound and and the songs to match.

The duke and the king - Long live the duke and the king: Another radio friendly US act, this time a second album effort, and what an excellent one. I haven't heard the first so i can't compare them but i love the americana meets occasional southern soul of this. I'll have to go back and listen to the first. I didn't know that the group was created by Simon Felice of The Felice brothers. I liked his first group but i think this is a cut above that.

Blackpool 2-3 Manchester United

Do i talk about the last twenty five minutes or the first sixty five minutes, because that really was two completely different games. The first half was yet another absolutely awful away performance, where the players looked ill at ease with the formation and the central midfield once again looked a million miles away from what a Manchester United midfield should look like. It wasn't just the lack of quality possession it was the way Blackpool were winning all the fifty fifty balls.
Gibson, Scholes and Fletcher doesn't look great on paper and it didn't do the job on the pitch. There is no need to describe why i don't rate Gibson, i have done it often enough. He has to go in the summer surely, as much for his own career as much as to allow that squad place to someone else, which will probably be Cleverley. Fletcher did improve as the game went on, but it had to because the first seventy minutes was probably the worst of his season. He couldn't keep hold of the ball and his close control went to pot. I know the pitch was difficult and he wasn't the only player to struggle with his control, but still. Scoles couldn't get into the game, but oce United took control in the second half, yet again it was him and Giggs running the show.
I have never been that big a fan of 4-4-2 but it's amazing how we seem completely unable to perform whilst in that shape anymore. Seeing as though that was the preferred tactic during the three titles on the trot years it's pretty remarkable. I was always one to think that was a system made to suit Ronaldo, which it did, but Rooney played his part too. This season whenever he has been shunted out to the left, he has almost always had a stinker and even though we reverted to a 4-4-2 after half an hour, just as we did at West Brom when he moved back into the middle the damage was seemingly done. I still think he has is playing well enough at home, but his away form is light years away from where it should be.
Though Smalling can't be blamed for any of the goals, we missed Rio last night, he organisation gives the defence an air of assurance that it doesn't always have when he is not there. Though both of their goals came from Adams corners that were superbly crossed, United's defending for both was poor. Berbatov, who it is debatable should have been marking Cathcart at all, lost his man and the Ulsterman made no mistake, powering home to give the home side a deserved lead.
The half just got worse and worse from that moment and i just wanted the half time whistle to go before they got the second, that i thought might kill our hopes of taking advantage of the game in hand. But then witha minute of the half to go up popped Adams to deliver another great corner and Blackpool took advantage of even worse defending from the United rearguard to make sure that Blackpool went in with a more than deserved lead.
United brought on Giggs for Gibson at the half time which was the obvious substitution for all those crediting Fergie with some great masterstroke. Still the second half transformation wasn't immediate, as Blackpool stole the ball almost straight from the kick off and Rafael was forced to clear a cross from inside his own six yard box. From that point United started to ease their way into the game slowly. Though if Blackpool had been given the penalty they probably should have been awarded may been academic.
The way Blackpool's legs just seemed to go about half way through the half i think we could have come back to snatch a draw. Where Fergie really earned his money with the withdrawl of Rooney for Hernandez, i'll admit i wouldn't have took him off, he wasn't playing well, but he can always pop up with something. But Hernandez completely opened the game up and all of a sudden Berbatov seemed to gain the room to get his act together. Almost straight away Hernandez was in the thick of the action when he was put clean through butBlackpool keeper Kingstonmade a great block and Cathcart cleared. But all of a sudden United were knocking on the door and when Nani and Fletcher combined to cross to Berbatov who made no mistake, it was well and truly game on.
At the moment you just knew this wasn't just a game we could draw, the three points were well and truly back on the agenda. And in the blink of an eye, they really were as a long ball was superbly controlled first time on the left foot of Giggs who was putting in another sublime performance and he then released Hernandez with a superb through ball. Hernandez with a perfect first touch set himslef for the shot and calmly beat the goalie to draw us level. There is surely only United who can go from the ridiculous to the sublime like this so often.
Th injury to Rafael was a blow on all fronts, he had been looking really menacing getting forward as much as possible to combine with nani who was now starting to menace the home rearguard as well. It also gave Blackpool a breather just when they needed it as they looked out for the count. But the winner seemed inevitable and another inch perfect pass from Scholes found Berbatov who advanced into the box before delivering the coup de grace with his left foot.
Because of the injury to Rafael we ended up having ten minutes of injury time, during which Hernandez had one more great chance with his head, but his night's work was done as the points came back to Old trafford. We had made hard work of the game in hand but the lead is now five points and ten ahead of Chelski. There is a long way to go, but we are in pole position, and of all the teams chasing, it now seems to me that Arsenal could be the main challengers, which should mean we have a really great chance of making it 19.

Ian Herbert reports on an extraordinary night, which could have been a humiliation for United but ended up delivering evidence for United's ambition to secure that 19th title. Fergie believes that this could prove to be a crucial night in the chase for the title. Indeed it could, what could have put City and Chelsea right back into the hunt right now, sees that lead slip slowly away from them. I still don't believe we will go through the season unbeaten, but i can't see them going the rest of the season unbeaten either.
It could be that the two games against Chelsea and the Arsenal, City and Liverpool games will decide the title for us, if we go through them unbeaten, and that is entirely possible the title will be ours. It's all if and buts at the moment though and as the old addage goes, it's one game at a time.

Kevin M'Carra believes that Dimitar Berbatov and Manchester United are starting to made looked for each other as the Bulgarian starts to shine and that was written before last night. But warns that the champions league will really tell us whether he has really arrived.

United youngster Danny Drinkwater has returned from his loan spell at cardiff. After a good start an injury meant he lost his place and he doesn't really seemed to have got back into first team plans. I presume he will go back out on loan, but where, it needs to be somewhere that he is guaranteed to get games. I saw him play a couple of times for Huddersfield last season and he seemed to have something about him. I haven't seen enough to know whether he will be anywhere near good enough for the first team. The fact that the club sent him out on loan so young suggests that they see something in him i would think though.

At the beginning of the week all the tal was of inflation, interest rate rises and even the return of that seventies phenomenon stagflation. 
Mervyn King warns that inflation will rise even higher over the year ahead before easing down the year following, but warned interest rates will stay where they are are as long wage claims don't start to take off as he warned off trouble ahead.
The terrible GDP results will have added grist to the mill of defict deniers warns Jeremy Warner, who as being a deficit hawk doesn't tell us whether he now believes in a plan B. Larry Elliott warns that Osborne is in an economic hole and is still digging and wonders what he will do when the effects of the cuts really start to find their way into the economy. Iain Martin describes the GDP figures as news that has hit Osborne where it hurts. He also remarks on Balls taking over at an excellent moment. Most commentators, even his detractors thought Balls played his hand pretty well, i presume by not getting carried away and predicting a definite double dip recession.
Faisal Islam warns that the GDP figures mean the likeliehood of a double dip recession just got bigger.

Sunday's Observer saw Will Hutton suggest ten ideas for a better Britain and challnges Labour to oppose the coalition more effectively. Simon Jenkins ridicules the British political classes defence of our banking sector and argues it has failed the electorate. No arguments there, the credit crunch provided the perfect opening to dismantle the wrong headed and totally failed neoliberal agenda of the last thirty years.
My only problem in people on the left putting their faith in Balls is that he was as big part of that agenda as you can get. He keeps being called a Keynsian, where is the evidence of his thriteen years in government to support that. Don't get me wrong, if he can help end the disastrous economic policies of the coalition, then great, i'm right behind him. Before that i would like to see just how far he wants to go in dismantling the hold the city of London has over this country and it's economic policies.
George Monibot dicovers just far the government is willing to go to prop up their friends and paymasters in the city. All in secret of course, and when they were defeated they try and take the credit for the tougher European rules. And the Lib dems are happily going along with this, oh dear.

Vince Cable used a New Statesman piece to argue that Keynes would have supported the coalitions economic policy. Robert Skidelsky and David Blanchflower were given the right of reply this week that is also on Robert Skidesly's own site. I think outgoing head of the CBI's criticism of the coalition's lack of a policy for growth shows who respresents Keynes best.

Craig Murray has a go at the EU for hosting an official visit from Karimov's Uzbekistan and argues that the real reason why they are talking with the butcher is NATO's presence in Afghanistan.

Could a new Bank of Manchester be the answer to help the long term growth of our city, asks a new report by the association of Greater Manchester authorities. It seems like a good idea to me, anything that lessons our dependence on the city of London and Whitehall has to be a good thing in my book. And anything that is not set in the short termist dogma that pervades that part of the world would help as well.

The Clash in Manchester 1977

Manchester United 5-0 Birmingham City

I'm not sure what i was expecting yesterday, but what i definitely wasn't expecting was the complete walkover that we witnessed. I suppose the very early goal helped, but the way Birmingham just fell apart in the second half does not bode well for their chances of staying up. I thought Blackburn were poor when we played them, but even though we score two less, yesterday's peformance from the away team was even worse.
Fergie made a couple of changes to the team that earned that respectable point at White hart lane last week. In came O'Shea for the suspended Rafael, Smalling replaced groin strain victim Ferdinand and Anderson took over the central midfield duties from Fletcher.
It didn't take long for O'Shea to leave his mark on the game as he rose seemigly unmarked at the front post to nodd Giggs corner goalbound before Berbatov did what all goalscorers do helping the ball over the line to make it 1-0. It was a soft goal from the visitors point of view, but it was the kind of start we had got against Blackburn, so expectations rose slightly.
I thought it was a weird first half performance, i didn't think United were that great, the possession in the middle of the park was good, but all to often the final ball and even more often the final cross weren't up to scratch. But Birmingham were in an obliging mood regularly giving the ball away and Berbatov went close again as United stole the ball in the middle of the park but his shot was just wide.
It was a pity seeing Carrick having to go off, especially with our lack of quality in midfield. I would have expected Scholes to have replaced him but the manager sent on Gibson. Maybe the way the game was going he suspected we may be in for a easy afternoon.
Birmingham lost the ball again carelessly on the half way line and Anderson fed Rooney who delivered the perfectly weighted ball for Berbatov who cut inside and gave Foster no chance to make it 2-0. The best move of the first half came on the stroke of half time as Berbatov stole the ball and played a one two with Rooney before Rooney crossed for Giggs to make no mistake with a sweetly timed left foot shot.
Rooney should have opened his account within minutes of the restart but inexplicably missed the target after Nani's superb piece of trickery and pinpoint cross gave him a header that looked easier to score than miss. After another so so first half from Nani the second half saw Nani start to show the kind of form we have been waiting to see as he ran at the visitors defence causing panic in their  rearguard, about time. But the fourth goal came via a long punt up field from Van Der Sar that Rooney controlled superbly before giving it to Giggs who found Berbatov in the middle and he poked it home to make it three hatricks for the season.
That saw Fergie take Giggs of, no doubt to save the Welshman's legs. Now Nani picked up the baton and it was just a matter of time before he scored with the amount of shots the away team were allowing him to get in. The wonder is that after the fifth goal United and Nani in paricular didn't add to the five. For a period of the second half we seemed to be creating a chance virtually every minute. But there were to be no more goals and five it stayed.
With the result from Villa park later on it turned it a pretty good day, now to turn those games in hand into three points with the rearranged match at Bloomfield road. Strong team please.

Ex red Andy Cole is glad to see Berbatov finally delivering the goods in a red shirt and belives he has finally got his head around being a Manchester United player. His partnership with Rooney is becoming as good as i can remember in a pair of front men at United. The first half especially the pair were on fire, it would be nice if Rooney could start to turn his good play outside the box into goals, but i'm sure it's just a matter of time.
Fergie now wants his other players to chip in with more goals as Berbatov aproaches twenty for the season. Nani is doing his bit, it's up to Rooney and the midfield to chip in with a few more.

It's good to see that Valencia's recovery seems to be on track as Fergie says he hopes to see him back in contention for a place in the squad by the end of February. That seems early to me, i just hope we get the same player back that was saw last season. After reading Alan Smith talk about not being the same player after his similar injury at Anfield you can never be quite sure.

Rooney had told the press on Friday how much he enjoyed playing with Berbatov and how healthy the squad now is for forwards. And with Welbeck to come back next season, things are looking promising going forward.

Giggs admits that he is looking forward to playing for another season, which is good news once again, because he is another one near to the top of his game at the moment. Giggs and Ferdinand were amongst the players on a new MUTV documentary exploring the cutting edge scientific methods employed at Carrington, i have to admit for once that sounds like a fascinating MUTV programme.

Van Nistelroy has told the Dutch press that he has made up with Fergie after admitting that he was in the wrong towards the end of his career at old trafford. What a player that guy was. As a goalscorer he is head and shoulders abover every other forward i have seen play for the club. If i was to pick  my best ever United team and it was a 4-4-2 he would undoubtedly be my centre forward.
It would be nice to see him back at the club at some stage in the future after he has finished his career.

David Conn explores the murky circumstances surrounding the summer transfer of Bebe to the club. He seems to have vanished back to the reserves at the moment, best place for him at the moment, i'm afraid.

Another day and yet another report linking United to a Qatari takeover.

Steve Richards claims that the resignation of Alan Johnson, however personally unfortunate, has allowed Ed Miliband to correct the mistake of appointing him shadow chancellor in the first place. I don't think anybody can argue with that. Whether or not Balls is the answer as his replacement, Johnson was in danger of destroying Labours reputation for economic competence. And seeing as though that is what they are in the process of doing, trying to re-establish what was a fairly horrific mistake.
Bennedict Brogan comes down on the side of those that argue that this was a disaster for Miliband and Labour as the tories get ready to welcome back the man who was the architect of the financial and economic architecture that fell apart when the global economic meltdown hit th.e country in 2008. Fellow Telegraph columnist but labour supporter Mary Riddell comes to the exact opposite conclusion arguing that his record for being the brightest economic mind on the labour benches will see him give Osborne and tories a torrid time. The way the economy is poised at the moment he could well be walking into a George Osborne own goal, which would probably negate his own record under Brown. Larry Elliott comes down on the same side as Riddell arguing that he will relentlessly and expertly take apart every decision that Osborne makes.
Sean O'Grady lists five questions for Balls as he takes over the shadow chancellor portfolio and ends by predicting that by this time next year he will have replaced Miliband as the leaser of the opposition.
Ed Hodges wonders whether Miliband and Balls will be able to bury the hatchet and workd together.

Mehdi Hasan writes that as guilty as Blair may be over the lead up to the Iraq war, anti war campaigners must not pin all the blame on him. No the vast majority of the labour party have to take the blame for that.

Vernon Bogdanor's New Statesmans piece argues that fear is the glue keeping the coalition together.

Bennedict Brogan blogs on Coulson's resignation and the question of David Cameron's judgement. If Thursday was a bad day for Miliband then Friday was as bad if not worse for the prime minister.
Michael White writes that Coulson's departure will not lessen Cameron's dependence on trying to understand and connecting with the world that red tops represent.
Peter Oborne doesn't really buy into that argument, he wasn't a fan of Coulson or the world he represented and had argued before that Cameron should have never appointed him. Anthony Seldon writes that geat leaders don't need spin doctors to tell them what to do, doubtless White would argue that that's an out of date argument, but i buy into it.

David Prosser thinks that if Hunt is looking for a way to deliver BSkyB into the hands of Murdoch without it being referred to a competition commission he is wasting his time. I think he was right but after Coulson's departure and the revelations we are told are still to come he must surely be right.
Henry Porter argues that News International must be reigned in, no arguments there. More and more people are coming round to the view that the police have got as much to answer for as the political establishment as this Indy piece looks at the cosy ( corrupt ? ) relationship between News International and the Met.

Top French actor Vincent Cassell is interviewed in the Guardian about his role in the new release Black sawn. He has been in some top films.

Paul Mason leaves the economics in his latest blog to talk PC strategy games and the history of Europe in the 1930's. The game sounds right up my street, though it does get mixed reviews on Amazon. Still it will have to be built at some point.

The Quietus takes us back to 1985 and the world of Mark E Smith and the Fall's This nation's saving grace.

The Fall

Rafael's getting there !

Mark Ogden pens a piece on the growing importance of our Brazillian right back Rafael Da Silva, as he discloses that the sending off on Sunday and subsequent ban is being treated as a major blow within the club. I'll have to hold my hands up on this one, after his sending off last season against Bayern i wondered whether he would ever be the real deal for United. I always new he had talent going forward but always wondered about his tendency to grab shirts when someone got past him. He has well and truly put that to bed this season.
Over the past couple of months he has been one of the most consistent players at the club. I have always been a big fan of Evra, but this hasn't been a vintage season for him. If Rafael continues to improve he will become the best full back at the club.
It wasn't really a surprise was it, i suppose the club have told him to plead guilty and keep the ban down to the one game. You never know with these vindictive clowns though, he may still get another game's ban.

It wasn't a bad game, but it was an excellent result from United's youth team last night at Upton park as they made sure they will be in the next round of the FA youth cup with a hard fought 1-0 victory. I thought United were the better team in the first half with the home team coming back strongly in the second half without creating too many chances.
The start man for United had to be the centre half Tom Thorpe, he was absolutely outstanding. He seemed to read everything, made crucial blocks and even brought the ball out of defence superbly a couple of times. Ryan Tunnicliffe had a fair game and Cole had a decent first half.
Van Belzen showed some promise and showed why Ajax were upset to lose him. I was a little dissappointed with Pogba and Cofie, neither had bad games but niether seemed to be able to force themselves into the game. Goalscorer again looked the part and i thought his brother Michael had the best game i have seen him have at right back. Let's hope they can go all the way as there seems to be plenty of promise in that age group.

Mark Ogden of the telegraph again this time with the news that David Gill has announced that the club are in talks with Giggs about another years extension on his contract. After his last couple of appearances there is no doubt he is still one of the best players at the club. He is the only player at the moment capable of going on a run and beating a couple of players.
It would be nice, vital even, for our chances of lifting some silverware if Nani rediscovers his form of 2010 because since he has come back from his little lay off, he hasn't looked the same player. He could and did have quiet games earlier in the season but he always produced a bit of quality to create an assist or hit the target himself. He hasn't threatened either very much since he returned to the team.

Daniel Taylor reports on the future of United youngster Ravel Morrison, apparently the club are to decide on his future over the next couple of weeks. Because of his age, no more information can be given, though he says on his twitter page, more will be revealed when it can be. I don't know exactly what it's about, unless the rumours i have read were right. If they were i couldn't blame the club if they wash their hands of him.
Which could come back to haunt us, i suppose, somebody will take a chance on him i presume if United do let go of him. But if he didn't want it badly enough at United will he be any different anywhere else, and that includes City.

Gill goes on the road and gives his usual everything's fine spiel under the Glazer regime at Old trafford, of course it is David.

Lots of talk of United having a big clear out this summer in the papers this week and plenty of rumours that Evra will be on his way in the summer. It seems fairly obvious that players will be leaving this summer, i'm not so sure too many will be coming in though. Welbeck and Cleverley will be sold to the fans as like two new signings as could well be the case with Valencia.
If Evra does leave i would hope that Baines will not be the man chosen to bring in. He is a reasonable player, but no way is he a United player. I would be sorry to see Evra go if he does go, but he has been a long way below par this season. It could be that we have seen the best of him or maybe he is the kind of player that needs a new challenge. It will be a hard job replacing the Evra of two seasons ago thats for sure.
Of all the left backs at United that i have seen during my United watching years i think i would put him joint second with Arhur Albiston to my first choice Denis Irwin. I have to say i thought a couple of years ago that Evra would replace Irwin, but since Lennon tore him apart at Wembley in the league cup final he hasn't be quite the same player defensively. And at the end of the day as much as you want your full backs to be great going forward and overlapping, they have got to be able to defend first and foremost. And he isn't as good or as consistent as Irwin was over a longer period of time.

Steve Bruce accuses Darren Bent of betrayal after seemingly angling for a move from Sunderland to Aston Villa. Some have remarked on the richness of that remark coming from Bruce, but that looks a bit harsh to me, Bruce has usually moved onto a bigger and better club. I read Bent's comments and then read that Ashley Young has told Villa that he won't be signing a new contract and wonder at his motives.
As for United being favourites for Young in the summer, i 'm not sure, where would they play him, unless someone is on there way out. Next season we will have Nani, Valencia, Park, Giggs, Cleverley and Welbeck who can play out wide though it is definitely not his best position. I can't see where Young fits into that, as i say unless someone is on their way out.

Jimmy Armfield talks about the lot of the footballer before freedom of contract and reveals the United had him lined up in 1957 but his club Blackpool wouldn't allow him to leave. A different world, and as much as i'm not too fond of the football world of today with the greed and the agents, i would never want us to go back to anything like that.

Rooney is dreaming of champions league glory at Wembley. I'm dreaming of a 19th title myself, it would be a beautiful feeling and with our present squad has got to be more realistic. Mind you, i thought that last year and the way the draw went we ended up with a great chance to get to the final at the very least. And we really should have got there, we blew it in Munich and we blew it at home. So maybe it is a realistic ambition. I would still prefer 19 myself though.

Thankfully news international and the news of the world's phone tapping defence appears to be slowly falling to bits as the Independent report a third employee is now linked to the scandal. Roy Greenslade ridicules the news of the worlds feigned shock at the latest twists in the case. Well if i could always see this was one massive cover up, i'm not surprised their defence is unravelling. The timing puts the pressure on Hunt with his decsion over BSkyB, unless he just decides to brazen it out, and hope the public forgives and forgets.
Matthew Norman predicts the truth will out for Coulson over the phone tapping case and for Blair for the decision and the lies produced to justify the invasion of Iraq. But it will be a drip drip water torture in apathetic Britain. He could well be right, Coulson may have already left number ten before he is well and truly nailed. Benedict Brogan suggests Coulson is regarded as vital by Downing street and they will hang on until the last. I hope he is right, the shit flying around would then stick to number ten as well as Muroch's mob.
Simon Jenkins bemoans the length of official British enquiries and their lack of any clear conclusions. Establishment cover ups might be another word for it.

Torygraph media correspondent accuses Tory culuture secretary of not doing his homework with his new proposals for local TV.
Nothing much has happened to ChannelM since they said they were going to give it a relaunch, so with cuts all over the place it's hard to see the money to make any kind of success of this. And this is the man to make the decision on Murdoch, worrying.

James Purnell pens a piece on the future for the political left as Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawn's latest book How to change the world is published. It's nice to see him admit that new Labour accepted the free market hook, line and sinker and paid the penalty. I don't see any engagement with a social democrat future in the piece or even Edwardian new liberal state interventionism in evidence in his thinking though.
New Labour blogger Hopi Sen responds to tory blogger with a piece on where he thinks a modern tory strategy should lead if they want to develop a winning strategy over the next decade. All very sensible and all probably a total anathema to a generation of tories raised on the fundamentalism of Thatcherite Euro phobic conservatism.

I watched Robert Peston's latest documentary on the state of banking regulation the other night or should i say the lack of it. He makes fairly good TV, suppose he repeats certain things to make sure that people really do get. The clip on how much of your money the banks actually physically held onto after you have deposited must have be shown about three times. Still i suppose it's a better way of showing the man in the street than trying to explain fractional banking. This was his latest blog which was a kind of summary of where we are at.
Will Hutton argues that unless we tame the world of big finance the only certainty in the future is that we will have another financial crash. And as Robert Peston argued in his documentary this time the banks will be too big to save.

Larry Elliott reports on the latest inflation figures and says that we knew it would be bad but not this bad. He still sticks to his view that an interest rate rise should be delayed but admits these figures will make it harder for the MPC to keep its nerve. Channel 4's Faisal Islam wonders what now for a plan B as all the recent economic news seems to be grim for Osborne and chums.
The Bank of England itself obviously wants to stick to it's path of ignoring inflation as it thinks it is artificially high and will come down by the end of the year. Iain Martin blogs that the government is worried but can't do much about it, basically they have got to hope the bank is right. Well they could have left VAT where it was, Osborne's whole strategy is looking mighty wobbly right now.

Berlusconi's bunga bunga parties are putting the crooning crook in real danger at last it would seem. Not before time, but with him it's never over til the fat lady sings, unfortunately.

The Stranglers

Tottenham 0-0 Manchester United

Well that game didn't live up to the Sky hype did it. The first ten minutes looked like it might provide the entertainment hoped for but it quickly fizzled out into the kind of game where defence is king with neither set of forwards ever really looking like breaking the deadlock. I would have took a point before the game, so i can't complain too much, but it would be nice to see us really turn it on again in a game that really matters.
As with a few other reds i suspect, i was fairly excited when i saw the line up, it was hard to see that eleven line up as anything but a 4-4-2. But i'm afraid what the season so far should have told us, that against a quality team we haven't really got enough creativity in central midfield to make the system work. It didn't help that Nani was almost non existant for the second game in a row. For all the stick that Rooney got for his performance, he was still involved in most of the good things that we managed to create. His touch wasn't great but he contributed more to the game than Berbatov managed.
In the middle of the park, Fletcher gave us another sub standard performance, it really hasn't happened for him this season. Granted he was given the hard job of trying to stop the impressive Modric down, no easy task, but that was no excuse for his sloppy passing and poor first touch. Carrick gave a good defensive display but didn't offer much creatively and it was left to Giggs in the main to try and give the front men some service.
Ten out of ten to the back four and Van Der Sar though, Vidic and Ferdinand gave another masterclass. They seem to be back to their 2006-2008 peak at the moment, which didn't seem very probable at the begining of the season. I thought Rafael had another excellent game until that very harsh sending off. He struggled at first against Bale, but who wouldn't, but importantly he had quietened the Welshman down before Dean gave him the red card.
I suppose the best chance of the match fell to Crouch in the first half when he managed to beat Ferdinand to Hutton's cross only to see his effort beat Van Der Sar but go inches wide. Rooney had the best chances for United early in each half. At least the point keeps us top of the table and it ws nice to see the ginger prince back on the bench. It would have been even nicer if he had been able to come on as he was primed to do until Rafael's sending off changed Fergie's plans.

Fergie was not happy about the red card handed out to Rafael yesterday, unsurprisingly.

It was nice to read Evra say that the unbeaten record has not been mentioned by the players, the objective is to win the league, if they are unbeaten at the same time, then great, but winning the league is what matters. Exactement.

Before yesterday's game Fergie had had a bit of a dig asking for a bit of respect for the team and claiming United had to be perfect to be given any credit from the press. Unfortunately yesterday's game did give credence to the popular view held by the press and a fair section of United's support, i'll include myslef in that, that this is a sub standard season.

Paul Hayward looks at Ferguson's emphasis on youth for the future of Manchester United, i'll have to admit that whatever happens this season, i am looking forward to next season and expect us to play far more entertaing football next season.
With Welbeck and Cleverley to come back from loan periods and Valencia to come back from his injury before the end of this season, next year will see us having far more of a goal threat going forward. It would be nice to see something coming through in the middle of the park, or to see us bring in someone to add some creativity for Scholes when he has to be rested or gets injured as he has just been.
United had probably hoped that Morrison might be the eventual answer to that, a couple of years down the line. But with the rumours doing the rounds about him, it doesn't look like they are going to be able to rely on that anymore.

The press seemed to get excited that Giggs may be thinking about returning to international football on Friday. It didn't take long for him to put them right.

Stephen Bayley asks why it took an American newspaper to appreciate the worth of a great British city. Because for the press of this country, London is the country.

Matthew d'ancona argues that the Tory right should be careful what it wishes for. Without the lib dems the tories wouldn't have been able to pass a thing, whilst they are getting most of what they want from the coalition. Which is exactly why people like me that voted for the Lib dems are so annoyed.
Which might go some way to explaining why Ed Miliband is more popular amongst people that voted Li b dem at the last election than Nick Clegg. Not that he or the Labour party have convinced me of much so far. Jackie Ashley wonders whether the lib dems are on the verge of splitting as the social democrat and orange book wings grow further apart.
Peter Oborne doesn't think Ed Miliband should get too excited about last weeks Oldham and Saddleworth by election victory. He sees the government at ministerial level as united and strong but backbenchers of both parties as fractious.
Frasier Nelson of the Spectator asks where is it going right for Ed Miliband, the mass desertion of lib dem voters is the answer he comes up with.

Cameron is standing four square behind Lansley, how wise will that prove to be?

William Keegan looks at the tory part of the governments inflation scaremongering and wonders whether they know where their own interests lie. 
Larry Elliot warns the bank to ignore the inflation nutters, to raise intrest rates to soon would kill the economy. He argues that the headline inflationary figures are overblown.

The Telegraph report that the latest hedge fund trend is to bet against China where they argue that the economic fundamentals are unsound. If they are right, and they could be, that would be bad news for everybody, in the short term at least.

Paul Harris asks if the IPhone is losing its cool as it loses out to Android in the US market.

Kraftwerk

Giggs to make it 600 not out?

If he plays tomorrow it will be his 600th league appearances for the club, the stuff of dreams for a United fan. And all those trophies to boot, i can't see anybody getting near that triphy haul in the future. I don't like to second guess the tinkerman, but i find it hard to believe that he won't start tomorrow. At the very least if he is on the bench i can't see him staying on it for the ninety minutes.
This match will undoubtedly be our hardest test of the season, so i suppose there imust be a chance that Fergie will go with a 4-3-3 line up. I have to say i hope that won't be the case as it would probably mean either Berbatov being left on the bench or Rooney moving out to the left. Whilst i don't mind that line up, judging from the West Brom and Birmingham performances, Rooney does mind, i'd like to think he won't mind playing there occasionally for the cause.
Giggs talks to the indies Ian Herbert about his yoga DVD.
There is still no mention of Scholes, i would feel a lot better about our chances if were in the starting line up tomorrow. Surely this summer finding a creative midfield player must be top of the transfer dealing priorities.
Tottenham's player of the season is one that got away according to Fergie, who reminds the press that he tried to buy the young Welshman. It's funny how the ones that got away always seem to land in north London, Charlie Nicholas, Gazza and now Gareth Bale. He is a top player, there is no doubt, who would be a big addition to any squad in Europe. It is fuuny however how everybody seems to forget his early struggles at Spurs. If he had been at Europe and had perfomed like that there would have beeen plenty of the usual suspects questioning Fergie's judgement.

Corry Evans, younger brother of Jonny has joined Hull City on loan for the rest of the season, making it three United players on the books, two on loan and James Chester having signed for the humberside club. If i'm honest i have never seen anything in Evans that leads me to think he will have a future at United despite some of the flattering press he has received whilst at the club. In fact the championship might well be his level,
Meanwhile Hull manager Nigel Pearson reveals that he would like to take all three of the United youngsters to the KC stadium eventually if they all work hard and prove themselves. Apparently Cameron Stewart has been a big hit there, surprisingly after his dissappointing loan spell at Yeovil town.

Kuszczak tells united that he is the man to replace Van Der Sar when the big Dutchman hangs up his boots. I think we all know that he isn't, full stop. I can't believe the rumours that he his being given first chance to claim the number one jersey. He has been hear long enough and played more than enough games for any half decent judge to know that to be the case. In fact if he is in goal again tomorrow, as usual i will be that little bit less confident than normal.

United's captain Nemaja Vidic thinks that the new year will see United peak in their bid to capture that historic 19th title. There is along way to go yet, though the way our rivals have faltered we have got to be in with a big chance. One bad injury though, and it could all change just like that, as we saw last season.
One good consequence of a defeat tomorrow would be that we can stop listening to pundits claiming that United can go through the campaign unbeaten. I would rather see us play great football and win the vast majority of games to win the title than go through it unbeaten and draw twelve as Arsenal's invincibles did that season. Of course it would help if the defeats were to the Tottenhams of this world, rather than the scoue and City.

Ferguson blames the influx of foreign owners for the sharp rsie in managerial casualties, this was before this mornings news that Martin O'Neill is likely to replace Avram Grant as the manager of West Ham after todays game. How much time does he think the Glazer's will give his replacement at United if he has a dissappointing first season, which must be an evens bet if they are still owners of our club. I can imagine that we would smell the whiff of panic in their investment if that happens.

Sid Lowe agrees that Messi is the best footballer on the planet but belives that Xavi should have been the player to receive Ballon d'OR. I can live without the politics of the award, the best player of any sport should be a mixture of talent and influence. So going of that criteria last years winner should have been between Xavi and Sneijder, and for me Xavi would just have edged it.
Lowe makes a good pint about Xavi's ability to get other players to perorm to their best, it has to be said that Messi is a shadow of the player for Argentina that he is for the Catalan giants.

Ha-Joon Chang challenges the prevailing orthodoxy, hopefully an orthodoxy in it's dying days, that bankers are untouchable as he questions whether it would be such a bad thing if the curbing of bankers bonuses led to some of them upping sticks and leaving the country.
Paul Mason in a sarky dig at parliament's slect committee system, is amazed to find that the treasury select committee lands a punch on Barcalys new boss Bob Diamond at their session with him on Tuesday.
Ben Chu was another observer less than impressed with Diamonds performance as he questions the truth of some of his answers to committee.

Steve Richards compares the prevailing political and economic free market orthodoxy to the dying throes of the corporate state of seventies Britain and ends by claiming it will end the same way. But will lead the way. If the lib dems hadn't elected Clegg and gone down the orange book route they could have had a once in a generation opportunity. But the party of Keynes, Lloyd George and Beveridge fucked up big time.
I find myself without a party at the moment, I regard myself as a left wing liberal, nut the Lib dems are currently to the right of Ted Heath as far as i can see. Labour are still pretty much new labour as far as i can see and anybody on the left will always be anti tory. So i couldn't get worked up one way or the other about Thursday's Oldham and Saddleworth by election.
Iain Martin wonders how well thought through the tories by election strategy was for their long term hopes of winning a outright majority at the next election. How well thought out is any parties strategy at the moment.
Faisal Islam wonders about the credibilty of Nick Clegg's claims about Lib dems victories over economic fairness. I'm not sure how orange book liberals can talk about economic fairness when they believe in the primacy of markets and adhere to the neo liberal dogmas almost as much as the tories and even more than new labour.

Has Manchester's new labour links come back to haunt it as the upcoming round of local government cuts are going to hit the city very hard.
Polly Toynbee predicts that the cuts are uniting all parties of local government against the coalition and are accusing it of worse inteference than new labour. So much for lib dem influence. The tories do have form in this area, for all the small sate mantra of theThatcher administration they were always tring to micro manage everything.

The Chinese military unveiled their own version of a stealth fighter during the visit of US defence secretary Robert Gates visit last week.

As the Tunisian president flees to Saudi Arabia, i wonder why tyrants always seem to feel safe in that part of the world, the country faces more rioting and strife. Patrick Cockburn warns that troubles like this are brewing all over the middle east. I suppose the question is will it lead to a version of Glasnost or will it go the other way.

Brian Eno

Manchester United 1-0 Liverpool

Well a win over our biggest enemy is always a sweet thing, it was just a pity we couldn't have done it with a bit more style and rubbed their noses in the  proverbial as we sentenced them to the end of their season.As expected there was no Rooney with Hernandez coming in to replace him, but the absence of Vidic was a bit more unexpected. I think it's fair to say that there were a few worried reds about when they found out that Jonny Evans had been called in to replace him. It seemed to be a bit of a sink or swim decision from Fergie, putting his faith in Evans ability to cope with Torres and hoping he wasn't let down.
On the whole Evans didn't let him down, he was far from faultless and he still looks too shaky in possession, but he had a fair game at the side of Ferdinand. As for our Mexican stand in for Rooney, he did ok, but his game outside the box against better opposition needs improving before we really start to compare him to Ole.
We couldn't have wished for a better start, with the ref Howard Webb awarding us a penalty almost straight away, the TV and press seemed to have reached a consensus that it wasn't the correct decision. I suppose that's what you should expect from a vermin dominated TV coverage, but i was surprised that the press saw it that way. There may have been little contact but there was intent and there was contact, do we really think Gerrard would have stayed on his feet in the same situation, no me neither.
Giggs made no mistake with the penalty and the stage seemed to be set for us to really give them a good going over. But it never really happened. United's passing all afternoon was careless and not what you would want against a mid table team never mind against Liverpool.
Liverpool started to threaten briefly, until Gerrard was shown the red card for his two footed challenge on Carrick that left our midfield man in a heap. Maybe we would have gone on to really put the boot in, in the second half, if Evans header had broke the back of the net, instead of coming back of the upright just before the interval.
Liverpool started the second period with a bit more purpose and United fans started to get a bit restless with the lack of adventure from the home team. To be fair they didn't really threaten our goal seriously, but it was a disappointing show against ten men. United kept the ball well at times, but when they created chances we couldn't take them. But for the most part we kept possesssion well only to fluff the final ball. Southampton away is a nice reward and it looks like we will be involved on three fornts for a little while longer yet.

Fergie expects Rooney and Vidic to both be fit for next weeks important game at White hart lane. Good news, i would have liked to have seen Van De Sar back as well, Kuszczak never between the sticks never fills me with confidence and i have never thought that he inpsires much trust in the back four the way the the big Dutchman does.

Jonathan Raban argues that Gabrielle Giffords was the victim of a debased political culture, whilst Dan Hodges argues that Liberal hypocrisy risks descending to the levelof the far right

Sean O'Grady argues inflation isn't as bad as it feels and that we shouldn't worry about it too much, just yet.
Larry Elliott thinks we will avoid a double dip recession, but warns that 2011 will be a year of living frugally.
Paul krugam predicts that it will be Portugal next in the game of Eurodominoes. The Telegraph report that the Germans may be about to soften their stance on the Euro bailout fund. Whilst Paul Mason follows up his "scoop interview" with Maynard Keynes, with another with Kark Marx

New contract for Berbs?

So much for my theory that Berbatov would be offered to other clubs in the summer when Welbeck returns from his successful loan spell at Sunderland. The MEN are reporting that the club will be offering him a bumper new deal. It has been his best season at the club, that is undeniable, he is a class act, i just hope we see him perform when it matters at the end of the season.

It looks like Macheda has been granted his wish and will return to Italy to play for Sampdoria for the rest of the season loan. I'm not sure what good there is in that for United, besides the Italian league being nowhere near the standard of the premier league, the styles of play are vastly different also. I still think he will probably end up back in his homeland permanently in time.

United's young goalie Ben Amos has gone to Oldham on loan for the rest of the season. A surprise has gone as low as division one, but if he is guarenteed games, then i suppose that is the main thing for Amos and United. He has showed promise when he has played for the first team this season, he has got something.

Fergie has explained why he recalled his three players from their loan spells at Preston after Darren Fergusons recent sacking. The rumour was that they all wanted to stay, that does sound more plausible to me, but who knows? He also reckons that Michael Owen will get plenty of big games during the remainder of the season, is that threat.

Roy Keane accepts that results have meant he has to acept that the sack was a possibility but felt that he was on the right lines at Portman road and says he enjoyed his time at Ipswich. I still dont know exactly what to make of Keane as a manager.

I don't know that many berties, fortunately, but since they won the lottery and started to splash the cash i have always wondered how they would cope with other clubs resentment. Here was one Arsenal fans take on the meaning of Wednesday nights game. If City do manage to break the habit of a lifetime and actually win a trophy or two how will they cope with having gloryhunting fans from Milton Keynes, etc.

I watched the 6 o'clock news earlier and saw the news that Blatter has come out and said that he expects the Qatari 2022 world cup to be held in the winter. Maybe i missed it but i did not hear any mention of the almost universal, i should think, opposition to these from the premier league, and almost every other major European league. As money talks loudest these days, i will be amazed if the 2022 world cup takes place in winter.

I thought England would retain the ashes but i thought the series would probably be decided by the odd test. As the series has now finished with a resounding 3-1 England triumph, the wonder is how did the Aussies manage to win one.
Geoff Boycott salutes England and picks out Cook and Anderson as the stand out players but thinks the real key to the overwhelming victory was the strenght of Englands squad and how well Tremlett and Bresnan did when they came in for Broad and Finn. He is right to say he has no idea who will support Anderson inthe pace bowling line up in England's next test. I find it hard to see how they can leave Tremlett out after his performances. James Lawton also applauds England's sense of unity during the series.
Vic Marks describes how swing and England's mastery of it was the key to the series.It seems that Anderson was universally seen as the bowler of the series, what a triumph of the man who many, me included, worried might be the weak link in the English bowling attack.

Fraser Nelson sees trouble ahead for the lib dems under Clegg.

Sean O'Grady predicts a troubled and unpopular year ahead for George Osborne
Joseph Stiglitz hopes the fashion for austerity economic solutions to the economic crisis is replaced by a more rational response and hopes we stop listening to the financial wizards who got us into this mess.

Black mountain - Wilderness heart:: A modern take on old fashioned heavy rock, the Canadians deliver another decent effort. Not earth shattering but well worth a listen.
Delphic - Acolyte: They started lasy year as one of the hot tips of the year but had faded out of sight by the end of the year. It was well received by the critics when released but made no end of year lists. It's obviously influenced by New Order, but it's no more derivative than many of the acts around at the moment that seem to look to the eighties as their main influence. I thought it was a reasonable effort
Laura Nyro - Eli and the thirteenth confession: I have to admit that i had never heard of this singer songwriter that started of in the sixties until i saw listed as an influence by an artist i can't remember in Mojo. The reason i listened to this was the list of artists she had allegedly influenced, Joni Mitchell amongst them. It is excellent though there a couple of fillers for me. I love the subtle jazz that creeeps into certain songs.
Stephanie Dosen - Alily for the spectre: Another US female singer songwriter, but from the present. I enjoyed this album, though didn't think it lived up to some of the praise i had seen her receive for it over the last few years.
Sufjan Stevens - Enjoy your rabbit: I didn't take to this at all on the first couple of listens, but it has really grown up on me. His albums are supposed to vary from one genre to another and i wasn't expecting as much elecrtonica as this album possess. Can't wait to hear more from his back catalogue and maybe first his new album.
Tangerine Dream - Electric meditation: The Debut album from 1970 by the legendary German electronica outfit. A very early take on krautrock that sounds almost psychedelic to my ears. A decent listen, but very experimental. This is the outstanding track, for me,
The Slits - Cut: I have never actually listened to this classic seventies female punk band. They were labelled as punk, though punk more in attitude than sound as there sound owes more to Jamaica than New York or London. Its a pretty good album
Van Morrison - Astral weeks: A sixties classic that i have never got around to listening to, even though i absolutely love Moondance, his follow up album. Another grower, i started off thinking it was good, but nowhere near the quality of Moondance, but now i'm not so sure, maybe it is as good.

Domonic Sandbrook looks at the story of the most controversial and bewildering figure in British history, Oliver Cromwell. I'm not sure if you look at his life as whole you could depict him as a hero, but you can admire him.

Vanity fair looks at the uneasy collaboration between Julian Assange and the Guardian during the recent Wikileaks episode.