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