Wigan 0-4 Manchester United

I can't pretend i saw this coming, even though we ended up scoring four and running away with it in the end, it wasn't really a 4-0 performance. Maybe i shouldn't have been surprised though, how many times have we played Wigan when they have played reasonably well for an hour and then disintegrated. I suppose we're lucky it only happens when they play us.
I was happy to see us revert to a 4-4-2, even though it seemed to affect our cohesiveness as a defensive unit. In fact the first ten minutes were amazingly end to end, if they had got the first goal, and they had the chances, who knows how the game would have panned out. I had forseen yet another of our 4-3-3 away performances where we have struggled to impose ourselves on the game, so i didn't mind the openess of the game as i would take our attack to find the back of the net more often that a goal shy Wigan attack.
Wigan had really good chances in that first quarter of an hour but either took the wrong option or found Van Der sar in top form. United were equally dangerous at the other end with Nani roaming around causing havoc in the home sides rearguard. The first goal came via a superb move as Rooney set Nani free down the left and his excellent cross was finished off by Hernandez doing what he does best. His game still has a way to go outside the box but when we create a chance in and around the six yard box he is the man. In fact he could easily have had a hatrick yesterday, but having a squad man who can come in and make goalscoring look easy has probably been one of the key differences from last season. And if we go on to lift the title, still a big if, he will have been one of the key differences from last season.
Nani was unlucky after another excellent move saw the ball end up on his left foot but saw his shot come off the inside of the post. It was end to end and Van Der Sar was needed once again to stop McCarthy after a supern flowing attack from the home side.
The other big talking point of the half was Rooney's elbow McCarty before we had scored. I have to admit that whilst watching it live i didn't think it was that bad, but it didn't look too good on seeing the replay. But the press witch hunt this morning has been well over the top, why is it when Rooney does something like this he is usually hung, drawn and quartered by the press whilst when a Terry or a Gerrard go over the top it's hardly even mentioned. 
United started to get a grip on the game in the second half as dangerous home attack's got scarcer and scarcer. It took until fifteen minutes from the end for that all important second goal to come though. Hernandez played a one two with Rooney and found himself through on goal, and he gratefully accepted the chance to give United vital breathing space. Or so we thought, but both sides had different ideas as United stepped up a gear and Wigan fell apart. Berbatov came on for the Mexican and almost immediately set up Rooney for a tap in to make it three. And our other sub Fabio who had also not been on long made it four with a couple of minutes to go to make the scoreline look far more emphatic then the performance actually warrented.
It's a nice way to go into the Chelsea and Liverpool games, though i'm not sure i'll be reading too much from this performances going into those two encounters.

Martinez wasn't happy with the Rooney challenge, thinking he should have seen an early bath. The Mail as po faced as ever ask if he will ever learn. Meanwhile after the game in Marseille encounter Rooney professed himself happy to play on the left or wherever is needed as the big games mount up and potential siverware starts to come into view. Although he has certainly had better games than that on the left in the past the Marseille game was head and shoulders above any of the performances we have seen from him on the left so far this season. Just think of the West Brom, Wolves or Birmingham displays over the last couple of months.

Paul Wilson writes about what every United fan knows and what disturbs us most about a lack of transfer activity over the last couple of seasons, that we can't keep relying on Giggs and Scholes as sooner rather than later they will have hung up their boots. We know we have great prospects coming through, but they won't be ready to pick up the mantle early enough to replace those two giants of Manchester United's history.
Rene Meulensteen talks to four four two about Paul Scholes and the importance of training, practice makes perfect. Fergie reveals that Scholes wants assurances about the amount of games he will appear in before signing a new one year contract and that United want him to stay on as a coach when the time to hang up his boots does come.

Fegie hopes that we will have Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans back for the Anfield test next Sunday which means the impressive Smalling will start on Tuesday night at Stamford bridge. But tells Smalling that if Rio is fit he will walk back into the team for the big games.

The Glazers insist United is not for sale with a statement that is virtually word for word exactly the same at their not for sale statement last year, and about as believable. Andersred used the Guardian to advise the Qataris that if the really do want to buy United, that £1.5 billion would be way over the odds for what it is really worth.

I don't know how much credence to give this report of United being worried about the lack of progress being made by Fredrico Macheda in his loan spell at Sampdoria. I still don't really understand why he wasn't sent on loan to a premier league or even a championship club.

Nani is enjoying life at United and reveals he still keeps in touch with Cristiano Ronaldo, but that he is his own man.

Joschka Fischer writes of the middle east awakening and warns that whatever the outcome of the tumult that has hit the region, whether the democrats will prevail or whether the old forecs of reaction will regroup and regain control, the middle east and north Africa will never be the same.
Peter Oborne asks how will America react to the loss of its middle east empire, as he ponders how history teaches us how quicky empires and dynasties can collapse. Mick Hume looks at how the world has changed since the liberation of Kuwait twenty years ago and the seeming hegemony of the US looked unassailable, and now the future is up for grabs. Robert Skidlesky looks back to the second Iraq war under George W. Bush and wonders whether he was wrong to oppose it. I don't think so, the spread of democracy to the middle east was the goal of the neocons in so far as it helped to continue US influence of the gulf region's oil.And that looks far from certain at the moment. If trouble hits Saudi Arabia, all bets are off.
UK business is more than a little worried that their links to Gaddafi will count against them when he is finally toppled and their international contracts are reviewed.

David Bowden compares Denmark'sTthe Killing, currently being shown on BBC4 to David Simon's The Wire. Whilst i too am engrossed in the series, it's excellent, i wouldn't go as far as to compare it to The Wire. The Wire covered, the projects, the police force, Baltimore politics, the unions, the education system and the penny piching lack of scrutiny of the US press. The Killing doesn't really pretend to be a state of the nation piece such as that.

Steve Richards writes of David Cameron's worst week and predicts many more to come.
William Keegan asks how many brandies Osborne must have bought the US treasury secretary after his praise of the coalition's economic policies which of course the US are not following. Paul Mason talks about the world economy, QE, currency wars and looks back at the lessons of the 30's.

A bit old but Martin Wolf looks at Britains experiment in austerity and looks at the options for growth as the necessary rebalancing of the economy from the financial sector occurs.

A fascinating interview with Gorbachev, in which he speaks of his shame at Roman Abramovitch. I admire him but understand why he isn't as respected in his homeland as he is the western world. But i can't understand his continuing reverence for Lenin, a figure who changed the world yes, so a great historical figure certainly, but think of a Russian history where the bolsheviks didn't seize power and how different the history of the world could have been.

It's nto long until the next Elbow album is released and they have been in the press over recent weeks, Guy Garvey talked to the Observer today about the new release. The Quietus talk to fellow north west act The Demdike Stare about past years releases and what the future holds for the duo. I have only heard Forest of evil so far but that was excellent

Marseille 0-0 Manchester United

Time will tell whether this was a good result or not, but our away form doesn't seem to improve. I'm usually a super optimist approaching the big games, but as we approach maybe the defining two or three weeks of the season with forthcoming crucial games away from Old trafford, i'm being pushed hard to keep that optimism.
When i saw the team last night, i wouldn't say i feared the worst, but i think it was safe to say i knew we weren't going to go there and put on a show. Gibson in midfield and O'Shea at right back showed Fergie had an eye on the games to come next week, well at the least, leaving Scholes on the bench did. O'Shea is a useful squad player and doesn't let you down defensively, but he is no Rafael getting foward and he doesn't half give the ball away. As for the inclusion of Gibson, i'm presuming Scholes is being saved for the crunch games at Stamford bridge and Anfield and that if Anderson had been fit he would have been picked.
I wouldn't say Gibson was any worse than anyone else but as usual he didn't bring anything to the party, his passing being as off the boil as everybody else's. We actually started very brightly, in fact i thought my misgivings about the line up were going to be dispelled as United dominated possession and looked like they were going to have it in their armoury to break the home side's defence down. Whilst we dominated the ball Rooney and Berbatov were both looking good and heavily involved in the game. Unfortunately Nani had one of those nights where he fustrated, almost always choosing the wrong option and when he got it right there was nobody on the end of the ball.
Once again the shining light was another impressive performance from Chris Smalling standing in for Ferdinand, he wasn't faultless, his distribution could have been better, but defensively he was top notch again. He is without doubt our main back up centre half now, in fact regardless of how many more games he gets this season, i can see him starting a far bigger number of games next season. Scholes didn't come on for long but it's amazing how much difference he makes to the side as he passes and probes and doesn't give the ball away. It's pretty scandalous really that the only real replacement for Scholes creativity in the middle of the park is the even older Giggs.
I suspect that it will turn out to be a decent enough result as they don't seem anything to write home about. The only doubt being they had a couple of players missing, so we probably didn't see them at their best. I'd like to see us play 4-4-2 at home, but it's pretty unlikely, i suppose.

Chris Smalling revealed that the it felt like a loss to the players after the game they were so disappointed with the result. I'd like to think they were even more disappointed with the performance. Whilst Fergie would have liked the away goal he was disappointed with the quality of United's passing. To be honest that was about par for the course away from home this season.

There was fun and games, or not as the case may be, with the French police last night, but it hasn't been reported yet. United fans were apparently locked in some warehouse before the start of the game. I can't find any reports about it to link to.

Before the game Deschamps was asked his thoughts about United and described us as a top team but without the fantasy of previous United team's. Don't we know, it was a pretty fair summing up of us to be fair. I suppose it sounds churlish to moan about United's away form in Europe, but i was brought up to believe United were about style and entertainment as well as being trophy contenders. I'm afraid our European away form has been far from entertaining for quite a while now. And whilst some might say it doesn't matter if we are getting results and reaching the latter stages of the tournaments, it does to me.
And if we look back to last year, the poor away form cost us eventually. As soon as we played a half decent team in Bayern our inability to keep hold of the ball away from home was punished. If we went into the next round without Giggs and Scoles i would fear the worst.

Even though this hasn't been a vintage season for Patrice Evra it is still good news that he has confounded the rumours and put pen to paper to sign for a further three seasons. Hopefully with a summers rest he will come back strong next season. This should also allow Fabio to develop his game as well coming in to give Evra a rest from time to time.

There was much talk about the future of Obertan and Bebe after the dismal performance at the weekend against Crawley in the cup. Mark Ogden thinks that history doesn't bode well for them and points to the careers of the 2005 cop that struggled against Exeter. The only problem with that analogy is that this was the pre Glazer era. The other glimmer of hope for Bebe anyway, is to discard him so early would mean Fergie losing face, and having to answer to the press and who knows maybe even to the gimps how he could have sanctioned paying so much for somebody he admitted he had never seen and who has proved to be, sub standard and that's being kind.
Paul Parker gets to the crux of the matter in his Yahoo blog pointing out what we all know that this United string is not good enough.

The gimps have been in the news this week, first of all with the premier league confirming that the Glazer's do in fact own 100% of United. Excuse me whilst i remind myself of the shambles that was the ownership of Portsmouth FC and my lack of total trust in the competence of any of our football authorities, whether it be the FA or the Premier league.
The Telegraph reports that the gimps are thinking of handing out a message that they are still owners for the long term when handing out their quarterly accounts tomorrow. Does anybody seriously believe that.
Eric points out what we all know and fear, that United will struggle when Fergie decides to call it a day when asked about his dislike of the Glazer's.
The green and gold makes a rare appearance in the media as a report claims that shirt sales were down 10% due to the campaign which could hurt their negitiations to improve their contract with Nike in 2015.

Is this bizarre blackmail plot story anything to do with Rooney's poor form. It's hard to see, though he played better last night.

Anne Applebaum reports on the upheaval in the Arab world and compares it to the 1989 uprisings in eastern Europe. She argues that we may have the pictures of the revolution and turmoil but we don't have the full picture. In fact even the protesters will not have the full story, which will be far more muddled, complicated and probably less glorious that TV pictures paint. There is something in that, but it is still a revolution from below which i think she is trying to say won't be as much the case as we all presume. This has shook the western establisment and the right especially almost as much as the Arab world.
Robert Fisk writes that after four decades of terror, Gaddafi must surely be on his way out, but it will be a bloody affair. Tony Blair, new labour and the present labour leadership are not going to enjoy their inglorious role in supposedly rehabilitating this odious madman during the last decade being rehashed during the months ahead. Craig Murray has been told by diplomats he is still in touch with that Berlusconi is shitting it in case his murky relations with the Libyan elite come to light when the hopeful day of defeat of the Gaddafi family arrives.
But it wasn't the best time for Cameron to be touring the middle east surrounded by arms salesman with Cameron cheerleader for the export of the weapons we always knew would be used and now have evidence that they have been used against their own people in an attempt to oppress and in Libya mass murder their own population. Simon Jenkins argues we can push democracy or arms sales but not both. Cameron seems to think he can get away with both, he is going to be proved wrong. The one export industry that we are competitive in, is going to face a difficult future.
The Economist looks at the hypocrisy of British and European foreign policy in the middle east. If only Robin Cook were alive, because his new ethical foreign policywould have proved to have been right and the supposed super realists of the foreign office 100% wrong. John Pilger writes that the revolutions in the Arab world are as much against western tyranny as they are against their own corrupt leaders.
Paul Mason argues that this democratic revoltion is about to become an economic revolution as the developing world see its chance to change the balance of the world economy more to its favour. I'm absolutely certain that most people in the west have no idea how serious all this is, if they want living standards remotely comparable to those we have seen since the second world war they are going to have to reshape our economies away from big finance and small state neo liberal free markets, that is for sure. Otherwise we will end up with revolutions in the wstern world eventually.
Jon Snow on the moral challenge for every single one of us in the west who has profited from group of regimes falling like dominoes in the Arab world.
Larry Elliott warned some time ago that we could be faced with a return to the oil shocks of the seventies and now Jeremy Warner writes of the pandoras box that has been opened now that the oil price has gone above $100 a barrel. It's not looking pretty. Paul Mason looks at the effects of events on the future price of oil and how we may have to live with it.

I can't help thinking that Cameron and the coaltion are the last stand of the neo liberal era and are increasinly swimming against the tide of world events. But as Sunny Hundal wrote Cameron's plans sound as much of an attempt to appease his right wing as you would think he has no chance of getting this through parliament or the country.
Polly Toynbee thinks that the turmoil about to be unleashed during the upheaval unleashed by the tories plans for the NHS are just the beginning of the tory ideology run wild. Steve Richards writes that Cameron is like Blair on cocaine in his pursuit of the public services. Hopefully it will completely discredit them in the eyes of the electorate. 
Even if the country did drift to the right in the future, it will not be a Thatcherite conservatism, it will be an anti immigrant, anti Europe and protectionist right, even worse. I'm looking a few years ahead of course.

Peter Bradshaw reviews the new documentary on the 2008 credit crunch crisis Inside job.
Stephen King writes about the split on the MPC over whether to raise interest rates or hold fire. He isn't convinced by the monetary hawks.

An excellent compilation of United goals from the seventies, featuring the mid seventies team that was where I started watching United at Old trafford, Coppel, Hill, Daly and Pearson. They played some great football. They were a top goalkeeper away from being a team that could have stopped it ever getting to 26 years without a title.
We'll never see that kind of atmosphere at Old trafford again, just watch the crowds as well as the football.

Manchester United 1-0 Crawley Town

We have seen some shit this season, and when i saw the team announced early for yesterday's game on t'internet, i feared the worst. With no creativity in midfield and not much on the wings i was expecting a long ninety minutes. Some of the performances this season have been a total embarrassment and after just ten minutes it was obvious that this was going to be yet another.
The only spell in the game where we approached anything like an acceptable display was the ten minutes or so around the goal where the Da Silva's both seemed to roam forward at will. I don't know whether they were given orders to get forward but they both did and both had good chances to score. Of the players in a red shirt to come out with any credit from yesterday's game they would be at the top of the list. Brown and O'Shea were steady and the back four were pretty much untroubled in the first half.
I haven't any kind words for elsewhere though, the midfield were as unimaginative as expected. What was just as bad was the lack of work rate, i don't know if there was anything wrong with Anderson as he went of at half time but he may as well not have been on the pitch in the first half. Gibson didn't have a bad game, he played the pass of the match in the first half to put Hernandez through who should have done far better. But work rate isn't his forte either, another reason why he won't make it at United. Carrick had another quiet game, he wasn't poor, but didn't really affect the game.
And then there were the two wide men. They just aren't good enough, simple as that. I can't blame Fergie for taking a punt on Obertan, because he does have the talent to be a reasonable player. But as Blanc intimated when we bought him, he just doesn't have the mental strength. It's debatable he has the character to make it as footballer, full stop, never mid making it at United. As for Bebe, that transfer and everbody involved in it stinks, it must be debatable if he would even get into Crawley Town's first eleven.
What i was most hoping for yesterday was hoping to see one of Pogba, Tunnicliffe or King coming on, but the injuries and the piss poor performance meant there was never much chance of that happening. It beggared belief that we were hanging to the one goal lead for the last ten minutes.
Hernandez can't be exempt from the criticism , he couldn't impose himself on the game, but i have to say i felt sorry for him as he had no service whatsoever. Rooney who came on at half time didn't do any better, in fact with a performance like that i wouldn't be surprised to see Berbatov leading the line in Marseille in midweek.
The most surreal moment of the game came in the last ten minutes when our worst two players were put into the middle with Rooney and Hernandez going out wide. Who's tactical masterstroke was that and what the fuck was the thinking behind that. Needless to say they were no better up front in the middle than they had been out wide.
So this weird season sees us get to the quarter finals of the FA cup, top the table and with a champions league game in the last sisxteen to come in midweek. Quite how we find ourselves in that position i'm not quite sure.

Ryan Giggs signed a new one years extension to his contract last week, let's hope Scholes follows suit because as yesterday showed once again, we are going to be relying on those two in the run in once again. One day they are not going to be around, where the fuck will we be then.

Henry Winter remembers Paul Schoes announcing himself on the international stage at the Stade velodrome for England in the 1998 world cup. Oh to have a 23 year old coming through the ranks now, or will Cleverley be the man to take up the mantle. I'm excited by his progress and can't wait to see him regualarly next season but i think we need to buy a quality experienced creative midfield player as well. I can't see how Gibson can still be here next season and both Flecther and Carrick have both gone backwars over the last couple of seasons.
We have three very promising central midfield players at youth level in Pogba, Tunnicliffe and Morrison if he wants it enough. But it's going to be two to three years before they will be ready for the first team and that's if they make the progress needed. It will be interesting to see whether any of them are sent out on loan next season. We have Matty James and Drinkwater, but i haven't seen enough of either to have a clue what chance they have of making at United.
The big worry for me is that our midfield is just not good enough and that we rely far too much on a 37 year old Giggs and a 36 year old Scholes. And whilst i see us linked with Rodwell and Henderson who are both good talented youngsters what we really require is a Modric, a talented experienced player to take the pressure of Scholes who will help bring any of youngsters who prove good enough through to the first team. Of course that probably doesn't fit with that ludicrous Glazer inspired transfer policy of not buying anybody without a sell on fee.

The Evening news decided that now Morrison has turned eighteen that they would report on what the message boards have been discussing for the last month. I'm afraid it sounds as bad as the rumours suggested. I have to admit that when i have watched him play for the youth team and the reserves he always seems to have all the talent in the world but i have never been convinced of his attitude or of how in love with the game he is. Daniel Taylor suggests that the club are at a loss in how to deal with him. 

Fergie asserts that the injury Michael Owen sustained in training is not as bad as has been reported and he could be fit for the Marseille game. As if there is a chance he will be appearing in that. He is another i hope will part of the clearing of deadwood in the summer.

Ferdinand says that though Gary Neville gave off the aura of a serious guy he was in fact a really funny bloke and that he will be missed in the dressing room.

Andy Mitten profiles ex red and now Real Madrid main man Ronaldo, despite his undoubted brilliance, he wasn't a favourite of mine, but oh, to have some of that genius in this way below par season.

Daniel Korski of the Spectator asks what now for western foreign policy in north Africa and the middle east as all the diplomatic corps decades old assumptions turn to dust as the pillars of sand shift.
Whilst Paul mason asks if this is a Suez type moment for westen foreign policy and western influence in the middle east and even in the world. Liam Halligan of the Telegraph thinks this is another of those moments that that show us how the tectonic plates of economic influence are shifting from west to east.

It's amazing how the consensus on the AV referendum has turned full cycle  with commentators now seemingly confidentl predicting a yes victory. Steve Richards and Martin Kettle both predict that the anti politics of the country will result in a change to the voting system.
Tory commentators have also latched on to how important the coming referendum will be and how the Cameroons have suddenly realised how high the stakes are for the tories and maybe more importantly for their position at the head of the tory party. Iain Martin thinks Cameron has left it late but he now realises that his standing as head of the tory party will be fatally undermined if the no campaign is defeated.
Chrisopher Montgomery thinks the limp no campaign that Cameron has masterminded is no surprise but that a no vote would also be a disaster for Cameron as it would destroy Cleggs standing as leader of the Lib dems and would almost certainly lead to his axing as leader and the eventual withdrawl of the party from the coalition. I have said that the chances of another election must be pretty high.
Dan Hodges also sees a sudden lack of manouevre for the leaders of the coalition parties, particularly Cameron. As he wants to keep the coalition going by keeping his coalition partners happy but at the expense of losing the support of his own backbenchers who are becoming increasinly rebellious.
Paul Waugh reports on why those tory backbenchers are growing increasingly unhappy with a list of lib dem influence on coalition policies. Cameron hasn't really started to get the press that it would seem he deserves.

Johann Hari demands that aetheist Nick Clegg doesn't drop another pledge by allowing religious leaders to stay in the reformed house of lords. It is pretty unreal that we are aligned with Iran on this. How does anybody on the right justify that.

Gavin Kelly asks how we can avoid going down the US route where for the last generation all the gains from economic growth have gone to the rich. As long as the tories are involved in our government we can't. Though i'm not forgetting Gordon Brown, Ed Balls ignominious role at the head of Labours disastous 13 years in power.
Will hutton on the policy dilemma for Mervyn King and the bank of England over the inflation/interest rate debate and the meddling in politics accusation that Ed Balls alluded to on Friday. Whilst William Keegan describes the inflation rate target as another central bank fixation that has ended in failiure.

Peter Oborne with a thoughtful article on Cameron and the big society, i don't agree with it but as usual he thinks out of the tory box as he describes the neoliberalism as not real Conservatism. I have read enough Tory history to recognise the truth in that, but as with other parties influences change. They have been at one time or other pro corn law, caught between free traders and protectionists at the beginning of the twentieth century and caught between those and imperial preference in the run up to the second world war. And since the Thatcher revolution triumphed in the party, free market nutters. And so like it or not the modern tory party are a neo liberal party hence the big society means as little to the right wing of the tory party as it does to most of us on the left.

Simon Jenkins celebrates opinion as the boot of truth aimed at the crotch of power. I'd celebrate a bit more when it hurts the crotch of big finance.

The Yardbirds

United's away form come under the microscope

Except the blame seems to be getting attached to the attack, when almost everybody that watches United ascribe it to the poorest central midfield we have seen since the mid noughties. That isn't to say the form of both Berbatov and Rooney has been good enough away from home, it clearly hasn't. But until we find a system or personnel that allows us to go to places like Blackpool, West Brom or Wolves and dominate possession we are going to struggle. I mean is any red really confident of United putting on top performances in the big away games coming up.
Mark Bright believes that Rooney still hasn't turned the corner in his quest for a return to form despite Saturday's wonder strike. It will be interesting to see if his form will be affected, in a positive way obviously, by the return to the first team squad of Antonio Valencia who returend to training with the reserve team squad last Saturday. He certainly enjoyed the service from Valencia last season on the right wing, as the man from Ecquador created countless goals for him. How many has he scored with his head this season?
It was a bad time for Park to get injured with the big European nights about to start and Valencia penciled in to hopefully return to first team duties about the same time as Park will come back from injury. Giggs and Nani are going to be getting a run of games over the next three weeks.

Smalling has justifiably been getting a good press since Saturday's top performance, maybe it's time for a little run of consecutive games for him. You would presume he will be playing against Crawley, but will Ferdinand be up to the run of games that are going to be coming thick and fast after that. If he wants to be playing a part in one or two of those big games, his performance on Saturday will have told Fergie he can play a part.

Scholes is excited with the return of European nights as it reminds him that we are now entering the business stage of the season where every game matters. He also thinks Gary Neville would have come close to beating Peter Shilton's England caps record but for all his recent injury problems. He doesn't care if we aren't playing brilliantly as long as we finish top of the league in May, but does admit that our away form isn't what it should be.
Meanwhile the Mail report that Gary Neville will take his first steps along the coaching path when he oversees traing for the youngsters this week.
Is that a step up from commentating on the youth team last night, he is actually a pretty good commentator. I would sooner seem stay at United than move to Sky though. How the youth team only won 1-0 was a mystery, 30 odd shots on goal against about 3 tells it's own story. The loss of Cofie and Keane obviously had something to do with it, but you want to have a better conversion rate than that. It was very one sided so whilst i can pick a couple of stand out players from the night, it's hard to know how much that tells you. Tunnicliffe seems to get better and better, Pogba was excellent and Morrison showed his class at times. The defence was hardly troubled so we didn't get to see much of Thorpe whom i like the look of. Newcastle were very poor.


With all the stories of a Qatari buyout of the Glazer's, a Qatari source, unwilling to be named, has told the press there have been no taks between Manchester United and Qatar holdings. Well that seems to be the one thing that no one believes, whether there is any truth in the takeover tals or not.
Just why the bonds have hit record highs is still a puzzle to be resolved then, it seems. It's strange how Bloomberg seem to be the go paper for anything to do with the Glazer's, Manchester United and any takeover. Everything else seems to be just wild speculation, unless of course a takeover is on the cards. I have to admit, as much as i detest the Glazer's stewardship of United and would view getting rid of them, preferrable to a 19th title, the thought of being bought out by anybody from the Arabian peninsular fills me with almost as much dread as the continuation of the Glzer's ownership.

The consistently ever decreasing away ticket allocation comes under the spotlight on redsaway's site for United fans that like to travel. I have never understood how they can so blatantly just pick on United when week after week you see most away fans all stood up.

Larry Elliott reports that the inflation conundrum just got harder for Mervyn King, it sounds as if he has either lost his nerve, thinks he is going to lose the argument on the MPC for keeping their nerve or has lost confidence in his own judgement. If he doesn't keep his nerve, we are going to be going back to a world where everybody knew what the one in ten that UB40 Were singing about in the early eighties under Osborne's model chancellor Geoffrey Howe. The latest unemployment figures are pointing that way.
David Blanchflower writes that he is fully behind Mervyn King on the inflation/interest situation and points out why he thinks raising interest rates would be a disaster for the economy. Paul Mason discusses his little tete a tete at the press conference where the governor of the bank defended the MPC's interest strategy. The point that the inflation target is past it's sell by date was made pretty convincingly, to me anyway, on Newsnight last night.
Sean O'Grady ends his report of the inflation results with a prediction of what the results for ordinary poeople will be if the city gets its way. No good news there, not least for Osborne and his happy camp of growth deniers. I wonder what the odds are on an election being called before the year is out. He also doesn't think that we will see an interest rate rise before November.

George Monibot writes of more evidence of the tories and their role as the party of the vested interests of the financial elite. He is absolutely right, of course, but lets not forget that Blair, Brown and Balls, let's not forget, haven't exactly got clean hands on this front.
Gary Gibbon of channel4 news went to Salisbury to report on the spectre of a foodbank in Britain in 2011.

Iraqi defector " Curveball "and the western intelligence service's main inside evience of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction admits he made it all up. The only suprise in that report are that there are supposedly some poeple that thought that there was still something in it. Can anybody be that stupid. Fair enough on his part, if my country was run by a tyrant i would want rid, though he doesn't mention how well he benefitted financially from telling the neocons what they wanted to hear.

Robert Fisk reports on a strange case of deja vu in the middle east and north Africa as demonstrators keep on demonstrating and security forces keep on using the same discredited methods to attempt to suppress a population that won't be suppressed any more as they now know they can bring down the regions out of touch and corrupt rulers.
Iran will be the next one to watch, but we know that the theocrats in Tehran won't prove as easy a touch. Imagine if that regime were to fall though, what would that mean for Saudi Arabia, Lebanon etc.

Music
Angus & Julia Stone - Down the way: The latest offering from the Aussie duo is a pretty good album, i don't know what you'd categorise it as, folk rock, Americana or acoustic pop maybe. There are some excellent tracks on the album.

Charanjit Singh - Ten raggas to a disco beat: This was recently rediscovered and branded as maybe the first lost house album. It has some validity, it's the closest thing it sounds like. It starts off with a big Indian flavour that seems to lose itself ithe disco/house beat. It's pretty good, if a bit samey, but ahead of it's time. It's certainly hard to believe he was going around doing weddings as a day job.
Jenny and Jonny - I'm having fun now: Main vocalist with US indie group Rilo Kiley Jenny Lewis and her boyfriend released this lasy year and the biggest praise i can give it is it's as good as a Ril Kiley album, a decent indie pop album.

Manic street preachers - Postcards from a young man: Another year and another album from  the Manics, and following in the footsteps of the last two, they are still bang on form. This time it's nearer the sound of Everything must go than the harder edge of the preceeding two, but it's none the worse for that. Full of the type of tunes that might once have got them on top of the pops.

Rumer - Seasons of my soul: The critics next big thing or she is the next big thing already. The critics are right, it's an excellent album with influences from a host of the great female singer songwriters. Almost every track is excellent, there's no filler on this.

Shugo Tokumaru -Port Entropy: Another Brian Wilson influenced solo album, but with an equal dose of home grown Japanese influences . Another excellent album

Manchester United 2-1 Manchester City

Not the most convincing of diplays but i thought overall we just about deserved the victory. City fans and pundits seem to be making a lot out of the amount of possession that they had. They did have more possession than they usually enjoy at our place but they didn't do too much with it. Silva was dangerous but he didn't have much support. Whilst when United finally got Nani and Giggs into the game they were a constant threat to the City reargurd who never really got to grips with either.
As ever though this season our achilles heel was the middle of the park. I had presumed we would play a 4-3-3 and had expected Carrick to partner Scholes and Fletcher, but Fergie went with Anderson. It didn't work for me, Scholes was easily the pick of the three, as usual, Flecther was alright without getting anywhere last years form and i'm afraid Anderson was absolutely annonymous. I had a hunch that Fergie would go with Rooney up front and at the end of the day he didn't let him down. That's not to say he had a great game, he didn't but one piece of magic more than made up for the rest of the ninety minutes.
I wasn't thrilled that he chose O'Shea in front of Rafael, though i could understand it. As the game went on the better the Irishman's display got to the point where Fergie's decision was vindicated. It would have been interesting to have seen Nani and Rafael attacking down the right together though as City couldn't handle Nani on his own. How they would have coped with Rafael overlapping would have been interesting to say the least.
The big plus of the day for United besides the three points and hopefully the snuffing out of City's title challenge was the assured display of Chris Smalling. He has always looked like he had the potential to be Ferdinand's long term successor but we hadn't seen him put in the pressure situation of an encounter with one of the top four. He passed the test with flying colours with a defensive display that even eclipsed Vidic alongside him. The £9 million or whatever it was we played Fulham all of a sudden looks like a great piece of business, value in the market indeed.
I have to admit i was worried about our chances watching the first twenty five minutes or so when City seemed to have slightly more possession than us and definitely passed it better than us. But apart from the one two that completely sliced us open in the first five minutes that Silva failed to tuck away they didn't really threaten to open us up. Bu we weren't passin it well, couldn't get Nani into the game and looked as unlikely to score as they did.
For some reason United seemed to click into another gear in the final quarter of an hour of the first half as we started to get Nani more involved. With Giggs and Evra on one flank and Nani on the other we started to threaten the City rearguard at last. The opening goal saw Rooney head on to Giggs who put a great ball through to Nani whose first touch was excellent and second touch was even better to beat Hart in the City goal. It was a pity we scored so late in the half becasue City seemed to collapse after the goal and i'm sure if that half had gone on a further five minutes we would have got another.
The half time break allowed them to steady the ship but their equaliser came out of nowehere when substitute Dzeko who on this evidence looked vastly overpriced saw his shot take a big deflection of Silva to leave Van Der Sar wrong footed and put City all level.
It was nice to see the positive response from Ferguson who put Berbatov on as we reverted to a 4-4-2 formation. It made the game a more open affair but made us more dangerous going forward. And what a winner Rooney's strike was, from our angle it was like watching in slow motion as he took off and when he met it you just knew it was going in he hit it so cleanly. Fergie said it was of the best goals he has ever seen and i can only agree, it's hard to think of one better.
A goal fit to win any game has hopefully regalvanised out title challengebut there is still a long way to go. Those three trips to Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea are going to have a big say in the where the title ends up and with the state of our away form it's hard to get too carried away just yet.

Rooney believes yesterday's goal was the best of his career and it was the fans deserved after a disappointing season so far. Joe Royle thinks Chris Smalling showed that he has what it takes to fill Rio Ferdinand's shoes. I suppose what we need to see now is Smalling get a consistent tun of games somewhere down the line. If he proves successful it won't be long before Capello comes calling and an England debut will beckon.

United continue to be linked with a summer move for Ashley Young of Aston Villa, if this proves to be correct i will be interested to see where Fegie intends to play him, especially with Welbeck to come back.

The sun is the latest recipient of the Met's investigation of the phone hacking activities of News international.
Peter Wilby describes Rupert Murdoch's recent travails as the sun king's long goodbye, whilst last weeks Private Eye had a phone-hackwatch special.

Simon Tidsall senses a new foreign policy doctrine may have been born under Obama's watch after the fall of Mubarak, i think it's far too early to say that though i hope he is right. Tariq Ramadan took a look at the Muslim brotherhood in the new statesman in last week's edition before Mubarak was finall forced to stand down. Robert Fisk looks ahead now Mubarak has gone and is wary of the role the army will now assume during the supposed transition to democracy .
Tariq Ali is more optimistic and believes that the age of political reason is returining to Egypt and the Arab world .

Simon Jenkins is less than impressed with Silvio Berlusconi and the fact that he is part of the Europe that we supposedly proud to hold up as an example to the world.

johann Hari asks when David Cameron's souffle of spin will collapse as he says one thing and does the complete opposite. Bennedict Brogan writes how tories judge Gordon Brown a failure and yet his success haunts the coalition. I have always presumed the whole thrust of the tories strategy was to use the cuts as an attack on the labour voting public service.

Simon Tidsall is unimpressed with Putin's strongman act as the caucases has turned from a local insurgency into a Caucasian jihad. BP's Russian venture is already proving trickier than envisaged as Russian politics or what passes for politics in that gangster state get tricky.
The 21st century version of the great game in central Asia between Russia and China replacing the 19th century British continues apace with Chinese gaining influence but not many friends by the looks of things. They like Chinese money but don't like the Chinese.

I hadn't read that Jo Wiley was leaving radio 1 for radio 2, this Guardian article takes a look at the state of radio 1 and is less than impressed. I can't say i was ever that big a fan of hers, she never really sounded for real, then again i have always preferred presenters to have an accent not the kind of voice which leaves you with absolutely no idea where the presenter is actually from.
Less than a month to go to the release of the new Elbow album and Guy Garvey tells Quietus of the inspiration behind the forthcoming release.

A blast of seventies heavy rock featuring UFO with Michael Schenker

The jetlag or the experience derby

Mark Ogden reports that the week's meaningless international friendlies risk making tomorrows game the jetlag derby. I can't remember where i read it, but i thought i saw Fergie say that all his experienced players would be playing tomorrow. I will be pretty pissed off if Scholes and Giggs aren't playing and i would have been even if they haven't had midweek games and should be fully fit and raring to go. They are still two of our very best players.
Ian Herbert writes about the fall from grace of Jonny Evans. It's a fair point, he should have been the automatic replacement for Ferdinand tomorrow, but i think it's fair to say most fans would be more than a little anxious if he is the man to partner Vidic tomorrow. I've got to admit i didn't realise he was already 24, that's a bit of an age for him to still look like a bag of nerves with the ball at his feet. I always thought that he would be one of our squad of centre backs, but it's hard to see at the moment. If he does play tomorrow, he will have to play well for his own self confidence as much as everybody else's confidence in him.
Apparently he is injured anyway and Fergie has announced that Smalling will be Vidic's partner tomorrow. I'm afraid that doesn't fill me full of confidence either, Smalling has a lot of potential but he is noweher near the finished article. Whoever has partnered Vidic when Rio has been out we have struggled in the air. I wonder whether mancini will try and fit in Dzeko in somewhere.

The Express go big on a Qatar takeover claiming it is as good as a done deal. It is getting to the point where there are so many stories from so many different media outlets it is getting hard not to believe there is something in it.
Mark Ogden thinks the permanent speculation will cynically be suiting both sides.

Sid Lowe talks to the best midfield player in the world Xavi Hernandez of Barca and Spain who reveals himself to be a bif fan of Paul Scholes who he descibes as the best midfield player of the last 15 to 20 years, the complete midfield player. I don't think praise can come any higher than that. And we have had the pleasure to watch him all of that time, and it has been an absolute privilege.

GMP seem to going more and more over the top ahead of derby day, stopping David May's United night and now having City's groundsmans facebook site. City fan hates United shocker, i think we'll get over it.

Andy Mitten compares past and present derby experiences for the players of both clubs and comes out thinking how times change.

Macheda tells the Italian press he can't wait to get back to a real club, even though he is enjoying his time at Sampdoria he wants to make it at United. I presume his tongue was firmly in his cheek when he told them he was missing the fish and chips.  

Robert Fisk writes of the west's hypocrisy as they still risk their lives for the freedoms we all take for granted. History tells us that western style democracy and freedoms may very well not be what the country ends up with, but it's for them to decide. Seeing as though the protests seem to centre on jobs, liberty and human rights there is no reason to think that some kind of democracy won't be the end game if the protesters win the day. John Pilger believes that the west may not be immune to the turmoil affecting the north Africa and the middle east.
Larry Elliott worries about the similarities between the state of the world economy and the parallels between now and the first oil crisis of the early seventies. 


With bankers pay and bonus culture in the news again research on how these affected the 2008 credit crunch keep on appearing and keep on giving us the same answer, it's at the very least dysfunctional, and at the very worst corrupt. This is a long but very illuminating piece on the so called Irish miracle and the reckoning that 2008 has delivered to the Irish nation. My hat goes off to the guy that threw the eggs at the bankers. Now what went on over there was almost certainly corrupt.
Joseph Stiglitz accuses western banks and nations of being corruption facilitators and believes that should be on the agenda. In another interview he accuses the banking system of destroying value and feathering the nest of the rich.
Alistair darling talks to Prospect magazine about the need for financial literacy and why we could all do with having some rudimentary knowledge. The less we know the more the financial world and some politicians. How many politicians and journalists still talk about the economy as if it was an individuals financial situation when there is no comparison whatsoever.

After the events of the last week, i can't help thinking we are the defining period of the coalition. Osborne and Cameron are starting to be found out and the Lib dem rank and file are starting to realise they are part of a very right wing economic policy and even a potentially disastrous one for the country and for the party. If we go into a double dip recession, which is still a possibility and the lib dems get hammered in the local council elections, i don't see the coaltion lasting.
I suppose the main question surrounding the on air sacking of Lord Oakeshott was how far was he going in giving Vince Cable's real views on " project Merlin ". What a ridiculous name that is, it makes it sound like a behind the lines world war 11 operation. If anything it should be Overlord, the main counter offensive against the deadly enemy.
I presume it was just a coincidence that the letter to the Times by dozens of Lib dem council leaders was the next day. If the AV referendum is lost Clegg will surely be on borrowed time. I have read plenty of Labour supporters gloating over the lib dem travails, but all i can say is i'm proud that some of the party that i voted are showing some backbone and putting their head above the parapet to denounce the direction the parties leadership are trying to take the party. In contrast to the vast majority of the labour parties obedient aquiescence to the invasion of Iraq.
Steve Richards thinks it's hard to place Clegg on the political spectrum but univerity access for state school pupils will determine his legacy. I'm not very hopeful for him then, i saw his BBC interview with a group of students yesterday and the telling quote for me was by that Asian guy who said that millionaires didn't have a clue about the effect that going into debt would have on poorer students thinking of going to university. He is surely right, i expect uptake to fall off a cliff.
I agree with Christopher Montgomery's view that the odds on Clegg still being the leader of the lib dems by the end of the year are surely too generous.

Derby fever starts to hot up

Darren Fletcher tells the press that United are not taking the title for granted, they realise that a 19th title will not be handed to them on a plate. It's hard to predict anything this season, so i aint going to bother. A win on Saturday would obviously go some way to delivering it, it's hard to see how City could come back from it to win the title.
Kevin Garside thinks United were handed a reality check on Saturday by Wolves  in a season where maybe it shouldn't come as a shock when bottom beats top. Some of us think it was a defeat that has been a long time coming as our midfield fallibilities couldn't be glossed over for once. I'm glad Scholes will be playing on Sarturday, though i presume he will be playing in a three man midfield. I suppose the big question is who will he play up front, Berbatov or Rooney. On form it would have to be the Bulgarian but we haven't really seen the best of him as the front man of a 4-3-3. I think Barbatov will get the nod but wouldn't be amazed if he went with Rooney.
Apparently captain Vidic is our only fully fit centre half ahead of Saturday and that was why United asked for Vidic to be allowed to sit out the Serbian friendly with Israel. The absence of Ferdinand will be felt on Saturday, all those goals we have conceded from set pieces when he has been missing. I'd definitely be more confident if he was playing.

Recently retired right back Gary Neville is comfortable that United have at last found his long term replacement in Rafael Da Silva, who he feels has made the position his own over the last six months after his consistent un of games this season. I couldn't agree more, i just hope his outstanding form continues on Saturday as he is stll bound to make the odd mistake.

Writing on Monday after last weekends games Alan Hansen thought that Arsenal were still in the title race after their collapse on Saturday proved less than fatal due to our defeat and the rent boys defeat at home to Liverpool. If we don't go on to win the title this season, we will look back on that weekend and that performance at Wolves as the weeknd where we failed to put clear blue sky between us and our chasers. The one thing i still can't see though is Arsenal finishing above us come the end of the season.

Irish boss Trappatoni has once again urged Darron Gibson to leave United for a club where he will play every week. I can't help thinking that if United don't show him the door at the end of this season, then this time he will take the advice of his national boss.

United loanee Macheda scored a late penalty to hand the Italian under 21's a dramatic victory over England yesterday. With Welbeck's injury there were no United players in the English side, i'm not sure why Cleverley didn't appear, as far as i know he still qualifies for that age group.

The Glazer's London operation is having to move to bigger and more expensive premises, though they don't want the press to publisise it, which unfortunately it already had. Nice to know where the proirities lie.

Barca boss Guardiola is set to sign a new one year extension to his contract with the Catalan giants. I was surprised that he put so much of his teams success down to the Argentine Messi. I am in total  agreement with him that Messi is the best player in the world. But Xavi and Iniesta are a little bit special too and as we saw in the summer Messi didn't look as special for Argentina in the world cup finals as he does when he has Xavi and Iniesta behind him at the Nou camp.
I have a lot of time for Guardiola, he seems an impressive character.


Europe's top clubs are running out of patience with FIFA according to this Bloomberg piece. This does not surprise me at all, i was amazed so many people believed that FIFA would get away with a summer world cup in Qatar in 2022 when the idea was floated. As if our money obsessed football clubs were going to allow their business models to be torn up just like that.
The only worry for me is just how far behind these fair play proposals the top clubs really are.

Iain Martin predicts a middle class explosion over income tax for the coaltion when goverment tax thresholds go up in May. Gary Gibbon wonders whether Cameron's big society message is getting across and what it says for the prime minister's communictation unit if it isn't. Robert Peston wonders whether the news that 50% of tory funding comes from the city of London means that hedge fund managers are the tories trade unionists.

David Prosser of the Independent counts yesterday's commons encounter as a Pyrrhic victory for Osborne after his announcement of the £800 million bank levy. Bennedict Brogan agrees with that assessment claiming the days events made Osborne look like Gordon Brown, too tactical and too clever. Iain Martin thinks it was a decent day for Osborne but with one or two stings in the tail, though the stings he saw were from Osbornes own side.
It looks like Osborne's ideological plans for the private sector to pick up the slack from the cuts in the public sector are about to hit the hard rocks of real life. The FT report a feeble uptake on Osborne's flagship tax policy for entrepreneurship. How eighties does that sound.
Faisal Islam describes why he is deeply sceptical about project Merlin. I'm sceptical about everything to do with the coalition and still wonder how Lib dems can be comfortable working with them. I still think Laws and maybe Clegg will one day end up on the tory benches.
Simon Jenkins warns the tories that they are digging their own grave as the nations councils start to accuse the government of forcing the savage cuts that are starting to be announced. As he says it was the tories that started the process of taking powers away from local government. So it would be a poetic kind of justice if that comes back to bite them hard. As far as decentralisation goes the tories have always talked a good game but never played it.

George Monibot argues that it's the same old tories, the financial worlds best friend as he explores the meanings of changes to the nations corporation tax laws for big business. Offshore tax havens and mass tax evasion aren't enough! Whilst Simon Johnson argues that those that argue that the poor ( US poor mainly ) caused the economic crisis are wrong and not only that it is infact the poor who are paying the price for it.
When the credit crunch happened i presumed that the era of the neoliberal was coming to an end. But i watched Newsnight last night and it amazes me how they have discussions about where Britain and the world economy goes from here and it's as if 2008 never happened. last night they had some clown from Next and Nicola Horlick arguing the future and they both professed that the free market more or less left alone would provide all the answers, though to be fair she did argue  that we should look towards the German model which he airily dismissed.

Whilst the tory right seem to have Mervyn King in their sights David Prosser lists an unfortunate hatrick that has given his critics plenty of ammo.

Were the hawks on Chinese inflation right. The chinese have announced a second interest rise in six weeks which will be enforced next week. This report suggests that the US back Brazil in its fight with China over future currency wars. The last time that Brazil warned of currency wars it was the US ploicy of QE it was a attacking.

John Pilger argues the floods and freak weather storms that have been battering Australia are the countries Katrina moment. An example of when Murdoch is and like minded chums are allowd to completely dominate a countries political life. Over to you Jeremy Hunt.

Matthew Norman looks at the latest revelations of the Al- Megrahi affair and as humourously as ever explains that one expects hypocrisy, but the amateurism is unforgivable. Another fine foreign policy moment in the life of new labour, it really was down hill all the way once Robin Cook returned to the back benches. The only Labour politician to have come out of that period with his reputation enhanced.

I hadn't noticed that the BBC were about to repeat Kenneth Clark's BBC series civilisation in HD. I hope that doesn't mean that the price of the box set is about to go back up as i have been meaning to buy that. I have never seen it, but it has always looked like a must see documentary from the clips i have seen.

Classic blues

Wolves 2-1 Manchester United

It's been coming, only the most blinkered red could disagree. You can't keep playing so badly away from home and keep on scraping results. And once again the game was lost in midfield, the defence may not have covered itself in glory with the goals conceded, but we had a great start and we had plenty of time to pull ourself back into the game. But we just weren't good enough.
It was a blow losing Ferdinand during the warm up, but it was only Wolves away. Losing him for next weeks derby is a far more serious affair. Evans came in for Ferdinand, and whilst he didn't have a great game, the question must be asked who did. I would have liked to have seen Scholes in the starting line up but with the run of games coming up and the strength of the opposition i could understand the decision to leave him on the bench. The inclusion of Nani, Giggs, Berba and Rooney looked to have given us plenty of goal threat.
It didn't take long for that prediction to seemingly come true as Fletcher looked up and found a rare successfull long ball into the corner to find Nani who cut inside to beat his full back and smash a fine shot into the back of the wolves net after just three minutes. Everything seemed set up for United to really get a stranglehold on the top of the table, taking advantage of Arsenal unbelievable collapse at Newcastle after being 4-0 up.
And yet seven minutes later it was all square as United fell asleep as Wolves decided to take a corner and the resuling corner exposed the lack of marking leaving the bid Camroon defender Elokobi all on his own to head home. United didn't fall apart and did create chances but it was an even game which you felt we would have to work hard to win. Yet again we weren't dominating the middle of the park or the possession. And then five minutes before the break we conceded yet another goal from a set piece to go into the break 2-1 down. I don't know why we have become so susceptible from set pieces when we have always defended them so well.
Scholes replaced Carrick at half time as Fergie must have realised we needed to get a grip of the midfield and the importance of the day. It seeemed to work at first as United looked like they were going to get a stranglehold. But it didn't last long as Wolves slowly got into the game and United struggled to gain any momentum or to create a chance worthy of the name. The longer the game went on the less it looked like we would score. Berbatov was replaced by Hernandez to no great effect as we were incapable of opening up the Wolves rearguard.
So the crap invincibles tag can be put to bed. I've got mixed feelings about the day. If we were going to lose, and i think most of us knew this team was always going to lose, i would sooner it would have been at somewhere like Wolves than at Anfield or at home to City. But what a day for it to happen as we could have killed off Arsenal at least psychologically after their disastrous second half at St. James park and we could have put big pressure on Chelski ahead of their grudge match with the mickeys. With no improvement on our shocking away form seemingly imminent it's hard to believe it will be our last defeat. All we can hope is the recent improvement in our home form continues, especially next week.

Fergie is proud of the players despite the loss. They have been very consistent but missed a good chance to put distance between us and the pack. He admitted we didn't deserve anything from the game. This run has shown how pack like the press are in this country. All they have been interested in was the run, whilst most United fans have been alarmed at the woeful state of our away form it's hardly been raised in the national press.
Ahead of the match Fergie had argued that 10 wins and 84 points would see United lift the title. If he was trying to apply the pressure it backfired a bit. I think i would rather he sticks to the one game at a time cliche. I wasn't sure we were capable of achieving that even before the game, i'm certain we aren't after it.

Ferdinand has been ruled out for two weeks according to Sky sports, i hope it's not longer.

The Mail reckon United are to offer Evra a new contract as the rumours he wants to go in the summer abound.

More plaudits for Gary Neville as Liverpool's Jamie Carragher applauds Neville as the best right back the premier league has seen. Andrew Cole writes that Gary Neville knew that nobody thought he had a sense of humour and that he played on it. I have heard the plane story before but Cole puts a new slant on it. Paul hayward talks about the devastating right sided partnership where Neville contributed greatly to Beckhams success.
Piers Morgan describes him as the most annoying player in world football but also one of the best. 

Sid Lowe reveals the behind the scenes moves of the Fernando Torres move from Liverpool to Chelsea.

Faisal Islam writes about rising world food prices and their effect on world events such as the revolutions in North Africa. Joseph Stiglitz looks at the events in Tunisia and how they will or should effect the economics and politics of the future. As he says it should never be forgotten how the bond markets and credit ratings agancy reacted to the events in North Africa. After their record since 2008 how do the credit ratings agencies still have any influence.

William Keegan looks at Mr Osborne who like Mrs Thatcher and plenty before him is not for turning. And wonders why they do it. It does make you wonder why  the phrase " when the facts change, i change my mind. What do you do sir" Even that bit of Keynes is too much for todays political establishment.

Noam Chomsky claims it's not radical islam that worries the US political class so much as Arab independence.

The Quietus look at one of the best British groups of the last two decades, Teenage Fanclub, one of Glasgow's finest. One of the classic British acts. The Telegraph's Neil McCormick thinks there was nowhere else for the restricted template of the White stipes duo to go, but what a live act.

Matthew Fort reviews Heston Blumenthal's latest venture and likes what he sees. Some of those dishes sounds mouth watering.

Lest we forget

Red nev retires

Because of the unjury problems he has had over the last few years his retirement doesn't hurt as much as the retirements of Scholes and Giggs will. In fact a lot of us hoped and thought he would retire at the end of last season. But not everybody can go out like Cantona
But what a player and servant for Manchester United football club the guy has been. Looking back to his career in his pomp his fitness levels and drive were absolutely phenomenal, and though he made the odd mistake, who doesn't, he was a vital part of both the defensive part of the side and almost as much a part of the attacking side, overlapping to great effect.
In all the tributes to him his attitude and the determination to make the most of his ability stand out the most. First he had to make him himself into a right back good enough to get into Manchester United's first team around a squad that had gone from 26 years without a title to the team to perrenial title favourites, after coming through the ranks as a centre half. Then when Beckham left he maged to turn himslef into the best and most consistent crosser of the ball at the club, no mean feat.
The fact that he was red through and through and showed it out on the pitch always endeared him to the Old trafford faithful. Of course that meant he was pretty much reviled everywhere else in the country. What i could never get though, was i could understand how they would hate him, if he played for the mickeys or City i would have detested him, but to make out that he was over rated as they, almost to a man did, i could never understand.
I have always thought it was a tragedy for him and United that he picked up the injuries when he did. In that 2006-2007 season he had started to from almost as good a partnership on the right side of our team with the emerging world class Ronaldo as he had formed with Beckham. Although Wes Brown was solid enough for a season he never gave the side the attacking threat that Neville in his prime did, we have been making do at right back ever since. Though this season Rafael has started to look like the real deal.
The one disadvantage being that Rafael hails from Brazil, not Bury, and if Real Madrid or Barca come calling for him, two or three years down the line we he really want to stay in rainy Manchester. It would be nice to see some home grown talent come through to replace the likes of Neville. Tom Thorpe looks good, but i would like to see more home grown talent, Mancunian if possible to come through to give the club the heartbeat Gary Neville has examplified over the last sixteen years

Richard Williams looks back at the career of Gary Neville, in his opinion, and mine, the finest right back of his generation. Fergie has hailed his loyalty to the Manchester United cause and said having him in the Manchester United dressing room was a great help to him and to all the youngsters to come through the ranks at the club.
Henry Winter hails the man that England have never been able to replace. Quite correct, i would go further and say he never really had any serious competition for his place once he was given his head by Terry Venables. Which is both a testament to Neville's talent and the dearth of quality English full backs.
The dearth of talented English defenders was one of the root causes of last summers South African debacle. When you look back to 2006 England had Neville, Ferdinand, Terry and Cole, as good as any England back four in all the years i have watched international football. Last summer you had Johnson at right back, the best i can see for him is he is as good attacking right back against struggling premier league teams. But even against struggling premier league teams he is a defensive liability. Upson who wasn't good enough or quick enough to make the grade at Arsenal and showed at the world cup why. Terry who isn't the player he was and has always needed a quick centre half next to him to compensate for his lack of pace. And Cole the only defender to come out of South Africa with any kind of credit.
Matt Lawton salutes Neville the fighter who bristled with attitude. And who reminds us that as the Neville brothers came through the youth system it was brother Phil was regarded as the more talented.
Arsene Wenger pays tribute to Gary Neville, the best English right back who was a great example to young pros everywhere for making the most of his ability.
Robbie Savage remembers his United youth team colleague whom his team mates nicknamed busy busy.

Rooney praises Nani and hopes for more crosses like the one he was played in for his second goal the other night. I'll translate that as come back quick Valencia who puts them on a plate for me. Shades of Van Nistelroy's impatience with the young immature Ronaldo.

The Telegraph report on Andersreds latest detective work on the finances and ownership of Manchester United. And don't mention Qatar. Whilst there is bad news for the premier league model and hence bad news for the gimps as it looks like European regulations mean that pub landlords will be able to continue to screen premier league games through foreign channels.

IMF chief Dominque Strauss-Kahn is worried that the recovery in the world economy is built on unstable foundations and that the imblanaces that led up to the crisis of 2008 are still there. He is also worried about global unemployment as the US and UK may be about to suffer jobless recoveries and the young people of North Africa start to get rid of their corrupt rulers and want to see a better economic future.

Dean Baker feels sorry for the UK, but is glad that at least the economic experiment the deficit hawks are carrying out in this country will help to show that the US has followed the correct path of putting growth before cutting the deficit.
William Keegan reports that from the CBI to the chancellor the nerves are beginning to show as the austerity consensus begins to crumble. Matthew Norman has fun at Osborne's expense writing the Osborne's presription could turn into his epitaph.
The latest IFS report argued that Osborne was right to plug ahead with the cuts, but that they would prove harder to achieve than is commonly believed. They also think it would be prudent to have a plab B tucked away.

Martin Wolf of the FT looks back and asks if we have learnt any lessons for the crunch of 2008. His main observation is that many of the emerging trends of the world economy have been hastened, hence the the balance of power shifting from west to east. He wonders whether the Chinses are ready for the responsibilty that this will bestow on them.
Will Hutton returns to one of his recurring themes, leadership, though he is looking at global leadership this time, not the absence of leadership in this country.

The Economist warn that the Eurozone's bail-out strategy has failed and it is time for a plan B to save the Euro. Euro sceptics are gleefully predicting the end with Jeff Randall claiming the Euro as we know it is finished. 
Ambrose Pritchard-Evans has a go at Europe's shoddy attempt to vilfy Ireland for all it's own problems. I have some time for that, though they surely do deserve a fair slice of the blame. What went on over there surely bordered on the corrupt at times.

Bennedict Brogan is predicting trouble ahead for the tories as the impact of Lansleys health reforms slowly start to sink in. Whilst Steve Richards warns of trouble ahead as the coalition attempts to decentralise whilst still holding the purse strings from the centre.

So its bye bye to the White Stripes, one of, if not the best band of the noughties. I'm not sure that could put any other album above White blood cells for the title of best album of the decade. I played that to death when it first came out, it had been a long time since i had done that.
The NME's Mark Beaumont gives us his ten finest White Stripe moments.