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