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.