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