Manchester United 3-1 Aston Villa

If our away form has been as bad as it has been for years at least our home form of late has really bucked up. And last night we were graced by another top performance and for once a pretty competitive contest as Villa had a bit of a go and put in a performance that belied their position in the lower reaches of the division.
After the weekend's FA cup exertions the line up reverted to something more like full strength with Ferdinand returning to the heart of defence and Rooney and Berbatov up front. United got the dream start as long punt from Van Der sar was controlled first time by Rooney who then unleashed an ubstoppable shot to put us one up with just a couple of minutes on the board.
I thought last night was an excellent game but i'm not sure the first half was as good as some around me were making out. I thought after getting the early goal United seemed to be content to keep the ball when we had it and get everybody behind the ball when Vill had it. Meaning Villa had a fair amount of possession but didn't really threaten Van Der Sar's goal. Villa passed it nicely but didn't threaten but i don't really think United did to be fair. The second goal also came at an excellent time, right on the stroke of half time. It was another excellent goal on a night of good goals with Nani putting in a cross just asking to be put away and Rooney made no mistake. It was clinical but a tad harsh on the away team i thought.
The second half was probably the best 45 minutes of football we have seen at Old trafford this season. It was end to end with Villa more than playing their part, though United always looked the more likely to score. In fact when United lost the ball in the middle of the park and Villa broke to score through Bent it looked like it was game on. But it took United just five minutes to restore a two goal lead as Rooney held the ball up in the box and fed the ball back to Vidic of all people who hit an absolute screamer.
United created plenty of chances after that to make it four with Berbatov missing a sitter and Rooney being denied a hatrick by Friedel. Nani was on fire and would have scored the goal of the match for me when he beat his man on the left but couldn't beat the goalie froma very tight angle. He got a bit of stick from the crowd for being greedy but not from me. Ashley Young clpipped the bar for Villa and they commendably kept coming forward but the three points were never seriously threatened.

Rooney hasn't written the rent boys off and reveals he is happy enough with his own form depite his lack of goals. He played well enough last night, whilst Berbatov was superb once more. The standout players were Nani and Giggs for me though. Giggs has been brilliant the last three or four games, it has taken him a while to get back to his best form after his injury lay off, but he is right back to the kind of form that is as good as probably more consistent than at any time in his career. The same could be said about Nani, though he wasn't out as long as Giggs he seemed to have lost his cutting edge when he returned to the team. It's well and truly returned now and that's bad news for the premier league's full backs.

Andersred's latest blog asks whether the fact that the fans have no way of knowing what is going on with the clubs finances is really good enough. 

Paul Wilson asks how United will fit in the form man Berbatov into their European formation when the champions league resumes later this month. It's a fair point, especially seeing as though Rooney's performances on the left this season has been underwhelming to to say the least. If we are to play 4-3-3 it's hard to see how he can leave Berbatov out on his current form.

New acqusition Anders Lindegaard reveals he was happy with his Manchester United debut and that he has not come just to warm the bench up. He wants to be the man to replace the Big Dutchman next season. He made a reasonable start on Saturday.

I don't think anybody saw this coming, though to be fair to him, he seems to be being fairly realistic. Laurent Blanc was spot on the money with his comments after we had signed him when he said he had the talent but he wasn't sure he had the determination. After seeing a season and a half of Obertan that is as good a summing up as its possible to give. To make it at United you have really got to want it and i'm afraid he just doesn't want it enough.

Andy Mitten talks about Guiseppe Rossi who is garnering rave reviews for his performances and goals for Villareal and about life in general for life after United for the boys who came through the youth system. I loved watching Rossi play for the youth team, he was a real talent. I thought he was a cert for the first team. Nice to see that he still speaks highly of Fergie and United in general.
It must be horrifying for the Glazer's to think how much Pique and Rossi are worth now compared to what we sold them for. The goal Rossi scored against Espanyol at the weekend was the kind of thing we saw at youth and reserve for United.

Steve Richards points out how events in Egypt are a reminder of the errors that the Iraq war. Daniel Korski pens a ludicrous piece in the spectator claiming that maybe the neoconservatives have been proved right, laughable. It seems to be going under the radar at the moment but there seems to be major concerns the unrest in the middle east may well spread to the Arabian peninsula. Ambrose Evans-Pritched reports on the worries. What a terrificly daily Telegraph name that is.

Gary Younge reports on how the US is moving on from Afghanistan whilst its soldiers are still dying there. Needless to say that's still happening here as well.

Christopher Hitchens argues that whilst the kings speech may well be a good film, historically it's all over the place. Has there ever been any film about the British monarchy that remotely gets anywhere near the historical truth.

Labour's craven attitude to Murdoch exposed, even out of government still sucking up the wanker, not a massive surprise.