Manchester United 2-1 Marseille

Due to now having to work a 2.30-10.30 shift for the next 8 months, which i'm really thrilled about, you will have to make do with the views from the press. Sam Wallace reports that United did it the hard way, in a season of living dangerously. To be honest if we don't get Ferdinand and Evans back soon, our season could begin to resemble last years campaign that choked at tha last. Henry Winter reports in a similar vein, writing that United never do things the easy way.

Rooney fears no one in the next round writes Mark Ogden, funny how he seems to have come alive all of a sudden. Is that due to the resumption of champions league football, the return of Antonio Valencia or a final flourish before he ups sticks in the summer as the rumours suggest.
Even though Barca aren't totally at the top of their game at the moment, i dread to think what they would do to us at the moment. With a very ordinary midfield and defensive injuries galore, we could well do with avoiding them, and if we do play them, as late as possible.

Ironically, seeing as though he wasn't picked again, Ian Herbert had written before the game that United needed Berbatov to quickly rediscover his brilliant best form in Europe. On the evidence of last night for all his goals, fergie still doesn't really trust him. After sitting out most of the big games we have just played, which saw Rooney enter the period with his form as inconsistent as all season, i thought he was a certainty to start last night. I can't imagine Berbatov has been happy to have spent so much time on the bench over the last few weeks. Fergie may well have been right to have left him on the bench, but those suggesting he hasn't scored much recently, slightly overlook the fact he hasn't actually played very much.
It seems even more weird if Rooney is going to seek pastures new in the summer to either help pay the debt or help bring in finance to buy new blood. You would have thought Fergie would have wanted to keep the striker that is definitely staying at the club sweet.
As for that man Rooney, maybe the return of Valencia will rekindle his enthusiasm for the club. It has been obvious he has missed the service from Valencia as much as United have missed the brilliant south American. The return of Valencia is an enormous boost to our hopes of regaining the title, seeing him come on against the Arsenal and then putting in a performance just reminded us what we have missed all season, Fergie was right to call him brilliant. He is obviously not as talented an individual as Ronaldo but as a team player he is just as vital to the red cause as the Portugese man was.
Speaking of which, the news that Nani and his agent are considering their options doesn't come as a massive surprise. He was our best player of the calender year 2011, and is probably our player of the season so far. But he can revert to his former self at times when it's not going for him. He didn't do himself or United any favours during the Chelsea and Liverpool games whilst he was on the pitch. When the opposition seems to have his measure, he reverts to the inconsistent winger who almost always seems to pick the wrong option. To be fair to him, Ronaldo never really shone at Anfield or Stamford bridge either, but with such a lousy midfied at the moment, the last thing we needed was Nani having an off day. Still i'm not sure we can afford to let him go next season.

The news that Bryan Robson is faing a battle against throat cancer has come as a complete shock. One of the all time great Manchester United footballers, anybody that followed the reds that in the eighties will know that, what a footballer.

There will not be " one more year " for Edwin Van Der Sar as he made clear after the Arsenal game, he wants to go out at the top. He will be a big, big miss.

Capable hands proves to be a little uncapable at the houses of Parliament, well he doesn't have any political ambitions, does he.

Sky sports coverage of Spanish football gets the once over in this piece in four four two.. I have to admit there i times i watch and wonder why the fuck they have Terry Gibson commentating on football full stop, never mind Spanish football a country he never played in as far as i know

David Blanchflower reveals that a former number 10 adviser fundamentally disagrees with boy George Osborne's economic policies. Every piece of economic news and every piece of global news seems like a nail in the coffin of the growth deniers economic strategy. Larry Elliott agrees with Mervyn King that the global economy and the power of finance has to be reformed if a global slump is to be avoided.

Steve Richards argues that Ed miliband and Balls face a more difficult political challenge to define a successful opposition strategy than that which faced Blair and Brown.

Roy Greenslade questions why the usually excellent Henry Winter decided to omit any hint of the darker side of the already cynical enough side of Don Revie in this piece he recently wrote. As he says, the guy was a proven cheat, and his team were universally loathed, not just in Manchester.

I thought The Wire creator David Simon's response to Felicia "snoop" Pearson's arrest was interesting.

George Monibot explains why the west will not trouble Saudi tyrants whilst they crave their oil. There wasn't too much reporting of the Saudi's excursion into Bahrain, i hope we get no wikileaks showing US compliance in that.

The Keynesian Liberal blog presents an egalitarian approach to the future of pension reform, those figures seem pretty fair to me. 

Spiked salutes a new documentary charting the life of suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst, it sounds interesting.