Otelul Galati 0-2 Manchester United

This was one of those games to be endured rather than enjoyed, but at least we came away with the three points. Even though the game was very important, sandwiched between the trip to Anfield and the weekend's little local tussle it was understandable that the players never really rose above doing more than was necessary.
It was nice to see Vidic back, though not so nice to see him sent for an early bath, maybe it was a good thing he didn't appear at Anfield on Saturday. Only kidding, it was a joke of a decision from the man in black. I know European refs don't like to see a foot raised but there was no danger or malice in it, he totally over reacted.
At least by that stage of the game we had got the goal that had looked like it might never come. It was as blatant a penalty as you will ever see and with the Vidic sending off in mind how the hosts defender didn't see a red for that i don't know. Last time i read the rules a deliberate hand ball was an automatic sending off. Rooney tucked it away nicely.
The first half had been dreadful viewing, as the home team got everybody behind the ball for the most part and a United team with one eye on Sunday struggled to show the skill to open them up. The passing, first touch and movement were all mssing in action,the only real chance came when the reds best player on the night Evra cued up Carrick who blazed over the bar when he should have at least hit the target. That aside i thought Carrick had a fair game, he impressed more than Anderson anyway.
I'm not sure 4-4-2 is working in Europe, it certainly won't work with a central midfield pairing of Carrick and Anderson, i really fucking hope that Cleverley if fit for Sunday. I don't think the pairing of Rooney and Hernandez really worked either. In games like these Chicarito doesn't really offer to much, as it's the box he comes alive in. If Fergie was saving Welbeck for Sunday, which i think he may well have been i would have started with Berbatov and brought Hernandez on when the home team had tired.
Yet again one of the twins couldn't last the ninety minutes as Fabio had to come off to be replaced by Jones at right back. The twins future prospects aren't looking as bright as they were at the back end of last season. What with the competition for places at right back and their inability to last ninety minutes or put a run of games together.
The referee evened things up by sending off one of the Galati defenders for a second bookable offence right near the end. Nani was very unlucky to hit the upright in an otherwise forgettable day for him. And Rooney put the game to bed with a second successful penalty, converted in injury time.
So at last we are up and running in the group, hopefully the group will come down to the Benfica game at home where if we win we would top the group. The way we are performing in europe this season though, that Basle game seems to me to be a tricky proposition.

Fergie was already looking forward to the weekend's derby when quizzed by the press after the game. I don't know where he gets the idea that Anderson was one of three players that helped change the game in the second half. That must have been an alternative reality viewing of the game i watched.
There isn't much i can argue with this piece on United's encounter and the group stage in general, it aint going to change any time soon though.

Richard Evans of the LMA alleges that foreign owners are looking to alter the premier leagues rules to stop relegation .That should come as no suprise really. From foreign owners to foreign managers the Indy report on France's realtionship to it's most successful managerial export, Arsene Wenger. Jonathan Freedland compares the state of our national sport to the state of our economy.

Well i thought this would never come to pass, but last week's rumours were proved to be well founded yesterday when the Stone Roses confirmed that they are to reform to play two gigs at Heaton park followed by a world tour and the best news for me, that they are working on a new album.
Rob Hastings asks was it Ian Brown's divorce that sealed the deal after Sean Ryder's weekend joke, Ian Brown didn't have a pop back. Dave Simpson claims that last Reading disaster is the reason why the group should reform, to show the world the world how good they really were. They have made his day.

Stephen Pinker argues we are becoming less violent in his latest work, reviewed here by John Gray who is less than convinced. Well the next ten to twenty years of economic crisis will give us a good idea if Pinker is really on the money.
John Naughton interviewed the man himself in last Sunday's Observer where he argued why he thought mankind had turned its back on brutality. I have to admit to being pretty sceptical myself, it seems a very western idea, and even the west itself maybe on the brink of revisting its darker past.
But China faces problems with the communist party fighting to stay in control, Burma is no nearer an end to military dictatorship and Afganistan will probably revert to a warlord era when the US finall decides it's no longer worth it. And as for the Arab world who can say where that is heading. Will the Army really relinquish their grip on Eygpt, will Syria descend into civil war, will Israel ever establish a peaceful co-existance in the Arab world and perhaps biggest of all, how will the Saudi Arabia-Iran cold war resolve itself.
There seems more than a hint of Francis Fukuyama's end of history nonesense about it.

Hamish McRae argues that in a world where the population continues to grow, Europe and the west will matter less and less. He is also not impressed by the higher than forecast inflation figures released yersterday arguing higher inflation means lower growth. Benedict Brogan focuses on the dangers of this for Cameron and his prospects of re-election.
Mary Ann Sieghart swims against the tide in thinking that Cameron didn't handle the Fox affair as well as he should have done. The Guardian report on the O'Donnell Fox report and the unanswered question's. Craig Murray thinks it was a whitewash.

It had to be really,