Manchester United 1-1 Newcastle United

It seems we have left the boring 1-0's behind and are back to the more free flowing football of the beginning of the season. Trouble is we seem have to have forgotten how to win temporarily, hopefully. If i'm honest i would prefer to watch the last two games all day long compared to the run of 1-0 victories we ground out recently. Trouble is if we are going to challenge for the title the 1-0's are the way forward.
Unlike Tuesday night though, this was a game we should have won by a hatful. Though we produced a cavalry charge at the end creating chance after chance that somehow wouldn't go in, it was in the first half and in the period between Hernandez flukey goal and the barcode equaliser that we let ourselves down.
The first half was a mixed affair, we played some cracking stuff with some brilliant counter attacks, but the finishing had gone absent without leave. Hernandez seemed strangely hesitant in front of goal, missing a couple of decent chances, where you would normally have expected him to
convert at least one of them. Newcastle's goalie Krul made an outstanding save from Giggs as the game was swung end to end. The vistors were not slow in coming forward and did have a couple of chances, De Gea making a couple of fine saves. But it was United who looked more dangerous , albeit not when they got into the box.
The second half saw United really take a grip on the game, and it was only what they deserved when they finally took the lead. The irony being that after the great moves and great chances United had earlier created, when the goal came, it was a total fluke, the ball hitting Hernandez rather than the other way round.
Now United stepped up a gear, going for the geordie jugular, Fabio missed a great chance and when a brilliant flowing move ended with Ashley Young taking past his man on the edge of the box and then firing wide you wondered whether there might be a sting in the tail.
There was but of course, there shouldn't have been. Fergie has said the only person in the gound who thought it was a penalty was the linesman, and i would think that was not an exageration, it was a howler. Newcastle's Ba converted the gift and it was game on.
Newcastle did have one more decent chance, saved well by De Gea, but from now on in, it really was one way traffic. When Guttierez was sent off with about ten minutes to go, i wondered whether that would be a good thing or not, as you knew theywould now put everybody behind the ball and hope for a draw. And that they did, how they managed to stay level, i don't know as United completely pulverised them for the reminder of the game with an unbelievable amount of chances. Great saves, goal line clearances, the woodwork and bad finishing conspired to two points dropped.
Because of the disappointment, i don't think Giggs got the credit he deserved for an absolutely outstanding performance in central midfield. When he puts in performances you have to pinch yourself to remember that he is 38. Until Cleverley gets back Carrick and Giggs is our best midfield pairing. I thought Fabio had a pretty good game, he hasn't had that many outings this season, so it was a nice reminder that when Jones and Smalling become our first choice centre half pairing, we have the future right back in the squad already as well.
The one player i'm worried about, even though he got better as the came progressed was Ashley Young. He could hardly put a foot wrong in the first half, his crossing was piss poor, he doesn't seem able to shield the ball at the moment and he can seem a bit of a one trick pony at times. It's all a far cry from the beginning of the season. I suppose we have got to hope it's just a lack of confidence that will return. What makes it worse for him is seeing the man he is really replacing on the left, Giggs put in such an effortlessly brilliant display inside him.
All that said, it was a great game of football, you can't win every game, and if you are going to suffer, at least it was an exciting couple of points lost. With the result the day after leaving us exactly where we were i suppose it really was two precious points dropped, but there is still a long way to go.

The Telegraph wonder whether Fergie has talked himself into a ban from the FA again, it would be pretty scandalous if he got done for this, if you can't criticise the officials when they make a mistake that bad, he might as well not talk to the press.

Contrasting news for two members of our central midfield as Fergie announced last week that Anderson would be out until at least next February with a knee injury which will see him travel to Portugal to visit the man who operated on it last time. It's not a nice thing to say, but as far as i'm concerned he will not be greatly missed.
At least we had some potential good news with the Mirror reporting that Cleverley is ahead of schedule in his bid to get back to full fitness. Two caveats there, it's the Mirror and if they are right, let's hope that he hasn't been rushed back as the rumours had it, after his injury on his return at Goodison. It will be good to have him back as we know Giggs can't do two games on the trot any more.

Andy Cole talks of his liking for 4-4-2 and his dismay for it currently being regarded as outdated. Well i like it, but i think the order of the day is for tactical flexibility, and i think United are as good anybody out there for that.

Fergie explains the process of singling out youth team players who have a chance of making it to the first team at United and how United go about introducing them to the first team. It's interesting that he mentions Michael Keane but not Will, unless he has mixed them up that is. The fact that Michael made his debut at Leeds would suggest not.
Fergie is hinting that we may see some of the youngsters involved on Wednesday against Palace in the league cup with Pogba close to a full game. I have been disappointed in the couple of games i have seen him in for the reserves so far this season, that said he was shunted out to the right in one of those and that isn't his position at all. It's now being reported that he is close to signing a new deal, good news.

Peter Oborne wrote this piece about cricket's obsession about money and the risk to test cricket between two aboslutely magnificent test matches, the South Africa-Australia and the amazing drawn test match between India and West Indies. He is absolutely right that it was a nonsense that there wasn't at the very least a third test match in South Africa.

Steve Richards argues that George Osborne is breaking away from his plan A, even if he will not admit it, and doesn't think the tories present strategy is an electorally winning one. Bagehot explains the pressure on David Cameron to go for growth and then argues for the same old neoliberal agenda that got us into this mess, that's a D- then.
Will Hutton thinks that the coalition has started to get constructive, if only in a small way, but it has a long way to go, pointing out some of the measures he thinks it must take to get the economy growing again.
Andreas Whittam-Smith argues that any growth will have to be fairer growth, making the rich pay their tax will be one way to achieve it.

Sir Christopher Meyer shows his diplomat roots warning of the return of the German problem and of British foreign policy which was traditionaly geared to the balance of power theory. Fabian Lindner compares the current crisis with the great depression years and argues that the current German position mirrors the US position of 1931, which is a pretty good analogy.
Jeremy Warner thinks that those who think that the Eurozone crisis is an opportunity for Britain, shouldn't bet on that.

Charles Moore has another column dedicated to the problems of modern capitalism, arguing that Margaret Thatcher knew that it must work for the masses. But paints over the fact that her destruction of our manufacturing base has left us in a poor position to reap any benefit from our depreciated currency. That it was on her watch that big finance was allowed to let rip, that the current housing policy shambles all have their root in the eighties or that that she positively gloried in the trickle down economic theories that have left inequality on the present gargantuan scale. And maybe even that one of her goals was to encourage the left to have a leader as far to the right as Blair, so that under 13 years of new labour, the neoliberal project was followed as happily as under a tory administration. As Frasier Nelson argues at the end of the day there isn't that much seperating Labours approach to the economy, even now.
She was too much in control of her own party and maybe even the zeitgeist of the times to be compared to Harold Wilson, but for all the electoral success she had as little impact on the long term fortunes of this country as pipe smoking Yorkshireman.

Not very good quality, but the album this was from was class

Manchester United 2-2 Benfica

That was the most enjoyable game for a while, shame about the result though. We don't seem able to get that balance between attack and defence right at the moment. Having said that i thought it was an encouraging performance, i liked the way that we managed to really got on top of the game after they had took the lead. The problem was and obviously still is, we just can't stop shipping in soft goals when we are plying the football that we all want to see.
When i read the news that Rooney had sat out training i thought it was pretty unlikely he would start and i hoped that he would go for Berbatov. So i was doubly glad that he was picked and that he had a pretty good game. Not perfect obviously as that late missed volley could yet end up costing us dear. He took his time getting into the game as indeed did United following the Jones own goal conceeded after just four minutes. But once United took a grip on the game he was involved heavily.
Nani was another to have a fair game, hopefully a much needed return to form, though there were still the head scratching moments where he made the wrong decision. And it was from a Nani cross that the equaliser eventually came as Berbatov glanced his best cross of the night past the Benfica number one Artur. Seconds later Ashley Young, playing in the hole, in place of Rooney had a great chance to put United in the lead but could only hit his shot straight at Artur. That seemed to sum up his night, his poor form continued i'm afraid. On the evidence last night i'm not sure i would be tempted to play him there any time soon. He didn't seem to have the vision or awareness of the game to be a viable alternative to Rooney in that role. Which is probably a bit of a blow to Fergie if he is forced to drop Rooney back into midfield later in the season.
The half time scorline was probably a fair reflection of the game, they had started brightly and had pressed us high up the pitch a la Barca disrupting United's game. But the longer the half went on the better United coped and eventually took control of the game which saw us leave the field the team in the ascendency.
United started the second half in the same vein and went close a number of times before another concerted period of pressure ended with Fletcher converting a cross from Evra at the second attempt. The lead lasted less than a minute as United's defence imploded again leaving Aimar to put the vistors level. The defending was comical i'm afraid and you could point to any of Jones De Gea or Ferdinand, but collectively it was their finesth hour. The worst part of it was that it completely punctured our domination of the play as Benfica got back some self belief. Eventually United started to create chances again and they were serious chances, Berbatov and Fabio had great chances. But the night could have turned into a total disaster as the opposition missed a great chance themselves right at the death.
So we need to pick up a point in Switzerland, a point that i'm confident we will achieve. I can't really tell you why i'm so confident as who can predict anything with United this season. I would sooner be in our position than City's anyway.

Fergie was happy with our performance bar the kamikaze defending of course, but thought that we did enough to have won the game. I would pretty much go along with that and add that it was a cracking game of football.

Maybe City's precarious position in their group is even more dangerous than we thought if Nick Harris piece about Shiek Mansoor's greatest gamble is proved right.

Samuel Luckhurst writes of a second rare night of excitement in the qualifying stages of the champions league. I wouldn't write that i don't mind if we get knocked out of the champions league at the first hurdle, but equally i'm not sure i would want us to get to another final that we are ill equipped to win. It's a while since we won the FA cup, i wouldn't mind us adding to our record of FA cup wins even if the idea of two trips to Wembley doesn't greatly appeal.
Andy Mitten writes that Fergie is still a confident man, more confident than the average fan about United's chances this season and about the quality available to him in our midfield. I totally take the point about the fans being spolit, there's no arguing with that. I can't share the optimism about our midfield, but i wouldn't rule us out of the title race. If we could give the Chelsea of the mid noughties under Mourinho a run with a midfield of O'Shea and Giggs, you know there is always hope.

Salford RL haven't took long to appoint a new coach, as Phil Veivers was announced as the replacement fro Matt Parish. That seems fair enough to me, it gives some continuity and even if Veivers is an Aussie he has been involved in the game in this country for years.

Simon Jenkins wasn't impressed with the government using public money to back mortages, equating it as have plenty of others with the sub prime debacle in the States. He argues that instead of subsidising potential tory voters government should be spent on social housing for those in real need.
In the New statesman Ian Mulheirnwarns that we must stop this housing Ponzi scheme that will collapse sooner or later like a fraudulent investment strategy.

Another escellent article by Aditya Chakrabortty that aks is Richard Branson all he is cracked up to be? The unsuprsing answer being in the negative, but for Chakrabortty he symbolises all that is wrong with business class in the country.
The CBI wonder what happened to the governments strategy to rebalance the economy away from finance and into manufacturing and exports. The chairman of a oil rig firm brands the government disgraceful for awarding much needed contracts abroad. Whilst i think he's right it always makes me laugh how business forget they are supposed to be in favour of the free market.

Jon Snow follows his last blog about this country being a haven for tax avoidance by now asking if capitalism can survive without tax avoidance.
Can HMRC chief Dave Hartnett survive the news that a judge has been appointed to the Goldman Sachs tax deal.
On the topic of banks, Laurence Knight asks if our banks face another mis-selling scandal.

David Blanchflower once more calls into question the coalition competence over its handling of our economic woes, this time laying into Cameron instead of usual target Osborne. One of the coalition's austerity supporters, Jeremy Warner, writes of the grim electoral message of the OBR forecast.

Fletcher wants to top group

After admitting that United haven't got the balance right between defence and attack during the mini revival, Flecther looks forward to tomorrow nights game against Portugese giants. He points out the benefits to topping the group pointing out what happened to Arsenal last season when they drew Barca in the first tie of the knockout stages.
As much as they were outplayed in both legs, with a little bit of luck they could have actually got through that tie, though that of course would have been a travesty. Fletcher is right of course though, were we to draw any of the heavyweights first up it would be hard to be too optimistic. Of course that is a long way off and the balance between defence and attack may have been solved by then and the confidence restored. I very much doubt we will be buying any central midfielders in the mid season winter break though. So we would have to hope Cleverley and Carrick are both fitand then wonder who Fergie would play alongside them presuming we go with three in midfield that is.
I don't think tomorrow is going to be an easy game so the news that Wayne Rooney sat out this morning's training session is a bit of worrying news. If he is out i would stick Berbatov into the team for tomorrow night.


Michael Carrick tells the teams critics to judge us after christmas, we may not have been as fluent as we would like, but we keep on picking up three points and we are actually in almost the same position as we were last season when it was Chelsea that got off to a storming start. It is a fair point, United do know how to chase a championship and whilst City are obviously a better side than Chelsea were last season, when push comes to shove at the end of the season, United have been there and City haven't. I see Mancini has told his fans that they will get beaten a some stage this season, there is nothing more surer.
That doesn't mean that they won't win the title, just that it's too soon to count United out, as of the moment City are unarguably the better team. Of course if Silva broke down and was out for any length of time that would balance things up again.
Ferguson described the 6-1 defeat to the berties as a wake up call, all the success we have had has started from a solid foundation at the back. He was happier with our defence on Saturday from the team as whole, describing Carrick's performance as magnificent.
This fascinating Indy piece about a Fabien Barthez interview with Fergie shows the emphasis that Fergie places on the collective. You need the great players, but they will be nothing without a team that believes in themselves and in each other.

Danny Welbeck goes back to his old school and reveals that he is living the dream, playing football for a living, playing for his boyhood team and playing alongside boyhood heroes such as his favourite player Ryan Giggs. Both Welbeck and Cleverley have been a breath of fresh air this season, it's a pity both of them can't seem to put a run of games together without getting injured.

Gary Neville looked at Liverpool's progress under Kenny Dalglish ahead of yesterday's clash at Stamford bridge and compares them to the United of the eighties. They can more than mix it with the best, but fall down by not being able to lift themselves for the lesser games like last week's scoreless draw at home to Swansea. After yesterday's victory over the rent boys, let's hope they can raise there game once more when the face City at home next week. At least we can be fairly certain that Craig Bellamy will be up for it.
Alan Hansen wasn't impressed with Chelsea yesterday, he thinks at least they could argue that they played reasonably well against United and Arsenal where poor defending let them down. But yesterday their catastrophic defending conspired to a defeat that has left them trailing City by twelve points, and a poor performance that must have heaped the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas.

This wasn't really what the doctor ordered for Salford City Reds ahead of a new season at their new ground. I can't say i'm mad on appointing Aussies that haven't any grounding in the game over here. If i was Salford i would be looking at somebody like Brian Noble to guide them through the next couple of seasons. They need to have some continuity if they are going to attract the kind of crowds they must be hoping for at the new stadium.

Nick Cohen looks at the reponse of the left to the events occuring in the Eurozone and doesn't see much of one. If they don't find one and soon, they will leave the door open to some pretty dodgy customers, nationalists, fascists, anarchists and unreconstructed Marxist-Lenninists.
Ambrose Pritchard-Evans sees the Spanish right return to power, but thinks it won't change anything unless Eurozone strategy changes.

Danny Blanchflower thinks that something happened at the end of August that terrified policymakers. As others, Will Hutton for one have let slip, policymakers within the coalition and at the treasury are in a state of blind panic behind the scenes whatever impression they are giving to the outside world.
Paul Krugman thinks at least the Bank of England are putting in a decent performance as they don't cave into the pressure to respond to inflationary pressure.
Larry Elliott argues that we are in for years of depression unless policymakers tackle the debt issue imaginitively, i think they do know that and as far as the Bank of England are concerned that is what we are going to get. Hence the panic amongst the coalition and its friends.
Martin Wolf of the FT looks at Iceland's response to the crisis of 2008 and compares it favourably to the Irish experience. But ends by arguing that the market economy will not endure if it is seen to be a racket run by insiders against the interest of the vast majority of outsiders.
Robert Peston has been filming a two part series on the western world's addiction to debt and what a struggle it is going to be to drive it down whilst at the same time trying to keep the economy growing.

Jonh Snow asks who understands the bubble, why are the financial instruments that helped to get Europe and the US into mess we are currently in, still in fashion or even still legitmate.
Jim O'Neill has a new book out and here explains why he thinks the balance of economic strength will tilt back to the BRIC countries and argues that even he has been suprised by the economic expansion of Brazil. He laso thinks that the next economies poised for promotion to the big league will come from a grouping he labels the N-11 countries that will include Mexico and South Korea.

This government is rapidly turning into one of, if not the worst goverment of my lifetime, have they called anything right? This new housing strategy reek of short termism of the worst kind, as if they have learnt none of the policy disasters that led us to the credit crunch.
The Torygraph's personal finance editor reckons these proposals are barking mad, whilst Mary Ann Sieghart argues that ministers really wish for housing prices to come down, but daren't say that for fear of upsetting the Daily Mail. So much for Cameron learning the lessons of Hackgate!


Music
Africa Hi Tech - 93 million miles: This has grown on me, i wasn't too sure at first about the mix of dubstep and house influences. But the more i listened the more i thought it melded well together.

Bob Dylan - New Morning: Classic Dylan, the more you listen to his late sixties, early seventies output the more you realise that he invented Americana before the term was invented.

David Holmes - Bow down to the exit sign: I'm a big fan of the Northern Irish DJ/techno/Free association man. I honestly thought i'd listened to this but i'd just heard a couple of tracks which at least led me to go back and listen to his pre group era music. Excellent stuff, rocking, funky, i love the eclectic nature of it.

Ian Siegal & the youngest sons: British guitarist and sons of US blues legends deliver up a superb blues album. This is a terrific effort from an atrist i hadn't heard of.

Jonathan Wilson - Gentle spirit: the second album from the California singer songwriter is an absolute blinder, maybe a classic even. This is one of the must buy albums of the year.

Ornette Coleman - Ornette: An excellent album from the free jazz man, though not as far out or as classic as The shape of things to come.

Vintage trouble - The bomb shelter sessions: This didn't get much of a review in Mojo, after listening to it i'm not sure why. It's pretty retro of course, but so what it delivers the goods, with its mixture of blues rock and sixties soul, it hits the spot.

Swansea City 0-1 Manchester United

Not a great performance, but it was an improvement on recent showings and three points into the bargain. For once we started with a midfield pairing that on paper looked a bit more like something you would associate with Manchester United. And to my mind that was the basis of the victory.
Carrick returned to the side joined by fellow recent absentee Ryan Giggs and for the first half at least they helped to give us a dominance, extra creativity and and a shield in front of the back four that has been sorely missed this season. Giggs supplied most of the creativity whilst Carrick played his usual game of helping to keep things ticking and helping the defence by his positional sense and reading of the game.
United started the game well establishing a stranglehold on possession of the ball almost from the kick off. The home team's cautious approach helped us, but still this was the first time we have completely bossed a half for ages. Swansea tried to counter attack but everything seemed to break down for them when they got near the United area due to a lack of bodies and lack of threat up front. They had one great chance that Sinclair made a complete horlicks off but for the most part the first half was one way traffic.
The goal didn't take too long to come Hernandez finishing clinically from a Giggs cross after the Welshman had intercepted a terrible ball from Swansea defender Rangel. I was quite happy with a first half performance but the one disappointment was the failure to add to the lead whilst we were so on top. Away from home you have always got to expect the home side to have a spell in the game.
Unfortunately for all United's dominance off the ball, once again we didn't really provide enough threat from the flanks. We don't expect Park to be beating man after man on the wing but we do expect Nani to be able to take his man on and beat him at least from time to time. But once again Nani didn't really produce, he seems to be going through a really poor spell for us at the moment. Watching the superb strike for Portugal in midweek left me wondering where that came from and can we see a bit of that in a red shirt please.
You expected a bit more from the home team in the second half and they did indeed get themselves far more into the game. But our defence was strong and Carrick had the kind of game where you wonder why Fergie hasn't been playing him regularly. I still think City would never have scored six against us if he had been in the team. With Giggs and Carrick starting yesterday's game i'm a bit worried what midfield pairing we will see on Tuesday against a far better team than Swansea if as usual Fergie rotates the squad.
At least we are still picking up three points after three points whilst we are going through this poor form. I was talking to guy at the match the other week and i told him i thought it would take us until at christmas at least to get that City debacle out of our system. But if we keep picking up the three points during this recovery period i suppose we can't complain.

Ole - The master's apprentice

A cracking piece on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in this mornings Telegraph by their resident red Jim White. He says all the right things. But he doesn't just say all the right things, he turned that club around to win that title. Nobody in Norway expected Molde to win the league this season. I would sooner he would stay there for another season before coming back to England though.

I watched the reserves defeat wigan last night 4-1, United weren't great but they did play some really good stuff at times. It was a pretty strong team, with Gibson and Rafael making overdue appearances. I thought Pogba was a bit underwhelming, even though he was admittedly out of position playing towards the right. He doesn't really look anywhere near the first team unfortunately, i would like to see him go out on loan, in the new year or even next season.
The player who looks nearest the first team was, you guessed it, Ravel Morrison. For the most part he was a level above everybody else on the pitch, though he wasn't perfect despite the two goals. He was a touch greedy at times and if he did make the jump up he would have to play the simple ball more often.
But he has everything, he has vision and the skill to realise that vision, he can beat a man, or two even and he knows where the goals are. The player he reminds me of most, has got to be Paul Gascoigne, unfortunately he is probably going to emulate the geordie off the pitch too, even if not for the same reasons.

Alan Hansen thinks Phil Jones has great potential but does not think he is ready to replace Rio Ferdinand quite yet. He doesn't think he is as good as the cockney was at that age. I'm not sure about that, he is probably right that he isn't as good a centre half yet, though to be fair to Jones he hasn't played in the position that much for United so it's hard to compare.
But he has played under two Champions league winning managers this season who have seen fit to play him in midfield against two of the biggest rivals they will face. That surely suggests how much faith that those two have in him. Fabio Capello even compared him to Franco Barresi after the game and as good a player as Ferdinand has been, he was never at the level of the AC Milan and Italy legend.

Samuel Luckhurst uses the pages of Sabotage times to ask, "is Michael Carrick Manchester United's midfield saviour", well i wouldn't use those words, but he would definitely be getting an extended run in the team if it had anything to do with me. I would love to see Cleverley and Carrick given a run of games together until christmas, though i know it won't happen. Failing that i would like to see the midfield rotate around those two and Fletcher, you can save Anderson for the league cup and a place on the bench otherwise at best. I spoke too soon, i should have known, i always thought the signs didn't look good when he came off at Goodison.
It will be interesting to see tomorrow's line up, who will line up in the middle of the park, will Rooney move back up front, who will play out wide and will we stay with a 4-4-2. Looking at the options it looks between Carrick and Fletcher with Rooney reverting to a more forward role or Rooney continuing in the middle. Neither are great options, i would sooner see Rooney up front, but he has been our best midfielder whilst he has been playing there.

The papers are, one again running with stories linking Berbatov with a move away from the club, this time to Russian Club Anzhi. It's probably bullshit, but if they were really willing to take Berbatov for £15 million, i would be amazed if Fergie isn't running the pros and cons of a sale through his mind.

Yet another young red to have come through the ranks at Old trafford made his international debut for his country earlier in the week. Ron-Robert Zieler appeared for Germany on Tuesday against the Ukraine in a 3-3 draw.
Even when players don't quite make it at United, there are more than a few who go on to have a good career in the game. And with competition for the best youngsters set to intensify, with the Arab billions across the city, that is a big plus for our youth set up in attracting the best young talent to the club.

Andy Cole joins the chorus of disapproval ringing in Sepp Blatter's ears. I have no time for him myself, he is a corrupt man leading a corrupt organisation. But do we really think he feels any pressure when all the vitriol he is receiving is coming from just this country.
The thing that amazes me in all this is that he bulit his political base in FIFA through courting thrid world countries and so so had a strong support in Africa. There must be some embarrassment in that continent amongst his supporters, though i would guess, not enough to worry him unduly.
Gus Poyet hasn't done his reputation much good this morning with his outburst over the Suarez affair, As a few have said this morning there won't be much chance og getting any young reds on loan at Brighton over the next few seasons.

As Spain joins Italy in the "at risk" list of European nations at risk at the hand of the bond markets, the BBC's Laurence Knight asks " what's the matter in Spain ". In the real world nothing is wrong, but ihe fantasy wotld of the Eurozone, it is doomed unless the Germans step in.
George Irvin looks at the power of the bond markets on Left foot forward and how they have shackled European democracy. This critique doesn't seem to get aired when the tory Eurosceptics accuse the European elite of bypassing democracy, i can't think why.
The New York times has been looking at the cracks that are beginning to appear between Germany and the rest as it dawns on France, Holland and the rest that the contagion won't stop at Spain as their own economies and debt position's start to look problematic. The latest country to get the hump would appear to be Ireland, Germany will have no friends left at the end of all this, even if the Euro does miraculously get saved.
Tom Streithorst argues we are in the final stage of the crisis according to Hyman Minsky and that neoclassical economists assume investors are rational but Minsky knew better.
Steve Richards comments on the growing Euroscepticism that most pundits see moving centre stage on the British political stage. I'm still to be convinced of the depth of that. We obviously won't be joining the Euro any time soon, but i don't believe we would come out of the EU given the chance.
That said, i'm pro-European but this is the type of article from Felipe Fernandez Armesto that makes you want to pull your hair out. Some Europeans really don't seem to understand how serious this crisis really is. If the Euro implodes, it probably will be the end of the EU itself and i don't see how it will ever be put together again, any time soon with Germany at the heart of it. Germany will be not forgiven for it's role in this crisis, but any future European project without Germany at the heart of it would be absolutely worthless.

Peter Oborne argues that the fate of this government lies in George Osborne's hands and at the minute things don't look good as his economic strategy is failing. I obviously can't agree with his remedy or agree that it's the Lib Dems fault, how supply side measures are supposed to get of out of this mess, just absolutley loses me. Big crisis calls for big measures not pin prick measures that would probably make things worse. How does making job security even less secure than it already is help consumer confidence. On day they may understand their whole economic philosophy died in 2008.
That's not to confuse neoliberalism with capitalism in general, as Faisal Islam argues in this blog Capitalism has probably never been so ascendant over Labour. I suppose the question is, is this the peak of the ascendancy and is this acsendancy comaptible with liberal democracy. I would side with those who think that this is one of the defining periods of history where one orthodoxy dies off, but what will replace it is the 50 million dollar question, will it be better or could be even worse.
Ha-Joon Chang argues that it is too simplistic to see the occupy Wall street and occupy London protestors as anti-cpaitalist, this can be a catalyst for a radical rethink. Well that's what they and i hope for, but the finacial and corportate world and their allies in the media aren't going to go without a fight.
It looks like Lib dem people behind the scenes have started to think out of the box, or should that be they have started to go back to yellow book type thinking from the early thrities. It always makes me laugh how labour types give Cable a load of stick for staying in the cabinet when everybody knows he doesn't agree with government policy. I presume they have read the history of their own party in government, you know the Labour government of the seventies that was so split on Europe, hardly a small matter. Or even the Blair-Brown years where the split may not have been that ideological but was probably even more de-stabilising. None of them walked out, they stayed and fought their corner. There comes a point where a point when it is right to walk, but i don't think we are there yet. Do we want David Laws taking the position vacated by Cable, a left leaning liberal come social democrat, i don't.
I have yet to read of anything remotely progressive coming from Balls and co.

On a sperate but connected note Aditya Chakrabortty asks why do we not make anything in this country anymore. Daniel Knowles picks up the theme, but in a typical Telegraph way claims our greatest social problem: there are no jobs for the dim. Loads of empathy there!
This economist column looks at the problems rapid technological change causes in the labour market. According to the author of this piece quite a lot of the electorate are going to be classed as stupid. There is nothing new under the sun, though, we can go back to the Luddites to find this problem. Having read an Asa Briggs book on that era, i can't help feel that the way we use that term nowadays is pretty unrespectful.

I thought this was a reasonably balanced article that gets to the heart of the matter of the border control controversy that hasn't covered any of the main players in glory. The ex civil servant in Craig Murray sees Whiteman as the villain, May as lazy. I have to admit that after watching the select committee that Whiteman was less than impressive and that the inference Murray puts on it may well be the case.

Is Vidic really off

Or is Fergie trying to galvanise him. Ian Ladyman reports in the Mail that Vidic may be allowed to join Real Madrid in the summer as Fergie is no longer convinced he is totally comitted to the club. He may be prepared to let him go, though it's hard to believe, but if'true, it's hrad to believe it is because he has suddenly become disenchanted with the club. We all read the stories and rumours a couple of seasons ago and on into the summer that he was unhappy for whichever reason ( his wife or his wages ), but once he had signed a new contract we presumed that had been put to bed.
So it's hard to see that he has suddenly fell out of love with the club again. If there is anything to this, and i hope there isn't, i would love to know what is really going on. On the footballing side, with Ferdinand almost certainly in his last season, it's a bit too early to be letting Vidic go. Smalling and Jones are going to be a top central defensive pairing, barring injuries of course, but there have to be quetion marks over Jonny Evans. So the squad would be not only short of cover but very light on experience, any signings would surely only be extra cover, and would any top players want to come to Old trafford to provide that?

David Sadler hasn't enjoyed the football since the 6-1 debacle but argues that it has been necessary to get back to the basics, purging ourselves of the inability to stop teams getting through our defence as easily as they had been doing. He goes on to claim that he would be happy to see the experience of Vidic and Ferdinand see us through this period at the heart of the defence.
I understand that we had to stop gifting the opposition as many chances as we had been doing, but as much as the back four had a collective mare against City, the problem for me, has been that teams have been slicing through our midfield as if there was no one there. I'm not the biggest fan of Carrick, but i don't see City beating us 6-1 with him in midfield. Again and again i come back to Anderson offering aboslutely nothing from a defensive ( forget the rest of his game ) point of view. With Fergie unable to pick the same back four from game to game this wasn't the best time tocome up short in the midle of the park. The defence have been getting absolutely no protection all season long.
As for Ferdinand and Vidic carrying us through the rest of the season, well maybe the Vidic and Rio of three seasons ago. The trouble is Rio isn't the same player and even if he was he can't play back to back games so there will be no consistency going down that route. I would go with Smalling and Vidic when Smalling returns from injury, but Fergie seems determined to go with Evans. I would only be using Ferdinand occasionally to come in later in the season when we hopefully start the knockout stages of the champions league and are back to three games a week.

Our fourth choice keeper Kuszczak isn't a happy bunny, claiming like Ronaldo once ludicrously did "that he is being treated like a slave by the club". Just what planet does the modern day footballer inhabit. It is really hard to have much time for any of them, i suppose that was one of the reasons a lot of us had so much time for Scholes, an absolute top player but still someone we could easily relate to.
Speaking of that other "slave", the Mail report Ronaldo could make a return to Old trafford to appear in Rio Ferdinand's testimonial next summer. Where to start with that, will Ferdinand even be here to have that testimonial, would Real Madrid be happy about Ronaldo returning and most importantly of all do i care. A great United player who played over two seasons of possibly the best football i have ever seen at Old trafford. He is one of the greatest players to have ever worn the shirt, but he would come a long way down the most revered players the club have ever had, for proper reds anyway.

Thr Republica of Mancunia blog posts an interview with the Guardian's man in Manchester Daniel Taylor as he re-releases his book, This is the one. It's interesting that he still thinks that Rooney had been tapped up by City through Marwood's lins with Paul Stretford and praises the job Fergie did in keeping him here. Roughly a thrid of the way through the season that looks an even bigger achievement, as superb as our start was, we would be struggling without him at the moment.

Danny Welbeck backs Cleverley to become a world class midfield player and admits that they are big friends who know each others game inside out after having come through the ranks together.
I concur with that, he definitely can, one big worry though and we have seen it this season already. He does seem to be fairly injury prone, we haven't really seen much of him so far this season. After the Everton game, Fergie claimed it wasn't too serious an injury and he would be back for the Sunderland game. Well he missed that and we haven't heard anything about him since.
The potential will only be realised once he starts playing regualrly week in, week out, it would be nice for him and for us to see him getting that consistent run of games.

Andy Mitten looks at the enigma that is Dimitar Berbatov as he ponders the thought that if he is sold in the winter break as some papers seem to be suggesting, that ther will be mixed feelings about a player who never equalled the sum of his outrageous talents.
James Robson of the M.E.N claims United should be breaking the bank for Modric, well i suppose that would give the Berbatov sale rumour some credence. There is just one problem, he is on record as saying he wants to stay in the capital as he is settled there. The only club he will be going would appear to be Chelsea, and if he did consider Manchester are we sure he would choose us over City as they would be bound to pke their noses in. File under aint going to happen, i think.


The Euro has gone to red alert as the crisis seems to be spiralling out of control as many have predicted it would. Paul Krugman agrees with an FT piece from Gavyn Davies that the crisis should be seen as a balance of payments problem not a deficit problem. But addressing the imbalances between the core and the periphary looks set to destroy the Eurozone as it stands at present.
Martin Wolf thinks through the unthinkable arguing a Europe built on a one sided deflationary adjustment will fail and if the leaders of the Eurozone insist on that policy, they must accept it will fail.
It seems, according to reports that the core nations around Germany may just accept that and may indeed be aiming for it. Frasier Nelson looks at the recently outed Frankfurt group and argues if you thought that the EU couldn't get any less democratic, think again. It doesn't look good.
But to me it's just another group of financier/politican groupings out to over ride the wishes of the electorate. Difference being they may well be strong enough to do what they propose and it won't work to the interest of the British political or business interest.
Jonathan Freedland wonders why the Eurosceptic right can't place Gordon Brown alongside their hero Thatcher for his role in keeping the country out of the Euro. Oh come on, please!

The Economist looks at the country of no, the main player in all this, Germany, and asks why it is so reluctant to stump up for the Euro. Ambrose Pritchard-Evans claims that the US and the Chines are very worried about Germany's non action in this crisis and can see both countries bringing massive pressure to bear on the Germans to do the right thing and use the ECB to resolve this whole mess. If the Germans did bring down the Euro, killing the PIIGS economies in the process, their hard won reputation achieved since the second world war would surely be destroyed. Faisal Islam argues that the PIIGS must achieve some porcine solidarity to stand up to Euro core zone, he thinks they would receive more support in Germany than they realise.

Misha Glenny has a completely different take on the situation in Greece, arguing the real tragedy is it's rapacious oligarchs who control Greek business, the finacial sector, the media and indeed the political class. It sounds like a vastly more advanced process of what is going on amongst all the western democracies, we live in sick times.
Along those lines Prem Sikka uses the Independent to argue that we should follow the Nordic countries in being able to see how much everybody pays in tax, he wants to be able to see how much Bob Diamond pasy in tax, he wants democratic accountability.
George Monibot looks at the myths and fallacies that the corporate and financial elite use to justify their huge rewards. Unsurprisingly he finds they fall down like a pack of cards. Not that there could be any justification anyway as far as i'm concerned, it's immoral how many times those at the top earn than those at the bottom, full stop. Paul Krugman aks, what boom, and who was the boom for?

Robert Fisk asks if those who flaunt the poppy on their lapels, know that they mock the dead? I have a big problem with that also. As well as it being almost a fashion symbol, i can't stand the fact that the people that shout loudest about wearing the things are almost always the first to cheerleader whichever politicians want to write their name in the history books by sending the armed forces into pointless, if not immoral foreign adventures. Poppies were supposed to honour the men who went to war to end all wars.

Music
African head charge - Voodoo of the godsent: A mix of influences that promises much, but could easily go the other way delivers a cracking album. This mix of dub, techno and world influences carries on their good work.

Low - C'mon: The only stuff i have of theirs is the christmas E.P from the nineties which i like but know is very much an acquired taste. I had read that their last couple of albums had seen the guitars raised in volume a notch or two and so it has but the speed doesn't seem to have. It's good, though it takes a couple of listen's to appreciate the longer tracks.

Miles Davis - Miles smiles: I'm still slowly working through the great mans back catalogue, this was the last real pure jazz disc he made before the amps got plugged in. It's brilliant, though the tempo is faster than some of the stuff from this period, a faster, harder bop. I have a DVD of a European tour from this band that i still haven't really watched properly, this is from that disc

Syd Barrett - Barrett: This was the first solo outing from Pink Floyd's original songwriter and band leader. This has been called a lost classic by some, it's good, very good at times, but calling it a classic is a bit much. He would have had such a lot to offer though if he hadn't have overindulged.

TV on the radio - Nine types of light: Their last album Dear science was one of my favourite albums of that decade and this is a worthy follow up. I don't think it's quite as good but it's still a cut above most indie/rock based music of the moment.

Wilco - The whole love: Another of the very best US groups of the present era, get as near to matching the glory that was Yankee hotel foxtrot as they have managed. The last album was pretty good but this is even better, it has some epic songs starting in storming fashion and ending equally stongly with not much let up in between

Manchester United 1-0 Sunderland

So Ferguson's 25th year at the club was celebrated with a whimper of a game not a bang. Another disappointing game that makes August and September seem a distant memory. The spark has completely gone out of the team at the moment, it doesn't seem to matter who plays or where they play.
Rooney started in midfield again this time with Fletcher for company, Lindegaard made an appearance in goals and Ferdinand partnered Vidic for the first time since the opening day of the season.
The first half was as bad if not worse than Wednesday's second half snorefest. The goal that came out of nowhere in the last minute of the half wasn't really deserved. Not that Sunderland had done much to entertain us in that opening 45 minutes either.
On the positive side Rooney once again looked the part in midfield. Is that at the expense of him contributing further up the field? To be honest at the moment, with the lack of creativity in the side, he is probably better of in the middle of the park. At least he is able to contribute positively to the cause instead of getting frustrated at the lack of service. Hernandez once again didn't really do much in the match, but i can't criticise too much, when once again you take into the picture the lack of service.
The second half saw United raise their game above the mundane, they started to look capable of rising to the occasion and and it looked possible we might see the glorious football of the opening weeks of the season. Chances were still few and far apart, the best an Hernandez header blocked on the line and a brilliant double save from the Mackems goalie Westwood. But it was a false dawn and the longer the game went on the more Sunderland came into it.
I couldn't believe that we ended the game hanging on against such an average side, but that is how the game finished. The one hope to cling too, is that we are manging to colect three points, when given the performances we could easily be dropping points to let City slip out of sight.

The papers have been full of columns and pieces celebrating Ferguson's 25 years at the club. Paul Hayward argues that the last ten years adapting to the way the game has changed prove why Fergie is without equal as the finest manager the game has seen in this country. Matt Lawton talks to the four men involved in the appointment of Alex Ferguson as the new mager of Manchester United in November 1986 and their memries of those few days.
Daniel Taylor looks Fergie's time at United and thinks that he will never really leave United behind. Which will be tricky for his successor as Taylor looks back to the mess that was made when Busby stepped down. That new book from O'Farrell will be worth reading, even if it probably won't be particularly edifying.
Jim White looks at Fergie's longevity and also looks at the contemporaries of the Scot when he took over United in 1986. There are some blasts from the past in that piece, somehow mentioning the managers, makes it seem even longer ago than it does when you mention the team and players he inherited. He also looks at the adaptibility of the man as he has risen to challenge after challenge, to keep United the team to beat. It's too early to say for sure, but the oil money pouring into that lot across town may be the biggest challenge yet.
As Henry Winter says whenever he does jack it in he is in the process of building another great team that will be a far healthier inheritance for his successor than Ron Atkinson left him when he took over United. When you think of the mess he was left with by Atkinson it was no wonder it took him until 1990 to deliver us the first piece of silverware since 1985.
Though i can never forget how the club disintegrated after the dynamic start we made to the 85-86 season and the magnificent football we played during the ten consecutive victories to the season and the eighteen match unbeaten run that came to an end at Hillsbrough. I went to most of those games, home and away, and it was unbelievable we managed to end the season in fourth spot after such a great start. If it was true that Atkinson offered to resign at the end of that season, i can't believe the board didn't accept it.
Ian Herbert of the Independent looks at how Fergie's relationship with the media has evolved, from slanging matches to bunches of flowers. James Lawton recalls the time his frosty relationship with Fergie finally thawed and joins the list that have selected their team of the Fergie's 25 year reign.

He can't help getting himself in the news, some achievement given the amount of minutes he has actually played for the first team so far, i hope Ravel Morrison is going to be worth all the shit we will probably get with him if he does fulfill his promise.

George Osborne isn't getting a good press at the moment, it must be worrying for his career when Fraser Nelson starts to criticise his shortcomings. Even if he comes at it from the side of the inflation nutter angle. David Blanchflower wonders where Osborne's allies in the business community have gone or indeed any of his allies at all.
I suppose if there is a consolation for him it's that Ed Balls doesn't seem to be convincing his critics either as his closeness to the City doesn't go unremembered on the left. Saying that, i happen to think the Robin Hood tax is a bit of a sideshow myself, compared to reform of the city and re-regulating finance rebalancing the economy.

Richard Murphy fears for the future after the week's shambolic G20 and Greek Eurozone contortions, he fears we are on the road to repeating the mistakes of 1919 instead of learning from the west's, or should that be the US reaction to the victory in 1945. The irony being of course that Germany paid the price of 1919 and reaped the benefits from the Marshall plan. Daniel Knowles implores the Germans to learn the lessons of history and forgive Greece. Of course they would also be saving themselves, it's not entirely altruistic.
Paul Mason looks back on the week and looks at the options for Europe to resolve the Eurozone crisis and points out that there are no easy options. Larry Elliott points out that European leaders fear the worst after losing control and fear the upcoming crisis could put the 2008-09 crunch in the shade.
William Keegan traces the roots of the current economic crisis to the fall of the Berlin wall and the politics and economics that the west have followed since. Matthew d'Ancona asserts that the Euro elite are out of touch with 21st century modern world and claims the Euro was a goal of the European left.

Manchester United 2-0 Otelul Galati

A win is a win, i suppose, but this was one of those games that give the qualifying stages of the champions league a bad name. As poor as United were, they were only ever going to do as much as they had to, and unfortunately for us that were there, they didn't have to do much.
We saw from the game in Romania that Otelul Galati weren't up to much, and they weren't any better over here, god knows what Barca would have done to them. Fortunately for them United are at present so far from that level it's not true. Our game had been steadily slipping from the heady days of the beginning of the season, but after the derby disaster, we are light years away from the kind of form that will see us compete for sliverware come the end of the season.
The main topic of debate before the game was the inclusion of Rooney in central midfield. I have laid down my opinion that he isn't suited to the position, but his performance last night has led me to wonder whether i was wrong . He was comfortably our best performer, but that isn't saying much to be fair, the only other player to emerge with any credit from his display would be Phil Jones. But Rooney did show an awareness to the role that i hadn't anticpated, he generally used the ball well and bar the odd misplaced pass didn't waste the ball.
His performance there put into context just how far away Anderson is from being the player people have kept on thinking he could be. I have read some people that thought Park was cheered when he came on for Anderson, i'm afraid it wasn't for Park and Anderson's look as he came off told me, he knew it was for him being took off. Against a nothing opposition he gave an absolutely nothing performance, how he earned a new contract is totally beyond me. I presume he only played last night because there was nobody else to play with our deepening injury list, i hope so anyway.
The early goal was a mixed blessing, with the way we are playing it was obviously nice to take the lead early on. But as to a spectacle it was probably the last thing the game needed as the vistors stuck with their game plan of getting men behind the ball and the only way they were getting men forward was by pressing our defence when they were trying to play it out from the back.
It was noticeable that the goal came from a Jones cross, all night he was more of an outlet on the right than Valencia. Valencia's game seems to have alarmingly deteriorated, this was a man that tore Ashley Cole a new one in that title decider at Old trafford last season. And yet last night i can barely remember a time where he took his man on or actually got a cross in. I don't know if he is suffering a lack of confidence after Fergie's mistaken idea that he could play right back, but we need the old Valencia back and quick.
As poor as we are in the engine room, at least we have quality in the wide positions, but at the moment that quality has disappeared as they all seem to have suffered a slump in form at the same time. Nani didn't do much to tell us why he was on that Ballon d'or list announced recently either and hasn't really given a decent performance since the Chelsea game. With the lack of creativity from the middle of the park, the last thing we need is to see the supply from the flanks to dry up.
Given the team selected, whilst the first half was pretty dull fare it wasn't as bad as i had feared it might be. But i'm afraid the second half was every bit as bad as i had feared. Though the opposition never really threatened to get an equaliser, i was glad to see Rooney's deflected shot go in as it was one of those nights where you were never really confident that we would see the ninety minutes out.
It's to be hoped we see more of a performance on Saturday, at least hopefully we will have Cleverley and Vidic back and see Rooney back up front which i still believe to be the position he will always be better in.

Fergie was happy with Rooney's performance in his new role, Rooney thinks he can play anywhere on the park and was happy to play there.

Henry Winter profiles Solskjaer after his team Molde deliver him a first title and wonders as do we all, whether he will be back to manage United one day. Fergie tells him to to enjoy his time in Norway and to not rush back to England as he continues to be linked with any managerial vacancies. He would be off his rocker to go to Portsmouth and i'm pretty confident that he isn't off his rocker.

Ahead of last night's game Fergie was asked about Rio Ferdinand's form and Fergie didn't beat about the bush, telling him he would have to adapt his game as his explosive burst of pace has now deserted him. I can't really see him being here next season to be honest, the concern for me is that Fergie seems to have settled on Evans as Vidic's partner when i would be looking to blood Smalling or Jones more often than he has. Of course Smalling's recent injury hasn't helped in that regard, in fact Smalling's season has never really got going. Which is a real pity as he has looked excellent when he has played, the City debacle apart.

As the 25th anniversary of Alex Fergsuon's apponitment approaches Alan Hansen looks at Fergie's achievements. Whilst Samuel Luckhurst talks of Fergie's tainted legacy, there is of course something to that, his praise of the Glazer's will not be forgotten, especially for someone who thinks of himself of the left.
What is it with US owners, they just don't get it do they!

As i type this i'm not sure whether the Greeks are going to have a refrendum or not, if the government still have a majority or whether Papandreu is still prime minister or not. As Paul Mason writes here, a referendum would be in reality on whether the Greeks stay in Europe or not, and we hear this morning that the French and Germans are telling them that is exactly what it will be about. I'm not sure how democratic they think all this ordering about looks, but it stinks to me. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues that the referndum is the rervenge of the sovereign nation, well if it happens it may turn out that way, of course it may be much nastier. Faisal Islam agrees that this was the death of last week's bailout plan.
Larry Elliott claims that Papandrea has got a stronger hand than most pundits understand and that his gamble could pay off. Robert Reich argues in the Huffington Post that Greece's choice and ours is :democracy or finance.
Stephen King asks whether sending round the begging bowl will really resolve the Eurozone crisis as Klaus Regling head of the EFSF travelled to china. Looking at this from a German strategic point of view, how could they have ever allowed to get themselves into this position. I have said it before, Merkel is a disaster. Adrian Hamilton looks at the illusions of the west in thinking that China is going to come to the rescue
China's economy isn't looking too rosy itself anyway according to a host of commentators, so it's hard to see the Chinese bailing out the Euro. Of course a Chinese slowdown is not really good news for anynody else either, but how would the Chinese population react to a serious slowdown.

Simon Jenkins is alarmed by the tories spellbound reliance on supply side econmics, arguing they are looking after their own. George Monibot looks at the City of London and doesn't like what he sees, claiming that they are wealth destroyers. I'm reading his book Captive state at the moment, what an eye opener that is, very disturbing but sadly believable. And for all those deluded souls that think Labour will be on their side if they regain power, time to think again.
John Kay looks at the occupy Wall street protestors and the cousins inLondon and agrees that capitalism needn't be about greed and gambling, indeed that's what it shouldn't be.

Polly Toynbee thinks that vindication is the air for Miliband in his decision to tack to the left. Mike Smithson of political betting thinks that she is on to something, claiming that the way things are going if an election were held today, Labour could even win an outright majority. The FT's Westminster blog follows this up as it noticed how Cameron veered to the left himself at PMQ's yesterday. And how will that go down with his distrustful backbench Eurosceptic rebels!
Rafael Behr isn't so sure that Ed Miliband will be heard as he risks being drowned out in a cacophony of populist outrage. Maybe that will turn out to work for him, the electorate might think that Labour aren't split and they are the safe option. Which is of course how Cameron wanted to portray the tories.
Bennedict Brogan thinks Britain needs political audacity and wonders if Cameron is up to it. But what is the audacity he claims that is needed, as usual less regulation, exactly what got the world in this mess, the tories are totally lost.

I thought this was a pretty intersting piece in yesterday's Guardian. A US miltary think tank urges US to cut oil use for national security reasons, that chimes in with what i have thought all along, it should be the way all liberal democracies thinking.