The Swiss don't think we took them seriously before the first game, i don't think there is any argument there. Although to be fair to United we were still in reasonably good shape, the City debacle had not yet happened. Though the three goals we conceeded that night were perhaps harbingers of what was to come.

Reports claim that Hernandez will be out for four weeks with his ankle injury, i would still be suprised to see him back that quickly. The Mail are speculating that Danny Welbeck will come into the side tomorrow night to replace Hernandez. I'd be suprised if it works out like that, i think we will play with one man up front and that will be Rooney. Welbeck could well start, but if he does i think it's more likely he will be on the left or right. I think that Fergie likes the work rate that he provides as well as the ability he brings to the party in that position.
Fergie let slip the other day that Basel would have to attack United but he wasn't sure when that would be. That's a good point, will it be cat and mouse or will they fly at us from the start. To be fair to them they didn't hang back at United, but tomorrow the pressure is on.

It's not going to be a great crimbo for ex red Ronnie Wallwork, who was sentenced to 15 months yesterday.

I find it laughable why Mancini seems to find it so hard to wonder why the rest of Europe are having a go at City and their new found wealth. It does appear to be the case that the Germans in particular have a really big bee in their bonnet about it. Kit Holden looks at the differences between Bayern and City and whilst he thinks Bayern are certainly not spotless, he obviously prefers the Bavarian model of a football club.
Alan Hansen looks at the qualifying stages of the champions league and argues that the premier league's domination of the competition is over and thinks that ther will probably be only two English clubs left after tomorrow night. He is probably right, but he did predict that we wouldn't get to the final last year, so.

Craig murray has been banging on about the west's diplomatic posturing towards Iran recently and it does seem as if it could be Iraq all over again. Paul Valley explains that the war has begun and it's madness, if there is one country in the middle east that already has what could be the foundations of a rational functioning democracy.
Peter Mackay, not exactly a liberal leftie writes that the west is turning Iran into the new Iraq and points out that it's the west that is being totally irrational not the supposedly mad mullahs. I can't even begin to believe that anybody in their right minds thinks that attacking Iran would do anything other than completely destro the last vestiges of the western or indeed the global economy.

Nick Clegg has been in the news promising to share out the pain over the last few days, Robert peston looks at what he means about getting tough on bosses pay. As if the tories are going to let anything serious on that front, they are their bosses too, who bank rolls them.
Prem Sikka used today's Guardian to show a graph that showed how the plans to make sharholders more accountable will be worse than useless. That is an eye popping chart, the role reversal between individual and foreign shareholders beggars belief. Yet another Thatcherite idea that didn't even workd on its own terms.
It's come to something when the civil service has to do something like this, at least somebodies trying to stop the establishment of this country dragging us down to the level of a banana republic in the pathetic attempt hold onto a wealth that everybody knows that they don't deserve.

Two days ago in this Eurozone crisis seems like an age ago but this still seems applicable from Larry Elliott's Monday Guardian column, welcome to the living dead economy. The German proposals that the French seem to have caved into still don't deal with the lack of growth. Jeremy Warner argues that Fiskalunion is the worst of all words, if proposals aimed at growth don't appear soon, he reckons it will be time to see whether the Germans blink first or light the fuse. Felix Salmon warns of the Eurozone's biggest mess yet and predicts if this enacted it wont work out well.
Jeffrey Sachs wants the Eurzone project to succeed but doesn't really sound optimistic and is pretty damning about the workings of the European union.

Jon Snow blogs that a grown up debate about where this countries future lies is probably now overdue. Jackie Ashley predicts that this crisis will be bad for the Euro sceptics as well and that the voters are terrfied, calling for a referndum now is daft. But of course they are fanatics it's what makes half of them get up in the morning.
John Kampfner writes that the BRIC countries are enjoying the moment after being lectured for decades by the left. I don't blame them, but of course at the end of the day a disaster in the Eurzone won't be good news for them. What's not good news for Chine won't be good for them.

I know you can use statistics to prove anything but this is another eye popping graph, this time supplied on Paul Krugman's blog.

I watched Charlie Brooker's latest TV work Black mirror on sunday and was impressed, it wasn't laugh out loud or laugh a minute but it was watch to the end TV. This Indy piece highlights the way the piece looked at how social media seems to now have a life of it's own, whilst Brooker explained before the show aired, the themes he was trying to explore. I thought he was expolring reality TV in that first episode as much as social media.

Music

Augustus Pablo - Augustus Pablo meets Lee Perry at the black art: Two of the giants of dub collaborate on this release from the last decade that was recorded in the seventies i think. It's as good as you would expect.

Feal Kuti - Confusion: A single 25 minute track and a cool slice of afro beat that start off on a nice jazz groove before the beat breaks in. I could listen to tracks this good that go on for twice as long.

Little Barrie - King of the waves: I'm a big fan of this outfit and this whilst not as good in my eyes as their last album is certainly no let down. There is more of an indy rock vibe to this, the funk has been toned down a little, it still sounds great though.

Pains of being pure at heart - Belong: The US indie band's second continues the good work of the debut with more of the same catchy power pop.

The Fuzztones - Preaching to the perverted: A pretty good piece indie garage rock that starts off witha real bang on first track My black cloud. It doesn't quite live up to the promise of that, but it's above average stuff.

The Horrors - Skying: The last album was pretty hard to follow up and whilst this very good still it's not quite at the same level as Primary colours. It's seriously promising to have albums two and three as good as this however. It's been compared to 80's rock and one red claimed that he'd already heard the Chameleons and what was the point of it, a bit harsh, but it does have that eighties sound to it.

Wayne Shorter - Juju: It's not just the playing that makes his albums so good, i have read he is regarded as on of the great modern jazz composers and on albums such as this it's hard to disagree.