City gave us an opening on Saturday and last United took full advantage, it took 80 minutes to break through but they showed great patience, experience shone through. Thankfully it was a far better performance than we saw last Monday against Fulham and it probably needed to be as the home team are obviously fighting for their lives and didn't make it easy for United.
I can't say i was that enamoured with the team selection, i didn't mind the change to 4-3-3, my beef was with playing Hernandez up front on his own. To be fair Hernandez didn't have a bad game and if luck had been on his side he would have been on the scoresheet, but the woodwork and Robinson conspired to keep him off it. United started far better than we have of late, keeping possession and looking likely to penetrate the home teams rearguard far more than we did last Monday. Blackburn got everybody behind the ball and we hardly saw them as an attacking force until just before half time. But they then created two pretty good chances and De Gea had to be at the top of his game to keep them out. The injury to Lindegaard was very unfortunate for him, but it looks like it has been the making of the Spaniard who is now beginning to seriously look the part. What has been most impressive recently is how he can be out of the game for long periods but do the business when required, which is just what a top class goalie at top club needs to be able to do. It looks like our scouting system deserves some gold stars for picking him out to replace Van Der Sar.
United came out in the second half determined to stick to the game plan and kept plugging at it. Unfortunately it wasn't really happening and as time went on i started to look at my watch, but though we weren't really creating real clear cut chances the team never seemed to panic. The bench was the strongest it has been in ages and that couldn't have come at a better time. Fergie brought Welbeck and Giggs on as United started to really turn the screw. But it was United's man of the moment who cracked open the home teams defence with another great run and finish with the outside of his boot. I thought he meant it, even though after the game he said it was fifty fifty, it wouldn't have been a very good cross anyway.
Just to emphasis the depth and strength of the squad it was third substitute Ashley Young who made sure of the points with an excellent shot five minutes from time. He probably feels hard done to, having been on the bench for the last two games, though i'm sure a championship medal will soothe that pain. The scene has now been set for what promises to be a very significant Sunday afternoon in the 2011-2012 title chase. If we do the business on Sunday against QPR at Old trafford the pressure on City at the Emirates will be something else. I shouldn't tempt fate but i thoroughly expect United to have on hand on that championship trophy on Sunday night as i can't City getting anything Arsenal
The late goals were typical Manchester United Fergie told the press after last nights welcome victory. His hugging of the touchline showed that Fergie knw how important last night was and probably he was as tense as most of us fans.
Andrew Cole wrote ahead of the weekends fixtures about experience counting at this stage of the season and thinks we will find out how much City are made of in the coming months. Paul Parker thinks Viera's behaviour has been embarrasing for Manchester City and that their actions in banning the reporter who quoted Viera was small time.
It was fitting that such a big match in our season was played out in front of our biggest away following of the season who didn't let the team down with a top performance of the pitch. A lot of talk about crowd atmosphere recently, most of it negative. The atmosphere has been dire for a few years now, but this season has been a nadir, especially when we have witnessed the top backing that Ajax and Bilbao brought to Old Trafford. It seems to me even the club bigwigs have become embarrassed how quiet it has become.
Whether the new proposals for a singing section if and when the away fans are moved to tier three and that corner is adopted as a new singing section will work, i don't really know. It really depends on whether the club want it to work, it seems to me. If the stewards behave as they do everywhere else, telling them to sit down at every opportunity it will be a damp squib.
Putting the disabled scetion in K-stand was a big factor in destroying the atmosphere, it would be great if that could be moved and the old K-stand atmosphere could be recreated. Even if it does work and the crowd to their left join in the disabled section will probably stop the atmosphere going round the ground. I suppose anything is better than nothing. I wonder whether it's Fergie and the players who have urged the clubs suits to do something, it must be like playing at a church sometimes.
I watched the Bundesliga game between Dortmund and Stuttgart of Friday night which was a storming 4-4 game played in front of the kind of atmopshere that we can only reminisce about nowadays. And it has to be said, it's hard to see how you could ever hope to replicate that kind of atmosphere without a return to standing at matches. That wall end that Broussia Dortmund have created is absolutely the dogs bollocks.
Anandu Unnikrishnan writes come in munber thirteen your time is up, claiming Park is not the player he was. We will see if whether the oft quoted " he's only here to sell shirts ", really holds any water this summer i feel. It can't have gone unnoticed by the player himself that Fergie doesn't really seem to have the same faith in the player as he did. He hasn't really started too many matches this season and hasn't had the best of times when he got on the park. It seems to me that the way Barca have changed the bar with their play and tactics have made players such as Park redundant.
At the age of 31 you wonder whether Park himself is happy to be playing a bit part role for the club with just a few years left in the game. As for United with Pogba and Cleverley coming more into the picture next season would any money from a Park sale free up funds to bring in some much needed new blood.
It's not been a great couple of weeks for blues whether football or politics. Andrew Sissons argues that with our economy on the edge, two key factors inturning things around will be exports and productivity.
Phillip Inman looks at a chancellor who wants to tap into a world awash with money instead of turning Britain into a country who earns its own money.
Even institutions as conservative as the Dallas federal reserve think that banks are too big and too powerful writes Robert Reich.
Larry Elliott argues that the shock Bradford by election result was a symptom of the north south divide, other countries have their depressed regions but nowehere else are they so big and the will to fix them so little.
The New Yorker takes a look at how the Daily Mail conquered England, interestingly that it specifies England and not the UK. I wonder whether it sells as many copies in the north and midlands as it does in the south. It has been the one of, if not, the biggest critics of the BBC's move north. The Daily Fail is a decent nickname.
I can't say i was that enamoured with the team selection, i didn't mind the change to 4-3-3, my beef was with playing Hernandez up front on his own. To be fair Hernandez didn't have a bad game and if luck had been on his side he would have been on the scoresheet, but the woodwork and Robinson conspired to keep him off it. United started far better than we have of late, keeping possession and looking likely to penetrate the home teams rearguard far more than we did last Monday. Blackburn got everybody behind the ball and we hardly saw them as an attacking force until just before half time. But they then created two pretty good chances and De Gea had to be at the top of his game to keep them out. The injury to Lindegaard was very unfortunate for him, but it looks like it has been the making of the Spaniard who is now beginning to seriously look the part. What has been most impressive recently is how he can be out of the game for long periods but do the business when required, which is just what a top class goalie at top club needs to be able to do. It looks like our scouting system deserves some gold stars for picking him out to replace Van Der Sar.
United came out in the second half determined to stick to the game plan and kept plugging at it. Unfortunately it wasn't really happening and as time went on i started to look at my watch, but though we weren't really creating real clear cut chances the team never seemed to panic. The bench was the strongest it has been in ages and that couldn't have come at a better time. Fergie brought Welbeck and Giggs on as United started to really turn the screw. But it was United's man of the moment who cracked open the home teams defence with another great run and finish with the outside of his boot. I thought he meant it, even though after the game he said it was fifty fifty, it wouldn't have been a very good cross anyway.
Just to emphasis the depth and strength of the squad it was third substitute Ashley Young who made sure of the points with an excellent shot five minutes from time. He probably feels hard done to, having been on the bench for the last two games, though i'm sure a championship medal will soothe that pain. The scene has now been set for what promises to be a very significant Sunday afternoon in the 2011-2012 title chase. If we do the business on Sunday against QPR at Old trafford the pressure on City at the Emirates will be something else. I shouldn't tempt fate but i thoroughly expect United to have on hand on that championship trophy on Sunday night as i can't City getting anything Arsenal
The late goals were typical Manchester United Fergie told the press after last nights welcome victory. His hugging of the touchline showed that Fergie knw how important last night was and probably he was as tense as most of us fans.
Andrew Cole wrote ahead of the weekends fixtures about experience counting at this stage of the season and thinks we will find out how much City are made of in the coming months. Paul Parker thinks Viera's behaviour has been embarrasing for Manchester City and that their actions in banning the reporter who quoted Viera was small time.
It was fitting that such a big match in our season was played out in front of our biggest away following of the season who didn't let the team down with a top performance of the pitch. A lot of talk about crowd atmosphere recently, most of it negative. The atmosphere has been dire for a few years now, but this season has been a nadir, especially when we have witnessed the top backing that Ajax and Bilbao brought to Old Trafford. It seems to me even the club bigwigs have become embarrassed how quiet it has become.
Whether the new proposals for a singing section if and when the away fans are moved to tier three and that corner is adopted as a new singing section will work, i don't really know. It really depends on whether the club want it to work, it seems to me. If the stewards behave as they do everywhere else, telling them to sit down at every opportunity it will be a damp squib.
Putting the disabled scetion in K-stand was a big factor in destroying the atmosphere, it would be great if that could be moved and the old K-stand atmosphere could be recreated. Even if it does work and the crowd to their left join in the disabled section will probably stop the atmosphere going round the ground. I suppose anything is better than nothing. I wonder whether it's Fergie and the players who have urged the clubs suits to do something, it must be like playing at a church sometimes.
I watched the Bundesliga game between Dortmund and Stuttgart of Friday night which was a storming 4-4 game played in front of the kind of atmopshere that we can only reminisce about nowadays. And it has to be said, it's hard to see how you could ever hope to replicate that kind of atmosphere without a return to standing at matches. That wall end that Broussia Dortmund have created is absolutely the dogs bollocks.
Anandu Unnikrishnan writes come in munber thirteen your time is up, claiming Park is not the player he was. We will see if whether the oft quoted " he's only here to sell shirts ", really holds any water this summer i feel. It can't have gone unnoticed by the player himself that Fergie doesn't really seem to have the same faith in the player as he did. He hasn't really started too many matches this season and hasn't had the best of times when he got on the park. It seems to me that the way Barca have changed the bar with their play and tactics have made players such as Park redundant.
At the age of 31 you wonder whether Park himself is happy to be playing a bit part role for the club with just a few years left in the game. As for United with Pogba and Cleverley coming more into the picture next season would any money from a Park sale free up funds to bring in some much needed new blood.
It's not been a great couple of weeks for blues whether football or politics. Andrew Sissons argues that with our economy on the edge, two key factors inturning things around will be exports and productivity.
Phillip Inman looks at a chancellor who wants to tap into a world awash with money instead of turning Britain into a country who earns its own money.
Even institutions as conservative as the Dallas federal reserve think that banks are too big and too powerful writes Robert Reich.
Larry Elliott argues that the shock Bradford by election result was a symptom of the north south divide, other countries have their depressed regions but nowehere else are they so big and the will to fix them so little.
The New Yorker takes a look at how the Daily Mail conquered England, interestingly that it specifies England and not the UK. I wonder whether it sells as many copies in the north and midlands as it does in the south. It has been the one of, if not, the biggest critics of the BBC's move north. The Daily Fail is a decent nickname.
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