According to the MEN Welbeck may be back for the game at Sunderland, but along with Evans he will be an absentee from this Sunday's last home game of the season against Swansea City. It's not ideal as we have played our best football this season when he has been paired with Rooney up front. But if he is back for Sunderland, that is to be welcomed, because if City don't get the three points at Newcastle, we should be able to beat Swansea without him, but will definitely need him if we are to pick up three points up on Wearside.
As to this Sunday, presumably Valencia will be back, Park will be out and we won't be sitting back waiting for things to happen. I have read others online and on twitter hoping that Berbatov gets a last run out at Old trafford. So do i, but becasue that would be our best foward line from the squad available and not from any sentimental reasons. There is no getting away from it, Hernandez has been a big disappointment this season. If Fergie hadn't been planning for the future, on form Berba would surely have been ahead of him in the pecking order for our home games at least.
I hope the prognosis on Welbeck is right, i want to see Welbeck back in the team for that as Berbatov has never really delivered the goods away from home. That is one of the reasons he hasn't been the big success that i really thought and hoped he would be when we got him.
Jim White reckons that to City's Arab owners view United as merely a paving stone on Manchester City's path to world domination. They may well think like that, but football doesn't work as easily as that, ask Roman Abramovitch.
That's not say that they won't pull away from United, once Fergie goes and the gimps handywork becomes obvious to everyone, who can say what will happen to our club. I have always thought that they would want to cash in before he goes, but the financial crash changed everything.
What's galling to all of us who supported the campaign to stop them taking over the club and who had opposed the Murdoch's bid before that is how different things would be if they had been unsuccessful with the takeover. We might not have been able to bulid a team from scratch as they have done, but we wouldn't have had to. We would have been able to compete at the top end for the very best players, unlike at present where United have to try and hide who we are after in case City, Real or Barca gazump us.
How long can the guff about us being the top brand in sport get pedalled out when we can't compete for the world's very best players.
David Conn spells out the gruesome details of the Glazer regime to the long term health of Manchester United and wonders how long Fergie can keep on with his praise for them.
Just as we read how this was going to be Fergie's finest achievement, or up there with the best of them, since City's victory it's been time for footballs hacks to tell Fergie what to do to keep United competitive with the Manchester headquarters of the Abu Dhabi tourist board.
Ian Herbert lays out five ways Fergie can reclaim his City for Manchester United, there isn't much to argue with in that, but it would have been better writing that after the last day of the season. For once Mancini was not playing mind games today when he said the game at St. James park would be tougher than the derby, i can't see Newcastle going 90 minutes at home without recording a shot on goal. It was a great win for the barcodes at Chelsea last night, but Sunday would have been a hard game for City whatever the outcome last night. No team wants to go out with a whimper in their last home game of the season and with the 52,000 behind them after a season beyond the geordie nation's wildest dreams that will be the case on Sunday.
Ian Ladyman talks about why City haven't given up in their attempts on trying to tempt Wayne Rooney across the Mancunian divide. One thing is for sure, whatever happens this season, if United stand still this summer in the transfer market, City will become more attractive to Rooney. If that ever happened, the Glazer's certainly will have wished they had got out of this club earlier, because there would be no PR on earth that could put a psitive spin on that.
Ahead of Monday night Gary Neville wrote of the stakes involved for the future of football in the city of Manchester, no doubt with his fingers crossed for the three points to end up at Old trafford. I can't say i heard what he had to say after the game as once the whistle went i couldn't watch any more. I didn't envy him having to sit there during that blue giddyfest, the appointment of Niall Quinn to commentate on the game was beyond belief, unfortunately his commentary wasn't, it was as embarrassing as i had expected.
Roy Keane admits he won't be exchanging texts with Fergie any time soon and defends his criticism of the current United set up. He makes an excellent point about United's record over recent years in the big games which is definitely not what it was. I'm a natural optimist going into the big games, i always have been, even when we were crap, but at the moment even i struggle to contain the doubts before the very biggest games.
I know our record has been pretty good this year apart from the two defeats against City but let's be frank that has been down to the opposition as much as us raising our game. The Arsenal 8-2 at home saw the visitors weakened severley and at a low ebb after the summer departures. We played Tottenham at home at a good time and away we were appalling for the first half and how we came away with a 3-0 win was as much down to them folding in the second half. Chelsea at home could just as well have been 3-1 to them as some of us recognised at the time. Arsenal away was probably one of our best performances of the season and at least we showed the old spirit to come back from going down 3-0 to salvage a point. But it was the cup competitions that really showed that Keano's arguments have legs, we were truly appalling in all of them.
It's not that hard to know why we are struggling in them, we aren't as good as we were, we have struggled at the back and in the middle of the park. We mustn't forget our terrible injury record has hampered us badly this season, but our struggles to dominate games from the middle are nothing new. Cleverley getting a reasonably injury free run next season would be a bonus and if Pogba stays he might show the potential that some people see, that i'm not sure about myself, but this summer he really will have to enter the market in this area or City will probably get further away from us next season
David Blanchflower thinks it's time for the recession deniers to face reality, he wouldn't let it lie would he. Will the phrase stick, Ed Balls mist hope it does. Will Hutton labels Osborne, intellectually broken and the real enemy of business, well he is the enemy of the majority of the British people, if they did but know it.
Sherelle Jacobs is the latest commentator asking what the ailing UK economy can learn from the German model, how long has this been going on.
Donald Sassoon argues that we shouldn't just look back to the 1930's looking at how we went wrong and how we can get out of our present economic mess, but should learn from the long depression that the Victorian world suffered from during the latter decades of the 19th century. Get real that was the era that Keith Joseph and Thatcher saw as the model we had to go back to, Victorian values and all that.
Ambrose Pritchard-Evans thinks the emergence of Hollande and his probable election will lead to a "growth block" that will spell the end of German hegemony, i love the way he compares Germany's current relations with the rest of Europe's to Bismark's during the unification of the Reich with with Bavaria. I suppose there is both good and bad bews in there for the Bullingdon boys, good in that the Eurozone my come of life support, but bad for their pusuit of austerity.
Paul Mason looks at the politics of Europe and in Marine Le Pen's suprising higher than expected first round vote sees a crisis of the centre. Another dangerous comparison to the Europe of the 1930's. Simon Jenkins remembers 1931, but thinks it's democracy that can save us from the blunder of the single currency.
Peter Oborne ponts out that at the beginning of the Murdoch and News international it wasn't about tory party sleaze, Blair, Brown and new labour were just as implicated, but it's all about the conservatives now. That's another fine mess that David Cameron and George Osborne has led the party into.
A fascinating piece by Edward Luce about how the US military is way ahead of it's political class about a realistic foreign and domestic ploicy future. Let's hope there are some links between them and the Democrats, because rationality and realism are completely alien to the modern Republican party.
Music
Dave Brubeck - Indian summer: Solo jazz pianists isn't really my thing but this isn't bad, pretty recent offering shows he can still play.
Dinosaur L - 24-24 music: I have heard Arthur Russell namecheked a few times, but had never got around to listening to any of the stuff he made whilst he was alive. On the basis of this album, it's a good job i started to rectify that position because this is a fantastic album. I suppose it's categorised as dance, but there is so much more there to it than that. He was well and truly ahead of his time.
Django Django - Django Django: A pretty good debut album that owes more than a little debt to the under appreciated Beta band. Which isn't that much of a suprise when there is a family connection. It has to be said though, they sound very like them. It will be very interesting to hear the follow up.
Fucked Up - David comes to life: I have only just got into this Canadian hardcore band, but i have to say that, surprisingly enough i really like them. Hardcore, post punk, whatever you want to call it isn't really my bag, the vocals usually do my head in for a start, that's before i even get to the music. But this just is just great driving hard rock.
Julia Holter - Tragedy: This couldn't be more different, i'm not sure how you'd label it, ambient, prog without the rock, it's good. The shorter, hookier tracks perfectly balance the longer more out there moments.
Tindersticks - The something rain: Stuart Staples men latest proper studio album doesn't disappoint if you're a fan of their modern avant-pop as i have just read them being described as on the all music site. An acquired taste, but once acquired, i've never got bored of it.
As to this Sunday, presumably Valencia will be back, Park will be out and we won't be sitting back waiting for things to happen. I have read others online and on twitter hoping that Berbatov gets a last run out at Old trafford. So do i, but becasue that would be our best foward line from the squad available and not from any sentimental reasons. There is no getting away from it, Hernandez has been a big disappointment this season. If Fergie hadn't been planning for the future, on form Berba would surely have been ahead of him in the pecking order for our home games at least.
I hope the prognosis on Welbeck is right, i want to see Welbeck back in the team for that as Berbatov has never really delivered the goods away from home. That is one of the reasons he hasn't been the big success that i really thought and hoped he would be when we got him.
Jim White reckons that to City's Arab owners view United as merely a paving stone on Manchester City's path to world domination. They may well think like that, but football doesn't work as easily as that, ask Roman Abramovitch.
That's not say that they won't pull away from United, once Fergie goes and the gimps handywork becomes obvious to everyone, who can say what will happen to our club. I have always thought that they would want to cash in before he goes, but the financial crash changed everything.
What's galling to all of us who supported the campaign to stop them taking over the club and who had opposed the Murdoch's bid before that is how different things would be if they had been unsuccessful with the takeover. We might not have been able to bulid a team from scratch as they have done, but we wouldn't have had to. We would have been able to compete at the top end for the very best players, unlike at present where United have to try and hide who we are after in case City, Real or Barca gazump us.
How long can the guff about us being the top brand in sport get pedalled out when we can't compete for the world's very best players.
David Conn spells out the gruesome details of the Glazer regime to the long term health of Manchester United and wonders how long Fergie can keep on with his praise for them.
Just as we read how this was going to be Fergie's finest achievement, or up there with the best of them, since City's victory it's been time for footballs hacks to tell Fergie what to do to keep United competitive with the Manchester headquarters of the Abu Dhabi tourist board.
Ian Herbert lays out five ways Fergie can reclaim his City for Manchester United, there isn't much to argue with in that, but it would have been better writing that after the last day of the season. For once Mancini was not playing mind games today when he said the game at St. James park would be tougher than the derby, i can't see Newcastle going 90 minutes at home without recording a shot on goal. It was a great win for the barcodes at Chelsea last night, but Sunday would have been a hard game for City whatever the outcome last night. No team wants to go out with a whimper in their last home game of the season and with the 52,000 behind them after a season beyond the geordie nation's wildest dreams that will be the case on Sunday.
Ian Ladyman talks about why City haven't given up in their attempts on trying to tempt Wayne Rooney across the Mancunian divide. One thing is for sure, whatever happens this season, if United stand still this summer in the transfer market, City will become more attractive to Rooney. If that ever happened, the Glazer's certainly will have wished they had got out of this club earlier, because there would be no PR on earth that could put a psitive spin on that.
Ahead of Monday night Gary Neville wrote of the stakes involved for the future of football in the city of Manchester, no doubt with his fingers crossed for the three points to end up at Old trafford. I can't say i heard what he had to say after the game as once the whistle went i couldn't watch any more. I didn't envy him having to sit there during that blue giddyfest, the appointment of Niall Quinn to commentate on the game was beyond belief, unfortunately his commentary wasn't, it was as embarrassing as i had expected.
Roy Keane admits he won't be exchanging texts with Fergie any time soon and defends his criticism of the current United set up. He makes an excellent point about United's record over recent years in the big games which is definitely not what it was. I'm a natural optimist going into the big games, i always have been, even when we were crap, but at the moment even i struggle to contain the doubts before the very biggest games.
I know our record has been pretty good this year apart from the two defeats against City but let's be frank that has been down to the opposition as much as us raising our game. The Arsenal 8-2 at home saw the visitors weakened severley and at a low ebb after the summer departures. We played Tottenham at home at a good time and away we were appalling for the first half and how we came away with a 3-0 win was as much down to them folding in the second half. Chelsea at home could just as well have been 3-1 to them as some of us recognised at the time. Arsenal away was probably one of our best performances of the season and at least we showed the old spirit to come back from going down 3-0 to salvage a point. But it was the cup competitions that really showed that Keano's arguments have legs, we were truly appalling in all of them.
It's not that hard to know why we are struggling in them, we aren't as good as we were, we have struggled at the back and in the middle of the park. We mustn't forget our terrible injury record has hampered us badly this season, but our struggles to dominate games from the middle are nothing new. Cleverley getting a reasonably injury free run next season would be a bonus and if Pogba stays he might show the potential that some people see, that i'm not sure about myself, but this summer he really will have to enter the market in this area or City will probably get further away from us next season
David Blanchflower thinks it's time for the recession deniers to face reality, he wouldn't let it lie would he. Will the phrase stick, Ed Balls mist hope it does. Will Hutton labels Osborne, intellectually broken and the real enemy of business, well he is the enemy of the majority of the British people, if they did but know it.
Sherelle Jacobs is the latest commentator asking what the ailing UK economy can learn from the German model, how long has this been going on.
Donald Sassoon argues that we shouldn't just look back to the 1930's looking at how we went wrong and how we can get out of our present economic mess, but should learn from the long depression that the Victorian world suffered from during the latter decades of the 19th century. Get real that was the era that Keith Joseph and Thatcher saw as the model we had to go back to, Victorian values and all that.
Ambrose Pritchard-Evans thinks the emergence of Hollande and his probable election will lead to a "growth block" that will spell the end of German hegemony, i love the way he compares Germany's current relations with the rest of Europe's to Bismark's during the unification of the Reich with with Bavaria. I suppose there is both good and bad bews in there for the Bullingdon boys, good in that the Eurozone my come of life support, but bad for their pusuit of austerity.
Paul Mason looks at the politics of Europe and in Marine Le Pen's suprising higher than expected first round vote sees a crisis of the centre. Another dangerous comparison to the Europe of the 1930's. Simon Jenkins remembers 1931, but thinks it's democracy that can save us from the blunder of the single currency.
Peter Oborne ponts out that at the beginning of the Murdoch and News international it wasn't about tory party sleaze, Blair, Brown and new labour were just as implicated, but it's all about the conservatives now. That's another fine mess that David Cameron and George Osborne has led the party into.
A fascinating piece by Edward Luce about how the US military is way ahead of it's political class about a realistic foreign and domestic ploicy future. Let's hope there are some links between them and the Democrats, because rationality and realism are completely alien to the modern Republican party.
Music
Dave Brubeck - Indian summer: Solo jazz pianists isn't really my thing but this isn't bad, pretty recent offering shows he can still play.
Dinosaur L - 24-24 music: I have heard Arthur Russell namecheked a few times, but had never got around to listening to any of the stuff he made whilst he was alive. On the basis of this album, it's a good job i started to rectify that position because this is a fantastic album. I suppose it's categorised as dance, but there is so much more there to it than that. He was well and truly ahead of his time.
Django Django - Django Django: A pretty good debut album that owes more than a little debt to the under appreciated Beta band. Which isn't that much of a suprise when there is a family connection. It has to be said though, they sound very like them. It will be very interesting to hear the follow up.
Fucked Up - David comes to life: I have only just got into this Canadian hardcore band, but i have to say that, surprisingly enough i really like them. Hardcore, post punk, whatever you want to call it isn't really my bag, the vocals usually do my head in for a start, that's before i even get to the music. But this just is just great driving hard rock.
Julia Holter - Tragedy: This couldn't be more different, i'm not sure how you'd label it, ambient, prog without the rock, it's good. The shorter, hookier tracks perfectly balance the longer more out there moments.
Tindersticks - The something rain: Stuart Staples men latest proper studio album doesn't disappoint if you're a fan of their modern avant-pop as i have just read them being described as on the all music site. An acquired taste, but once acquired, i've never got bored of it.
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