Manchester United 2-1 Newcastle United

Not a great game of football, but an excellent experience for our reserve back four, who acquitted themselves reasonably well. The midfield and attack was actually pretty strong, i can only presume, to give the back four a bit more protection. I was disappointed that Nick Powell didn't start, when he did come on near the end, he gave us a little cameo of what might have been, showing good energy, good use of the ball and was a constant threat to the oppostion's defence.
I wasn't suprised to see Rooney play, he obviously needs games and i'm fairly sure he will play regularly for the next couple of months. He actually did pretty well, he looked miles sharper than he did against Everton that's for sure, he lost possession too easily a couple of times, but played a couple of Scholesesque cross field balls. I thought Cleverley was probably our stand out player, he should have scored in the first half, thankfully he put it right in the second half after finishing off a fine move when supplied by Welbeck.
I have read a few reds arguing Anderson's performance should bring him into contention for run in the first team. I can't go along with that at all, he started well against hardly the toughest opponents, then as usual totally disappeared from the game, before another burst in the last five minutes that led to the fine run and for once he actually finished it off with a fine shot and goal. At beginning off the second half i said watch how many times he touches the ball compared to Cleverley or Rooney even, needless to say it didn't average well, before he had another surge before the obligatory complete running out of steam that would have seen him substituted in the premier league.
I will hold my hands up on Fletcher though, he did far better than i had expected, i couldn't see him playing regular first team football again. If he can get a run of games together and get his touch back, that would be a huge boost to the squad. He seemed to play a little deeper than usual, but even that could turn out to be handy, giving us more options.
Given the injury crisis it was always going to be a young and inexperienced back line, but boy did Fergie put trust in the young lads. I thought Wooton and Keane did pretty well, i've never really seen Wooton as first team material, so he really did far better than i expected. Keane did well, though i thought the game showed he really needs to go out on loan and get some real first team experience. With our defensive injury crisis, he probably won't get it. Vermijl started off reasonably well before nerves seemed to take hold of him, he probably should have been subbed a bit earlier as they were getting a lot of joy down that flank of the pitch.
So not a bad night, though it would have been a better night, at the kind of prices our closest rivals were charging for the competition. I doubt the club will be in any kind of hurry to bring pices down, Glazernomics at work.

Fergie was happy with Rooney's return to the fray, although it seems Cleverley got a verbal volley at half time for his first half miss. He got one from me at the match, i had the bastard for first goal. I still haven't picked a first goal scoreryet this season, though i did have Van persie for a hatrick at Southampton, so i'm not down too much.

The news about Vidic was both unbelievable and yet you had a feeling there was some nasty news coming as to why he was really left out of the Anfield clash. We really have to start worrying if we will ever see the pre-cruciate era Vidic ever again, the news that he's had an operation on the same knee is very unwelcome
You would have to think that Ferdinand will be getting a new contract offer fairly shortly with this news, the annoying aspect to this news is this was when you would be hoping Jones and Smalling would be playing and gaining experience. Our injury situation is almost beyond a joke now.

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester United

I had been hoping and expecting United to go to Anfield and put a performance in this season, not neccessarily to get the three points, but to give themselves a chance of doing. Well we got the three points, but it was a shocking performance really, even when they were down to ten men, they possibly did enough to have deserved a draw. Don't get me wrong i loved going there and winning, but it would be nice if we could go there and actually put a performance in.
I started to worry as soon as i saw the teamsheet, no Vidic at the back, and Giggs in central midfield, but no Cleverley or Scholes. I've been a big fan of Ryan Giggs down the years, but i have said it before, i don't think Fergie can just drop him into such a big game, when he hasn't been playing regularly. Giggs was poor yesterday, he wasn't on his own admittedly, but surely Cleverley's energy would have preferable in a midfield contest that we seem to lose season after season, and whilst it was eleven v eleven yesterday, we lost out in once more.
The first half, was a total shambles of a display really, i don't think the importance of the day to them yesterday comes into it, our performance, was akin to our last three or four at their place, in fact that first half was probably as bad as we have been there. I was amazed when i saw Nani's name on the teamsheet, after what i've read recently i thought Fergie had long lost faith in him. He has never put even a half decent display at Anfield and it was no suprise to see him not reappear at the start of the second half after an abject 45 minutes. To be fair to him, Valencia was no better, the South American's only meaningful contribution  was the run that led to the penalty. I can't recall the right winger having two such poor back to back games for us, pretty worrying really. When we have nothing happening on our flanks, we are generally in trouble.
Van Persie didn't do much, but he had such poor service it's hard to judge him, the pace of there game seemed to unsettle him in the first half, but as i said he had so little of the ball it must have been hard for him to find his feet in the game. Kagawa likewise never really got into it, after a good start he seems to be finding the pace of English football a problem. I was suprised to see him named in the team after his last couple of games, i wouldn't have minded seeing him on the left yesterday, he couldn't have been any worse than Nani.
The sending off obviously changed the game, i don't think there can be much argument that the ref got that right, though obviously the scouse will argue otherwise. United managed to get a foothold in the game after that, even if we never actually got our game together.
The news that Scholes was replacing Nani gave hope at the beginning of the second half, only for our defence, the only department of the team to actually do it's job in the first half, to fall asleep at the beginning of the second to allow Gerrard the time and space to put them a goal up. I'll admit that i feared the worst after that, the way we were playing it was hard to see a goal coming. But it did, and it was a bit of a cracker from Rafael, who had a pretty good game all told. If only he could play like that every week. On the other side Evra was in and out, making some good challnges and interceptions, but going missing in action at others. Hats off to Evans and Ferdinand, i was worried when the news that Vidic was out, but they did their job.
It may not have been a stonewall penalty, but a penalty it was, i didn't think we'd get that kind of decision there though, so full marks to the officials. Despite the goalie getting his hands to the ball, the power it was hit with ensured it ended up in the back of the net. So a poor performance, but three points and with Arsenal going to City and getting a deserved point it ended up being a pretty good day.

Pressure on players !

From the beginning of the season, i have been looking forward to this game, believing for the first time in a few years we could actually go there and give a performance, not just get a result. Then they decide to produce the Hillsbrough report, meaning we will be the first team to play there since it was published, the onus for the disaster was brought squarely where it's always been obvious it should reside, on South Yorkshire police force and the British establishment.
I hope we respect the silence, but i'm not having all this respect bollocks, there a lot more skeleton's in Liverpool fans past, that the press, seem to either ignore or conveniently forget. They will always be the enemy to me and most of my generation of reds, City will never touch them on that score. Growing up seeing Munich 58 in the middle of the kop on football highlights, never mentioned on TV or in the press at the time and then being old enough to go there and hearing all the Munich taunts and the arm plane waving, well, you just don't forget it. United fans may not be angels, well in the past anyway, but we're a cut above them, then again who isn't.
Reports like this are what do your head in, the rivalry has become unique since the power drifted to this side of the east lands road in the early 90's. What a complete load of dross, where were these clowns in the late seventies and eighties, when United v Liverpool games were a battle on the pitch and even more so off it. The atmosphere may be charged when we play them nowadays, but it is absolutely nothing like it used to be.
Fergie has claimed there is enough pressure on the players and has likened the game to the 50th anniversary of Munich when United put in such an abysmal performance in losing to City. I wish he hadn't brought that up, it was only by actually winning the champions league in Moscow that May, that i was able to forgive and forget that day. It wasn't the defeat that rankled but the performance, especially when you remembered the Everton game after Busby had passed away, which saw us put in a display worthy of the occasion, even if the scoreline that day, didn't reflect that.

I suppose the news that Ashley Young will not be returning to the squad any time, means Nani's return to favour will continue in the coming weeks, though i 'll be amazed if he is in the starting eleven at Anfield on Sunday.

Advance base - A shut in's prayer: Not a bad album, it's full of quirky tunes, a six out of ten job.


Christian Scott - Christian atunde adjuah: I read glowing reviews for this, and after a few listens, i do like it. I'm not sure it's quite as good as some of the reviews, but i am sure it's too long, clocking in at almost two hours.


Ladyhawke - Anxiety: Her first album was critically aclaimed, and whilst it had it's moments it was bit too tee for me. This is a big advance to my mind, full of cracking hooks but with a lot more balls than her debut.


Pavement - Wowee zowee: I never took any notice of these first time around in the 90's but since is started to go through their release's i've found out what a mistake that was. One of the best indie/rock/guitar bands of the 90's, so many cracking tracks on this their third album.


Soft Machine - Third: Another cracking album from the late sixties, early eventies, jazz/rock meets progressive meets psychedelia and i love it, not for the pop pickers amongst you though.

The congos - Dub feast: A lovely slice of dub from one of the genre's classic acts, i haven't heard the reggae version, i'd probably prefer this verssion anyway.


THEESatisfaction - awE naturalE: Leftfield hip hop that really hits the mark, an excellent album.

Manchester United 1-0 Galatasaray

Having a pint before last night's match, i offered the thought that i'd take a shit game and a 1-0 win as long as we actually turn up at Anfield this season on Sunday. So if we do the business at Liverpool, last night will be long forgotten. But it was a poor performance, even if we did manage to get up and running with a welcome champions league home win.
It's hard to know why we were so poor, Fergie said he'd learned lessons from last season's failure to get past the group stage, and he did pick a reasonably strong team. We started well, and got the early goal that you always hope will come from such a fast start. But we never kicked on, and were probably slightly fortunate to go into the half time interval a goal to the good.
I'm not really sure how Fergie and his staff have learned from last season's poor performance after watching last night, we played a 4-4-2 with Kagawa more of a man in the hole than an advanced midfielder. So just as last season, teams will be able to have a go at us, and with the defence being nowhere near the solid unit of that 2006-2009 period, we look vulnerable at the back. Some will say that Scholes can't hack at this level in Europe any more , but he was one of our few players who performed to his usual standard last night and i was flabbergasted when Fergie took him off for Flecther near the end. Having seen Flecther in his reserve come backs this season, he's looked miles away from a return to a first team appearance. After his brief cameo last night, i.m thinking a league cup should be the height of his ambitions at the moment.
I expected us to play more a 4-3-3 formation, to make it harder to get at our defence, after our problems conceding goals home and away in Europe last season. But we stuck with the shape that saw us exposed by the might of Basel last season and once again didn't look entirely convincing.
I suppose Fergie had to use this game to give Evans a full ninety minutes, but it did mean the back four was different yet again. Whoever plays their at the moment, we don't look as solid as you'd like us to look or as solid as you have to be to have any chance of winning this trophy.
We were poor going forward last night as well, we had chances, though not as many as you'd hope for. The main problem seemed to be both wide men having an off night, not that suprising from Nani, i suppose, but if anything Valencia was even more off colour last night. How often is his crossing as wayward as it was last night. Kagawa faded completely out of the game after a bright opening and Van Persie hasn't really knitted into our pattern of play yet, even after his hatrick as Southampton. The service was poor admittedly, no one seems sure when to pass to him or read his runs, hopefully it will come, Sunday would be nice.
I'm not sure how Hernandez managed to not cap his brief appearance as a substitute without a goal or how we managed to miss a third consecutive penalty. We've been very fortunate that none of those misses have cost us, it would be nice to get it sorted before that happens. Anyway, as i said, win on Sunday and last night will be long forgotten.

I'd forgotten this track, not bad
 

Manchester United 4-0 Wigan athletic

After the suprising and ultimately disastrous defeat to the pie eaters towards the end of last season, usual service was resumed in this fixture as United took the three points and improved our goal difference by four. It was looking very likely at half time though, as United struggled to break the Wigan rearguard down and even looked susceptible to the counter attack.
I wasn't sure what to expect before the game, Wigan ended last season playing pretty good football and for once seem to have started the new season pretty well despite seeing players move on during the summer as usual. On the other side though, they don't like coming to Old trafford and we don't just usually beat them, but usually grab a few goals as well.
They started with three at the back and United without really getting going earned a pretty soft penalty when El Habsi rushed out and slid into Welbeck. It probably wasn't a penalty but the goalie should have stayed on his feet in any case. There was a bit of a discussion as to who would take the penalty which Hernandez won, to my delight having money for first goal. Which turned to what the fuck, when he struck it tamely into El Habsi's arms. Two penalty misses in consecutive games, that's not a habit we want to get into.
United went in at half time all square having failed to hit any heights. Nani was back in the team and delivered a reasonable performance, though i don't think he'd have scored if they'd played another ninety minutes. It was a first start of the season for our Mexican centre forward, but although Hernandez managed to get himself on the scoresheet, it was another disappointing performance from the Mexican. In the first half especially he was completely anonymous, it was good job that Welbeck was on his game, but i thought Fergie did the right thing giving the Mexican a full ninety minutes, i don't know if he just isn't as good as he promised to be in that first season or he needs to build up his confidence. Rafael was another to worry me, he just seesm to have big mistake in him every time he takes the pitch. The injury to Jones was a blow i far prefer him to Rafael at right back. It was nice to see Evans come on in the second half, and it will be nice to see him getting a couple of full matches under his belt.
We saw two debut's on the day, and remarkably both found the net, Buttner's was slightly fortunate, the ball ran for him alright and then the goalie made a right horlicks of his attempted save. I wouldn't go too overboard about our new left back yet, i thought Fergie's words were spot on the money, a bit rough round the edges. But Powell showed that he will be able to translate the spectacular goals he delivered in the second division with Crewe to the biggest stage of all. It was a cracking goal, the feint and then the shot that gave El Habsi no chance, but just as importantly he did his stuff in the middle of the park with some nice touches. He looks very promising.
The results from elsewhere topped off a nice day, United were flattered i thought by the scoreline, but three points is three points and we carried on our goalscoring form.

It will be interesting to see if Michael Carrick starts on Wednesday, because he must be a certainty to start at Anfailed on Sunday, my guess is that we'll see Cleverley and Anderson in the middle against Galatsaray, which doesn't really fill me full of confidence. Carrick is sure his best is still to come, I actually thought he was a bit below par during our lacklustre first half on Saturday, but he pass to Nani for the first game was sublime.
As for his midfield partner, opening goalscorer Paul Scholes, Gary Neville argues that he is simply the best English footballer of his generation, a player capable of changing a game or controlling a game. Before the game Fergie alluded to the fact he thought Giggs could do a couple more seasons, but wasn't sure about Scholes. If he is used wisely, i don't see any reason why we can't get another season out of him, here's hoping anyway.

It was nice to Van Der Saar did his bit in persuading Robin Van Persie that his future lay in the red shirts of Manchester, i love the quote, i spent five minutes talking about Juvents and fifty five about United.

A bad season for Manchester's summer sports

Well it happened, the season after lifting the county championship for the first time in a lifetime, they go and get relegated for the first time since the county championship was split into two divisions. Once Durham won those two games on the bounce, the writing was on the wall. The chances of them winning those last two games were remote enough the way they had played this season, but add the September weather to that and it was always a forlorn hope.
Not having seen much of them, it's hard to say what went wrong for the red rose county this year, but weather apart, i don't know if it was worse for Lancs than their competitors, the batting, especially in the first part of the season was sub standard to say the least. There 's a problem with that top order, how many times the middle and tail end have to try and bring some repectability to the scorecard.
I read Chapple wants another go next season, and i'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, but they can't keep on relying on him to lead the attack. Looking at that the track that was produced for the t20 international on Monday, it looks like the old pacy Old Trafford wicket will be back for next season. Will that mean the end for Gary Keedy, it will be interesting to see how Lancs go on next season in division 2 in the four day version of the game.
On the one day front, even though they disappointed again in a semi final, i like the look of the side and hope one day trophy success may be just around the corner. They played some good stuff in the 40 over and T20 version of the game and looked a formidable unit.

Worrying times at Salford RL as well, i can't stand that city reds bollocks, i never call them that. It's been obvious the move to a new stadium hasn't really gone to plan. Letting Matty Smith go Wigan early, presumably because they needed the money was a poor sign after a reasonably encouraging first half of the season. My worry for them is how on earth will they ever build anything there if the continually have to let their best talent go. A look around super league and how many ex Salford players have gone on built on the promise they showed at Salford. Looking at things from the outside Sean Long seemed to be behind at lot of the good things that happened in the first half of the season, i'm wondering how long they will be able to keep hold of him in the future.
Having to move there game becasue of Sky and the fact Sale have moved in, was all too sadly predictable. Stockport county fans don't have fond memories of ground sharing with Sale sharks and their owner Kennedy.

The clown that is BoJo has had some negative press in the last couple of weeks from both left and more importantly for the country and for Johnson from the right. Bruce Anderson a Cameron loyalist went for the jugular, i still can't believe that he is a serious candidate for leadership of the tories, the man is just a complete chancer. Saying that i wouldn't cry if he was as i don't believe for a minute he would become prime minister for one minute. Mind you with the populist press behind him, covering the mess he leaves behind, who knows, George Bush managed to get elected twice, as Suzanne moore writes, Boris Johnson is no laughing matter.

Simon Jenkins loved the olympics but, but loathes the political attempts to hijack the glory, he could have added by people who weren't particularly keen on the idea of hosting them in the first place. The only political lesson from them, was that the state can make a difference, and outsourcing to the private sector should have been completely discredited, but with an election coming up that they are going to lose and jobs to find post 2015, that particular gravy train will go on and on. I suppose the question then will be has the Labour party really got rid of the "New" prefix, or will this redundant ideological claptrap beloved of Blairites and tories alike, see a new lease of life in austerity Britain after the toresi having been given the elbow.

Loving this news, Led Zep to release DVD of the 2007 reunion gig, after it's had a short theatrical run. How the west was won is a fucking brilliant package, i'm not sure which is the best, the first disc or the second, obviously the second had more variety with the best stuff from the latter albums, but it does also show there propensity for overdoing it, especially the Earls court show's. I still  love it though, only to be played at a high volume. The reunion gig was supposed to be pretty special, so i can't wait to get my mits on it and indulge myself.

Rooney back in the news

Seeing as though Rooney was the last thing on our minds going into Sunday and after those joyous last few minutes, the last couple of days have seen the Scouser all over the back pages. Not much to say about the extracts from the book except at least it seems he has some self awareness, the only problem he seems to be pretty fatalistic about his weight problem, it's his body to try and look after better.
I'm still non plussed how Fergie could have started him at Everton, looking at any of the pre-season games he took part in, it was staring you in the face how unfit he was. And when he is unfit, it's like watching us play with ten men. In fact it shows the paucity of England's options that they were so desperate to take him in the summer even though he could have potentially only played in one game. For the two games he did play, he was nigh on invisible, how was Welbeck took off before him was another astounding decision.
Jamie Jackson asks are his best days behind him, that's up to him really, has he the hunger. When he agitated for a move, there was speculation that he knew, or his agent Stretford that this might be his last chance of a big pay day, seeing as though that has probably gone, you'd think he would want to knuckle down and try to help the club regain the league and maybe get one more shot at a Champions league final

United open new £13 medical centre, which Fergie hopes will give United a competitive advantage in the field of rehabilitation and fitness. I think the record screams that we either need to catch up to City first or get luckier before we dream of leading the field. Our injury record over the last two seasons, which hes already fed into the beginnings of the present one must be the worst run of injuries the club has sustained in all the time i've been watching them. The squad's of the 70's, 80's and even early 90's would have been fucked.

Unsuprisingly United are at the forefront of attempts to adopt a domestic version of UEFA's FFP policy with the support of another US owned club, Liverpool, with little to no understaning of how football actually works, and why there aren't fortunes to be made from ownership. We all know why Gill is at the forefront of this, nice of rentagob Whelan to remind the world though. Obviously i'm in favour of controlling football finance, it can wait until our glorious owners have fucked off into the sunset for me though, even if it hands City an advantage over us.

Music
Ametsub - All is silence: Second long player from Japanese techno artist, Ryuichi Sakamoto is pretty good, it veers towards ambient at times, but there's there are some hooks in there.

Best coast - The only place: The second album from the US indie pop outfit, carries on the promise of the debut. Lots of indie radio friendly tunes, a good listen.

Cornershop - Urban turban: I hadn't listened to much of their stuff since their spot in the limelight in the nineties. But i liked their last album which i enjoyed and this is just as good. Varied in musical style, from indie to funky stuff to almost club dance and the obvious Asian influnces it's an enjoyable 50 minutes or so.

Delat Funktionen - Traces: The first full album from Dutchman Niels Luinenberg as Delta Funktionen is absolutely top notch techno, i love this and could listen to this on loop for hours.

Go-Kart Mozart - Are on the hot dog streets: Third album from former indie band Felt front man, it's very English in a kind of Kinks, Squeeze and maybe Brit pop era Blur vein. It's not bad but doesn't get anywhere near the heights of those bands.

Mayer Hawthorne - How do you do: Second album from the US neo soul newbie, it's pretty good and veers towards pure pop as well as soul to me at times. Some real radio friendly tunes on it.

Southampton 2-3 Manchester United

A disappointing performance, but what a final few minutes, whilst we all like to think there are no such things as lost causes for United, the masters of the last minute comeback, the fact is last season we misplaced this part our DNA. United had one of the worst records in the league for coming from behind. If we went behind last season you feared the worst. So as well as the elation of turning a seeming certain defeat into three points withing a couple of minutes at the end of yesterday's game, it was welcome to see the return of no such thing as a lost cause.
As for the performance though, well it left a lot to be desired, we are still playing like a bunch of strangers at times, player's not really sure of their exact role in the scheme of things. It was a suprise to hear that Ferdinand was going to be in the line up next to Vidic, though not as much as seeing De Gea dropped to the subs bench for Lindegaard. I really didn't and still don't get that. Alright De Gea didn't cover himself in glory for the second Fulham goal last week, but he had made enough top class saves in the first two games to make amends for that. With our back four changing week by week, game by game even, keeping the number one jersey consistent should surely be a must. Lindegaard didn't make any howlers, but he didn't really justify De Gea's demotion.
United started well, for the first ten minutes we bossed possession and were looking good. Once Southampton got into it however United just seemed to fall away, again we looked ropey at the back, but this time the midfield didn't function at all. As well as Kagawa played in the first two matches he was a problem for us yesterday as he just couldn't get into it at all. The man who was there to knit things together and be the creative fulcrum just seemed to be finding himself too deep and was bullied off it as for instance when Southampton took the lead. It was a decent enough pass to him from Cleverley, but he was too slow, and once dispossessed we were int trouble, it was still a soft goal to concede.
United did well to respond fairly quickly, and i'll have to hold my hands up here, i was fairly lukewarm about the signing of Van Persie when it was first mooted, though excited once the signing was made. I didn't think there was that much wrong up front, at least in comparison with other area's of the squad. But in his first two games, i now see why Fergie was so desperate to get him, he looks the best centre foward we have had at the club since Van Nistelroy left for Real Madrid. Let's face it without him yesterday we would have left with nothing. He was excellent, fucked up penalty apart, three completely different type of goals and his link up play was excellent.
Van Persie and Fergie both mentioned the introduction of Scholes as the game changer, and he was that without doubt, but i thought Le Tissier made a fair point when saying if he had been on earlier in the game he wouldn't have had as much room and wouldn't have been as big an influence. It's fair to say Cleverley wasn't at his best either yesterday, but i put that down to the formation. In both our away games so far we have started with a 4-3-3 and it's fair to say we haven't looked very comfortable with it. Strange really it became our default formation whilst Ronaldo was at the club, so i'm not sure why we seem to be so uncomfortable with it so far.
Still three points is three points, as we go into the first international break of the season. It's hard to judge where we are at the moment, it would be nice to see a consistent back four and to see Phil Jones back, i prefer him to Rafael at right back. Miguel Delaney made a fair point in his analysis of the game, United have not found the right balance between attack and defence, a similar problem to the one we had at the beginning of last season when we were scoring goals for fun, but looked like conceding at will as well, and of course we eventually did, at home to City, of all team's to do it against. So still a work in progress, but we haven't forgot how to win.

Former reds back up goalie Van Der Gouw predicts big things for new left back Buttner, there were rumours he would start in front of an injured Evra yesterday, i don't know what happened there, there didn't seem much wrong with Evra who lasted the 90 minutes easily.

Mike Brealey asks not just why is Andrew Strauss retiring from the England captaincy, but from cricket altogether, fascinating as always. I can't believe that Pietersen didn't play at least a small part in his decision, but i suppose if he says it didn't, you have to take him at his word. I still wouldn't taking Pietersen to India, though i get the feeling that he'll go.

I wasn't very confident ahead of Lancs ccc semi final at home to warwickshire on Saturday, and my pessimism was well founded as they kept up their decade long record of choking during the big one day matches. I read somehwere they have now lost 11 of their last 12 one day semi finals, that is an unbelievably poor record.
I suppose it didn't help that the wicket was completely atypical to the ones that they had been undefeated on, in the competition so far. How they managed to prepare a wicket more suited to opposition's attack than to Lancs with three spinners, i don't know. Still I didn't think 250 we ungettable and Horton's innings showed it wasn't, the top order just panicked when they couldn't keep up with the rate instead of going steadily and leaving themselves with say 100 of the last 10 overs with wickets in hand. It seems like an age ago when Lancy were the one day kings.