Chelsea 2-3 Manchester United

Well that was a pretty satisfying afternoon, all those dodgy decisions we've suffered down there over the last few seasons put right in one game and not before time. To be honest when that second goal went in, i thought we were really going to batter them, but what the fuck, it was a great three points.
One thing is for sure, whoever goes on to win the league, it will be the team with the best attack, because neither us, Chelski or the divs are as good as they should be at the back.
We started the game on fire, counter attacking like we were back in the 90's with pace and puropse. It helped us that the rent boys weakness is at the back, which is ironic i suppose, since they fluked their way to a European champions victory by putting ten men behind the ball. Van Persie was on fire, he likes playing at Stamford bridge, i had a little bet on him to score a hatrick, as he had done for Arsenal last season and only a post stopped me from making £50 quid on it. For all the talk of United playing a 4-4-2, it was a bit more fluid than that, Rooney was dropping into central midfield as much as supporting Van Persie.
In fact, as the game wore on, that started to count against us, as we started to sit too deep, comfortable with a two goal lead, but giving them the chance to find their feet in the game. Still it took a special goal to get them back into the game. Though Rooney wants a bit of a talking too for giving away a stupid free kick. It was a fantastic strike from Mata though. If we had got through to the break with the two goal lead i was sure we would have gone on to an easy three points.
It wasn't to be though, as the goal gave them a lift and when the equaliser went in, you wondered whether our stamford bridge hoodoo was going to continue. The first sending off was a plain a red card as there can be, though given the fixture, i was still not sure he would recieve an early bath. The second red for Torres was obviously a blunder from the ref, but the kind of decision we have been due in this fixture. As for the winner from Hernandez, yes he was offside, but to be fair to the linesman, it all happened in a flash and his view was obscured. I was a little disappointed we didn't go for the jugular during the last ten minutes, but i suppose the game on Wednesday was on their minds.
As for what the ref is supposed to have said, I'm amazed that Chelsea want to take this any further, given the John Terry situation, and their grubby response all the way through that sad affair.

Manchester United 3-2 SC Braga

It has to be said, when i saw the line up, whilst having a pint before the match, i wondered whether that back four was taking the opposition a little for granted. It was a good job the attack was as strong as it was, otherwise this could have been another one of those embarrassing nights we have suffered in Europe over the last couple of seasons.
I don't know whether Fergie is purposely picking a strong attack almost every game as the best form of defence with our limited defensive resources or we're just getting lucky. Jones and Smalling can't get back quick enough, it wasn't really fair on Buttner starting him last night with Carrick at centre half. Saying that i'm not really sold on Buttner, he's not bad as a back up, but he doesn't look to have the class to have any chance of being Evra's permanent successor.
We couldn't have had a worse start going behind, in just the second minute. And what a soft goal it was, the cross came in far too easily and the goalscorer Alan was given all the time in the world to head home. It was another shocking start from us and it got worse when the second went in on the twenty minute mark, another terribly soft goal, this time Carrick was beaten far too easily. United fought their way back into the game and got a goal back after Henandez nodded home a fine Kagawa cross. It was the Japanese play maker's best moment in the game in what was another worryingly ineffectual performance from him. Mind you he did set up Hernandez again for what should have been a first half equaliser, but it was wrongly ruled out.
Kagawa received a knock just before half time and was replaced by Nani at half time, the Portugese winger didn't really improve things on the flank, giving one of his maddeningly inconsistent displays.
The equaliser was as scruffy as they come , but we''ll take them as Jonny Evans netted again, with United once more scoring from a corner. Cleverley had been one of our brighter performers on the night and his cross from the winner was like an action replay of David Beckham at his best. Hernandez made the most of it powering home the winning goal, before Fergie surprisingly took him off. With a hatrick beckoning and a place on the bench the liklihood for Sunday, there didn't seem much point in taking him off.
United tried to coast the latter stages, not that convincingly, but we got there in the end. Performance wise, we haven't set the world alight so far in Europe, but i'll take nine out of nine points. Hopefully we will wrap the group up in Portugal and get our returning injured and some of our fringe players a game over the last two games.   

Manchester United 4-2 Stoke City

Another action packed game at Old trafford, and though it was entertaining stuff, once again we looked all over the place at the back at times. It's a good job we have a forward line that looks as good on the pitch as it does on paper. As with many others i had feared that the international break had come just at the wrong time for us. We had started and finished in great style in our last game at Newcastle, but Saturday was back to the sluggish starts that has characterised the rest of the season so far.
As far as the football on the pitch goes, Stoke are my least favourite side in the top flight, the football they can only be described as horrible. Fortunately for us, whilst we usually get a tough game down in the potteries they have never really threatened to do anything up here since they returned to the top flight. With the start they made in the first twenty minutes, their best display against us here, for ages, and the goal they eventually scored i'll admit i started to worry if it was going to be one of those seasons, where teams who are usually three point bankers at home, upset the apple cart after Tottenham turned around their Old trafford hoodoo over, on our last home performance. Who knows, if they had took that great chance to go two up who knows, but De Gea was up to the task, some were blaming him for the first goal around me at the game, i've no idea why he had no chance with that.
That seemed to spark United into life and the chances started to come. United were never really that fluent all the game, but the movement was excellent, especially between Rooney, Van Persie and Welbeck. Rooney carried on the improved form he showed at Newcastle, though he can't really be described as being anywhere near back to his best yet. Welbeck was the pick of the three for me, he was unlucky not to end up with more than just the one goal.
The equalising goal saw Van Persie put a cross in that any left winger would have been proud of and Rooney made no mistake in dispatching it.The second goal couldn't have come at a better time, Stoke at the very least deserved to go into the half time break level, so that was a bit of a killer blow. Valencia this time putting in the cross for Van Persie finishing things off. The South American had a funny game, he's not really hit the kind of form we know he's capable of yet this season. Next Sunday, at Stamford bridge, would be a good place to find it.
The third goal after just a minute of the second half was going to be the killer i thought, but no, more poor defending from us, saw Stoke come back to put the outcome in doubt. The final goal that did actually kill the game was probably a bit soft from the visitors point of view, but from ours, another goal from a corner, what's happening there. United coasted through the last twenty minutes, but never really threatened to add to the scoreline.
The next couple of games, it goes without saying are going to be important, i can't really see us coming a cropper at home to Arsenal, but if we defend as we have been away next Sunday at Stamford bridge, it could be embarrassing. The forwards can't keep bailing us out every week, it will be as interesting to see the formation we go with next week as the personnel picked.

I suppose the other talking point from Saturday was Ferguson spitting the dummy out over Ferdinand's decision not to wear that anti-racism T-shirt. I'm afraid Fergie's bang out of order over this as far as i'm concerned. Ferdinand is totally withing his rights not to wear it and i'd even say that he's probably in the right. He may not be every red's cup of tea off the pitch, but the footballing authorities in this country are great at saying the right things, but not so great in acting on those words.
As Ian Whittell says Ferdinand is coming to end of his time at United anyway, so i doubt there will be any meeting of minds between him and Fergie. He wasn't great again on Saturday, he didn't cover himself in any glory for Stoke's second. I still wouldn't be suprised to see a experienced centre back signed in the summer and both Vidic and Ferdinand departing.
But as Hansen writes this morning i'm not sure what Fergie thinks he's going to do to "deal" with Ferdinand's decision.

The season finally begins

Thank fuck we have finally got the international breaks out of the way at last. The way the start to a new season always gets broken up with these breaks, does my bonce in, the season never really feels like it has started until they are out of the way.
It was good to see Jonny Evans have such a storming game in Portugal for Northern Ireland, i feel the key to the run of games we have coming up is keeping him and Ferdinand together for the big games at Chelsea and at home to Arsenal. Leaving Smalling to come back for the league cup and maybe the Braga games. As usual it seems, our lads seem to find the net for their countries, here's hoping the form we showed at Newcastle carries on tomorrow.
As for England, i didn't think they were that bad against San Marino, but they were poor in Poland, not that it should matter too much, a point there is a good result. It was interesting to see Cleverley start both games and to see him used in different positions. It's looking like he has persuaded Hodgson that he should be one of the first names on his team sheet. I though he was the one player who performed over both the games. The less said about Rooney's performance in Poland the better, from our point of view it was good to see that occur in an England shirt and not a United one.

I saw both of the under 21's games against Serbia where England deservedly went through, though without setting the world alight. All the talk is obviously about the racism, and rightly so, Serbia need punishing, but how, i'm not sure. One thing i would say though is i wouldn't want any of my players admitting that the stick had got to them, whatever the provocation. I'm not expecting UEFA to do anything other than slap the Serbian FA on the hand, and knowing that gutless organisation they'll probably even it up with a fine for England.
I watched the games mainly to have a bit more of a look at Tom Ince, big time Charlie's son, who we have been heavily linked to. I have seen him play for Blaclpool quite a few times and have liked the look of him, in fact i have always wondered why he didn't seem to be linked with any of the big clubs. Anyway, after watching him a bit more closely, i do think he would be a good signing, in the same way as Nick Powell has been. The potential is definitely there, and though he is nowhere near the finished package, what stood out apart from the ability to beat a man, was a pretty good football brain. If United have an agreement, it would make sense to let him stay at Blackpool for the rest of the season, i don't think the business end of the premier league season would be the ideal time to bring him here.  

Even though Evra scored in the last game and put in a half decent performance for the first time in ages, the next few games will give us more of an idea whether he has really turned a corner.
Ian Herbert writing before that game wrote a column about the Frenchmens deterioration and speculated it was only Fergie's obsession with our attack and making sure we don't lose the title on goals difference again.

Music

Can - Ege Bamyasi: They brought this out in the middle of their golden period in the early 70's and it stands up to the standards they had already set. As good as anything they did.

Cat Power - Sun: A pretty good album, though no classic, it doesn't get near the heights of 2006's The greatest, there's not as many really memorable songs.

Christine Tobin - Sailing to Byzantium:  This got some great reviews, but it didn't set the world alight for me, it's one of those albums i seem to have to be in the mood to enjoy.
Matthew Dear - Beams: I like this, the mix of electronica and progressive rock/pop, the second track sounds very Joy Division which isn't always a good sign, but it cuts the mustard.

Richard Hawley -Standing at the skys edge: This got rave reviews, and it is a grower, it 's very good, though i didn't think the sound was that different, the guitars don't get that loud.

The Vaccines - Come of age: Their debut was pretty good slice of indie guitar with heavy nods to the 70's and this follows suit. That's two pretty good albums, can they make the third a real killer album.

Newcastle United 0-3 Manchester United

Well that was a bit more like it, a pretty convincing display and a reasonably comfortable three points. I can't say i was that confident ahead of this match, the hope i clung to was that second half display against Spurs. It was great to see that they did indeed carry on where they left of in that game. The starting line up was similar except with Cleverley in the team in place of Scholes and Welbeck instead of Nani and starting the game with a diamond like formation.
For once this season we started well right from the kick off, the first twenty minutes were completely dominated by the boys in red. The midfield took a complete stranglehold on the game and Newcastle couldn't cope. In fact Welbeck could and should have scored after a couple of minutes, after being set up by a delightful back heel from Jonny Evans of all people. I'm a big fan of Welbeck, but even i would have to admit that he needs to score more bread and butter goals. In fact he had an even better chance after we had took the lead, after dispossessing Newcastle hapless keeper Harper when he went walkabout, but he made an even bigger mess of that. That said i would still always like to see him the team because he makes things happen, oppostion defence's don't like him up against them.
The odd thing, i suppose from the victory was both of our first two goals coming from corners, and the heads on the end of them, belonging to Jonny Evans with only his second goal for the club and Evra with only his fourth. They were both cracking finishes though and we looked dangerous all the game from set pieces.
The home team came into the game half way through the first half after making a tactical change, but another good sign on the day was the way our defence stood up to that pressure. Evra was a lot better, the centre back partnership looked more solid, Evans had a very confident game seeing as though he's only a couple of games into his comeback and Rafael continued his improved form.
The second half was more even and if the goal that wasn't had been given it could have been a rollercoaster of a second half. I suppose us De Gea fans would have to hold our hands up and admit the number one was poor yesterday as the home team targeted the Spaniard with crosses. I'm not sure why he kept coming for them to be honest, Van Der Sar never came for everything, as long as the back four know when he's going to come and when he stay's on his line, that's the most important thing.
The Cleverley goal killed them off, i have to admit watching the game live, i thought it was a cross, but having seen it again, i believe him when he told the press that he meant it after the game. Obviously that means it was an outstanding goal. After the Tottenham debacle this was the perfect response, so what a pity we now have another international break. Fingers crossed that our players come through that with no further injuries.

Injuries, no call ups and

A glimmer of good news on the defensive front with the revelation that Smalling is back in training, it's not exactly news though is it, Fergie told the press last week, he was back doing a bit of running. It will be good to see him back, Rio's back may now get a rest every now and then. I suppose you can never say never but i'll be amazed if he is on the bench on Sunday.
Ferdinand doesn't seem to be able to put England behind him does he. I can't really understand him to be honest, sure Hodgson has handled it appallingly, but in reality Ferdinand is lucky to be playing every week for United with his reduced mobility, so how he thinks playing for England is going to help him prolong his career is beyond me.
I can't say i'm suprised that Fergie is happy about Ferdinand's omission, i would be amazed if he hadn't given Hodgson a bit of a steer on his non inclusion, Gary Neville seems to he read the script pretty well, even if he won't be getting any more christmas cards from the Ferdinand household.

Needless to say, Sunday is a big game, and a tough one, i'd be lying if i didn't admit i'd take a point. That's not to say if we play anywhere near our best we shouldn't win, it's just it's hard to see at the moment. We have always played our best attacking football when we have confidence in the back four, so it's not just that we look susceptible at the back all the time, i think it impedes the attack. That's without taking int consideration that we just don't seem to have clicked at all this season.
The defeat up there last year was up there with our worst displays of the season, no repeat of that please. I've no idead what team or formation he will go with, or even what i'd pick, i do know i'd be keeping De Gea in and i'd be starting Cleverley. I'm pretty sure Lindergaard will be in goal and won't be suprised if it's Carrick and Scholes in a two man midfield. Valencia regaining fitness should be good news, though his last two performances were shockers to be fair. I'd like to see Welbeck start, but i can't see beyond Van Persie and Rooney as our forwards unless he plays a similar formation to Wednesday.

Music

Animal collective - Centipede HZ: Pretty good, but a step down from their previous effort, to be fair though, Merriweather post pavillion set the bar very high.

Black dice - Mr impossible: I'm sure that this would be too experimental for most tastes but i enjoyed the experimental electronica from the New York outfit. Industrial noise that gets you tapping your feet.

Damon Albarn - Dr Dee: I wasn't sure about this, the switch between modern and medieval music seemed a bit too extreme over the first couple of listens, but when i got to used to it, it's really grown on me.

Florence and the machine -Ceremonials: Decent, and a couple of real stand out tracks, but it's very similar to the first album, almost formulaic

Jorge Ben - Africa Brasil: Samba funk, Brazillian afrobeat, whatever this is classed as, it's a brilliant album.

Lightships - Electric Cable's:I'd forgotten what it was that made me get this, so when i listened to it at first, the influence i was getting was the Byrds, but a modern version and then i thought who does that sound like, Teenage fanclub. And then i remembered it was a Gerald Love solo album and it is very good, good enough to Teenage fanclub, high praise.

Bee Gees - Odessa: I'd never been much of a fan of the brothers Gibb, but then i'd never heard this double album offering from 1969, that is truly of its time, and truly excellent, full of great tunes.

CFR Cluj 1-2 Manchester United

I suppose we can call this a job done at the end of the day, but it wasn't as comfortable as it should have been and our flaws at the back were there for all to see yet again. Before the group began this tie seemed like the easiest of our group stages abroad, but after the first two sets of games, it's hard to know whether that was the correct call. It certainly became a tougher test than we'd hoped for after yet another poor start and yet again going behind in the first half.
For the umpteenth time over the last couple of seasons, eyes will turn to Evra and wonder why on Earth Fergie has retained faith in him again this season. There were strong rumours of a bid for Baines in the summer and whilst, he isn't as good as Evra was at his best, he is far superior to the over the top figure the Frenchman has become. His positioning and then decision making for the opening goal were almost comical, granted Evans didn't exactly cover himself in glory either, but then Evra was exposed as if he hadn't existed.
I wouldn't say we had started well, but we had started the game as we meant to go on, controlling possession. Of course were helped by the fact they were quite happy to play away tactics at home, sitting very deep and trying to catch us on the break. Fergie opted for the 4-3-1-2 that he started with against Newcastle in the league cup with last week. I'm not sure about the system yet, i suppose it helps to enable us to keep the ball, important at the moment with a dodgy back four. On the other hand there is absolutely no natural width and that is where United have always created most of our chances. I suppose the acid test for me would be to see us play this way with Carrick and Scholes in midfield against a half decent side. It's going to be a tough game on Sunday up in geordieland and the defence will need protection, will he continue with it, big gamble if he does.
The equaliser was fortunate, Van persie putting it in with his shoulder, not the intended head, but it was very timely, it allowed us to settle down again and play with patience. It was a nice ball from Rooney who again showed signs of getting back somewhere near his best. He drops very deep at times in this formation, almost swapping places with Cleverley at times. I thought Cleverley did well last night and i definitely would like to see him start on Sunday. As for our other two engine room players, Fletcher did alright, but made a couple of sloppy errors that in his new role that better teams would have punished. So his rehabilitation continues, but i wouldn't want to see him play against a top half of the table team just yet. As for Anderson, it seems reds fall into two camps on him, some see unfulfilled potential who should be given a consistent tun in the team, whilst others see someone not fit to wear the shirt. You can put me in the latter, obviously, he wasn't poor last night, but as usual you didn't see anything that would scare the cream of Europe either.
The highlight of the game was the second and decisive goal, a glrious through ball found Van Persie who found the back of the net with a sublime finish. For the most part of the second half United dominated possession, but we still had our moments at the back and i would have liked us to have tried a little harder to get that third and killer goal. It's to be hoped that the Evans substitution was precautionary with Newcastle in mind and not something worse. It's worrying that it seemed to be the same thigh he hurt in the dying moments of the Spurs defeat.
At least we have started with two wins and given ourselves our great chance of getting qualification done and dusted early season after the ignominity of failing to advance out of the group stages last time around. And then hopefully some of the younger lads might get a chance for the last couple of games, i would like to see Powell getting a game at this level at some stage.

Daniel Taylor explains why Gary Neville is out on his own when it comes to TV punditry, he is of course, but some of us wouldn't mind him banging some heads together in our back four on our training ground instead of Sky. The criticism of our full backs is of course justified, but i actually think, Rafael has shown promising signs, over the last few games. Yes he may have been out of position for Tottenham's last, but the Ferdinand of a couple of years ago would have covered the danger. That's the problem at the back at the moment, one bad mistake usually gets compounded by another. Rafael isn't anywhere near the finished article by any means, but he is actually improving at the moment, which is at least promising.

Manchester United 2-3 Tottenham hotspur

I've a mass of contradictory feelings about Saturday's second defeat of the season. Firstly it was no real surprise, we have been getting out of jail continually since the Everton defeat, if there's a surprise, it's that this didn't happen last week. Secondly with our defensive problems and the time it seems to be taking our new lads to gel, i'll be happy if we can get through the next for or five games without another defeat. And lastly, despite us coming out of the game with no points, i fucking loved loved that game, the first half was of course appalling, but that second half was what United should be all about. We deserved the draw, the chances created by us compared to them show you that, though you could argue the ineptitude of the first half at the back meant we were lucky to only lose by one goal.
All post match comment focused on our midfield that supposedly got blown away. I'll admit that they went straight through the middle of us for the second goal, but when he was in his twenties people would go past Scholes like that. And it was the same central midfield personnel that went on to absolutely boss the second half with the little master giving an absolute mastclass. Once we changed shape and brought Rooney on for Giggs, the game completely changed.
The main problem for me, again, is the defence, the way Bale just waltzed by Ferdinand for the second goal just epiomised why we should probably looking for a new centre half next summer. Gary Neville wrote a column a bit ago where he told us that Fergie trusts his centre halves to cope one on one. That really can't happen any more, Ferdinand has really been finished as a world class centre half for a couple of seasons and after last weeks news, you have to fear the worst for Vidic's ability to return to the form that made Real Madrid want to take him there. I have said it before the injuries to Smalling and Jones could not have come at a worse time, this is when they should have been gaining the experience to take over from our mainstay central defensive partnership of the past six years.
The other gripe from Saturday has to be our formation, we haven't really looked cohesive or like we were happy in it all season. Kagawa doesn't seem to be fitting into our shape or style of play when in the hole and he seems to have formed absolutely no understanding with Van Persie, despite the second goal. It was the right decision to take Giggs off in the second half, and to put Kagawa on the left. Time seem to have caught up with Giggs this season, he just didn't have the legs to go past anybody or to even get in the game. Rooney made a difference as soon as he came on and i'm sure i'm not alone in being baffled as to why he started on the bench after his encouraging return to the fold in midweek.
Nani had a bit of a return to form in the second half and rafael behind him had his second good game in a week, he kept his concentration at the back as well as keeping going forward to good effect right to the end. In fact we had a spell in the second half where our attacking play was as good as anything we have seen over the last few years. I have read reports praising Spurs and their ability to keep us out after we we got back to 3-2, but in reality we opened them up time after time, and should have had a at least one penalty. Saying that, the luck we've had against Tottenham over the years, they were probably due a bit of luck against us.
Looking back at the first half you can see complacency in both the players selected and in the selection itself. I'm not exactly looking forward to Newcastle away next week, we'll have to find a better way to protect our wobbly defence whilst not stifling the kind of attacking performance we saw in the second half. As to Cluj, i really haven't a clue as to the team, tactics or what kind of oppostion we'll be facing in Romania. Three points would be very welcome though.

There was talk about Rio returning to the England fold after Terry's international retirement, that led to Fergie declaring that he thought it would be unlikely. As Hansen said in the telegraph this morning after Saturday's debacle, there's surely no way that Hodgson would go back to him however average the competition. It's a bit like watching the Lauren Blanc that we saw at end of his career at United, he just hasn't got the legs anymore.
I'm not sure Fergie really believes this is the case at the moment, whilst it seems a bit weird to admit Vidic didn't look fully fit. Andrew Cole thinks the FA were right to ban John Terry, why only four games would seem to be the only thing worth saying there.