Bayer Leverkeusen 0-5 Manchester United

Well, where the fuck did that come from, I wasn't really expecting that much from last night, though I did quite like the starting eleven when I saw it. Leverkeusen were terrible, that has to be said, but still, United counter attacked like the United of old and during the latter stages went for their throat, instead of sitting back and settling for the three points.
The team had a better balance to it, with Kagawa in the hole and Rooney up front and the centre midfield of Giggs and Jones was on a different level to that engine room selected for Cardiff. Giggs was excellent, and Jones was quietly effective, with Kagawa dropping deeper and knitting attack and midfield far better than Rooney has so far this season when deployed as the number ten. Rooney started as the number 9, which for me is his best position and just as importantly seems to be where he wasnts to play. He had a good game last night, as he did on Sunday, I still think Van Perise, on form is the better player, though no doubt when the Dutchman returns to the squad, it will be Kagawa who returns to the flank.
I thought Valencia had a pretty good game last night, even if he was playing against a make shift left back, his form has improved as the season has gone on. He's still not the rampaging right winger of his first full season at the club, but he's not the shell of a player that he had become last season, thank god. Nani had a reasonable game on his re-introduction to the first team after his being booed off the pitch against Stoke City. He started erratically but got more dangerous as the game went along, ending it with a fine take from Giggs sublime pass and an excellent finish
If you could script a European away game, it couldn't have been scripted much better than last night. We kept them quiet for the first 20 minutes, whilst looking occasionaly threatening on the break, taking the lead at the end of that period of play with a lovely goal started by Kagawa on the counter with Tony V finishing off Rooney's cross at the back post. I'm racking my brains to remember a goal scored by us on the counter attack away from home this season, I still can't think of one. There's not much, that's more exciting in football than goals started in your own half and finished off at pace.
The second goal, was basically poor defending from the home team, and their heads did seem to drop then. They didn't really seriously threaten United's goal for the rest of the game and the rest of the night was one which the players and watching reds could enjoy.
What really thrilled me about last night was the way we kept going, right until the end, it's always done my head in, the amount of times United basically settle for the three points when a couple of goals up. Surely when you have a big squad, there is less justice in doing this, players aren't sure whether they'll be playing the next game, so they shouldn't be going down a gear, taking it easy. If that's a trait Moyes has started to get through to the players, rather than just one of those nights where we clicked and the opposition were poor, then i'm impressed and hope to see more.
Pity they aren't a premier league side, our goal difference would have been noticeably improved if the nine goals we have scored during our two Champions league tiesagainst them had been scored in the premier league. Of course it's back to domestic matters on Sunday, where despite Tottenham's debacle last Sunday at City, it will probably be a really tough game. They'll be a few changes no doubt, if he's fit I expect Welbeck to start, and of course Van Persie will walk into the team as well. Hopefully Vidic is fit to return at the expense of Ferdinand, who once more had a couple of wobbly moments again last night. It's becoming a bit hard to know what to expect from us at the moment, fortunately for us, you could say that for most of our challengers.

Cardiff City 2-2 Manchester United

I feared the worst when i saw the team, a central midfield that screamed, not good enough, plus Ferdinand at centre half and Smalling once again at right back. Losing Jones just after it had been announced we had lost Carrick for at least a month was the last thing we needed really. Of course we have seen performances as aimless as that with Carrick in the team, but without him, it was virtually guaranteed.
I had hoped and expected Giggs to start yesterday, but it seems as if Moyes is going to stick to starting Giggs in the cup in the cup competitions and using Giggs as a substitute in the league. I'm not sure that's going to do much for our league campaign, with such a dearth of creativity available in the middle of the park.
Ferdinand didn't have a particularly bad game yesterday, but our worst defensive performances have generally come when he has been in the starting eleven. Once again I just don't understand the selection of Smalling at right back, what you may gain defensively in the air, you more than lose offensively. He does make good surging runs forward at times, but at the end of them, hasn't got a clue what to do. He gave the ball away far too often yesterday which was the last thing we needed with absolutely nothing coming from the sub standard engine room.
That Rooney was probably our best player, tells you all you need to know about our performance yesterday, because he was no great shakes. You can't really argue against the arguments that he should have been sent of, after that needless kick out, though when it's Souness doing the arguing, it's worth remembering him in his prime. It would have been a really dumb red card though, it's not as if the guy had been persistently fouling Rooney, the game had only been going for ten minutes or so. I suppose after that incident, it had to be Rooney, the pantomime villain for the home crowd that opened the scoring. Though I thought he'd fucked it up when he cut inside, and but for the deflection he probably wouldn't have beaten the keeper.
The equaliser from Campbell was probably the best bit of football in the match and only what the home team deserved. The ball from Whittingham, vied with Giggs late long ball for the pass of the day. When Evra headed home on the stroke of halftime to give us a scarcely deserved lead, i dared to hope it was going to be our day. And to be fair, as average as we were for the majority of the second half, i couldn't really see them scoring. Which made the leveller all the more galling, as Evra switched off and one of the smallest of their men in the box headed home.
Yet the game wasn't finished and we contrived to miss some glorious chances. Rooney was possibly trying to do the right thing with the pull back to Welbeck, but imagine the grief Welbeck would have got if he'd have executed it as poorly as that. The late Smalling miss wasn't as glorious chance, but it was a real chance all the same. It may have fallen to the wrong man, but to be fair to Smalling anybody could have pulled it, when the chance was as snapshot as that.
There isn't really much to say about Fellaini and Cleverley that hasn't been said before. I was no fan of Fellaini at Everton, but, even I can't believe he's as bad as he has looked for us so far. As for Cleverley, I had high hopes for him when he came back to us after his loan spells, he looked like he was going to be a top player, but he just isn't bringing enough to his game to be a real Manchester United player.
So on to Leverkeusen and then, the real biggie for me, Tottenham away, we really needed to get the three points yesterday with that trip in mind. And after yesterday's debacle at the boo camp, Spurs will be under real pressure from their own fans to put on a performance. I hope Jones is ready for that, because I'd really fear for us to go into that game with the starting eleven and particularly the midfield two we started with yesterday. In fact with the resources available, there must be a very strong case for going into that game with three in the middle.

No Carrick, no panic?

Well we've pondered this nightmare scenario for a couple of seasons, what would happen if Carrick was missing from the heart of the team for any length of time. I suppose it's only 4-6 weeks and a couple of weeks of that is taken up a with international break, so it could have been worse. But we still have a couple of away games coming up, and that game against Tottenham was looking like one of the harder games of the season. With no Carrick in our side and with Spurs seemingly packed with midfield talent, it just got harder.
For all the jubilation of the result against Arsenal, that will mean pretty much nothing if we don't now kick on with a lengthy unbeaten run that contains a sizeable number of three points. So whilst I would take a point at White hart lane, I think a win at Cardiff is pretty much a definite if we are really going to push ourselves back into a strong challenge to retain our title

It's nice to see Phil Jones getting a bit of credit in the meejah at last. He didn't start the season off too well, when he featured at right back, a position I thought he could do well in. But since he's alternated between central midield and centre back, combining them both last Sunday, he's started to look like the player we thought he was.
I still see him as a future Manchester United and England centre half, but when he can put in performances in central midfield like that last Sunday, the league cup tie against the dippers and last seasons games at White hart lane and the Bernebeu it must be hard for a manager to resist putting him at the heart of the team, especially if you're not exactly spolied for chance as United are. If he could add goals from that position you would be talking about a very serious Manchester United central midfield player indeed.

There were a couple of rumours doing the twitter rounds last night that Will Keane could be joining Nick Powell on loan at Wigan in the near future. That would be a very good move on everybody's part, it would be even better if he took his brother Michael with him. I think that we have a number of players at reserve/under 21 level at the moment who are just treading water. Even if it leaves us short on numbers at under 21 level it's about time a few of them were sent out into the big wide world.




Music

Babyshambles -Sequel to the prequel: I the last album Shotters nation quite a lot, so I was looking forward to this third album. It doesn't disappoint, though it's not quite as good as Shotters nation, it's still got it's fair share of cracking tunes.

Eleanor Friedberger -Persoal record: I liked the quirkiness of the debut Fiey Furnaces album, but have never really floowed their resulting career. I always presumed that Matthew Friedberger was the driving musical force behind the brother/sister duo, so it was a surprise to see her debut album get such good reviews. When this follow up got equally good ratings, I thought i better give it a listen. It is really very good, the sound is a more conventional version of the Fiery Furnaces, more recognisable songs, that would be raio frindly.

Goldfrapp -Tales of us: They seem to have gone back to a pretty minimalist sound on this, their sixth studio album. The sound is a kind of electronic at times psych-folk laid back vibe. I have to admit, it took me a while to get it, but I've ended up thinking it's one of their best albums, after first thinking it was one of their weaker efforts.

Herbie Hancock - Speak like a child: It must have been some mid sixties for the keyboard maestro. One the one hand part of one of Miles Davis's best combo's and then making superb solo albums such as this pearl. If you love the Miles Davis quintet of the period before he plugged in, you'll be sure to love this, but it's Hancock who is the star of this show.

Julian Cope - Revolutionary Suicide: I've only just got into his solo stuff, but I have got to admit that it's very enjoyable. I don't agree with all the lyrics, but they are always worth listening to and that from a music fan that's always been far more about the music than the lyrics. The Armenian genocide whilst fifteen minutes long and repetitive is also fucking superb.

Linda Perhacs - Parallelograms: I think this was one of those lost classic type albums albums i read about in Mojo, if so they were right, it is really excellent. The album does have traces of Joni Mitchell, in a good way, but it's not totally derivative, she does have her own sound. I'm not sure how artists can make albums as good as this and the just disappear of the face of the earth.

The Civil Wars - The civil Wars: A decent enough follow up to their superb debut album, but I suppose they set themselves some challenge in trying to match Barton Hollow. It has it's moments, but doesn't really get close to matching the first album.

Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal

An important win, which puts us right back into the title hunting mix after a weekend where all the main title pretenders dropped points, if we discount the dippers. It was a solid performance, especially the first half, where once more Phil Jones more than showed he can operate in the middle of the park. I can't help thinking his removal to centre half, made it easier for the opposition to get back into the game.
The team selected was fair enough, even if I doubt that would have Europe's finest quaking in their boots. I wouldn't have selected Smalling at right back, and despite an improved defensive display, he's still no right back for me. Jones and Carrick in central midfield is a decent pairing, not that creative, but it provides a solid base for the wide men and the front two. I would have liked Januzaj to start, but it was understandable he was left out given the significance of the day. The wide men did a reasonable job, Kagawa had an impressive first half, and Valencia without being right back to his best had as good a game as he's had this season.
Up front Rooney had his best game of the season, working hard and causing the Arsenal back line all kinds of problems. It wasn't perfect, he should have done better with that chance at the beginning of the second half, that could have ensured an easier second half.
I'm not getting as carried as other reds have, the second half saw us revert to our bad habit of gifting the opposition almost total control of midfield. A better opposition than Arsenal, or should i say, an opposition with forwards that can hurt you, would probably have broke us down. I know that this was the way Fergie's sides played at times, sitting back, inviting the opposition on, hoping to kill them on the counter attack. But I don't believe you can just give the opposition the kind of possession we gave them at times in the second half. Of course the removal of Jones to centre back, harmed us in that sense, Cleverley got brushed off the ball far too easily at times when introduced.
The first half was far better, we bossed the game in midfield and were the only team that looked as if it could hurt the other side when in attack. Saying that we didn't really create many chances, and the goal came from a set piece. Still we were in control of the game, the first time in a big game since the Real Madrid home tie last season.
I know Arsenal didn't really manage to to create much in the second half, but there were a few occasions where it was touch and go whether they were going to find that killer pass. As for their title hopes, after watching yesterday's performance, I'm not sure they have what it takes. They are much improved, that was the first serious test they have given us at Old trafford for a few years. But that lack of a real top class forward, is a serious handicap if you are aiming to compete with the very best in the premier league.
As for the weekends other results, I thought West Brom could do something at Chelsea, they're a decent team. But i didn't see the City defeat at Sunderland coming, after the 4-0 debacle, i would never have believed we would be be above them in the table come the beginning of November. I wasn't and aren't a fan of Mancini, but if they had kept faith in him in the summer, I think they would be doing rather better at the moment, mainly down to continuity. Thank fuck City can still fuck things up so spectacularly.

Real Sociedad 0-0 Manchester United

I know last night was really just a 90 minutes to get through unscathed ahead of Sunday's vital clash against Arsenal, but even so, that was just dire, especially that first 45 minutes. As soon as you saw the team, it was obvious there weren't going to be any firweorks. There was a stunning lack of mobility on the teamsheet, which showed up in the ponderous nature of our play during the first hour of the game. But the Basque outfit were so poor at Old trafford that last night was a wasted chance to put qualification to bed.
Obviously we did finally manage to create some chances in the second half, but if we'd sometimes start games with the intent we managed to show for that brief quater of an hour, maybe we'd make things easier for ourselves rather than harder.
The back four saw three players the wrong side of thirty, two of whom, i don't think will be here next season, who knows with Vidic. And once again Smalling was asked to do a job he's patently not cut out to do, he made some great overlapping runs in the first half, of course once there, he didn't know what to do. On the other side Evra was being asked to do the same job, but it took it's toll on him as he struggled to get back at times. All this of course as Fabio sits on the sidelines, seemingly having been sent to Siberia. I know all managers have their own idea of what they want to see in a footballer, but Buttner at left back and Smalling at right back ahead of Fabio, sure bamboozles the fuck out of me.
If there was a lack of mobility, Smalling aside at the back, central midfield was no different with Giggs partnering Fellaini. Giggs didn't really have one of his better nights as he celebrated yet more milestones on the night, 950 games for United and a champions league record appearance. Opinion of Fellaini's game seemed to be split between between those who think he did alright, doing the simple things and keeping things ticking over and those of us who think that was never the performance of a Manchester United player in a million years. Obviously you could say well what's Anderson been doing for the last few years. But that was the point, he was supposed to be bringing fresh midfield legs into the squad to improve things. So far, I see no improvement.
Kagawa and Valencia seemed to have been told to cut in to let the full backs overlap, for the first half at least. I suppose that it was fair enough to ask Kagawa to do that, he wants to do that anyway. But asking Valencia to do that, just seems to negate everything that's good about his game.
Rooney and Hernandez lived on scraps, it's fair to say, but neither player really touched any heights. I know the game had got stretched by the time Van Persie and Young came on and Kagawa moved inside. But for a quarter of an hour United actually looked a potent attacking force, mainly through the movement and vision of the Japanese wannabe number ten. He's like a different player when he moves inside, and at times lifts United up a level.
I've said my piece about Rooney often enough, he's not mobile enough at number ten, but he's still at top number nine. My ideal United team with our present personnel would see Kagawa at number ten with Januzaj on either left or right interchanging with the Japanese international and one of Rooney or Van Persie up front, it'll never happen of course.
As Januzaj is showing, this season was the perfect time to have started to bring our younger talent through. They have the skill, enthusiasm and legs, even if they haven't got the experience to rely on them all the time yet. I still think we have enough talent coming through at the club not to be too worried about the future. But they need to start getting opportunities, next season will be very interesting. 
For all the talk of Young's dive, it was and it was embarrassing, I thought we were unlucky not to be awarded an earlier one when I thought Kagawa was bundled over in the box. As with the commentators and everybody else, I think, I thought the keeper had saved it on first viewing. I don't blame players for missing penalties, but especially when they hit post. It wasn't really Van Persie's night as he hit the post when he probably should have hit the target.
The night ended on a low with the sending off, it was soft really, none of his tackles hurt anybody. But then again he can be clumsy and on the evidence so far, I'd say Scholesy was a more natural tackler than the big Belgian. That's not what we were supposed to be buying, especially for that price tag.
I suppose if we win on Sunday, last night will be totally forgotten, especially as the other result, went for us, we're still top of the group, with qualification in our own hands.But it would be nice to go away in Europe, every now and then, and remember the traditions of the club for exciting attacking football.

Fulham 1-3 Manchester United

Great result, but I think at half time, we all thought the scoring wasn't finished. Some have blamed the changes made at half time, but it did look at the time as if they were enforced changes, which Moyes confirmed after the game. To be fair, the home team were always going to improve after the break, they could hardly be much worse really. So the second half was at least partly explicable.
We are finally on the run we had all hoped to see, but i'm not getting too giddy yet, we haven't really looked that much better in all honesty, as the second half showed. I'm not really convinced by Arsenal this season, but next week will tell us something about where we are, all the same.
As usual it's always nice to see Januzaj on the teamsheet, and whilst he didn't have the impact he usually does, he still did more than enough to justify selection. It was a blow to lose Carrick, I hope he makes a recovery in time for next week, our midfield doesn't bare thinking about otherwise. Vidic made a rare back to back appearance, but in all truth wasn't really tested. The most encouraging aspect of that first half hour was the link up play and movement of our forwards, Van Persie and Rooney were on fire and in synch for the first time this season. Both got on the score sheet and both turned provider. With Januzaj causing problems on the left and Valencia having one of his better games, the absence of Carrick wasn't felt as much as it might have been.
Cleverley and Jones did a decent job in the first half, but Fellaini once again looked a bit of a lost soul when introduced during the second half, pretty worrying that really. The goals were all excellently conceived and executed, but I suppose we have to take poor opposition into account.
Given my take on Arsenal and looking at Chelski's unexpected defeat at the barcodes, I suppose we are reasonably placed if we can get two decent results against the north London duo. It really is a different season this year.

Roll up, roll up, the circus is back in town

What to make of the news that Beckham junior has had trials at the club. I suppose it's hard for me to forget the circus that his father became to the club, I would have been happier to have seen david Beckham a go a year earlier at the time. People forget, but he was definitely England captain first, Manchester United player second by that time in his career at United. That treble season, where he could lay claim to have been our most consistent player, seemed a long time ago by then. But who knows, it doesn't have to be like father, like son, does it. Saying all that, he could be a sack of shit, who knows, it's nice publicity all round though I suppose.
On the subject of Beckham, given the snippets the press gave us last week, one area where Fergie's judgement seemed spot on, was his evaluation of footballers to have played for and gainst United in his time as the manager of United. Gerrard, Lampard, very good, but not great, Ronaldo, the greatest in his time at the club, but wouldn't say he was better than Messi.
Ronaldo, probably was our greatest player since Best, though personally not really a favourite of mine I'm afraid. Don't get me wrong i loved watching him play and that period of 2006-2009, was as good as it's been, watching United for me, especially the 2006-07 season. But he was never really "United" in the same way as say, Eric, Ole, Giggsy and and Scholesy.

Music

Franz Ferdinand -Right thoughts, right words, right action: Another foot tapping guitar driven indie/pop album that hits the spot from the Scots outfit. They have never really hit the heights of the first album, but they never let you down.

Hot 8 Brass band - The life and time of: I absolutely love this album, New Orleans jazz fused with funk, blues and virtually every other form of black American music, and boys does it swing.

MGMT - MGMT: I'm still not sure what to make of this, it's definitely not as good as either of their previous offerings. It's less radio friendly than the debut, yet whilst it's as ambitious as the second album, I don't think it delivers as well.

Pinkunoizu - The Drop: Another band dining out on the psych/krautrock sound, this Danish bands second album does it well. I do love the genre, and it's a really hot sound at the moment, add to this to the list of belting pysch albums of the last couple of years.

Rocketnumbernine - Meyouweyou: This is a excellent debut album from the experimental electronica duo that has echoes of the rock drone, not a million miles away from Fuck Buttons.

Superchunk - I hate music: A reasonably good album from the reformed US indie power/pop group. I haven't heard that much of their earlier stuff, but they can craft a stomping tune.

The Strypes - Snapshot: They were massively hyped ahead of their debut album, thankfully the album duly delivers. Reminiscent of Dr. Feelgood amongst others, they weren't even born when the Feelgoods were tearing it up, they power their way through the best part of 40 minutes. I'm not sure it could be labelled classic though, there are no real stand out tracks, hopefully they are to come.