Olympiakos 2-0 Manchester United

It can't get any worse than this, the nadir of the season, both phrases been trotted out a fair few times now this season, and were duly etched in print and on the old t'internet last night after yet another debacle. But I'm afraid until we have played both Liverpool and City at home you won't be hearing those words coming from my lips. I am fucking dreading both of those encounters, it's not just getting beat, that worries me, it's that we could very well be taken apart. I'm grimly, against my own better judgement, even, standing by Moyes for another season, hopefully having got rid of a mass of deadwood in the summer and bringing in quality replacements and bringing a few of our youngsters through. But if we were to get taken apart by either of those, I'd be close to joining the Moyes out brigade.
As with a fair few other reds, ahead of last nights clash, I had somehow convinced myself, against all the evidence, that we would at least turn up last night, and would get a result good enough to come back to Old trafford with for us to finish the job. As soon as I saw the team that confidence just evaporated. I didn't expect Januzaj to start, but to not even be on the bench, was just off the scale bonkers. Is Moyes trying to hang himself? Januzaj may not have done himself justice on Saturday, but he's been our one shining light, our only player to be able to make something out of the ordinary happen all season.
Then this sudden resurrection of Ferdinand, after all the rumours of an imminent retirement, why? He has been a shadow of his former self all season, an accident waiting to happen, in almost every game he's played in. I don't know if having Ferdinand alongside him contributed to Smalling having possibly his worst game of the season, but it can't have helped. Cleverley has copped for a load of stick this morning, rightly so, but was Carrick that much better. I have always had a lot of time for Carrick, but his form has tailed off, alarmingly this season, both before and after his lay off in mid winter.
It's pointless mentioning Valencia and Young, they contributed exactly as expected, I don't know what they do in training that left Moyes thinking they would be up to the job last night.  Both worked hard and created precisely zilch, no change there then. I had presumed Moyes had been leaving Welbeck out of the squad in preparation for the game last night, wrong again. I had expected us to play a 4-3-3 as we had in the Ukraine earlier in the season with Welbeck starting out wide. At least with Welbeck out wide, you get work rate, pace and someone to worry the opposition at the back. As he proved when he and Kagawa came on and added a little bit of class and urgency to proceedings, too late and to no avail, alas.
There is no way that United can play 4-4-2 against the top sides in Europe, never mind the second tier as we did last night, with our present squad of ageing defenders, invisible midfield and wingers who don't seem to be able to get past a man, never mind get a cross in.
Then, there's the old chestnut of Van Persie and Rooney, we seemed to start the game with the pair of them up front, before our woeful start to the game, forced Rooney to go deep. I thought Rooney's performance showed exactly why his new contract award was idiotic, sure he tried, but the game just passed him by, and by the end of the game with him in central midfield, he could barely keep hold of the ball. I suppose you have to give him some marks for at least trying.
And then we get to his fellow egotistical compadre, Van Persie, he's not a happy bunny is he, that's fair enough, playing in front of that mess, he's a right to be. But put some effort in man, at least. The night was summed up for me, when Smalling bemused himself and Van Persie, by the looks of things, as he managed to put in an almost perfect cross near the end, which the Dutchman controlled perfectly, lost his man and then blasted it over the bar. The type of chance Van Persie has been tucking away for fun over the last few weeks. When it came to his feet, I was almost already celebrating. So no precious away goal that we hadn't deserved anyway.
I suppose there is a chance we can turn it around in the second leg, they are no great shakes and aren't very good on the road. But we won't do it with the team that lined up last night, and to do it I reckon we'll have to score at least four goals, because I can't see us keeping a clean sheet. To be honest, I can see no further than Liverpool at home, we've just got to be more up for the fight, more positive, more fucking Manchester United, please.

Crystal Palace 0-2 Manchester United

Three welcome points, but not really much else to write home about from yesterday's performance. To be fair, if we'd have been on a winning run, playing free flowing football, yesterday would probably still have been the same kind of grind it out display.
In fact, though it did indeed turn out to be a tough game, i had expected it a harder game than it turned out to be. I had expected our back line to be tested, especially when I learnt that Vidic was to be partnered by Ferdinand. But it was as quiet an afternoon as they have experienced all season, De Gea was hardly troubled.
United started with purpose, Fellaini partnered Carrick in the centre of the park, and for once he didn't look totally out of place in a red shirt. On the other hand it wasn't really Carrick's best display of the season. I know it's been injury hit, but Carrick's form has never got anywhere near his best this season, which obviously hasn't helped things, as the one, and only central midfield player of any quality at the club.
Januzaj returned for his first start in what seems like ages, with Mata notionally on the right, but given license to roam. Januzaj had one of his quietest games since he emerged onto the scene. I don't know why Moyes has rested him for so long, leave him out from time to time, fair enough, but he's been out that long, he looked completely rusty. Mata had a decent game, without really standing out, but at least seems he is starting to get onto the same wavelength as his new team mates.
Man of the moment, Rooney had the kind of game I expect him to have, decent, but not remotely the kind of display you would be looking for, when your paying him the same amount of money as Ronaldo and Messi. Yes he scored the goal of the game, but I for one, just don't get it.
Van Persie looked a bit more in love with his football, who knows whether that's a good thing or not. He took the penalty superbly and the shot that hit the cross bar, would have been the best moment of the match if it had been a couple of inches lower.
So on to Athens, for the first leg of the competition that represents out last chance of sliverware this season. I'm not sure why, but I fancy us to do well over there and for us to go through to the next round fairly comfortably. What will be interesting to note, is whether our form moves up a notch, or whether we see the same turgid football we've been subjected to for the last couple of months. If we can't raise our game over these two games, I dread to think what would happen if we were to face one of the Bayern's, Barca's or even my dark horse for the competition PSG.

"There used to be a football club over there"

This Paul Wilson column is the best piece on Rooney contract situation that I've read, it says it all really. It doesn't make any sense from a footballing point of view, he is not one of the best players in the premier league, never mind Europe, never mind the world. I can't see how it makes much sense economically for the Glazer's to commit to paying Rooney those kind of wages until he's 33, when he's deteriorated over the last couple of years and is almost certain to continue to do so over the remainder of this new contract.
I've read that they are desperate, that's the operative word here, it seems to me, to sign him up because he is the one face that corporate sponsors, around the world, associate with Manchester United. If that's really the case, it brings Keith Burkinshaw's quote to mind," there used to be a football club over there".



Music

Midlake - Antiphon: I've never really got the critical acclaim for this lot, yes they have made a couple of pretty good albums, but they were never classics to my mind. I found the last two albums easier to admire than love. That said i really did enjoy this latest effort, surprising since their front man and main songwriter left before they recorder it, coincidence?

Parquet courts -Light up gold: I think this was Piccadilly records album of last year, it's certainly a bit of a corker, rough and ready indie rock. I can't put my finger on why, but this could only have come from the other side of the pond, UK indie bands just never really do the indie/grunge kind of sound anything like justice.

Saada Bonaire - Saada Bonaire: A lost classic from the 80's, this is surprisingly good, disco meets Nico via Grace Jones, very 80's, but in a decadently good way.

Sharon Jones and the dap kings - Give the people what they want: After her cancer scare, Jones and the dap kings return with more of the same, and that's definitely a good thing. I saw Richard Williams blog remark that whilst the dap kings make good albums, they have yet to pen any top notch tunes, and I suppose that is true. Still they do this soul revival thing as good as anybody else around at the moment.

The Amorphous Androgynous - The Cartel volume 1: I knew this lot were critically lauded, and had a fair few plugs from the likes of Noel Gallagher amongst others, but this was the first full album I have heard. I love the Future sound of London, but I've got to say I love this even more, it's right up my street.

The Gaslight troubadours - Clock work curiosities: A pretty decent electronica/sampling album, I presume they are UK based, decent music, with a nice dollop of humour thrown in.

The Young Knives - Sick Octave: I admire the way that they have never really stood still since their excellent post/punk indie debut, that said that would still be my favourite album of the Leicestershire trio's. It's a solid effort, but never quite manages to really take off.

Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United

A poor game, about the best that can be said of last night, from a United perspective, was that we managed to keep a clean sheet for once. Defensively that was probably as well as we have played all season, that's the back four and as a team. Going forward, was a different matter, the same rigid tactics, though our crossing obsession wasn't as much in evidence.
Valencia on the right offered little going forward, in fact his most telling contribution was the headed clearance off the line in the second half. Mata played on the left, and though he was often to be seen coming inside looking for the ball, he never really got into the game. Rooney was playing in the hole, and gave the kind of performance that suggests Mata is being wasted. Apart from the clipped ball through to Van Persie in the dying minutes, his game was bereft of quality. Van Persie was no better, he set the bar for his night during the first couple of minutes, when he stole the ball from a nervous Arsenal rearguard only to shoot tamely into Szczesny's grateful hands.
I get the feeling that Moyes will be loathe to pick Mata and Januzaj in the same team against the top teams, in fact maybe against anybody. I suppose against the top teams, their lack of defensive quality would make some kind of case for that, but not against the Fulham's of this world. So for all those expecting to see a 4-2-3-1 with Van Persie starting in front of Rooney, Mata and Januzaj, dream on.
Of course in any season, you would be reasonably happy with a point away at Arsenal, and I would have definitely took a point before the game, but Arsenal were really there for the taking last night. Naturally the same could be said for us, I suppose, which was why we got the game we got, two teams more determined to not get beat, rather than two teams really going for it. Truth be told, that's a bigger indictment of the home team, given they are challenging for the title.
I'm not really sure what the rest of the season has to offer, I would like to see a little experimenting, but going off the last three games, that is not what we are going to get. It's hard to see us coming higher than sixth, indeed we could easily stay seventh. As for the champions league, Liverpool fluked it in 2005, so it can happen, but it's very, very hard to see us getting past the quarter finals unless the draw is exceedingly kind to us, that's if we can get past Olympiakos, of course. If were to do the unthinkable and not get past Olympiakos, we would be back to the kind of dead, end of season experience that we haven't seen for many a year. Meaningless games, with a squad full of players minds on the forthcoming world cup, best not to think about that eventuality.

Manchester United 2-2 Fulham

You would have to be a masochist to enjoy watching United at the moment. We weren't terrible yesterday, there were a fair few chances, and some decent football, but it's so fucking one dimensional it's embarrassing. When you add an inability to defend, even against a team at the foot of the table who look doomed to me, it all adds up to a very unhappy mix.
The team selected, told us that once again, there would be no change in the tactical approach of cross, cross and cross again. There even seemed to be a variety to it yesterday as they looked as if they had been practising crossing to the back post. Whether that was because they thought Fulham had a perceived weakness at full back or just for a bit of variety to forever hitting the first man, who knows. But I know this, Manchester United should be able to beat botom of the table teams at home without having to work out special plans on how to beat them.
I was just thinking how poor the visitors had been and were when with their first attack they just ran right through the middle of our defence to open the scoring. There seems to be no answer to our woes at the back. Vidic has been a great player for us, but I wasn't to alarmed to hear he was offski in the summer. He has never been the same player since his knee injury, and there hasn't really been much improvement when he has been at the heart of the back four this season. He's not been anywhere near as bad as Ferdinand, but that's not saying much is it. His attitude is still spot on, but that only takes you so far. I would have loved to have seen Michael Keane given a go yesterday, we may have done no better, but at least we would have been finding things out for next season and the future.
Some will say that this is the least appropriate moment to be bringing young kids in, but to me, there's never really going to be a good time this season. I could take results like yesterday's and last weeks, a lot easier, if I could see some kind of progress, even if it's just seeing some of the youngsters won't be good enough, at least they will have had a chance to show if they can share in the future of the club. Reading Red News Hot gossip column's comment on how the club's hieracrhy feel about our youth system, just leads me to shake my head even more.
I'll be honest, the longer the game went on the less I could see us scoring, but I thought if we did then we would probably go on to win it, as their heads would drop. Well the goals came late, but once we had them, the last thing I really wanted to see u do was try and hold on for the 2-1 victory when they were there for taking for a third. Well you know the rest, it was almost predictable.
That game on Wednesday will be intersting to say the least, as bad as we have been this season, the worst being at the Etihad, we haven't yet plumbed the ineptness of Arsenals's first half display at Anfield. I'm fucked if I know what to expect at the Emirates, anything could happen.
I'll end on a positive, even though we didn't, and haven't really employed him, as I'm sure he wants to be employed, as our main creative force, Mata is really starting to look the part. He was excellent yesterday, his attitude was spot on, he looks like a real team player with just the right amount of ego. There was no moaning as he was shunted from to left to right and then into his best position, only to be shunted out wide again to allow Hernandez to come on. I'm afraid that was another baffling decsion to me.
As for Moyes, I'll say it again, if only to try and convince myself, we can't really judge him until he has got his own team, but it's fair to say, I'm less than impressed with what I'm seeing at the moment, on and off the pitch

6th February

So the 6th February comes around again, time to reflect, on the babes greatness and what might have been. I have to say though, with the advent of Twitter, et al, the way Munich is remembered by reds seems to have changed a lot over the last few years. I can't say I've got much time for it all, to cut to the chase, it's all got a bit scouse. The song under the clock, I admire that and the people that keep that alive, as for the rest, to be honest, I can live without it.

Music

Booka shade - Eve: The German techno duo's latest album doesn't disappoint, it's not their best, but more than good enough to be going on with, also a bit poppier than previous efforts.

Calibro 35 - Traditori di tutti: The Italian late 60's early 70's revivalists, psychedelia, film score enthusiasts also continue their fine run of albums, I could listen to their stuff on loop all day.

Cate le Bon - Mug museum: The welsh artists third album is possibly her best yet, hints of velvet Underground mesh with plenty of other seventies influences, no bog standard indie here.

Don Cherry - Live in Stockholm: Didn't really know much about Don Cherry except he was Neneh's father and he was a jazz musician, so this was a fascinating discovery. I'm not mad on all free jazz, I love some, can't listen to others, but this live recording from 1968 is excellent. Out there, but listenably, out there.

Jake Bugg - Shangri-La: There's two schools of thought on Bugg, he's a new big indie thing, or he's a comic book wanna be, he's a decent talent who can knock out a reasonably memorable tune, at this moment in time, he doesn't appear to be the new Oasis ( first two album Oasis that is), but he'll probably have to progress musically if he's to have a lengthy career.

Lorde - Pure heroin: Never really listening to the radio or even less what passes for the charts these days, I hadn't heard the New Zealand artist last year, though I did read about her. It's a pretty good album, pop rock, electro pop, if she develops, she's very young, she could be an artist to watch.

Tal National - Kaani: Niger's finest, excellent west African guitar outfit, if you like afro beat, you'll probably love this, though it's not quite on the same page as that musical style, it's close enough.

Stoke City 2-1 Manchester United

I've got used to not knowing what to expect from United this season, even to the fact that there is no such thing as an easy game this season, but I still couldn't see us getting beat at Stoke. It's not as if Stoke have been pulling up any trees this season, as they try to change their style of play away from the neanderthal tactics of Pulis, to something more pleasing on the eye under Mark Hughes.
I suppose that the team selected would have looked fair enough on paper, with the return of Carrick, and the inclusion of Rooney, Van Persie and Mata. But everybody seems to have forgotten that the pairing of Rooney and Van Persie during that first couple of months of the season never really worked. Sure they both scored goals, but the team set up seemed all wrong and the body language from the pair of them looked dodgy, but was especially terrible from Van Persie.
Add to that, that the signing of Mata looks even more of a panic buy, for the moment anyway, I'm not saying we shouldn't have bought him, just that he doesn't solve any of the problem areas that needed sorting out during the transfer window. When the Spaniard was bought everybody seemed to assume that Mata would fit into this mythical 4-2-3-1 that we are supposed to be playing this season. It's been a straightforward 4-4-2 for most of the season, to these eyes, occasionally 4-4-1-1. City, Chelsea and Arsenal play 4-2-3-1, for anybody wondering. I'm sorry but I just don't see any resemblance between the style of football we are playing or even trying to play, to the fluid interchangeable tactics of those three teams.
So when you saw the line up on Saturday, it was fairly obvious that Mata would probably be on the right with Young on the left. I may be wrong, but has Juan Mata ever played as an orthodox wide man in a 4-4-2 for Chelsea, Valencia or Spain. Have we really bought him to play on the wing, it's fucking Kagawa all over again, square pegs for round holes.
The football was just about standard for us for the first half hour, as in shocking, as in pass it to the wings and cross to no one in particular. Rooney had the one really good chance, but he hit narrowly wide. It's only fair to say that despite losing Evans and then Jones, our centre halves really do seem to be made of fucking balsa wood nowadays, we didn't really look in that much danger at the back, for once. And then right on the stroke of half time we concede a really wicked deflected free kick, that made you wonder whether it was going to be another one of those days.
Hope springs eternal, so when Van Persie finished off, after being fed by Mata, hovering inside in his best position, you wondered whether we might now kick on against what were really nothing as an opposition. But just five minutes later Adam got his second with a screamer to plunge us into despair again. It was mostly United from that moment on, but even when we laid siege to their penalty area for the last quarter of an hour or so, we never really looked like getting an equaliser. We had a couple of half chances, Welbeck and Cleverley in particular, but we never really opened them up.
Moyes has come under fire for moving Rooney into midfield, but to me that call was fair enough, we were behind, and he wanted as many goalscorers as possible on the pitch. I couldn't believe it though, when he brought Hernandez on as his last change instead of Januzaj, just when we needed a bit of magic.
Once again it's not just the result, but the manner of the performance, just an alarming reliance on crosses to the exclusion of everything else. I'm not going to start shouting for Moyes head, he deserves at least a couple of years, but it's got to be said, he is not looking the part, at all, at the moment. I can't and know that I'm not the only red wondering whether Fergie has dropped a real clanger with his choice of successor.