Manchester United 4-0 Norwich City

Saturday was the most I had looked forward to a game, all season, for obvious reasons of course, but the way the season had gone, maybe that was a bit presumptious. Giggs picked a recognisably Ferguson team, Roney and Welbeck up top, Carrick and Cleverley in the engine room, and Ferdinand and Vidic at the back. But the difference was clear from the start, the plodding no risk football that we had suffered under Moyes was at an end.
United started reasonably well, not exactly on fire, but more conviction in their movement. Norwich were fighting for their lives, so it wasn't as if we should have expected United to just roll them over . Having said that, once the first goal went in, the result did seem a bit of a foregone conclusion, I wouldn't put money on them staying up.
The first goal came at a good time for us, a bit of a killer for them. It was typical of Welbeck's day, that he should be taken out out when it seemed he must score. He hit a couple of lovely sweet strikes, that their keeper made a couple of good saves from. Rooney made no mistake from the spot and from that moment on United's new regime went from strength to strength. When Rooney hit the second with a long range strike not long into the second half, it was just a case of how many.
After Moyes baffling use of substitutes, it was good to see Giggs be decisive, using his squad as it should be used, bringing Mata and Hernandez on, in plenty of time to affect the game. Mata looked excellent, and not just for the two goals and even Hernandez, who'd really suffered under Moyes looked sharper and should have at least hit the target when put clean through in the last minute.
It was good to see United really going for the kill at the end, even if Norwich were poor, we haven't seen enough of that over the last few years, under Fergie as well as Moyes. More of the same over the last four games and the gimps will be hard pressed to overlook the fans determination to see Giggs take the top job, or at the very least staying on the coaching staff. It was strange seeing Giggs suited on the touchline at first, but once you got used to it, he looked right in a way that Moyes just never did.

Out with the old boss, in with?

Well, i can't pretend i'm not glad that Moyes has been given the bullet, happy would be the wrong word, relieved is probably the best description of where I'm at on this. Even when the club have done the right thing, they've done it in such a cack handedly classless manner, it's hard not to feel sympathy for Moyes, even though we know he patently wasn't up to the job.
As I said in my last piece, it shouldn't just be Moyes getting his marching orders ahead of the end of the season. The post Fergie/Gill era has well and truly arrived, it's a Glazer franchise now alright. The way it was leaked yesterday afternoon, then not confirmed or denied by the club was totally wrong on a human level, farcical and shows that United under the gimps, truly are just, ANother club.
I see that some of todays pieces in the press have confirmed some of the rumoured stories that have been run by all three fanzines at different stages of the season. It's funny how the media all seemed to have discovered he wasn't the right man for the job, now that he's gone. With one or two notable exceptions, most of them have been sitting on the fence, even as the season went from bad to worse over the last couple of months. Anyway it's over, it's been like a bad dream, I didn't have big expectations for this season, but never in my wildest dream did I see things getting to as bad as they did over the second half of the season.
With the comings and goings planned for this summer, it would have been madness to have persisted with Moyes, if he can't keep our current crop of players happy, how on Earth were the club hoping to persuade the calibre of player we are going need to bring in during the summer, if he had remained in charge.
It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season pans out now Giggs in charge. Will Rooney still be Mr. Undroppable, will Van Persie's injury problem miraculously clear, will Januzaj get a couple of starts and finally, will we see something approaching the real Manchester United at Old trafford this season during the remaining three home games. You know attacking football, creating plenty of chances and maybe scoring a goal or two. For the first time in ages, I'm actually looking forward to Saturday's game at home to Norwich, now they're free of the Moyes shackles, let's hope the players respond in the right way.  

Everton 2-0 Manchester United

I didn't see yesterday's game live, I've only just seen it, but I can't say I was massively surprised when I heard the result, I hadn't expected much. Since getting knocked out by Bayern, my over riding thought has been, the sooner the manager goes the better. So whilst it may be gutting to have now lost all four games against Merseyside opposition, indeed all six against fellow north west teams if we add City, the silver lining is that surely the penny will have dropped now that David Moyes is just not a Manchester United manager.
There have been so many stages of the season where you have wondered what on Earth he was thinking, team selection, his blatant favouring of Rooney, his tactics, his substitutions, and if that lot wasn't enough to be getting you the sack, his media appearances are a disaster waiting to happen every time he opens his mouth. It's been obvious for ages that he's not the type of manager that players are going to run through walls for, he's no leader of men, that's for sure.
As bad as the results have been, the league position, the lame exits from both domestic cup competitions, that hasn't been the killer argument against giving him another season as far as I'm concerned. The dagger to this reds heart is the football that United have played this season, it's been woeful. On the odd occasions we have managed to play decent football, it almost always seems to have happened by accident. The two defeats at home to Liverpool and City were so bad it was beyond belief, yet I can't have been on my own, in fully expecting both of them. We had bad defeats at home under Fergie, but you could guarantee there would be a reaction the next week. To have been so completely out played by Liverpool, but then just meekly get turned over by City in our next home game almost without a fight, was just totally unacceptable. And unacceptable at any top six team, never mind United.
What's most galling, for me anyway, is watching Liverpool, forget the horrible reality that they're going to win the title for a second, if you can. But watch the football they have been playing under Brendan and then compare that to the dross we have had to put up with week after week. Are Liverpool, man for man, squad for squad, any better than us, never mind, that much better than us. We all knew that the squad Moyes inherited from Fergie was not quite what Fergie would have had the world believe, but Jesus Christ, it's a damn site better than Moyes has managed to bring out of them.
I suppose the question for those of us that would be getting rid of Moyes as soon as possible, and I've been in that camp since going out of the champions league is, if not Moyes then who. You can't just get rid of a manager without having a replacement. I'd give Giggs the job until the end of the season and the take stock. If you ask me would i give Giggs the job full time, the answer is yes providing the back room staff included Meulensteen. If you ask me who my ideal candidate would be, of proven top class managerial talent, I would have to go for Klopp. His players do want to run through walls for him and they play attractive modern attacking football. As I think he will be out of reach, I see Red Iss have suggested knowing money should have a little flutter on Quieroz and Andy Mitten has hinted earlier in the season that he would love to come back to the club he regards as "his". He wouldn't be my first choice, but perhaps he would be a safe choice. He knows the club inside out, the players seemed to play for him during his time here, tactically he's obviously going to be on a different planet to the hapless Moyes, maybe Ronaldo, his son, could be persuaded to come back. That's a serious thought, because Barcelona's present implosion leads me to believe that Messi to City talk, isn't as far fetched as we might like to believe.
There's talk of Moyes out protests next week, I'm no real fan of that kind of thing, but if that's what it takes! One thing I would say to those planning those kind of things is, don't make it just about Moyes, with the J-Stand disgrace, Make it Moyes out, Woodward out, Glazer's fuck off.

Manchester United 2-2 Norwich City Under 21's

I went to Old trafford on Thursday night to see the under 21's live for the first time in a fair while. It was a strange, yet familiar game in some ways. As usual United played with only the one real forward in James Wilson, and the away team, in this case Norwich packed the defence and asked United to break them down.
Unfortunately United struggled and never really looked as if they were going to be able to open the visitors back line up during a drab first half. The one time United did open them up, via a good run and an excellent cut back from Janko, the otherwise impressive Rothwell fluffed his lines badly with a poor mishit effort.
With United's best player Wilson going limping off, not long into the second half, it seemed odds on the game would either end up goaless or would be decided by the odd goal. You would never have put your money on the game ending in an exciting 2-2 draw. Unfortunately with United having taken a two goal lead, it was the kind of excitement our lads could have done without. United took the lead through a scruffy goalmouth scramble with Weir tapping home. The subsitute then added a very cooly finished second after good work on the right from our South American right back Varela.
Norwich had done nothing in the game to suggest they were capable of pulling the two goals back. But once they had converted a clumsily given away penalty with ten minutes to go, it became end to end and right at the death, a poor pass across the back line from Mcnair, I think, saw Norwich break and get an equaliser from nowhere.
With so many players on loan, it's hard to expect too much from the players left at the club, but they had got themselves into a position where they still have a shout of silverware at the end of the season. So it was a disappointing night for the young reds.
As to the performances, obviously we all know Wilson is the stand out player, the one that is a cert to get a crack at the first team eventually, injuries not withstanding. I'd liked what i have seen of Rothwell over the last couple of months, so he was the player I had decided to try and keep a close eye on. He looked the part in the first half, his passing was reasonably incisive and he seems to have good match awareness. Unfortunately he seemed to lose his way in the second half, which was a surprise because when I've seen him before, he has tended to get stronger as the game goes on. Going off what I have seen of him this season, he has a chance, but needs to keep on improving. It will be interesting to see what United do with him next season, a loan to a championship side would seem a good bet, but it will have to be somwhere where he is going to get a decent amount of games.
To be honest, I can't see any others getting anywhere near the first team. There are some good players there, just not future United players. Reece James is a cert to have a career in the game, he has a nice left foot and a great attitude to the game. Ben Pearson has got some rave reviews over the last couple of years from regular United youngster followers, but I've never really seen it. He can be nice and tidy and goes in for a crunching tackle, but he doesn't seem to have that ability to give himself time on the ball, that a real top player must have. Pereira is probably the biggest disappointment, he came with as big a reputation as Januzaj. To be fair to him, I don't think he really gets to play in position he really wants to play in, he's yet another number ten. But even so, he doesn't appear to have that turn of speed to enable him to burst past defenders. I noticed he was almost always second around fifty fifty balls, it wasn't because he ducked out of them, it was just his acceleration just wasn't quite quick enough to see him go past players.
United need to beat Reading next week to have a chance of making the last four. Needless to say, I hope they do it, but I wouldn't be expecting too much from them if they did make it.



Music

Bruce Springsteen - High hopes: An album of covers, his own and others, not usually my kind of thing, but i quite liked it. The electric version of the ghost of Tom Joad is excellent.

Busta Rhymes & Q- Tips - The abstract and the dragon: I'm no expert of hip hop, but i did like A tibe called quest and Q-Tip. So this mixtape sounded interesting, it's not consistently excellent, but there are some excellent moments.

Dum Dum Girls - Too true: I thought their debut album was pretty promising, but whilst this is a decent effort, it doesn't really build on that promise.

Goat - Live ballroom ritual: Their first album, World music was a blinding album, this is basically a live take of that album, so a bit more rough and ready, can't wait for the Swede's follow up to the debut.

Neko Case - The worse things get: I've hear a couple of her solo albums which were reasonably good and some her work with the New Pornographers, who I really like. This is another solid effort from the indie country/rock artist.

The Flaiming Lips - Terror: They don't seem to stand still for long, this barely recongisable from the group that brought us The soft bulletin. For me it was a bit of a slow burner, but once I got it, I couldn't get enough it. Psychedelia meets an almost driving kraut rock a t times, yet still manages to find a hook to hang onto.

Tinariwen - Emmaar: Desert rock from the Sahara from the Tuaregs finest, once again they deliver up some fine African driving blues, despite the islamic insureection that took place in Mali whilst they were putting it together, lets hope that never happens to one of Africa's great musical nations again.

Bayern Munich 3-1 Manchester United

Well we all dared to hope and when Evra scored the goal of the match, no prizes for that though, the hope didn't look totally misplaced. And then that disaster of a fifteen minutes effectively killed of what was left of United's season, time will tell whether it's killed of Moyes tenure of Manchester United manager.
I couldn't argue with the team Moyes selected, though you wonder whether if Moyes had his time over again, if he'd have left Rooney on the bench. A lot has been made of Rooney's injury affecting him last night, it may have, only he really knows that, but what I do know is, his performance last night was on a par with the ineffectiveness of his display in Athens and other piss poor showings too numerous to mention. The chance he fluffed from Welbeck's pass that would have put us 2-1 in front, which would have also meant that they would have to have scored three, was appalling, if Welbeck had come up with that he would have been slaughtered.
It was a surprise that Smalling started ahead of Rio I suppose, but then again it was a surprise to me that Vidic and Rio started against Bayern in the first leg, and even more of a surprise that they played so well, what that says Moyes management of the duo this season! I was worried that Evra would get exposed against Robben, but he held his own for the most part. I can't have been the only red who was amazed that he found the energy to get up the pitch to support the attack, as much as by the actual brilliance of the shot. Jones had a fair game at right back, it's not his best position, but he kept Ribery quiet for the most part.
One baffling performance for me was Valencia's, Alan Smith kept on telling us what a good game he was having during his commentary last night, and defensively, yes, he put in a hell of a shift. My problem is, he was one of a front three, and he caused Bayern's back line no problem whatsoever, there was just no threat from him at all. If you aspire to be the best team in Europe, that's just not a good enough state of affairs, is it. In fact what threat would there have been to Bayern's rearguard, if Welbeck hadn't started last night. It's a fucking joke that Welbeck is so maligned by his own teams supporters, when two years in a row, he has been the one forward in our line up, against Real Madrid and now against Bayern Munich to have looked like he really belonged at this level.
United were far better in last nights first half than they had been during the Old trafford equivalent. Yet for all that, it can't go unnoticed that United's most used attacking combination was Dea to Welbeck, the dreaded long ball, that basically just gave the Bavarians the ball back every time it was used, despite Welbeck's tireless work in trying to get on the end of them. That and Moyes use of substitutions, too late and once again, baffling, surely show Moyes is just not cut out for the very top level of European football. When I watched what Dortmund did to Madrid under Klopp's management, with a team of individuals no better than United's starting eleven, it makes me cringe watching our caveman tactics. I fear for us next season if Moyes is given another season or even another six months and i don't for a moment see how we are going to attract the type of players we need, whilst we still have him as a manager.
Before the tie, my opinion was that Bayern were over rated, a very good team for sure, but no world beaters. What we saw last night and at Old trafford hasn't done anything to change my mind on that front. The Bundesliga is poor, too many teams roll over and die before a ball is kicked against them. I reckon that's why English teams have had a pretty good record against them over the last few years. Whatever other failings the premier league may have, teams being beaten before they take to the pitch isn't one of them.
So the rest of the season then, what happens now? We won't see Van Persie again this season, if at all, his thoughts will be on Holland and the world cup. We'll see with Rooney, that toe injury could prove bafflingly hard to shake off ahead of Brazil in the summer. Though balanced against that, Rooney is the type that needs to play, so I wouldn't write him off totally yet. I wouldn't cry if either of them had played their last game their season. I'd love to see Danny Welbeck given a run at centre forward, for once, in a easyish run of games, with Mata, Januzaj, Kagawa and maybe even James Wilson getting the odd game, or at least making the bench for some of the remaining home games .
As for the defence, it has to be two of Evans, Smalling and Jones at centre back for the remainder of the season, last home game aside, when Rio, Vidic and Evra make their final farewells to Old trafford. I'd love to have been able to have given Michael Keane a game or two, at right back if not in central defence, but I suppose playing every game in the championship may be better for him in the long term.
I've always thought the manager should be given until the end of the season, it's the classy thing to do. But if the suits know Moyes is a gonner in the summer and if Giggs was on of the contenders to take over, now would be the time to move Moyes on, giving Giggs a handful of games to see what he is made of. The rest of the season will be different for, that's for sure. Mata will be desperate to force his way into that Spanish world cup squad, so he must be one of the first names on the team sheet for the rest of the season. It usually goes the other way though, players that know they are going to the world cup and have nothing to play for, will drop their levels correspondingly. I suspect we are going to be linked with an awful lot of players in the back pages over the next couple of months, as the Glazer's start to worry about those season ticket sales. I wonder what last night did for the new shirt sponsor deal!

7 Days of Funk to TOY

Music

7 Days of Funk - 7 Days of Funk: I enjoyed this Snoop Dogg - Dam Funk collaboration, though it's not as Funk as i expected, it's more hip hop based really, still it's a good listen.

Caitlin Rose - The stand in: I don't listen to much country, though i do like some of it, this veers towards country rock and is a pretty good album.

Factory Floor - Factory Floor: A pretty good electronica long player, more to the experimental side than to the dance floor, well worth a listen.

Mogwai - Rave tapes: Even though i did hear some of their stuff when they first started out in the 90's, it's only over the last few years that I've started listening to this lot. They're an excellent band, and this is a more than decent album, can't think why I never listened to them the first time around.

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation marks: Another act that got going in the 90's, that I never really followed. I heard one album that I liked, but I can't even remember what it was called. Another fail on my behalf, because I'm really into this.

The Fall - The Remainderer: Not reall an album but too long for an E.P, it's not bad, but not up to the standard of the last three or four albums, it never really gets going.

TOY - TOY: I enjoyed their first album, and this was a worthy follow up to my ears, mind you they're yet another psychedelic stroke krautrock stroke late 60's influenced band and I can't really get enough of that.

Newcastle 0-4 Manchester United

About a minute before Mata's stunning opening goal I would have given you pretty long odds on us leaving St. James park with a 4-0 win. The team selected hadn't exactly inspired much belief, Valencia at right back and Fltcher and Fellaini in central midfield, shouldn't be the scariest proposition for a side facing United.
That said, Newcastle are on a really poor run of form with a lot of injuries, so maybe it was just about getting that first goal. In fact the first two goals came at great times, Mata's stunning opener, out of nowhere, five minutes before half time and the second, just a few minutes into the second half. The second goal in particular seemed to knock the stuffing right out of the home side and the rest of the game, was basicaly a stroll for the reds, with Mata orchestrating things playing in his best position at number ten. With no Van Persie or Rooney he was free to run the show, and expecially in the second half, that's exacty what he did. Maybe we'll look back on yesterday as the day the real Juan Mata arrived at Manchester United.
But you can't completely overlook the first forty minutes which had been the same old non descript Moyes Manchester United, no style, not much beleif, not much of anything really. The period of play that saw Kagawa, Mata and Januzaj all on the pitch was really the Manchester United we want to see a whole lot more of. All the goals was impressive, but that fourth really was a little gem, Januzaj applying a glorious finishing touch to Mata's delightful back heel. Of course the opposition has to be taken into account, Newcastle were truly abysmal, still it was encouraging to see that we do have the players to play football the equal of the Liverpool's and the City's of this world. There is something there to work with, if we can get the back four sorted out, and find some quality central midfield talent during the summer. It goes without saying, that a new manager would be a must for me as well, here's hoping.
I see Bayern rested half their team yesterday during their first defeat in ages, I suppose it shows they're taking us a bit more seriously than might have been expected. I fully expect Rooney to be fit for that, and wouldn't be surprised to see Jones in midield this time. Well he would be in midfield ahead of Fellaini for me, who knows with Moyes, apparently Fellaini got better as the game went along during the first leg, my eyes are still rolling having heard that.

Manchester United 1-1 Bayern Munich

Well it wasn't quite the embarrassment that that I'd feared, thankfully, we are still in the tie, which is about as much as we could have possibly have hoped for ahead of the match.
There were two reasons for that outcome as far as I am concerned. First, the players selected showed far more spirit than they managed to muster against either of City or Liverpool. Secondly, i feel that this Bayern team are a little over-hyped, they do not yet belong to the class of Barca 2011 or the great Milan teams of the late 80's and 90's. Yes they had a massive percentage of possession, but to have only troubled De Gea three or four times, well, we all saw what City and Liverpool managed.
I wasn't that enamoured of Moyes team selection or his tactics, or should i just say the inclusion of Fellaini. After the last round he had to pick Giggs, though his removal at half time, suggests he hadn't really wanted to. There certainly looked nothing wrong with Giggs as he left the pitch at half time. Giggs never really got into the game, that's fair enough, but he can't have been helped having Fellaini next to him. At 40 years of age, he does need someone to be his "legs", and the last person you would entrust that to, would surely be Fellaini. I know I'm a broken record on the subject of our mop headed Belgian, but really, a Manchester United player, really! He was shocking last night, he was so out of place, on that pitch against Europe's best, it was laughable. We were playing the champions of Europe with ten men for most of the match.
And then Moyes tactics, some have argued that he got it right, it was the only way we could have lived to fight another day. Well I'm not having that, we gave Real Madrid more than a run for their money in last years last sixteen with basically the same squad. The difference was the manager, Moyes managed United last night as if we were Everton as countless bloggers have today stated. Everybody behind the ball and then just launch long balls in the direction of Danny Welbeck. I'd love to have seen how we would have played if Van Persie hadn't got injured. Given that when Rooney and Van Persie are both fit, Moyes will play them both, how on earth would last nights tactics have worked.
Credit to Welbeck for the fist he made of the job, he was our best player on the night for me, once again proving that this is the level he belongs at. It's just that at the moment, under Moyes, Manchester United don't belong at this level, despite last nights result. I couldn't see anything wrong with Welbecks first goal that was disallowed, typical of his luck that it was rubbed out and then he made a mess of our best chance of the match later on in the first half. But he'll get no stick from me for that miss, his was about the only "real" Manchester United performance of the night.
I suppose credit has to go to our patched up and geriatic back four, with not much in the way of protection from our midfield, they held firm. Buttner has received some praise, but to be honest I think it was just relief he wasn't the walking disaster we had feared. I have to admit that Rio and Vidic's performance, far exceeded my wildest hope, it was almost like the good old days.
The introduction of Kagawa for Giggs saw United actually get some kind of toehold into the game, though we may have got even more of grip of the game if Fellaini had been the player to be replaced. It's usually thought that Fellaini gets left on for his defensive capabilities and physical presence. But he can't even do that, so besides giving the ball away continuously, he was losing headers and not competing in the tackle. At least with three central midfielders on a nodding acquaintance with the ball, on those occasions when United did have the ball, they would have had chance to get at Bayern's less than stellar back four.
It was a pity we couldn't hold out for the 1-0, that was probably Moyes hoped for result, but in fairness, it would probably have been a travesty if Bayern had come away from the game with nothing. It's hard to see us coming away from Bayern with a result, but if Moyes can manage to see his way to leaving Fellaini out and putting Kagawa or Januzaj into the mix, who knows.