Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea

Before this and next weeks game, I would have happily took two draws, so yesterday was a pretty good start. Having said that, on another day we might have come away all three points. Unlike last season where under Moyes we didn't look as if we belonged on the same pitch as City and the scousers, yesterday we looked liked we belonged again at this level. To make that even more commendable, we managed that whilst our best player this season so far, Di Maria had his quietest game since his arrival from Madrid.
The surprise team news, was probably not that big a surprise, Jones was out injured, again, with Chris Smalling taking his place. I can't have been the only one who feared the worst, when they heard of Smalling's selection, but to be fair to him he had a very solid game. Rojo, on the other hand was shaky, his passing was pretty good, but he looked vulnerable defensively. Rafael was poor, I'm starting to think that he's not really going to ever make it, defensively he just hasn't improved. Shaw on the other hand put last weeks ropey performance at West Brom firmly behind him with an excellent display. Blind had a decent game, but his lack of pace was shown up a couple of times. The real surprise was Fellaini, given a man marking job to do on Fabregas, he acquited himself admirably, keeping the Spaniard firmly in his pocket.
I noticed Januzaj getting a bit of stick from the crowd, it seems some have already given up on him. He was nowhere near his best yesterday, but he still managed to put in possibly the pass of the match to put Van Persie clean through on goal during the first half. I thought it was a good move putting him on the right during the latter stages, I've always thought he's more dangerous cutting in from the right onto his left foot, ala Robben.
Van Persie realy ought to have done better with that first half chance, but again, to be fair, that was probably his best performance in a while. He looks far happier being the lone man up front. But I wouldn't get too carried away yet, he was better, not brilliant. Mata on the other hand, gave yet another completely innocuous performance, he couldn't complain at being replaced by Wilson for the last twenty minutes.
It was a really soft goal to give away, especially after De Gea's save minutes earlier. As to that save, yes it was an excellent save, but I didn't think it was the best attempt from Hazard, he hit it staright at De Gea.
Chelsea resorted to the usual Mourinho tactics after going a goal up, playing within themselves, and then when United ramped it up during the last ten minutes foul after foul, which obviously came back to haunt them when Ivanovic got his second yellow card and his marching orders. United's equaliser came moments later, poetic justice, I thought.

West Brom 2-2 Manchester United

Well another entertaining game, not always for the right reasons if you're a red though. Yet again we looked far better going forward than we doid at the back. Even in attack though, there are still problems, and once again, you finish the game wondering what on Earth we'd be like without Di Maria in the team. I hope the knock he came off with isn't too serious, because we need him badly for the next two games against the rent boys and the divs.
Van Gaal brough Jones back into the team at centre back and gave Januzaj his first start of the season. It has to be said neither really covered themselves in glory on the night. All the back four looked shaky, some think Rojo had a decent game, I suppose he was better than the other three, but that's not saying much. Shaw had a stinker, I thought he had showed some promise on his first two outings, but he was completely off the pace last night. I would persevere with him for the time being, but he'll have to improve dramatically on last night's display.
I never really worked out what our formation was last night, was it 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, whichever it was, Januzaj didn't seem to appreciate it. I couldn't work out what was wrong with him, I can't ever remember watching him and seeing him never take a man on. I know he was double marked, but that doesn't generally stop him having a go.
Mata gave another of his ineffectual displays where he runs around getting and giving the ball, neat and tidy, but causing the opposition no problems at all. He's a nice footballer, but he's not the answer at number ten. Mourinho knew what he was doing when he got almost £40 million for him.
Ahead of him Van Persie had the kind of game we have seen from him all season, what was worse was he had a couple of decent chances and couldn't finish them. Add to that his greed when he should have teed Mata up in the first half after the goalie had forced him wide and even I have to admit, if it's a choice between him and Rooney, I'd go with the scouser.
I doubt I was on my own in fearing the worst when he brought Fellaini on, but he had a decent game, even if you took the great equaliser out of it. Herrera was piss poor during the first half, you can only surmise that he wasn't fit and that Van Gaal will play people not 100% despite his protestations that he doesn't do that. Blind had a decent game, I do wonder how he'll cope against players with power and pace though. I'd like to see Carrick back in the team on Sunday, let's put it like that. The late equaliser was a superb effort, if Blind adds goals to his game, he could become some player.
We really needed to win last night, given the two games ahead of us. I really don't know what to expect over the next couple of weeks. I'd take a couple of draws right now, even though points wise that wouldn't really do us much good. I just think if we could show we can live with the two best teams in the league at the moment, that would be more of a boost to our players confidence than anything else. I mean, I can't really see us taking six points, can you.

Let the roller coaster reommence

Well thank fuck for that, the international break is over. Apparently there were a few decent games, as I only watched the two England boreathons, I obviously missed them. Anyway the next three four weeks are where it's at, it's as if the season proper season starts.
Those games against Chelsea and City are going to show us where we really at under King Louis reign. Saying that, given our abysmal away record so far, and remember they were at Sunderland, Burnley, MK Dons and Leicester, can we be that confident of taking three points away from the Hawthorns. Let the roller coaster recommence.


Allah-Las - Worship the sun: The follow up to their excellent debut album ploughs a similar furrow, it may be nothing new, but as long as it's good, I've no problem with retro.

Aphex Twin - Syro: His first new album in over a decade, you can't really say it's been worth the wait, but it's excellent as almost everything he does is, one of my favourite recording artists.

Nat Birchall - Sacred Dimension: The Manchester jazz saxophonist's 2011 offering is even better than its predecessor Akhenaten. More than a touch of John Coltrane, can't get enough of that.

Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily: I wasn't a massive fan of 10'000 Maniacs, but liked some of their stuff, so when i saw the good reviews for this I wasn't sure if it would really be my thing. Glad I took the plunge, because it's a superior album of indie singer/songwriter offerings.

Sharon Van Etten - Are we there: Another female indie singer/songwriter, it's not as easy a listen as Merchant's Tigerlily but it has it's moments.

Sunlightsquare - King Yoruba: I'm not really sure how you'd categorise this, latin jazz/soul, even seventies film score almost other times, anyhow it ticks the right boxes for this listener.

The Black Keys - Turn Blue: The Ohio duo continue with thie rock/blues schtick, though it's a more commercial sound nowadays. It's not one of their very best, but that still leaves most of their competition trailing in their wake.

The Horrors - Luminous: The fourth album from the UK indie outfit, it's a solid enough effort, but they've not really progressed as far as you might have imagined they would.

Manchester United 2-1 Everton

Three points, a decent performance, but a strange game at times. The only change to the starting line up was Mata coming in for the suspended Rooney, McNair staying at centre back in an unchanged back four.
Everton started well for the first five to ten minutes keeping the lions share of possession, but never threatened to do anything with that possession. Then United got hold of the ball and dominated the rest of the half. Falcao and Van Persie both had decent chances, but it fell to Di Maria to open our account with a fine finish. Once again, Our Argentine new number seven was at the heart of most of our good moments, linking up well with Shaw, who impressed again, if he did give the penalty away. It was fitting that De Gea saved that penalty because Everton definitely didn't deserve to go into the half time break all square.
The second half saw the blue half of scouse land get more of a foothold in the game, even if United were still the team in the ascendancy. But that foothold saw the visitors level the scores ten minutes into the second half as the left half our back four went missing to allow Naismith to head home. Maybe Shaw should take the lions share of the blame, but I didn't think Rojo covered himself in glory either. Rojo has done alright so far, and maybe it's too early to judge, but he doesn't really look as if he's ever going to approach the level of Ferdinand or Vidic. And at the end of the day, if we are going to challenge for Premier league titles or even champions league trophies that's the level we have to be looking at.
The injury curse struck again of course, it's every fucking game now, this time Shaw had to go off, thankfully this one doesn't seem to be too serious. United had regained the lead by then though. It seems as if Di Maria can do no wrong at times. The 4-0 victory over QPR saw him mishit a shot badly only to see it run straight to the feet of Mata who made no mistake. Ditto yesterday as a badly scuffed shot saw Falcao intervene to open his account for the club and fortuitously give United the lead.
United had chances to increase their lead, but failed to take. That nearly came to haunt us as United once again seemed to falter over the last ten minutes. I don't know whether it's fitness or nerves, but we had De Gea to thank for the three points as he made two world class saves during that period. I didn't really get the criticism he received recently, but the Spaniard rammed it back down his critics throats yesterday.
I think it would be more worrying if a second half relapses are down to fitness, the energy didn't seem to be there over the course of that final ten minutes. With the club not involved in Europe and out of the league cup, we're only playing one game week, so we shouldn't really be running out of juice late on in games.
As for individuals, Di Maria was superb again, De Gea brilliant, the back four did alright, given the changes. I thought Valencia had one of his better games as the right side of the midfield diamond. On the debit side, Van Persie is really out of sorts, and though Falcao opened his account, he's not really ripping up any trees at the moment. You do get the feeling that both of those players would sooner be the lone man up front. Other reds thought Mata had a decent game, I can't really go along with that, the number ten has got to do more than he did yesterday, for me anyway. We didn't miss Rooney, but Mata will have to do far better than that if Van Gaal is think about about leaving the scouser out of his starting line up. Of course I would sooner see Januzaj than either of them, but at the moment, the young Belgian doesn't seem to be in Van Gaal's plans, much to my regret anyway. 
So we hit the top four, only to be hit by another international break, don't you just love international breaks.

Music

Aloe Blacc - Good Things: I'd read the rave reviews this got when it came out and would have to say they were pretty much spot on. Excellent soul music with touches of Beatles in their amongst other things.

Cherry Ghost - Herd runners: Another consistently decent album from the Manchester based outfit, the only criticism would be, the lack of a really memorable tune or two. They don't hit the heights as say I Am Kloot manage to do.

Imelda May - Tribal: The fourth solo album from Irish rockabily rocker, if you've liked her last couple of albums, you won't be disappointed, it follows the same winning formula.

Lee Fields - Emma Jean: Hot on the heels of the excellent Faithfull Man, the US soul man continues to find his mojo with his latest release.

Mr Scruff - Friendly Bacteria: Another excellent mix of tehcno/jazz/ hip hop and the rest from one of Manchester's finest.

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal: Not as good as their last album which was a bit of a belter, but it's a decent indie/rock enough album.

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - What have we become: I liked the Housemartins but was never that keen on The Beautiful South, so when i read the good reviews that garnered i was tempted to give it a miss. Glad I didn't because it's one of the best albums I've heard this year.