Manchester United 0-0 Chelsea

Okay it was another 0-0, and it was game we didn't really deserve to win, a point a piece was reasonably fair I thought. But that performance had something of what I would recognise as Manchester United about it.
At half time I noted that whatever that was, it wasn't the philosophy, playing at pace, players not robotically under orders not to do this and not to do that and most importantly to this red, players seemingly being allowed to dribble and take men on.
Fair enough this attacking impetus made us a lot more vulnerable at the back, but that's because we aren't good enough at the back. I'd sooner watch that United than the one we've had to suffer for the rest of the season. It shouldn't be a team or squad good enough to win the league, but if allowed to play like that we would have a pretty good chance of making the top four.
But is it going to last? It looks like we're stuck with Van Gaal for the rest of the season. Again whatever that performance was, it wasn't one of a Van Gaal side. What has happened behind the scenes, was this game a one off, or will his ego get the better of him as he realises he's here to the end of the season? So many questions and no fucking answers!
As to the game we started it well, with Mata hitting the bar a couple of minutes into the game. De Gea had to make a fantastic save at the other end of the pitch moments later, but United started at pace, which they have always done under Van Gaal. But this time there was end product, well chances and exciting football at least. We were unluck with the two chances that hit the woodwork. Though I'm not his biggest fan Herrera did a decent job as a number ten, Schneiderlin brought a bit of solidity to our spine and Martial played like the player that had excited us so much during those first few games.
Yes it petered out during the second half and Chelsea missed the chance of the game when Matic blazed it horribly high and wide, but even then we did create chances. Herrera had one great chance after more good work from Martial on the left. Rooney a harder one near the end. The substitutions were as oddball as ever and Depay didn't help his cause with his brief cameo.
That Swansea encounter actually has me looking forward to a game for the first time this season, as much to see if the shackles have come off or whether the process is firmly back in the saddle!

Stoke City 2-0 Manchester United

Was there any red who expected anything else other than three points to the home team. He dropped Rooney for tactical reasons, replacing him with Fellaini and Herrera alongside Carrick. Straight from the kick off, a long ball was produced looking for the head of Fellaini, so we started with plan B. As a pointer of things to come, the big Belgian didn't win the header.
Of course as we trudged off 2-0 down at half time it was time for Rooney to warm up and time for plan A that changed very little. Yes we had more possession but as at Arsenal earlier in the season, it was all about the home side dropping deep and trying to catch us on the break., not any tactical genius on the part of Van Gaal. In fact they had one excellent chance to catch us on the break only for Arnautovic to inexplicably fall flat on his arse. That should have been a United player, it would have been more fitting of just how inept our players and management are at this moment in time.
The first goal that we gave away was just totally pathetic, just what was Depay doing or even thinking. He really has started to go the wrong way very fast. I hope those rumours of United trying to bring Januzaj back from his disappointing loan spell at Dortmund were true and come off. As for today, he really can't be in the starting eleven.
Mind you with all today's stories off the absolute shambles behind the scenes at the club, who'd predict anything. If it really is true that Van Gaal offered to resign after the Norwich debacle, Woodward really does have something to answer for. We seem to be a club virtually giving up on the season, never mind the title, never mind the top four. It seems totally nuts in the business terms that Woodward is supposed to understand, let alone the football side he so patently doesn't. What is going to happento that Adidas deal that was his supposed crowning glory if we crash out of the top four for the second out of the tird years with Woodward in charge of the football club. What is a good result today, I'm fucked if I know, surely even if we won, he still has to go!

Manchester United 1-2 Norwich City

They think it's all over, it is now, no not the 1966 world cup final Van Gaal's reign at Manchester United, there's no coming back from this, it's just a matter of time before we see the back of the philosophy once and for all. He's lost the players, the crowd and seemingly the Glazer's, I always thought it would happen sooner, rather than later. Despite Woodward's ludicrous quote that they were more focused on the premier league than champions league success, the increasing chance that we would fail to clinch a champions league spot is what will have done for him in the end.
The game followed the usual template almost to a tee, United started strongly, but never mind score a goal hardly tested the goalie. The away team found their feet about half an hour into the game and then scored a goal on the counter attack. Our defence did not cover itself in glory, I've said it before that our supposed improved defensive solidity is a myth. Blind had a bit of a shocker at left back and Jones and Smalling weren't that much better. Young had a decent game, he was the only one in a red shirt really busting a gut all afternoon. Which was fucking ironic having recently been sent to Siberia by the Dutchman for who knows what.
What got me was just how poor that Norwich team was. I don't care that they have been unlucky against some of the teams near the top of the table, a good team would have battered them out of sight. For those first twenty minutes they were nervous, some of their players couldn't play simple passes, they were there for the taking. Of course for this United set up, under this manager, there is probably no such thing as a team there for the taking.
The second Norwich goal was as bad as the first as our midfield and back line just opened up and offered itself up. It seemed to me that at that stage the players said enough with the philosophy and just went for it. So it was at least it became match you couldn't accuse of being dull. It did though show us that we really aren't anywhere near the level we should be aspiring to. I don't know whether singling out players is called for, but the return of Rooney didn't help our cause. Once again his lack of pace was there for all to see. I watched Wilson playing for Brighton earlier in the day and whilst he didn't have a great game, he showed far more than Rooney has all season long.
Anyway, the rumour mill suggests Van Gaal is already facing the chop, depressingly for this red though, all rumours seem to hint at Mourinho taking over. That would have been my last fucking choice, it's not much fun being a red at the moment. If we end up with the special one whilst City get Guardiola, I think Woodward might has well get updating his CV, because City will bet getting the better deal there.

Bouremouth 2-1 Manchester United

I know I wasn't on my own in half expecting Saturday's result, still fuck me, it really is a horror show watching United at the moment. Injuries before the game, injuries during it to Lingard, one of the better players at the moment obviously don't help. But it all stems from the manager I'm afraid. Philosophy, bizarre team selection, Jones can't get into the side ahead of McNair at centre half or Varela at right back, even Blind come to that. Blind consistently picked at centre half when it's almost always a disaster waiting to happen.
The use of substitutions which has been almost laughable since day one, gets more bizarre by the game. Mata having one of his better games brought off on Wednesday for Powell, on Saturday Fellaini having one of his better games and looking like our only likely option to get a goal for most of the match brought off for Powell. And then Jones brought in the dying seconds for McNair when we were desperate for something going forward. The excuse being McNair was injured, he wasn't that bad, he could have stayed on and Young, again inexplicably left on the bench could, no should have been brought on. There has been many a red who have suggested that Young has done something to upset Van Gaal. I thought that was a conspiracy too far, that Van Gaal had just gone back to his preference for left footers at left back. But the refusal to bring him on twice in a row when he was the obvious substitution makes me thing the conspiracy theorists are right.
It's hard to pick out what was the worst aspect of Saturday's display, but I think I'll have to go for the way we just completely capitulated after they took the lead for the second time. The only team who then looked likely to score was Bournemouth. At least we put up a bit of a fight after that freakish opening minute corner kick opening goal, but there was hardly anything after ex red Josh King gave them the lead. It did indeed look as if he has lost the dressing room.
I had been in the camp that was willing to give him till the end of the season before packing him off to his retirement pad in Portugal. Not any more, the sooner he is put out of his misery the better. We are going to struggle to finish in the top four with him in charge, never mind win any silverware.. And just as important I don't want him in charge of signing new players. His record on that score had been very patchy, it's not as if the players he seems to fall out with are players that were here before he came, half of them are his players.
This was supposed to be the easy run of games that saw us maintain a challenge for the league title. Since Fergie left the hot seat, there has been no such thing as an easy run of games, but we really have now sunk right back to Moyes levels of incompetence. It is all a fucking big mess.

Music

Amp Fiddler - Bassmentality 3: A pretty good mini album from the US  funk/soul/jazz artist, I'd imagine he's pretty good to watch live.

Drinks - Hermits On Holiday: Well I like White Fence, but this miles farther leftfield than Tim Presley's dayjob. But I fucking love it, not that I'll be amongst the multitudes there. I really don't know how to describe it, you wouldn't call it a guitar album, but it is I think!

Dungen - Allas Sak: Another fine album from the Swedish other wordly rock band who incorporate everything but the kitchen sink into their sound, and yet still manage to make tunes you could almost hum, almost!

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizards - Quarters: I remember talking to an old school friend who returned from Australia where he now lived. It was a few years back now, but I mentioned the lack of a music scene putting me off ever wanting to live there. That was then and this is now, there's fucking loads great Aussie bands of all different genres and this is yet another quality outfit. Grateful Dead meets Frank Zappa, quality.

King Midas Sound - Fennesz - Editions 1: A classy collaboration between electronica and guitar, it veers towards an ambient kind of sound at times, at others tuneful.

Low - Ones and Sixes: This returns to the slower pace that proceeded their last couple of albums. I did really like their last couple of albums, but whilst this probably took longer to get into it's just as good in my book.

The Libertines - Anthems For Doomed Youth:A welcome ruturn for one of the best rock groups these islands have produced post britpop, a good return but no standout tracks and not enough quality to call it a triumphant reurn, a decent , but not outstanding album.

Wolfsburg 3-2 Manchester United

Well the bluffer's bluff has well and truly been called, if ever an event showed that far from being in actual control, he's just making it all up as he goes along this match was it. Given the injuries before and during the game, the result on the night wasn't any disgrace, it was the other five matches that constituted that.
Let's get one thing straight, this was a piss easy group that if Van Gaal and his philosophy have any place in the 21st century, United should have breezed through. Instead we had the usual mind numbing football, questionable results, and then the real shocker, that last twenty minutes against PSV, where knowing a win would send us through, Van Gaal had us playing as if a draw was enough and it was actually PSV who looked to more likely to get a winner. And I'm sorry that PSV Eindhoven team is no great shakes, to put it mildly. I've got nothing against that club, but I'm hoping they get pitted against one of the big clubs in the next round, we'll see just how good they are then.
At least we went out with a bit of a bang, maybe United deserved a draw, the chances we had, on another night we might have won. But as I've said a few times recently, that defensive record is misleading. Part of the reason it has been so good in domestic football, is because we are set up not to concede at the expense of ceative attacking football. Even then more often than not, in most matches De Gea is called upon more often than he should be to pull off world class saves.
His substitutions once again, were borderline nuts. I'm not the biggest fan of Mata, but for once in a big game he was slap bang in the middle of things. But I think a case can always be made for taking him off, but for Nick Powell? This is a lad that has hardly played for a year, just a couple of games in the under 21's recently. He also didn't cut up any trees at Leicester City on loan. And then in such a crucial game he's put slap bang in the middle of things. Borthwick Jackson was also hard to understand! Alright the young kid didn't really do anything wrong, but at the time we needed to score and he had Ashley Young on the bench. It's as if with United actually really going all out for it during that second half, Van Gaal couldn't bring himself to follow suit. Am I alone in feeling he must have hated watching that match as much because United fucked the philosophy off in a must win game as much for the actual result. Let's put it like this, I'm expecting another possession based boreathon at Bournemouth on Saturday and none too confident that we'll get the three points either.
So Thursday night Channel 5, fucking marvellous, that's really going to help our top four hopes, you can fuck title talk off, there is no fucking chance of that!

Manchester United 0-0 West Ham United

Another 0-0, though to be fair this was one of the more entertaining 0-0's you'll watch, it wasn't a great game, but as far as these things go under the present regime, it was tolerable fare. Bilic probaly got it right after the game when he said that his side could have lost 3-2 or even won 3-2.
That was fair enough, his side hit the woodwork a couple of times in the first half and had a couple of great chances in the second half. But the majority of the chances created during the second half were created by United, but our players had left their shooting boots at home, only one shot on target. And talking of that one effort, it was a pretty good move and probably deserved to be finished off by a goal and shoud have been. Fellaini isn't my cup of tea and never will be, but he did have a decent game, even if his inclusion meant a more direct style of football. He should have buried that chance though.
United started reasonably well, Lingard who was badly missed last week I thought, seems to be the player given license to dribble ( irony alert, Wilson's goal for Brighton! ) and he used that luxury well causing trouble down the left. If only his overlapping lelft back Darmian had been up to speed. He did the overlapping bit well but his crossing was poor, very poor.Martial didn't have a bad game, but he has become a shadow of the player we saw during those few games. Is there a forward that Van Gaal and his coaching staff can't turn to shit?
Out of nowhere though West Ham then went on to the woodwork twice, one of those efforts the result of a De Gea clanger. That defensive record will go to the dogs if he lost form, I still think it's down to luck plus De Gea's brilliance as much as anything Van Gaal has brought to the club.
United coasted through the first twenty five minutes to half an hour of the second half creating the odd chance. Unlike last week thought, they did have a real go at the end and should have scored at least once. But the fact is, we didn't and I didn't really have much confidence that we would. Despite Woodward's bluster yesterday, his briefings are a joke, he really is clueless if he thinks United fans will tolerate this for another season, United at present are a big fucking mess.

Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United

There seems to be debates all over social media, forums, message boards, though I can't say I've really heard them in the boozer after or before the games regarding style of play versus results. I just can't get my head around any red who can defend the style of football that's being currently served up. Football is supposed to be a relief, an escape from the everyday. Yes there will be games that disappoint, games where you'll be happy to come away with a 1-1 or even games where you're clearly second best and get a bit of a spanking.
Yes it is a myth that Fergie's teams played exciting attacking football all the team. Towards the end of his time it did seem to become more about getting the best out of a squad that was nowhere near the standards of his very best teams. But, when needs be, the handbrake would come off, think of the Newcastle game over that Christmas period that we won 4-3 with a last minute winner that helped propel us to taking the league title back from City.
Then look what happened on Saturday during those last twenty minutes. United had almost complete control of the game. Leicester had sat back for most of the game trying to catch us on the break. And I suppose you could say it worked to an extent for them during that first half, when there was only really one team that looked dangerous in attack and they weren't playing in red. But they had now pretty much gone into their shell. This was surely the team for United to really go for it, bring on attack minded players, ratchet up the pressure. Instead United just played the same old unadventurous sideways passing game that does more and more reds heads in. It's not as if it really gets us anywhere either. That we are in the top four is mainly down to the fact that big clubs are as weak as they have been in years. And that may not stay the case, Tottenham are rapidly improving and Klopp seems to have got Liverpool playing decent football and picking up points all of a sudden.
It's fucking painful to watch, it's not the United way. Ah the United way, there are some who now say the United way is a myth, go on define it they say. Fucking easy, fast paced attacking football with wingers who take their man on. The football Van Gaal has us playing is so far away from that ideal it's laughable.
Anyhow I was having a go at United for not upping the tempo during those last twenty minutes or so. So what can I say about the first forty five minutes. It was fucking dreadful, I could barely summon the energy to celebrate Schweinsteiger's equaliser as I was just hoping the whistle would go for half time to put us out of our misery.
We surely cannot win the league playing such turgid shite. There is an argument that it's such a poor league that we could win league. I'd say you could make just as valid an argument that we won't even finish in the top four. If as, I think most reds expect, we get knocked out of the champions league and we did manage to fuck up a top four spot, that would surely be the end for the Dutchman. What's the saying all the pain and no gain, there would certainly be a gain for all that pain in that scenario!

Music

Dam-Funk - Invite the Light: I've heard a couple of their collaborative albums over the last couple of years which I've liked but I'm afraid I really couldn't get into this. It's too long and the tracks seem to blend into each other, but not ina good way.

Ezra Furman - Perpetual Motion: This is the first album of his that I've heard, It definitely won't be the last, this is a superb album. I'm not sure why but it reminds me at times of early Frank Zappa, amomgst others things.

Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - Twelve Reasons to Die: After listening to his latest collaboration with babadnotgood which was a pretty good album I went back to this album from a couple of years back. It's another belter, if anything even better.

Kyle Eastwood - Timepieces: Another decent slab of modern jazz from Eastwood junior.

LHF - For The Thrown: Don't know much about this London Collective, but I know that this is very good.

Mondo Drag - Mondo Drag: Excellent retro psych rock from this California band, I can never get enough of this type of music when it's done well and this is done well.

Wilco - Star Wars: They are a cracking band and whilst this may not be their best album it's another cracking listen, top man is Jeff Tweedy.

Manchester United 0-0 PSV Eindhoven

Back comes Rooney and back comes the mind numbing going nowhere football. That's a touch unfair I suppose, he didn't have a particularly poor game but he never really did anything that was going to hurt the opposition either. This was a really bad night, the result and the precarious nature of our grip on a qualification spot says it all.
After seeing Memphis and Lingard give a performance of movement and threat as a front two on Saturday Van Gaal started with both player out wide and Rooney behind Martial. I think it's fair to say it didn't work as planned. Lingard had a decent first half, though he was as guilty as others in going into his shell a bit in the second half. Once again he missed a glorious chance, leading to people who have hardly seen him to claim finishing is a weak part of his game. It is actually one of his strengths, but I suppose when you create so few chances the pressure to put them away becomes even greater.
Memphis had another stinker, it's obvious he hasn't got the pace to be an out an out wide man. He never takes a man on the outside and can't even hold his own in a one to one when he comes inside. Once he knows it's not happening for him, it all starts to go latter day Nani, with him making bad decision after bad decision. I really do not know what to make of him.
After a very bright start, even Martial seems to have been brought down a level. He did some good things last night, but I think it would be fair to say he ain't hitting the form he showed in those first few games.
I wasn't that impressed with either of our two midfield men last night, Schweinsteiger laboured, whilst Schneiderlin had a night to forget that got steadily worse to the point where he was giving it away as often as he was finding a red shirt.
The substitutions were as baffling as ever, he takes Schweinsteiger off, which was fair enough, but brings on Fellaini as a straight swap meaning we had nobody with any guile in the middle of the park. If he was going to bring Fellaini on it had to be as the number ten, which of course is where he ended up when things got desperate at the end.
The first half wasn't that bad without being anything to write home about. We had chances but not really stand out ones. The first five minutes of the second half saw us create three pretty good chances with maybe Schneiderlin's header the best of the three. When we didn't put any of those away, I have to admit I started to wonder whether it might be one of those nights. We hardly created another three chances for the rest of the match. Though the Lingard chance was probably the best opening of the night, if anything he possibly hit it too well.
As the game went on they started to come into it and if anything looked the more likely to score during those last ten minutes or so. And I'm afraid there is no bigger indictment of our current woes than that, because PSV are a nothing team really. If they qualify above us, we really will know we are absolutely miles away from the top echelons of European football as if we didn't know that already. Van Gaal will be desperate to make sure we land up in the top four if that happens, otherwise he will surely be out of a job come the summer. Which to my mind will just mean more of the same boring horrible safety first crap we've seen during his tenure so far. And if Liverpool and Tottenham continue to improve, top four is no certainty as far I'm concerned whatever our position now.
And if that did happen, all this talk of galactico signings in the summer, will be just that, talk.

Watford 1-2 Manchester United

It's weird watching this Van Gaal United team at the moment, even when they're dominating games you're never entirely sure whether it's down to the philosophy or how much other team are willing to let United have the lions share of the possession whilst hoping to catch us on the break.
Yesterday's game followed the template of the last game against West Brom at home to an extent. What was noticeable from both games was that when both West Brom and Watford decided to go for it, they both created chances. That record of not conceding for ten hours or whatever it was, was a bit of a weird one for me. When teams go for it against us they do create chances, even when we line up with two defensive midfielders. Anyway Watford did eventually score, even if it was from a penalty that was needlessly given away from Rojo.
What was refreshing to see, was the way United then took complete control of the game during those last five minutes and really went for it. It wasn't just that we scored at the death, as fucking brilliant as that was and always is. It was the fact that we went all out for the three points and there was only one team that was going to take the three points if another goal was to come in theose last five minutes.
As for the rest of the game, I'll admit I was deflated to see Memphis up front of Wilson, I hope Wilson was injured because it does appear that Van Gaal has a bi of a downer on him. That said Memphis did probably give us his best performance in a United shirt that we've seen so far. There were still a few too many Naniesqe moments where he took the wrong option at the wrong time.
I have to say I was very impressed with Lingard again, this time playing as an out and out forward. Alright he had two great chances where he should have taken at least one, but his movement, the pace and intelligence he brought to the role gave us a dimension that we have sadly lacked over the last couple of years. Did anybody notice Rooney was missing?
I thought Schneiderlin had a very good game, but even though Schweinsteiger got all the attention through the winning goal, less so. There were times when he lost the ball or gave it away through sloppy passes, where you really should have been expecting a bit more from your experiened player. Still he was on hand to drive home that cross that the Watford defence couldn't keep out, so everybody forgets that!
I suppose the other main talking point was the substitution and tactical rearrangement after Herrera was forced of by that hamstring strain. I'll never be a fan of three at the back and I'm still not really sure if it worked or not. Yes we took an even bigger stranglehold of the game after Herrera went off, but we also allowed watford to get back into the game and get to the stage where they looked as if they had the goal in them that actually came. Thankfully De Gea is still here and is there any doubt that he is the best keeper in the premier league. Personally I can't think of a better goalkeeper in the world, he may not be better than Neuer but he certainly is at least at the same level.
So Leicester lead the table with us second after City's capitualtion at home to the dippers. Why couldn't that have been to anybody else, yes it was funny to City get smacked at home, but not funny at all to see Klopp getting those twats to play football like that. The one that got away!

Music

Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell - The Travelling Kind: If You liked Robert Plant's stuff with Alison Krauss you'll definitely love this, the type of country music I do like.

Foals - What Went Down: I have liked their albums, though I never thought the debut was as good as some critics made out. They have got better with each album and this is definitely their best yet, very good.

Tom McRae  & The Standing Band - Did I Sleep And Miss The Border: A good album, it reminded me of I am Kloot's Johnny Bramwell amongst others at times, full of excellent tunes.

Toro Y Moi - What For: They pack a fair few different type of influences into their sound, but it gels into a very listenable sound, another impressive effort.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love: With a name like that you expect them to be some kind of psych/krautrock type band, but it's a far more foot tapping experience, maybe not quite as good as Tor Y Moi's album, but not far off at all.

Various Artists - Too Slow to Disco 2: I have to admit for the first few listens this veered far to close easy listening for my tastes, but I ended up loving it. The number of great lost tracks outweigh the few tunes that are probably still too easy listening for my tastes.

Various Artsist - Boom Peru! Bass Bleeps and Bumps from Peru's Electric Underground: Electronica with a latin flavour that I wasn't sure would work, but in fact works pretty well and every now and then magnificently.

Wolf Alice - My Love is Cool  2015: A decent indie album with bits of synth along the way, when it shines it really does shine, there is a bit of filler along the way though.

Manchester United 2-0 West Brom

I was as apprehensive as ever, ahead of the game, yes it was an improved performance in midweek, but it was still a display based on the philosophy and we have seen how that generally fares in the premier league, loads of possession with actual chances, never mind goals few and far between.
That's generally how Saturday went, United completely bossed the game for the first 80 minutes but chances did not come thick and fast. In fact it took a super goal from the once again excellent Jesse Lingard. to break the deadlock. A goal that didn't really owe anything to "the philosophy"
I had heard and read people saying that it would be a tough game against a Tony Pulis, but in actual fact his record as an away manager aty Old trafford is pretty woeful. His Stoke team were an almost guaranteed three points and he didn't let us down again. It was only during that ten minutes after we had scored that they really had a go. And they showed what could have been when Berhaino missed what was as good a chance in the game with an atrociously bad header.
Van Gaal picked Carrick and Schweinsteiger in central midfield and once again it didn't really work. A lot of people seem to have a lot more time for the German than I do. I think he's alright, but not much more. The bigger problem is Carrick, he just seems to have gone. I find this hard to understand. During that run of fixtures where we actually saw good football last season, the geordie was at the heart of things. In fact it was when he went off injured in injury time against City that the season that our season basically ended. And here we are, just a few months later and all of a sudden he seems either finished, or is he just completely bereft of confidence, I can't really work it out.
It's arguable that the biggest cheer of the day was for Rooney being replaced by Hererra late on. I had no problem with him being replaced, it's just that if you were going to replace him, it should have been earlier. At the time of Hererra coming on, West Brom were having a bit of a crack at us, and to me it was screaming out for Schneiderlin to come on for Carrick or Schweinsteiger. As per usual it was hard to see the logic in Van Gaal's use of substitutions.
Results wise it turned out to be a pretty good weekend with City and Arsenal dropping points and Liverpool getting beat at home. What is says about the quality of the present day premier league that this United side are two points of the top, I'll leave you to ponder.

Manchester United 1-0 CSKA Moscow

Fair's fair, I 've had a go at United under Van Gaal and I'll go record as saying that i hope he isn't here next season. But last night wasn't the night for booing and attack chants. United played at a higher tempo, played with width and attacked with purpose. Yes it all went a bit flat in that second half, but that was because we hadn't got that goal when we'd had the chances and the opposition's pretty negative tactics were starting to gain the upper hand.
I was glad to see Lingard start, and I don't think he let his manager down, in fact he would have been my man of the match. Unbelievably he was getting a fair amount of stick from people within the ground towards the end of the first half with a couple of misplaced passes. But he had given us energy, was willing to take people on, didn't hide and did his defensive duties. The chance he blazed wide during that first half was no gimme, he had to hit it hard there was a man on the line plus the goalie. Some joker behind me had shouted pass it into the net, as if that would have worked.
What impressed me even more about his performance, especially during the second half, was the way he was playing as an out and out winger staying wide, taking his man on. Because if you have followed his career, even though he has often started wide, he is definitely not a winger. Well on yesterday's performance and his substitute stint against City, he's doing a better job as a winger than Depay is at the moment.
The crucial moment during the match was probably the one and basically only chance they spurned just before we scored. It was a glorious chance and though De Gea made a great save and Smalling then made a great block, he should have tucked away one of those chances.
The mood had become pretty mutinous by then, with Martial's withdrawal not widely appreciated. Martial hadn't had much of a game and in the normal course of events, taking him off would have been fair enough. But with Rooney's current form and his replacement being Fellaini, the unhappiness was understandable. The fact Rooney managed to put the winner away doesn't change the fact, he didn't do enough during the 90 minutes yet again. He had a glorious chance put on a plate for him by Mata that he managed to get stuck between his feet and then have the ball taken of him. It's hard to imagine Martial not tucking that away.
It was fitting that the winning goal was also probably the best move of the game. Memphis lost the ball, but Carrick managed to then find Lingard with a great pass, Lingard bettered the pass with a glorious vollied cross that just begged a striker to finish it off. Thankfully, even the woefully out of form Rooney couldn't spurn that chance and Old trafford went mad, a goal, at last.
Where we go from here, fuck knows, the Russians came for a draw and weren't far away from getting it. For the most part they sat back and got men behind the ball. So though I have said it was a far better performance, we were aided by the visitors tactics. How we'll fare against West Brom on Saturday could be a whole different kettle of fish.

Cryswtal Palace 0-0 Manchester United

I don't look forward to any games at the moment, but I really wasn't looking forward to Saturday's trip to Selhurst Park, I mean how can any sane red look forward, when you know exactly what you're going to get. Even when we win it's painful to watch, Everton must really wonder where the fuck they were after that defeat to us a few weeks back. That result looks more and more what I suspected it was at the time, a freak result where the home side simply failed to turn up.
Apparently we were absolutely abysmal for the first 20 minutes, I didn't see much of that down to Halloween being apparently a bigger pull in the Eccles locality on a Saturday afternoon. And if the rest of the game that I did see, when we were apparently "not as bad" is anything to go by, I'm with the trick or treaters.
I think most reds big question ahead of the game was, would this be the day, the day in question being the dropping of Rooney. We live in hope and not much conviction that Van Gaal will do the right thing. He didn't and got exactly what he deserved, yet another performance from Rooney, where it felt as though United were playing with ten and a half men. His current game was summed up when put through by a perfectly weighted pass from Martial, he was so slow he couldn't even get a shot away before the goalie beat him to it. Oh that it would have been the other way around, except then of course the weight on the pass would have been almost certainly awry.
United did at least get a grip on the rest of the first half, without ever looking as if we were going to score, I mean if you aren't going to take risks, you aren't going to create chances. Saturday was never going to be a pushover, Palace away, is a tough place to go away nowadays. But the way United play under Van Gaal every game is a potential banana skin.
The second half saw us ride our luck a little I suppose, but a point was probably deserved, or was it, you lose the will to live watching United at the moment. Personal opinion is that this is as bad as under Moyes, yes we're harder to beat than under the hapless Scot, but to what end if you dread almost every game coming up.
Some reds think the addition of a couple players and a release of the shackles and United are not that far away. We have certainly got the players to see far more entertaining fare than we are at the moment, but I still don't see enough pace and flair in any potential line up you care to mention to see us really fly!
How big a game is tomorrow night now, I dread to think if the crowd reaction if we don't win tomorrow. I'd like to think that even if we won, but played the slow tedious crap common place under Van Gaal, that Old trafford would somehow register it's displeasure at the current state of things, but that's probably too much to hope.

Music

BADBADNOT-GOOD ft ghostfillah killah - Sour Soul: A good combination, I loved the music especially, I'll have to look out for more of their stuff.

Bambi Davidson - Brunswick  2015: It's usually British and US bands mining the krautrock influences nowadays, interesting to see the Germans pick up the baton and to some effect, very decent album.

Follakzoid - III: I can't really ever get bored of this type of music, and this Chilean band do it excellently. Cosmic, space rock, fuck knows what you'd call it, I love it.

The Orb - Moonbuilding 2073 AD: Still going and still producing the goods, another fine album!

The Vaccines - English Graffiti: This is their third album and I've heard them all, and yet despite the generally good reviews, I'm never really blown away by their music. It's decent but no more.

Thee Oh Sees - Mutilator Defeated at Last: This is a bit more like it, of course the US alt rock band aren't trying to make hit records, well I wouldn't have thought they were, but they do what they do about as well as anybody out there at the moment.

Various Artists - Psychemagik Presents Magik Sunset Part One: Psychemagik produce some fantastic compliation albums of long lost and rarely heard old gems, this is yet another, brilliant.

Manchester United 0-0 Middlesbrough AET lost on pens

So another post Fergie winnable cup competition goes down the pan. After Tuesday night's results as much as i wanted to see some youngsters given a game, I did actually want us to go through. The longer we go without a trophy, the harder it will be to actually win one.
I couldn't quibble too much with the team selected, though I would have preferred somebody more creative behind Wilson. That said Fellaini had a decent game, he did what he does. But it was noticeable the longer the game went on the more players started to look for him, it became pretty much route one at times. The jury is out on Memphis Depay, it's his first season in a much tougher league than he has been used to. There are very worrying signs though, he seems to have the very Naniesque habit of beating one or even two men and then taking the wrong option almost very time he gets the ball. He had a stinker last night and was lucky he stayed on the pitch for as long as he did. He still hasn't had a decent game against domestic opposition.
This was always going to be a tough game, they were pretty well set up defensively and weren't toothless up front either. It wouldn't be fair to say United didn't create any chances. But it would be fair to point out that we didn't create many until it became an end to end game for the last ten minutes and for much of extra time. When that did happen the chances came at both ends, but you couldn't ever really say that United went all out for the win.
As someone who has championed Wilson's cause, last night was disappointing to say the least. He got a start, did alright, though he did lose it too easily at times, then gets injured and subbed at half time. He picks up far too many knocks, I may be being unfair, but he does seem a touch on the soft side, that's definitely not going to help his career. His replacement was Rooney. He got some stick and whilst he did nothing to make me revise my opinion that he is a spent force, he was nowhere near as ineffective as he was on Sunday.
Still it was fairly comical that he was allowed take the first penalty after being relieved of normal time duties due to his poor record. I 'm still trying to work out whether he insisted on taking the responsibility due to being the captain and leader or it was part of Vanb Gaal's meticulous preparation. I was fairly surprised that Carrick stepped up take the third, but not that surprised he missed. Young capped a miserable night for our experienced players by missing that fourth penalty sending the away end delirious. I have to admit the moment extra time finished I didn't fancy us one bit in that penalty shoot out, my pessimism wasn't misplaced.
On the plus side Lingard had a decent game with Perreira and maybe Smalling not far behind him. My only problem with Lingard is the same as it's always been really, I'm not sure what his real position is. He can do a job out wide, but he isn't really a United style winger, still he was on a different planet to Memphis.
It's a tough game on Saturday, we could really do with the three points, rediscovering how to put the ball in the back of the net might help.

Manchester United 0-0 Manchester City

That was a non event, a mogadon derby. Without their best two players City were happy to come for a point. And with Rooney getting completely bossed by City's centre back pairing, United were pretty toothless for the vast majority of the game. If Van Gaal continues to keep faith with Rooney, it'll end up costing him his job. He has been poor all season, but yesterday was just plain embarrassing, it was screaming out for Van Gaal to put him out of his misery and shove Martial in the middle where he would have asked Otamendi and Kompany far more questions.
The only change to the side from the last two games was Mata for Lingard, he didn't really give the kind of performance that warranted the recall. Yet again he slowed the play down too much, I know Van Gaal wants him to tuck in, but you saw when Lingard came on, what can happen when they occasionally take their man on down the outside. Lingard gave us our best moment of the game when he hit the woodwork near the end, it was a great ball to him and it was almost a great finish.
Our back four were as good as City's back four with Rojo having possibly his best game at left back and Smalling having another excellent game. Of course they weren't given the test they might have had with City missing Aguerro and Silva. City did have one really good chance towards the end of the first half, but Yaya Toure hit a woeful effort miles wide, it summed up the game.
I would probably have took a point before the game. But the way they performed we really should have done better, but if your going to hamstring yourself playing Rooney up front, what chance have you got.

CSKA Moscow 1-1 Manchester United

In the scheme of things, last night was probably a decent point, but football wise, it was more of the same. Anybody who thought we might have turned a corner with the display at Goodison were brought back down to Earth.
He made two changes from Saturday, deciding to start Lingard instead of Mata on the right hand side and more surprisingly starting Valencia at right back. I suppose you could say that both changes worked, individually at least. Lingard was one of the more impressive performers, and importantly did the ugly stuff as well as some good forward work. Valencia rolled the clock back to overlap and cross for Martial's equaliser, otherwise he was decent.
United started the game slowly, the home team were quite happy to let us have the ball, but unlike Everton on Saturday they could and did cause us problems on the counter. The penalty was a bit of clusterfuck all round, though blaming Jones for not being alert enough after the save is very harsh for me. De Gea save rebounded two different ways, it's very hard to anticipate that.
The second half saw United pass them to death, pretty it wasn't. In fact, the goal itself never really looked like coming. It took a fabulous header from Martial to earn us the point. I know I'm not the only one to think he is wasted on the left, especially when he is there to accomadate the sluggish Rooney in the middle. Now Lingard seems to have come into the equation are we going to see Wilson also given his head or is Rooney literally undroppable.
Anyway onto Sunday and the derby, we just cannot play at the same pace as we have played most games so far this season. Even without Silva and Aguerro, we will struggle to beat them if we just pass and move as slowly as we have been doing recently.

Everton 0-3 Manchester United

A welcome and very impressive three points after the Arsenal debacle. Van Gaal rung the changes, bringing in Jones and Rojo into the back four and dropping Blind to the bench. Back came Schneidelin into the middle of the park with Herrera further forward. Martial was shifted to the left, Rooney further forward and Memphis Depay left on the bench.
The changes to the back line and the return of Schneiderlin were timely and very welcome. Smalling and Jones may not be Rio, Vidic, but at least they are two proper centre half's who are not going to get shown up for pace or bullied. And with Schneiderlin in front of them alongside Schweinsteiger, we had a decent shield for that back four. It helped greatly that Everton didn't turn up during that first half, I'm not getting that carried away. Their tactics seemed to be to sit back and try and catch us on the break, except they couldn't get enough of the ball and couldn't get enough help up to Lukaku to do us any damage.
Once the first goal came, excellently put away by Schneiderlin, United seemed to take complete control of the game. The second goal was a real belter, a superb cross from Rojo and a nice late run into tbe box from Herrera and a pretty neat header to boot. It was disappointing to see Martial stuck out on the left to accomodate Rooney, and a waste for the most part during the first half. Rooney gave an improved performance and capped it with a goal. But I'd sooner see Martial in the forward role all day long. Thankfully Martial showed in the second half that he will even be a handful playing wide on the left as gave Coleman a torrid time. He looked a proper United wingman, a Ronaldo, a Giggs, jesus just how good is he going to be!
That was the play that really got me excited, as for the rest, it was a typical Van Gaal possession based performance. I've got to be honest, it's not the kind of football that's ever going to get me off the edge of my seat. But with City to come next week, it was vital we got some confidence back. I wouldn't say I was confident we are going to win next week, but with Aguerro and maybe Silva missing next week we must have a real good chance!

Music

LA Priest - Inji: I wasn't bowled over by this on my first couple of listens, but it grew on me, it's pretty cleverly done.

Leon Bridges - Coming Home: A pretty good soul/rock n roll retro debut album from the US artist, there are some fine tracks on it. If I have a criticism, it's a bit too wholesome, he needs to get down and dirty, some chance.

Ricardo Villalobos - Who Are We: An excellent E.P from the German techno meister, as per!

Robert Glasper - Covered: He says during the introduction to this live set, that it's not straight jazz, it sounds it pretty much it to me. Nothing wrong with that, his Black radio albums were very jazz influenced, but not anybody who liked them. but don't like jazz, probably won't like this. I liked it, was interesting listening to some of the Black radio stuff in a different context.

Roisin Murphy - Hairless Toys. It seems that albums of the year start even earlier nowadays, we get albums of the year so far, etc. Anyhow this album was on most of those lists and after listening to this, I have no doubt it will be on most of the end of year album lists, it's superb.

Tess Parks and Anton Newcombe - I Declare Nothing: This is another album to have a Velevets/Nico feel to it, as a few have over the last few years. It's decent , but there has been better, it's problem is not enough stand out tracks, the atmospherics of it right, but it doesn't stand out.

The Fall - Sub-Lingual Tablet: Fall albums reviews tend to be, he's got a cracking band around him and they have come up with the goods or it's just another Fall album with it's fair share of moments. The reviews I read for this tended to the former, but on balance I would tend to the latter. It has it's moments for sure, when it's good, it's excellent, yet it doesn't really stick in the mind.
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Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United

Well the chickens finally came home to roost. It was probably a good job, knowing the new breed of United fans, a couple more games at the top of the table and they'd have started to far more cocky than the current state of our club warrants. On sunday we saw the lack of pace, the defensive problems that losing Shaw has exposed and the lack of help Martial can expect up front against a decent team.
What this game exposed, worryingly, was that a part of our squad we thought had been, at the very least temporarily strengthened, hasn't been. It could be of course, that this was just down to the managers baffling decision to leave Schneiderlin on the bench and pair the two plus 30 year old's together in midfield with the equally pedestrian Rooney in front of them. But on that evidence, it looks as if Carrick has definitely started to go over the hill and confirmation that Bayern knew what they were doing in letting Schweinsteiger go.
That first twenty minutes was as inept as anything seen under Moyes, United were just well and truly ripped appart in midfield and at the back by the pace and the movement of the home team. Of course, almost every player had a shocker, yet again Martial was the only outfield player to look anything like. He fashioned one great chance for himself, only to see Cech make a great save. De Gea couldn't do much about any of the goals.
Van Gaal can't be left out of the blame stakes, forgetting all the philosophy bollocks, he picked a sorry starting eleven. I can't even begin to work out what the tactics were, he tried to say the players forgot the game plan. After watching United players scared of putting a foot wrong over the last season and a bit, I find that a bit hard to believe. Then after that first seven minutes when we found ourself two goals down, then twenty mintes when the third went in, he just sat there and changed nothing, didn't even attempt to stop the rot. Those second half substitutions changed nothing, Arsenal were content to sit back and try and pick us off on the break, just as a Fergie led team would have. It was largely meaningless possession, I mean we hardly created a thing.
Of course you have bad days, days where the opposition are on fire, I accept that, we have been taken to the cleaners before away from home, and will do so again. But it's the response that you look for, from the players and manager alike, on Sunday it was woeful.
There can be no hiding place for Van Gaal, this is now his team and players that he has bought. Going through those players, one by one, isn't that pretty a picture. Darmian had another nightmare, he wasn't helped by the lack of help from Mata, whose lack of pace, defensively, was exposed on Sunday. Is Darmian the player we thought we had bought after those first three or four game, the jury is well and truly out.
Blind is not a centre half, he can do a emergency job there, no more, if he starts there, he will targeted relentlessly, as he has in almost every away game. He can do a job in a three man midfield, but isn't strong, quick or dynamic enough for a two man midfield. His best position is probably left back, but even there, there would be question marks over his pace.
I have never got this modern day United fan habit of treating big name purchases as great players without ever seeing them in a United shirt and then praising to the skies plain average performances. You would have thought Falcao had taught them a lesson, but no. Schweinsteiger was a very good player, though I would never have put him up there with a Robson or a Keane. Obviously he's a different player to a Scholes, Xavi or a Pirlo so you can't really compare like for like there. If we had bought the mid to late twenties, pre injury prone Schweinsteiger, he would have been a great buy and just what was needed. But alongside a now obviously in decline Carrick, is he really such a great buy? How both he and Carrick started before Schneiderlin on Sunday looked weird ahead of kick off, after seven minutes it looked suicidal.
And to Depay, there is a player there, no doubt about that, but the same could have been said of Nani. I know I'm not the only one seeing similarities in there game at the moment, basically the bad decision making. It can't be much fun for a full back playing behind him though, the amount of times Young looked around him, wondering where on Earth Depay had got to in that first half was telling. You can't be having that, is he that much better than Januzaj, or rather is even better at all.
Not that the rest were any better, Rooney, yet again was a complete passenger, the untouchable one, it seems. Mata was non existant until United were handed possession on a plate during that second half. I could have yet another grumble about Looney's use of replacements, Fellaini, at half time again, point of, answers on a postcard please. At least it wasn't City or Liverpool that delivered this massacre.
PS Just to tap off a bad day, Brendan got the sack and it looks as if Klopp is going to be their new manager. It really was a bad day. I'm not ssure how good a manager Klopp is going to turn out to be, but one thing I'm sure of is that he'll have that lot playing more exciting football than we'll be seeing under the bluffer in charge of us. And that is a horrible, horrible thought. 

Manchester United 2-1 Wolfsburg

It's games like that, that make me wonder why I still bother watching United and spending virtually all my spare cash and more on them. The first half we were just plain average, and during the second we got lucky in taking the lead, and maybe even luckier holding onto it.
I've read in plenty of places that the German team are a good side because they are third in the Bundesliga. Sorry that doesn't wash, yes they are no mugs, but they are nothing special, though United made them look it, especially during that last mind numbing twenty minutes. It's a very uncompetitive league, so there being third tells us not that much.
They went for our throats right from the start, playing with a pace that we rarely witness under the current regime. The goal we conceded after four minutes was far too easy, they just ripped through us. United slowly worked their way back into the game, but it was hard work and we didn't really look as if we had the guile to open them up for an equaliser. The best maybe only real chance came after a brilliant run and cross from Martial that Rooney skyed from six yards, it was an appalling miss. Yet again that just emphasised where the future lies, in fact it tells some of us where the present should lie, but come Sunday you just know Rooney will be selected however bad his form becomes.
The penalty was a touch fortunate, thank fuck Mata was entrusted with, not Rooney, he made no mistake and we went into the break all square.
The second half was pretty even then United got a really fortuitous goal where Smalling finished off after a poor cross was intelligently touched on by Mata I think. The last twenty minutes just did my head in. I don't buy this tired bollocks from Van Gaal this morning, it was September still last night. Once again it was poor substitutions and tactics. It was fair enough to take Schweinsteiger off, I didn't think that good a game to be honest. But bringing Perreira on for Depay was nuts. It left us with no pace up front. It should have been Wilson on for Mata or Rooney for me. Sitting back on the lead if you then have a counter attacking threat full of pace is a decent tactic. But getting everybody behind the ball and playing for the 2-1 with little to no attacking intent, that just blew my mind. Van Gaal just threw everything on Martial's shoulders as the sole attacking threat for the remainder of the game.
They went close a couple of time during this period, the free kick looked especially close from our angle, but crucially we survived. That was a vital three points. Fuck knows what to expect on Sunday, Arsenal will need to bounce back from their disastrous defeat on Tuesday. If we play like did last night things ain't looking good. 

Manchester United 3-0 Sunderland

There seems to be a pattern emerging watching United over the last few weeks, well at home at least, we play the dull sideways passing  football that drives you to drink during the the first half. But when we score just after half time against Liverpool and in first half injury time yesterday, the play becomes a little more expansive. I hate to say it but that is the philosophy in action and working. It would be interesting to see an opposition team score the first goal at Old traford to see how well the philosophy works then.
I heard people after the City debacle at Whit hart lane finished, well that will give them the incentive to go out there and go at Sunderland. It always makes me laugh when people say stuff like that, that might be football taught by Matt Busby, but it aint under Luois Van Gaal. Instead we got a first half where United huffed and puffed and generally didn't blow the Sunderland wall down. But in a nice piece of karma, the four minutes injury time the referee added on because of Sunderland's blatant time wasting, came back to bite them on the bum as Blinds superb ball found Mata who put it back across for Memphis to hit his first goal in the premier league in that added time. I thought Mata was trying to score but others didn't, after seeing on the TV, I'm still not sure.
The second half saw United really open up, but it was interesting to me how the two goals added in the second half were basically a case of wide men taking on their man, beating them, crossing it and voila.
It was interesting to see Schneiderlin get more license to get forward as the game went on. I want to se a bit more of that. Carrick had a better game than against Southampton, but still didn't seem quite back to his best. Saying that, he produced a superb ball to release Memphis in the box during the first half that the Dutchman failed to turn into the scoring chance that he should have done.
Once again the real attacking threat came from Martial, there's no question about it, we have purchased a bit of pure gold in that lad. He's quick, not lightning, but quick enough, has great feet, can create and can finish. He prety much ticks all the boxes, from what I've seen from him so far, he can be as good as he wants to be, that transfer fee could look like a snip a few years down the line.
So United, top of the league, it has to be said, it feels a bit surreal, I don't think it says that much about the overall quality of the premier league, but I'll take it.

Manchester United 3-0 Ipswich Town

I was pretty disappointed with the team selected, but with Wilson and Lingard both starting for the reserves on Monday night, it was obvious that neither would start the game. But for Wilson in particular to not be even on the bench? And then Van Gaal's comments about the pair in his pre match press briefing, he really isn't anything in the man management department is he.
So a strong team it was, Fellaini coming in for Martial and Young encouragingly, for me anyway, starting at left back. Fellaini was Fellaini, which isn't much to my liking, but there you go. Jones came in for his first start and didn't do anything wrong, though to be fair he wasn't really tested. Ipswich weren't up to much, the only time they really threatened was just after half time, when I presume McCarthy told them to not die wondering. But that petered out and United soon resumed control.
To be honest United weren't really up to much themselves as an attacking force, but once Rooney put United in front, it was never much of a contest. Rooney wasn't terrible, but the goal aside he still doesn't convince. On the positive side, Schweinsteiger really looked the part. Alright the opposition weren't up to much, but he bossed things in an encouraging way. The introduction of Memphis Depay and Martial in particular saw United really up their game. Martial took his goal well and once again his all round game looked top class. He certainly might have been bought for the future, but at this moment in time he is for the here and now.
Perreira starting was one to keep us United fans who like to see youth coming through the ranks happy. My problem with Van Gaal is who he brings through. If you look at last season, Blackett, McNair, but Thorpe not given a chance. Now it may well be that Thorpe wasn't good enough for United, my point would be, fine, but he is a better centre half than either of the players he picked. Perreira is a prospect, but is he better than Wilson, definitely not, maybe not better than Lingard and though he is not here at the moment, certainly not better than Januzaj either.
The thought of seeing Wilson and Martial playing together, either as a front two or as two parts of a front three is the most exciting prospect of supporting United for the future. Add in Januzaj to that equation and in becomes even more exciting. It's just that it won't be quite as exciting under this manager or even likely to happen.

Southampton 2-3 Manchester United

I was fairly apprehensive before the game, as I had said earlier, this was the kind of game I could see us losing. And the first twenty five minutes seemed to support that view as we conceded one and lived on the edge of conceding another. There isn't much subtlety to teams tactics when facing us at the moment, get the big strong forward onto Blind's side of defence and hammer away.
As at Swansea, it worked a treat for the home team as Pelle reaped havoc on the left side of our defence. I didn't think we'd miss Shaw as much as we did either, I'm not that much of a fan of Rojo, he's not a bad player, but he's nothing out of the ordinary either. That said, if he is going to play maybe he'd be better at centre half. There was a good case for playing Young at left back, going forward I think I'd like to see him given another go there.
Needless to say De Gea was possibly the difference between us walking away with any points or with out tails between our legs. That save in the second half, really was something else.
The equaliser came out of nowhere really, but what a cool finish it was from our new young French striker. Martial really has started as if that transfer fee was realistic. When the ball came to him for his second, I had no doubt that he would tuck it away. That's nuts really when we'd only seen him play one full game, but he just has that air about him. Rooney was absolutely awful again. Van Gaal installed him deeper in the number ten role, but he constantly joined in central midfield, instead of giving thehome team the problems that Mane had given us for that first half an hour.
I have to mention Carrick's performance yesterday, he never really looked happy all afternoon for whatever reason. That was his worst game in a long, long time. I have to admit being relieved when Schweinsteiger came on for him, I never thought I'd say that about him. Memphis Depay had another in and out game, he rarely looked like getting the better of his full back, yet he came alive when given a sight of goal when he  unluckily hit the post and Mata then finished to put us 3-1 up.
Their late second goal gave us a bit of a nervous last ten minutes or so, but we held out and probably just about deserved. I wonder what kind of line up we'll see for the Ipswich game, I hope to see plenty of youth, Wilson, Lingard, etc. I've a feeling we'll see a fairly experienced line instead, fingers crossed!
  

Music

Everything Everything - Get To Heaven: There are a few bands that have come along since Everything Everything burst onto the scene who have followeda similar template. None are as good in my opinion, another very listenable album.

Ghost Culture - Ghost Culture: An excellent debut album, it's as good as the new Leftfield album, nuff said.

Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Buterfly: Another superb hip hop album from this year, another where the backing music is taken from all over the shop, ambitious and done well.

Leftfield - Alternative Light Source: My first thoughts on this comeback album from the one half remaining member of the band was how good it is, and it is a very good listen. But it made me go back to their debut Leftism, now that really was some album wasn't it.

Nadine Shah - Fast Food: I missed the first album from this geordie indie artiste, I may have to search it out because this follow up album is right up my street.

Sea Of Bees - Build A Boat To The Sun: A pretty good slice of indie pop from Californian Julie Ann Baenziger, deserves a wider audience.

Sleaford Mods - Key Markets: A successful follow up to their breakthrough album Divide and Exit. I love the minimalist Fall minus guitar sound and his lyrics crack me up as well give vent to his scatter range anger.

Viet Cong - Viet Cong: This album took a few listens but it's a fine effort, not really sure how you'd categrise them, except to say they need to be listened to with the volume up.

PSV Eindhoven 2-1 Manchester United

Due to work I only saw the second half so I actually missed the part of the game where United are supposed to have played well. As with other reds though, the result comes second to the sorry sight of Shaw getting stretchered off with a broken leg. He hasn't been the only shining light so far this season, but he has shone the brightest. I actually thought he did show glimpses of what he could do last season, think Chelsea away. But this season from day one, he has been consistently excellent, 7 or 8 out of 10 every game. Fingers crossed he can come back the same player next season. I've read people saying he will come back alright as it was a broken bone not ligament damage. But you never really know and as his burst of pace is such a big part of his game, it's a worry.
As I said I missed the first half so all I can say is it was an excellent goal from Memphis Depay, but a bit of a soft goal to concede right at the death. It was also probable that as well as losing Shaw United were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty from the challenge that caused the broken leg.
As to the second half United seemed to be in charge of the game, without really looking like scoring, it has to be said when Darmian's sloppy pass saw PSV counter quick silver to hit us on the break. After that United were chasing the game, and United under Van Gaal never seem to be at their best in that situation. For the god knows how many'th time his substitutions had me and others scratching their heads. Fellaini up front just completely stopped us in our tracks, we just never really looked like creating a chance, never mind scoring, from that point on.
On the plus side, Martial looks as if he may just be the real deal. His close control was superb, his use of the ball pretty good and his link up play was decent. So onto Sunday and Southampton away, even before last night's defeat, I thought this was one of those games I wouldn't be surprised if we lost. It goes without saying we could do with getting back to winning ways.

Manchester United 3-1 Liverpool

Amongst the turgid football offered up so far during the Van Gaal era, the one saving grace is that when it comes to the big games you know our team will compete. Let's not forget the last three months under Moyes where we all dreaded the clashes amongst team competing for the top four. And his record against our biggest enemy of all is right up there. Of course it does help when the Liverpool side you are playing are as poor as they were on Saturday.
As to the football, it wasn't really that much different I'm afraid. The first half was dire, we were poor and they were even worse. The saving grace was the set piece that Blind buried magnificently to open the scoring. If we hadn't have got that goal, and when we got it, who knows how that game would have panned out. Because for all our improvement in the second half, we still didn't really create many chances. The goalkeeper wasn't forced into many saves, in fact I can hardly remember a save he made for the whole ninety minutes if I'm honest.
So much for Van Gaal's assertion that we were well enough equipped up front. The hapless Rooney has an injury and Fellaini was picked at centre forward with predictable results. I'm not blaming the Belgian, as much as I don't rate him, he isn't and I'm sure wouldn't pretend he was a centre forward. He hasn't the pace, movement or touch. Of course our arses twitched a little when Benteke got his wonder strike near the end, but that fantastic strike from new boy Martial settled them right down again. As to what we can garner from his brief cameo, not much really, he hardly touched it until he got it when the game was stretched right at the end. I suppose that's not that fair, he showed that the big stage didn't overawe him and he showed he wasn't afraid to express himself. Not the time to get carried away yet though. The back four acquitted themselves well again, but to be honest they weren't up to much. I wonder if Benteke wishes he was back at Villa, he had no support and didn't look that interested either.
So onto the champions league, I've not really got a clue what to expect from us in this competition this season, tonight will give us an idea of how well we'll cope with the qualifying group stage. Fingers crossed.
 

Music
ASAP Rocky - At Long Last: I one reviewer describe this as pychedelic hip hop and couldn't really imagine what that would sound like, but after listening to it, that's a pretty good description. It's a very good album.

Giant Sand - Heartbreak Pass: I have a fair bit obout Howe Gelb and knew Giant Sand was the band he was in, but have never really listened to any albums of their's. If this is the standard, will have to listen to some more, pretty good stuff.

Hot Chip - Why Make Sense: The crtics have always seemed to praise all of their albums to the sky. But whilst I have always thought they were pretty decent, I have neve really thought they loved up to the hype. To me this is easily the best album they have made excellent.

Jamie xx - In Colour: A solo album from The XX man. Not sure it's that different from the day job, but it's a quality listen.

My Morning Jacket - The Waterfall: I know they have been going a pretty long time and have a fair catalogue, but I've only heard a couple of them. And yet i really liked both of those, in fact listening to this reminded me of just how good they are. Memo to self, must listen to more My Morning Jacket.

Tame Impala - Currents: His third album has been heralded as a departure, his "disco" album. It certainly is a sharp break from the preceeding to albums, not sure about the disco bit though. It's certainly more commercial and catchy, but I'm not really hearing the funk undertones of disco on this. It's a good album, still can't make my mind up, how good it is though.

The Chemical Brothers - Born in the Echoes: They have yet to make an album that I didn't like and a fair few were absloute classics. This is one of the better ones without being a classic though.


Back to philosophy on the next post, doh!

Swansea City 2-1 Manchester United

That scoreline is starting to sound familiar, I wish I'd have a had a couple of quid saver on it now. Despite the scoreline on Wednesday, I wasn't that full of confidence ahead of the game, this was always going to be far tougher. It's not a disgrace to lose to them at their place, but if we are to challenge for any kind of silverware we shouldn't be losing three on the bounce to them or indeed the four out of the last five it now stands at.
The new gameplan was in evidence, start at an ultra high tempo, pressing them deep into their own half. The only problem was, as against Newcastle if we don't get that goal it all peters out, and once they got into the game, we started to look more vulnerable than they had. We may have had slightly more chances than them in the first half, but their chances we all really good openings. All of us who'd doubted Blind was the long term man for the job at the heart of the defence, had our worst fears confirmed as the bullied him physically and for speed.
We took the lead when our play seemed to be going nowhere, but didn't take that long to lose it. And the less said about their winner the better. What I will say is Romero has been an accident waiting to happen since day one. And with yesterday's goalkeeping transfer shenanigans, the word farce doesn't begin to describe United's summer strategy on that front.
If we didn't think Rooney could get much worse after his first three premier league starts this season, we were made to think again. It must be obvious to anybody with a half decent pair of football eyes now, that he has "gone over the hill", he just can't run. Opposition centre half's will be licking their lips at the prospect of playing against him. For that matter, I can see a few teams licking their lips at the thought of playing against this Louis Van Gaal Manchester United. Unlike others I couldn't get excited about the signing of Scweinsteiger, why would Bayern get rid of somebody if they still "had it". So far he's done absolutely nothing to alter my view that Schneiderlin was the better buy.
That game against the mickeys is going to be a right barrel of laughs, despite their poor start and the disaster on Saturday, I wouldn't like to predict the outcome. The club is becoming a bit of a laughing stock on and off the pitch, who'd thought City fans would be able to start taunting us with the comedy club label.

Brugges 0-4 Manchester United

I didn't see any of the first half so this is just a reflection of what I saw during the second half and what i got told about our first half performance. I was slightly surprised to see Schneiderlin dropped to the bench, I mean it was always going to happen, it's just that this was the last game I thought it'd happen. I didn't think Januzaj would start again, but Van Gaal must see something that or he's putting him in the shop window.
Apparently the first half performance was basically more of the same, except they got that crucial goal that basically killed the tie. It was a nice little run from Memphis to put Rooney in who opened his account for the season in style.
As to the second half, obviously it was great to see United attacking, creating chances and at times looking like they could score at will. But I'm afraid we really have got to take the paucity of the opposition into account. There were times United were almost playing at walking pace, but still managed to rip them apart. I think we can safely say that will not be the case on Sunday.The second goal was a lovely passing movement, but even there Brugges gave the ball away far too easily in a ridiculous area of the pitch. It was also a great pass from Schweinsteiger for Herrera's goal, but surely the centre half should have cut it out, think Phil Jones having a moment!
What to say about Hernandez, the penalty miss was that of someone whose confidence looks to be shot. And then that miss minutes later from Young's cross was the kind of chance he'd have finished in his sleep when he first came. There's differeing take's on Van Gaal's glance at Giggs after the penalty miss, it didn't look good for his future at United was my take on it.
So on to Swansea on Sunday, I hope I'm wrong but I'm expecting this performance to turn out to be a temporary blip at the beginning of the season. That doesn't mean we won't win, I just don't expect to see that kind of football from United in the premier league any time soon.

Manchester United 0-0 Newcastle United

Disapointing result and generally and a disapointing performance. Yet those first twenty minutes saw us play some fast attacking football. It seemed once Newcastle actually got into the game and started to create the odd chance, United became more conservative and regressed to the sterile possession based football that Van Gaal loves and I and it would seem an increasing amount of reds do not.
I had to laugh at the grumbling though, you can bet your life if United had won that game by the odd goal everything in the world would be sweet. Van Gaal was probably right to say that it was a better performance that we gave in either of our two victories. A bit of credit shoud go to the visitors, once they had escaped going behind during those opening encounters, they showed much more resillience than most Newcastle sides of recent years.
If Rooney's disallowed goal had been allowed to stand who knows how the game would have gone. Sorry to sound like a broken record though, he wasn't really at the races again was he. His lack of pace must surely be a detriment to our attack. People say he suffers through a lack of service and the "philosophy", but surely his lack of pace makes it even harder to put defence splitting passes through to him when there must be hardly a centre back in the league who can't easily out pace him.
Januzaj came in for plenty of stick yesterday, he wasn't great, but I'd still have left him on before Rooney. It can't be easy for flair players to perform when they're told they can't do this and must do that.
Memphis Depay came down to Earth after his excellent display on Wednesday as Newcastle proved that Brugges really were as poor as some of us thought on Tuesday. He started well enough, but the longer the game went on the more erratic and Nani like his decision became. It's a learning curve for him, his combination play with Shaw was still quite good.
Some have said Schweinsteiger went off the boil after suffering an injury. But was he injured, he didn't come off did he, at the game, I thought he just looked knackered, after half an hour! Even though our play became more conservative I thought we looked better with Carrick and Schneiderlin in the middle.
I've always thought that if we get Bale, which I still think might happen, it will Be Mata that would make way. And that would be OK by me, whilst he a nice little footballer, he is too slow to play out wide and I don't think good enough to be our main number ten. He did some nice things during the game, but he just slows things down too much at times.
Which brings me to Herrera, it seems to do a lot of reds heads in that Van Gaal isn't starting him. But where would you play him? Too slow to play wide not dazzling enough for number ten and I'd have Carrick and the two Sch"'s infront of him in the middle of the park. Again, for me, yes, he's a nice, neat and tidy player but he's not a really top player, a valuable squad player but no more. I really don't get what some reds see in him. When you see Silva play for City, I'm afraid he really is on a different planet to our two attacking midfielders.

Music

Calexico - Edge Of The Sun: I love their brand of American tinged by mexican influences and this doesn't disappoint, another little cracker.

Django Django - Born Under Saturn: Their first album was pretty good and this follow up is another decent electronic indie pop effort.

Jagga Jazzist - Starfire: This is a superb album from the Norwegian jazz/rock/experimental combo. It's more of an electronica album if anything, almost symphonic electronica, top stuff.

Jim O'Rourke - Simple Songs: I was expecting something a bit more out there, but this is an album of superior singer/songwriter craft. It's chock full of lovely tunes.

Paul Weller - Saturn Returns: I've always been in and out of favour with Weller, loved the Jam, not so much the Style Council. Loved Wild Wood, but thought the run of albums that followed whilst having occasional gems were a bit conservative. But the run of albums since the brilliant 22 Dreams have all been right up my street and this is no exception, excellent, again.

Saun & Starr - Look Closer: Sharon Jones backing singers got out front on their own and the results are pretty good, similar kind of soul to Jones, unsurprisingly with the same backing band.

Terakaft - Alone: If you like Tinariwen you'll like this, from the same part of the wrold as their north African desert compadres, it's a similar kind of electric desert blues.

Manchester United 3-1 Brugges

I'm not getting carried away, it was only Brugges and Belgian football isn't what it was, but still, the second half especially was the most I've enjoyed the football on show at Old trafford since the City win.
I thought there would be a few changes, given we've now got a squad that can be rotated. But he kept Januzaj in, which was a surprise, a pleasant surprise for me. Carrick started, when I'd thought Schweinsteiger would definitely start. Mind you he came on even earlier than during the first two games.
We didn't get off to the best start, with that own goal from Carrick, that was unfortunate, but also a bit sloppy. It didn't take long for United to get back on level terms as for the first time we started to see what all the hype over Memphis Depay was all about. He took the first goal excellently, he was cool under pressure and didn't just blast it when he got a sight of goal, he placed it expertly, a natural goalscorers goal. He looks far better on the wing, I can see why Van Gaal tried him in the middle, but it didn't really work, he just looked lost. Now he's out wide it's as if he has come alive. The second goal was the type of goal Young actually scores. And you wonder when he will come back into the picture and if so, who for?
Schweinsteiger came on at half time and gave his most convincing performance in a red shirt as United played some pretty exciting stuff. The third goal took it's time in coming though, there was relief all round at the thought of taking a two goal cushion across the channel next week. To be honest I was reasonably happy with a goal cushion, we should have enough to not get beat over there, they didn't really look much. A final word on the last goal, it was a fine finish from Fellaini in his brief cameo, but it was an excellent cross from Memphis to cap off a possible man of the match performance from the Dutchman.

Aston Villa 0-1 Manchester United

The winning start continues, I suppose that is all that will concern Van Gaal. For some of us the football matters as well, and so far there has been nothing to write home about on that front.
The positives from last night were that defensively, we are starting to look far more solid than we did at any stage last season. I would put that down mainly to the signing of Schneiderlin, who really looked the part last night, it looks like the Frenchman really is going to be the business for us. He was making tackles all game long and alongside Carrick has given our back four a good shield. A settled back four may be part of the answer. Though i still can't see Blind as a centre half against the better teams. We look really strong in the full back positions though, Darmian and Shaw are both strong defensively and both get forward well.
Creatively it still really isn't happening though. Partly this must be due to the philosophy, but you can't help feeling that Rooney really has finally gone at the game. He has been on a downward trend for the last four or five years as far as I have been concerned. Each year he seems to lose a little more pace and as that has gone his inconsistent first touch has been going the same way. Januzaj may not have been brilliant last night despite the goal, but I still couldn't believe he was hooked before Rooney. He really was awful last night, he barely did a thing right and was so sluggish it was untrue.
I was glad Januzaj started as I have always rated him, as I've said he may not have had a great game, but he's capable of scoring goals like that. He needs to be loved and to be given a run of games. But Van Gaal doesn't seem great at man management does he. Why did he have to be so churlish about his performance after the game.
The way we strangled the game towards the end was encouraging in a way, but I'd sooner see us strangling the opposition with goals. Saying that, if Memphis had converted the fantastic pass from Mata during the second half maybe we would have done. I can see that we will probably improve during this season and that we will see better football than last season. But I can't say that the manager or the philosophy are really my cup of tea or my idea of what Manchester United should be all about.
It'll be interesting to see how much squad rotation we'll see during this season, I suspect Tuesday's game against Brugge will give us a fair idea. I'm expecting Schweinsteiger to start the game, if I'm right, it will be interesting to see who joins him.

Music

Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs: I've heard a little of Boz Scaggs, the singles and what not, but never any of his albums. So this his first critically acclaimed solo album was a bit of an eye opener, very superior blue eyed soul with a smattering of country and blues along the way. The peumultimate track Loan me a Dime with Duane Allman on lead is just majestic.

Dutch Uncles - O Shudder: I wasn't sure about this, personally I wasn't that blown away by their previous album, it was a touch, sub par Everything Everything for me. I'm still not mad on the vocal style, but this is a better album, not great, but an improvement.

Nneka - My Fairy Tales: I am really into this album, hip hop, soul and reggae, it's got a really good fusion of styles from the Nigerian female artist.

Palma Violets - Danger in the Club: Their debut was a decent indie rock album that owed a debt to late 70's/early 80's punk/new wave. This follows the same formula and to largely similar results, good, but not earth shattering.

Seasick Steve - Sonic Soul Surfer: The song remains the same for Seasick Steve, and I for one aint complaining, he hits the spot again.

Tal National - Zoy Zoy: I don't know much about this west African outfit, except they are supposed to be a mish mash of African styles, well it works because this is a pretty good listen.

The Staves - If I Was: Another good album from the UK soft rock sister trio. Memorable songs and superb vocals.

Villagers - Darling Arithmetic: I loved the Irish mans last album and this is just as good, it's a more introspective affair, heavy on anit bigotry, homophobia, a compelling listen.