There wasn't anything to really say that I haven't said a million times before this season. It was piss poor and I'm glad the season is over, it was another one to forget. I wish I had some confidence in where we are heading under Van Gaal, but I don't really. My number one wish for next season is to see exciting football, your guess is as good as mine whether we'll see any.
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Avishai Cohen Trio - From Darkness: Another decent album from the Israeli jazz pianist, though his albums are getting a bit samey as far as this listener is concerned.
Blur - The Magic Whip: It took me a fair few listens for me to start to get into this, which it hasn't really ever done for me before with Blur. I have grown to like it, but I'll admit I wouldn't know where to put it in the pantheon of great Blur albums. I read Paul Weller in Mojo say he thinks it's the best album they've done, I don't think I can go along with that.
DELS - Petals Have Fallen: Another I didn't fall in love with straight away and another I still haven't really decided how much I like. It has it's moments but there a couple of tracks that are bit throwaway for me. It's never boring though.
Dengue Fever - The Deepest Lake: After saying that I preferred this lot to The Cambodian Space Project, their latest album was a bit of a dissapointment really. There's nothing wrong with it, it's a decent listen, but nothing special and a bit of a step back from their last album.
Mariachi El Bronx - Mariachi El Bronx III: Another reasonable album, but I was expecting a bit more of the Mariachi, instead it's a pretty orthodox album really.
The Decemberists - What a Terrible World What a Beautiful World: A pretty good album from the US indie folk/rockers, a very consistent band.
Ultimate Painting - Ultimate Painting: A collaboration of Jack Cooper and James Hoare of Mazes and Veronica Falls. This album is that good, I'd suggest it's time to pack in the day job, superb.
Friday, May 15, 2015
Music
Bob Dylan - Shadows in the Night: Some thought Dylan did this justice, in his own way! I'm not sure, it seems to work for me when I'm in the mood, which doesn't seem to be always.
Machito & His Orchestra - Kenya: I was on about my relationship to big band music when talking about Quincy Jones, this 50's classic wasn't on the same planet for me, but did have it's moments.
Mark Ronson - Uptown Special: I've never really known what to make of Ronson, he's made some great music, Amy Winehouse in particular, but some I could take or leave. But this is really excellent, it has to be said, some great collaborations in there.
Seu Jorge - Carolina: I have a lot oftime for the music of Brazil.whether Bossa Nova, Tropicalia or the funk that followed it. This is a more modern take from Jorge at the turn of the century and it's an excellent record taking in various styles, the funkier it gets the better I like it.
Swamp Dogg - The White man Made me do that gets off to a great start with the title track that is a brilliant tune that sets the tone for amixture of angry/funny lyrics and some great soul/funk music.
The Cambodian Space Project - Whisky Cambodia: I have heard an odd tune from this Australian/Cambodian project and watched that documentary. It's better than I had imagined, I think I'd still prefer Dengue Fever, but that's probably more western orienentated than this which seems pretty faithful to it's roots.
The Waterboys - Modern Blues: I loved the 80's period version, but have to admit not really taking much notice of Mike Scott's band since then. My mistake obviously because this is a corking record, starts with two or three outstanding tunes and ends with a ten minute plus blinder in Long Strange Golden Road.
TV on the Radio - Seeds: A favourite band of mine, but I had to admit their last album was not really up to scratch, decent, but they're better than that. This is right back to their best, inventive, but with tunes to remember, superb.
Monday, May 11, 2015
Crystal Palace 1-2 Manchester United
Well back to winning ways, albeit not in the manner of that glorious run that now seems almost as if it was another team playing in the red shirt. This was back to those muddling incoherent performances that we had grown used to for most of the rest of the season. Still, given Liverpool could only draw at Chelsea, the main objective of the season would seem to have been achieved, a return to the top four and champions league football next season.
The difference between this team when Carrick starts and when he doesn't is far too wide for a club with the aspirations United have. God knows I like Carrick as a player, but it's almost as if this United team has become as reliant on him as the mid 80's team were on Bryan Robson and that's a ridiculous state of affairs. And for all the money spent last Summer that just isn't good enough. Philosophy or not, the biggest requirement this summer is somebody in the engine room of midfield who can play alongside and eventually replace the geordie.
During that great run of results, one constant throughout all those games was generally the fast starts we made. It's seems to have gone back to the slow, hesitant, confidence shot, laboured starts that we witnessed prior to the Tottenham game. We started well at Chelsea, but how much of that was due to Maureen's game plan of sitting back. But the last three games just haven't really happened. Yes we have generally controlled the possession, but to little or no effect.
The penalty that led to the first goal came out of nowhere really, as Young put a decent cross in only for Dann to panic and get his arm in front of the ball leading to the ref to correctly give a spot kick. Mata did the honours and hit an excellent penalty to give us the lead. We went on to create a couple more chances but we never really bossed things.
The second half saw the home team change a couple of things and decide that weren't just going to let things go all United's way. And soon as we were put under pressure we looked wobbly. Blind didn't cover himself in glory for the equaliser, once again when put in as Carrick's replacement he looks well short of what's needed. The replacement of Shaw and Rooney hadn't helped our cause. But the replacement's hadn't either. Whose idea was it to move Jones to left back and put Evans into centre back when Evans has actually played left back in the past and done reasonably well there. As it was neither man excelled during that second period. The less said about Falcao replacing Rooney when we had Wilson on the bench, the better, though in fairness to the Colombian, he little to no service.
The winning goal was as fortunate as the first, as Young put in a decent cross, no more than that, but the Palace goalie and his back four got into an almighty tangly to allow Fellaini an almost free header to gift us a three points it's arguable we couldn't have got otherwise or even deserved. I suppose Van Gaal could also point to it as justification for starting the big Belgian. It wasn't. Once again, as team's know what we are going to do, they make arrangements for him and completely nullified him and once again we were almost playing with ten men.
Fuck knows what to expect next week, I suppose it may depend on Arsenal's tactics. If they come and have a go, we may get a Tottenham, City at home type performance. On the other hand if they do as i suspect, sit back and play us on the counter, it could be another afternoon to forget!
The difference between this team when Carrick starts and when he doesn't is far too wide for a club with the aspirations United have. God knows I like Carrick as a player, but it's almost as if this United team has become as reliant on him as the mid 80's team were on Bryan Robson and that's a ridiculous state of affairs. And for all the money spent last Summer that just isn't good enough. Philosophy or not, the biggest requirement this summer is somebody in the engine room of midfield who can play alongside and eventually replace the geordie.
During that great run of results, one constant throughout all those games was generally the fast starts we made. It's seems to have gone back to the slow, hesitant, confidence shot, laboured starts that we witnessed prior to the Tottenham game. We started well at Chelsea, but how much of that was due to Maureen's game plan of sitting back. But the last three games just haven't really happened. Yes we have generally controlled the possession, but to little or no effect.
The penalty that led to the first goal came out of nowhere really, as Young put a decent cross in only for Dann to panic and get his arm in front of the ball leading to the ref to correctly give a spot kick. Mata did the honours and hit an excellent penalty to give us the lead. We went on to create a couple more chances but we never really bossed things.
The second half saw the home team change a couple of things and decide that weren't just going to let things go all United's way. And soon as we were put under pressure we looked wobbly. Blind didn't cover himself in glory for the equaliser, once again when put in as Carrick's replacement he looks well short of what's needed. The replacement of Shaw and Rooney hadn't helped our cause. But the replacement's hadn't either. Whose idea was it to move Jones to left back and put Evans into centre back when Evans has actually played left back in the past and done reasonably well there. As it was neither man excelled during that second period. The less said about Falcao replacing Rooney when we had Wilson on the bench, the better, though in fairness to the Colombian, he little to no service.
The winning goal was as fortunate as the first, as Young put in a decent cross, no more than that, but the Palace goalie and his back four got into an almighty tangly to allow Fellaini an almost free header to gift us a three points it's arguable we couldn't have got otherwise or even deserved. I suppose Van Gaal could also point to it as justification for starting the big Belgian. It wasn't. Once again, as team's know what we are going to do, they make arrangements for him and completely nullified him and once again we were almost playing with ten men.
Fuck knows what to expect next week, I suppose it may depend on Arsenal's tactics. If they come and have a go, we may get a Tottenham, City at home type performance. On the other hand if they do as i suspect, sit back and play us on the counter, it could be another afternoon to forget!
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Manchester United 0-1 West Brom
That was a thoroughly miserable afternoon's football. After last weeks performance at Everton, i can't pretend I was expecting the kind of football we saw at home to Tottenham. But I certainly wasn't expecting to see us drop any points, never mind all three.
All the problems that have affected United, and more especially Van Gaal's philosophy before that recent run of results and performances seem to have returned in spades. Against a team that parks the bus and just allows us to dominate possession we still sem to be clueless. The play is too slow, there's no creativity, the philosophy doesn't seem to allow for individuals to try things off the cuff and we're still far too reliant on Carrick. We bought two central midfielders in the summer, Herrera and Blind and neither of them are anywhere near filling his boots. In fact Herrera seems to only work when he plays further up and Blind seems better at left back. I've said it before, both are decent squad players, but nothing more.
Then we have the issue of Fellaini, just what is the point of playing him in games like this. During the first half he wasn't getting into the box enough, which really was pointless. But Van Gaal's answer was to push him up top and bring Van Persie into an attacking central midfield role. Van Gaal has taken stick for playing two centre forwards in midfield, but I actualy thought Van Persie gave a pretty good account of himself, he tried to be creative and played the ball forward when he had the chance. Rooney on the other hand had yet another forgettable afternoon in the middle of the park. Where i would go along with the stick Van Gaal has received on the message boards et al, is putting Fellaini up front. It just encouraged us to pump high balls forward. Admittedly Falcao isn't the answer either, where is Wilson?
That's not to say we deserved to lose, we didn't, but even there it was another soft if unfortunate goal to give away. But we had looked vulnerable on the rare occasions West Brom managed to get in our half. I don't like to give youngsters stick, but it's patently obvious to me that McNair is not up to it. We all know he's only playing because he "fits the profile" but really, does he? He can't defend and isn't really all that, on the ball, is he. It was pretty headles chicken defending that saw him bring Fletcher down just outside the box in a dangerous area.
That fourth spot isn't nailed on is it, the way we are playing you wouldn't put money on us at Palace. Just when we'd started to looking forward to games again as well!
All the problems that have affected United, and more especially Van Gaal's philosophy before that recent run of results and performances seem to have returned in spades. Against a team that parks the bus and just allows us to dominate possession we still sem to be clueless. The play is too slow, there's no creativity, the philosophy doesn't seem to allow for individuals to try things off the cuff and we're still far too reliant on Carrick. We bought two central midfielders in the summer, Herrera and Blind and neither of them are anywhere near filling his boots. In fact Herrera seems to only work when he plays further up and Blind seems better at left back. I've said it before, both are decent squad players, but nothing more.
Then we have the issue of Fellaini, just what is the point of playing him in games like this. During the first half he wasn't getting into the box enough, which really was pointless. But Van Gaal's answer was to push him up top and bring Van Persie into an attacking central midfield role. Van Gaal has taken stick for playing two centre forwards in midfield, but I actualy thought Van Persie gave a pretty good account of himself, he tried to be creative and played the ball forward when he had the chance. Rooney on the other hand had yet another forgettable afternoon in the middle of the park. Where i would go along with the stick Van Gaal has received on the message boards et al, is putting Fellaini up front. It just encouraged us to pump high balls forward. Admittedly Falcao isn't the answer either, where is Wilson?
That's not to say we deserved to lose, we didn't, but even there it was another soft if unfortunate goal to give away. But we had looked vulnerable on the rare occasions West Brom managed to get in our half. I don't like to give youngsters stick, but it's patently obvious to me that McNair is not up to it. We all know he's only playing because he "fits the profile" but really, does he? He can't defend and isn't really all that, on the ball, is he. It was pretty headles chicken defending that saw him bring Fletcher down just outside the box in a dangerous area.
That fourth spot isn't nailed on is it, the way we are playing you wouldn't put money on us at Palace. Just when we'd started to looking forward to games again as well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
