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.