Manchester United 2-1 Barcelona

The final game of the tour saw us sign off the three weeks unbeaten and a very useful workout ahead of the charity shield next week. Of course it was nice to beat Barca, even if it's a Barca without Messi, Xavi and Pique, but the most beneficial aspect of last night was the newcomers gaining the experience of seeing the workrate that the best club side in the world puts into every game.
I thought our youngsters were excellent, Welbeck was superb whilst on the pitch, Cleverley got an invaluable 90 minutes in against a class opposition and didn't look out of place in central midfield and Jonny Evans didn't do much wrong. Welbeck looked more dangerous than Rooney which says everything about his potential. De Gea did alright apart from one terrible clearance that could have been very embarrassing. He made one excellent save and his distribution was swift and creative in another promising performance.
The first half saw us look the more dangerous when we had the ball in their half and saw us match them for possession for about half an hour until they started to dominate the rest of that period without ever really threatning the United goal. Rooney had the first real chance of the match getting on the end of a Nani cross but he hit his shot the wrong side of the upright. Nani was a permanent threat down the right hand side and Welbeck was floating around the pitch causing permanent problems for the Catalans. Young had his quietest match of the tour as he found out how little time you are given on the ball against Barca, which to me highlighted how promising Welbeck's performance was.
As for Barca we saw how important Messi and Xavi are to them, as if we didn't know. They are still a class outfit without that duo but miss the brilliance, creativity and final ball that the two best players in the world provide. I thought United were too happy to let Barca dominate possession in the second half, i know that our system of two wingers means we are always going to see less of the ball. But as we saw at Wembley you just can't allow the best team in the world to hog the ball all night as eventually they will hurt you. As once again happened last night even though it took a cracking strike from Thiago to bring them level. There are some who think De Gea might have done better, but i don't see that, it was a brilliant shot that he was never going to reach.
I have to admit that i feared the worst after that but full credit to the reds as it was United who ended the match the superior outfit after Clevrley's interception and Own's cool finsih to give us the lead. Owen should have made it three right near the end but missed a sitter.
All in all this was a very encouraging night with both teams ending the game with very youthful teams on the pitch. Smalling once again looked the business at full back and Rafael had looked good whilst on the pitch, his injury was the one blot on the night.

Fergie applauds the performance of Cleverley last night whilst denying reported comments regarding Sneijder. Before last nights game Gerard Pique was telling the press how Spain had seen nothing Ferguson and talks glowingly of his man management skills.

Matt Lawton spends 40 minutes with Gary Neville and describes how he was always the England player that the press gravitated too and how he decided that the United dressing room is now a no go area for him. Another now ex red defender Wes Brown looks ahead to life away from Old trafford at the stadium of light with Sunderland. It will be interesting where Steve Bruce plays him, i think his best days at centre back are behind him and for him to prove a successful buy he must play him at right back. We shall see.
The biggest loss of all though was obviously Scholesy and he modestly thinks that replacing him will be no big deal, but we all know that it will. He is right though that there will almost certainly be no like for like replacement as the only two like for likes are at Barca and not for sale.

Flecther was interviewed on his thoughts on the Scottish national side ahead of yesterday's world cup draw, but importantly for United he said that he is now over the mystery virus. Once and for all it's to be hoped as we could do with the Fletcher of two seasons back. The last season and a half have been great to him.

Last weeks Evening news ran a question and answers session with Berbatov where he reiterated his desire to remain at United despite the press questioning his future at the club. Last night's non appearance will have probably done nothing to quell that speculation.

Gill did his bit for the Glazer's talking to the press lauding our owners and citing a post Ferguson plan as evidence that they know what they are doing and claiming that the majority of fans around the world are behind the Glazer's. Well that's alright then, the rest of the world can get behind the owners whilst the match going fans can just lump it.
Does anybody seriously believe the Glazer's have been involved to even the slightest degree in this post Ferguson plan. As Andersred has written on his blog it looks like last seasons retirements and the sale of Brown and O'shea have raised the funds for our summer business with Fergie as good as admitting the fact in one of his interviews over in the States last week. Which begs the question what is going to happen with that Ronaldo money which it would appear is still sittin in the bank.

Europe's top clubs look like they are using the continuing disarray at FIFA to flex their muscles threatning to break away with calls for revolution against footballs global leadership.

Matthew Norman calls for the Lib dems to change their leader to Vince Cable as their only hope of remaining in the game ahead of the next election. It would seem all the papers are agreed that last week saw the ressurection of the sainted Vince, with today's Independent running an interview with the business secretary titled from hero to zero and back again.
Bennedict Brogan thinks that Cable may have actually been on to something when he argued that the government is scared of vested interests with deep pockets and expensive lawyers however much he may have been playing to centre left instincts.
David Blanchflower's adice to Cable after last week's dismal growth figures were for him jump ship, but with plenty of battle still to fight that is probably the last thing on his mind. Will Hutton argues that after those dismal figues Britain needs a economic plan Asian and that only a paradigm shift in the economy will do. Steve Richards wrote that whatever Osborne wants to call it, he needs a plan B and he and the coalition government have only themselves to blame for the state of the economy. Liam Halligan shows that the right still can't stop using Greece as an excuse for it's handling of the economy arguing that Osborne has to stay the course.

Bobby Butcher argues in Propsect that localism is over politicians must think big whilst Jonathan Darbyshire reviews Blue labour's new road map for the British left which argues for that very localism. There is something to be said for both points of view, first and foremost politicians have to save the global economy by taming big finance and making economies working for everybody and not just a small financial elite. And then, in this country at least power and influence must be decentralised as much as possible away from the south east and London.

Paul Mason retraced Steinbeck's footsteps exporing thw woes of America's middle class underclass that are being left behind as the countries economic woes detiorate as the budget impasse deepens.
At least it seems sane voices of the US republican party have started at least some kind of fightback against the hijacking of their party by the " tea party " otherwise known as right wing nutters, as McCain accuses the Republican right of lying to the American public with unrealistic demands.

Charles Moore carries on where he left off last week by arguing that our leaders have lost faith in the powers of their people and that it is time for conservatives to prove that they are for the many not the few.

Simon Jenkins argues the last thing Norway needs is iliberal Britain's patronising, they have handled the tragedy in a surpremely liberal way, you just have to think what the reaction in this country would have been. We would never have heard a politician delare we will win this by introducing even more democracy, that's for sure.

Chicago fire 1-3 Manchester United

The first game of the US tour that i have managed to see the whole ninety minutes and the first to see De Gea, Jones, Cleverley and Welbeck. With Smalling, the De Silva's and Rooney also involved a glimpse of the future perhaps. Unfortunately i always suspected this would mean we wouldn't see some of the fireworks that we saw in the first two games.
In reality there was continuity with United taking their time getting into the game and then starting to produce a goal threat in the second half. The first half was less fluent than the first two games with a new and returning loanee's taking time to find their feet. Of the four Danny Welbeck was the pick looking our most dangerous and inventive player during his time on the pitch. He was partnered with Berbatov who once again looked a bit off the pace, maybe he knows he might be off. You do have to wonder how much Fergie values him with his actions and comments towards the end of last season and even this summer.
De Gea didn't really have too much to do, i didn't really blame him for the goal though it was a soft goal to give away. He looked decisive and his distribution was good and made one really good save in the first half. Jones had a fair game defending well and looking very comfortable with the ball at his feet. His partnership with Smalling looks very promising. I've got to say i was disappointed with Cleverley, he just never got into the game. Hopefully he just needs games, he has never seen the type of player to be short on confidence.
The home team deserved to be in front at half time and had a great chance to go two up before United eventually got back into the game. But once Rooney lobbed home a fine equaliser there only looked one winner, even if they never reached the heights of the furst two games. All the goals were well taken with Rooney again looking like the season can't come quickly enough for him. Rafael scored an opportunistic goal and it would be nice to see some of that next season. We haven't had a goalscoring full back since Denis Irwin and we know both of the twins have goals in them.

Maybe Cleverley will be even more disappointed with his performance after Fergie's post match comments that he is happy in the squad he has and will be looking to replace Scholes with combinations from within the squad. He has been given one hell of an incentive though.
As Carrick said last week it is up to the current squad for replacing Paul Scholes, though we all know we have no one in the current squad who really comes close to the great man. But if Arsenal will not let Nasri leave, Modric wants to go to Chelsea and Sneijder is too dear for Fergie to sanction a bid, Carrick is right.

Mark Ogden writes that United have hit the jackpot on and off the pitch as United are now a big name in the States and the annonymity the players once enjoyed over there has gone. I was impressed with the crowd at the Seattle game, for once when United scored most of the home crowd didn't cheer. I had read that the game has reallt taken off there with average crowds of 30 odd thousand every home game. It does seem that the game is achieving some kind of take off over there.
I think the sport deserves to succeed over there as they seem to have tried to go the right way about growing the game builing up slowly from below instead of the star driven approach of the seventies.

Ashley Young has started his United career well is enjoying being at a club of ths stature of United. I have been very impressed with him and think he will be a great addition to the squad during the coming season. I am waiting to see if Fergie is going to use him in the hole occasionally, because if Fergie is going to use him there that would be part of the reason i still wouldn't be surprised to see Berbatov unloaded.
I was a bit surprised to see that Fergie says that United are to offer Park Ji Sung a new two year contract. Whilst he had a decent season last year, we all saw, and for a second time, that he doesn't really belong on the same pitch as the team we are trying to catch, Barcelona. I don't see him finishing his career at the club, and if he wants one more big pay day or maybe even just a new experience he hasn't got long left.

Beckham interviewed in the Guardian says he has no interest in coaching and would be more interested in an ambassadorial role when he hangs up his boots. After the retirements of his pal Gary Neville he also says that he will see how he feels at the end of this season but hopes to play at least one more season. Daniel Taylor thinks he may want to play in next summer's olympic football tournament. I'm sure his club LA Galaxy will be thrilled to hear that.
I'm afraid he doesn't come near to being a United legend for me, he's miles too mercenary for my tastes. He gave United about six years of service that had it continued would have seen him tagged as a United legend. But around 2001-2002 he began to save his best performances for the national team and i actually wouldn't have minded Fergie selling him the season before he actually went. I definitely wasn't gutted when he went, let's put it like that.

Andersred looks at City's present income taking their new stadium naming rights into consideration and thinks UEFA will pass the deal as in line with their new Financial fair play rules. This has of course put more than a few British and European clubs noses seriously out of joint. Fellow football finance writer the Swiss ramble seems to agree, he thinks they have been very clever. I suppose it's a fair point to accuse the Germans of a touch of hypocrisy.
Jim White thinks that Rupert Murdoch and Sky deserve some credit for their transformation of the national sport, i'll pass on that.

Charles Moore writes that the events of the past three years have left him wondering if the left might have been right after all. Interesting article from a guy that i couldn't stand back in the day ( the eighties and early nineties ).

Martin Kettle argues that whilst Cameron may think his performance on Wednesday has put him in the clear, this saga has far from run its course, after all Watergate took two years to unravel. Deborah Orr wonders whether Ian Kershaw's "working towards the fuhrer" thesis can be applied to the inner workings of the Murdoch empire. There almost certainly is something in that, but that doesn't exonerate old Rupe one little bit for me. They knew what he wanted and knew how his organisations have always worked. They were just using the latest technology.
I think the revelation from a former Fox news executive claiming that the organisation ran a black ops department does prove that point. I hope this ends the with the destruction of the whole of news corp not just the ending of any kind of a Murdoch dynasty.

Ian Katz looks at the Andy Coulson vetting saga and asks damp squib or dynamite? A Reuters article asks is Britain more corrupt than it thinks it is, unfortunately the answer to that is yes. And maybe even more corrupt than some of us have always suspected which is even worse, not on a par with Berlusconi's Italy, yet anyway, who knows what else is to come out of all this.

Peter Oborne goes way over the top arguing the Euro crisis will give Germany the empire it's always desired. Will Hutton couldn't agree less, arguing the survival of the Euro marks a crucial moment in the rebirth of a continent. I don't take Oborne's argument seriously, but i wish i could be as optimistic as Hutton is, but i can't as he says the crisis hasn't been resolved and i don't have much faith in the continent's ploitical elite. As the Guardian argued on Saturday, i think, it hasn't taken the people with it, the democratic deficit is still there.
Fellow Keynsian economist Joseph Stiglitz argues the Eurozone's problems are political, not economic.

Vince Cable launches attack on right wing nutters in USA who arethreatning to cripple the world economy. Our right wing press don't seem to be giving this that much coverage or explaining the actions of the Republican right. Jeffrey Sachs talks of budgetary deceit and American decline, another Liberal who is know fan of Obama he argues that the US desperately needs a third party movement. Sachs argued that the democrats are the party of Wall street in that piece, Paul Krugman argues that present policy can be summed up as go easy on the bankers, Sachs does have a point doesn't he. It can't be easy to be a liberal in ths States.

The New statesman interviews Norman Finkelstein, funnily enough i had just watched the documentary about him last weekend. I couldn't argue with most of his opinions but the scene where he praises Hezbollah didn't go down well with me. I agree they have the right to defend their people, how can you argue with that? But this is a party that allies itself with Iranian theocrats, hardly the friends of democrats.

Christopher Hitchens reviews the latest biography of Mahatma Gandhi and makes a number of important points about the realism of the policies he actually advocated during his lifetime.

A telegraph article looks at the unveiling of Virgin's world's fastest cable broadband that could change lives or spark a second industrial revolution.

Stewart Lee talks about what he really thinks of Michael McIntyre and the Daily Mail, fascinating as ever, i keep meaning to buy his autobiography.
Russell Brand tells the Guardian we have lost a beautiful talented woman after the death of Amy Winehouse, a great singer, but it was always likely to end this way.

United in US

I stayed up to watch the first half of United's first game of their US pre-season tour the other night, and of course managed to miss most of the action which all happened during the second half when the home team tired. But i was encouraged by what i saw of Ashley Young on his first appearance for the club. He linked up reasonably well with Fabio and managed to put some telling crosses in. I wasn't quite as impressed by his habit of always cutting inside and never quite going to the byeline and use his left foot. Saying that even though the full back always knew he was going to cut inside he couldn't stop him delivering dangerous balls into the box.
Rooney looked sharp which is good news, Nani looked good and both twins really looked the part. The only player to disappoint slightly was Berbatov, but friendlies are to get that match sharpness back so i can't wait to see our International under 21 brigade get onto the pitch during this tour.

Fergie cites the example of the rent boys Petr Cech as the reason why he thinks De Gea will have no trouble in having an instant impact in the premier league. I'm still a bit concerned about his command of the English language, but we can't expect him to just carry on where Van Der Sar left off. We will have to give him time.

All the transfer talk now seems to revolve around Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan. I know we need to replace Paul Scholes, but at the price tag being quoted i don't see the Dutchman as the answer myself. Don't get me wrong he is a class player, i just don't think he is what we need, Modric would have been the man for me, but he obviously only has eyes for Chelsea. Sneijder plays too far up the pitch for me, unless we are going to play 4-3-3 all the time, which given all the wide men now at the club, i can't see.
Fergie tried to downplay all the speculation the other night saying we have no interest in him, but as others have said you can never know when he is telling the truth or playing games.

It looks like the season is going to kick off without Darren Fletcher in the squad as the rumour on twitter that he hadn't gone on the tour because of a return of the virus that he suffered from in the latter stages of last season had returned looks like it was true. Unfortunately this sounds serious.

The Mail report that Danny Welbeck will be rewarded with a new contract as the club continue to look after the long term future of the club. It has also been reported that Fergie has told him to forget about going back to Sunderland on loan as he is a part of his plans for the first team squad this season.
We know that Ferguson thinks he is going to be some player and i want him to stay this season as i think he will be a quality player. But looking at the size of the squad and the surprise retension of Michael Owen, just how much playing time is he going to get?

Talking of loanee's, Fredrico Macheda who scored in Boston the other night spoke of his delight at being back at the club. But looking at the size and depth of the squad he will really struggle to get much match time this season if he was to stay at the club. After the disaster of his time at Sampdoria he really needs to be playing next season. Which must mean another spell away from Old trafford over the first six months at least for him. You would like to think he will be loaned out to an English club this time and he does indeed get the experience that he will need. I'm not too sure whether he will be good enough for United, but i won't write him off yet.
As Mark Ogden writes is he really still a teenager, he seems to have been around ages.

Paul Parker argues in his Yahoo blog that he thinks Fergie is paying lip service to some rivals as he thinks our only real rivals to the premier league title will be Chelsea or City. He can't see Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool realistically challenging for the title. You can't really argue with any of that, though i would be surprised if City are challenging come the last month of the season. Depending on who Chelsea manage to snap up during the transfer window, they would appear to be our main challengers again.

United's Irish youngster Robbie Brady may be the latest to make the trek over to Hull City, on loan this time. Though if he does do well i could see him making the move permanent. From what i have seen of him i don't really see him having a long term future at United.

The Murdoch saga just gets bigger and bigger, Carl Bernstein asks whether the phone hacking scandal is Murdoch's watergate, and with todays news that Rebecca Brooks is the latest News International to suffer arrest at the hands of the police, the answer must surely be yes.
Peter Oborne who has had a pretty good scandal so far looks at the great Murdoch conspiracy, he doesn't let us forget that new labour were up to their eyeballs in all the rotteness of the corrupt state of this country during Murdoch's hegemony. Gordon Brown may have made some decent points in his speech in the commons but as Matthew Norman wrote in his Indy column, don't pity Gordon Brown.
I'm not so sure that Simon Jenkins has been on top form during the past fortnight's revelations but there is every chance that his pessimistic take on events will prove to be the correct one and nothing much will change. You have got to hope he is wrong but it's still the same set of political pygmies running the country after Murdoch's castration as it was during the sun kings reign. I can't say i have that much faith that they will turn things around.
This blog from Robert Peston is already completely out of date, he asked who was more powerful, Parliament or Murdoch. It was and still is a good question, though it can't be directed at Murdoch or News international either after this scandal has run its course. But the question still has relevance for the world of finance and the corporate world. Democracy has got to use these events and the events of 2008 ot reassert just who is in control runs the world and who they run it for, political and financial elites or the people. As Steve Richards argues we need to know a lot more about these people.
This Torygraph editorial described a scandal that has diminshed Britain, amazingly there is hardly a thing i could quibble with in that piece.

John Kampfner argues that now MP's have won one battle will they now battle for their Liberal values. Margaret Drabble uses the Indy to argue that now we have the chance ourselves of insidious shame. Conrad Black compares Murdoch to Napoleon arguing both were great " bad men ", not the most fitting of men to deliver that message.
Henry Porter writes that we have to take this unique chance to introduce reform and clean up the media but not by sacrificing a free press. There are some good ideas in that column.

As all the furore over the phone hacking scandal continues the future of Europe and maybe even the world's financial system stands on the brink. John Lanchester argues that Europe's fate rests with its economic powerhouse Germany and it's willingness to shoulder the burden thrust upon it. Larry Elliott argues that Eurzone chiefs must realise they are in a life or death struggle.
Newsweek reveals the billion dollar heist or how the financial industry is buying off Washington and killing off reform. Will US politicians stand up to the plate?

New Order have another best of available, but they are still not on talking terms as they give seperate interviews and stick the boot into each other yet again. It doesn't look like i will ever be seeing them live again.

Music
Betty Davis - Betty Davis: I love 70's funk though i haven't actually heard that much of the stuff. This is superb, some great playing and she is a terrific vocalist.

Foresr swords - Dagger paths: A cracking album from Matthew Barnes, i'm not sure what genre it is, but it's hauntingly good. There seem to be quite a few darkly atmospheric projects around at the moment and this as good as anything around.

Lykke Li - Wounded rhymes: She has travelled in a more mainstream directio for her second album which was pretty leftfield. It's a good album with some excellent tunes on it, but i have to admit to a preference for her debut album.

Mazes - A thousand heys: A pretty good indie album from the US outfit. Great energy that will make you want to jump up and down.

The Dears - Degeneration street: This is the first album of the Canadian indie outfits that i have heard and it won't be the last as it is pretty good.

The Uniques - Absolutey rocksteady: Cracking rocksteady reggae with a firm emphasis on an excellent vocal department.