Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea

The dream is still alive, another fine performance and deserved win. I don't know why i had such a good feeling about this tie after doubting the quality of the squad for the most of the season, but we were definitely the better side over two legs. If Ancelotti hadn't had one hand tied behind his back by Abramovitch may be it would have been different, but Torres played again and did nothing again. I was surprised Valencia didn't play but Fergie got it right again, Tony will be back on Saturday, who will get the nod on the other side.
Two superb goals on such a big night showed that those two set backs at Stamford bridge and Anfield didn't knock any of the self belief out of the side. Rooney and Hernandez seem to be forming a great partnership, i suppose the only question is whether Rooney will be here next season to continue the double act. Alan Hansen thinks Berbatov, talented though he undoubtedly is, has under achieved at Old trafford as Fergie's habit of keeping him on the bench in the big matches shows. Well i hope he doesn't underachieve on Saturday because i'm pretty sure he will be starting at Wembley. With no Rooney we are going to need somebody up front to hold the ball up and as superb as Hernandez has been that's not part of his game as yet.
Monday night was a disaster in more ways than one from the comedy half of the city. A dismal performance, a defeat that has given Liverpool a sniff of the fourth champions league spot and with nothing else left to play for and almost as disastrously it looks like they have lost Tevez for the semi final at Wembley. As much as they want to beat us on Saturday, and we want to beat them obviously, that fourth spot will seal Mancini's fate. If City are pipped to it again the premier league will almost certainly be losing both of its Italian managers leaving Capello hanging on in the national job.

Everybody is getting giddy, how can't you, but it's as well to remember our past record in semi finals against German teams in semi finals where we all really fancied oursleves to get through to the final. The Leverkeusen games were unreal, the last minute at their place in particular, but the games against Dortmund were worse. We played well enough over there, Nicky Butt was unlucky to see a fine run and shot strike the post and then they scored from a fortunately deflected shot. But the 1-0 defeat at our place has to be the most one sided 1-0 defeat i have ever seen, as Andy Mitten has tweeted let's hope it's third time lucky.
So Fergie was right to remind journo's before yesterdays encounter that this competition is as much of an obsession for Manchester United as it is for the rent boys under their oligarch owner.

I suppose it was ironic that Mark Ogden wrote this piece about Fergie's prayers being answered with the return of Ferdinand for the double header against Chelsea that we now await as to whether he will be fit for the semi final on Saturday against the bitters. If Tevez doesn't play i wouldn't be too concerned if Smalling has to deputise once more as he was outstanding against them at our place in the 2-1 victory.
We will miss Rooney but hopefully our back up Berbatov or Hernadez or a combination of both will prove that they are a class above the two £20 odd million buys Ballotelli and Dzeko who i have never believed was as good as some have suggested. After his poor start as the boo camp i am happy to stay with that view. Rooney spole to Talk sport today to admit he was wrong to swear to the camera and says he now accepts his punishment but hopes that the lads do him proud on Saturday. I'd rather United just kept quiet about it to be honest. But i don't doubt that he wants the boys to win on Saturday, as apart from Giggs and Scholes the only medal missing for the vast majority of our squad is an FA cup winners medal. We will be desperate to win on Saturday.

United fan Thomas McKenna brands United as bullies as he fights the case launched against him for publishing a leaked list of corporate clients. Go to this site if you want to donate to his court costs to fight the good fight.

Manchester United 2-0 Fulham

It would have been nice to have seen a performance that matched the weather on the nicest and hottest Manchester day of year so far, but the most important objective of the day was three points, so with them safely in the bag i'm not going to moan. United never really hit top gear, in fact if Fulham had made the most of their good start it could have been a totally different game.
The visitors had a couple of decent early efforts but then Zamorra was given a very presentable chance the he skewed horribly wide. And from that moment on it was pretty much all United. Nani and Valencia were both on their game and the chances started to come. The first goal was the result of some excellent football involving some fine interplay between Anderson, Nani and Berbatov that ended with the Bulgarian cooly curling it past Schwarzer's right hand. TV replays apparently showed that he was offside, it would have been a shame to see such a fine goal chalked out.
More chances came including one put on a plate for Anderson by Berbatov that he made a right old mess of. He is never going to be a goalscorer at United, it's just not meant to be. Nani was again involved for the second as his run and shot fell to the head of Valencia who couldn't miss and you felt that at 2-0 it was probably game over and how many more would we get.
But it never really happened, the afternoon just fizzled out as United didn't show enough energy and Fulham were probably happy to go away conceding just the two goals. But it was game won, three points and job done and with two enormous games to come on Tuesday and next Saturday that was the most important thing.

Sparky thinks that United's experience means that the treble is on. It obviously is, though i never really believed the treble was truly on last time until we had got through both of those memorable semi finals. So yes it is on, but i'm not getting too giddy just yet.
Andy Cole would be more than happy with two trophies and has a go at Harry Redknapp for Aaron Lennon debacle. That was one odd episode.

Jim White discusses Fergie " the man for all seasons " as his tactical victory over Ancelotti demonstrates that tactics are not the supposed weak link that some commentators and even fans attribute to him.

Rob Kelly thinks the decision to not even nominate Nani for the footballer of year is " baffling and farcical ", unfortunately it's probably a sign of the unpopularity of man with his opponents. Even yesterday Fulham players were taking him to task for milking challenges, and as well as he played and has been playing, i can't say i blame them.
Still the PFA player of the year is about your contribution on the pitch, it's not supposed to be a popularity contest, and without doubt he has easily been one of the top 6 player in the premier league this season.

Gary Neville, Sky's latest acquisition blasts the inconsistent FA over Wayne Rooney's two match ban. He makes some great points, they are making things up as they go along.
Dutch legend Marco Van Basten thinks Rooney " is the man " but thinks the FA were right to ban him. Now he was a great player, i like his description of United as a more dynamic football team than Chelsea.

I watched the first leg of the FA youth cup semi final first leg between Chelsea and United earlier and it was an excellent game and a great advert for youth football. But even though i'm biased as hell how did United lose that. Still they have got come to our place and if United play as well as that again especially in the second half they must have a great chance of getting through to the final.
Paul Pogba looked on a different planet to everybody on the pitch, i'm not sure that he is a player that will have to go out on loan . He looks ready to make the step up to the first team squad next season. And hopefully he can get 10 15 first team games next year in the league cup and maybe a couple of earlier champions league games as well as a few league games at home.

Now that Johnny Morris has past away there is only Jack Crompton left of the great 1948 FA cup winning team left, Ivan Ponting looks back at the career at possibly the first man to fall out with Busby and suffer the consequences.

Polly Toynbee argues that David Cameron's well oiled winning machine is now a car crash. The article is fair enough except for the little matter of what well oiled winning machine is that, he didn't win the last election and that's where all his problems stem from.

Peter Capaldi interviewed in yesterday's indy tells Gerard Gilbert that some people don't ask for his autograph they ask him to tell them to fuck off, Malcom Tucker style, and that he does and that some times he means it.

Paul Mason looks at the Euro, Europe and the fact that the two Europe's north and south are diverging after the ECB decision to raise interest rates last week. He describes the current situation as a fiasco. Paul Krugman is equally astonished at the mess that Europe is getting itself into in his New York Times blog.
Peter Oborne argues that George Osborne must act before Europe sucks Britain into its whirlpool, but is alarmed that he doesn't appear to have any policies to keep us out of any fall out.

Ian Burrell talks of a disturbing day for News international, Robert Peston tries to make sense of events in the Murdoch empire, wondering if the widespread assumption that James Murdoch's move to New York is the promotion that many commentators view it as. The Independent wonder if the unreserved apology and damages payout fund will placate the Murdoch empire's enemies.
Henry Porter gets to the heart of the matter that the Murdoch empire is dangerous to the workings of our democracy.

The Independent blogs on the new face of Manchester fashion.

Classic

Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United

A magnificent result, but i'm trying to not get too carried away. The job is still only half done, but a 1-0 defeat at home in a two legged tie is a horrible result for Chelsea as United know after being on the receiving end to Bayern and AC Milan in the early eighties. Still if the rent boys score first at Old trafford it would be game on again.
It was nice to see United finally get the rub of the game at Stamford bridge, as Fergie said why should we feel guilty in getting a decsion go our way after the decisions we have suffered down there over recent years. As ever it was a tight game between the two teams but this time, and when it mattered most, to us and them, we did the business.
Daniel Taylor describes the games as Wayne Rooney's way of reminding Chelsea and the watching football world which of the F-words he is really about. Martin Samuel goes a tad over the top claiming which ever side had got Rooney in their side would have come out on top.

Rio Ferdinand argues that the demonising of Wayne Rooney has got to stop, as the FA uhold their two match ban which puts him out of the semi final. I suppose the best way to get them back for that is to go and win that game and stick two fingers up at the bastards. Rooney himself feels victimised, claiming the punishment didn't fit the crime. Ian Herbert thinks that the FA punished Rooney to boost its flagging respect campaign, that sounds reasonable and makes the case that they used Rooney for their won ends even stronger.

Fergie comes out with a classic about " some wee guy, in the midlands ".

Mark Ogden thinks Owen Hargreaves may have the opportunity to extend his Manchester United career beyond this summer, i really can't believe that.

Ancelotti fumes over the referee and the penalty that wasn't, pressure telling? if we do finish the job he will be out of a job come the summer. Which would be scandalous, but that is the Chelsea way under Abramovitch and long may it continue.
James Olley tells Ancelloti he got it wrong tactically in a reasonably fair assesment of recent United Chelsea history, though i wouldn't say they have had the sign over us, almost every game could have gone either way, we do struggle against them physically. 

Bennedict Brogan looks at Cameron's big problem, which is that he knows and his back benchers know is that he isn't a winner. He also makes the point, correctly, that this is also part of Clegg's problems, the lib dems did not get the result that they should have done at the last election.
Simon Jenkins describes the problems that lie in the way of Clegg and Cameron's drive against social mobility. How they expect to alter that one jot following their economic policies is beyond me.

Jon Snow looks at the problem with Britain's charming arms deals, that just seem to go on and on whoever is in power.

Is the Berlusconi roadshow finally reaching it's end game or is that wishful thinking.

Peter Foster wonders if the detension of Ai Weiwei suggests bad old days are returning to China. Th Economist looks at the biggest state crackdown for years against reformers and dissidents.

The economist Stephen King accuses Krugman, Blanchflower and co of being more Keynesian than Keynes and argues for them to admit that the country does face hard choices. Larry Elliott asks whether George Osborne is fit to run the economy or to ruin it. It's a fair point, has he got any of the big decisions right over the last 3 to 4 years. In answer to King Keynesians have not made things worse, that's for sure.
Martin Wolf looks at the great economic rebalancing that will have to come, and he thinks that it will but that it will bumpy and there will be a fair bit of pain. Roger Bootle argues that whether you approved of Thatcher or not the country needs someone with her level of radicalism to fundamentally reform the British economy.

Hs judgement day for the Euro got closer as Portugal finally admit that they will have to seek a financial bailout. On the same day the European central bank has decided to raise interest rates, co-ordinated policy? The Telegraph look at why they have taken this decision. At least the UK has retained its sanity and left it interest rate alone.
David Blanchflower is interviewed about the ECB interest rate rise.

Johann Hari doesn't trust the west's motives in Libya. I can see where he is coming from, and i would accept that the response is probably far from totally altruistic, but to me it looks too shambolic a response to be as deliberate and co-ordinated as he supposes.
John Pilger thinks only the naive would disagree with Hari's analysis, whilst Mick Hume of Spiked tends to the chaos theory.