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.

Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

New season, same old Louis Van Gaal's United, at least we fortuitously came away with the three points. After the four Summer signings I'd allowed myself to get at least a little excited about the new season. But watching the pre-season friendlies knocked that out of me. They were only friendlies, so not too much should ever be taken from them, but the same old possession based " philosophy " looked like new players stifled by the same way of playing.
And after a quarter of an hour of Saturday's game it was obvious that we were back where we were at the end of last season. Tottenham are a decent team so it's still a useful three points, and it's obviously a far better start than last season. But for me, this season is as much about our style of play as it is where we come in the league, so Saturday was pretty depressing.
Saturday also showed, as if we didn't know already, that we are still short at centre back and I'm afraid I really don't think Wayne Rooney is going to be that much of an improvement as the main man as centre forward. It's hard to see how we are really that close to competing for the title or god forbid, the champions league, until we fill those two positions with real top class quality. The Summer saw us finally deal with central midfield, but there's still plenty of work to do.
I seem to be in a minority, but to me if you took Ashley Young out of that side on Saturday then we would have had almost nothing going forward. That forward line is just so slow and the lack of flair, creativity and imagination is a little soul destroying.
Of the new boys, I was impressed with Darmian, he looked like a good acquisition, especially being able to play right or left. Once Schneiderlin got into the game and felt at home, he increasingly looked the part. He definitely gave us a physical presence we haven't had in years there. If he improves as I expect him to, we have got a real player on our hands there. I don't know what to make of Memphis, I'm not going to judge him on one game, but I was expecting a bit more of a burst of pace. He never really looked to take anybody on in that way. He didn't look entirely comfortable in the middle behind Rooney either. The one time he seemed to come to life to me, was the one occasion when he got the ball wide on the right during the first half, it was if his natural instincts took over and he knew what he was about.
Schweinsteiger looked overweight and off the pace, for all the guff I have seen on social media. He may have had a commanding presence, barking orders, but his one meaningful contribution to the game was to give it away in a very dangerous position that Spurs completely failed to capitalise on.
As for Spurs, they were slightly disappointing, but if they'd converted that early chance that Kane provided for Eriksen who knows how the game would have panned out. And a final thought, If Tottenham are ever willing to let Kane go, I'd hope United are in for him, because he really is a proper centre forward. If he isn't England's number one striker by the end of this season, reputation's really do count for everything, because he's far better than Rooney for me.