Wigan 0-4 Manchester United

I can't pretend i saw this coming, even though we ended up scoring four and running away with it in the end, it wasn't really a 4-0 performance. Maybe i shouldn't have been surprised though, how many times have we played Wigan when they have played reasonably well for an hour and then disintegrated. I suppose we're lucky it only happens when they play us.
I was happy to see us revert to a 4-4-2, even though it seemed to affect our cohesiveness as a defensive unit. In fact the first ten minutes were amazingly end to end, if they had got the first goal, and they had the chances, who knows how the game would have panned out. I had forseen yet another of our 4-3-3 away performances where we have struggled to impose ourselves on the game, so i didn't mind the openess of the game as i would take our attack to find the back of the net more often that a goal shy Wigan attack.
Wigan had really good chances in that first quarter of an hour but either took the wrong option or found Van Der sar in top form. United were equally dangerous at the other end with Nani roaming around causing havoc in the home sides rearguard. The first goal came via a superb move as Rooney set Nani free down the left and his excellent cross was finished off by Hernandez doing what he does best. His game still has a way to go outside the box but when we create a chance in and around the six yard box he is the man. In fact he could easily have had a hatrick yesterday, but having a squad man who can come in and make goalscoring look easy has probably been one of the key differences from last season. And if we go on to lift the title, still a big if, he will have been one of the key differences from last season.
Nani was unlucky after another excellent move saw the ball end up on his left foot but saw his shot come off the inside of the post. It was end to end and Van Der Sar was needed once again to stop McCarthy after a supern flowing attack from the home side.
The other big talking point of the half was Rooney's elbow McCarty before we had scored. I have to admit that whilst watching it live i didn't think it was that bad, but it didn't look too good on seeing the replay. But the press witch hunt this morning has been well over the top, why is it when Rooney does something like this he is usually hung, drawn and quartered by the press whilst when a Terry or a Gerrard go over the top it's hardly even mentioned. 
United started to get a grip on the game in the second half as dangerous home attack's got scarcer and scarcer. It took until fifteen minutes from the end for that all important second goal to come though. Hernandez played a one two with Rooney and found himself through on goal, and he gratefully accepted the chance to give United vital breathing space. Or so we thought, but both sides had different ideas as United stepped up a gear and Wigan fell apart. Berbatov came on for the Mexican and almost immediately set up Rooney for a tap in to make it three. And our other sub Fabio who had also not been on long made it four with a couple of minutes to go to make the scoreline look far more emphatic then the performance actually warrented.
It's a nice way to go into the Chelsea and Liverpool games, though i'm not sure i'll be reading too much from this performances going into those two encounters.

Martinez wasn't happy with the Rooney challenge, thinking he should have seen an early bath. The Mail as po faced as ever ask if he will ever learn. Meanwhile after the game in Marseille encounter Rooney professed himself happy to play on the left or wherever is needed as the big games mount up and potential siverware starts to come into view. Although he has certainly had better games than that on the left in the past the Marseille game was head and shoulders above any of the performances we have seen from him on the left so far this season. Just think of the West Brom, Wolves or Birmingham displays over the last couple of months.

Paul Wilson writes about what every United fan knows and what disturbs us most about a lack of transfer activity over the last couple of seasons, that we can't keep relying on Giggs and Scholes as sooner rather than later they will have hung up their boots. We know we have great prospects coming through, but they won't be ready to pick up the mantle early enough to replace those two giants of Manchester United's history.
Rene Meulensteen talks to four four two about Paul Scholes and the importance of training, practice makes perfect. Fergie reveals that Scholes wants assurances about the amount of games he will appear in before signing a new one year contract and that United want him to stay on as a coach when the time to hang up his boots does come.

Fegie hopes that we will have Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans back for the Anfield test next Sunday which means the impressive Smalling will start on Tuesday night at Stamford bridge. But tells Smalling that if Rio is fit he will walk back into the team for the big games.

The Glazers insist United is not for sale with a statement that is virtually word for word exactly the same at their not for sale statement last year, and about as believable. Andersred used the Guardian to advise the Qataris that if the really do want to buy United, that £1.5 billion would be way over the odds for what it is really worth.

I don't know how much credence to give this report of United being worried about the lack of progress being made by Fredrico Macheda in his loan spell at Sampdoria. I still don't really understand why he wasn't sent on loan to a premier league or even a championship club.

Nani is enjoying life at United and reveals he still keeps in touch with Cristiano Ronaldo, but that he is his own man.

Joschka Fischer writes of the middle east awakening and warns that whatever the outcome of the tumult that has hit the region, whether the democrats will prevail or whether the old forecs of reaction will regroup and regain control, the middle east and north Africa will never be the same.
Peter Oborne asks how will America react to the loss of its middle east empire, as he ponders how history teaches us how quicky empires and dynasties can collapse. Mick Hume looks at how the world has changed since the liberation of Kuwait twenty years ago and the seeming hegemony of the US looked unassailable, and now the future is up for grabs. Robert Skidlesky looks back to the second Iraq war under George W. Bush and wonders whether he was wrong to oppose it. I don't think so, the spread of democracy to the middle east was the goal of the neocons in so far as it helped to continue US influence of the gulf region's oil.And that looks far from certain at the moment. If trouble hits Saudi Arabia, all bets are off.
UK business is more than a little worried that their links to Gaddafi will count against them when he is finally toppled and their international contracts are reviewed.

David Bowden compares Denmark'sTthe Killing, currently being shown on BBC4 to David Simon's The Wire. Whilst i too am engrossed in the series, it's excellent, i wouldn't go as far as to compare it to The Wire. The Wire covered, the projects, the police force, Baltimore politics, the unions, the education system and the penny piching lack of scrutiny of the US press. The Killing doesn't really pretend to be a state of the nation piece such as that.

Steve Richards writes of David Cameron's worst week and predicts many more to come.
William Keegan asks how many brandies Osborne must have bought the US treasury secretary after his praise of the coalition's economic policies which of course the US are not following. Paul Mason talks about the world economy, QE, currency wars and looks back at the lessons of the 30's.

A bit old but Martin Wolf looks at Britains experiment in austerity and looks at the options for growth as the necessary rebalancing of the economy from the financial sector occurs.

A fascinating interview with Gorbachev, in which he speaks of his shame at Roman Abramovitch. I admire him but understand why he isn't as respected in his homeland as he is the western world. But i can't understand his continuing reverence for Lenin, a figure who changed the world yes, so a great historical figure certainly, but think of a Russian history where the bolsheviks didn't seize power and how different the history of the world could have been.

It's nto long until the next Elbow album is released and they have been in the press over recent weeks, Guy Garvey talked to the Observer today about the new release. The Quietus talk to fellow north west act The Demdike Stare about past years releases and what the future holds for the duo. I have only heard Forest of evil so far but that was excellent

Marseille 0-0 Manchester United

Time will tell whether this was a good result or not, but our away form doesn't seem to improve. I'm usually a super optimist approaching the big games, but as we approach maybe the defining two or three weeks of the season with forthcoming crucial games away from Old trafford, i'm being pushed hard to keep that optimism.
When i saw the team last night, i wouldn't say i feared the worst, but i think it was safe to say i knew we weren't going to go there and put on a show. Gibson in midfield and O'Shea at right back showed Fergie had an eye on the games to come next week, well at the least, leaving Scholes on the bench did. O'Shea is a useful squad player and doesn't let you down defensively, but he is no Rafael getting foward and he doesn't half give the ball away. As for the inclusion of Gibson, i'm presuming Scholes is being saved for the crunch games at Stamford bridge and Anfield and that if Anderson had been fit he would have been picked.
I wouldn't say Gibson was any worse than anyone else but as usual he didn't bring anything to the party, his passing being as off the boil as everybody else's. We actually started very brightly, in fact i thought my misgivings about the line up were going to be dispelled as United dominated possession and looked like they were going to have it in their armoury to break the home side's defence down. Whilst we dominated the ball Rooney and Berbatov were both looking good and heavily involved in the game. Unfortunately Nani had one of those nights where he fustrated, almost always choosing the wrong option and when he got it right there was nobody on the end of the ball.
Once again the shining light was another impressive performance from Chris Smalling standing in for Ferdinand, he wasn't faultless, his distribution could have been better, but defensively he was top notch again. He is without doubt our main back up centre half now, in fact regardless of how many more games he gets this season, i can see him starting a far bigger number of games next season. Scholes didn't come on for long but it's amazing how much difference he makes to the side as he passes and probes and doesn't give the ball away. It's pretty scandalous really that the only real replacement for Scholes creativity in the middle of the park is the even older Giggs.
I suspect that it will turn out to be a decent enough result as they don't seem anything to write home about. The only doubt being they had a couple of players missing, so we probably didn't see them at their best. I'd like to see us play 4-4-2 at home, but it's pretty unlikely, i suppose.

Chris Smalling revealed that the it felt like a loss to the players after the game they were so disappointed with the result. I'd like to think they were even more disappointed with the performance. Whilst Fergie would have liked the away goal he was disappointed with the quality of United's passing. To be honest that was about par for the course away from home this season.

There was fun and games, or not as the case may be, with the French police last night, but it hasn't been reported yet. United fans were apparently locked in some warehouse before the start of the game. I can't find any reports about it to link to.

Before the game Deschamps was asked his thoughts about United and described us as a top team but without the fantasy of previous United team's. Don't we know, it was a pretty fair summing up of us to be fair. I suppose it sounds churlish to moan about United's away form in Europe, but i was brought up to believe United were about style and entertainment as well as being trophy contenders. I'm afraid our European away form has been far from entertaining for quite a while now. And whilst some might say it doesn't matter if we are getting results and reaching the latter stages of the tournaments, it does to me.
And if we look back to last year, the poor away form cost us eventually. As soon as we played a half decent team in Bayern our inability to keep hold of the ball away from home was punished. If we went into the next round without Giggs and Scoles i would fear the worst.

Even though this hasn't been a vintage season for Patrice Evra it is still good news that he has confounded the rumours and put pen to paper to sign for a further three seasons. Hopefully with a summers rest he will come back strong next season. This should also allow Fabio to develop his game as well coming in to give Evra a rest from time to time.

There was much talk about the future of Obertan and Bebe after the dismal performance at the weekend against Crawley in the cup. Mark Ogden thinks that history doesn't bode well for them and points to the careers of the 2005 cop that struggled against Exeter. The only problem with that analogy is that this was the pre Glazer era. The other glimmer of hope for Bebe anyway, is to discard him so early would mean Fergie losing face, and having to answer to the press and who knows maybe even to the gimps how he could have sanctioned paying so much for somebody he admitted he had never seen and who has proved to be, sub standard and that's being kind.
Paul Parker gets to the crux of the matter in his Yahoo blog pointing out what we all know that this United string is not good enough.

The gimps have been in the news this week, first of all with the premier league confirming that the Glazer's do in fact own 100% of United. Excuse me whilst i remind myself of the shambles that was the ownership of Portsmouth FC and my lack of total trust in the competence of any of our football authorities, whether it be the FA or the Premier league.
The Telegraph reports that the gimps are thinking of handing out a message that they are still owners for the long term when handing out their quarterly accounts tomorrow. Does anybody seriously believe that.
Eric points out what we all know and fear, that United will struggle when Fergie decides to call it a day when asked about his dislike of the Glazer's.
The green and gold makes a rare appearance in the media as a report claims that shirt sales were down 10% due to the campaign which could hurt their negitiations to improve their contract with Nike in 2015.

Is this bizarre blackmail plot story anything to do with Rooney's poor form. It's hard to see, though he played better last night.

Anne Applebaum reports on the upheaval in the Arab world and compares it to the 1989 uprisings in eastern Europe. She argues that we may have the pictures of the revolution and turmoil but we don't have the full picture. In fact even the protesters will not have the full story, which will be far more muddled, complicated and probably less glorious that TV pictures paint. There is something in that, but it is still a revolution from below which i think she is trying to say won't be as much the case as we all presume. This has shook the western establisment and the right especially almost as much as the Arab world.
Robert Fisk writes that after four decades of terror, Gaddafi must surely be on his way out, but it will be a bloody affair. Tony Blair, new labour and the present labour leadership are not going to enjoy their inglorious role in supposedly rehabilitating this odious madman during the last decade being rehashed during the months ahead. Craig Murray has been told by diplomats he is still in touch with that Berlusconi is shitting it in case his murky relations with the Libyan elite come to light when the hopeful day of defeat of the Gaddafi family arrives.
But it wasn't the best time for Cameron to be touring the middle east surrounded by arms salesman with Cameron cheerleader for the export of the weapons we always knew would be used and now have evidence that they have been used against their own people in an attempt to oppress and in Libya mass murder their own population. Simon Jenkins argues we can push democracy or arms sales but not both. Cameron seems to think he can get away with both, he is going to be proved wrong. The one export industry that we are competitive in, is going to face a difficult future.
The Economist looks at the hypocrisy of British and European foreign policy in the middle east. If only Robin Cook were alive, because his new ethical foreign policywould have proved to have been right and the supposed super realists of the foreign office 100% wrong. John Pilger writes that the revolutions in the Arab world are as much against western tyranny as they are against their own corrupt leaders.
Paul Mason argues that this democratic revoltion is about to become an economic revolution as the developing world see its chance to change the balance of the world economy more to its favour. I'm absolutely certain that most people in the west have no idea how serious all this is, if they want living standards remotely comparable to those we have seen since the second world war they are going to have to reshape our economies away from big finance and small state neo liberal free markets, that is for sure. Otherwise we will end up with revolutions in the wstern world eventually.
Jon Snow on the moral challenge for every single one of us in the west who has profited from group of regimes falling like dominoes in the Arab world.
Larry Elliott warned some time ago that we could be faced with a return to the oil shocks of the seventies and now Jeremy Warner writes of the pandoras box that has been opened now that the oil price has gone above $100 a barrel. It's not looking pretty. Paul Mason looks at the effects of events on the future price of oil and how we may have to live with it.

I can't help thinking that Cameron and the coaltion are the last stand of the neo liberal era and are increasinly swimming against the tide of world events. But as Sunny Hundal wrote Cameron's plans sound as much of an attempt to appease his right wing as you would think he has no chance of getting this through parliament or the country.
Polly Toynbee thinks that the turmoil about to be unleashed during the upheaval unleashed by the tories plans for the NHS are just the beginning of the tory ideology run wild. Steve Richards writes that Cameron is like Blair on cocaine in his pursuit of the public services. Hopefully it will completely discredit them in the eyes of the electorate. 
Even if the country did drift to the right in the future, it will not be a Thatcherite conservatism, it will be an anti immigrant, anti Europe and protectionist right, even worse. I'm looking a few years ahead of course.

Peter Bradshaw reviews the new documentary on the 2008 credit crunch crisis Inside job.
Stephen King writes about the split on the MPC over whether to raise interest rates or hold fire. He isn't convinced by the monetary hawks.

An excellent compilation of United goals from the seventies, featuring the mid seventies team that was where I started watching United at Old trafford, Coppel, Hill, Daly and Pearson. They played some great football. They were a top goalkeeper away from being a team that could have stopped it ever getting to 26 years without a title.
We'll never see that kind of atmosphere at Old trafford again, just watch the crowds as well as the football.

Manchester United 1-0 Crawley Town

We have seen some shit this season, and when i saw the team announced early for yesterday's game on t'internet, i feared the worst. With no creativity in midfield and not much on the wings i was expecting a long ninety minutes. Some of the performances this season have been a total embarrassment and after just ten minutes it was obvious that this was going to be yet another.
The only spell in the game where we approached anything like an acceptable display was the ten minutes or so around the goal where the Da Silva's both seemed to roam forward at will. I don't know whether they were given orders to get forward but they both did and both had good chances to score. Of the players in a red shirt to come out with any credit from yesterday's game they would be at the top of the list. Brown and O'Shea were steady and the back four were pretty much untroubled in the first half.
I haven't any kind words for elsewhere though, the midfield were as unimaginative as expected. What was just as bad was the lack of work rate, i don't know if there was anything wrong with Anderson as he went of at half time but he may as well not have been on the pitch in the first half. Gibson didn't have a bad game, he played the pass of the match in the first half to put Hernandez through who should have done far better. But work rate isn't his forte either, another reason why he won't make it at United. Carrick had another quiet game, he wasn't poor, but didn't really affect the game.
And then there were the two wide men. They just aren't good enough, simple as that. I can't blame Fergie for taking a punt on Obertan, because he does have the talent to be a reasonable player. But as Blanc intimated when we bought him, he just doesn't have the mental strength. It's debatable he has the character to make it as footballer, full stop, never mid making it at United. As for Bebe, that transfer and everbody involved in it stinks, it must be debatable if he would even get into Crawley Town's first eleven.
What i was most hoping for yesterday was hoping to see one of Pogba, Tunnicliffe or King coming on, but the injuries and the piss poor performance meant there was never much chance of that happening. It beggared belief that we were hanging to the one goal lead for the last ten minutes.
Hernandez can't be exempt from the criticism , he couldn't impose himself on the game, but i have to say i felt sorry for him as he had no service whatsoever. Rooney who came on at half time didn't do any better, in fact with a performance like that i wouldn't be surprised to see Berbatov leading the line in Marseille in midweek.
The most surreal moment of the game came in the last ten minutes when our worst two players were put into the middle with Rooney and Hernandez going out wide. Who's tactical masterstroke was that and what the fuck was the thinking behind that. Needless to say they were no better up front in the middle than they had been out wide.
So this weird season sees us get to the quarter finals of the FA cup, top the table and with a champions league game in the last sisxteen to come in midweek. Quite how we find ourselves in that position i'm not quite sure.

Ryan Giggs signed a new one years extension to his contract last week, let's hope Scholes follows suit because as yesterday showed once again, we are going to be relying on those two in the run in once again. One day they are not going to be around, where the fuck will we be then.

Henry Winter remembers Paul Schoes announcing himself on the international stage at the Stade velodrome for England in the 1998 world cup. Oh to have a 23 year old coming through the ranks now, or will Cleverley be the man to take up the mantle. I'm excited by his progress and can't wait to see him regualarly next season but i think we need to buy a quality experienced creative midfield player as well. I can't see how Gibson can still be here next season and both Flecther and Carrick have both gone backwars over the last couple of seasons.
We have three very promising central midfield players at youth level in Pogba, Tunnicliffe and Morrison if he wants it enough. But it's going to be two to three years before they will be ready for the first team and that's if they make the progress needed. It will be interesting to see whether any of them are sent out on loan next season. We have Matty James and Drinkwater, but i haven't seen enough of either to have a clue what chance they have of making at United.
The big worry for me is that our midfield is just not good enough and that we rely far too much on a 37 year old Giggs and a 36 year old Scholes. And whilst i see us linked with Rodwell and Henderson who are both good talented youngsters what we really require is a Modric, a talented experienced player to take the pressure of Scholes who will help bring any of youngsters who prove good enough through to the first team. Of course that probably doesn't fit with that ludicrous Glazer inspired transfer policy of not buying anybody without a sell on fee.

The Evening news decided that now Morrison has turned eighteen that they would report on what the message boards have been discussing for the last month. I'm afraid it sounds as bad as the rumours suggested. I have to admit that when i have watched him play for the youth team and the reserves he always seems to have all the talent in the world but i have never been convinced of his attitude or of how in love with the game he is. Daniel Taylor suggests that the club are at a loss in how to deal with him. 

Fergie asserts that the injury Michael Owen sustained in training is not as bad as has been reported and he could be fit for the Marseille game. As if there is a chance he will be appearing in that. He is another i hope will part of the clearing of deadwood in the summer.

Ferdinand says that though Gary Neville gave off the aura of a serious guy he was in fact a really funny bloke and that he will be missed in the dressing room.

Andy Mitten profiles ex red and now Real Madrid main man Ronaldo, despite his undoubted brilliance, he wasn't a favourite of mine, but oh, to have some of that genius in this way below par season.

Daniel Korski of the Spectator asks what now for western foreign policy in north Africa and the middle east as all the diplomatic corps decades old assumptions turn to dust as the pillars of sand shift.
Whilst Paul mason asks if this is a Suez type moment for westen foreign policy and western influence in the middle east and even in the world. Liam Halligan of the Telegraph thinks this is another of those moments that that show us how the tectonic plates of economic influence are shifting from west to east.

It's amazing how the consensus on the AV referendum has turned full cycle  with commentators now seemingly confidentl predicting a yes victory. Steve Richards and Martin Kettle both predict that the anti politics of the country will result in a change to the voting system.
Tory commentators have also latched on to how important the coming referendum will be and how the Cameroons have suddenly realised how high the stakes are for the tories and maybe more importantly for their position at the head of the tory party. Iain Martin thinks Cameron has left it late but he now realises that his standing as head of the tory party will be fatally undermined if the no campaign is defeated.
Chrisopher Montgomery thinks the limp no campaign that Cameron has masterminded is no surprise but that a no vote would also be a disaster for Cameron as it would destroy Cleggs standing as leader of the Lib dems and would almost certainly lead to his axing as leader and the eventual withdrawl of the party from the coalition. I have said that the chances of another election must be pretty high.
Dan Hodges also sees a sudden lack of manouevre for the leaders of the coalition parties, particularly Cameron. As he wants to keep the coalition going by keeping his coalition partners happy but at the expense of losing the support of his own backbenchers who are becoming increasinly rebellious.
Paul Waugh reports on why those tory backbenchers are growing increasingly unhappy with a list of lib dem influence on coalition policies. Cameron hasn't really started to get the press that it would seem he deserves.

Johann Hari demands that aetheist Nick Clegg doesn't drop another pledge by allowing religious leaders to stay in the reformed house of lords. It is pretty unreal that we are aligned with Iran on this. How does anybody on the right justify that.

Gavin Kelly asks how we can avoid going down the US route where for the last generation all the gains from economic growth have gone to the rich. As long as the tories are involved in our government we can't. Though i'm not forgetting Gordon Brown, Ed Balls ignominious role at the head of Labours disastous 13 years in power.
Will hutton on the policy dilemma for Mervyn King and the bank of England over the inflation/interest rate debate and the meddling in politics accusation that Ed Balls alluded to on Friday. Whilst William Keegan describes the inflation rate target as another central bank fixation that has ended in failiure.

Peter Oborne with a thoughtful article on Cameron and the big society, i don't agree with it but as usual he thinks out of the tory box as he describes the neoliberalism as not real Conservatism. I have read enough Tory history to recognise the truth in that, but as with other parties influences change. They have been at one time or other pro corn law, caught between free traders and protectionists at the beginning of the twentieth century and caught between those and imperial preference in the run up to the second world war. And since the Thatcher revolution triumphed in the party, free market nutters. And so like it or not the modern tory party are a neo liberal party hence the big society means as little to the right wing of the tory party as it does to most of us on the left.

Simon Jenkins celebrates opinion as the boot of truth aimed at the crotch of power. I'd celebrate a bit more when it hurts the crotch of big finance.

The Yardbirds