Not sour grapes...

Was away at the weekend, hence the interuption to normal service. On top of that certain complications have arisen meaning that I won't be able to catch up today. Hopefully I 'll be back on track today. For the cynical I would like to point out that this has nothing to do with the game on Saturday.

I'll just quickly link to this surprising story

Shadow of a doubt

Following on from yesterday's last post, today I'm starting with this article by Clive Tyldesley in The Telegraph which, in its criticisms of Ronaldo and Drogba, is so far so seen-it-all-before:

Between them, Drogba and Ronaldo had a trio of penalty appeals rejected this week. None of them was clear-cut, but the fact that none was upheld may have had something to do with the identity of the claimants. Certainly, the lack of any sympathy for either player owes much to their 'previous'. When they plunge to the ground, their reputations land before them.

I'll disagree with the "none of them clear-cut" - the only doubt on the Drogba one was that it was outside the box, but it was certainly a foul; and as for the Ronaldo ones, well ...
The truly awful thing about the article is this:

It is not so much the diving as the umbrage that follows. At least when Steven Gerrard or Wayne Rooney take a tumble, you can detect a coy smidgen of embarrassment in their protests, but Drogba and Ronaldo would have you believe that they have had their credit cards taken during the assaults on their person. Their outrage knows no bounds. And you thought the Pakistani infield could appeal.

Could someone show me evidence of this alleged embarrassment Steven Gerrard shows after he's dived? I've certainly never seen it (and I've seen him dive about enough). As far as I'm concerned his usual reaction is to go on at the referee at great length afterwards. And if he ever gets given a free kick against him his usual reaction is to demand a card for the opposing player.
Clive also says, "Drogba also has the pain threshold of someone with severe sunburn", which may well be true, but the grossest example of feigning injury in the game on Tuesday was from Torres who rolled about like a big idiot when John Terry had grazed him with his leg.
All of this just goes to show why I'm always forced to turn the commentary off when Liverpool play on ITV - the bias is unbelievable (and having ex-Liverpool player Jim Beglin in the box as well doesn't help).

The analyses of the Barcelona game take a more sober turn today. Kevin McCarra in The Guardian is still praising our defence:

The emphasis put on containing Barcelona was not so very odd. Preferring to suggest United had really wished to be cavalier, the manager spoke regretfully afterwards about a lack of speed and accuracy when his team sought to make the transition from defence to attack. Quibbles will always exist, but the truth is Ferguson's priority was to stop Barcelona.

but is slightly more cautious when looking at the second leg:

Everything rests with the wisdom of the manager's verdict on Barcelona. They had almost nothing in the middle of their attack against United, with Samuel Eto'o sluggish as he toiled to unsettle a sharp Rio Ferdinand. Ferguson's assumption surely is that United, next Tuesday, can contain Barça once more and score on their own account.

The most dismissive report comes from Ian Ladyman in The Mail:

Apart from the scoreline, had it actually been a much better display than the 3-0 Champions League semi-final defeat in Milan a year ago?

Yes. It had. We defended better and thus didn't concede 3 goals. You really can't separate the display from the scoreline like that, especially as Barcelona barely had anything that could be seen as a great opportunity - some half-chances yes, but nothing that you would say was a horrible miss.

The Telegraph urge caution with this round up of previous 0-0 first legs in the Champions League:

Six teams returning home for the second leg have failed to "convert" goalless draws into triumph in the Champions League era, United being the only team to have done it twice.

Richard Williams in The Guardian takes a scathing look at the quality Premier League football, citing us as an exception:

No, the evening didn't feature two teams covering every square inch of the pitch at top speed and driving their first-time passes with the sort of power that used to be reserved for long-range shooting, as if kinetic energy were the only kind that counted in football. And, true, the symmetry of its scoreline wasn't achieved via a melodramatic error in the fifth minute of injury time, another Premier League speciality. The match between Barcelona and Manchester United at Camp Nou on Wednesday night may have ended in a goalless stalemate, but at least it featured players - and coaches - using their brains in an attempt to produce something other than a tussle for physical supremacy. The contrast between the draw in Barcelona and the 1-1 match that preceded it in Liverpool is both instructive and troubling to those who care about preserving such things as variety and nuance within football. The bleakest verdict would be that it showed us the past and the future of the game, although not in that order.

It is a year since Jorge Valdano, the Argentinian World Cup winner turned football philosopher, watched a European Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea and made his famous remark about Anfield and, by implication, the current state of English football. "Put a shit hanging from a stick in the middle of this passionate, crazy stadium and there are people who will tell you it's a work of art," he said. "It's not. It's a shit hanging from a stick." There is no reason to think that, 12 months later, he would have had a different reaction to a match between the same clubs in which all the salient characteristics of the Premier League were writ large.

There's a comment on our game by Pepe Reina in this Guardian report:

Reina, who began his career at Barcelona and has developed a reputation as a specialist penalty stopper who studies his rivals closely, said: "Ronaldo always goes left from the penalty spot, his penalties are invariably low and left. Even against Arsenal the other day when he was made to take the penalty again, he still went low and left on both attempts - and scored them. Against Barcelona he tried to surprise them, he changed his style and got it wrong."

Reina was taking notes in case of a possible Liverpool-United final. "I was disappointed with United," he added. "They went out there with lots of forwards but in fact Ferguson made most of them play in midfield. Barcelona showed great heart and I would love to meet them in the final in Moscow."

I guess they get asked the questions but I always find it rather distasteful when players from other teams comment on our games. Obviously he'd rather play Barcelona because he knows we'll just kick their ass.

A disgrace to football punditry

I have long been seeing videos from RTE football coverage on Youtube, and their coverage is seen as refreshing, saying things other pundits wouldn't, etc.. Now they seem to have become some sort of ridiculous stereotype. I'm not even going to link to the video from last night of them calling Ronaldo a disgrace- for reasons I'm still not sure about to be honest (and i'm also wondering how many times they've got really emotional about Stevie G and Torres diving)- because it is absolutely stupid. The suspicion is that they know they have some sort of Youtube following and are attempting to top themselves (if only they were really trying to top themselves...) week upon week, by saying more and more outrageous things, and finally they have ended up in some sad and bitter parody of themselves.

What's a boy supposed to do?

I am a bit confused this morning having just read the reports of the game last night. Nearly all of them suggest Messi had an amazing game - a far better game than Ronaldo say most. This from The Sun is typical:

In this finely-balanced semi-final, Barca completely dominated proceedings and for an hour their inspirational 20-year-old star Lionel Messi ran the show, eclipsing Ronaldo.

In passing, isn't the combination of "finely-balanced" and "Barca dominated proceedings" in the same sentence a contradiction? But anyway - yes, Messi had a good game, showed a few nice touches, but, as is so often the case in criticisms of Ronaldo, where was the end product? Ronaldo had a good game - very involved in the first half and second half our passing on the counter broke down far too often for Ronaldo to get enough of it to hurt Barcelona. Yes, he missed a penalty, missed it because of overconfidence if anything, not because he bottled it on the big occasion.

Ronaldo's response after the game (given here in The Mail) is brilliant:

"I did not change my style of taking the penalty. I have scored in that corner before this season. Now I will score next week in Manchester.

"I don't understand why the referee did not give me the second penalty but it won't matter."

Such beautiful confidence.

This report in The Guardian gives Ronaldo his due:

Ronaldo, desperate to atone for his failure, shone a light on the Barcelona flaws intermittently and Rafael Marquez will not be taking part in the second leg after a caution for fouling him. The Mexican, for that matter, had already made a challenge on the same player that could well have brought a second penalty.

David Pleat praises our defending:

no one could doubt United's endeavour. Park and Rooney stuck to their roles with honesty, the latter the embodiment of "club before self" before being subbed for Nani. The watching world will have been disappointed but, in containing Barça's easy-on-the-eye build-up, the visitors' job was done.

Sam Wallace in The Independent is on similar ground:

This season United have travelled England and Europe breaking down obstinate defences and five-man midfields. Last night it was their turn to spoil and thwart, and they did it beautifully.

and instead of praising Ronaldo's effort, gives this equivication:

Despite Ferguson's attempts to build up Ronaldo's contribution after his penalty miss this was not his finest night, although it could have been little fun taking the fight to Barcelona's back four alone.

Matt Dickinson in The Times was, it turns out, watching a completely different game to the rest of the world, so I won't bother with it.

Tony Cascarino in the same paper is so much better:

Ferguson’s selection and tactics suggested he was well aware of Barcelona’s strengths and he countered them effectively. He stuck Park and Rooney on the wings to counter the threat of Barcelona’s attacking full backs, Gianluca Zambrotta and Eric Abidal.

I'll just quote a few choice bits from the consistently excellent Henry Winter in The Telegraph, who singles out Scholes for praise:

After all the talk of the twinkling feet of Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi, it was a man who loathes the limelight, Paul Scholes, who stole the show here in this magnificent Catalan theatre last night.
United's discipline was impressive, tactically and temperamentally, with Scholes embodying their all-round excellence. They could have returned home with an away goal, but Ronaldo showed rare profligacy with an early penalty.
For all his irritation at not converting, Ronaldo executed a superb tactical assignment for the team. Repeating his role from Rome, he again started as an out-and-out centre-forward, this time supported by Carlos Tevez in a 4-4-1-1 formation Ferguson occasionally uses on foreign fields.

Great summing up on Ronaldo- he, like Rooney, played for the team in the way the manager wanted - to paraphrase the guy above, it can have been little fun taking the fight to Barcelona's back four alone, but he did it superbly.

Kings of the Wild Frontier

I'm tempted to start by commenting on the humorous nature of the Chelsea equaliser last night, but I shall refrain, and instead, before moving on to the big match previews, I bring this story to your attention:

A week after officiating at Blackburn's Premier League game against leaders Manchester United, referee Rob Styles will be in charge of Saturday's League Two match between Shrewsbury Town and Chester City.

Demotion. An admission if ever there was one that we absolutely robbed on Saturday. The report also includes perhaps the most inaccurate sentence in history:

Styles turned down two United penalty appeals and cautioned Wayne Rooney when he complained about a challenge by Steven Reid.

It was three absolutely cast iron penalty appeals, and even more bizarrely, Rooney was booked for an awful lunge which, even in the kindest interpretation, couldn't really be considered a complaint about Stephen Reid.

But anyway.

To the big match.

The Ronaldo v Messi thing is attracting some attention. This "debate" in The Guardian is laughably bad, Gerry Armstrong who purports to defend the motion that Ronaldo is better than Messi has this to say:

He has matured; when he first came to Manchester United he was only a kid. His biggest weakness, besides the mental attitude to tackles coming in at him, used to be his heading ability. He is a tall lad and he was not as good in the air as he should have been but all that has changed as he has adapted to the Premier League and now it is another skill he has mastered.

This is just plain wrong. He's always been a good header of the ball. Didn't he score (at least?) two headed goals in Euro 2004? I remember one towering header, but I'm fairly sure there was one more at least.
Trevor Francis forgets completely what he's meant to be saying (No, Ronaldo isn't a better player than Messi) and just has a go at Ronaldo. Take this for example:

Ronaldo is having an outstanding season but I don't fall into the trap of believing that because he is having a good nine months playing in the Premier League he is the world's best player.

We do tend to get a bit carried away in this country when we are praising players. Since I became involved with England in the 1970s we have always
had good players but I don't understand why in the past three to four years
those players have gone from being described as good to being described as
world class. Those so-called world-class players have then not performed at a world-class level at major tournaments.

Trevor Francis, it turns out, and let's face it, it's not a well kept secret, is an absolute idiot. Look at that "I" in the first paragraph - how arrogant? "All you people have been fooled by Ronaldo! Not I! So he's played well for nine months - does that make him world player of the season? No. For obviously the season lasts ... ummm... ah! the Euros! Ha! He's obviously rubbish because he's not proved himself in those championships that have not yet happened - how very ordinary of him!" Here I have to skip ahead to The Telegraph's Ronaldo v Messi article, which I'll look at next, to prove Francis a prick: "Have his detractors forgotten Euro 2004, where his performance as a 19-year-old took Portugal into the final against Greece and earned him a place in the team of the tournament?" Yes, they have forgotten, willfully. They've also forgotten his performances in the 2006 World Cup where he was the best player on the pitch in the semi-final. The other point that Francis seems to forget is that he's comparing Ronaldo to someone younger than him so his argument really is nonsensical - "Ronaldo isn't as good as Messi because he hasn't [even though he has] proved himself in a major championship", something that Messi obviously has done then Francis? Idiot. The idiocy continues when Francis, who has spent much of the article arguing that Ronaldo has "potential" but has yet to prove himself (and again the stupidity of saying the younger Messi is therefore better is plain to see), finishes with, "[Messi] has not had the opportunity to show as much of what he can do." So what you're basically saying Francis is that Messi is better at the moment than Ronaldo, who only has potential, even though we haven't yet seen what Messi can actually do? Are you actually right in the head?

The Telegraph's version is wholly more interesting, bearing as it does some resemblance to reality. It includes an interesting theory as to why Ronaldo's performances suffer in Europe:

Ronaldo has only to escape the shackles of his manager's European thinking to pin his name to the door marked 'all-time great'. Sir Alex Ferguson is obsessed with the idea that to win a match on foreign soil some kind of tactical masterstroke has to be pulled, hence Rooney as lone striker, or Ronaldo himself in Rome.

More often than not Fergie's tinkering emasculates his team in Europe, and as a consequence takes the wind from Ronaldo's sails. Messi does not have that problem. The continental sides do not defer to the opposition. Frank Rijkaard will send out his side to tear United's house down home or away, giving full rein to Messi's mesmeric gifts.

I think there is a kernel of truth to this, I have often argued that our performances in Europe are sometimes too cautious, something our results away from home confirm, but can't subscribe to fully simply because Ronaldo is the Champions League top scorer this season.

This by Done Howe in The Telegraph is allegedly a look at the tactics of the big game, but is actually a cliche-ridden pile of drivel - I'm not quoting it, I'd feel dirty.

This tactical view by David Pleat is much better:

Barcelona against Manchester United thrusts together six of the world's most outstanding forwards. The skills and natural ability on show will be lavish, but these sides will lean on different lines and angles of attack to unsettle their opponents.

For United Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez produce greater endeavour and work-rate than their opponents. Samuel Eto'o does not forage like Tevez, even if he offers as big a goal threat. Thierry Henry, if he shrugs off his fever, is not currently as threatening as Rooney. Ronaldo and Lionel Messi hold the key. Who will mesmerise us and produce the moments of major talent that separate the outstanding from the merely brilliant? Instinct suggests United will shade it.

This in The Times brings together quotes by Sir Alex and Vidic from the press conference yesterday:

“We were not ready for last season’s game [against Milan in Italy], but I am far more confident now,” the United manager said. “I think the winners will stand a great chance in the final.”

This, by Martin Samuel in The Times, looks at Torres's comments mentioned here previously,suggesting Ronaldo "carries" us, and only really suffers from superfluously bringing in an Arsenal-are-amazing argument. I won't bother quoting from it either but this one is at least worth a read.

Richard Williams in The Guardian has praise for our defence:

In the 51 matches Sir Alex Ferguson's team have played in all senior competitions this term, they have conceded only 29 goals and kept 28 clean sheets. Only five teams have scored twice in a match against them, and no opponents have managed three or more.

Take a bow, then, Edwin van der Sar, Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra. Congratulations should also go to their occasional understudies, but the first-choice quintet - with Brown deputising all season for the injured club captain, Gary Neville - have surely earned themselves the right to be mentioned in the same breath as the defensive line-up on which Ferguson's long era of success was founded.

Good to see him singling out Wes Brown for praise as well. Brown may not always be the most convincing but he's certainly done a good job this season.

I finish with this slightly mercenary look at the game from The Mail:

Barcelona's players stand to lose bonuses of up to £20million if they are knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester United.

The salary structure at the Nou Camp means 35 per cent of all player wages is related to win bonuses. With an average salary of £3.2m and the bonus system heavily weighted towards winning the Champions League, it means the whole squad could lose more than £1m each.

At it again

Johan Cruyff is off again with his "interesting" football views:

"The strikers need to be on top of their defence," Cruyff said. "Where do United have all their talent? From the midfield onwards. Where do they have their worst players? In defence. And by worst I mean technically, not physically.

"So if you know they have their worst players at the back, then you have to put pressure on them. Some good pressure will provoke errors when they are passing the ball, precisely because they are not particularly gifted at it."

Hit the nail on the head again - that Rio Ferdinand always been uncomfortable with the ball at his feet and that small matter of having the best defence in the Premier League - sheer luck.

We're better than last year

The papers are obviously concentrating on the Liverpool - Chelsea game today but there is still the occasional article on us.

Most of the papers reprint comments made by Ronaldo in a Spanish paper. Oliver Kay in The Times presents them in a rather strange way:

As someone who has gleaned most of his education about Manchester United from the club’s television station, Cristiano Ronaldo is not ideally placed to reflect on where his team ranks in the context of Old Trafford history, but, before setting off for Barcelona this morning, he suggested that he and his teammates could provide a “definite answer” by winning the Barclays Premier League or the Champions League in the coming weeks.

It is a claim that will irk United supporters of a certain age – some of them perhaps younger than Ronaldo, who is 22 – but the argument has begun. Even Sir Alex Ferguson ventured recently that this is “my best squad in terms of completeness” and has lauded the technical skills of Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Anderson et al, but to prove that they are the finest team in United history is another debate entirely, one that is likely to be forgotten if they do not, at the very least, overcome Barcelona in their Champions League semi-final, starting with tomorrow’s first leg at the Nou Camp.

First off we have the claim that because Ronaldo is only 22 he has no right to an opinion, but the strangest thing seems to be the reference to "supporters of a certain age", without any real sense of what age those supporters are, indeed, the "certain age" seems to be used to mean "any age".
This report in The Independent gives a straighter version of the comments:

"It makes me feel good. He [Ferguson] has been at the club for 17-20 years, he has signed great players, incredible goalscorers," Ronaldo told the Spanish newspaper Sport. "I also think that this is the most talented team, but you can only confirm this at the end of the season, seeing what the team has won.

"There is a lot of talent, I think that we are going along the right path. Game after game we have shown that we have a fantastic team, with a lot of talent and magnificent players, but at the end of the season we will be able to provide a definite answer if this team is the best Manchester United side of all time.

"If we win the Champions League or the Premier League, we will have a better idea."

The Guardian has comments by Michael Carrick on tomorrow's game and on last year's semi-final:

"Last year we ended up a little bit thin and couldn't pull it off in Milan when it mattered but we now have enough bodies to cope with going for the title and the Champions League. It is the depth of the squad which has got us into this position," said the 26-year-old. "These games are won and lost on little details. We need them to go our way but we certainly have the players and the confidence, so hopefully it will work in our favour. It will be a test but I'd like to think it will be more of a test for them."

From the Barcelona side Sid Lowe in The Guardian looks at Thierry Henry:

Henry has scored 14 goals in 40 games, seven in the league - a goal fewer than Lionel Messi, despite playing over 1,000 minutes more, and, in the league, seven less than Samuel Eto'o, who has missed over half of the season. Nor has he always been available, suffering with an achilles problem and chronic back pains brought from London. One newspaper declared: "The man who was supposed to solve the problems of Ronaldinho's absences has become a problem in his own right."

Clive Tyldesley in The Telegraph looks at the effect the Man Utd - Chelsea game at the weekend might have on the ties:

Sustaining a championship challenge at home and abroad is asking a lot of even the most exorbitantly assembled squads. Since United's improbable treble season a decade ago, only four of the fourteen European Cup finalists have managed to win their national title in the same season. The Champions League is a hard league for champions. Each of the seven finals since 1999 has featured at least one team from outside the top two in their domestic standings.

I'll finish in the opposite manner to usual, with this from Henry Winter in The Telegraph previewing the Barcelona game:

In Ronaldo, United have the Footballer of the Year. In Rooney, United have a striker made for this Nou Camp stage. In Carlos Tevez, United have a technically accomplished forward blessed with an exceptional work-rate. In Rio Ferdinand, United have a defender comfortable in possession who would stroll into Barcelona's back-four. Throw in individuals of the quality of Scholes, Patrice Evra, Nani and Anderson, and United are more the Total Football made famous by Cruyff with Holland than the 21st-century answer to the old Wimbledon, as Cruyff bizarrely believes.

Hot Mess(i)

The papers are a little more realistic about our game against Chelsea today.

The Guardian goes for understatement, "Blackburn were mostly the beneficiaries of erratic officiating".
The Mail admit we're not lucky:

Certainly the point gained by Tevez near the end at Blackburn on Saturday and the two points stolen from Chelsea by Heskey's injury-time goal at Stamford Bridge last Monday have combined to tip the balance United's way. At this level of the game, the margins really are that fine. But it would be foolish to talk of this as good fortune.

The Times admit we battered them:

Prayers, presumably, were being offered in the mock Tudor mansions of Cobham and Esher, the multimillionaire players of Chelsea reduced to nervous, desperate wrecks as they pleaded for divine intervention. The heroics of Brad Friedel had offered them hope, but, as Manchester United set up camp in the Blackburn Rovers penalty area in the final 15 minutes on Saturday evening, it needed something more. Would United score? As their rivals would grudgingly concede, they always bloody score.

There was an inevitability about United’s equalising goal with two minutes remaining at Ewood Park.

Henry Winter in The Telegraph lauds our performance:

Cristiano Ronaldo's reaction to Carlos Tevez's late equaliser showed exactly why Manchester United make such formidable opponents. As Tevez sprinted away to milk the jubilant reaction of fans who turned the Darwen End into the Stretford End, Ronaldo collected the ball from the net and raced to the centre-spot.

Tevez, newly arrived this season, still learns the United way, that equalisers are not enough, that a team moulded in the hungry image of Sir Alex Ferguson always hunts victory, however satisfying a draw may feel. Ronaldo, far more cognisant of United's tradition for late triumphs, just wanted to get the game re-started. The champions ran out of time, but Ronaldo never ran out of determination, and that is what makes United so special.

This confluence of technical expertise, seen in the dazzling footwork of Ronaldo, Tevez and Wayne Rooney, and passion for victory elevates United to the foremost team in the land for goals, drama, style and silverware. Chelsea make mighty roundheads, Arsenal gloriously flawed cavaliers, but no one quite captures the imagination like Manchester United.

The Independent is a little more restrained, starting their report with the words of Mark Hughes:

The world's greatest player, the manager's greatest squad; there will be plenty of factors to discuss if Manchester United win a title chase which might yet go the final day of the season. But Mark Hughes – boyhood Chelsea fan, a legend for both title contenders and better qualified to discuss the finale than most – provides a more prosaic explanation for United's current greatness.

Applicable to afternoons when it is blowing a gale at Ewood Park and there are only two minutes left to equalise, Hughes describes it as "fear" – of failure, of the analysis which follows it and of what the manager might have to say. (Hughes, remember, is the man who gave "hairdryer" its special place in the footballing lexicon.) Fear is "what drives these top players on," Hughes said on Saturday night.

"The consequences of not getting positive results are there for all to see and certainly at my time at the club if you were beaten or put in a poor performance there were plenty of people who would line up and criticise you. They want to win things; they are in a position where they don't accept they are ever beaten and when they are they don't say they have lost, they say they have run out of time sometimes."

But all in all a fairly reasonable set of reports today.

The most interesting preview of the Barcelona game comes in The Guardian in the shape of an interview with Eidur Gudjohnsen:

"We know that we haven't played well in the league and I understand the fear our fans have, but what I would say to them is that United know how much talent we have and they fear us."

And he also manages to slag of our stadium:

The Icelander does not feel that Barcelona should be concerned about playing the second leg in Manchester. Asked about Old Trafford's billing as the Theatre of Dreams he could not repress a smile, responding: "Yeah, it's very nice, but to call it the Theatre of Dreams ... well, it's a bit of an exaggeration."

What, it isn't literally a theatre of dreams? And there was me thinking it was...
The article also includes a nice round up of Spanish headlines pinning all hope on Messi:

The message from Spain is clear: only Lionel Messi can save Barcelona from defeat against Manchester United. The front page of the Catalan newspaper Sport declared Barça need "Eleven Messis", a sentiment widely shared. Messi, back from injury, immediately improved Barcelona against Espanyol, Marca insisting: "He did more in his first minute than the rest did in the whole game." Another headline read: "Messi makes us dream, the rest just give us nightmares". Meanwhile, El Mundo Deportivo was fretting over the weather. "The forecast is for a storm over Barcelona. Will someone please wrap Messi up? If he catches a cold, it's time for our last rites."

The Mail reports that reports that Sir Alex is retiring are untrue:

"We get this every year," reflected a club official.

Lost in Translation

A story I missed from my initial round up is this look at Johan Cruyff's comments on us playing the long ball from The Times:

There is justification for expecting informed and balanced judgments from Cruyff, so it was a jolt to read reports that he had been accusing Manchester United of relying heavily on long-ball tactics.

Even when carefully rendered, however, Cruyff’s analysis over-simplifies the problems Barcelona face as they enter the Champions League semi-finals as the sole non-English contenders. He is a trusted adviser of the Catalan club’s president, Joan Laporta, but last week’s comments will have less relevance as a guide to coping with United than as an attempt to stir optimism among Barça fans plunged into trepidation about their European prospects by the inadequacy of the form that has left their team trailing embarrassingly behind Real Madrid in La Liga. Having praised Ferguson’s men as the best of the three Premier League squads in the semi-finals, he assured his constituency that in Manchester there was a corresponding conviction that Barcelona were the most dangerous opposition they could be confronting. That is an unconvincing assertion. A hectic “domestic” involving Chelsea or Liverpool would have been a more daunting assignment.

Certain biases are our daily fare

We got a good point at Ewood Park, but for Brad Friedel (and Rob Styles...) we'd have probably won it. I'm not going to claim that the papers are having a real go at us today but reading the match reports today is certainly interesting.

Take this from The Telegraph. The penultimate paragraph of the match report:

After seeing Arsenal implode and throw away a five-point lead at the top of the table, Ferguson's team were in danger of a more serious failure of nerve. Fortunate to keep their season on track by beating Arsenal, United were even luckier to steal a point at Middlesbrough the week before.

Pardon?

After seeing Arsenal implode and throw away a five-point lead at the top of the table, Ferguson's team were in danger of a more serious failure of nerve. Fortunate to keep their season on track by beating Arsenal, United were even luckier to steal a point at Middlesbrough the week before.

Has this guy been watching the games? The man is insane. Not just for that ridiculous sentence but for that sentence taken in conjunction with the opening paragraph of his report:

Just as the Premier League title race had looked to be fading into another Manchester United stroll to the line, a Roque Santa Cruz goal had Chelsea daring to believe that they were about to engage United in the most thrilling one-game head-to-head for the crown since Arsenal's 2-0 win against Liverpool at Anfield in 1989.

So, on the one hand we're strolling to the title. On the other we're lucky to have won our last three games? I'm not sure it's possible for these two things to go together - at least not in the real world. Even by paragraph 3 he's actually changed his mind to have us "wobbling down the finishing straight for the past fortnight", not strolling then?
The report also makes no mention of any of the penalties we should have had and consequently takes Rooney's poor challenge on Samba completely out of context, making the bizarre claim that "Wayne Rooney stained his reputation". Yeah. He's never had a reputation for getting frustrated and making bad challenges has he?
Another utterly bizarre claim that he makes in the report is that Sir Alex "dared to gamble" on his team selection in view of the Barcelona game on Wednesday. What? Did he see the team we fielded? He gambled by leaving out Edwin Van Der Sar and Anderson apparently. Even though he admits Van Der Sar was out with a groin injury, and as for Anderson, I'm glad this Telegraph writer knows our first choice midfield.

The Observer match report at least makes some attempt to report the game as it happened. It makes the point that the Telegraph writer wilfully ignored on team selection -"United's first-choice XI is quite difficult to identify when everyone is fit, as the manager has admitted".
They admit we should have had a penalty, and put Rooney's challenge in the appropriate context:

Rooney was denied a penalty when Rob Styles failed to notice that Steven Reid took his legs rather than the ball just before half time, but there was no chance of anyone missing the ludicrous lunge on Christopher Samba that earned the wound-up striker a booking minutes later.

And yet there are still awful moments of bias in the report, take this for example:

Ronaldo attempted to inject some fizz into the free-kick, but it bounced harmlessly off the wall, which is more than could be said for Ronaldo a minute later, when he bounced spectacularly, and somewhat painfully, off a surprisingly robust Pedersen. After a few more theatrical rolls than were strictly necessary...

This was a challenge which deserved a booking more than most and yet the only criticism is reserved for Ronaldo, playing on the lazy (and untrue) stereotype of Ronaldo as a diver. Refer back to the Steven Gerrard diving non-controversy I mentioned a few days back and see the horrible bias at work.

The Independent gives about the most accurate report. Pointing out that "Four strong penalty appeals (three of them to United) were turned down" and being the only paper to recognise that, "For the remaining 25 minutes the ball seemed to be in or around the home team's area."

The News of The World has a good round up of Sir Alex's post match interview:

"We would have preferred three points and I think we deserved them. It was marvellous to take a point so late with another goal for Carlos.

"Our performance in the second half was brilliant. The tenacity and passion we showed was fantastic. They played like champions. We could have had three penalties but these breaks seem to be going against us at the moment."

To the European previews, The Observer looks at Barcelona:

There is a strange sub-contest taking place in this season's Champions League. Not to be the best football club in Europe, but the continent's most dysfunctional. Only at Manchester United do the waters run untroubled. Along the M62, owner tears shreds off owner as a forlorn chief executive attempts to remind them of 'the Liverpool way'. Down in London, a mutinous Chelsea support regularly remind their manager Avram Grant that he does not know what he is doing.
And then, there is Barcelona.
Regular observers describe a team that 'walks instead of running'. Where attacking play was once concentrated in the opposition's half of the field, it now begins in their own. Possession is handed over too easily, while the famed invention of their attacking play has withered to predictability. The aggressive pressing of opponents formerly led by Deco has dissipated. 'You can see it in their play,' says a leading coach. 'The players have lost their desire.'

The Times concentrates on Messi:

Messi will line up against Manchester United on Wednesday in a Champions League semi-final in front of a crowd of close to 90,000 who expect a virtuoso goal, or imagine it’s time for another hat-trick, and at the same time shift uncomfortably in their seats if he seems to strain to reach a ball, or suffers a heavy collision. Messi has become a fragile messiah for an anxious club. For two separate periods this season he has been out through injury. In the 14 matches he missed, Barcelona won just five.

And The Telegraph have the thoughts of Mark Hughes on playing for both teams, and on Sir Alex:

Sir Alex ensures his teams stay together. The key to his longevity is the fact he's never stood still. A lot of old-time managers have fallen by the wayside because they were too set in their ways but Alex has had a number of fantastic teams and I had the pleasure of playing in the 1993-94 Double-winning side. But I would have relished playing alongside Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo in this team.

To finish on an off-topic note, I give you Rafa Benitez on Neil Warnock, from The Observer :

Rafa Benítez is considering legal action against Neil Warnock after the former Sheffield United manager questioned the Spaniard's integrity in a newspaper column. Warnock, now at Crystal Palace, is still angry that a weakened Liverpool team were beaten a year ago at Fulham, a result that enabled them to stay up at the expense of the Blades.

Liverpool won 2-0 at Craven Cottage yesterday, fielding a team with eight changes from last Sunday's victory against Blackburn but no reserves. After what had been an upbeat press conference, Benítez bristled at a question about Warnock's comments and said: 'Somebody told me [about them]. We knew he was bad as a manager and prehistoric, but we didn't know he was a person like this. I will speak to my lawyer. We don't need to waste time with him.'

And what had Warnock said?

'Integrity, doing what is right for the game, comes way down Rafa's list of priorities... That is good news for Fulham, just as it was last year when he fielded the reserves and Fulham won and stayed up... Maybe Rafa gets a yearly hamper from Harrods for his team selections.'

Not sure he'll find a lawyer who'll see anything wrong there...

She's Lost Control

Coverage of the match takes centre stage with comparisons between Avram Grant and Sir Alex on the agenda.
The Guardian sum up the difference well:

Sir Alex Ferguson's body language and general demeanour yesterday was of a man completely in control of his own destiny, unlike his Chelsea counterpart Avram Grant, whose impromptu game of "yes/no" with the press on Thursday suggested he was starting to feel the strain. "I'm not going to lose my temper at this stage of the season," the Manchester United manager remarked before a weekend in which his team hope to take another significant step towards moving within one of Liverpool's haul of 18 league titles.

The Guardian are pretty much on their own in the belief that this losing temper comment didn't constitute "mind games":

One intriguing change in Ferguson's personality over the last couple of seasons has been his reluctance to indulge in anything that could be perceived as mind games and, yet again, he bluntly refused to talk about Grant's stewardship at Stamford Bridge.

The Independent offer the understated, "with a heavy dose of irony", in describing his attitude in the comments, while The Telegraph just come straight out and say it:

...the Manchester United manager could still not resist allowing some of his mind-games to sneak in. This time, however, it was via the back door rather than the front.

Calling one sentence from an interview, said in response to an asked question, "mind games" seems a trifle over dramatic. The Times agrees:

In previous seasons, Ferguson might have seized upon the apparent moment of weakness displayed by Grant during a bizarre press briefing after Chelsea's 1-0 victory over Everton, but it is a reflection of the confidence of the United manager that he dismissed out of hand all talk of the Israeli.

A quick look at what else Sir Alex had to say:

“It's a massive game against Blackburn, but I have been dealing with massive games all my life. This one will not be making me lose any sleep.

“I am not saying it gets easier over the years, but you do get accustomed to this stage of the season and what exactly it is like. There has been a lot of drama over the years and there has been a lot of drama this time, too. That is when you call on your experience and I have knocked on that door 100 times and so have some of my players.

“On occasions, we have had great ends to the season. Other times we have not and we have ended up with a bitter taste in our mouth, like at West Ham when we should have scored six but we didn't and lost the league. The important thing is that we are relaxed - the players are and so am I.”

The Telegraph have an interview with Bryan Robson:

"I don't know where he gets the energy from," said Robson of his former manager. "It's an inner drive. I was at a lunch on Monday - the day after the Arsenal game - and I was on Sir Alex's table. You could just see the focus in his eyes. It wasn't a case of 'relax and enjoy your lunch'; he was waxing lyrical about his players. The enthusiasm is infectious."

Also cuts through some of the Arsenal hype:

"People go on about Arsenal's kids but when you look at United and the age of their team?…?Anderson and Tevez came on against Arsenal last week and completely changed the course of the game. And as for Ronaldo, over the past two seasons he has developed into the best player in the world.

And so (should) say all of us...

The Telegraph also report that Kevin Keegan thinks that Roy Keane will one day be Man Utd manager:

"In my view, one day Roy will be given the opportunity to do what I did with Newcastle, and that is manage a club he played for," said Keegan, who ended his playing days at Newcastle in 1984.

"Sir Alex [Ferguson] could still be there for another 30, 40 years, so he might have a long wait, but it's like I said to Alan Shearer, you know this job will come for him at Newcastle, and it will come for Roy Keane at United."

Also in The Telegraph is some words of advice for Ronaldo from Mark Hughes:

"I think the Premier League is the hardest league in world football and Ronaldo is playing with the top club in it. Why would he leave? There is absolutely no reason to do so because everything is there for him.

"He is the top player in the top club in the top league, so there is no reason for him to leave. Barcelona, for instance, is a fantastic club and has the tradition and standing in world football that United has, but I don't see them as the top club at the moment.

"Ronaldo has had a great season. A stand-out, career-defining season, you could call it and it is fantastic for him to be a couple of goals away from forty. He did exceptionally well last year and I felt it would be difficult for him to top that, but he has managed it. That is a credit to his drive and his ambition to be the best player in the world, which he is obviously very close to being."

The Mail reprints some comments apparently made by Rooney in The Express:

However, Rooney believes even Argentina star Messi plays second fiddle to United team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, who the striker hailed as greatest player to grace English football since the Premier League began.

Rooney said: "He has not just been the best player of the last two seasons, he's the best player the Premier League has ever seen - and that's including Thierry Henry, Gianfranco Zola, Eric Cantona, Dennis Bergkamp and Alan Shearer.

"Cristiano is rightly talked about as the best player in the world. I was surprised he didn't get the world player award last season. He's got to get it this time."

And has some words from Sir Alex on Rio Ferdinand following the example of Maldini:

"Of course, Maldini is an exception and whether Rio wants to go on until he is 40 is another matter," reflected Ferguson.

"But with his athleticism and pace - and the fact he has no weight problems, there is no reason why he cannot play on well into his late 30s."

And the news on contracts also includes Michael Carrick now, a story which I just missed when I posted yesterday, so I briefly include in today's round up.

And I couldn't find anyone saying anything stupid to finish with. I'm sure there's something out there, bound to be, but I am a little hurried today, so they escape...

Not Quite A Yes...

I can't resist posting Avram Grant's press conference after the Everton game. Reported here:

Reporter: A deserved win, Avram?

Grant: "Yes."

What particularly pleased you about the performance? "I'm pleased."

What in particular pleased you? After a delay: "I don't know."

Is it a relief to win here? "Yes."

You seem lost for words. Are you more satisfied with the performance or the win? "Both."

You seem distracted. Do you have a problem? "No problem."

Is there an issue? "No. I'm ok. I have nothing to say."

Do you have a message for the Chelsea fans? "You represent the Chelsea fans?"

They must believe you are still in the title race, do you have a message for them? "No message."

Does this result mean you are back in it now? "I don't know."

You seem less voluble than usual. Is it because of Sky TV moving the game to a Thursday? "Maybe it's because of you. I don't know. I am OK."

You are saying that you don't know if you are still in the title race? "No."

Is it easier to say nothing, Avram? "I don't what to answer. It is a good question. I don't know what to answer."

Is this because Sky? "No. Sky is OK. I enjoy watching them."

Is it a protest against newspapers? "No. Why?"

Why else would you come in and refuse to answer our questions? "I answer every question."

You are two points behind Manchester United and you don't know if you are still in the title race? "No."

Have you told the players that you don't know if you are back in the title race? "What I tell the players is something else. You want me to tell you what I say to the players?"

We just want you to answer the question. Are you in the title race? "I don't know."

Would you not like to gain some positive publicity for the result rather than this bizarre silence? "I'm sorry. You can write whatever you want and I can answer what I want."

Have you ever played the yes/no game, Avram? No answer.

So it has nothing to do with Man Utd, and I'm not even posting it to gloat over Chelsea. I'm posting it because it's funny. I'm not sure I'd go so far as The Mail though, who describe it as "one of the most astonishing press conferences in football history". Not that I've got a more astonishing one, but there must have been one more astonishing than giving short answers to questions. The one where Ian Dowie was being unveiled as Charlton manager and the guy came in to serve a writ is one that occurs to me after 20 seconds thought.

Still pretty funny though.

A Wes Brown Christmas

It's all about Wes Brown signing a new deal today.

From The Guardian:

Ferguson will announce the news this afternoon, with Brown agreeing a weekly salary believed to be just under £50,000. The 28-year-old had initially wanted more and it will not have escaped his notice that Rio Ferdinand will be on more than twice that money when his lawyers sign off his new five-year deal. However, it is a handsome rise on Brown's previous £31,000 a week and he is now in the middle bracket of earners at United.

Ferguson, who has relied heavily on Brown this season in the absence of the injured Gary Neville, will be relieved. He had accused the defender of "living in his agent's pocket" and had said the dispute "depresses me at times".

At least he's seen sense. He's had a good season for us this season and would have been foolish to move away. Another factor The Guardian suggests:

An extra factor in healing frayed relations is that his father died in February and Brown is understood to have been moved by the support he received from Ferguson and his colleagues.

A similar tale of Sir Alex's good support is provided in Ronaldo's book. He knows how to treat people.
Most of the papers suggest that Brown staying may well result in Pique leaving. This, from The Times:

It remains to be seen what impact the retention of Brown will have on the future of Gerard Piqué, who would be forgiven for hoping that his team-mate left to lessen the competition for places. In the absence of Nemanja Vidic, Piqué has started the past two matches alongside Ferdinand in central defence, but he said this week that he is unsettled and is tempted by the idea of returning to Spain. United would prefer to keep him, but they may decide otherwise if they are unable to persuade him to sign an extension to his contract, which expires at the end of next season.

The reports also suggest that Vidic could well return against Blackburn tomorrow, or Barcelona on Wednesday.

The Mail suggest that Hargreaves may well miss the Barcelona game but that Fletcher is hoping to return before the end of the season. The report also has a quote from Fernando Torres:

'Cristiano is at another level. He is so good he puts United on his shoulders and carries them in every game. He's above all other players in the world. He's a complete player.

'Barcelona will have to cover him because he can give United a great chance to qualify. If he feels comfortable and takes the game to the opposition, things will be complicated for Barca.'

Yeah, whatever Fernando. He carries us. We've no other decent players. Not like Liverpool...

The Mail also reports on rumoured summer signings - Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho, from Sporting Lisbon, and Wilson Palacios and Luis Antonio Valencia, from Wigan.

The Telegraph has this interesting/silly story about Capello wanting Scholes to return to the England squad:

Scholes announced his decision to end his England days four years ago having become increasingly frustrated by Sven-Goran Erikkson's decision to play him wide left in midfield.

Capello's predecessor, Steve McClaren made four unsuccessful attempts to persuade Scholes to change his mind, and it seems likely that the player who prefers to shun the spotlight will stick to his guns again.

Scholes would be approaching his 36th birthday when the 2010 World Cup finals get under way but his age would be of no concern to Capello who admires the midfielder's intelligent passing game.

The strangest thing about this story seems to be that if Capello admires the "intelligent passing game" why has he so far completely ignored that other great passer in our team - Michael Carrick. He'd rather bring back Scholes than pick Carrick for his squad. I find that very hard to believe.

The World Won't Listen

I start today in much the same way as I started yesterday...

Well, things move quickly in the world of football, the day before yesterday it was, "Real will wait a year to approach Ronaldo because they're strapped for cash"; yesterday it was "Real will approach Ronaldo this year and Ronaldo is bored at United, sooooo..."; today it's this:

Predrag Mijatovic, Real Madrid's sporting director, says it will be "impossible" to sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer.

His comments come in the wake of claims made by Carlos Queiroz, the Manchester United assistant manager, who said "no amount of money" would force the club to sell the 23-year-old.

Reports had suggested Real Madrid wanted the Portugal international to become the new 'face' of the club, and although Mijatovic has made secret of his desire to sign the winger, he admits it is an impossible dream.

"Right now it is impossible to sign Cristiano Ronaldo," Mijatovic said. "Who would not like to have him in their team? But we need to be realistic because his would be a very difficult signing."

Of course for continuity's sake I should have used The Mail report again, the only reason I didn't is that it starts with the Ronaldo quotes rather than the Mijatovic quotes. And for those Ronaldo quotes I choose the fuller version in The Telegraph:

"I just don’t care what the whole world seems to want to say about me or speculate about my future," said Ronaldo. "I’ve said it a thousand times and, by now, people should realise . . . I’m totally happy at United.

"I’m in the form of my life and I’m having the season of my career so far. So it makes me mad sometimes to read some of the things which are supposed to be related to my future.

"I get angry but I’m trying to accept it’s a waste of energy to be furious because it is not worth it."

And I'm sure that's going to be the end of the speculation. It's not like he's going to be starring for Portugal in the European Championship during the summer attracting more reports of clubs interested is it?
Anyway, The Telegraph report seems to have further quotes not in other papers (some include none, others a few, but The Telegraph seems to have the fullest version):

"If I’m performing at the best level of my life, then it’s not by fluke. Far from it — I’ve worked damn hard to try and achieve exactly that.

"I’m pushing myself mentally and physically. I’m working constantly to better myself — it’s for those reasons alone, and not by luck, that the results are coming and the goals are flowing."

"People are talking about the free-kicks that I’ve scored this season but there is absolutely no secret to scoring them.

"It is nothing more than work and repetition over and again.

"I’m scoring them so that gives me more confidence to keep on trying and practising but the only explanation for the fact that they go in is dedication and hard work."

The Daily Mail reports on Johann Cruyff slagging off English football and Man Utd:

He said last night: 'Manchester United run a lot. Their style of football, and that of all the English teams, gives the false sensation that they run more than anyone.

'That's just because, despite having a majority of foreigners in their squads, they maintain the philosophy of long-ball football and sprinting 60 yards after the ball.

'That is how they exploit spaces in front of the midfield.

'If they played in the other team's half more often those spaces wouldn't exist. Despite recognising their effort, you can disarm an English side who press and look for the long ball by keeping possession and moving the ball around quickly.

'You know they will expend all their energy on closing down and chasing long balls, then you know you can beat them by playing the ball horizontally and around them.'

We play long ball? With comments like that he should get a job working for the English football media - he'd fit right in.

Finishing today on some amazing quotes from Fabio which are reported in several papers. I'll just use The Mail's version:

Capello said: "They[Man Utd] have a big, fit squad. At the moment they have all their main players so I believe they can be competitive in both the Premier League and the Champions League.

"Until it's mathematically beyond them, you have to say that Chelsea still have a chance. But if United don't lose games and Chelsea win then United will still be champions.

I'm not really blaming Fabio for this, it's more the papers fault for actually reporting this drivel, but really, what is the point of saying this? "if United don't lose games and Chelsea win then United will still be champions." Really? Great insight there Fabio. You should also write for the English Press - in fact from the evidence of the next quote you maybe already do:

"I've really enjoyed the domestic season in England, and Arsenal have played a big part in that, too. They have played great football for long parts of the season and at one time I thought they would go all the way to the title.
"Then they had a number of injuries and in my view you have to say that they have been really unlucky in the last few games."

Arsenal blah brilliant football blah should have won it blah bad luck blah blah blah. More superb original analysis...

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day

Well, things move quickly in the world of football, yesterday it was, "Real will wait a year to approach Ronaldo because they're strapped for cash", today it's this:

Real Madrid will bring forward their plans to sign Cristiano Ronaldo this summer after claiming Manchester United's prolific winger can succeed Zinedine Zidane as the new darling of the Bernabeu.

It was thought Real president Ramon Calderon would wait until next year's club elections before attempting to pull off the ultimate vote winner and guarantee a second term in power.

But his sporting director, Predrag Mijatovic, indicated the Spanish giants will try to prise Ronaldo away at the end of this season in a move that would rival the audacious £47million capture of Zidane from Juventus seven years ago.

Mijatovic said: "Real Madrid are one of the most prestigious teams in the world of football and therefore have to sign the best players. Cristiano Ronaldo is emblematic. We want him as the new face of Real Madrid."

Whatever.

A couple of papers pick up on Steve Bruce being the Wigan manager and look at how Sir Alex's "old boys" perform against other top teams. From the Guardian:

How Fergie's friends helped the title cause

Chelsea 0 Blackburn 0 Sept 15

Mark Hughes, the former Manchester United striker, sets up his Blackburn Rovers side to frustrate Chelsea - and five days later Jose Mourinho departs from Stamford Bridge

Liverpool 0 Birmingham 0 Sept 22

In their previous home game Liverpool put six past Derby but Birmingham City, managed by Steve Bruce frustrate Rafael Benítez's side. Bruce played 407 times for Alex Ferguson

Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0 Nov 3

Hughes does another favour for Ferguson, this scoreless draw increasing the pressure on Benítez

Liverpool 1 Wigan 1 Jan 2

Bruce is now Wigan's manager, and this draw, courtesy of Titus Bramble's 80th-minute equaliser, is further evidence that Liverpool can start to contemplate another season without the Premier League title

Arsenal 1 Birmingham 1 Jan 12

Alex McLeish one of Ferguson's players at Aberdeen, has replaced Bruce at Birmingham. Garry O'Connor's second-half equaliser means the former Scotland manager can expect a congratulatory call from his old boss

Birmingham 2 Arsenal 2 Feb 23

McLeish's players do it again, this time with devastating consequences for Arsenal, who lose Eduardo da Silva with a fractured fibula and dislocated ankle. James McFadden scores a late penalty for Blues

Wigan 0 Arsenal 0 March 9

Bruce pulls another one out of the hat for his old club as Arsenal gradually lose their nerve

Chelsea 1 Wigan 1 April 14

Bruce does it again, Emile Heskey's injury-time equaliser all but confirming Ferguson's team as champions once again

United's results against teams managed by ex-Ferguson players:

Roy Keane Sunderland

home 1-0 win, away 4-0 win

Steve Bruce Birmingham

away 1-0 win

Alex McLeish Birmingham

home 1-0 win

Mark Hughes Blackburn

home 2-0 win

From The Mail:

it will not have escaped Fergie's meticulous mind that it is not just his former skipper and centre half who has helped him avoid the strain of a title decided on the last day.

Bottles of celebratory wine should also be sent to Mark Hughes at Blackburn and Alex McLeish at Birmingham.

Blackburn will be chasing a win over United on Saturday but their battling draws against Arsenal (1-1), Chelsea (0-0) and Liverpool (0-0) cost each of Fergie's rivals two points.

While managing Birmingham, Bruce nicked a (0-0) draw at Liverpool, traditionally United's fiercest rivals, while his successor McLeish struck a blow with the controversial 2-2 draw against Arsenal in February that helped derail their title challenge.

McLeish, a protege of Ferguson since their Aberdeen glory days, still speaks regularly to the United boss and took the Birmingham job on his mentor's advice — a decision that did Sir Alex no harm.

But while their title rivals have dropped valuable points to Fergie's Old Boys, United have not dropped a single one.

There's a negative twist put on Fabio Capello's comments on Wayne Rooney's finishing in the papers. The Guardian go with, "Capello calls on Rooney to brush up his finishing"; The Times with "Fabio Capello claims there is room for improvement in Wayne Rooney". The actual comment suggests that Fabio is just stating the obvious:

"There is one thing he has got to improve and will improve. In every game he has a lot of scoring chances and he doesn't take them, or nowhere near as many of them as he should. I am fairly sure he will in the future. ... I'm much more worried about forwards who don't get chances."

And the other comment on Rooney from Capello, on the England captaincy (which unsuprisingly is played down in the papers), ends on a note that is also relevant w/r/t his finishing:

"He is a leader, he is an example on the pitch. Obviously he is very young so we need to give him a bit more time to get more experience and mature a bit."

A few comments from Sir Alex are reported in various papers, for example The Times:

“We're in a good position, but with my experience in life you don't take things for granted,” Ferguson said. “We've still got difficult games. We have to go to Blackburn, Chelsea and Wigan, which are three difficult away games. Because we have difficult games, there is still a lot to play for.”

And to get a little ahead of ourselves, the question in the Mail is where will the trophy be presented:

But should results mean United dispense with Chelsea's challenge at Stamford Bridge, the trophy will not be presented until their following home game against West Ham a Premier League spokesman confirmed.

Premier League policy dictates that the trophy is presented at the winner's first home fixture after the title is confirmed unless no home games remain.

Thus, the worst case scenario for United - other than blowing the title altogether - would be to receive the silverware in their final game away to Wigan should Chelsea manage to extend the race that long.

And The Telegraph report that Chelsea have, what I see as, "a fit of pique":

In what will be seen by rival supporters as a fit of pique, Chelsea have told Sky that no pre-match or post-match interviews will be given to them, even though all clubs are required to give access as part of the £900 million-a-year deal with the league.Stamford Bridge powerbrokers claim they have been given insufficient time to recover after the Wigan game and say the scheduling gives leaders Manchester United an unfair advantage.

Gerrard is a diver

Slightly off topic, although it showing a bias towards Liverpool rather than against us seems reason enough to post on it.

Des Kelly in the Daily Mail tells it like it is:

Gerrard is a diver
How does Steven Gerrard consistently get away with diving? It used to be a straight contest between Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo to see who could pull off the best flying forward one-and-a-half somersault with pike.

But since the two star imports largely cleaned up their act, England's midfielder has taken over as the greatest play actor in the Premier League.

Gerrard dived twice against Blackburn and yet everyone appeared afraid to say it.

In the Sky commentary, Alan Smith euphemistically claimed: "Gerrard ran down a blind alley and decided to try his luck."

Later Andy Gray added: £Some would call it abusing the rules a little bit."

Some would, if they were trying to avoid the issue. He dived. And more's the shame because Gerrard is a much, much better player than that.

Except for that last sentence this is certainly something I can agree with wholeheartedly. And the beginning, because Ronaldo was never as big a diver as people made him out to be.

All you need is luck

Today there's a little more on the Arsenal game, a new contract for Rio but no new contract for Ronaldo.

First off, continuing a theme from yesterday, we have this from Kevin McCarra which makes the usual tiresome argument about our ability to scrape results, which he admits is not a new argument. What he adds to the mix though is the stunning revelation that no team is unbeatable. What, really?

As it faltered, though, Arsène Wenger's side still highlighted the mortality of the supposed demi-gods of Old Trafford. Though the large squad has been a critical advantage for United over Arsenal, the visitors destroyed any notion that Ferguson's line-up is impregnable. There is strength in numbers but that does not make a side utterly unassailable.

Again we have the "we told you Arsenal didn't stand a chance - yet they matched Man Utd - how good are they? How bad United?". I'm not sure where the notion we were impregnable came from. I'm fairly sure that we've lost 4 games in the league. More than Arsenal and Chelsea. So we're impregnable?

United have been outstanding since they started to warm to their task in the autumn but that does not make them a side of a wholly different order from all others. Infallible line-ups are a figment of the imagination.

Oh. You spend the article making it sound like someone (you) believed in "infallible line-ups", just not ours, then at the end you tell us that actually they don't exist. Ummm, so why write this piece? Why bother explaining why we're not "infallible" when you don't believe it's even possible to be it? I wonder:

The jubilation at the close was all the more intense because United had reached their target on a wing and a prayer, rather than through effortless excellence. Victory was cobbled together. Ferguson will rather like that but it ought to deter the rest of us from assuming that they are really above the fray. Where might they be now if their squad had been as racked by injury as Chelsea's? The mere lack of Nemanja Vidic for two or three weeks suffices to make United queasy.

Despite the investment United will have to take nine points from the four remaining League games simply to equal last season's total.

I see. It's just so you can slag us off. Right. So we've reached the stage where the only way to have a go at us is to make some argument about some imaginary "infallible" football team and then slag us off for not being them. Good grief.

The Daily Star has a piece about our meetings with the other Big 2 (and Liverpool):

With the visit to Stamford Bridge looming a week on Saturday, United are unbeaten in five matches against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea this season.

They beat Liverpool twice, defeated Chelsea in Avram Grant’s first match in charge and drew with Arsenal at the Emirates before goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Owen Hargreaves gave them the points against the Gunners in Sunday’s big showdown.

A total of 13 points from a possible 15 against their three main rivals is a big improvement on recent seasons.

This story in The Guardian covers the contracts. Rio:

...it emerged that Rio Ferdinand had provisionally agreed a new contract.The contract is currently in the hands of his representatives and, until it has been signed off by lawyers, there will be no official announcement from Old Trafford, but it has been confirmed that it is close to being finalised.

Ronaldo:

United, however, have been bewildered by reports that Cristiano Ronaldo is to be rewarded for his exceptional form with another pay rise. Their leading scorer is only one year into a contract that lasts until 2012 and there are no plans to offer him a new deal. The club's usual policy is to wait until the player is two years from the end of his contract.

It also has some quotes in there from Sir Alex on the title "race" for good measure:

"I am not counting my chickens," he said. "I am not getting carried away as I know what football can do to you. My team is keen to do well and the players are showing great consistency. We never give up, which is a priceless quality to have. That's the kind of spirit we will need in our remaining games. Hopefully that will continue and we will win the league.

The Telegraph has an article on our "old guard":

His [Anderson's]performance in the 3-0 victory over Liverpool was a stark statement of intent and, although you can prove most things with statistics, the fact that he wins 87 per cent of his tackles is a figure even Keane would have taken pride in.

Midway through the second half of United's Champions League encounter in Lyon, there seemed a symbolic moment when Scholes and Ryan Giggs, who between them had won so many matches for Ferguson, were brought off for Nani and Carlos Tevez. When both substitutes combined to score what proved a precious equaliser at the Stade Gerland, it seemed we were witnessing another changing of the guard.

The Daily Mail suggests Real are going to wait a season before pouncing for Ronaldo:

Despite claims on a Madrid radio station that a 120million euro bid for Ronaldo was imminent, it is understood funds are currently in short supply at the Bernabeu and that Calderon is exploring ways of generating extra finance in readiness for a raid on Old Trafford in a year's time.

Final word to William Gallas who graciously accepts Arsenal's failings:

"You can play well, but if the luck is not there, then you will win nothing," Gallas said.

"The luck went from us a few months ago. People have to understand that."

We understand something...