Throw an Elbow

Vidic gets a one match ban for his sending off in the World Club Championship, missing the away tie with Inter. Pretty much every paper calls his offence the same thing, "swinging an elbow". I don't want to downplay the seriousness of elbowing someone, but, from what I remember, Vidic's elbow was at the very bottom of the scale of elbows. I seem to remember (and I'm in too much of a hurry to actually check out youtube) they were both laid on the floor after a tackle and Vidic kind of pushed his arm towards the other player. Hardly swinging an elbow. The sending off was right - it was a stupid thing to do, rather than a dangerous thing to do. So I think the one match ban is pretty fair. The Guardian compare it to another incident from the same competition:

Whereas the United defender received only a one-match ban for elbowing Claudio Bieler, a striker with the Ecuadorian side Liga de Quito, Fifa also ruled that a Gamba Osaka player, Takahiro Futagawa, should be suspended for two matches after he was sent off in the third-place play-off against the Mexican side Pachuca. Futagawa had committed what the organisation described as a "clumsy foul".

On the face of it, Vidic's challenge would appear the more serious and his own manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, has talked in the past about elbowing being the "worst offence in football", warning that "someone will lose an eye soon".

I haven't seen this other foul so can't comment on that, it does sound a bit harsh though, but going on to put Vidic's elbow in this context of someone "losing an eye", is a little misleading. The "on the face of it" should also go on to to describe the elbow, so as to show why the "face of it" is wrong.
Just about every report decides it has to quote Jose Mourinho asking for a 2 game suspension, again creating the impression he's got off lightly, Sir Alex's answer is all that is needed:

Ferguson seemed amused when he was informed of those comments yesterday. "That's a surprise. Why would he say that?" he asked with mock incredulity.

There's a quote from Scolari in The Telegraph, where he agrees with Benitez about Sir Alex, however he actually can't help himself telling the truth of the matter in the same breath:

"I understand very well. When we play there [Old Trafford] and at Stamford Bridge I know what happens. Alex Ferguson works very hard, he's very good, and he has mental ideas about this and that.'' In fairness, Scolari was also keen to highlight the real reason for Manchester United's success. "Don't forget, he has a good team.''

Staying with Chelsea, The Sun have a commment from Nicholas Anelka on Sir Alex:

The Blues striker said: “United don’t have a notably better or more complete squad than Chelsea or Liverpool.

“But Ferguson is so smart and so impressive.

“He keeps spotting and signing precisely the right players to complement what he already has and give balance to his squad.

“Then, what is massively important and difficult, Ferguson somehow teaches them to understand and demonstrate the special spirit of his club.

“He has been there doing it for a long time. But he keeps on succeeding.”

There's only one thing wrong with that - we do actually have a better and more complete squad than Chelsea or Liverpool. You only need look at the teams we've been putting out during our current injury crisis to see that.
In his press conference yesterday Sir Alex once again felt the need to point out that Ronaldo has been playing well this season, it's just in the context of last season that it looks ordinary, from The Sun:

“I just hope now that it’s going to be the forwards who take the credit.

“The case of Ronaldo is a good one. Last year was a miracle season. To score 42 goals as a winger, it is hard to imagine he could replicate that.

“Yet people are saying he has not had a great season but he’s still got 13 goals for us and had 11 assists.

“If we could dismiss last season altogether you would say that was incredible for a winger to score 13 goals by the half-way mark.

A further comment, reported in The Mail, adds a little to that and demonstrates just what a perfectionist Ronaldo must be:

‘He just expected to carry on where he left off. He had that ambition. It was a situation Cristiano had to face and he’s starting to come to terms with the whole thing.

'His forward play, his movement, his penetration were fantastic on Tuesday.’

More on the defensive record: The Telegraph has a list of when the next records are coming - basically we have to not concede against Everton, West Ham and then go 64 minutes against Fulham and it'll be a record. I'll believe its possible if we're still intact after the tricky game at West Ham. The Mirror has a nice picture of Van der Sar clutching a rather pointless trophy, a "merit award" apparently...
There's a few questions from celebrities for Sir Alex reproduced in The Times from Inside United:

Simon Le Bon, singer (Duran Duran): You seem to be the object of more public speculation and criticism than any manager before. How does it affect you?

It’s part of the job when you’re manager of Manchester United. It’s not just me, either. Look at the criticism [Cristiano] Ronaldo gets, the best player in the world. He only has to have half a bad game and he’s slaughtered. [Eric] Cantona got it, he got slaughtered for ages. You have to accept it’s part of the package. It doesn’t bother me one bit.

Sir Alex confident Owen Hargreaves will ready for the start of next season, from The Guardian:

"Owen had a second operation last week and it was completely successful," said the United manager. "It was better than the last one, which was much more difficult. This one is completely clear and I am certain he will be ready for the start of next season."

There's talk in The Mirror of a possible rush to sign Wigan's Luis Antonio Valencia after reported interest from, who else, Real Madrid. Not sure how true this sounds, given that Real have just signed one winger from West Ham. Still. Who knows.
Two quick ones to finish with. The Guardian has the stats to demonstrates that we're only going to score one this afternoon:

In the Premier League this season Chelsea have twice won 5-0. Both times they've scored just once in their next fixture. United themselves have scored five goals on three other occasions. Each time they've failed to get more than one next time out.

And The Mirror looks at Rio's claim that Van der Sar is the best keeper he's ever played with:

Which is a bit like saying George Bush senior was the most intelligent of all the American presidents called George Bush.

Because during Rio’s time at United, Leeds and England he played and trained with Roy Carroll, Tim Howard, Ricardo, David James, Scott Carson and Paul Robinson.