The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores

Ronaldo makes an appearance in the papers today, surprisingly. There's a piece in The Independent claiming the whole thing has become boring:

For roughly the 730th time in the last two years, one – or probably all – of the British national newspapers yesterday had a headline speculating on Cristiano Ronaldo moving to Real Madrid. Boring? Just an incey, wincey, weeny bit...

Something I'm sure we can all agree on. He goes on, however, to blame Ronaldo. Surely the blame lies elsewhere - with the journalists who constantly regurgitate the same non-stories. Ronaldo may well be an attention seeker, but it's not as if he has to try too hard to get the attention he seeks.
Look at The Sunday Mirror, I'll quote this entire story:

You might have thought Cristiano Ronaldo would be desperate to escape from Italy after Manchester United's Champions League defeat in Rome.

But the striker, 24, topped up his tan in posh Italian resort Porto Cervo yesterday wearing a tiny pair of white shorts - the colours of Real Madrid - amid rumours he'll quit United for the Spanish club.

And that's it, apart from the photo of Ronaldo in a pair of shorts.

The Ronaldo stories in today's papers concentrate on new comments by Perez:

"Madrid should have brought Cristiano Ronaldo as Beckham’s replacement two years ago,”

“There are specific footballers who can turn out to be very profitable, because of the commercial benefits they bring the club,” said Perez. “For instance, we once brought in €15m for playing two matches in Japan. That would not happen in the current climate but they did it then because we had Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and Beckham.”

“When Beckham arrived,” said Perez, “our sponsors significantly raised their payments to us and we rescued the finances of the club. What happened in the last few years is that the club did not reinvest in the type of players to continue with that model. I want to put that right.”

He cited the appeal of Ronaldo to sponsors: “If Cristiano Ronaldo comes in, we would have a Nike-endorsed player putting on an adidas shirt every week. In the previous time, we established a model which allowed us to pay off our debts and raise our income, and we did it by investing in great players. They brought money in, the model worked.”

So there you have it, if Ronaldo would like to become a cash cow, he should go to Real, if he would like to be a great footballer he should stay with us.
There's a few articles praising Barcelona again today.
Jonathan Norcroft has this to say about us:

The result in Rome did not fit into any pattern. It is not as if United are a footballing Asafa Powell, always tying up on the big occasions. Every one of Ferguson’s men has previously excelled in the most intense situations — whether it be Park for South Korea in the World Cup or Anderson converting a penalty after coming on as a substitute against Chelsea in Moscow last year.

No jerking, then, of knees...

He ruins it all by then going on at great length about what we need to do...
The worst article is this by Paul Wilson, I'll quote one paragraph near the end as an example of its stupidity:

Only Liverpool, who famously cannot win the Premier League and are half‑Spanish anyway, could possibly attempt to play Barcelona at their own game. Whether they would have fared any better than United in Rome is an argument for another day.

A day when Liverpool actually manage to get to the final, or semi-final, perhaps...
Jonathan Norcroft, no knee-jerk reactions remember, has a second article urging us to sell Tevez and Berbatov:

It is time for Ferguson to hold his hands up, Benitez-style, and concede his Berbatov experiment has failed. There would be no shame in it. Berbatov’s supreme technical qualities made him a punt worth taking when Ferguson recruited him for a club record £30.75m, but like Juan Sebastian Veron, he looks a serious talent who simply does not suit United. One thing the Bulgarian and Argentinian have in common is their laconic playing styles. Fast, percussive attacking is the United way and though Berbatov’s ability to hold the ball and use it unhurriedly is what made him attractive to Ferguson, it has also posed a problem.
Against Barcelona, as against Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals, the Bulgarian was left on the bench as Ferguson went for quicker, more mobile forwards able to adhere to United’s ‘A’ plan of speedy ensemble counters. While in an ideal world it might be nice to retain the different option Berbatov provides, realistically he is one of the assets Ferguson could sell (at a loss) to fund squad-building that could help achieve what is now United’s compelling target, regaining the European crown.

As we didn't win the final I find it interesting that, instead of criticising the tactics and suggesting that Berbatov should have started, he accepts the tactics and says Berbatov shouldn't even be in the squad. It's an interesting logic.

The only other story worth mentioning (barely) is this in The Mail on Sunday, speculating on Owen Hargreaves' injury:

Hargreaves, who has not played since September, is undergoing rehabilitation following an operation to cure tendinitis in both his knees and world-famous surgeon Dr Richard Steadman will not know until July if he will be available for the start of the campaign.

If his comeback is put off until the New Year, Ferguson may be forced to splash out on a replacement.