The Ancient Commonsense Of Things

Bit late with the paper round up this afternoon, thankfully, there's not much about, and frankly, who wants to spend time reading match reports of the Sunderland game. Often I get to criticise the papers for being unremittingly negative in their coverage of us, but it's not so easy criticising match reports when we actually deserve some criticism. Thankfully James Lawton rides to the rescue, with his usual brand of bad writing. I'm not going to quote from his match report, it's all over the place, a mess. It's only funny because throughout the report he accuses us of being "incoherent." The report is probably best read as a meta-statement on that - his own report is a load of incoherent rubbish to best reflect our performance - however, given past evidence, his report is probably just a mess...
His other article in The Independent is possibly worse, in it, he suggests that Sir Alex calling Alan Wiley unfit is of a similar nature to another incident:

It is potentially the most damaging attack on a match official since Jose Mourinho's accusations about referee Anders Frisk in 2005 effectively led to the retirement of the Swedish official.

Yes, James Lawton is really quite insane.
The thing that strikes me about the match reports is the way they all go on about Sir Alex's comments about Alan Wiley distracting attention away from our poor performance. Don't they control what they write? If his comments were such a blatant attempt at distraction why don't they just ignore them and concentrate on our performance?
The Guardian's report does this, but also manages to do the right thing and give credit to Sunderland:

Until that point it had been a story of Sunderland demonstrating every quality that is necessary, apart from good fortune, for a visiting team to succeed at Old Trafford and of a Manchester United side that looked so laboured and flat it felt as if they had misplaced their own identity. Then, like a conjuror, Ferguson misdirected his audience. The newspapers had their story and the focus was shifted.
It would be unfair, though, to dwell too much on United's failures and overlook what had put them on their knees in the first place. "Everyone will say that United were poor but it was our performance that made them poor," Bruce remarked – so poor that Paul Scholes could not even make a 10-yard pass. Ferguson's decision to rest Ryan Giggs despite the following two-week break for internationals looked strange, to say the least. No explanation was offered, nor for the omission of Rio Ferdinand.

A ridiculous little bit in The Mail's report:

By all accounts the United manager was a little tetchy all week, irritated that certain people - especially in the media - had suggested his team were not playing all that well. Irked that his team’s position at the top of the table was not convincingly papering over the cracks left by the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez, Ferguson has, it is understood, been looking for scapegoats.

Is it any wonder he gets pissed off at the papers...
The Mirror goes for a ridiculous link at the beginning of their match report:

How fitting Sir Alex Ferguson will spend this week on holiday in New York, the city that never sleeps.

For the Manchester United boss has much to ponder following this dire display, which exposed the underlying weaknesses within his squad.

Points for effort, if little else...
Evra speaks about defensive concerns:

"I am worried that we are not keeping clean sheets," said Evra. "I am not happy about it because, if you want to win the league, you have to keep clean sheets. Last year we only conceded 21 goals. We can't concede more than that this season."

United have conceded eight in their opening eight matches and kept four clean sheets. Yet a sudden frailty at home seems to have developed. Three goals against Manchester City a fortnight ago, followed by another two yesterday, added to their concerns, with the goalkeeper Ben Foster's contribution a particular worry.

In front of the England coach, Fabio Capello, Foster was badly beaten in an aerial duel with Kenwyne Jones, which allowed the Trinidad and Tobago man to head into an unguarded net.

The goal halted what seemed certain to be a home march for victory, leaving Evra to rescue what even he felt was an undeserved point. "It was a big disappointment," he said. "It is very frustrating because it looked like we had no energy or power. I don't know why. It was just very poor. I don't know if we even deserved a point."

The FA are looking into Sir Alex's comments:

"We are reviewing the comments in their full context," a spokesman for the FA said.

The article also includes some people lining up to express their "shock" at the comments...
Foster's absence from the England squad creates some waves:

Ben Foster was ruled out of England's World Cup double-header against Ukraine and Belarus with a chest injury.

The Football Association did not specify Foster's injury when the squad was released last night, but now United have confirmed the 26-year-old is being "investigated" for an injury sustained during Saturday's 2-2 draw with Sunderland, although not serious enough to prevent him completing the match.

Conspiracy theorists had suggested an injury was merely the excuse for omitting Foster when the decision had been taken on the grounds of form.

And Gary Neville concedes his England days are probably over:

"To be honest, I am not looking at an England return," Neville said. "The time has probably come for Glen Johnson or Wes Brown now. They have done very well and I think they are the first-choice players. It doesn't mean I would turn down the opportunity if it came, but it is not something I am focusing on."