I've Been Trying

I am very tempted to simply quote Sir Alex and stop there:

"There was a fragility at the back and we couldn't do anything about that," he said.

because there really is little else to say. I've only seen the highlights so can't comment too much, but listening to the radio and seeing the goals we conceded I've seen and heard enough. From the radio commentary and the stats we didn't have our shooting boots on either, but you've got to build the team on solid foundations and that we just didn't have. And Sir Alex is hardly sounding confident about getting players back:

"The way the league is at the moment I hope today is not too damaging. I hope it doesn't cost us the league," he told MUTV.

"We'll have to get our defenders back to give us a proper chance of going for the league, there's no question of that. But if we get them back we'll be back in it.

"The quicker they're back the better. They're doing their best. The medical team and physios are working overtime to get them back.

"There's no light at the end of the tunnel at the moment, that's for sure."

Mike Phelan is a little more optimistic:

Michael Phelan, his assistant, was more optimistic. Phelan said that some more players might be available for the next match, away to Hull City on Sunday

The papers - it's hard to criticise criticism of us when we play like that, but lets have a go. The Guardian spread their net wide to have a go at everyone:

For United, only Wayne Rooney and Antonio Valencia gave a decent account of themselves as the limits of Ferguson's scope for improvisation were thoroughly exposed. Scholes committed error after error in vulnerable positions, Michael Owen had a pitifully inadequate afternoon, Dimitar Berbatov proved that he is not the man to come on and galvanise a struggling side, and poor Carrick no longer resembles an embryonic Franco Baresi. Pending the return of established defenders, other solutions will need to be found before their campaign is damaged beyond repair.

Kevin Garside is absolutely ridiculous in The Telegraph:

The focus was on defence during the post mortem following a performance as poor as Man United watchers could remember under Ferguson. It camouflaged a problem of equal magnitude higher up the pitch.

I'm sorry? Losing three nil, having midfielders comprising the majority of our defense is a problem which distracts attention away from our attack, but is a problem of the same magnitude? Is he off his head. "Thank God we lost 3-0 with awful defensive problems - at least we've hidden how bad our attack was..."
The Independent's report is just a little dull.

Horror

MOTD highlights of the Fulham game for those who wish to inflict pain on themselves...

The most interesting thing about the clip being Alan Hansen's inability to control his glee as the cameras go back to the studio.

The Fall of Math

Another quiet day as the world (or Europe at the very least) awaits the Champions League draw. Some kind of pointless speculation on what the ties might be is available here - and if you're reading this after the draw see how pointless the speculation really was by following the same link... Though, to be fair, one interesting piece of info is in the article:

In any case, the last 16 will loom over us for quite a while whether we like it or not. This year, as Uefa strive to prolong the broadcasters' obsession with the Champions League, the ties will be contested over eight separate match dates between 16 February and 17 March. This element of the competition may not be engrossing, but the ruling body is determined to keep on bringing it to your attention.

Elsewhere there's not a lot doing. This comment by Frank Lampard - "We're still on target for 90 points this season and we're the only club which is." - made me think - about how rubbish The Independent's football website is - it could just be me, but a website that links the ever-rubbish James Lawton's last five or so articles from it's front page but absolutely nowhere provides a league table or a link to a league table (unless I'm absolutely blind) is a bit shit (and yes Frank's mathematically correct - they'll get 92 points if they get the same points in the second half of season as first (assuming they win their next two games, which I did...) and we'll manage 86).
The Daily Star has a quote from Rio Ferdinand in which he states, and the thought is meant to be comforting, that he will be fit for the World Cup. Great, sod the rest of our season, he'll be fit for England...
And the pointless criticism of Wolves continues today, Wolves will cite us as an example of playing weakened teams. Good luck to them - given the FA's record of hating everything to do with us...

Butterflies Drowned In W[h]ine

Not much around today. First off a story that I can't even be bothered to give credence to by linking to it: Arsene Wenger whines on about the Wolves' team selection as if it is any of his business, sure he'd be happy about other managers picking his team, and concludes that it has somehow given us an advantage like we wouldn't have in all probability beaten their first team three-nil...
Elsewhere the words of Sir Alex on our goals tally are reported:

“In recent weeks we have upped the scoring rate.

“This is good, especially when you add in the goals we’ve scored lately in the other competitions.

“A few weeks ago I asked the players to start being more decisive with their chances, especially in the early part of a match, instead of appearing to take the relaxed view that like buses there will be another along in a minute.

“It seems they took my plea on board because we’ve been finishing a lot better.

“Our scoring rate is well up on last season, when we only managed 68 goals.

“Normally we are in the high 70s and I was surprised last season when we dropped so low, especially when you consider one player, Cristiano Ronaldo, scored more than a quarter of them with 18.”

While Evra reckons we should have scored more against Wolves:
"I was not happy to only score three," said Evra. "We respect Wolves but should have done better. The goal difference is important and, in a game like that, we should have won by five or six."
And Valencia is praised by Sir Alex and promises there is more to come:

"That's six goals for Antonio," said the United boss. "We're happy with that. We've always thought that's one area he can improve on.

"He is improving and his improvement is tremendous and this is an example of that. From the day he came he was a quiet young man, but he is expressing himself well. We like to see the young players come here and develop."

Valencia, 24, is slowly bedding in at Old Trafford and the champions have a 76 per cent win rate with him, compared to 60 per cent when he hasn't started.

He is pleased with his start to his United career and has promised fans he can keep improving.

"I only scored seven times at Wigan - and that probably included all the training sessions!" he joked.

"I'm happy with my form, sure. But I'm definitely not settling for what I've done so far. I want to improve, keep learning and achieve a lot more. Fans will see a lot more from me as we progress through the season."

Lazyitis

The match reports of the Wolves game are frankly rubbish. It's like the journalists reporting on it have just thought, "Man Utd Wolves? No chance of this turning into a good game, we'll save our A game for the weekend, when there's a relegation 6 pointer..."
Paul Wilson in The Guardian comes across as a proper whiny-ass-bitch, Wolves field a "weakened team" so that makes him grumble on about us:

The stylish way would have been by beating Aston Villa on Saturday, so that this victory would have taken them three points clear, but after the startling events of four days ago – when United were beaten 1-0 by Martin O'Neill's men on their own turf – this was a soporific stroll. While Sir Alex Ferguson will have no grumbles about three easy points, complaints about the Wolves line-up and attitude to the game may be remembered for quite a while longer.

Piss off. The rest of the report is an absolute waste of time - the reporting of our sublime third is stupidly brief and insulting followed by a, "but Wolves were playing a weakened team..."

United made it comfortable after 66 minutes, when Antonio Valencia finished neatly from Dimitar Berbatov's overhead flick, though in truth, against a weakened team, the home attack looked only slightly sharper that they had against Villa.

He got paid for writing such shite? He's paid to describe things and his description of our great move is "Berbatov flicked it to Valencia?"
The Independent's report is just as lazy, but less offensively so, nothing worth quoting.
Why has no one considered the pretty obvious fact that even if he'd played a "better" line-up the game would still have been pretty one sided - remember the Carling Cup, when our weakened team played 60 odd minutes with 10 men and still looked very comfortable.
Neil Custis in The Sun is also shit, description of the Valencia goal again ruined by churlishness:

The contest was over and the match was played out in a near funereal atmosphere - a silence broken only when Antonio Valencia struck on 66 minutes.

Berbatov flicked the ball up and over his shoulder for Valencia to walk on to and blast into the roof of the net.

When Berbatov does things like that you can understand why Ferguson bought him.

It's just for everyone of those moments plenty of quiet ones follow.

But Fergie said: "Only a player like Berbatov can have the imagination and skill to do that.

"Antonio is a good finisher, we see that in training all the time and today was another example of it."

OK Neil, why not amaze us with your highly original opinion about how Berba looks a bit lazy...
Henry Winter gets an honourable mention for his report, first off for not oversimplifying the Wolves fans reactions to the team selection:

Although the magnificent travelling support did chant McCarthy’s name, the 3,400 Old Gold foot soldiers also expressed disappointment at having braved the M6, plummeting temperatures and Old Trafford’s spiralling pricing scheme only to be significantly short-changed. It was like watching Led Zeppelin without Robert Plant.

And he gives Valencia's goal due respect:

The force remained with United, the champions scoring a sensational third. Paul Scholes lifted the ball down the inside-right channel for Berbatov, whose response was inspired. He hooked the ball over his head into the path of Valencia, whose half-volley disappeared in a blur past Hahnemann. “Beautiful,’’ observed Ferguson. “Only Berbatov can do something like that with his imagination and skill.’’

The upshot is - Henry Winter's is the only report worth reading. Can we have the first choice journalists for our next match please...

For every wolf that roams

If, like me, you missed the game last night, here's some pretty extensive highlights -

My Lucky Day

I think Sir Alex sums it up best when he says, “It’s just one of those days it wasn’t going in.” We should have won it. Instead we lost. Missing out on taking advantage of Chelsea only drawing. On the plus side I thought that we're getting some sharpness back, if not in front of goal, at least with our passing, which had been lacking early part of the season. It's looking good for the second half of the season.
The match reports? On the whole they accept we were the better team. That doesn't stop a certain amount of stupidity getting through though. Ian Herbert in The Independent is, obviously, a culprit:

Wayne Rooney's frustrations took hold as they so often do when he is the lone striker.

What? He's referring to the "dive," which in the paper's stereotyped narrative is nothing to do with "frustation," isn't it the opposite? One must be fairly calm to think to act in that way surely?
This one in The Telegraph is just a bit rubbish.
The Sunday Times is about the best, the description of the early stages:

United were in utter control during its opening phase and only bloody-minded penalty box defending by Cuellar and Dunne stopped Antonio Valencia scoring at least twice. It took 20 minutes for Villa to have enough ball to mount one of their counter-attacks; one thrust was all Ashley Young needed to find Agbonlahor for Villa’s stunning goal. United were astounded to be behind...

The Observer isn't bad, but not worth quoting.
Ending as we began, with Sir Alex talking common sense - The Sun has him on timekeeping - which again didn't favour us:

"The timing should be taken out of the referee's hands.

"Those two stoppages took two minutes and 20 seconds, and then there were the substitutions on top of that. That is disappointing.

"It is silly really. We are nearly in 2010. A change should be made."

Personality Crisis

A couple of lines to come out of Sir Alex's press conference - first off that Paul Scholes and Giggs will both be given new contracts. Sir Alex's comments have a couple of points of interest, firstly on Paul Scholes' comments the other day on his doubts about playing on:

“Every player who gets into his 30s starts to wonder what’s going to happen to them. But, when you see Paul’s performances at West Ham, and at Wolfsburg last Wednesday, there is no reason to think he can’t do it again next season. "

And this quote from The Guardian:

"We will certainly be offering him a new contract for next season," said the United manager, "That is what we think of him. He has been amazingly consistent. Scholesy seemed to be uncertain about his future – well, we are sure."

And the second point, there seems to be a bit of an indication that he feels no one has stepped up (And I guess I'm looking at Nani here...) to replace Giggs:

“The issue is: can he [Scholes] do it all the time, play in every game? He may feel he should play in every game but, of course, he can’t.

“Unlike Ryan, Paul has opposition from Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Anderson and, now, Darron Gibson.

Sir Alex also comments on the transfer and money situation:

“The money is there if I want to use it.

“It was there in the summer if I wanted it. But I don't think there's any value in the market. I don't see any value and that is why I didn’t buy anyone.” ...

Ferguson used 21-year-old Senegalese striker Mame Biram Diouf as an example. He said: “Diouf, who we signed from Molde, has been absolutely brilliant in training. We’re going to apply for a work permit in January. That’s the kind of deal we’re looking at.”

And, obviously, he rubbished reports linking us with Sol Campbell...
Patrick Barclay has an article of praise for Giggs w/r/t the BBC Sports Personality thing, the usual type of thing so I won't quote it, I'll just quote his fairly obvious reasoning as to why Giggs probably won't win it:

But, to answer Ferguson’s rhetorical question, what it would say is that football is a tribal sport, unlike, say, motor racing. Maybe I live a sheltered life, but I have never heard banter about Brawn GP and cannot imagine that, if Jenson Button got the award, Ferrari supporters would melt the internet with puerile complaints. Nor do people get into fights over the likes of Victoria Pendleton or Sir Steve Redgrave.

Ferguson, for all the mischief that is never far from his lips these days, understands that the award is for people who bring the nation together. Few footballers do that. Even Gianfranco Zola, arguably the least divisive footballer of the Premier League era, brought only the football community together. Button, albeit for an instant, brought everyone together, just as Redgrave did every four years.

Interview with Valencia in The Independent, not much to be gleaned from it really, he does compare himself to Scholes in the media profile stakes, a bit on his move, a bit on his early life, on replacing Ronaldp, and on goal scoring:

Ferguson made no secret of the fact that he wanted more goals from his new recruit.

The seven goals which came in a near three-year Wigan career "probably included all the training sessions," Valencia joked recently – but the manager was serious. "He told me I must concentrate more in training and in matches, that I must try to score goals at every opportunity but also help my team-mates to score," Valencia says. "So I'm practising all the time. I practise with my team-mates and I like to improve and get better with it. I'm working on that side of my game but there are crosses, tackling back, making the right pass. I hope my all-round contribution is what counts, not just the goals."

Finally a "humorous" article on The Guardian blog about how our injury crisis makes us more likeable:

the Manchester United Defensive Injury Crisis will continue to lurch about the place unconstrained, in the process transforming itself into one of the most interesting things to have happened this season in the sweatily stagnant upper reaches of the Premier League. It has something freewheeling and topsy-turvy about it. You feel there might be cakes. Maybe Darren Fletcher will play the piano. Best of all is the spectacle of international midfielders playing as defenders, in particular the elegantly cosseted Michael Carrick, a stroller and a coaster, being forced to grapple and tangle in the sweatbox of central defence. Catching a glimpse of Carrick's flushed and mud-spattered face during the victory in Wolfsburg on Wednesday, it was hard not to love him slightly, to cherish his elegantly calibrated discomfort.

Fate Arises

This was in the paper yesterday but I've just seen it, it's an article about Rafa Benitez and Liverpool and it contains this:

In many ways, this was a hard-luck story for Rafael Benítez and his players. They had taken the lead, shown character and resolve on a night when motivation must have been a real problem and on the balance of play they did not deserve to lose. But there is an inescapable feeling that circumstances are conspiring against the Spanish manager and the downward spiral that Liverpool have been on for the last three months shows no sign of coming to an end.

If you read the whole thing you do come across a little bit of criticism of Benitez but this paragraph really does illustrate the easy ride that Liverpool/Benitez get compared to us and Sir Alex - A "hard luck story?!" "circumstances conspiring!!?" Is this a joke? Benitez hasn't done anything wrong, it's just them bloody fates. Liverpool, the unluckiest team on the planet... Oh, let's just forget that they were outplayed by Everton for long periods but still spawned a win, let's forgot Ngog's dive against Birmingham to rescue a point, let's forget everything else that's gone their way this season, sorry, sorry, every season - they're just so unlucky... If they were actually unlucky they'd be a lot lower in the league than they actually are...
Imagine an article in the paper about Sir Alex where he was given this type of easy ride... it's not actually possible to imagine it...

New England

Not much today. First off, the shock news that Sol Campbell may not actually be joining us:

UNITED will not be offering Sol Campbell a Premier League lifeline at Old Trafford. ...

But M.E.N. Sport understands the club were dumbfounded at the stories and have dismissed the chance of a deal completely.

It actually feels a little silly even reporting on that...
The only other thing is the tiresome discussion, which comes around whenever Michael Owen scores a goal, of whether he'll be going to the World Cup with England. Not going to bother quoting, check out various opinions here, here, here, here, and here.
The Sun for some reason decides today's the day to speculate on whether VDS will sign a new contract. Nothing new in the story at all.

Sour Patch Kids

It's a bit of an unusual day today - we actually get some credit for our victory last night. Just read this in the generally begrudging Independent:

EVER since a team of reserves and survivors from the Munich Disaster fought their way to the 1958 FA Cup final, Manchester United have been a club most inspired when their backs have been pushed most firmly against a wall.

This result was not on that scale of heroism, but that a side deprived of 13 first-choice players and with just one regular defender should overcome the champions of Germany on their own sodden turf was remarkable.

That Michael Owen should be the man to have turned the night on its head was equally so. When he arrived at Old Trafford in the summer he was depicted as a footballer whose best days had been left behind in Germany when his knee gave way in Cologne during his brief, disastrous appearance at the 2006 World Cup finals. His contribution to Newcastle's struggle against relegation last season had been negligible.

Or this from The Daily Star:

United’s achievement last night cannot be underestimated as Fergie’s men took on the German champions without 14 recognised senior players, including eight defenders.

The Telegraph sounding similar:

Owen’s performance stole the show in the Wolfsburg Arena, but the magnitude of United’s victory, which consigned the German champions to the Europa League, cannot be overestimated.

Of course there's always one, with Kevin McCarra in The Guardian being unable to stop himself trying to put a dampener on things:

This match, a curmudgeon might object, was designed for Owen. Wolfsburg neither defend well nor acted as if it could ever be a priority. ...
They had been obliged to pick a makeshift team in which several individuals were out of position, yet they recorded a victory even if they also had to display a gift for riding their luck. ...
While the noise levels rose steeply, the quality of the game fluctuated. That was an indication that Wolfsburg, for all their intent, lacked the quality to belabour even this United selection for long. It also assisted Sir Alex Ferguson's men that the final ball from their opponents was sometimes loose enough to release the pressure.

I've picked out all the worst bits there, yes, he gives us praise in places, but always offset with this sort of stuff. Take his praise of Owen, where he feels the need to devalue the role he's played for us upto now:

Michael Owen has often been a fringe figure at the club but there will be a surge of acclaim for this hat-trick. It is going be enjoyable to see if Fabio Capello is ready to check the praise for an eminent striker.

A "fringe player?" Did we sign him as anything else but an impact substitute? He's now on 7 goals for us, and given his time on the pitch and the importance of the goals he has scored such talk of him as "fringe player" seems a touch ridiculous.
Here's what Sir Alex had to say on Owen:

"Michael Owen is one of the very best strikers around in terms of his positional play and finishing..."
Asked if he had staked a claim to begin games on a more regular basis, Ferguson said: "Absolutely. The real evidence of ability is always found on the football field and Michael has given us plenty of that tonight.

"Michael has improved steadily in training since joining us but, in some games recently, we've chosen to play just one central striker. We had a different system featuring two strikers tonight, Michael's proved his worth in it and we're delighted."

And Owen himself praises the team:

Owen played down his display. "Me getting three goals will probably grab the headlines but it was a great team performance," he said. "I was playing deep with us having so many players out and we were trying to protect the [defence]."

A better look at the game from The Guardian is on their blog by Louise Taylor:

Naturally the defence rode their luck at times but they also proved that finely tuned football brains can compensate for more orthodox defensive attributes as the German champions found themselves outwitted if not outmuscled as Michael Owen scored a hat-trick.

Not altogether sure what to make of The Times' verdict, which appears to want to cover ever base imaginable - they were rubbish, we overcame injuries, bizarre Ronaldo reference and the usual "lucky" tag, all in one sentence:

But disappointing though the German champions were last night, United deserved huge credit for overcoming a crippling injury list to upset all the odds. The loss of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer may have hurt Ferguson’s team, but they retain that remarkable knack of winning when it matters.

Elsewhere Adem Ljajic blames work permit problems for the collapse of his move:

"Stories about stagnation in my football development are nonsense. If Manchester United were really not satisfied with how much I've progressed in this year, I would not have been with [Sir Alex] Ferguson two months ago at the end of my last cycle of mandatory training at the club before moving to England.

"The reason for the transfer not happening is that I couldn't get a business licence [work permit]. Who knows what I will do next? I have heard already that clubs are interested and that Partizan want to sell me. We'll see."

Stupid rumour from nowhere of the day Sol Campbell signing for us...
And finally, not a Man United story, but I couldn't believe these words from David Ngog are taken seriously:

Last month, the Liverpool striker was caught up in controversy when he went to ground and won a late penalty against Birmingham. ...

Yet Ngog insisted: "I know criticism is part of football but it was unfair because I'm not that kind of player.

"I just tried to jump him and not to be touched. It happened so fast and I didn't think of getting a penalty.

"But I don't really think about that now. I just try and stay in a positive frame of mind to improve my game."

He's not that type of player?! How can we judge what type of player he is but through his actions? And his actions suggest he's a bit of a diver. Whatever next, Steven Gerrard not a diver stories...

Liars Like You Live The Shortest Lives

I'm not sure why The Independent let Ian Herbert write about Man United, unless they have some sort of agenda against us... Anyway, today he is mainly using the word "dismay" wrongly, in an article on the Paul Scholes quotes that are doing the rounds:

The 35-year-old said yesterday that he was dismayed by his performances this season - raising fresh question marks over his future, despite Sir Alex Ferguson's hint that there will be a contract beyond this campaign. "You do think about it. I'm not too sure,” Scholes said. "I'll just carry on with the way it it's going at the moment and we'll see what happens come the end of the season."

"I wouldn't say I am playing some of my best football," he said. "I don't always feel I am making as much of a contribution as I'd like to."I always preferred it when I was playing regularly and scoring a lot more goals. Now, it's different. I play once every two or three weeks and I can only hope to do well when I get the chance. I don't have a choice.”

Here is the definition of dismay - where in Paul Scholes' words is there any dismay? The word Ian Herbert might have been looking for was "disappointed..."

A fuller version of quotes from Scholes is here in The Daily Star, including this on Giggs:

“The secret of Ryan’s success is his sheer professionalism,” Scholes said.

“I would have thought he’s probably the best player this club has ever had. He just keeps going stronger and stronger.

“Each time he plays he seems to create a goal or score one himself. He has just been fantastic to play with.

“I think when Ryan retires he won’t just be regarded as one of the greats, he’ll be the one and only.

“To be here 20 years and still going strong and playing as well as ever is ­incredible. I think that, when he retires, he will be THE one who stands out.”

Following on from the unfounded speculation on our finances following the breakdown of the Ljajic deal, The Times ups the ante with a speculative, possibly bordering on libellous, article on our finances, of which I shall just quote this stupid paragraph:

It is understood that United are operating well within the financial terms set by their lenders. However, Perry Capital and Citadel — the two US hedge funds that provided the Glazers with PIK loans — get a range of rights over the club in the event that their financial performance falls beneath a certain level, including the right to appoint their own directors to the board.

Ultimately, they could seize control of the club should revenues plummet.

To paraphrase - "It is understood everything is going fine, but if something went horribly wrong THIS could happen!!!!!" Idiots.

Asshole

Just the one story today, and it's on Carlos Tevez. Poor Carlos Tevez who we've treated so badly, but he's bigger than that, he just wants us to respect him like he respects us:

"I was disappointed to be treated that way by the fans," he said. "When I was there I was a hard-working and loyal player who gave my all. But the first thing I must say is that I have a great deal of respect for the United fans and I won't celebrate if I score against them. Obviously I'd be delighted to beat United and reach the final but I still have some respect for the club and what they did for me, so I wouldn't want to rub their noses in it."

Celebrate away asshole. You've been scoring so regularly for City that it's almost inevitable you will... and you always spoke of the club with such respect both after you left and in the final few months you were there, you certainly didn't try and hijack the Premier League victory celebrations at Old Trafford with your own personal agenda, didn't try and make Sir Alex look bad or use the fans for your own purposes. No, cos you're a real stand-up guy...
And read this bullshit from him as well:

“After the Champions League final in Rome, Ferguson tried to get me to sign permanently for United but I told him I was moving.

“My contract was terminated on the day of the Champions League Final, so there was no time for negotiations, which made it impossible. My heart was already set on a move elsewhere.”

Which is very much like Freud's kettle:

Freud quoted the old joke about the borrowed kettle: (1) I never borrowed a kettle from you, (2) I returned it to you unbroken, (3) the kettle was already broken when I got it from you. Such an enumeration of inconsistent arguments, of course, confirms exactly what it endeavors to deny—that I returned a broken kettle to you ...

The mutually exclusive arguments show up the lies, in Tevez's case, I couldn't talk because my contract was up and negotiations weren't possible; I always wanted to move.

He truly is an asshole.

The Static Age

Perfect example of the insinuations of journalists today from The Guardian but most papers follow suit - give the "official version," calling it such, and then say "however..." followed by made up rumour:

Ljajic, 18, was part of the £16.5m deal that also saw his Partizan Belgrade team-mate Zoran Tosic move to Old Trafford last January. The teenager had been on trial at United the previous October and was regarded at the time as the more promising of the two players but United also decided that he should remain in Belgrade to get some more first-team experience before moving to England.

What was not revealed at the time was that the club also stipulated that a get-out clause was written into the contract to cover themselves before Ljajic moved to Manchester long term, and the club have now confirmed they have used that agreement to pull out of the arrangement.

The official reason is that Ljajic has failed to live up to the hype since he broke into the Partizan team at the start of the 2008-09 season and has not impressed United's coaching staff on his regular trips to Manchester to train with the rest of Sir Alex Ferguson's players. ...

A United spokesperson said: "We had an option to buy the player but, having closely monitored his development over the past 12 months, and taken into consideration the young players emerging through the ranks at the club, we have not chosen to pursue the transfer."

The decision will, however, raise inevitable questions about whether the club's owners, Malcolm Glazer and his family, have involved themselves in Ferguson's planning for the future at a time when they are making substantial cuts at Old Trafford.

Of course the official version seems entirely reasonable, but why let that get in the way of a good story...
The Independent's report on the subject has a nice contradiction w/r/t Tosic:

Tosic has sunk without trace. Though the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, suggested last January that Tosic might be a part of things by the end of the season, the player has proved too slight to make an impact and his contributions have been limited to five League Cup games, the most recent an eight-minute appearance in the 2-0 win over Tottenham on Tuesday night.

Sunk without trace - except for him being on the pitch in our last game... Ian Herbert sucks...

Mind The Gap

Didn't see the game last night so I have the dubious pleasure of having to rely on the match reports. Just as well I'm not relying solely on Daniel Taylor in The Guardian, who, compared to the other reports, seems very begrudging of our win:

Gibson's was an extraordinary double in an otherwise ordinary performance from Sir Alex Ferguson's men, in which they withstood long spells of pressure from opponents who moved the ball well but found United's defence considerably less generous than Wigan's had been two Sundays ago. Tottenham matched their hosts in just about every department and it is a measure of their ambition that their manager, Harry Redknapp, was unusually critical of his players afterwards.

Like I say I didn't see the game but writing that as if both clubs were fielding their strongest teams, the other Guardian report tells it:

Harry Redknapp, for all his talk about preferring a top-four finish to a day out at Wembley, eventually rested only Niko Kranjcar and Benoît Assou-Ekotto from Saturday's starting line-up. Tom Huddlestone, Peter Crouch and Vedran Corluka were named as substitutes and incoming players of the calibre of Jenas, Robbie Keane and Gareth Bale hardly counted as fringe performers.

While we played the young players who were, so the papers told us, so awful against Besiktas... And yet Daniel Taylor would have it as some sort of achievement that Spurs "matched their hosts..."
The Mirror's report is their usual unreadably dull rubbish.
Good selection of quotes in The Times' report - including Sir Alex:

“To me, the two stars tonight were Gibson and Anderson. They did very well. Anderson started to impose himself in the second half. He’s very quick and powerful and when he does that he’s a handful.

“I think they [the young players] are gaining playing in these matches, they’re definitely getting better. I thought they did very well.”

Henry Winter is good as ever in The Telegraph:

Soon it was the turn of United’s attacking talent to catch the eye again.

Dimitar Berbatov was proceeding around the pitch at his own unhurried pace, playing a neat flick there, a clever pass there. With seven minutes of the half remaining, Berbatov turned sweetly 30 yards out, ignoring Bassong’s close-marking attentions and sweeping the ball inside to Gibson. Here was a moment that will have particularly delighted Ferguson as he sat on the naughty step in the directors’ box, completing his two-game suspension for criticising Alan Wiley.

Here was a superb 1-2 that spoke volumes for the technical skills taught in United’s Academy. Welbeck responded to Gibson’s first-time lay-off with the subtlest of touches, the ball flicked back elegantly with the outside of the striker’s boot. Beautifully set up by Welbeck, Gibson brought his right down into the ball, sending it swerving past Gomes.

Mafia Music

Sir Alex says what everyone should already know - journalists write rubbish:

"It will be the same players who played on Wednesday, despite the criticism they got," Ferguson said. "You [the media] wrote that 'there's no future for these players, there's no tomorrow for them.' I couldn't believe that. I played six players – two 18-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 20-year-old and two 21-year-olds in a European game and you say 'there's no future for them'. It's unbelievable. I have their futures well mapped out. ...

"That same journalist will be wanting articles off them when they're stars," he said. "What an idiot! He'll be going cap in hand to them, begging them for interviews in a few years, mark my words on that. And they'll be so hypocritical: 'I always said you were going to be a great player'.

"Wonderful. We live in a great world. The difference with that guy is it gets buried in the middle of a wee article in the newspaper whereas Alan Hansen did it in front of millions of people and got slaughtered for it. But this guy gets off it. He should be bloody sacked."

Writing about what Sir Alex said in The Independent, Ian Herbert decides he has to mention Arsenal, because of course they have a monopoly on good young players...

the current crop do have greater match experience and with Arsenal's young group showing spectacular ability – the performances of Aaron Ramsey, 18, and Fran Merida, 19, in overcoming a strong Liverpool side in the last round were sublime – Ferguson has plenty to reflect on.

Can anyone tell me what the relevance of the mention of Arsenal has? The gist of it seems to be "Arsenal have some good young players which gives Sir Alex plenty to reflect on." What? Why would Sir Alex be reflecting on the players of another club?
The other story is on Berbatov being caught up in yet more kidnapping scares:

Mafia mobsters threatened to snatch the £30million Manchester United ace’s wife Elena and newborn baby daughter Dea unless he handed over £500,000.

The 28-year-old Bulgarian striker was so scared he fled his country immediately with his family after striking a deal with the gang. And Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson is believed to have sanctioned a private charter jet to fly them back to England.

One family friend said: “Dimi is still very worried for his family and has promised his neighbours money if they notice any suspicious people around his house.”