My Evil Twin

Mainly Champions League preview today, and there's a lot of them about, so, without further ado, onto Giggs...

Just gonna point to one Giggs piece today, this from Marina Hyde in The Guardian. I'll quote the beginning and the end:

never forget it is the intimate details they wish to publish, as opposed to the mere allegations of infidelity. Everybody with a timeshare on half a brain cell knows that the Sun wanted to run its original Giggs story because it would have titillated some of the public. Yet you cannot move for disingenuous cobblers about how Giggs had "traded" on a reputation which now "lies in tatters". "The Giggs brand," runs some typically woolly posturing in the Daily Mail, "was underpinned by his 'clean cut, family man' image."

...

can we at least agree to dispense with the idea that such stories are run for any nobler reason than money-spinning titillation? To pretend otherwise seems a hypocrisy infinitely greater than that Ryan Giggs is supposed to have indulged in.

Amen.

James Lawton is again readable, continuing his Champions league week with an interview with Nobby Stiles, one of the stars of our 1968 triumph.  No stand out quotes, but worth a read from a historical perspective, and for the fact that James Lawton just about manages to criticise his beloved Barca.

The Mirror have an interview with Carrick which focuses on why he's so underrated:

He is the best English midfielder in terms of possession and pass completion, and his performances in guiding United to Saturday’s final show just how influential he can be. Also, has anyone seen a better performance than his master-class in orchestration in the title-clinching victory over Chelsea?

So why the brick-bats?

Carrick himself has an idea, because his reputation took a dive after the Champions’ League final defeat to Barcelona two years ago, as Xavi and Andres Iniesta ruled the midfield. ...

“Yeah, maybe some of the criticism aimed at me stems from that night against Barca when the things we tried didn’t come off, and it’s good to get the chance against them again,” he says mildly.

“But to be honest, I’m not bothered about the chance of revenge or proving anything, it’s a more simple motivation than that. It’s about the chance to play on the stage again, against the biggest sides and the chance to get your hands on the trophy."

Interview with Park, from The Independent, not too interesting, concentrating on him missing out in 2008 and his miss in 2009;

Park has been trying to avoid the memory of that miss. "It was two years ago so I have to forget bad things," he said. "If I score I always think of that but I didn't and we lost the game so I don't think of that. If that chance had gone in maybe it would have been a different result, but it didn't and it wasn't. Then we conceded a goal after that but it changed the game and we lost concentration so it's difficult to come back from that."

Martin Samuel remembers the good ol' days when men were men and unafraid to support all the English teams in Europe.  Not worth a read.

The Mail continues it's stupidity by putting the words "Martin Keown" and "insight" next to each other."  |His insight appears to be that our defenders will have to defend and our attackers will have to attack.  Brilliant journalism - though for all the sarcasm it's more insightful than 90% of the shit in The Mail.

The Sun take a leaf out of The Mail's "print any old rubbish" approach and claim an "EXCLUSIVE" with our team for the Final.  It's our team that played against Schalke, which anyone could guess I imagine, it's not sourced or anything, so I guess it's exclusive in that it's the Sun's guess...

And Harry Redknapp is also his usual insightful self, proclaiming he'd sign Messi rather than Rooney.

Sometimes I feel like banging my head against a wall.

The Guardian have the highlight of the day with an interview with the Da Silva twins.  On Sir Alex:

Fábio says: "There was a match where he came to me in the dressing room and started to tell me off, but calling me Rafael. He still gets us confused, but it doesn't matter. Sir Alex knows everything about football and he loves the Brazilian style. He is crazy about Cafu, our idol."

It's also got a bit of their history and is worth a look.

An article on the Glazers and money in The Guardian if your interested in that type of thing.  They also report that we have money for big signings:

Having smashed the pay ceiling to give Wayne Rooney a contract worth around £200,000 a week in the wake of his threat to leave, the owners are said to be relaxed about the prospect of Ferguson breaking the bank to sign a marquee name.

The figure they give is £160 million that can be spent on players.

Few bits and pieces;  Ravel Morrison court appearance; bit of background on David De Gea, although there's now doubt that the deal's as done as we thought; Evra suggests Nasri join us.