Nothing But A Blur From A Bullet Train

Champions League Final comes ever closer, so many previews about.

We'll start with the ridiculous - The Mirror have this headline - "Giggs takes train to Wembley" and then loosely tie the team travelling to London with the whole business everyone else has moved on from - even The Mail manage to report the travelling to London story without reference to the Giggs injunction.

Lots of papers turn to that renowned football expert Jack Wilshire for a tactical analysis.  Yes, he played against them, no I don't particularly care what he has to say.

Not sure how, but Mark Ogden reckons he has the inside track on how we'll play on Saturday:

With Ferguson wary of Barcelona’s slick passing game, and the goal threat of Messi, Portuguese winger Nani has performed the ‘Messi’ role in training, replicating the Argentine forward’s movement in the final third of the pitch.

Michael Owen has also been asked to play as David Villa, Barcelona’s £34 million striker who enjoys cutting in from the left flank, while Paul Scholes has performed as the Spanish playmaker Andrés Iniesta.

And while United have worked at length on a 4-4-2 formation with Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernández as the focal point of the attack, a plan is also in place to move to 3-4-3 should Barcelona take a lead and leave United chasing the game in the second-half.

Chris Smalling, set to be named on the substitutes’ bench on Saturday, has trained as the third man at the back alongside Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

The former Fulham youngster would likely replace Ji-sung Park, with Fabio and Patrice Evra advancing into midfield behind a front three of Rooney, Hernández and Antonio Valencia.

He also suggests that because of Barcelona's smaller squad we should have the edge over them fitness-wise, especially towards the end of the game.

Kevin McCarra has an odd old article on Rooney, arguing that he needs a "defining performance." To reach this conclusion though he needs to underplay everything Rooney has done, and suggest we're a one man team in the process:

Something, admittedly, will have to change [Rooney's defining moment] if a crestfallen United are not to find themselves bewildered as they are ushered towards defeat

Yeah, he's our only hope, no Nani. Valencia, Berba, Hernandez, to score for us, Park pops up for important goals.  No, it's all down to Rooney...  Whose done nothing this season, has he Kevin? "He has finished joint-third in the table for assists in the Premier League." Which is good isn't it? "That, all the same, is a modest prominence." No, apparently not.  Then he blames Rooney for the fact the media are only ever interested when he's swearing:

It is curious that Rooney's influence on the outcome of the Premier League received little attention. Perhaps people were waiting for even more evidence. He scored the fairly late winner against Manchester City in February. When the side lagged 2-0 at Upton Park, his hat-trick reversed the momentum of a match that ended in a 4-2 victory. It was a Rooney goal in the Champions League win at Stamford Bridge that shaped the quarter-final.

He really can't blame Rooney for his profession's blindness.

Louise Taylor tries a similarly confused look at Carrick, opening with:

By regulating tempo and dictating play Carrick is frequently the man who calibrates United's game but his economy of movement and non-showy persona ensures that the significance of his contribution sometimes eludes untutored eyes.

Then later -

If there is a hint of United lapsing into a "Polo" formation – featuring a hole in areas where Carrick should be intercepting, shielding and distributing...

Against Chelsea in the Champions League, he made 3 more interceptions than any player on the pitch. I quoted yesterday that he was "the best English midfielder in terms of possession and passing."  And yet articles like this, even when they start with praise, perpetuate the myth of his underachieving.

There's an interview with Valencia in The Guardian, mainly on his comeback from injury:

"I never thought it could happen like this," Valencia admits. "I thought I might make it back for the last couple of games, maybe when the league had been decided. Or maybe play the odd weekend in three, something like that. To come back so soon and to be playing in decisive games from the word go ... no, that's not something I thought would be possible."

Given how the papers whined about Sir Alex commenting on referees, they're very quick to give their opinion of the referee for the final.  The Guardian have Howard Webb expressing his view, while Graham Poll gives his in The Mail.  Summary: good ref, keeps game flowing and cards in pocket, speaks English but not Spanish.

The Mirror tell us that van der Sar, in his last game, will join Vidic in lifting the trophy should we win it.

The Independent have an interview with Sir Bobby Charlton, read it, brief quote to finish:

"We have a spirit here at Manchester United, and it all revolves around what happened in the past. Sir Matt was always going on about not being boring. Trafford Park was the largest industrial estate in Europe at that particular time. They used to go over the Warwick Road bridge into these great big factories [to do] mundane, boring jobs. He used to say that when Saturday comes, they expect to be entertained. That was the philosophy then and it's the philosophy now. Alex has the measure of it all. He's everything I ever hoped he would be. He's marvellous."