Pigs never fly

All the fuss over David De Gea's keeping might not be an altogether bad thing as far as I'm concerned.  Take a look at this from The Mirror.  If we ignore the stupidity of this sentence, "The fact that United won both games has partially ­papered over the De Gea cracks,"  which is ridiculous given the papers haven't shut up about his keeping all week (see this over the top article in The Independent today comparing him with some historic bad/struggling keepers for example), the rest of the article seems to suggest that Spurs are just going to be taking pot-shots at the keeper all game. Quote from Gareth Bale:

“If any keeper’s having a bad time, you’re going to test them and it’s going to be no different. We’re going to go to Old Trafford and give our all and test their whole team.”

I'd take that.  If you can reduce the opposition to just long-range shooting then that's half the battle, if they're doing the restricting themselves.  Even better.  And why the debate about his keeping has moved to all aspects of his keeping, rather than just the long hot, is a bit odd, as Sir Alex points out, De Gea came through the physical test of the second half against West Brom very well: 

“He coped with the crosses into the box with no problem; he just didn’t get any protection,” Ferguson said. “You saw the challenges — an elbow in the face, a boy went under him and he didn’t get the free kick.‘‘It’s disappointing when you don’t get the protection but he’s at home against Spurs and it won’t be a problem. It’s just away from home where he might get subjected to that. I have no problems with him.”

[That quote from The telegraph version of the story, too much hassle quoting from The Mirror]  Sir Alex compares the treatment he received with that that Wimbledon gave Schmeichel early in his Man United career, including the image of him "squealing like a pig" - from The Guardian: 

What Ferguson remembers all too clearly, however, is that even Schmeichel took time to settle in, and he is sure De Gea will be more comfortable with a few more games under his belt. "Coming into English football from overseas is never going to be easy for a goalkeeper, particularly if he doesn't get any protection from the referee," the United manager said. "I remember Schmeichel screaming like a pig for more protection when we played Wimbledon when he first came here. He had players like [Vinnie] Jones, [Alan] Cork and [John] Fashanu all piling into him and he just wasn't used to it.

The same piece include Sir Alex's praise for Phil Jones, and the reason we signed him:

"I didn't sign him because I thought we were vulnerable at centre-back, I signed him because he was just too good to miss. Once in a while a player like that comes along, and Jones has definitely got all the parts. He's got real desire, great determination and he's a good trainer. I'm very pleased with him."

The reason Ferguson can date his interest in Jones so accurately is simple and rather surprising. On 27 November last year, in what was to prove one of Sam Allardyce's last games in charge, Rovers were beaten 7-1 at Old Trafford, with Dimitar Berbatov helping himself to five goals. "For me Jones stood out in that game," Ferguson said. "I particularly remember him when the fifth goal went in. Most of the Blackburn players were beginning to let their heads drop but he was running everywhere, giving them all stick for not trying hard enough. He was only 18 then, too. I was very impressed, and took a close interest from that point on."

 There's a few stories around on Sneidjer today, suggesting u-turns and other things, I won't bother, they can all be summed up by this, from The Mail on Sunday:

there might be a rethink

Newspapers speculating to fill up space...

Silly story of the day as The Mail on Sunday square Rooney up against Evra in some sort of strange captaincy competition... Odd.