Cuckoo Cuckoo

The transfer window is closed.  And we have no Sneijder, but at least we can shut up about him now and concentrate on our actual players.  He rather bizarrely thanked us on Twitter last night:

“I will stay with Inter next season. I respect all the Man Utd fans who supported me the whole transfer window.”

It has the feel of a joke doesn't it?  Sarcasm.  Who knows.  Maybe I'm reading too much into.  It's just a little too self-aware for my liking.

As most of the football stories today are about deadline day deals, and as we, sensibly, concluded all our deals earlier in the window, there isn't much Man Utd related news to look at, so I'll include a couple of general transfer window stories that caught my eye.

First off James Lawton is his usual insane self as he discusses the "undignified scramble" that deadline day causes; his beloved Arsene forced to look desperate:

A few voices are being raised against the anarchy of the transfer window, how it still hangs open at the formative stages of a new season, how it has created Arsène Wenger's demeaning scramble to do the work he is now legitimately charged with neglecting in the close season when managers and coaches might be reasonably expected to shape their campaigns.

What?  Is it really the transfer window's fault that Wenger waited till now.  He must have had an inkling that Fabregas and Nasri were going.  Everyone else knew.  Why did he wait?  He caused his own undignified scramble.  Not the system.  And James Lawton's solution is to make it just a month during the summer before the season starts.  I'm not exactly sure how that would solve the problem of brinksmanship and of desperate deals being done when all other options have failed.  Yet further evidence that James Lawton lives in cloud-cuckoo-land.

Barney Ronay in The Guardian points out why James Lawton is wrong - Sky Sports (all the media) love to hype it (anything) up.  One month or three months, the last day will be a place of media overload, the clubs perhaps taking their lead for a day of collective insanity.

Matt Lawton, in The Daily Mail, lives in a similar place, a place where Harry Redknapp is the ultimate football authority:

The capture, on Tuesday, of Per Mertesacker, Andre Santos and Park Chu-young amounted to a reasonable start but Wednesday’s efforts smacked of desperation.

Why, if he was worthy of his attention on the final day of the window, was Arteta not pursued by Wenger in the past?

He also brought in Yossi Benayoun when Tottenham were not the least bit impressed by a cash-plus-Benayoun offer for Modric. And he was strangely hesitant in moving for Gary Cahill when Harry Redknapp clearly considers him a centre back worth having.

 If 'Arry wants someone, then they must be worth having, and if 'Arry is unimpressed, then so much be the world.  I'm not expressing any opinion on the Arsenal signings, it's more that I'm fairly sure Spurs are bottom of the league, so pardon me if I question 'Arry's credentials.  Just because he's a media whore does not make him the fount of all football wisdom.  That's Ian Wright, obviously.

Matt Lawton also claims:

United never did find that replacement for Paul Scholes, their flirtation with Wesley Sneijder, Samir Nasri and Luka Modric ending in failure and frustration.

Is that how it feels like?  That our transfer window has been full of failure and frustation?  I don't think so.  It feels pretty good.  Pretty.  Good.

Onto specific Man Utd news.  The Daily Star has quotes from Rooney on De Gea:

“David is obviously a good shot-stopper.

“I hadn’t seen much of him before he signed, but that was something I saw immediately.

“Also his passing out from the back is alongside Edwin’s. He rarely kicks long to a forward.

“He is still young and has probably got a lot to learn, but he is working hard and doing well in training."

The Guardian report that Sir Alex has been on the phone to the Scotland camp to ask them to play Darren Fletcher:

"Sir Alex phoned Craig to say 'put him in'," Scotland's assistant manager, Peter Houston, said. "Craig's always going to ask the question regarding fitness levels and Sir Alex spoke to him and said to get him in, that he's fine."

"If Darren gets game time up here it'll benefit him for getting back into the United team if need be. Sir Alex is a passionate Scotsman, he wants us to win these games. But if Darren gets two games under his belt and does well, we'll do well and Fergie's a winner."

 The Manchester Evening News has some quotes from Sir Alex on squad rotation:

“I have no help because you have international breaks happening all the time. September, October, November. It is not until December that the squad comes into play,” he said.

“From December through until May, everyone will realise the importance of having a squad and also the part they play. They will all play a part.“At the moment, we just have to bite the bullet and play the team that is doing well, knowing I have a very good squad.”

Finally, some news from this morning, financial stuff, our profits increase.  Sure there'll be lots in the morning's papers about it tomorrow.