Adam's Fieldtrip To Hell

Champions League draw yesterday and our group couldn't have worked out much better.  Here's Daniel Taylor summing up in The Guardian:

Manchester United are in no position to be complacent, bearing in mind their exit from another easy-looking group last year but, all the same, Sir Alex Ferguson should not be unduly concerned about facing Braga, Galatasaray and CFR Cluj. Admittedly, the same was said this time a year ago about Benfica, Basel and Otelul Galati but the hasty exit that followed was only the third time in 17 years that United have not qualified, and it is an obliging draw, even if it does involve long trips to Turkey and Romania and a renewal of acquaintances with Galatasaray – "Welcome to Hell" and all that.

Here's Sir Alex's response to the draw, from The Sun:

Ferguson insisted: “That [failing to qualify from the group stage] won’t happen again. We’ll qualify from the group stage. I’ll make sure of it.

“We need to show last season was just a blip.

“We have the experience of playing against Galatasaray in the past and will always remember the ‘Welcome to Hell’ banners. It’s always a difficult type of match.

“Braga are one of the improving teams in Portugal and we’ve never played Cluj before.

“But after the experience of last year, we don’t want to make any stupid errors this time.

“We will play our strongest team to make sure we get through.”

The Mirror, for once being useful and informative have the full list of game dates here.

David Gill had some comments about Rooney, reported like this in The Sun:

Chief executive David Gill moved to rule out any prospect of the England superstar being allowed to leave Old Trafford.

Rooney, 26, will be sidelined for two months after suffering an horrendously gashed leg during Saturday’s win against Fulham.

And Gill insists the striker will still be a United player when he returns to action.

He said: “Wayne is definitely not for sale and I can categorically say there has been no discussion within the club or with his agent.

“He is in a long-term contract with us and is very integral to our team.

“Wayne’s a great player who has got a bad injury — but he will come back.

“He didn’t start on Saturday for various reasons. Alex Ferguson picks the best team to win the game and that’s it."

Which makes it sound like David Gill came out and made a statement to stop the rumours, giving it credence even while denying it.  Here's what The Mail says (and it comes to something when you're going to The Mail for the truth):

David Gill was here in Monaco and the United chief executive was asked to respond to reports that Wayne Rooney’s future at the club was now in doubt. ‘He’s definitely not for sale,’ he said.

Yes, he replied to a question, he didn't actively "move to rule out."

Berba seems to have finally gone [a moment's silence], to Fulham, here's Martin Jol:

"For good players you have to pay good money. There were a lot of clubs interested in Dimitar but we were able and capable of getting him. He is finishing his medical and, if everything is good, he will be one of our players."

And again:

“I’m very happy and I think our fans will be very happy because it’s probably the biggest signing in the history of Fulham.

“Dimitar’s got a very good record. If you look at his record internationally and with Man United, I don’t think there is another striker – maybe Van Persie in five years’ time – who could achieve that.”

And on his time with him at Spurs:

‘In my final period at Spurs, I said, “He will go over my dead body”,’ recalled Jol. ‘We had a good relationship and he knows that he will enjoy his football here. Hopefully, he can score his goals and we have other good players around him.’

The Manchester Evening News are pretty disrespectful to the great man, their piece on him going is unnecessarily negative, I won't bother quoting.

One last story, and it's speculation that Darren Fletcher might be available to be named in the Champions League squad.

Saganaw

Another day of the Rooney saga rumbling on, though I suppose this makes a change from some ridiculous transfer saga going all the way to the final day.

The Guardian, in their article on the new development (Rooney tweeted he's staying), basically admit that journalists just make stuff up. First off, the tweet:

Rooney used his Twitter account to write: "Read the nonsense in the papers and heard what people have to say.absolute rubbish". The tweet was accompanied with the hashtag #heretostay to indicate the 26-year-old wants to remain a United player for the foreseeable future.

Then the anachronistic bit:

Writing in his programme notes on Saturday ahead of United's 3-2 win over Fulham Ferguson said how refreshing it was that his new signing Robin van Persie had chosen United before adding: "If I hear a player has fallen out of love with us, and is looking elsewhere I invariably help them out of the door."

This suggested that the Scot might not have forgotten how Rooney made a transfer request two years ago when he cited his perception that United could not match his ambition.

His programme notes for last Saturday's game refer to something that happened 2 years ago?! Way to let something fester.

Then the admission that everything written is just guesses:

... With Rooney also being dropped last Christmas ahead of a defeat to Blackburn Rovers for a disciplinary matter and Ferguson leaving him out for the Fulham game, preferring instead to start Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa, a view arose of a ever widening rift between the two.

"A view arose," not the famous "anonymous sources close to the player/insider close to the dressing room", just "a view."  Is that where all the column inches on Rooney emerge from?  A view?

The Sun in their article on the tweet where Rooney denies everything, claim they revealed it.  In the article that says the rumours aren't true you're still taking credit for starting the rumours?

We have our own outgoing transfer saga with the Berba-where-will-he-go thing.  Today the answer is...who knows, but possibly Fulham:

Fiorentina were under the impression their financial offer on personal terms had been trumped by Juve, the reigning Serie A champions, though Fulham have also entered the running to secure Berbatov, with the Londoners cautiously optimistic that they can still bring him back to the capital.

The Independent have a more exciting version of the story:

Dimitar Berbatov was last night deciding between joining Italian champions Juventus or his old manager Martin Jol at Fulham as both clubs agreed fees with Manchester United.

In an extraordinary series of events, Berbatov left England on yesterday morning for a medical at Fiorentina. While waiting for a connecting flight in Munich he took a call asking if he would prefer a move to Juventus, who had topped their Serie A rival's offer by bidding £4.5million for the Bulgaria striker.

Berbatov immediately re-routed to Turin where he was expected to end Juve's long search for a new striker, only to reconsider his destination again when Jol asked him to remain in the Premier League. Fulham are ready to put Berbatov on a contract worth £80,000 a week if he shuns the opportunity to play Champions League football and were confident of concluding the deal.

The Champions League draw is today, The Guardian have a quick survey of the scene, and manage to get in a mention of Rooney:

While alterations would have been necessary, it was no part of Arsène Wenger's scheme to sell Robin van Persie to Manchester United. That transfer, all the same, enhances Sir Alex Ferguson's team, offering the sort of depth that challenges players. Wayne Rooney, once he is over that laceration to his leg, has a task before him to ensure he is on the field at kick-off for the big occasions such as those provided by the Champions League.

The Mail has Carrick on Europe:

'We let ourselves down as a squad last season,' said Carrick. 'We won't be taking our eye off the ball at all.

'We want to be in the latter stages and fighting for the trophy.

'But we know the work has to be done now. Hopefully we've learnt from last season and can have much better campaign.'

Blah, blah, blah

Today's almost a repeat of yesterday, just the same old rubbish about Rooney, and Berba, and Nani...

Rooney, The Mirror report, is yadda, yadda, yadda, relationship with Sir Alex broken down, blah, blah, blah, sold next summer.

Neil Ashton in The Mail has a whole article telling us that Rooney isn't Messi.  No shit Sherlock.  I'll just quote two paragraphs, to show the contradictions in it:

He has the desire to remain at the top, something that has been absent from Rooney’s game since he moved to Old Trafford for £26.5million in 2004.

... 

Last season he scored 27 goal in the top flight, only three short of Robin van Persie’s exceptional return for Arsenal.

Shut it.

The Sun goes with just telling us what the t-shirt in the Twitter photo Rooney posted means:

Translated it meant: “Courage becomes greater through a wound.”

The Sun are shocked that it was Latin - "Yes, Latin!"

There's more reports about Berba to Fiorentina, choose your flavour, The Mail, or The Sun.

And The Guardian report that Rio will likely be out longer than expected, not returning till after the international break apparently.

Pop Nonsense

There's more rubbish floating around Rooney today, it's really something that one man can cause so many column inches of speculation regarding his future when he's sat at home with his leg up for, the papers were telling us yesterday, up to 2 months.

The Sun have a nonsense article telling us that no one would really want to buy Rooney, except Man City, possibly.  They don't really know - I could have made up the story, except if I had I would have probably made this bit make sense:

Rooney was axed for United’s first home game of the season against Fulham on Saturday.

Boss Alex Ferguson’s patience with him had finally snapped after a turbulent two years.

Rooney’s performance at Everton convinced his manager his form and fitness were gone.

The relationship between the pair is now tense and they have barely spoken since the forward returned for pre-season.

It literally makes no sense.  The first sentence (of course in the world of the Sun the terms "sentence" and "paragraph" are interchangeable) has him axed for the 2nd game of the season, because, the second paragraph tells us, Sir Alex's patience had finally ran out, except, the third paragraph tells us, it ran out during the game Everton, except, according to the 4th sentence, they haven't been speaking since he returned for pre-season.  Can we get a consistent chronology over here please.

James Lawton gets in on the act here.  He makes great play on the programme notes where Sir Alex said: 

"If I hear a player has fallen out of love with us, and is looking elsewhere, I invariably help them out of the door," wrote Ferguson.

I don't pretend to know what's happening with Rooney, or behind the scenes, or Sir Alex's thoughts, I'm just here to read things and point out the rubbish, but, why does everyone connect that sentence with Rooney?  Maybe it was about the dropped Rooney.  Dropped to the subs bench.  Why can't that sentence have been about Nani?  That's Nani who was dropped and didn't even make the bench.  Nani whose possibly (depending where you read) stalling on a new contract, whose looking for a move maybe.  Why so many column inches devoted to that sentence and Rooney and no one writing, "but of course, it could have referred, more plausibly, to Nani"?  As Sir Alex has pointed out before: the journalists, they do like writing shit about Rooney.

The best bit of the Lawton piece is this paragraph though:

If that wasn't a statement of extreme concern about the player's commitment to the cause, one that Rooney no doubt assuaged for a while by a volcanic, shirt-kissing return to the team in a Cup tie at Manchester City and a vital run of consistent goalscoring, you had to wonder how much more explicit the master of Old Trafford could have been.

An image of Rooney and his "vital run of consistent goalscoring," being just a little blip, a ploy to make it seem like he was committed to us, by playing really well, scoring loads of goals and running around like a loon all season, just so we were fooled into thinking he was a good, committed footballer.  I've said it before, and no doubt I'll say it again - James Lawton is a buffoon.

As if to confirm the thesis that Sir Alex was referring to Nani, here's the story about him going to Zenit recurring again. Take everything in  the papers with a pinch of salt, but wanting away?

The Portugal player’s representatives reportedly met Zenit counterparts in Amsterdam on Monday to outline a deal.

Everything's connected to Rooney, The Independent reckon that Berba will go to Fiorentina depending on how bad Rooney's injury is.

The Telegraph have quotes from Javier Hernandez:

“I think in life you never stop learning, no matter what age you are.” Hernández said. “I try to learn from all my team-mates, but obviously it’s great to watch the other strikers in particular.

“They have all helped me a lot and I know I will learn a lot off Robin because he is a world-class striker who has a lot to give to the team and a lot to teach us all.”

Last Trip to Scotland

The main story today, and every paper speculates the same, is that Rooney faces 2 months, or 14 games out.  From The Sun:

Shocked medics said the horrific gash on Rooney’s right leg was among the worst of that type.

The cut went through to the bone injuring the muscle in his thigh.

Boss Alex Ferguson had thought it would only sideline Rooney, 26, for a month.

Now he could miss England’s World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Ukraine, United’s first three Champions League matches and crunch league games against Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea.

Rooney needed 10 stitches to pull his skin together.

Another long weaving stitch will have been inserted inside his leg the length of the cut to repair the damage caused when Fulham striker Hugo Rodellega inadvertently stood on him.

The Mail up the ante, saying that it needed "dozens of stitches", and the surgeons were "astounded." 

The important words are in the Telegraph:

it is understood to be too early at this stage to assess the full scale of the injury.

That's my emphasis by the way, the papers are too busy emphasising the worse case scenario. And The Telegraph article goes on at length on the Rooney-had-his-time-at-Man-United tip, finishing with:

He either grits his teeth, gets himself fit and embraces the challenge or risks becoming the latest United icon to join the ranks of Van Nistelrooy, Beckham and Roy Keane by stretching Ferguson’s patience too far.

How many times have we/will wee read such things.

At least Alan Shearer leaps into the defence of Rooney in The Sun today, but it's so typically Shearer dull that I couldn't stay awake to the end of it, God knows what it says.

Elsewhere it's Kagawa getting the plaudits.  From The Guardian:

Shinji Kagawa has shone as the fantasy footballer missing from Sir Alex Ferguson's attack. While Robin van Persie is the calmer, svelte Wayne Rooney, potentially a 30-plus a season goal machine, Kagawa is the firefly playmaker who flits between midfield and the forward line creating havoc and scoring, as he did impressively in this nervy 3-2 win for United.

The prospect of Rooney's absence for four weeks due to the nasty cut on his thigh from Hugo Rodallega's boot – the striker spent Saturday night in hospital receiving treatment before being released home – will be felt less because of Kagawa: as Van Persie made his full United debut, Rooney was the fall guy, dropped so that the Japanese could continue the impressive work he began at Everton last Monday.

And has quotes from Cleverley praising Kagawa (and they have a little dig at Anderson on the side):

Cleverley, who sat alongside a lumbering Anderson in United's 4-2-3-1, said of Kagawa: "I love playing with him – one and two touch, high-energy football. We're on the same wavelength." The Englishman views Kagawa as United's missing component. "Definitely. He's brilliant," the 23-year-old said. "He has settled in really well. He links defence with attack. He gets on the half-turn and creates chances. I can't speak highly enough of him."

While The Telegraph, as well as Kagawa, praise the Anderson/Cleverley midfield combo:

With Tom Cleverley and Anderson starting in central midfield, United scored 18 goals in their first four fixtures of last season and although they can be a little loose in terms of positioning at times, it is a partnership that oozes attacking potential.

Rafael also provides an exciting outlet from right-back but it is the possibilities provided by Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie further forward that will give United optimism that they will not have to see the Premier League crown absent from Old Trafford for a third year in four.

The Mail present some quotes from Kagawa as a question and answer thing, for no apparent reason:

What differences have you noticed between here and the Bundesliga?

The physical side of it is the first thing. I need to adapt to that. The other thing is the quality through the division. In Germany, the top few teams were so much better than the rest, but, here, every opponent is difficult.

Do you feel you could influence games even more?

Yes. We seem to pass the ball sideways a lot, but I want team-mates to start giving me the ball from all areas and angles. I need to speak to them about this, because I want them to have the trust in me to play the ball forward.

Language is a problem, isn't it? How are you coping with Sir Alex Ferguson's team talks?

I can't tell a word he says! I am trying to learn English, but understanding the manager might take a little longer . . .

Ah yes, comedy "can't understand the Scottish man," can't beat it...

Poll-uted Wisdom

I used to do a kind of "laugh at Graham Poll" thing, where every Monday his column would feature something absolutely laughable and I'd, well, laugh at it.  It seems like it's been a while, I must have been ignoring him.  Anyway, today it's back, he's got two humorous pieces this morning.  The first is this, where he talks us through Wayne Rooney's injury from a ref's perspective.  It's the deadpan way he describes the mundane, and frankly meaningless, details that makes him a comedy genius:

The moment I saw Wayne Rooney’s injury, I thought: ‘I wonder if Hugo Rodallega was wearing blades and not traditional studs?’

As it turned out, the Fulham striker was not wearing blades. He was wearing Nike Mercurial Vapor boots, which feature screw-in studs.

Before every match the officials are responsible for checking the player’s equipment. The stud check for the players starting the game takes place in the tunnel.

Rodallega was not subject to this inspection as he was one of the subs and so he will have been checked by the fourth official, Phil Gibbs.

It's brilliant, from his first thought being that, rather than, "God! look at the size of that gash!" to just thinking that there's some point in telling us who checked the studs - were there people out there worried he'd smuggled razor blades in on his feet?

The second is his opinion on the new ball and keepers:

I have detected the ball moving in the air more over the opening weekends of this season compared with last term.

Yes, it's Graham Poll and his famous ball movement detector, he also detects:

As a result I saw more keepers punching balls away this weekend, Wigan’s Ali Al-Habsi probably the best example, rather than trying to catch it. I’m all for more goals in football but someone should look at the ball as we’ve got to play fair with goalkeepers.

Because no one has ever punched a ball before this season, and they'll get used to it, it's not like a World Cup where the limited games don't give the time for adjustment, and if every keeper has the same ball it's all fair to me.  Perhaps De Gea could blame the ball for Fulham's second, and at least we know Suarez is still shit - his free kick was all about the new ball.

Now my heart is full

Here's MOTD highlights if yesterday's game -




And the by now obligatory Kagawa individual higlights...

Hit that Gash

It's match reports day.

The Observer have a big chunk on Rooney, not starting then injured:

Wayne Rooney began this game on the bench and ended it on a stretcher. Considerations of how much Manchester United had actually been improved by his arrival for the last 20 minutes – both he and Robin van Persie were largely anonymous during the time they shared on the pitch – were suspended when the England striker suffered a badly gashed knee in stoppage time after colliding with Hugo Rodallega's studs.

That means Sir Alex Ferguson will have to continue to work through his attacking options, but the point since the arrival of Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa – both of whom scored – is that United now have attacking options. Not too long ago they were being derided for over-reliance on Rooney. As Fulham discovered to their cost they can now dispense with him and still play like the old United, not only creating a succession of chances but accepting enough of them to make their superiority count.

And some quotes from Sir Alex:

"The intensity we showed in the first half was terrific," Ferguson said. "But once again we saw the two sides of Manchester United.

"In the first half we were on cruise control, we should have been four or five goals up and out of sight, but then we concede a stupid goal with a terrible mistake and suddenly we are hanging on. I was quite pleased with some of the football we produced, though, and Robin van Persie's goal was fantastic. Considering it was his first full game for the club he is bound to improve as he develops a better understanding with the other players."

The Independent make play with Usain Bolt being in the crowd:

Watched by the double Olympic champion Usain Bolt, Manchester United were sluggish out of the blocks and almost caught on the line before recording their habitual home victory over Fulham.

They also think Rooney's injury and the decision not to play him deserves a whole piece by itself.

The Telegraph were impressed by van Persie and Kagawa, calling their home debuts "majestic":

But while United would, in the past, have been damaged by the loss of their star forward for a prolonged period of time, the early performances of Van Persie and Kagawa suggest that there will be little need to rush Rooney back on this occasion.

Against Fulham, the pair were unplayable at times, both justifying the combined £39 million it required to lure them to Old Trafford. 

The Mail's report is an unreadable photo essay on the website so I'm not really sure what it says, it's like one photo per sentence, one huge photo per sentence.  They should probably sort it out.

The Mirror single out Kagawa for praise:

All eyes were inevitably on Robin van Persie, who marked his first home appearance for United with a superb goal.

But it was his less headline-grabbing capture, Shinji ­Kagawa, who suggested he might be just as important a buy as the £24m Dutchman.

When ­Kagawa was replaced by Rooney in the 68th minute, the Japanese midfielder got a standing ovation. And no wonder.

The ex-Borussia Dortmund star excelled in the hole, just behind van Persie, slipping in between the lines and ­showcasing his first touch, sharp passes and keen eye for goal. His movement, speed and passing kept Fulham on the back foot.

The Observer have quotes from Sir Alex:

"It was a fantastic goal from Robin to get off the mark," Ferguson said. "It was his first full game for us and he will develop a better understanding with the other players as time goes on. That goal lifted the team, from that moment on we played very, very well, but instead of winning by four or five goals, as we should have done, we gave away a goal in the second half through bad defending and suddenly it became a match again when it should never have been a match.

"Once again it was all a bit too nervy as the end when we should have been in easy street."

The Sun make a big deal of Rooney, a pretty large article on his being dropped, making a lot of something  from Sir Alex's programme notes:

Fergie wrote: “I really respect players who clearly want to play for us. And it has always influenced me when it comes to deciding who we should go for.

“The reverse is equally true for me because if I hear that a player has fallen out of love with us and is looking elsewhere I invariably help them out the door.”

... the boss is never afraid to ditch big names if he thinks they have begun to drop below the highest standards.

Other news, and The Sun link us with a young French defender, Kurt Zouma.

The Mail randomly link Spurs with Anderson and Nani.

And in a piece on music in The Observer, Rio Ferdinand, ironically, doesn't like commercial music (he does really...).

A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier

Today we're mainly concerned with Sir Alex's pre-Fulham press conference and the quotes from that.  Most of the papers lead on Evra and what the signing of Buttner means for him. From The Guardian:

Asked if it was important to maintain pressure on established stars, Ferguson said: "That's sensible. Evra has been an absolute soldier. Nobody has played more games than him over the last five years. He has played with injuries. He has guts. He has been up and down that touchline for five years. But he's 31 and we have to protect the future."

Of the 23-year-old Buttner, whose signing caused some surprise in his native Netherlands, Ferguson said: "We've been monitoring him for a while. He's a straight forward attacking, quick full-back, he will be a terrific addition to us. Evra for the last five years has played an average of 48 games a season. It's an incredible statistic and Alex comes now to challenge that position. Patrice is in his 30s and, although he is a fit lad, it gives us a good challenge in that position. Buttner will be involved [against Fulham on Saturday]."

Sir Alex also says we'll have the same squad as Monday, despite reports about the the possibility of Evans coming back Saturday:

"We will go ahead with the same squad as Monday," said Ferguson, who added he would start Rafael da Silva at right-back, with Antonio Valencia potentially moving forward to his usual attacking wide berth.

The Sun have quotes from Sir Alex on Kagawa:

“Shinji was fantastic on Monday, he played very well.

“He is a terrific pro, a good footballer, good with two feet, good balance and we’re very happy with him.

“His goalscoring record is better than most players in that position. His last two years at Dortmund showed that.

“I think that will come for us. He will also create chances as he did on Monday. That shows he has the vision and passing ability to open up defences.”

The Guardian have some words from Kagawa which he posted on Facebook apparently:

 "Four days ago one of my dreams finally came true. Playing what I love to do in the Premier League. We ended up losing but as I train more and immerse myself into the club and communicate more with team-mates, I'm confident that the great outcomes will follow naturally.

"[On] the match day it surely was a big day but I wasn't nervous at all. But even though there were some good performances, they don't mean much if they don't lead to goals."

The Independent with Sir Alex's quotes on transfers:

Ferguson said United will not be buying any more players in the current transfer window after a deal for Chilean 18-year-old Henriquez is tied up in the next few days.

"We definitely won't be buying anyone else, that is for sure," he said.

Striker Dimitar Berbatov and winger Nani have been linked with moves away from Old Trafford and asked if there would be any likely departures, Ferguson said: "There is no movement I can tell you about, to be honest.

"There is only a few days left now until the deadline and that will pass quite quickly I would imagine."

The Mirror randomly left Sir Alex's press conference wondering whether Rooney's place is at risk from RvP.  Don't read about it here.  Or Alan Smith's thoughts here.

One last story, David Gill might be heading for a place on UEFA's executive committee. 

I'm not calling you a liar

It seems as though Luis Suarez has been giving interviews this week.  And it seems that finally Liverpool have found the best way to rehabilitate him in the eyes of the world - put him in front of a load of football journalists and a big tin of whitewash and let them tell us all what a lovely guy he is.

Here's three interviews from today, The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The Independent.  The Independent just completely ignore the Evra case and subsequent verdict and suspension.  The Telegraph claim, a little bizarrely, that:

Suárez’s capacity to divide can be traced well beyond last year’s eight-game ban, but the extremities on both sides of that insidious case created a new pantomime villain for the Premier League.

Which is just a way to try and diminish the Evra case and subsequent verdict and suspension, "well, he's always been one of those players who you either love or hate, like all football geniuses, and everyone likes a good boo, just look at Ronaldo," a reading compounded later in the piece:

Football’s redemptive qualities are such that Suárez can win hearts and minds off the pitch by creating moments of divine pleasure on it.

The problem being that he's not actually in the same league as the true geniuses of the game.  We don't hate him because of his genius, but because he's a lying, diving cheat.

The worst offender though is Sid Lowe in The Guardian piece, who writes, after a load of hyperbole about what a misunderstood genius he is and how hard it was on the streets and how he's not looking for sympathy (though Sid will shovel it into the article anyway, the little sweetheart), this:

The word negro in Spanish does not mean "negro", and certainly does not mean the other n-word. In Uruguay, it is a word so widely used as to often be little more than mate. "In Spanish, in Latin America, there's a way of speaking that is totally different. There are words you can say here that you could not say there and vice-versa. They would be taken in a totally different way," says Suárez. But perhaps that is not even the point given that after three days of video evidence at a three-man Independent Regulatory Commission, lip readers produced no hard evidence that he said what he was accused of saying.

Which, to paraphrase, says "the word wasn't insulting, and anyway, there's no video evidence he said it."  Which for the hard of memory is absolute rubbish.  We don't have to run over the whole case again, extracts from the report are here, all we need to say is that Suarez admitted saying the word, so why is Sid Lowe whining about video evidence?  The Commission found his evidence unreliable.  And the fact that the whole thing was in the context of an argument, rather than a friendly conversation, changes it from the friendly version Sid would like to propagate - even though there's no video evidence that he even said the word, though if he did, it would, undoubtedly, have been friendly, like the pat on the head that he gave Evra.  He's definitely not a racist though.  Or a liar.  Or a diving cheat.

Well done the Guardian, looking forward to next week when Sid Lowe interviews John Terry and discovers what a thoroughly decent chap he is, and there's no video evidence of him shagging Wayne Bridges' girlfriend so he can't have done it. 

Council Estate

Another quiet day.  The Sun has the inside scoop on Nani's contract talks and on Sir Alex's team selection tomorrow:

Nani has two years left on his £90,000-a-week deal but wanted that boosted by nearly 50 per cent to more than £130,000.

United told the player’s representatives to forget it and have not gone back with an offer.

Now nervous Nani is ready to drop the demands.

He wants to keep his basic the same and accept around £30,000 for each appearance.

...

Fergie chose him ahead of Ashley Young on Monday.

Again he disappointed, getting booked early, failing to create a decent chance and being subbed by Young with 12 minutes left.

Young will start against Fulham tomorrow.

That's quite the anonymous source, they seem to know everything...

The Sun continue with their brilliant inside information by telling us that Evans may well be fit to play against Fulham.  That was in the other papers yesterday you say? Oh...

Not much else about, some quotes from Ryan Giggs:

"It [the Dutchman's arrival] sends out a big message. And it's great when a player comes out and says he wants to come to the club as well.

"I'm biased, but players should want to come to United because you're always guaranteed to be up there challenging for trophies, there's a great team spirit, top facilities and you get to play for a great manager. There are so many plus points."

The Mail have a story that I'm sure was elsewhere last week, nothing like getting there eventually.  George Best's old house is now a B&B, quite an interesting read:

'We had the museum idea like John Lennon's house in Liverpool,' explained Sarah Douglas of the Partnership, sitting in that front room. 'But this street is so narrow, you couldn't have tour buses coming along. We also had to make it financially sustainable.'

They settled on a B&B that would honour Best and his roots. Profits will go back into the community.

Upstairs in Best's box of a bedroom you can sleep in his single bed - an option many females chose down the years (though not too many in this house).

Sweetheart Contract

Bit of a midweek lull, too late for last weekend's games (given we played Monday, the lull's a day late...), too early to look forward.

Danny Welbeck signs a new contract:

He said: “Playing for United is all I’ve ever wanted to do — it’s the club I’ve supported all my life.

“I’m learning all the time from the best manager in the game and I’m keen for that to continue alongside the world-class players in the squad.

“I cannot wait for the challenge of the new season to play my part in helping the team compete for trophies.”

And Sir Alex's comments:

“Danny has been with the club since he was eight years old and has made fantastic progress in the last couple of years — first out on loan and last year as a regular in the first team.

“He has become an important player at international level as well, as the maturity of his performances at the European Championship finals showed.

“This year is another important one for him. He has a bright future ahead of him.”

The Daily Star make up a headline of "Danny Welbeck: I'll push van Persie all the way" with the same non-van Persie mentioning quotes.

The Mirror have some quotes from Chicarito, on his dream of winning the treble:

“My real dream – and I swear it is not about scoring the biggest goal – is to win the Treble,” said Hernandez, whose Chicharito nickname translates as Little Pea.

“One year at least, I want to win the league, I want to win the Champions League – we were so close in my first year – and I want to win the FA Cup.

“I think the Treble is the most complicated thing in the world for any club to win. So that is my dream, to lift all those trophies in one season.

“If I have a season where I play a lot but didn’t score one goal, but I can lift those trophies, I will be the happiest man in the world.”

Bit of transfer rubbish, and The Sun have us wanting to "hijack" Liverpool's move for Hector Herrera.

The Mirror pluck some names out of a hat and have them interested in Berbatov.

The Telegraph report on the Premier League's discussion on "financial fair play" and a certain Manchester club's opposition.

Finishing on some good news and Jonny Evans has "an outside chance" of playing on Saturday according to The Telegraph.

Narcotics And Dissecting Knives

The papers are still going over Monday's defeat, with The Sun advising us to drop Nani.  Sorry, The Sun reporting an anonymous source saying we're dropping Nani and taking our ball and going home (so far as contract talks are concerned), until he bucks his ideas up.

The Mail are slightly more polite when it comes to Rooney, but they say our options in attack mean his position isn't safe, though looked at positively:

...it is to be hoped the arrival of new bodies will nudge him to higher levels.

The Independent have a dreadful article on our defence in which they manage to slag off everyone, from Sir Alex (usual non interview gripes), to Evra (past it).  Even our new signing, Alexander Buttner isn't spared, he's compared to Bebe, which then gives the writer excuse to slag him off too. A pointless article.

An article on the Guardian blog highlights the positives from the match - which is mainly Kagawa's performance.

The Mail report that Angelo henriquez has been granted a work permit:

A United statement read: 'Manchester United is pleased to announce that Angelo Henriquez, 18, has been granted a governing body endorsement which will allow him to register and play for the club.

'He will play his final game for Universidad de Chile tomorrow and a further announcement on him joining United will be made in due course.'

The Sun has Vidic quotes, pinning the blame on injuries, or not:

“We knew it would be a hard game.

“They did what they’re best at — playing long balls and focusing on set-pieces.

“They had a few chances and deserved to score but we’re never happy when we concede from a set-piece.

“When you come to places like Everton who will play long balls into the box you need big, strong defenders but we won’t use injuries as an excuse.

“I thought the players who came in gave their best and hopefully we’ll have a couple of defenders ready for the next game.”

The Mirror have the latest instalment of  "Berba to..." this time it's Fiorentina.

13 Blues For 13 Moons

The match reports are the meat of today's papers.  The Sun winning the punning headlines war with "Why did you park the van?" on van Persie starting on the bench.

The Daily Star have come in with the best description of Everton's goal:

Marouane Fellaini used his fuzzy bonce to rise above Michael Carrick and meet a Leighton Baines corner after 57 minutes to give Everton a deserved victory.

The Mirror's stupid headline writers ask if De Gea has finally proven himself after last night's game.  At least the body of it has credit for him last season:

De Gea endured a turbulent first season at United last term, his confidence so badly shaken Ferguson dropped him at the turn of the year for Lindegaard, who looked more assured.

But a freak injury in training in January brought a premature end to Lindegaard's season and De Gea was reinstated for the remainder of the campaign, a move which proved the making of him.

The Spaniard went on to keep nine clean sheets in his next 18 games and produced arguably the save of the season to deny Chelsea's Juan Mata late on in a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge.

De Gea also ended the season with a save percentage of 78 per cent, the highest of any goalkeeper in the Premier League last season, vindicating United's £18million investment in him.

The Mail call De Gea's "a performance of near perfection", while The Independent seem to blame him for the goal:

David De Gea was injured, flattened by Fellaini, but recovered to perform as he spent much of his debut season at Old Trafford; saving brilliantly and instinctively and then allowing himself to be intimidated by crosses with fatal results.

Which is a bit silly, but fits the bill with regards the De Gea isn't good enough agenda of some.

Kagawa gets praise in The Guardian, while Rooney is criticised:

Rooney, operating at the tip, struggled for any consistent touch or contribution. It can be an issue when asked to play the lone role, as all England followers know. Twice he dropped deeper to find the ball and the sense was that Ferguson would bring on Van Persie at the break in a rejig: Rooney to drop into Kagawa's berth in the "hole" and the new signing to replace him at United's head.

The Telegraph looks at Carrick and our defensive crisis:

Considering that Fellaini was the greatest threat to United’s goal, one of Carrick’s more defensively minded team-mates should have shared the load and doubled up on the towering midfielder, rather than leave Carrick exposed.

But with midfielders playing in the back four — winger Antonio Valencia played at right-back ahead of Rafael due to Ferguson’s concerns over Everton’s height — and a midfield stocked with three playmakers in Paul Scholes, Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverley, United always appeared out of kilter.

Carrick’s deployment at centre-half hits United like a double-whammy.

Firstly, you have a midfielder who lacks the natural defensive instinct of a Vidic or Ferdinand. Understandable enough given that it is not his chosen position.

And secondly, without Carrick at the heart of United’s midfield, Ferguson’s team lack the dynamo that enables those ahead of him to play their natural game.

Twice in the past 12 months, Ferguson has billed Carrick as United’s 'main man’ in midfield and challenged him to be the team’s driving force, but the debilitating injury problems suffered by the club’s defenders have often denied him the chance to justify Ferguson’s faith in his midfield talents.

Ferguson clearly does not wish to waste Carrick’s ability by playing him in the back four, but when 80 per cent of his centre-halves are unavailable, what choices are left?

The Guardian have the quotes from Sir Alex:

"It was a pretty good game and there wasn't anything between the two teams. We were the better football team, they had eight shots on target and David de Gea [the United goalkeeper] did very well for us in that way. But we had the possession and made some great openings without actually finishing it. We were a wee bit [disappointing] in terms of finishing off the approach play we had. Other than that we played good football, good combination play, and on another day we would have won the match.

"There were a couple of moments: Tom [Cleverley's shot was] blocked by Phil Jagielka on the line. We had these kind of moments but the team worked well and played some great football. It's difficult here. You have the crowd influencing the referee all the time."

 The same article has comforting words:

A positive omen for United is that they are the only Premier League club to have lost their opening match and gone on to claim the title. They have done it twice.

Ian Wright has an opinion on van Persie being on the bench.  Don't read it.

Elsewhere, The Independent have quotes from new signing Alexander Buttner:

"If a week ago, you told me that together with Robin van Persie I would be playing at Manchester United, I would have driven you straight to the madhouse," he said. "One month ago Manchester United sent an email expressing their interest, but in the last four days it became concrete. I have not spoken yet with Sir Alex Ferguson, but if all goes well that will happen."

The Guardian report that George Soros bought some of our shares:

The billionaire was one of the first of the football club's new investors to be revealed. His hedge fund, Soros Fund Management LLC, owns 7.85% of United's Class A shares, or about 1.9% of the entire club, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

...

It is likely Soros was drawn to United because of the team's lucrative media rights deals, said Philip Hall, a partner at New York-based investment bank Inner Circle Sports, which has advised on high-profile English Premier League takeovers including Fenway Sports Group's acquisition of Liverpool.

Cosmic Blues

Perhaps highlights of last night's game aren't going to be too popular, but there was the odd bright spot, namely the performance of Shinji Kagawa - here's his individual highlights:




And Robin van Persie made his debut, here's some of his highlights, less auspicious but still the odd nice touch:



Here's some game highlights for the masochists:



And individual highlights of Antonio Valencia's game -

Things I'll Never Say

Today's papers are back in the swing of the new season with stories using the same quotes regurgitated from paper to paper.

Danny Welbeck features everywhere, here from The Sun:

The 21-year-old England new-boy said: “I remember it well, we were travelling home from Sunderland on the coach.

“The manager went round all the young players and said to them ‘Never forget this — because this will win you titles’.

“He told us ‘This will make some of you into men and be the best you can be’."

The Sun also report that Welbeck is set to sign a new contract:

Welbeck’s deal is worth around £50,000 a week, treble his current wages.

But it is packed with a variety of clauses and incentives which could see it rocket to £70,000.

There's some quotes from Rooney too, here, from The Daily Star, on Everton:

“I know from growing up as an Evertonian when United go to Goodison the whole place is lifted. The fans make it more difficult for United.

“We know it’s going to be a really tough game because the one thing about Everton is that they work extremely hard. They are a really fit team.

“You need to keep the ball well and keep possession and try and tie them down.

“They have got a couple of good results against us in the last couple of seasons when we really should have won the games.”

And, from The Guardian, on ten years in the game:

Rooney celebrates a decade since his debut at 16 for Everton, leaving for Old Trafford in 2004. "It feels like a long time ago," he said. "I'm still fairly young – well, I feel young anyway. It's great to have played in the Premier League for 10 years. It's an exciting league and I still get just as excited by playing football as I did when I made my debut. I just hope I can play for another 10 years and have as much enjoyment."

The Mirror have Giggs on van Persie:

“Robin looks good,” said Giggs following Van Persie’s early training sessions with his new United team-mates.

“You can see just from one training session the qualities he has, which we know all about anyway because of all the times we’ve played against him.

“He brought that lift to training that a top player brings and that all bodes well for us.

Reported in many places today, we've signed a new left back, Alexander Buttner. From The Guardian:

Manchester United have bought the left-back Alexander Buttner from Vitesse Arnhem, according to the Dutch club. The fee is undisclosed but is not thought to be more than £3.9m for a player who has never been capped by Holland.

Buttner, 23, has been bought by Sir Alex Ferguson as cover for Patrice Evra, with Fabio Da Silva, his former understudy, on loan at Queens Park Rangers.

The Independent report on our defensive injuries, with a rumour that Ferdinand will miss the Everton game:

Add Ferdinand, to the other absentees – Phil Jones and Chris Smalling – and it leaves United with Nemanja Vidic as their only fully fit central defender. Jonny Evans is back in training but Ferguson admitted that the curtain-raiser comes too soon for the Northern Irishman. That could mean that Michael Carrick is asked to partner Vidic in the heart of defence.

It isn't the ideal start to a season in which Ferguson has placed so much emphasis on the other end of the pitch, having lost the title race on goal difference last year.

Alan Hansen thinks City will win the title but has to jump through hoops to prove it.  Paraphrasing - " RvP is probably past and isn't worth £24 million not that I'm saying he's past it, and they need a midfielder, not Kagawa, who might be rubbish, not that I'm saying he's rubbish, but a midfielder who they don't have, so it's City's title, aren't Liverpool great..."

The Mail report we've been offered Kaka on loan.

Kill the Poor

Patrick Collins, "respected" columnist in The Mail, today tells us he hates football fans.

His article is the tiresome "aren't footballers frightful oiks compared to our beloved Olympians," but he goes one step further than just slagging off footballers.  He slags off football fans, not the usual "mindless minority," that are usually criticised in situations like this, but all of us:

Then there are the crowds, the screeching, threatening, intimidating crowds, that Scudamore describes as ‘tribal’. The term is disingenuous, since it offers a blanket absolution for vile abuse. During the Games, we discovered that sports crowds could be honestly partisan. Opponents are not enemies. Respect is not a sign of weakness. Because sport, any sport, has more to offer than the dubious thrill of blind allegiance. Only in football is it considered admirable to be biased to the point of imbecility.

Brilliant move from Patrick, slagging off the people who are presumably reading his clichéd old shite.  

Only in football writing (especially in The Mail on Sunday) is it considered admirable to write bullshit and hate your audience to the point of imbecility.

He should maybe take a lesson from Gary Neville, who chooses the Olympics as his subject, but is more critical of it and simplistic notions of nasty football:

I'm delighted that the Olympics were so successful and proud of the sportsmen and women who worked so hard to achieve their goals to win medals for Team GB. But it's just lazy to use their success as a stick to beat football. Some of the clichés that have been trotted out this week are that football needs a Dave Brailsford, the magnificent performance director of our cycling team.

But it was only nine years ago that football needed a Sir Clive Woodward after he guided the rugby union team to the World Cup. We have one of the great performance coaches in Sir Alex Ferguson, following in a long line of the likes of Sir Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson, Sir Alf Ramsey, Jock Stein, Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Brian Clough.

The rest of the days stories summed up briefly, because I've not much time.

The Mail on Sunday make up a story based on the loose wording of an anonymous source - Sir Alex retires in two years apparently.

Carrick has a few quotes about today, here from The Observer:

"As a club we do tend to bounce back. If we have a defeat or setback we tend to come back stronger. We can't forget how close we were. It wasn't a disaster in terms of how the season went because we had a good season.

"We'll bounce back. We're strong this year and we're hungry, not that we wouldn't have been hungry anyway. It will be a good championship."

Henry Winter has a long detailed look at van Persie and us.

Mark Ogden in The Telegraph has a story I hope isn't true, about an injured Rio Ferdinand.

And The Independent reckon our defence is already a weak spot...

Concerns in this early part of the season, when United have sometimes lost valuable ground, are defensive, as Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are both unfit and there is a shortage of cover at full-back. In the meantime the old guard of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand will take care of business; and the Manchester United way always was to worry more about the other end of the pitch, which they have certainly done in the past few days

The Mirror report that Sunderland want Berba. 

Same paper has non-story about the "true cost" of signing  RvP.

An Address To The Better Off

Only one place to start, and that's with the unveiling of Robin van Persie.  This Guardian article has the essential quotes. Starting with van Persie himself, who said all the right things:

The Dutchman, 29, says he chose United over City because of their football heritage. "Manchester United breathe football in every aspect, for me it was quite soon that I made my decision," he said.

"It was based on a lot of things and all those things went to Manchester United. When you have to make a hard decision in your life I always listen to the little boy inside me. What does he want? That little boy was screaming for Manchester United. I have had lots of challenges, but how it stands now, this is my biggest."

Sir Alex pointed to his experience: 

"He's what we have needed for the last couple of years," the Scot said. "He's got maturity to his game, authority, timing and understanding of the game. I think we will benefit for the next four years and beyond.

"He's a player that every time I gave team talks was a problem for us because he kept popping up in different positions, sometimes on the right, sometimes dropping off, sometimes in the middle, so at least I've taken that problem away."

...

"I think the point I'm making about maturity is we needed a finished player. [Paul] Scholes and [Ryan] Giggs are coming to the end. I think we were still capable of winning the title without Robin, but he gives us a sort of certainty for the future."

The Sun make much of one line from van Persie:

“It’s always difficult to find a perfect match but I think this is a perfect match for me.”

The Mirror have van Persie's comments on the number 20 shirt he'll be wearing:

"I took the No.20 shirt because I'm here to win a 20th title with United."

Yes, he's quite the charmer.

Several papers make much of Sir Alex mentioning Cantona's name with van Persie's, including The Mail:

'Robin is what we have needed for the last couple of years. We needed a finished player. We have had several players who have been this sort of catalyst, starting with Eric Cantona.

'We were still capable of winning the title without Robin but he gives us a sort of certainty for the future."

And The Telegraph, quoting Sir Alex:

“He [van Persie] can play, score, he’s quick, he’s a different physical specimen to the players we have. Also, you always learn from great players. If you look at what Cantona did, he was a tremendous teacher for the young players and I think Danny Welbeck will welcome that.”

The Independent use the same quotes, and a few more, to elaborate on van Persie's reasons for joining us:

Van Persie, who began yesterday's press conference in a decorous mood by thanking Arsène Wenger and the Gunners' fans for their support during his eight years in north London, spoke of entering a club which felt like a family; somewhere easy to fit in. He also communicated a vision of something great beginning to happen at Old Trafford as they desperately try to wrench back the title.

But why, with solid interest from Roberto Mancini's champions, did he choose red over blue? "Everyone knows me by now. I'm a lover of football. In that respect I'm quite principled," the striker said.

"It is always quite difficult to find a perfect match but I do feel that this is perfect for me. Manchester United breathe football and if you look at all the players, the stadium and the manager, my choice was made very soon in my mind if you were basing it on those two clubs.

...

"This is like a family club. In that respect it isn't a big difference [to Arsenal]. Let me make one thing clear – because I don't want things twisted – is that from my side, and Arsenal as well, there are no hard feelings. There were certain elements which were vital to me that we had a different view. That is life. Nobody is angry at me and I'm not angry at them."

 The Independent also have Wenger's humorous response to Sir Alex's 1999 claim:

Ferguson claimed that Teddy Sheringham, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole were "the best strikers in Europe at the time" and believes he has something akin to that now at Old Trafford.

Wenger dismissed that but revealed his anxiety over selling Van Persie to their bitter rivals. "Ferguson is a bit too confident when he says they are like 1999," said Wenger. "But of course it increases their potential offensively because they got a world-class player. But they have a number of players, like Hernandez and Welbeck, who have a restricted chance to play.

Onto other things, and Daniel Taylor's season preview in The Guardian looks at the importance of van Persie (Needless to say, Mancini's words taken with pinch of salt):

Ferguson now has the reigning footballer-of-the-year and the runner-up, Wayne Rooney, as his first-choice strike-force. Between them, they scored 71 goals last season. With Javier Hernández and Danny Welbeck in reserve, there is a strong argument United have the best attacking quartet in the league.

"Or, I think, in the world," Mancini said. Six words that told us, even if it was not his intention, that he rates them as better, collectively, than those at Manchester City.

...

What can be said with certainty is that City started thinking of Van Persie as their top target for this summer as long ago as last September. The plan this summer was to buy Van Persie and sell Edin Dzeko, so to lose the Dutchman to their main rivals is a considerable setback. "Without Van Persie, they [United] had two yards in front of us," Mancini said. "Now, with Van Persie, they have four or five."

Rio gets fined over the "choc ice" Twitter thing and Sir Alex doesn't understand Twitter, neither exactly surprising.

The Mail have a Nani to Zenit story.  Yawn.

Season previews abound, with papers having a competition to see who can get the worst columnist.  The Sun persevere with Terry Venables.  The Mirror make a pretty successful bid by getting the opinions of Kenny Dalglish.  Read neither.

In his season preview, Henry Winter says, paraphrasing, "get over the Olympics," and points to the importance of football:

So we should celebrate two great sporting institutions, the Olympics and English league football, not use one to beat the other. They owe each other.

The Premier League contributed handsomely to the public purse that helped fund London 2012: last season alone, the elite clubs paid £900 million tax on (admittedly crazy) wages, £100 million on VAT on (admittedly expensive) tickets and £50 million on stadium business rates.

Finally, Mark Fisher on The Guardian's "Comment is free", has an excellent piece on the wrongheadedness of the Olympic/football comparison.  It's well worth a read, and I'm tempted to quote huge chunks of it, but go read it instead, and I'll just quote this small portion:

Just as the banking crisis of 2008 is blamed on the "greed" of bankers, so the cause of football's problems is held to be the dubious morality of players. But modern football only reflects back the values of neoliberal capitalism: if we don't like these values, we should blame the causes, not the symptom. Footballers' "lack of loyalty", for instance, is not an indication of players' moral delinquency. Instead, the capacity to move on quickly without forming lasting attachments is a skill that the contemporary capitalist world inculcates and relies upon. As sociologist Richard Sennett argues, the slogan for the current form of capitalism is "No long term: keep moving, don't commit yourself, and don't sacrifice."

Similarly, one curious aspect of the frequent complaints about footballers' inflated wages is the failure to recognise that this is a perfect example of market dynamics. Unlike London 2012, the Premier League isn't funded out of public money, and it is "market forces" alone that determine how high players' remuneration will be. There's always been a nasty strain of class prejudice ingrained in the condemnation of football's "undeserving rich", as if the working class is uniquely susceptible to being corrupted by money, and as if they deserve their wealth less than those born to it.