Logic Moon

The main focus today is on the Fulham game with Rooney's return and Van der Sar's impregnability to the fore.
We seem to have reached a bit of a consensus about the goalkeeping record - Van der Sar needs two shut outs to get the European record and is a long way off the world record. A clean sheet today moves him up to 6th in the record books. This, from The Telegraph, has the necessary figures.
The Sun has Peter Schmeichel praising Vidic for his role in defence:

"Edwin gets a lot of praise but Vidic's displays in the last two years are second to none."

"Ferdinand is the best defender in the world. But he's learned a lot from Vidic.

"I think Edwin has done tremendously well. It's great to see him come into the team and give stability."

The Mail has some quotes from Dave Beasant, who was Van der Sar's goalkeeping coach at Fulham, praising him, although there does seem to be a bit of "I taught him everything he knows" about it:
'Great footballers - great goalkeepers - are always learning. That was one of the things that made Ed stand out to me.

'He has an insatiable need to understand why you are asking him to do something. He will just be, "Why? Why? Why?" all the time. For example, if you look at him now he will come out of his box and sweep and pass the ball. He never used to do that until we talked about it. And that's just three or four years ago.

'There was also a time when he was dropped at Fulham. It was simply because we were on a bad run. But his attitude was remarkable. Mark Crossley was in the team ahead of him but instead of sulking he just said: "What has he got that I haven't?" We told him that Crossley communicated better and talked more.

'Ed was a Holland international and a Champions League winner. He could have looked at me and taken it as an insult. But he went away and thought about it. Within a week his communication was better.'

The Independent look at Rooney's return and how well we've coped without him:

Rooney will be back in the squad to face Fulham tonight in the second of the games United missed during their Super Cup and Club World Cup jaunts, but never has one of his periodic absences proved to be of such little significance.
United have pushed on simply because of their squad’s depth of talent, one or two of its number always capable of delivering for them: Ryan Giggs in their past two games; Berbatov with the late winner at Bolton; Carlos Tevez excelling at West Bromwich.

In The Telegraph Sir Alex is sounding very upbeat about the return of Rooney:

"He is training well," Ferguson said. "His performances have been excellent and he is back to his best. The plan is for Wayne to be involved and he will start on the bench.

"We've handled the injury in the right way. It was the right decision not to involve him against Derby on Sunday because he was able to train and that extra day has brought him on a lot."

The Sun has some quotes from Sir Alex on the difficulty of picking the team:

“Everyone has done so well that I’m beginning to dread picking the team.

“I feel guilty when I am forced to leave someone out who has not only done nothing wrong but who has played exceptionally well.

“It puts the club in a strong position, of course, but it doesn’t make the manager’s job very easy.”

“People sometimes ask me what I consider to be my best side and the short answer is that I don’t have one.

“I can give you my best 14 or 15 but, better than that, all I can say is that it’s a squad game and we have a damn fine squad. In fact the best!”

Other articles include Martin Samuel on why we're going to win the league and Liverpool aren't in The Mail. He sums it up neatly in the first couple of paragraphs before taking several thousand words to expand on it. But in a nutshell:

They have a better team.

On The Guardian Blog Paddy Crerand and Paul Parker go head to head in a debate on the subject of "will this be the best ever Manchester United team?"

The strangest thing around today is from Dan Silver in The Mirror with the headline, "Why David Moyes is the only man who can stop a domestic clean sweep for Manchester United". Here's the "logic":

Despite what Liverpudlians may think, the Premier League is, for all intents and purposes, a foregone conclusion.

And with Tottenham still involved in the relegation battle, they are hardly in the kind of form to trouble United in the Carling Cup final.

Which means, domestically at least, it’s looking like there’s only one man who can halt Sir Alex Ferguson’s relentless march to glory: Everton boss David Moyes.

How many teams are left in the FA Cup? It's not even like we play them in the next round. A strange article.