Well I missed a post last week, but you all know that Paul Scholes won the derby in the last minute. This fixture has never failed to disappoint in recent years, and that victory gave us the impetus to win a record 19th league title. The events that followed only confirmed my optimism, as Chelsea fell to Tottenham. Just minutes ago Nani led us to a 3-1 victory over Spurs, with Ryan Giggs converting twice from the spot. The pundits always say the same things "United rely too much on Rooney", "United haven't hit top form", "Berbatov is a piece of shit" etc. Chelsea play Stoke tomorrow without the services of John Terry, and a draw is a distinct possibilty. What a turnaround. More to follow as highlights etc. are released.

What a disaster of a match. As I watched the 0-0 draw with Blackburn I wondered where we would finish if Rooney was injured for an entire season. We dominated possession as usual, but the only real chance fell to Valencia and Paul Robison (who surely should be in contention for the England job if David James is) foiled him with a great save. I hate to say that the season is over, but it looks very likely that Chelsea will walk away with the title. At least Arsenal confirmed my belief that they were never going to win the league with a loss to Spurs. This all sets up a very interesting derby tomorrow at lunchtime. City are on fire right now, last week they made Burnley look like a bunch of Championship players who were out of their depth (Wait a minute...). Seriously though, City will provide a very stern test even if Rooney does recover in time to play as expected. Rio and Giggs are doubtful with muscle strains. Let's see, what else... Paul Scholes has extended his contract for another year--but please Sir Alex, sign a midfielder anyway--and Ferguson shot down the ridiculous rumor that Rooney is headed to Madrid. 

     This week Manchester United signed promising young striker Javier "Chicarito" Hernandez. The 21 year Mexican currently plays for Chivas de Guadalajara and will join United in the summer.  Along with the return to fitness of John O'Shea and a thumping 6-1 victory for the reserves, it was a fantastic week. Oh, except we went crashing out of the Champions League.

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Well, the reason the picture is of the Champions League trophy is because... I'm bitter. And while Chelsea may now be favorites to win the league at least we still have a great chance to win that beautiful thing. Also I've decided to start doing the player ratings first, because they often cover much of the general match analysis. So, um click the jump.

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Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Giggs, Scholes, Park, Berbatov. Subs: Kuszczak, Carrick, Nani, Rafael Da Silva, Macheda, Gibson, De Laet.

Chelsea: Cech, Paulo Ferreira, Alex, Terry, Zhirkov, Joe Cole, Deco, Lampard, Mikel, Malouda, Anelka. Subs: Turnbull, Drogba, Ballack, Kalou, Sturridge, Belletti, Bruma.

Berbatov is the lone striker while Valencia comes in for Nani. Carrick is dropped from the side. The back four is still intact, but neither O'Shea or Hargreaves made the bench. Drogba is a sub for Chelsea. 

I'm hearing word that Owen Hargreaves may make the bench for the Chelsea. I wouldn't get your hopes up--in fact, never get your hopes up about Owen's recovery--but his return could be exactly what the midfield needs after that weak showing in Munich. John' O Shea may also be on the bench. Drogba is back for Chelsea, which could spell trouble. More news as I get it.

On a side note, I'm currently reading Soccernomics by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski. The book is mainly about the flaws of football as a business. But it has made me feel a little bit better about the Glazer situation. The point he made is that football clubs don't have to make a profit. Making a profit might not even be a good thing (see Tottenham under Alan Sugar's leadership in the 90's.) Clubs are more like a charitable trust than a real business, and the emotional attachment of fans is too big to let a club fail (most of the time). No real business is "too big to fail" (Lehman brothers, etc.)  but even as the loans grow bigger and the interest is too much to bear, Manchester United will be Ok. Somebody will save us. Don't know if that made you feel better or even made sense, but what the hell. It worked for me. 

Well then. That last minute of stoppage time has to be one of the worst minutes of football I can remember. The combination of bad luck and sloppy defending that led to Olic's winner was terrible, but the injury to Rooney is the type of thing that can ruin an entire season (yes, I am also an England fan.) The prognosis seems to be 2-3 weeks, but with games against Chelsea, Bayern, Spurs and City in that time this will be a true test of the entire squad. 

More analysis and ratings after the jump. To tide you over here is a look at Andrey Arshavin's blog. It's quite...eccentric. I thought it was appropriate following the Gunners thrilling 2-2 draw with Barcelona today. The Special One led Inter Milan to a 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow in the other Champions league matchup.

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Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Nani, Park, Rooney.

Subs: Kuszczak, Berbatov, Giggs, Rafael Da Silva, Jonathan Evans, Valencia, Gibson.

Bayern Munich: Butt, Lahm, Van Buyten, Demichelis, Badstuber, Altintop, Van Bommel, Pranjic, Ribery, Muller, Olic.
Subs: Rensing, Gorlitz, Klose, Contento, Alaba, Gomez, Tymoschuk.

   Robben doesn't even make the bench, and Schweinsteiger is also misses out through suspension for the hosts. Our lineup is close to what I expected, but Valencia drops out and is replaced by Paul Scholes. We'll have a stronger midfield now but I would liked to have tested  the left-back Badstuber--who doesn't have anywhere near the pace to stick with Valencia. Park will have an important job to play on the right and behind Rooney, and Fletcher may end up pulling out towards the wing at times to cover for him.

I just realized that in the Bolton wrap-up I didn't even mention Jack Wilshere. He was excellent and I'm surprised he couldn't get a game at Arsenal, surely Rosicky isn't much better than the 18 year old. About half an hour till kickoff now.

EDIT: just checked the BBC live text and picked up a few interesting tidbits, Demichelis will be wearing this mask, and that Norwich are the only English team to ever win in Munich. So that's what those scarves are for...

As I was out of town and couldn't post over the weekend, this post has kind of morphed from a Bolton wrap-up to a Bayern preview. Rooney and Rio sat out against Bolton with minor foot and groin injuries respectively, but both England stars have been passed for the massive clash at the Allianz Arena. The main injury news for Bayern is that Arjen "The Glass Man" Robben is a serious doubt. Robben and Ribery (along with the youngster Thomas Muller, who I saw at the weekend and was excellent) are obviously Bayern's main offensive weapons. Ribery is a bit of a question mark for me, for all we hear about him being worth 50 million pounds I haven't really seen him dominate a match. Anyway, we do have a bit of history with the German giants, and the game should be a thriller.

Hit the jump for Bolton highlights and ratings.

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Nani signed a new four year contract today, although his old one still had two years left to run. This is somewhat of a surprise considering many thought that the Portuguese was on his way out. Anyway I consider it to be good news, his form has deserved a new deal and he seems to be improving. The Red Knights announced that they will not make a bid for the club this season, but the Glazers are very unlikely to sell anyway.

The other news ahead of Saturday's trip to Bolton is that Rooney, Scholes and Giggs are fit, and John O'Shea has returned to training. 

    Manchester United came from behind at Old Trafford to beat Liverpool and return to the top of the Premier League. Fernando Torres opened the scoring after just five minutes, but United equalized when Wayne Rooney converted from the spot after Javier Mascherano hauled down Antonio Valencia. Liverpool attempted to hold on to a point in the second half but Park Ji-Sung capped an excellent performance with a brave diving header to secure the win.  More after the jump.

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    Just a quick update, Man United have just drawn Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarters. The winner of that match will take on either Lyon or Bordeaux. Arsenal got Barca on the other side of the bracket, while Inter ended up with CSKA Moscow. I think it's a great draw, Bayern have a very fragile defense and will need some moments of magic from Robben and Ribery if they hope to advance. The all-french matchup is an interesting one, and Henry playing against Arsenal will bring back some memories. It is all set up for a rematch in the final against Messi and his minions. Also, a special mention to Fulham for their stunning victory over Juventus this week. And to Chelsea for... oh, never mind.

    It's not often that 45 minutes in the reserves merits a mention, let alone a full article. But when Owen Hargreaves is actually playing football, it's a special occasion. I had given up reporting on his progress, but after two years Owen might actually be back. Even if Hargreaves could only make a few substitute appearances this season, it would be a huge boost to the entire squad (and to England, but then again almost anyone is better than Gareth Barry). Anyway the reserves won 2-0 against Burnley with goals from Febian Brandy and Corry Evans. I don't have highlights yet, but enjoy this Hargreaves post-match interview--and his English/Canadian/German accent.

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   First of all, I apologize for the lack of a post this week. I was extremely ill and as the site is so new there is nobody to fill in for me. Anyway this was a great week, with the dominant victory over Milan and then three more points against Fulham. I'll put up highlights, but it's too late for a full match report. This Sunday is the huge matchup with Liverpool (who are currently beating Portsmouth at home--quite a big deal for them), and The Busby Babe will be back this week with a full preview, recap, and starting XI's. 

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Manchester United went back to the top of the Premier League with 1-0 victory over Wolves. Paul Scholes finally broke the home side down when he burst into the box and slid past Marcus Hahnemann for his 100th Premier league goal.

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Man Utd: Van der Sar, Brown, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Gibson, Scholes, Carrick, Nani, Berbatov.

Subs: Foster, Neville, Park, Rafael Da Silva, Fletcher, Obertan, Diouf.

Wayne Rooney is not even on the bench as he aggravated his knee injury by playing 86 minutes for England (Fergie was none too happy). Berbatov leads the line alongside Nani and Valencia, while Gibson gets a rare start. Ferdinand and Vidic are actually playing together, we will need both of them fit for the latter stages of the Champions League.

Wolverhampton: Hahnemann, Zubar, Craddock, Berra, Ward, Henry, Foley, Guedioura, David Jones, Jarvis, Doyle. Subs: Hennessey, Elokobi, Ebanks-Blake, Keogh, Vokes, Milijas, Mancienne.

Michael Owen's has been ruled out for the season with the pulled hamstring he picked up in Sunday's Carling Cup Final, ending his hopes of making England's world cup squad. This is obviously bad news, and you could say that this season has been a microcosm of the England striker's career. Bursts onto the scene with a goal for the ages (94th minute derby winner), continues his ascent towards the top of the game (hat trick against Wolfsburg) and then it suddenly ends (Newcastle United). Well that was a bit of an oversimplification, but hopefully Michael can contribute next season. 

There is some good injury news though, Hargreaves and Macheda are both back to training with the first team. They both have a chance to be involved in Thursday's reserve match against Man City. It will be good to have Kiko back now that Owen's gone and Welbeck is on loan, and Hargreaves (if he was even close to fully fit) is a world-class midfielder and could help us win the league. The two other returning players for the match against Wolves are Rio Ferdinand (back) and Nani (suspension). We can go top of the table with a draw or a win, so it's a massive match.

There were eleven United players in international action this week. I'm sure most of you say Rooney's (along with Carrick and Brown) role in England's 3-1 win over Egypt, but there were plenty of other players in action.

      Darren Fletcher captained Scotland to a 1-0 victory over the Cezech Republic, and Nani played the full 90 as Portugal against China. Parky Park and the funky bunch beat the Ivory Coast 2-0 at Loftus Road, and Kuszczak kept a clean sheet against Berbatov and co. Zoran Tosic scored for Serbia, and Mame Biram Diouf came on as a substitue for Senegal. Evra was also in action for France.

Also, David Gill has pledged his support for the Glazers...

     
    Carling Cup Champions. Again. It isn't as prestigious a tournament as the Premier League or even the FA Cup, but it's still fantastic all the same to pick up the first trophy of the season. However it's not often that the biggest news of the week isn't winning a trophy. A group of financiers (and fans) who have dubbed themselves "the Red Knights" held a meeting to discuss a possible takeover. This is something that we all think about much less than things like Nani's form, but an ownership change could be a huge boost to the club.

   Player Ratings, highlights, and more after the jump.

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As you all know, we face Aston Villa tomorrow at Wembley with a chance to pick up the season's first trophy. This is obviously a massive match, but after reading some of Sir Alex's comments today he seems to be considering resting some of the big guns. Rooney may not start, and I suppose I can see why Sir Alex wants to give him a break before the run-in. But I'm going to disagree. I'm all for starting the younger players in the first few rounds against the likes of Barnsley and Wolves, but a final is a final. Our young players do have the ability to get the job done, but as we saw in last year's FA Cup semifinal defeat to Everton, if anything goes wrong you can be throwing a trophy away. Winning the  Cup would be a reward in of itself, and I think a defeat could hurt our confidence and derail our title challenge. The Cup Final is not a time for rest.

In the Premier League today there were some very interesting matches, with Chelsea's defeat to City being the most important. The gap is now down to just one point. But the day was marred by this horrific injury (warning:some disturbing images) to Aaron Ramsey in the second half of Arsenal's win against Stoke. No matter who he plays for, you never want to see something like that happen to a talented young man. Shawcross (about whom there are rumors of a return to United) looked distraught afterwards, and i don't think there was any malice in the challenge. More somber news this week is that Anderson is out for the season. Check back tomorrow morning, I'll try to have the starting XI's up before kickoff.

Wayne Rooney took his goal tally to 27 for the season as Manchester United saw off West Ham to move to within a point of Premier League leaders Chelsea. The in-form frontman opened the scoring with a firm header from Antonio Valencia's excellent volleyed cross. And another Valencia cross was headed home by Rooney for the hosts' second, before substitute Michael Owen clipped a late third from Paul Scholes's pass. West Ham battled bravely, but fell away in the face of Rooney's brilliance. (from the BBC)

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Man Utd: Foster, Neville, Brown, Vidic, Evra, Valencia, Gibson, Scholes, Anderson, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Owen, Park, Rafael, Evans, Fletcher, Diouf.

West Ham: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Spector, Behrami, Noble, Kovac, Diamanti, Franco, Cole. Subs: Stech, Dyer, Ilan, Mido, Da Costa, Collison, Daprela.

I have to say i'm surprised about the team selection, even keeping in mind the fact that the Cup Final is on Saturday. Ben Foster (aka England's worst nightmare) is in for Van der Sar, and Ferdinand is back from suspension but not even in the 18. At least Gibson gets a start, and I think we will bounce back today anyway. As always, Highlights and wrap-up after the match.

For a moment after the match, I honestly started to worry that we weren't good enough to win the league. Then I took into account the circumstances of our loss. For one, Goodison park was a madhouse. Everton had just beaten Chelsea, and the return of Mikel Arteta has further energized the crowd. And Sir Alex admitted that fatigue played a big factor. And finally, Everton are a very, very good team. They started the season miserably, but the combination of Saha being fully fit (we all remember what that was like) and new signings Landon Donovan and Diniyar "Billy" Bilyaletdinov on the wings mean that they are a force to be reckoned with. Chelsea found that out last weekend, and our tired squad played OK-but didn't have enough. So you know what, I am making excuses. Let's beat West Ham on Tuesday. Player Ratings and highlights in the full story.

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The place for anything and everything about our upcoming match at goodison park.

Everton: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Donovan, Osman, Arteta, Bilyaletdinov, Pienaar, Saha.
Subs: Nash, Yobo, Vaughan, Gosling, Yakubu, Rodwell, Coleman.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown, Evans, Evra, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Park, Rooney, Berbatov.
Subs: Foster, Owen, Vidic, Scholes, Rafael Da Silva, Obertan, Gibson.

United face a tough trip tomorrow morning to Goodison Park, where they will meet an in-form Everton side fresh off a victory over Chelsea. Everton had a rocky start to the season, but have picked up form recently and are a good bet to make it to the latter stages of the UEFA Cup (or whatever it's called these days). 

A bit lower down in the news was the reserves 2-0 victory over Everton at Moss Lane. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer's men are in many ways the future of the club, and I thought it would be nice to give them some attention. Highlights and more after the jump.

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United didn't play today but there was still plenty of Champions League action to be found. Bayern and Fiorentina managed to play 90 minutes without the infamous Tom Henning Ovrebo ruining the match, before a clearly offside Miroslav Klose nodded home the winner in stoppage time. Arsenal lost 2-1 with two horrendous goalkeeping mistakes (surprisingly not from Almunia) giving Porto the win. Anyway the main point of this post is that I am conflicted about who to root for when Arsenal and Chelsea play in the Champions League. Of course I want them to lose in the league, but does that carry over to Europe? I find myself rooting for "England against Europe" sometimes, but I still find it a bit funny when they lose. I'm also interested to know which competition (Premier/Champions League) you prefer to watch.

Manchester United secured a historic win at the San Siro in an enthralling Champions League tie. Ronaldinho's deflected volley wrong-footed Edwin Van der Sar to give the Rossoneri an early lead as Milan dominated the early going, before Paul Scholes scuffed home an equalizer. Wayne Rooney then scored two superb second-half headers as United took control of the tie, only to see Clarence Seedorf knock in an a backheel to give the Italian side a glimmer of hope.

Hit the jump for highlights, analysis, and player ratings.

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