United played Benfica tonight in the Champions League match. The match finished 2-1 to United with goals from Giggs and Van Nistelrooy.

Giggs goal was a freekick and took a pretty big deflection. He deserved the goal though and was one of the best players. It was great to see Giggs playing. The full backs also did very well (Richardson and Bardsley). Our defence is missing two crucial players (Neville and Heinze) but its good to see that the backup is doing a decent job.

Ronaldo had a slow-ish first half but really did improve in the 2nd half. It will be good if we play with 2 wide players again in the future now that Giggs is fit (he had a chest infection for 3 weeks). We will get Rooney back in the next league match – unfortunately we he will miss the next Champions League game (which I think is against Lyon at Old Trafford).

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BBC Sport

Solskjaer has another injury setback

Its not the same injury which has kept him out for so long but it looks like he won’t be in full training till around November. This properly means that he won’t be ready for a match till the new year.

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BBC Sport

Went paintballing on Saturday. It was one of my friends birthday.

It was the first time I have been paintballing and good fun. It does hurt when you get shot but you get used to it. I got shot on the hand a couple times which really hurt, on the arm a few times and on the back a few times too. I got shot by someone on my time a couple times!

It was a whole day thing starting from about 930 till about 4pm. There are 6 different games, 2 rounds of each of them. After every 2 rounds you have a break and get a chance to clean the visor from paint and sweat! Our group of about 12 ppl were split into 2 different groups – Red and Blue. There was about 25+ on each time. I was on the blue team and we were winning all the way until right at the end.

I didnt take my camera but a couple ppl took a camera. Here is a link to photos.

Seem to have been to loads of BBQs this year – went to another one this weekend on Saturday. Had some lovely food and drink. Played cards, watched some DVDs and also watched (and laughed) at X Factor. Not watched X Factor since last year but it was certainly amusing. Ended up losing playing cards loads of times – the forfeit was the winner had to draw on you. It was only drawing on arms so it wasnt too bad!! It all washed off OK as well

The next day was really tired. I played football and then just chilled out for the rest of the day.

It seems like I say it everytime England play – get rid of Sven. (Hes just a completely over-paided waste of space). To be honest its too late now before the world cup (only 2 more matches b4 World Cup) but he needs to get his act together.

Once again he plays an unfamiliar formation and players out of position. Playing Rooney out on the left – whats that about. He should stick to a 442 and play players where they actually know where to play. England were terrible – they was no flow, no skill, it was just all wrong.

First half was poor but second half was a nightmare. Beckham was Ok – ish especially in the first half. I would of taken Owen off since he was not completely match fit and put Defoe in who is playing well. I would have kept Wright-Phillip on with his pace. Gerrard and Lampard were both terrible – for some reason they just don’t do it at national level. I think Gerrard was the worst and Sven needs to guts to drop some of his ‘top players’. It was getting even worst and then Owen Hargreves came on. It would be funny if it wasn’t so embarassing. Rooney didnt play really well and was lucky to stay on when he got frustrated and got a yellow card. He started swearing a lot and swearing at his captain. Do you think he would have swore at club captain Roy Keane with a manager like Sir Alex Ferguson??? I dont think so!!

From all England matches it shows the Gerrard and Lampard cannot play together since they are similar in style. Both players play alongside defensive midfielders for their club sides and as much as I think Becks is great he is no Makelele. Even if Becks played alright in the ‘quarter-back’ role he needs to be out wide on the right. We also need to play someone like Carrick. (However it may be too late to get him into the team – he played so well in the US tour he should have played at least one of the last 3 games).

One thing I dont get is why Wright-Phillips was taken off after getting behind the N.Ireland defence several times in the 1st half and creating N.Ireland real problems.

It showed in the footage that Steve McLaren looked more like a manager shouting orders etc while Sven in the background looking like some FIFA official and some stupid gormless look on his face.

There used to be an excuse that England didn’t have world class players. Now they have several world class players. Rooney, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owen,… We also have some other top players like Shaun Wright-Phillips.

There was one quote from Owen – “I’ve never played this formation with the national team but it’s not worrying”. Thats not the greatest vote of confidence!!

Well done to N.Ireland (great goal) who played well as a team – just like Greece it shows that the team is more important than the individuals. We need a manager that can get them playing as a team, playing where they know where to play and get them motivated.

Whens the cricket start ……..

Related link:

BBC Sport

The hurricane hit the South Coast of the US on Monday mainly effecting the states of Louisiana and Mississippi. Its now Thursday and things seem to be getting worse and worse. The latest reports say that the death count could be in the 1000s!! Even more injured and even more now left with nothing

For all the latest go to the BBC News page.

Some of the images seen are terrible. More shocking are reports of people shooting at rescue helicopters. There also looting going on. The images seen are similar in a way to the tsunami. One thing which is shocking is that in a country as rich as the US, the authorities seem to be struggling. They had plenty of warning with the path of the hurricane being carefully monitored. It seems to be taking ages to get help to people who desperately need it. George W Bush waited 2 days after the hurricane hit to cut short his month long holiday! George W Bush seems to find it so easy to send so many troops and spending so much money on Iraq and his own people are suffering!! People now seem to be struggling to get out of New Orleans. It all chaotic Apparently in the Superdome, where thousands of people are staying the conditions are terrible with no food, water or power. There seems to be no officials there helping out.

More shocking news I have read is that some people are creating viruses relating to the hurricane – e.g. sending emails pretending to provide latest information or ways to donate etc.

I went to New Orleans several years ago and hope it all gets better soon.

Click here for details on how to help.

Related links:

BBC News Hurricane Katrina page
Daily mail article