After Rooney scored, there wasnt too much from United in the 1st half. However, the 2nd half was a great performance. Another goal by Rooney from a brilliant pass from Nani, a goal by Park after great work by Scholes and Fletcher scored near the end.

As I said, Milan were pretty rubbish. There front 3 just didnt track back for a start. No one came out with credit – no idea how Huntelaar is so highly rated – the only one you could possibly say did alright was maybe Seedoof who came on at half time and Beckham did well. Put in a few trademark brilliant crosses and one brillant volley from about 25 yards out. He connected with the ball so well, properly too well and it was more or less straight at Van Der Saar.

Beckham, as expected, got a great response from the United fans he loves and who love him. When he came out with about 25 minutes to go it looked quite emotional. He was cheered and clapped on the pitch but then when he got the ball the United fans booed him. All a bit of fun and he knows we love him. Hes a legend!! Not only was he one of the best players ever to play for United, he has said great things about United, the fans, the managers since leaving. He will always be a United fan. Even during the match, with his current team losing 3-0 he was still shown smiling. In a post match interview he said about the fans and United:

“It was an unbelievable reception I got, incredible, and I have to say thank you.

“If this is my last appearance at Old Trafford, I’ll take the memory of the fans away with me – they were incredible.

“Of course I now want United to go on and win it. They deserve it.”

After the final whistle, Becks clapped and applauded each side of the stadium. He walked towards the tunnel and grabbed one of the “anti-glazer” green and gold scarfs.

He later on said he put the scarf on because it was the old colours of United and that he said thats all he knew:

“I’m a Manchester United fan. I saw the scarf there. I put it round my neck, it’s the old colours of United, that’s all I knew.

“To be honest it’s not my business. I support the club. I always have done and I always will do.

“It’s nothing to do with me the way everything is run, that’s to do with other people but I’m a United fan and I will always support them.

“Obviously you can hear it week in and week out. There’s always protests going on. Let’s hope it gets sorted out.”

Personally I think he knew exactly what the scarf was all about but being David Beckham he can’t say 100% what he think about the whole “anti-Glazer” protest.

Just briefly going back to the match, as well as Rooney played great (as usual). Park played excellently in possibly MOTM in my book. Nani played better than last few matches but not quite as good as his brilliant 3 game run (but it wasnt all same old Nani), Fletcher marshalled the midfield and it was good to have Rio and Vidic back playing in the same team and getting a clean sheet.

It didn’t start tracking properly until a few minutes. Don’t know why so for first part I think time was going but thought was running no distance??

The pace per mile looks ok. Looking at the pace in detail and at one point my pace was 5:15min/mile. Must have been the little ’sprint’ I did.

Plan to run longer next time. Just getting into it. Also my hands were freezing!!

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One thing I have to say before talking about the 2nd half is the England ‘fans’ at the match last night. First about the booing of the Egypt national anthem. Why??! Its showing no respect, is rude and there is no reason at all. Second, is the constant booing of John Terry. Don’t get me wrong, I hate the man but how is booing an England player during the match any good for the team. Boo when his name is announced before match – fair enough but during the match. Why pay £40 just to do that?? I am sure its a minority but its not good. (Almost as bad are the fans after the match calling John Terry a “legend”. What?? Really???!). Anyway, back to the match…..

The 2nd half was much better. Crouch came on and once again scored a couple and played well. SWP came on for the rubbish Walcott and scored a goal too. Rooney as usual played well. He properly should have got the MOTM award but it was awarded to Crouch. Another time when a sub gets the MOTM award. It seems goals cloud people’s minds – the MOTM award was decided by Gareth Southgate. As I said there are positives and negatives to be taken from the game. For a start it was a win against a very decent team. They have won African Cup of Nations last 3 teams, recently built Italy and narrowly lost to Brazil. Personnel wise Crouch, SWP, Carrick and Milner did their England chances no harm. Gerrard played a bit better than he has recently and some of his hollywood balls actually worked.

The negatives were Walcott who only has one good attribute (pace) and does use it effectively. Hes told to stay out wide but kept going in-field – and losing the ball. The final ball into the box was terrible from freekicks and corners. This is why Beckham needs to be in the squad.

Also, the defence is a worry. We dont have 1 outstanding keeper. Robert Green looks to be 1st choice. Other options either not that good, not playing well or just not playing much. Then there is the back 4. Starting at left back, Ashley Cole is out and his stand-ins are just “decent”. Then we have John Terry – hes not playing well and of course lacks pace. (And thats not mentioning all the off-field stuff). The other central defender would usually be Rio but hes not played for ages and when he has hes not been that good. The central defender stand-ins are not that good either. Upson showed that last night. Finally the right back position and this would be Glen Johnson. He is also out injured. The backup would be Wes Brown. Playing well hes a very good defender but hes not playing right back for United and when playing in central defence hes had some dodgy moments. He will properly still go to WC because of his versatility.

Looking at the positives, there is still a few months to the world cup (I think its not 98 days) and there is time for players to get fit and find some form.

If I was to choose the 23 man squad now it would be (assuming all fit and in-form):

David James
Robert Green
Joe Hart

Rio Ferdinand
John Terry
Ashley Cole
Glen Johnson
Wes Brown
Leighton  Baines
Phil Jagielka (or Ledley King if he could still fit for more than 1 game in a row)

David Beckham
Aaron Lennon
Steven Gerrard
Frank Lampard
James Milner
Gareth Barry
Michael Carrick
Shaun Wright Phillips
Joe Cole

Wayne Rooney
Peter Crouch
Emile Heskey
Jermain Defoe

I think Stewart Downing and Ashley YOung still has a chance especially if Joe Cole doesnt make it and if Capello takes 5 strikers it will properly be Carlton Cole or Gabriel Agbonlahor. (Its too late now realistically for Owen). Also if Hargreaves somehow gets himself fit and plays from now till rest of season he will go.

First 11 would be:

Robert Greet

Ashley Cole
John Terry
Rio Ferdinand
Glen Johnson

Gerrard
Lampard
Milner
SWP

Rooney
Crouch

Who would be in your squad/team?

To the actual events and my favourite events were the snowboarding events – halfpipe was great, snowboard cross was brilliant and the parallel giant slalom is excellent. Also the ski cross was awesome – as one commentator said its like demolition derby on skis! I also got involved in the curling. Too many I am sure it seems boring but it was great to watch. The GB team didnt do quite well and didnt make it even to the semi-finals. Disappointing with high hopes – the Mens team were world champions. The GB womans team was lead by 19 year old Eve Muirhead who sometimes was great, sometimes poor. Maybe her lack of experience was telling in the end??

Although out of the 50 odd GB athletes only 1 medal was won but it was a gold and it was a brilliant gold!! Amy Williams won the skeleton even – miles ahead of everyone. In the end she finished more than half a second ahead of everyone – may not seem a lot but in the skeleton thats miles!! I suppose it was right that we won something in the skeleton with about £2m of the £5.8m funding from UK Sport spent on the skeleton. Just  a shame the men couldnt get a medal!

Going back to one of my favourite events and the snowboard halfpipe. One of the stars of the games was certainly Shaun White. He is a superstar in the world of snowboarding. Hes mega famous and is like the Tony Hawk of snowboarding. In the final he did trick which he called the Tomahawk (double McTwist 1260) – check it out on BBC Sport web site.

I did manage to catch some of the alpine events – e.g. downhill, slalom. Unfortunately Chemmy Alcott didnt do too well. She had some good runs but overall not that good but I still think shes great

One other big story from the Winter Olympics was Canadian ice skater Joannie Rochette. Her mother died suddenly and she skated a few days later. When she skated everyone wanted her to do well and she ended up getting a bronze medal. Well done to her!

Well thats more or less all my thoughts on the Winter Olympics but I cant finish without mentioning the ice hockey. Ice hockey in Canada is huge. The Canadian womens team won the gold medal and on the final day (and the final event) it was the turn for the men. To make it even bigger it was against big rivals and neighbours USA – both teams full of players who know each other as many play in the NHL. The match ended up going to overtime as after 3 periods it was 2-2. Canada were leading 2-0 at one point but USA equalised with seconds to go!! Very exciting!! In the overtime, it was all Canada and I think they deserved to win. Its always good when the host city/country wins! I did enjoy the final – I still hate all the breaks in play (there was a break during the 1st period because of a commercial break!!) but its much better than American Football which seems to go on for days!!

Now its Londons (UKs) turn for the Olympics – lets hope we dont mess it up!

Overall, it wasnt that good. There were some good performances like Jay-Z & Alicia Keys and Robbie Williams was great at the end. Lady Gaga’s performance was good. Showed she can really sing – even if no one knew what the song was. She won 3 awards and was very emotional – when accepting the award she seems completely different to the whole on-stage persona. (It was the first time I heard her speak really anyway).

One thing that really bugged me was the general production of the show. The sound seemed to be out sometimes – which made Cheryl Cole look even worse at miming. Cheryl was certainly miming but it was almost a second delay but I think there was also a delay with the other person she sang with sang. Good performance though with the dancing and that first “jump” onto the stage.

When it came back from a commercial break, there was just silence and sometimes hear Peter Kay say something like “we’re back on soon…”. There was a mess up with Sam Fox when it just showed the Spice Girls clip – not her fault but she did mess up saying “rememberable”. LOL.

Also, what was with the guest award presenters?? First Geri and Mel B accepted an award for best Brit moment or something like that (no other Spice Girls??) and then moments later Mel B was back presenting award and then Geri later on presenting. (Also, why was Geri Halliwell presenting award for Breakthrough artist which is voted by Radio 1 listeners – she has nothing to do with Radio 1!). Another guest presenter that just didnt work was Jonathan Ross who did his best “Richard Madeley at the Brits award being an embarassing Dad”. Alan Carr was the only good award presenter – as usual very funny.

Peter Kay did an overall good job but repeated some jokes – he tends to do that but still very funny. Loved him calling Liam Gallagher a “knobhead” – which he was. Liam Gallagher seems to be stuck in the 1990s.

Just to go back to the production and the sound problems – it should really be on post watershed because the audio muting partly ruined it. Also, when stars were walking onto stage (which was a stupidly long way), they sometimes played the “rude” version of the song and had to mute that!!

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Some people are saying that he is being made a scapegoat and other people are involved – they are right. Other people are involved (and other footballers have been “dodgy” things). Also, you have to say that the woman involved isn’t exactly “whiter than white”. If the papers are right she has slept with 4 other Chelsea players (and who knows who else). You have to feel sorry for Wayne Bridge!

As well as this latest John Terry scandal it was also reveals that he sold his own corporate box at Wembley for £4000. (Which hes not allowed to!). He has to pay £80,000 a year for the box – if he wasnt captain it would be £120,000. A few months ago, it was also reveals that he was taking a share of £10,000 for private tours around the Chelsea training ground. Thats just 3 things recently. I could add to the list!! The main earns £170,000 a week but still wants to earn a few extra ££ on the side “dodgy-ly”.

The new England captain has been announced today as Rio Ferdinand – who isnt exactly “whiter than white”. Personally I would like Rooney to be captain. Hes been captain for England. However, maybe its best to have him concentrate on just playing. It seems the top contenders for England captain are have had “scandal” in their past. Maybe the best one is Lampard??

Anyway, as long as England play well and win I dont care. Some people have been saying about England captain (and other footballers) being role models. I think footballers (the vast vast majority) should not be role models.

Armored – 22 January (UK), 4 December 2009 (US)
Youth In Revolt – 5 February (UK), 8 January (US)
Up In The Air – 15 January (UK)
The Book of Eli – 15 January (UK)
Legion – 5 March (UK), 22 January (US)
When In Rome – 11 June (UK), 29 January (US)
Edge of Darkness – 29 January (UK/US)
Valentine’s Day – 12 February (UK/US)
Takers – 26 March (UK), 26 February (US)
Alice in Wonderland – 5 March
She’s Out Of My League – 23rd April (UK), 12 March (US)
Green Zone – 12 March (UK/US)
I Love You, Philip Morris – 17 March (UK), 26 March (US)
How To Train Your Dragon – 26 March (US), 31 March (UK)
Hot Tub Time Machine – 26 March (US)
Date Night – 9 April (UK/US)
A Couple of Dicks – 16 April (UK)
Iron Man 2 – 30 April (UK), 7 May (US)
Kick-Ass – 2 April (UK), 16 April (US)
The Losers – 16 April (UK), 9 April (US)
Prince of Persia – 21 May (UK), 28 May (US)
Shrek Forever After – 2 July (UK), 21 May (US)
Five Killers – 4 June (UK)
Get Him To Greek – 4 June (US)
The A Team – 30 July (UK), 11 June (US)
The Karate Kid – 16 July (UK), 11 June (US)
Get Him To The Greek – 11 June (UK/US)
Jonah Hex – 18 June (US)
Toy Story 3 – 23 July (UK), 18 June (US)
Grown Ups – 16 July (UK), 25 June (US)
Knight & Day – 2 July (UK/US)
Predators – 7 July (US)
Despicable Me 3D – 15 October (UK), 9 July (US)
Inception – 13 August (UK), 16 July (US)
Salt – 20 August (UK), 23 July (US)
Morning Glory – 10 September (UK), 30 July (US)
The Expendables – 20 August (UK), 13 August (US)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World – 27 August (UK), 13 August (US)
Resident Evil: Afterlife 3D – 14 January 2011 (UK), 27 August 2010 (US)
Priest – 17 September (UK), 1 October (US)
The Zookeeper – 15 October (UK), 8 October (US)
Megamind – 3 December (UK), 5 November (US)
Unstoppable – 12 November (UK/US)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I – 19 November (UK/US)
Yogi Bear 3D – 17 December (UK/US)
The Green Hornet – 29 December (UK), 22 December (US)

It does look really nice as you would expect with an Apple product and the pricing is not too bad (in a way).

However, I don’t really know who the iPad is aimed for. If your into gadgets you were no doubt want one but I personally was expecting something as an in-between ipod touch and a macbook. However, to me its just a big ipod touch with 3G (or a big iPhone with the phone).

The 2 main things I think is missing is multi-tasking and Flash. You could get away without both of these on a iPhone but not on a large screen where potentially large sections of a web site are not visible. I know the future looks like the transition to  HTML5 and CSS3 but this could take awhile to happen. Also, without multi-tasking you wont be able to have email client open, the same time as Word processor or IM software. Once again, I think this was OK on a phone but not on a larger device like the iPad. Potentially they can fix this in the next major software update but why not now??

Other less major things I think wont work is the virtual keyboard. I just don’t think it will work and can’t see people typing on it for that long or fast. There is the keyboard dock you can plug in but this is only in portrait orientation.

Its not widescreen so not ideal if watching movies, no HDMI output, no camera and its tied into the App Store so you can only run apps bought from App Store. Also no SD card slot, no USB port and no drag and drop management.

Looking at the memory of the iPad it looks like Apple are not thinking of this as a laptop replacement (which makes sense – they dont want to lose potential sales of their MacBooks) but I don’t see who will be the main users.

I am sure reading this you will think I am just being anti-Apple since I have a PC but was I really was hoping for a great device. (And, I have an iPhone and love it so don’t just hate all Apple things).

PS – It also has a stupid name!