After a miserable midweek Champions League match against Besiktas, the Premier League is here to save the day as bottom club Portsmouth host the Champions at Fratton Park. However, Sir Alex begins his two-match ban, so Mike Phelan will be handing out the touchline instructions.

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Sorry about the delayed preview post. Here goes…

United play Besiktas at Old Trafford, having already qualified for the Champions League round of 16 — unlike some other sides who couldn’t even qualify. It’s now a question of us winning the group.

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I don’t indulge in schadenfreude, but I’ll make an exception. I had a long day outdoors, getting stuff fixed etc., so imagine my horror when I discovered what I’d missed in the day’s Champions League action. I surely didn’t feel I deserved to miss the occasion as it happened.

So, to make up for my loss, I thought let’s have a dedicated thread in revelling in someone else’s misfortune.

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The BBC have a wonderful little feature on Jonny Evans. [video link here] If you haven’t watched it I suggest you do.

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Another international break has ended finally giving United the opportunity to avenge the 1-0 defeat against Chelsea. Willing victims, Everton, line up at Old Trafford in the day’s late kick-off, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s touchline ban not set to begin until after the match; he will surely demand a victory before he takes his seat in the stands.

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We continue to edge closer to United related news, but this was too difficult to pass up. When the King speaks we have to listen:

“I think that Raymond Domenech is the worst coach in French football since Louis XVI. If it was up to me, I’d put (Bordeaux coach) Laurent Blanc in charge of the France team,” the former Manchester United hero continued.

“He continues the season with Bordeaux, he wins the league with Bordeaux and he wins the World Cup! I’m not the only one who thinks that… What shocked me most wasn’t the handball, honestly,” said Cantona.

“What shocked me most was that at the end of the match, in front of the television cameras, this player (Henry) went and sat down next to an Irish player to console him, even though he’d screwed them three minutes earlier.

“If I’d been Irish, he wouldn’t have lasted three seconds.”

This is a United blog. I’m quite aware of that. We are also in the midst of the international week which, thankfully, is coming to an end. [Almost feels like a birthday present] But sometimes, even events that transpire during a spell of supposed irrelevance, such as yesterday, can turn out to be pertinent and worth discussing in a shrine — such as this site — so engrossed in red-tinted worship.

So bear with me this once.

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The Telegraph ran this story about a new set of Premier League rules being passed, giving the press and media rights holders wider access to the managers and players.

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The international break means there will be little club news to report. But it seems some sort of groundwork is already being set in motion, with the transfer window a month and a half away.

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