Steve Jurvetson on clean tech innovation that will change the world
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The plain sailing Manchester United would have expected in the group stage of their Champions League campaign has turned into a rough ride after Tuesdays 3-3 home draw with Swiss side Basel, who were unlucky not to have come away from Old Trafford with the three points.
Two draws in their last two games, away to Stoke City in the Premier League and the late escape against Basel, will have rooted out any complacency that might have crept into Alex FergusonÂs men after their flying start to the season which included an 8-2 drubbing of Arsenal.
UnitedÂs last two performances also showed that despite their three big summer signings in David De Gea, Phil Jones and Ashley Young, the team still lack depth when key players are injured.
With Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, Javier Hernandez and the increasingly influential Chris Smalling all sidelined, UnitedÂs makeshift 11 with Ecuador winger Antonio Valencia filling in at right back looked bereft of ideas up front against Stoke and utterly unconvincing even when they were 2-0 up against Basel, when only a late Young header spared them from paying in full for a comedy of errors at the back.
Any thoughts of wrestling the Champions League title away from holders Barcelona will have also taken a back seat for the time being, especially given they also drew 1-1 at Benfica in their opener, as Ferguson could face fresh dilemmas with what to do with one or two players.
Dimitar Berbatov looks confined to the fringes, behind four other strikers in the pecking order, and Ferguson might be tempted to offload the Bulgarian during the January transfer window when he can still get a decent bargain for last seasonÂs joint top scorer in the Premier League.
Michael Owen won widespread praise for his brace in the 3-0 League Cup win over Leeds United last week but looked rather flat against Stoke and played no part on Tuesday, while Rio Ferdinand was completely at sea against BaselÂs 32-year old striker Alexander Frei.
Midfielder Michael Carrick told Manchester United television after the game that it was a one-off blip United should easily bounce back from, as they were expected to after a poor start in the 2005-06 campaign.
United finished bottom of the group that season, behind Villarreal, Benfica and Lille, having missed out on even the consolation prize of carrying on in the UEFA Cup after the winter break.
Does Ferguson, hence, need to add more signings in January if the Premier League champions are to retain their domestic title and challenge for their fourth European Cup?
Or, will UnitedÂs patchy form turn out to be a harmless glitch, as Carrick predicted, when they are back to full strength?
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, has unexpectedly pulled out of its joint $5 billion bid with Peabody Energy for Australian miner Macarthur Coal, just a day after the buyers said they had secured a majority of shares.
New Hope Corp, the $5 billion Australian coal miner that put itself up for auction earlier this month is considering a break-up and asset sales amid interest from global resource companies, two sources said.
Foster’s, Australia’s largest brewer, said it expects beer sales to pick up again when the economy improves, fuelling small shareholder anger at the company’s capitulation to a $10.4 billion takeover by SABMiller.
“Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.’s options show investors are becoming more convinced the copper and gold explorer will be a takeover candidate by March,” reports Bloomberg.
Fortune gives a rundown of the latest rumors swirling around Yahoo.
For your morning distraction, Kid Dynamite breaks down Google’s “Trending Now” list.
The maker of Barbie dolls said third-quarter net sales rose
9 percent to $2.0 billion.Analysts, on average, were expecting sales of $1.97 billion,
according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
