Simply, the Best!

Recently my blog posts, it could easily be said, have been written as a fan first and a blogger second. I'd argue that I am a football fan first and a blogger second so all my blog posts have been written in such a way.

I get equal joy in being a football fan as I do writing about the sport and so it gives me as much pleasure writing about Manchester United winning the Premier League as it did to be at Old Trafford on Monday to see them beat Aston Villa 3-0 and thus capture the Premier League title. Well okay, that's a slight lie.

Yes United wrapped up their 13th Premier League title on Monday night with four games to spare with a points gap that currently stands at 16 points. There is a good chance that the gap to closest rivals, Manchester City, will come down by the end of the season; City have a game in hand and United have the harder remaining fixtures. That though should not take away from the fantastic achievement of this title winning side. After all a team winning a title with so long to go, relatively, will always be remembered as a great side of course.....

Apparently not!

On winning the league, and even before hand, it has been levelled that Sir Alex Ferguson's side is not 'one of his best' and that, even more ridiculously, United have only won the title because everyone else is rubbish.

Champions always deserve to be champions, this much can be said of all league campaigns. That is not to say that you don't need a tinge of luck but over such a long competition the team that wins and the teams who get relegated will always be the best and worst respectively.

Is it SAF's best ever United team? No of course not but the Scot himself, not one for these comparisons has told us it's one of, if not the, best squad he's had. Upfront the 'Red Devils' possess one of the best strikers in the world in Robin Van Persie and probably the best strike force as he is partnered by Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck. Within the ranks are also some of the best young talent in the game, some of them even English, in the likes of David de Gea, Phil Jones and Rafael. Add this with the experienced perennial winners in the shape of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick and you have an almost perfectly formed squad, the likes of which not even Sir Alex's long reign can previously boast.

Is the rest of the league that bad? No! The Premier League's 'demise' is greatly exaggerated despite any representation in the last four of the Champions League. For one all 4 sides went out in very different circumstances and three of the four went out to at least one, if not two in City's case, of the semi-finalists. Three English teams did make it into the Europa League and Chelsea, still reigning Champions League winners for now, are still there. A sign of improvement is not usually found at the top anyway, it is normally in the middle and lower skilled where the gap closes. Take cricket as an example, no batsmen will ever be better than the great Sir Donald Bradman but the worst of this era's batsmen are far superior to the bygone age of the 'rabbit' coming in at 11. Taking this example we can see that the middle to lower sides have certainly closed the gap to the likes of Liverpool and Everton.

United's dominance is laughably being used as proof that they only won the league because everyone else is rubbish, meanwhile in Germany Bayern Munich won the title by 20 points and people are saying they are the best team in Europe in the best league in the world because of this.

This United team does not inspire and destroy like the Treble winning side of 1998/99 or even the Double winners of 2007/08 but it is a juggernaut of a squad who do not give up ever. They have ground out the title in a spectacular way and they have done it as a brilliant squad.

This title does not belong to the sides below being rubbish it belongs, simply, to the best!


Officially You Don't Know Your Job

Officiating in a game of football cannot be easy, I've never had to do it but that's only because the team Sporting JLGB were due to face when we had no referee assigned that day did not turn up- I was very relieved.

On some occasions referees and their assistants get a harder time than they deserve. Many occasions I have felt sorry for a 4th official, powerless to do anything but taking abuse from both manager's in the dugout on behalf of the 'ref'.

Of course officials do not help themselves. There is always terrible decisions to pour over, and I often do. I have been known to abuse 'refs' as much as the next Sunday League player/coach/manager/secretary/fan. Officials making mistakes, after the heat of the moment, is acceptable.

What is not acceptable is them not knowing their job. On Tuesday night Bayern Munich played Barcelona in the Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg. Munich ran out comfortable 4-0 winners.

Bayern's second goal may have been offside, it was a close call. The assistant referee did not flag. In part this was because he did not believe Mario Gomez was offside but partially this was because Arjen Robben was stood in his way. Both ref and assistant did their job correctly. My issue comes with official number five, or six I'm not sure. The 5th official, the man stood by the goal, clearly thought Gomez was offside. His first reaction, like that of a striker believing he is offside, was to look at the assistant. When he saw no flag he too decided it mustn't have been offside but that's not his job. The 5th official is essentially just another assistant, his job is to decide his stance, in this case that Gomez was offside, flag for it and allow the ref to weigh up both opinions.

On this occasion the ref would have sided with his assistant ahead of 'number 5' but that's totally besides the point. Until officials know what their role is how can we expect them to do it properly?

Finally F.A is Sweet

Luis Suarez bit another footballer, for the second time in his career!

Just read that sentence, read it several times if something doesn't look quite right, it shouldn't look right. No person should bite another. It, in the worst possible way, is what animals do. It is a disgusting act done by no one with any decency.

Suarez has previous, and not just with biting, and his constant trips to F.A disciplinary hearings, the fact he's a repeat offender and the fact he bit someone has led to him getting a 10 match ban.

Many believe this is harsh and the Football Association has once again got it all wrong. They have pointed to Jermaine Defoe's bite on Javier Mascherano going unpunished but just because it has made once mistake a few years ago this doesn't mean they should compound it by making the same mistake again. Some, including Gus Poyet, say that Suarez is being targeted but perhaps the Uruguayan should stop biting and diving amongst his many other flaws.

For once they've done something and it really is sweet F.A