Holding Out for a Hero

Manchester United 2-0 Cardiff City 

The crowd sang Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s name as they looked, seemingly at times in vain, for a hero to rescue them. But this was not May 1999, this was January 2014. This was not Camp Nou but Old Trafford. And this was not Bayern Munich in the Champions League Final but Cardiff City in the Premier League.

Times have changed since that fateful night in Barcelona but the need for a hero still remained as Manchester United took to the pitch against Cardiff. Before the match began there was a tremendous reception for United’s former number 20 as he took his place on the opposition bench. On any other night his return would have been the story. However, on this night, Old Trafford welcomed back Robin Van Persie from injury. But the headline didn’t even go to the Dutch striker, on this night the main attraction in Manchester came from Spain via Chelsea. On this night United welcomed Juan Mata.

The game kicked off and the ‘Red Devils’ looked intent on attacking from the off. It didn’t take long for the ball to find its way to Mata and in turn Van Persie. On six minutes the Spaniard sprayed the ball to the left and found Ashley Young who checked back onto his right foot and swung in a cross that Antonia Valencia headed against the bar, Van Persie slotted the follow up from close range. But Old Trafford is a different place these days and an early 1-0 lead did nothing to lift the nerves that have settled over the ‘Theatre of Dreams’ during United’s bad form.

Cardiff fans were out singing their hosts. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to Old Trafford often enough to know the home fans aren’t always the loudest but home fans rarely are. At the league cup semi final the 9000 Sunderland fans were excellent, but I’ve been to the Stadium of Light where they were silent. Spurs fans love to gloat about their away support but against Wigan last season they were out sung, BY WIGAN FANS! But even the Stretford End has been relatively quiet recently and, other than stirring to sing for Ole, this trend continued as Cardiff began to get a bit of a foothold in the match. There weren’t many clear cut chances but chances and crosses flashed across the box came and went as the home crowd gasped with horror built from recent games against Swansea and Sunderland.

Cardiff continued to push forward on the break as half time came and went and still looked bright on the counter in the second half. Then, with a flash of brilliance from none other than Ashley Young, that cloud of doubt, of nerves, of tension, was gone. Cutting in from the left Young hit the ball beyond the reach of David Marshall and it nestled into the back of the net. The crowd rose and cheered, sheer and utter relief!

There was singing, chanting and good, patient but attacking football. Mata and Jonny Evans came close with long range shots. Just to add to the party mood Van Persie was replaced by Wayne Rooney to a standing ovation that was extended for both players. Januzaj came on for Mata and the trick was repeated. Rooney nearly made it 3-0 with a cheeky chip and then Marshall saved well from Valencia.

This was neither a classic nor a tale for the ages. It was not a match that suggested United would win the title, or even finish in the top four. United still need to put together a run of form. But part of the nerves that shackle Old Trafford have begun to lift. In 99 Ole was the hero in a team of legends, now in a mediocre side United may need four heroes, when Mata, Januzaj, Van Persie and Rooney get on the pitch together they may just have them.

The Curious Case of Wayne Rooney

I still remember the ball being brought down by his right foot, the swivel on the ball, he shaped up to hit the shot and then, with the brilliance of a world class striker, he hit it. It looped over England's best centre back who could only look on in amazement as the ball struck the underside of the cross bar to beat England's number 1 'keeper'. 

This was of course Wayne Rooney, at 16, scoring a wonder goal from 30 yards out against David Seaman to stop Arsenal going 31 games unbeaten in the league. It was his first senior goal. I remember it so vividly, I can even remember the conversation about it the next morning at the Heaton Park football pitches before King David F.C took on South Manchester. And of course I remember the commentary.


Fast forward to modern day, Monday night to be precise, and the exciting youngster who defeated the then champions of England looked more like a washed up, out of shape and rubbish player- ironically against the now champions of England as Manchester United lost the Manchester derby to City. 

Rooney was not the only 'Red Devil' who looked below par but he was the most worrying. The ex-Evertonian is not exactly having an awful season, after all he has 12 goals and 9 assists for United in just 22 games whilst this year alone he has scored in all 3 of England's internationals. All in all it is a fantastic return for the 27 year old however what worries is how he plays when first coming back from injury and, most importantly, how often he's been injured.

Sir Alex Ferguson has gone on record on a couple of occasions this season about United's number 10 and his fitness; "Wayne is a boy that needs games, you can see that from the frame he’s got." said the Scot. And even more recently he repeated the idea "He's missed bits of games and I think Wayne is the type of player who can't miss games." In essence the United manager is saying that Rooney can't afford to miss games because it takes him several games to get back up to any decent level. 

Too often this season, Real Madrid, Chelsea and City at least, Rooney has been injured in the build up to big matches. He wasn't risked against either Madrid or Chelsea but, with United's recent performances being under par, 'Wazza' was thrown in from the start in the derby. 

That putting Rooney in from the start in the derby can be viewed as a gamble should be preposterous he is still, after all,  United's talisman despite Robin van Persie's added brilliance. Yes most player's might lose a step or two after a week out but Rooney looks unable to perform until 3 games after a 'come back'. 

I don't yet think the 'boy' from Croxteth should be moved on, nor do I think he will be, but something seriously needs to be done- either stop him getting injured or find a way of getting him back to his best quicker. Remember the name- because the brilliance may start to fade.


Curiosity Kills the Kag

I remember a lot. It doesn't help because it's never useful things. But I remember watching as City destroyed United 6-1 at Old Trafford. It was only last season, of course I remember.

On that day City were almost unstoppable, especially after 'The Reds' continued attacking at 3-1 down. After the match pundits poured over the game and everyone came to the conclusion that the biggest difference between the two sides was David Silva. The small but hugely talented attacking midfielder got in the gap between United's defence and midfield and ran the show with brilliant off the ball running and excellent passing. His creativity is what United lacked, not only in that match but also for the season.

With City going on to win the league United looked to find that spark of inspiration and, with the season barely over, they announced that Borussia Dortmund's own attacking midfielder, Shinji Kagawa, would be joining. The Japanese player was named Bundesliga "Player of the Season" in Dortmund's title win. 

Players often struggle in their first season in the Premier League but, despite a slowish start, Kagawa has shown himself to be an extremely promising signing- especially with his hat-trick vs. Norwich in March. With this in mind and Rooney's inability to come back from injury it seemed ridiculous that the man from Kobe wouldn't start. 'Kag' didn't even get onto the pitch till the 92nd minute when Ashley Young went off injured.

United will go onto win the title, not because of their small but hugely talented attacking midfielder but because of Robin van Persie. Next season City will look to sign their own RvP, perhaps United can just find room for their own world class attacking midfielder.

That's Just Champion!

Not Very Italian

Perhaps the most exciting last 22 minutes of a football match you're likely to see kicked off the 20th season of the Champions League as Manchester City came within a defensive mistake and 5 minutes of a famous victory away to Real Madrid.

That City came within 5 minutes of winning was incredible testament to their effort although, as Joe Hart said and I suggested in a previous blog post, simply going to the Bernabéu and coming close is not enough for a team of City's current stature. That the 'Blues' lost because of a serious of defensive errors is almost baffling. 

On the way to winning the league last season City conceded just 29 goals, already this season they have seen the opposition score 6 times with Arsenal to come on Sunday. Only two season's ago it was being suggested Roberto Mancini would never lead City to the Premier League title as he was too defensive, last season Mancini was able to combine defencive stability with flair and attacking prowess to win the league. Tonight, in the Champions League City looked terribly poor at the back especially Vincent Kompany, the captain and usually a rock at the back. 



It seems worrying for City that they have looked so oddly weak defensively because it is not one or two mistakes creeping in they look, as a unit, to be poor. Joe Hart has made mistakes, Vincent Kompany too, whilst Joleon Lescott looks less assured than last season- a knock on effect from Kompany's form- and the full backs have never settled under Mancini as he enjoys rotating them.

Fortunately for City their title rivals weaknesses are also prominently defensive, it means that games between the top four may turn out to be just as exciting as last season's 8-2's and 6-1's.

We're Not So Different You and I

I said in my last blog post that I thought AVB just needed time and, though the turnaround is nowhere near complete, my faith does seem a little vindicated already.

It is not just the win that has led me to gleam over AVB this week but also the manner of the football, the ex Porto manager seems to have got his system correct with Sandro and Moussa Dembele creating a fantastic midfield partnership. Villas-Boas also had a good week in the press managing to hit back at his predecessor, the shadow that is Harry Redknapp, after Harry had criticised his style of management. This was also, accidentally, a response to Martin Keown who had suggested on BBC Radio 5 Live that Villas-Boas was 'too tactical' and 'confusing' his players. 

Surely though the most pleasing thing for Spurs fans and, even more so, the manager will be the excellent form of Jermain Defoe who already has 3 league goals this season and 2 for England (which should have been 3 against Ukraine). Defoe's goals have kept Emmanuel Adebayour on the bench and the ex Portsmouth striker looks full of confidence unlikely to stop scoring.

Ironically Defoe's upturn in fortune seems to have come from AVB's man management skills and decision to give the Englishman an extended run in the team meanwhile Harry lost his job after being unable to keep his player's focus once he was convinced he'd get the England job.

Pick Your Words Wisely

Joe Hart was rightly a little mad at the end of his teams match versus Spanish champions Real Madrid. Not only had City seen their 2-1 lead to turn to a 3-2 deficit in only 5 minutes but Hart was also partially at fault for the last goal.

Hart was interviewed after the match and suggested in his answer that the interviewer wanted him to say that the team could go away from the match with their heads held high instead he apologised and then, rightly said, they were annoyed they lost from 2-1 up with 5 minutes to go and lost. He even questioned it "how can you be 2-1 up with 5 minutes to go and lose 3-2?", the answer to winning from 2-1 down is; with the will and determination to win no matter what, but then I guess he should know that after May 13th 2012!

Retain or Regain?

We're in our 20th year of the Champions League, in its current guise, and still no club has managed to defend their title as best team in Europe. On Wednesday night Chelsea begin their challenge to become the first.

Chelsea's group is tricky with Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk to play but they should still qualify for the knockout stages. Roberto Di Matteo's side should arguably be better equipped to win the Champions League this season as their new players have made them into a dangerous attacking outfit, however this new setup will work adversely against the likes of Barcelona and this season they will also have a Premier League title challenge to contend with.

It looks like we'll be waiting till at least the 21st year till we get a defending champion!

Going, Going... Still here?

It doesn't seem like a lot of time has passed since I walked past a bookmakers and thought "Rooney 2/1 to still be at United come next season? What great odds". This exclamation isn't a fabrication and nor was it with hindsight it was done the day the Rooney said he would be leaving United. Such was my conviction he would stay I claimed to any who would listen that I'd have bet money if I was a betting man.

Of course the reason it doesn't seem like too long ago since all this happened is because it really isn't that long ago at all. Back on the 20th October United were struggling to beat Turkish champions Bursapor in the shadow of Wayne Rooney's claims that he wouldn't be signing a new contract at the club and the main reason was because the club was going no where fast.

Fast forward to November 25th and Rooney was finally apologising to the fans, not just a month and five days since his statement but also a month after he'd signed his new contract.

Of course when the dust settled and all had been said it turned out that the boy Wayne hadn't been speaking from his head or even his heart. No it was the work of an evil genius, his agent. Rooney, so we now are told, had wanted in his heart of hearts to stay at United forever, fathered by the great Sir Alex. His agent on the other hand had wanted some more money, and so Wayne signed a new contract worth somewhere between £160,000 pound a week and £200,000 a week.

I know, I'm either way out of date or, as usual, I'm blabbering on before I get to my real point. It's of course the latter, so here goes. Fast forward again to the 12th of December but stay firmly in Manchester and yet another hero of the strikers fraternity was handing in a transfer request and causing an almighty kerfuffle at Manchester City.

This time it was Carlos Tevez kicking up a fuss. Not only was he not signing a new contract but Tevez handed in his transfer request and it seemed he not only wanted to go but go in January and if not sold then he'd retire. And why exactly? Well, and here's where you have to swim through mountains of utter tosh, firstly we were told he was missing his kids and wanted a trip back to Argentina and would either take a transfer away from Manchester or retirement from football. Then it seemed Carlos wasn't happy with not being in the Champions League having been promised that the club would be there this season. At this point the club hit back, presumably annoyed that Tevez now looked to be wanting a move away from Eastlands for footballing reasons and not family ones, they said that there must be dark forces at work, yes of course, it must be Tevez's agent, the now infamous Kia Joorabchian. Tevez came back saying Kia had persuaded him to stay in the summer when he wanted, which must be why Tevez changed his mind about only once he'd had a meeting with the club's owners minus Mr Joorabchian.

So what have we learnt so far then? Wayne wanted to leave and then didn't, earning himself a standing ovation when he finally came back from injury. Then Carlos wanted to leave and then didn't, earning himself the biggest cheer of the night against Everton- although that had something to do with City's lacklustre performance.

But the whole situation had led us to learn something more about Tevez than Rooney, for it seems to me that Tevez was making trouble for himself, and not for the first time.

Please don't see this as me attacking Tevez the player, even as a City player. The Argentinian is without doubt one of the most talented players in the Premier League at the moment. His work rate is second to none and earned him plaudits at West Ham, where it took him several months to score, at Manchester United, where fans wanted Fergie to sign him up and instantly at City, where fans apparently wanted Fergie to sign him up. His goal scoring record since being at City is brilliant and they are very much a lesser team without him but then perhaps all these facts are why his actions are so baffling.

Tevez started in England with West Ham in 2006 and did not learn much English whilst with the 'Hammers', which was understandable as no one expected him to stay there long and who knew where he'd move on to. Once at Old Trafford though surely Tevez and his agent would hope he'd be there a long time and set about learning English so he could understand his colleagues better and just get on with normal life better. On leaving Old Trafford to move across the city Tevez took a final swipe at Fergie saying that the boss hadn't spoken to him in months, a fair complaint you might think but surely not when Carlos can barely speak or understand English at the best of times never mind when someone with a thick Govan accent is talking. Then onto City where he has continued to not speak or understand English all too well, which is amazing considering one of the other reasons for his wanting to leave just over a week ago was that his relationship with certain executives, Brian Marwood and Garry Cook, had broken down to an unfixable degree. What kind of relationship any player needs to have with a club's executives is highly questionably of course.

So Tevez has never learnt English in his four and a bit years in the country, seems to pick a fight with everyone and anyone- something he did even before hitting these shores by wearing a United top during a Corinthians training session- and has a history of being with clubs no longer than 3 years. It seems to me that the great Carlos adventure may have been slowed down by his retraction of his transfer request but the English leg may be coming to an end. For City's sake I hope I'm wrong, in fact for the Premier League's sake I hope I'm wrong.

Weather or Not

Bloody Manchester!

Don't get me wrong, I do love this city (yes honestly), but it's the weather- it's all over the bleeding place.

I get up this morning at half 7 and the weather, though not great, was certainly not horrendous. Arrive at work at 10 with no sign of rain despite the odd cloud, by noon the rain was bouncing off the pavement with much aggression. Of course it wouldn't stop there, oh no, by half 1 the sun was out and it seemed to be heading towards a pleasant afternoon, that was of course before it started chucking it down with rain again at 3. It's just ridiculous.

But of course I digress, as usual, for this is not Sidler on Weather, as exciting a blog as that would be.

The weather in Manchester is such that they say you can get four seasons in just one day and that seems to mirror football in the region, it seems we've had at least two seasons in just one footballing weekend.

First up was the blue team of Manchester. City, who have spent upwards of 100 million pounds on players this season, took on their fourth place rivals of last year Spurs. City were absolutely rained upon. Tottenham's soon to be Champions League players were well onto of their much richer rivals and it seemed that the Mancunians multi-million pound squad were struggling to gel.

Out of the melee of shots that was being rained down on them City found a very useful umbrella. Of course it would be that out of all of the mass amounts the 'Citizens' have spent in the last two years it would be a man who cost them a maximum of £1.5 million before the 'Citeh' era who would prove to be their most valuable asset on the opening weekend of the season and most likely the rest of the season.

City of course are hoping to hail (get it) in a new era, and they will be doing so now without Craig Bellamy and Stephen Ireland, the latter seemingly on his way to Aston Villa as part of the deal to take James Milner to Eastlands. But, if their opening day fixture is anything to go by, City's main issue will be getting their team to gel quickly and with two more players coming in since the weekend Roberto Mancini has a big job on his hands.

Over at Old Trafford the sun was shining, despite the driving rain, especially on the evergreens in red. The United of Manchester took on their Newcastle counterparts as they began their quest to wrestle the league title back off the hands of Chelsea and they looked good in their match against the newly promoted Magpies. Chelsea had shone on their season debut against another promoted side, West Brom, putting 6 past the team from the Midlands and United needed to respond with an emphatic victory of their own, and they got it.

There was lots to talk about from the 3-0 win, from Joey Barton's 'moustache' to Dimitar Berbatov's impression of a player playing to his potential. But there was one man who stole the headlines and rightly so. There's snow way one could fail to mention Paul Scholes. He was brilliant. So good, in fact, that his Spanish midfield compatriots, Xavi and Iniesta, would have been watching in wonder and amazement. Near everything that came off Scholes' boot flew to its designated place on the pitch. His passing was immaculate and the most incredible thing was the sheer variety of passes; lofted, drilled, short, long, over the top, through the middle. The man was brilliant, no more so than when he set up Ryan Giggs, his forever partner in crime, for the 3rd goal, a goal which stretched Giggs' record of scoring in every season of the Premier League, a record which may well stop sooner rather than later.

Of course the season is only one week old and we cannot take too much from the first week of the season but we at least know that Chelsea look every bit the favourites they ought to be, City, despite their spending, cannot hope to achieve instant success and United will one day be much the worse for not being able to call on Scholes and Giggs. I guess we knew all this already, all which proves I really haven't the foggiest

Welcome to Football!

Forget the gloating. Forget the violent morons arrested before the match. Forget the insults. Forget the poster. Forget Carlos Tevez, actually don't forget him, he's important.

Last night it didn't matter if you were a Manchester City or Manchester United fan, it didn't even matter if you hated both these teams, it just mattered that you can appreciate football in it's most beautiful form.

It wasn't just about last night though, it was about last week as well. Two of the countries biggest clubs entertained us to the maximum in the last 7 days and all in a competition that has been nicknamed the "Mickey Mouse Cup", the "Worthless Cup" and such other things in the last few years.

Suddenly the countries attention turned to the Carling Cup. On a night where Aston Villa faced Arsenal and Chelsea put in another brilliant performance to go top the Premier League never seemed so insignificant.

Not having Sky Sports I went to a pub to watch the match with some friends. One a big City fan, one a big United fan and one with very little interest in football. The pub was split pretty evenly with City and United fans. Singing began before kick off, the United fans booing any sights of Carlos Tevez and chanting the name of the white Pele on his every appearance "Rooney, Rooney, Rooney". Even from the pub some 3.5 miles away from Old Trafford you could sense that these two would be the protagonists for his side.

The nerves lay on the shoulders of those in Blue as the match started. United were favourites but had nothing to lose, City were ahead and had it all to lose but so much to gain to. The none football fan amongst my friends remarked towards the City fan "watching your reactions is half the fun". As the game wore on the nerves didn't quite totally shift, but I certainly began getting more nervous, and so did the other United fans as they began to sing more, the nervous energy becoming songs.

But it's not just about my experience of the game, last night was about pure drama, pure football. One moron, possibly two, tried to ruin the atmosphere and the excitement by throwing a coin at Craig Bellamy, if anything it added to the excitement and it the occasion, it showed the two sets of players agreeing with the rest of the population, that this person is clearly a moron. The way I'd punish him would be to ban him from all football matches but one. And for that one match I'd drag him into the centre circle at half time of Manchester City vs Manchester United and allow the Welshman to kick the moron right in the testicles and let everyone point and laugh.

But enough of that. He tried to ruin the game he didn't. It was awesome. I loved watching it, I love watching all football but this game was special to everyone, especially everyone in Manchester. The rivalry last night was taken to a new level but at the same time the rivalry kind of disappeared. We all loved the game no matter, obviously come the end of the match City fans weren't in as good a mood as the reds of Manchester but even they had to applaud a real battle of two teams who really wanted to win, needed to win.

This blog hasn't really been about anything. Some might complain about that but it doesn't really matter to me. I'm just telling you how much I love football especially when it was exciting as last night.

Talking of cup excitement last Sunday was the Shonn Trophy, no doubt you don't know this competition because it's one that Sporting JLGB played in. Yes ladies and gents- it's back, Sunday League is back. We lost 2-1 to Maccabi, saddening yes but we played with 10 for the whole match and we were excellent. For half an hour we outplayed them, and then we went down to 9 men, and they got a cheeky goal. Very annoying but we came off the pitch, heads held high. Unfortunately no semi final place but still.

Back at Old Trafford United fans and players celebrated. City fans and players thought of what might have been. Fortunately they have the F.A Cup still to play for and a trip to Wembley is still possible. Any side who took part in that semi-final deserves that place, and so I for one will be cheering them all the way to the FA Cup Final and I don't care if that upsets any United fans.

Welcome to the league cup! Welcome to football! Most of all, WELCOME TO MANCHESTER!!

Passing the Test of Time

C.S Lewis once said that “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” For the 'old men' of the Premier League apparently you start living them again once your old as well.

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are 34 and 35 respectively, in the young mans game that is Premier League football this is absolutely ancient. No doubt that the youngsters of today's game with all their trickery and pace have brushed passed these old veterans showing them how far football has come since their heyday of the mid to late 90's! Or not!

While players such as the Brazilian Anderson and the Portuguese, successor to Ronaldo, Nani have struggled this season, the godfathers of the current United team have really shown the way. On Saturday against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, a tricky place to go, Scholes had pulled all the strings in the first half but the forwards had no luck in breaking the Stoke defence. Meanwhile prowling on the touchline was Giggs, one week on from his match winning performance in the derby game. Nani had been the picture of inconsistency, going from lovely runs to pointless step overs in an instance.

It has been difficult for the young Portuguese winger since joining United, and even more so now he seems to feel pressured into replacing the now departed Ronaldo. After 55 minutes of doing his best to replicate his countryman on came Giggs as Nani's replacement to prove it should be the timeless Welsh wonder he replicates. Within 7 minutes it was Stoke 0-1 United, and inevitably Giggs was the provider with his ball into Dimitar Berbatov to score.. Just 16 minutes after that and it was game over! Stoke 0-2 United, and again Giggs with the ball into the box, this time for John O'Shea to head home.

Two quotes jumped out after the game to truly tell the story.
"They (Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes) are both great players but Scholes was magnificent. He (Paul Scholes) was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. Then Giggs makes the two goals." That by Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager who you felt could have gone on about Scholes's contribution for hours.

The second came from Phil McNulty, who perhaps best described why Giggs is just so good and Nani is far from it.
"Let's hope Nani was taking a note of how Ryan Giggs set up Dimitar Berbatov for his goal. Football is essentially a simple game made complicated by players like Nani." Never has much a truer word been said.

How many times have the ginger maestro and his Welsh compatriot been retired by some critic or other. Scholes especially has had a hard time of it the last few years. Injuries have kept him out for long periods of time, worries were especially high a few seasons ago when he had double vision and dizziness for months people feared for his career. Back he came the season after, playing a massive role in getting United to the Champions League final with an awesome goal against Barcelona in the Semi final. Again last season people were questioning how much longer Scholesy could continue, overrun and losing possession more in some matches than he had in whole seasons previously. Now suddenly he has returned to his best once again. United have only lost once away all season, against Burnley, and who wasn't in central midfield to keep possession that day? Paul somebody or other!

Surrounded by a team that is growing in confidence and experience Scholes and Giggs do not need to supply the pace, there is plenty of that. Nor do they need to throw themselves round the pitch; though Scholes still does, rarely winning the ball of course, for that there is Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher. Instead Paul and Ryan can concentrate on winning games and in helping others take the limelight with goals they are instead stealing it themselves.

Down in Sunday League it is the opposite. When some players come back old and injured they cannot handle the pace. Delusions of grandeur are also commonplace in Sunday league, mix in the two problems and you have a player who is a waste of space. Even more annoyingly someone who argues their way into a team, and then is awful. Thankfully said person is now out of the team and has retired himself, he is no Scholes, no Giggs, he is barely worth typing about. After a two week break we sadly succumbed to a 5-1 loss against a weak side, manager and player errors a like caused it but we'll be back, unfortunately after yet another two week break.

Back to the good old duo! What is perhaps most telling about them is that Sir Alex still plays them both. He is not one for sentiment, when you're past it you're past it! And remembering the amount of times these two have been written off they mirror their boss, down and out for one minute, world beaters the next- they may not quite be his children but in footballing terms they may as well be! All this without a backflipped celebration in sight!