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.

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.

As it ends so it begins

I wish people would listen to me. I've been saying all along that England would fail early on and crash out in the 2nd round having played average at best throughout. Now how do I delete all my old posts to cover my tracks.

Right so it wasn't great, in fact it was bloody awful. The only positive slants I can find is that fact that we conceded the decisive 3rd and 4th goals whilst attacking too much to get back in the game. And there was of course that incident for Frank Lampard, you know when he hit the cross bar from a free kick. Good job nothing controversial happened ey?

Ohhhh wait, yeah there was that moment the ball clearly crossed the line by a fucking mile, excuse the language but it's difficult not to swear. FIFA, and their master moron Sepp Blatter, decided in all their glory that people just love talking about controversial decisions so much that technology was a stupid idea. Mr Blatter is clearly a moron. People like discussing team selection, formations, transfer rumours and perhaps the odd should that or shouldn't have that been a penalty- not the ball crossed the line why wasn't it a goal? That's not a discussion that's the rules of the game.

Don't get me confused with blaming England's defeat solely on this one moment but it was definitely a game changer. Annoyingly you always knew at some point in this World Cup there would be controversy that highlighted the need for technology after FIFA completely ruled it out several months ago- just did it have to be in the England vs Germany match in such an ironic fashion. Just to soften the pain it wasn't the only moment that had us asking for replays yesterday but amusingly the Mexicans got to see a replay. I say amusingly it was only amusing in the sense it but egg on the faces of FIFA officials. Not amusing in the way ze Germans would have found Lampard's disallowed goal the highest form of schadenfreude (look it up) possible.

So England are out, and of course we look for someone to blame. It could be FIFA, it could be Capello, it could be Wayne Rooney. The truth is it is no one's outright fault. It was the collective. The players underperformed no end, especially Wayne Rooney. There were of course glimpses of good play but not enough at any time. The manager made mistakes, perhaps he was too strict in camp, he certainly got his tactics and team line ups wrong in the first two matches and right up until the end he got the substitutions wrong- Heskey for Defoe, really? And FIFA also got it wrong, months ago, possibly years ago, by refusing to even trial technology. Blatter should take a bow for organising such a wonderful tournament but should get an egg thrown at him whilst doing so.

And what next? For England, and hopefully Capello, we turn our attention to 2012 first. There will be new faces but some old will no doubt stay and at least try to fight for their place. But it is 4 years away and Brazil 2014 that interests me most. Firstly there will no doubt be a new manager, if there isn't already one for 2012, and there will definitely be new players. So after succesfully predicting that we'd win the World Cup this year, shush, I won't be doing the same right now. I beleive we have a chance, though I'd personally back the hosts. But I am going to try and predict the future. Who will be England's squad in 2014?

Joe Hart, Ben Foster, Scott Loach
Nednum Onuha, Micah Richards, Ryan Shawcross, Gary Cahill, Michael Dawson, Leighton Baines, Ashley Cole
Jack Rodwell, Jack Wilshire, James Milner, Adam Johnson, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Lee Cattermole, Fabian Delph, Theo Walcott
Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Defoe, Nathan Delfouneso, Gabriel Agbonlahor

Captain Rooney and I'm not quite sure who the manager will be but don't be surprised to see Mr Beckham somewhere near the squad, if he's not actually playing in it. The funny thing is I'll be miles away with my prediction. But either way between all the fall out from yesterday afternoon till June 2014 it's going to be one hell of a ride.

As it ends so it begins!

In Glory-you Basterds

The Italians waved arrivederci and the French exclaimed 'Sacre bleu' so it is time for the Sidler to once again take on football. Yes I know we've nearly come to the end of the group stages and not a peep from the man who's bored you all half to death about the World Cup for the last year. And for this I would like to apologise, but, the main reason for my silence is that I have been writing a blog over at . I haven't been covering all their matches but if you've missed it so far I shall be covering this afternoon's match between North Korea and Ivory Coast then Uruguay vs South Korea on Saturday afternoon and also Argentina vs Mexico on Sunday evening.

Of course that last blog, for this week at least, on Sunday may well be effected by my emotional over spill from Sunday afternoon's match- and any movie fan, or even Sidler on Football 'fan' will probably guess that I'm here to talk about Sunday afternoon.

First off England, we were dreadful, absolutely dreadful, in our first two games. You don't need me to tell you this but I have to reiterate just how shocking we were. It's a good job kitbag didn't assign me those two games as I'd have been hard pressed not to use swear words. We lacked the ability to out pass and out think sides we should be putting to the sword with ease. And it came down to one final game. Even me, the most passionately blind England fan, was starting to have some doubts. Not over Fabio, the media's reaction to his picking the team 'only' 2 hours before kick off has been a farce, but over the player's ability to overcome the fear.

And just as it looked like they would crumble under the pressure they put in one of the most convincing 90 minutes of football England produce. I'm not getting carried away but actually think of the last time they played so well for the whole 90 minutes, and not just 45 or 60 minutes, and it's difficult.

But now is the real task, ZE GERMANS ARE COMING! Germany started their World Cup campaign in a slightly different fashion to the English- they battered their first opponents, Australia, and had all pundits purring over their performance. Truth was though they were highly flattered by their highly disappointing opponents. This was proved when they lost to Serbia and only a 1-0 win over Ghana saw them progress as winners of Group D.

There will be many naysayers for England going into this 2nd round match, none more so than Franz Beckenbauer who believes that England can only play kick and rush football and that England messed things up by coming 2nd in their group to set up this match as 2nd round match and not a final. But of course I have faith, and ironically it is the Americans who have provided me with the belief that we can, no will, be victorious over the old enemy.

So why have the Americans given me the belief? Well firstly England have our own 'bear Jew', I may lose some of you here and if I have, GO AND WATCH 'Inglourious Basterds" it's an awesome film. But England's 'Bear Jew' is of course Wayne Rooney. Okay, so the boy Wayne hasn't come to life yet but what better place to do so than against Germany. He could really club them into the ground if he could just find form. He was of course looking a lot better in the match against Slovenia but an early piece of magic in the match on Sunday could reinvigorate the United striker and in turn the whole team.

England too have our own Apache in Steven Gerrard. He leads our band of real Englishmen into battle and helps leave a scar on the forehead of our opponents, well maybe not the foreheads but we really need Captain Gerrard to perform the way we know he can, at his marauding best.

Of course I'm not trying to say the German football team are Nazi's, or any Germans for that matter but the fact is you can't think of Germany without thinking that we've beaten them in 2 World Wars and one World Cup. Nor can you think of them without thinking of them dumping us out of the World Cup in 1970 or penalty defeats in 1990 and 1996. Football is war, and in England vs Germany it's a war with plenty of history.

Perhaps Fabio Capello should borrow a quote from Aldo the Apache for his team talk on Sunday;

We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are.
And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the battered, bruised, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us.
And the German won't not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our football boots, and the class of our goals.
And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us.
And when the German closes their eyes at night and they're tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with.
Sooounds good?"

Okay so I changed the words slightly but we're not actually trying to kill them. Are we?

Name off the trophy?

So the time for all the talking to stop is here, and at this moment it's time for the Sidler to speak up once again.

Yes ladies and gentleman unsurprisingly the announcement of Fabio Capello's provisional 30 man squad for the upcoming World Cup has shot me right back into action. I mean it's not been that long has it? MARCH 1st?!?!? What the hell have I been doing?

I've no idea really but at least the football's been boring right?

Well with all the boring football it's a good job the World Cup is round the figurative corner and the countdown has now really kicked off with, not only Capello but, all the managers picking their provisional squads.

Perhaps the biggest news comes from Brazil where past World Cup winners Ronaldinho and Adriano are not included, though Dunga has gone straight to naming his 23 so any injuries could mean a last minute place for either of these two. The French have left out Premiership pair Samir Nasri and Patrick Vieira. Argentina have left out Esteban Cambiasso. Italy have left out Francesco Totti as he couldn't quite decide whether or not to come out of international retirement.

And talking of players coming out of retirement brings us right where we want to be, talking about England's squad.

Firstly there is the man who hasn't come out of retirement, Paul Scholes. I for one would have loved to see Scholes wearing an England shirt once again. The ginger maestro's retirement was probably one of the biggest tragedies of the Sven era. And with Gareth Barry's injury potentially keeping him out of the squad Capello's inability to get Scholes out of retirement may be one tragedy that keeps the World Cup trophy out of English hands. After all with no Barry it could be left to Tom Huddelstone to fill in the holding role in midfield and Huddelstone is an average player at best, even if his ability to hit a ball with power is second to very few if any.

Meanwhile Capello was able to get another player to come out of the international wilderness and unlike on his way out Jamie Carragher managed to not get himself on any sport's based radio stations on the way back into the big time. I am, probably unsurprisingly, not a fan of the Liverpool captain and yet I believe he will probably end up in the final 23 and it may well be one of the most astute picks by Fab. The reason is because of Carra's ability to play at either centre back or more importantly at right back.

Other talking points are in goal, despite the fact that there are no surprises. The three expected to go are the three that have gone but it is the fact that we don't yet know the order in which they are regarded and the fact that at least one if not two of them should perhaps not be there. Joe Hart is exempt from my criticism, he is an excellent goalkeeper in brilliant form and should be England's number one, the sad truth is he may end up being number 3. My main contention comes with the choice of David 'sideshow bob' James. James is simply not reliable enough a goalkeeper to be in the World Cup squad and he never has been. Sam Allardyce's opinion on why his 'keeper' is not going to the World Cup might be wide of the mark but you'd struggle to argue that he shouldn't be in the squad based on his previous experience and form this season.

Upfront the Premierleague's 3rd top goal scorer, Darren Bent, has managed to force his way into the 30 and yet with Capello likely to only take 4 strikers, along with Theo Walcott likely to be taken as a midfielder and cover for a striker, it means one of Bent and Heskey will not be going. And one can't help but think that despite his lack of goals, ever, Heskey will be on his way to South Africa.

But this all sounds far too negative from a man so upbeat on England's chances. So has the squad announcement on top of possible injuries to Terry and Barry and the news of Capello's now defunct ridiculous website dampened my spirit? HELL NO!

Now is the time, more than ever to believe and really get behind the men who will wear the three lions in just a few weeks. Forget my personal bias or club bias this is a squad capable of winning the world cup, heck any side with Messers Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand and A Cole has a great chance.

Win or lose it's time to use the next few weeks to get ready for what will no doubt be a thrilling rollercoaster of a ride. After all only 24 hours after the announcement former captain John Terry looked like he might be ruled out with a broken metertarsal and that's after only 24 hours. It's going to be an exciting time. Can England win the World Cup? As the advert says, "Maybe! Just Maybe"!

Taking the Mickey!

Walk up stairs, walk across dignitaries shaking their hands, smile, lift trophy, listen to crowd applauding- the banner said it all "Not arrogant. Just better" and after 90 minutes of cup final football you couldn't really argue.

Yes I am talking about Manchester United and them winning the first trophy of the year, one often called "The Mickey Mouse Trophy", and it was a tense and exciting final against Aston Villa.

The Carling Cup had had many names down the years but it is always patronised as a competition, either by the media's name calling or managers resting vast amounts of their players. But, other than mocking for mocking's sake, does the Carling Cup really belong to Mickey or is it slightly more dazzling?

There is the obvious, that some of the best teams in the country could not care less about winning the fourth best trophy of the season, these teams do not play their best available 11 in any round. Arsene Wenger has come closest to winning the trophy that he clearly holds no feelings towards whilst playing his often over complimented "kids". This never fully works though as the poor little kiddies get kicked all over the park by the overly cynical big boys (tongue firmly in cheek). Heck back in October we witnessed the children of the Emirates take on the reserves of Anfield or wherever they usually play. Two teams who don't care about minor competitions and only care about the big ones.

Fast forward four months and perhaps both managers, or at least Rafa, may want to reconsider their stance over the trophy Sir Alex and his men picked up at Wembley. Rafa's men can only win the Europa League, and there is certainly better sides than theirs left judging on their latest performance in that competition. Whilst Wenger's men can only win the Champions League, although they are in an even worse position than Liverpool's Europa League campaign, and an outside chance for the Premier League.

Perhaps the second thing against the cup is the lack of a place in Europe for it's runners up should it's winners already be in Europe. But should this really detract from a competition that does still give away a place in Europe? I mean no one's aiming to lose a cup final.

But didn't the Premier League champions win the league cup yesterday? And last year as well? Weren't Chelsea in the two finals before then? So Wenger and Benitez don't value the competition- does that mean it has no value?

Clearly not! Ask Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers, both beat members of the 'big four' in their cup quarter finals and both led their semi finals at one point. They would have done anything to progress to the final and gave a shot at winning some silverware.

The same can be said for Aston Villa, not just content to battle for that illustrious forth position, Martin O'Neil and his players are hell bent on picking up some silverware. And had Nemanja Vidic not somehow escaped a red card they may have come away with some. O'Neil was rightly annoyed at the decision but didn't want to make the game all about it- perhaps is blow softened by the fact he still has the race for forth and the FA Cup to play for.

But the men who clearly think the Carling Cup is worth winning were the ones with the biggest smiles yesterday. Firstly the man who's been there and done that- Sir Alex himself. Having rested some players in the early rounds his selection has strengthened through the matches against Spurs, City and then Villa. Fergie understands that silverware is silverware, something Wenger seems to have forgotten, and that the momentum of a winning team will carry over to the league. Above all though Fergie still plays trophy winning rookies in the final so they know what winning in big matches is all about- every United player NEEDS to know how to win.

The second biggest smile was strung across the face of a United substitute- and let's face it that wasn't the first time this was true of a United winning team, it's just usually the sub isn't Wayne Rooney. The Englishman was dying to start but his manager was dying to rest him and so it was that he started on the bench. Unfortunately Michael Owen left early and so the inevitable match winner entered. Rooney knows how to win trophies and it all started with the league cup.

Above all else is some of the most exciting matches of this season in the earlier rounds of the league cup- the 2nd leg of both semi finals, the quarter finals at City and Blackburn, the topsy turvy giant killing of Burnley by Barnsley and Stoke's 96th minute winner against Blackpool.

Sure the League cup might not be the most important trophy but it's certainly worth winning the final, walking up stairs, walking across dignitaries, shaking their hands, smiling, lifting the trophy, listening to the crowd applauding and getting used to winning more trophies. And so the Mickey Mouse trophy is won! Will United also be the kings of the Magic Kingdom?

Title down to two?

"And then there were two!"

Phil McNulty's words not mine.

Sunday's match wasn't your normal cagey affair between two of the big four, instead it was as open a game of football as you could wish to see. Well it was open in the way that Arsenal's defence opened up for the United attack, especially Messrs Rooney and Almeida da Cunha (or Nani to most of us).

This of course was not the first time that another member of the top four exposed Arsenal’s defence to looking like it had more holes in it than a Swiss cheese, oddly enough Philippe Senderos was already on loan at Everton. Back in November Chelsea exposed Arsene Wenger’s side in the same way, at least Wenger could be happy Thomas Vermaelen didn’t break his leg last week otherwise it would have been Rooney and Nani running at Sol Campbell, the match may have been even more unbearable for Gunners everywhere.

I for one had picked out Arsenal as a good chance for title success just a few weeks ago. United had just lost to Leeds and Chelsea had just lost their African players to their continental competition, Arsenal had a tough run of matches coming up against Aston Villa and United followed by Chelsea and Liverpool. “If they win those four I think they’ll win the league”, this time they were my words, I need to stop predicting stuff- “Marouane Fellaini must be one of the worst midfielders in the Premier League” just before the Everton vs. Man City match and “I can’t stand Park Ji-Sung he just doesn’t add anything to the attack” before Sunday’s match- are both amongst my latest observations before watching football.

Of course United seem to have picked up some form since losing to Leeds, Chelsea look excellent even before their African players arrive back in the Premiership and Wenger’s ‘new animal’s’ have looked like very tired sloths in their matches against Villa and United. That last comment may be slightly harsh, certainly against Villa they weren’t all that bad but certainly against United they showed that perhaps they hadn’t grown up as much as the Frenchman thought since last year’s Champions League exit to the same opponents. So are Arsenal out of the league already?

Clearly there is still plenty of time till the end of the season and they are only 5 points off Chelsea’s top spot, a gap which could be diminished at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. There is also the fact that last time Arsenal lost in the league, against Chelsea, they reacted by going 10 games without losing. Last but not least in Arsenal’s favour is the return of most of their previously missing players- Alex Song’s return from Angola is essential, as is Nicklas Bendtner’s return from injury to give Wenger an actual striker to pick up front instead of rotating the skillful but short midfielders who have beern occupying that area of the pitch.

There is though the other side. For one Arsenal’s best striking option, Robin van Persie, is still out and most likely till April, unless someone else can start scoring the goals by the time the Dutchman is back it may be too late for the title to head to the Emirates. Secondly is the question of the squad. We all know in this day and age it is not about the first 11 but about the whole squad, and Arsenal are definitely third in these stakes. Only a few weeks ago you would have argued Arsenal’s was stronger than United’s but take a look at the champion’s bench on Sunday and you’d find Valencia, Owen, Berbatov, Giggs and Gibson- there was no room for Anderson or Diouf and there is still Ferdinand and Vidic to return from suspension and injury respectively. Finanlly is Arsenal’s recent record in winning the Premier League- unlike their two rivals it is some time since they managed it. Last time they challenged was two seasons ago, Arsenal looked good in the league and travelled to Old Trafford in the FA Cup fifth round on February 16th 2008. They were outplayed in every deparment, losing 4-0 and being embaressed by a young skilfull Portugese winger named Nani. Arsenal never recovered mentaly from that hammering and United went on to win the league.

Football doesn’t always repeat itself but then again Robbie Keane has just gone on a temporary transfer to the team he supported as a boy!

Then there were two? Sunday may just have the answer!

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!!

Doing it easy is just, to easy!

Football really does damage your health. From the cold sweats to the over aggressive celebrations, the heart and most of the body aren't really built to take the punishment but some how we battle through, we watch, we enjoy!

Sometimes our passion goes further, it makes us take part, maybe when we're not good enough, or fit enough, or don't really want to. At times in the last few months Diego Maradona would have felt a whole new feeling, that maybe, for once, he wasn't good enough. Throughout his career Diego has always been too good. But it was always at playing the game, managing the game is like a whole different sport, one which many talented players have failed at.

And the Argentinian legend had seemed to be one of those as well, having taken the position of national manager Diego has put his almost Godesque status in his native country on the line, he has struggled. So, going into the final match of the qualifying campaign away to Uruguay, Argentina were on the brink of not getting to a World Cup for the first time since 1970.

Having been the villain of the piece for many months Diego threw on young Mario Bolatti as a late substitue and just four minutes later Argentina led 1-0 and that was that, the old enemy were heading to South Africa.

With Maradona at the helm Argentina look week, frail, and all together at a loss as to how play football. Scary thought considering they posses the world's best player, Lionel Messi, and several other rather decent players, Tevez, Higuain, Veron, Mascherano, Gutierrez, Heinze to name but a few of them. And if they continue playing the way they have been the World Cup will not last long for them.

Unfortunately for their rivals they wont continue to play this way. The World Cup does magical things to footballers, especially those who have suffered adversity on the way to said event.

Rewind if you will just 4 years ago. The Italian national team arrived in Germany on the back of one of the biggest scandals to hit any footballing league in the world. Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio, three of the countries biggest teams were relegated to the 2nd tier of football, whilst Milan and Regina picked up points deductions. The scandal meant players such as Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, would be playing in Serie B, imagine John Terry in the Championship if you will.

The Italian side were not expected to do too well with the scandal expected to be on the minds of all of thier players. In the group stages the Italians were good but not exceptional, beating Ghana and Czech Republic then drawing with U.S.A, the Azzuri topped their group as was expected. Four years earlier Italy had gone out in Round 2 against Guus Hiddink's South Korea, who were helped by a dreadful Italian performance and some rather awful home refereeing decisions. This time round they faced Australia, managed by none other than Guus Hiddink, this time it was Italy who got the rub of the green, being awarded a 95th minute dodgy penalty to make it 1-0. The quarter final was a 3-0 run over of the very average Ukraine.

Suddenly the semi's were upon us and excitement had reached fever pitch. The Italians scored two late goals in a magnificent extra time match against the Germans and the final was set up, the determined Italians vs the French, a team who possesed a retiring Zinedine Zidane. I could write a whole post dedicated to that man, possibly one just dedicated to the picture of him walking past the World Cup trophy and down the tunnel after his sending off. The Italians of course won on that night! They fought through adversity, through pain! They won when they perhaps felt they weren't good enough, were too emotionally injured and perhaps they didn't even want to be there!

Any one writing off Argentina, in the same way that many wrote off Italy, would be stupid. In 2002 Brazil were written off after a dreadful qualifying campaign, of course they won the World Cup that year. Meanwhile England this year qualified easily and head to the World Cup full of expectation, that will be furthered by the media's and fan's view that we will win the World Cup. Maybe we need a touch of Argentina, although with Wayne Rooney in our ranks we may just have an English Maradona!

Essential work horse or time for the glue factory?

There is a man amongst England's current strike force who, when he scores England win. Oh how I wish it was Wayne Rooney. Admittedly only once in a competitive match have England failed to win when Mr. Rooney has been on the score sheet, although this was a rather big match in Russia back in October 2007.

There is a player amongst England's current back line who has played 57 times for England (at time of writing) and scored 6 goals. England have never lost when said player scores, although they do have a draw against Brazil on one occasion. Unfortunately John Terry doesn't score often enough.... oh wait the first player is Emile Heskey, oops!

Yes 'Big' Emile has never been on a losing side, or even a drawing one, when he has scored for England. But then his international record reads played 57 scored 7, JT is only one goal off!

The list of when Heskey has scored his goals is as follows; Malta, Spain, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Slovakia, Kazakhstan! Some decent enough opposition, well Spain, Germany and Denmark at least.

But the simple stats and that list don't tell the full story. Heskey's first goal, against Malta in a friendly, was scored way back in June 2000, his first competitive goal came in that match in Munich, you know the 5-1 victory for England!!! Since then he has scored two, yes only two, more competitive goals for his country, at the 2002 World Cup against Denmark in the 2nd round and against Kazakhstan in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. That goal, which is his most recent goal for England, was scored one week short of the 7th anniversary of his previous competitive goal, now there's a striker!

Fast forward to the present day and the Aston Villa striker, that's Heskey not Terry by the way, has come out and said he may need to leave his current team to guarantee his place in the squad for next year's World Cup. This is no surprise. Fabio Capello has made it clear that the players in his squad will have to be playing club football in order to get into his squad and Heskey simply is not. Of course I've already pointed out Heskey's goalscoring problem, but even during his most successful club spells, at Leicester and at Wigan, the ex Liverpool striker wasn't a great goalscorer. What is probably more worrying is a statistic surrounding Wayne Rooney; if Heskey is in the side to set up Rooney why is it that the Manchester United striker has scored 6 goals without Heskey on the pitch and 5 with him on the pitch since Capello took over at the helm. Now of course there isn't a great deal between the two figures and it isn't complete proof of anything but it does beg the question of whether Rooney, who is supposed to be the main beneficiary of Heskey's presence, is really benefiting from him being there.

Meanwhile across the land there is players such as Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole and Darren Bent playing regularly and scoring goals for their club sides. Furthermore Cole and Bent add goals to their game of height and strength, something Heskey has never been able to do. Added to the list of possible partners, for the almost undroppable Rooney, are Gabriel Agbonlahor, who may well get to play in place of Rooney against Belarus, Peter Crouch and even Michael Owen. All these players are capable of scoring more goals than Heskey and each have their own attributes which could be vital to any World Cup campaign something Heskey can boast less and less about.

On Wednesday England play Belarus at Wembley in the last game of the World Cup qualifying campaign, it doesn't matter all too much, in terms of result, but for some players, specifically Emile Heskey, it could well kick start their campain to get on the plane to South Africa next summer.

The Pride of Manchester!

It's so difficult to describe that it makes it easy! I am of course talking about yesterdays amazing derby! And I mean that it made me so speechless the only way to describe it is "it left me speechless", well not quite, for the first time ever I got to watch a derby with my dad, who supports Manchester City couldn't exactly stay silent could I?

Fortunately for me, my dad agreed, United deserved their victory, or perhaps more they just didn't deserve not to win. Helped by some shoddy City defending yes, but without the shocking mistakes that were at fault for two of City's goals they'd have been well out of it!

Perhaps the point is to look at City after this game more than United! We know what Manchester United are capable of, from Rooney's slick skills and cool finish for goal one, my how he's growing in stature from match to match, we also know that one on one in the box you always want the ball to be at Michael Owen's feet, unless you happen to be Shay Given. But it is City who we learnt most about this weekend.

Hold on City fans your team is about to be complimented! Your players were outstanding, OK the defence might need a kick up the backside, apart from Kolo Toure who looked pretty good other than defending at set pieces. The main thing to look at is the City side of 12 months ago. Would they have lost that match 4-3 with the last kick of the game? No! They would have lost 4 or 5-0, OK they may have got one.

Shay Given was outstanding, if Michael Owen loves playing against him then he's probably given Dimitar Berbatov one or two nightmares, Gareth Barry looks every bit as good as he does for England in his City shirt, Carlos Tevez was at his damn near best and was unlucky not to score himself late in the first half. Of course there was also Craig Bellamy, in the team only because of injuries and suspensions, Mark Hughes nearly ended up grateful for that boot to the face last week, Bellamy was near impossible to play yesterday, helped out slightly by Rio but nevertheless the Welsh strikers performance was over shadowed by only one other- and he really is the Welsh master. I don't know what vintage wine from Wales is like but based on Giggs' performance it must taste bloody good!

Remember aswel City were without two of their superstars, the man who kicked it all off last season Robinho and the man who, according to Sir Alex, is City's best player, Emmanuel Adebayor. How much difference those players would have made on this occasion is debateable but certainly these are players who will make a difference in many matches this season and suddenly City, after two good displays against two of the best in Europe, will have to be taken seriously. Look at another team looking to break into the top four this season, Spurs, they have wilted against both United and Chelsea.

Of course it wasn't all good for City, despite coming along way their defence was still pretty pitiful. I personally thing Wayne Bridge is average at best, and regular readers know my opinion on the overpriced and average Joleon Lescott. Micah Richards had a bad game but if he can get back to the player he once looked like he could be Micah could still find he may have a seat on a plane to South Africa next summer. Another man not covering himself in glory after yesterday was of course Mark Hughes. I can understand his frustration but he must know that the extra two minutes were there for a reason, and not just because they were at Old Trafford and United were looking for a winner. Never mind the fact City also could have used those two minutes to find a winner there's also the fact that "The 4th official has indicated there will be a MINIMUM of four minutes added on time" Nuff said!

As for Sunday League football, well there was none this weekend unfortunately, although that gave us all time to recharge the batteries and watch the derby so no bad thing.

One last note to go with an article that appeared in the Times on Friday! As it said "Birmingham remains the UK’s second city in population alone. In all other respects, next to our kid, it’s bobbins." After yesterdays brilliant derby, Manchester may well just becoming England's first city- in football alone that is!

England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty

They will call it the 3rd test. They will be wrong! They will say that with KP out England have less chance of winning the ashes. They will be wrong!

The truth is that it is the 78th test. Or more importantly his 78th test, and then will come the 79th and finally the 80th and after that it will be over. That man of course sits, arms in the air, to the right of this paragraph, that man is Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.

I know! Most of you care not about cricket but about football. But for those of you who don't know the man from Preston is about to retire from Test Cricket. He will no doubt be remembered as a great cricketer, as a great personality but one who never took as many wickets or scored as many runs as he probably should have. Freddie may still deliver a World Cup trophy for his nation, but if he does not then he will have led England to victory in at least one, and hopefully two, ashes series victories. Yes partially this will be through his talent, but mainly it will be through his will, through his destiny!

OK stop looking at me all funny! I've not suddenly developed a massive weird streak, well weirder any way. But does it not seem odd, in the case of Freddie and in the case of another English sportsman, that somewhere it must be written "You will capture the hearts of the nation and bring to them glory, but you will sacrifice your body and soul and injuries shall stop you from winning more.". Bit precise I know. And at this point you must be thinking the other sportsman must be a footballer, after all I couldn't have spoken this long without mentioning football. You're wrong, the other man is Jonny Wilkinson.

England's World Cup winning Fly-Half put in hours, days, weeks and months of extra training to learn how to kick the perfect kick in rugby. And so after sacrificing body and mind and, at times, getting England to the World Cup final almost single handed (or with his left boot), Wilko injured his shoulder in the final. He went onto kick that kick and so the celebrations began. The number 10 from Newcastle had brought World Cup success to England for the first time in a major sport since 1966 but the shoulder he injured would start the chain reaction that would see him barely play, not just for England, for a long time. Jonny is still playing, but no doubt he will get injured to the extent that will lead to retirement.

And what's the point of me yabbering on about these two men? One who plays with smaller and one with a more odd shape ball, than this column usually focuses on. Well my point is, these two men have put everything, and more, on the line. For what? For their country and their sport. And again the point to all this? The fact that England's football team do not have this man.

Rooney, Owen, Beckham- all these man have tried, with their will, to win England a World Cup, and all of these men have had injuries along the way. But none of these men have really made the sacrifices necessary. For one Owen and Rooney both play for the World Club champions and Beckham only threw away his chance of playing for one of Europe's best teams permanently and not on loan once Steve Mclaren had told him his chances of playing for England were over. No where is there a man willing to end his career prematurely in order to bring us the joy of being World Champions, one day, we may do it, we may even do it soon, without someone having to lose a leg or other limb. In this generation we may have to accept that we will see a rugby world cup, we will see 2 ashes wins (here's hoping) we just probably won't get the football world cup we

hope for.

Meanwhile, in the world of Sunday league football, all is well! We have a sponsor! This doesn't sound like ground breaking news I know, but it means that we get to stay a float. At the top level of football player's are getting paid more and more whilst at the bottom rung football gets more expensive. We find it difficult to find places to train, a five-a-side match costs £56 for an hour, our pitch for the season will cost £75 more than last season, all this in a recession. I must thank our sponsor Clive Anthony residential lettings for their commitment to our team.

Rising costs and falling numbers in males playing 11-a-side football in our country, it's perhaps no surprise that there isn't enough English players coming through to play in the Premiership and trying to force their way into the England football team. And with the nature of football- International stop club football, which is unlike the other two sports- perhaps it is impossible that one man will have to give up everything to win us a world cup. But England should at least produce one man who WOULD, given the opportunity, give it all up for that beautiful trophy. England Expects! Now we just have to wait!