Michael Owen has revealed that he still has hopes of wearing an England shirt again.

The Manchester United striker has not featured for Fabio Capellos’s England for over two years, and has seemingly falled behind Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent in the pecking order.

The clinical striker has 89 caps for the national team and is hoping to add to that number, despite Capello’s current stance of bringing in new players.

“I’ve got 89 caps so far,” Owen said. “I played for England for many years, starting when I was 18.

“I played basically right the way through until about two years ago, which was my last game. So hopefully I will play for them again one day, you never know.”

Rangers up! Lets test the young boys!

United play Rangers in a weeks’ time, with the battle of Britain tag looming large. Even though there is an assumed gap between the leagues the Old Firm in general have put on a good showing, against English sides.  This is an ideal time to test some of our younger players in what will be a low risk big game for them.

Chris Smalling should get the nod to start his first game, partnering preferably Vidic. He has been fed little bits and pieces here and there, but I am not sure how much he can learn from twenty minute substitute appearances. The boy needs games and I am sure he will be looking to Fergie for his set of guaranteed games. It would therefore be great to see him tested in all our Champions League group stage games.

Javi Hernandez could do with getting very much the same opportunity. However it’s fair to accept that United have a big problem. Rooney looks as if he is still suffering and needs in my eyes about another month off. Whilst Berbatov has made a steady start to the season. So should Javi be given the chance and risk disrupting Dimitar’s decent start.

Darron Gibson for me is a man playing on borrowed time, had Anderson not got injured I think Gibson would no longer be at the club. The player brings shooting ability but after that I am not sure which distinct quality or qualities he has to back that up. Some chances in the Champions League are definitely what he needs to prove one way or the other. If he can shine there, then it proves Sir Alex is right to keep him on.

Now let me give you my line up for the Rangers game. It’s based on the fact that the group stage is a formality. Therefore United should be able to make two or three changes and still see themselves through. However perhaps fielding a full strength side against the mighty Valencia in both games.

Kuschak

Rafael

Smalling

Vidic

Evra

Valencia

Carrick

Gibson

Nani

Hernandez

Berbatov

Another transfer window has now closed and it’s another where many Manchester United fans have been left feeling disappointed due to the apparent lack of transfer activity at Old Trafford.

Chris Smalling has arrived from Fulham, as well as Javier Hernandez, Marnick Vermijl and Bebe. Players that left old Trafford were Ben Foster, Zoran Tosic, Tom Heaton, Ron-Robert Zieler, David Gray and Craig Cathcart. This gives us a net spend this Summer of £10,350,000, contrasted with last season which was -£64,500,000, mainly down to the massive -£80,000,000 received from Real Madrid for Ronaldo.

The big question is: Has Sir Alex done enough?

The main area everybody seems to think we need to strengthen is our midfield. We’ve been linked with every man and his dog this Summer, and the preceding three Summers, but Sir Alex seems confident enough to stick with what he’s got. Anderson is coming back to fitness, Michael Carrick started well against Chelsea but has strangely remained on the sidelines since. Paul Scholes is showing us what we’ll miss when he retires and Darren Fletcher is keeping things ticking over, despite not being his usual self from last season. Owen Hargreaves is….Owen Hargreaves.

Would our squad have benefitted from a Sneidjer or an Ozil? Of course it would. That goes without saying. But it’s not in United’s nature to go out spending tens of millions of pounds on established players. of course there have been exceptions, like the £30M+ paid for Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov, but on the whole we’ve kept a nice balance of bringing in good players as well as developing youngsters like Darren Fletcher, Jonny Evans and of course the trio of Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.

It would be great if I woke one morning to see we’d signed a star player, but I’m usually fairly sure that we won’t and if that does happen, I’m confident that Sir Alex knows exactly what he’s doing. When Chelsea bought the league when Abramovich took over, he didn’t respond by bringing in lots of star players to fight fire with fire. He signed Michael Carrick to partner Scholes in the middle and we proceeded to win the league three seasons in a row. And now that Manchester City are trying to buy the league, I don’t expect Sir Alex to go on a spending spree to keep us challenging for the title. And unless he’s got a secret stash of business credit cards he won’t be able to afford it anyway if the Glazer’s keep siphoning money from the club, but that’s another topic I’ll leave for another time.

The point is, as United fans, who have been spoilt with success for the last two decades, we should put our faith in the man that has made all of that success possible. It’s hard not to glance over with green eyes at City and their billions from time to time, but if there’s one thing we’ve learnt over the years it’s that money can’t buy class. Class that running all the way through Manchester United. If we win a trophy this year it will be through hard work, determination and the winning attitude that’s drilled into every player who steps out onto the Old Trafford pitch and it’ll be Sir Alex Ferguson who leads them there, without the help of a blank chequebook.

Same United same aim, same old issues.

We all know that having all the ingredients doesn’t guarantee that you can win football matches. That’s where I think this United squad is falling down. We have the same old issues as we did at the end of last season. This is quite embarrassing when you consider how long we have had to sort it out.

The first issue has to be our lack of quality going through the middle of the park. We no longer have a quality central midfielder player who can beat two or three players at a time. We have our one outstanding central midfielder in Darren Fletcher and the rest generally fill in the gaps according to the opposition on that particular match day. ( I will definitely concede that a 25 year old Paul Scholes would be more than sufficient as his partner. Even though he didn’t take players on his ability to score goals replaced that need) This leaves us with an aging Scholes, who sits very a deep and then more often than not a Fletcher. Who is asked to go box to box without having the necessary skills to hurt teams offensively. In our strange modernised way we ask Scholes to hold and Fletch to drive on.

What should happen is Fletcher provides everything that Scholes can supply to the team ie goals but NOT his four yard passes. (As Fletcher on the ball, has significantly improved his game) Added to the defensive qualities that Fletcher brings to team. This leaves a void for a skilful attacking midfielder, capable of picking out defence splitting passes and taking players out of the game by taking it past them.

The only player who comes near that type of player is Anderson, who for me had his best season in United shirt in his first season at the club. I do however subscribe to the belief of some, that after Andersons bad injury which I believe he suffered at Porto he has lost some of his killer pace. Of course the proposed signing of Ozil would have been the solution or at least provided the potential for a credible antidote.

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling has paid tribute to former club Fulham for developing him as a footballer.

United completed the signing of the centre half in January, but allowed him to stay at Fulham until the Summer.

Smalling will return to Fulham on Sunday as United travel to Craven Cottage in the league and is eager to catch up with some old friends.

United are 8/13 favourites on betrescue.com to follow up their impressive performance against Newcastle with another win.

“I owe Fulham a lot,” said Smalling. “They gave me my chance. When I finished school they gave me the chance to develop.

“I was in the reserves and then broke into the first-team squad last year. I made a lot of friends there, a lot of coaches who helped me are still there.

“Billy McKinlay gave me a lot of support over the last couple of years and he deserves a lot of credit.

“It will be a bit weird going back but I hope it will be an enjoyable day.”

Manchester United got their season off to a flier with a dominating win over newly promoted Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

The home fans were treated to a masterful performance from midfield maestro Paul Scholes as he rolled back the years to give the Magpies a footballing lesson.

Dimitar Berbatov opened the scoring for United, before Darren Fletcher doubled the lead just before half time. Second half substitute Ryan Giggs rounded off the scoring with a controlled volley after a brilliant chipped pass from Scholes.

Newcastle had their best chance of the game in the early exchanges after Andy Carroll’s clever run deceived Nemanja Vidic from a corner, but the giant striker headed wide of Edwin van der Sar’s post.

United quickly started to dominate possession and it was pretty much one way traffic from 20 minutes in.

Scholes picked up where he left off from last weekends man of the match performance against Chelsea and was again pulling the strings in United’s midfield.

The opening goal came after good tracking back from Antonio Valencia won the ball back inside Newcastle’s half. Darren Fletcher picked up the ball and threaded a pass through to Dimitar Berbatov who finished well from a tightening angle.

Nani was also in good form, with much of United’s attacking play coming from the left flank. It was his clever pass that sent Patrice Evra to the touchline to fire a cross into the six yard box where Wayne Rooney was able to touch the ball into Fletcher’s path. The Scot turned and shot low past the helpless Steve Harper to double United’s lead going into half time.

From then on it wasn’t a question of if United were going to win, it was just a matter of how many goals they were going to score in the process. As it happened, one more was all they could muster, but the scoreline flattered Newcastle and didn’t truly reflect United’s complete dominance of the match.

It was a combination of United’s old guard that sealed the win. Scholes the architect, Giggs the finisher, as has so often been the case over the years showed that there’s life in the old dogs yet.

Dimitar Berbatov could have scored a hat full of goals tonight, and while his finishing was poor at times, Sir Alex Ferguson will be pleased that the Bulgarian striker is at least finding himself in goalscoring positions. It really could be a make or break season for him.

It may not have been a scoreline that matched Chelsea’s 6-0 win over West Brom at the weekend, but the performance was just as commanding and will act as a sign of intent from the deposed champions that they’ll be right up there at the top once again, looking to lift the Premiership trophy for a record 19th time.

Nemanja Vidic put all doubts of him remaining at Old Trafford to bed last night following the impressive 7-1 win over an Airtricity XI.

The Manchester United defender has been the subject of speculation that he would be moving to Real Madrid this Summer. David Gill revealed last week that Vidic had verbally agreed terms on a new long term contract, and now the player himself has insisted he never wanted to leave Old Trafford.

“I don’t know why people think it was a difficult decision. I always said I am happy here, I never spoke about my future,” said Vidic.

“I know there was all this speculation but I never said I wanted to go. There was nothing new. I am very happy to be here.”

It just goes to show that the majority of rumours you read in newspapers are made up by lazy journalists and approved by unscrupulous editors to grab the headlines.

The rumours seemed to stem from one report that Vidic’s wife Ana was unhappy in Manchester and wanted him to move to a team in a warmer climate.

Vidic put that rumour to bed himself back in August last year by saying: “It’s not true that my wife is not happy. I don’t know how that rumour came out, she’s not what you’d call a famous wife. She’s never spoken to a newspaper.”

Still, the ruours continued and incompetent dishonest journalists continued to use Vidic’s wife to sell papers.

Vidic further outlined his commitment to United in May, at the peak of the transfer speulation.

“Tell me the club where I can go that is better than Manchester United?” Vidic said.

“There aren’t many clubs in the world where you can go to that are better.

“I’m happy here. United has been a big part in my development. Everything I have done here I respect. I will try and give my best on the pitch for as long as I can.

It seemed Vidic was becoming just as bored with the rumours as us fans were.

“I’m tired of speaking about my future,” he continued. “I give my best at United and always try to do that. I think that commitment shows how I think.

“I can’t stop people speaking about my future but I have two years left on my contract and I’m happy.

“I need to think about next season, prepare myself, be focused and make sure I prevent injuries.”

It’s great to see the big man commit his future to United, but I’m left wondering how many of our fans doubted his commitment. I try to read a few of our fan forums when I can find the time and it was a generally accepted opinion that Vidic to Real Madrid was a done deal.

I for one have never doubted his commitment because the only “evidence” of his so called impending departure was unsourced, unadulterated, tabloid crap.

Rule of thumb for transfers: Don’t believe a word until you hear it from the player or the manager.

Kansas City Wizards fans may have just experienced the best 90 minutes of the season this past weekend at Arrowhead Stadium. The match had plenty to offer and the 53,000 fans in attendance didn’t leave disappointed. Although it wasn’t a “must win game” for either side, the fact that both teams played attacking football and showed plenty of energy made it an entertaining game.

Manchester United fans have been quick to remind people that the likes of Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick weren’t a part of the action but Alex Ferdinand certainly didn’t pick a reserve team for the game. With the level of talent on the field, simply put, Manchester United should have won the game. Although the North American tour is essentially a warm-up, loosing to a mid-table MLS team isn’t ideal preparation for the upcoming season.

In the opening minutes, it became clear that the Wizards were full of confidence and weren’t going to allow United to dictate the pace of the game. The starting midfield of Giggs, Scholes, Gibson and Nani shared more experience between them than the entire Wizards squad but they were never allowed to fully control the flow of the game.

Sitting deep in midfield, Paul Scholes aimed to control Manchester United’s play but along with others he was careless in possession and the attack was broken up by the resilient Wizards. The controversial penalty and second Kansas City goal provided plenty of talking points for the record-breaking crowd. The majority cheered for both teams whenever they produced something out of the ordinary; providing a really positive atmosphere.

The second half saw the 10-man Wizards side sit back and soak up some of the Manchester United pressure. An equalizer seemed inevitable but despite the fresh legs of Obertan, Fabio and Wellbeck it never came. The crowd were well aware that Manchester United have a habit of leaving it late so few dared to try and beat the traffic by slipping out a few minutes early.

By the end of the game, the Kansas City Wizards had definitely captured the adulation of soccer fans that had yet to get behind their home town team; fans that the club owners will be hoping help fill their new stadium in 2011. Despite not getting the result, Alex Ferguson will be able to take a lot from the game. Question marks will be raised over some players. Ritchie De Laet did little to convince fans he’s worthy of the Manchester United jersey and Rafael struggled to keep the impressive Ryan Smith at bay.

Furthermore, Arrowhead Stadium proved that it’s a real contender for World Cup soccer; the exceptional playing surface and recent renovations combined to provide the perfect setting for the match. Overall the game will go down as a historic day for soccer in the Mid West and the Kansas City Wizards. Luckily for them, Manchester United will soon be able to forget about it.

Written by Olly: He watched the game wearing the new Manchester United Jersey from SoccerPro.com

As one manager mentioned this weekend the long tours to foreign climbs ‘are not ideal’. That leads me to question whether Giggs and Scholes really need to be starting all these games. I think there are others that need to be given time and starting matches will only build their confidence. These are players like Obertan, Carrick, Gibson, who need some games in succession to be ready to make a big impact this season.

I wonder though whether the crowds would flock had Scholes and Giggs not been involved in this tour. Is that the real reason why they are playing? United look at their most vulnerable when Scholes and Giggs start together in the midfield in a competitive match.

Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar has hailed United’s young defenders on their tour of the United States.

Chris Smalling partnered Jonny Evans in the centre of defence during the 3-1 win over Celtic, with the Da Silva twins, Fabio and Rafael, playing in the full back positions.

Van der Sar acknowledges that his main role is to play in net, but admits that he’s also partly responsible for helping the players develop for the future.

“The main reason why I’m here is keeping the goals out, of course. And probably the second thing is helping out with educating and making them aware of how to play, how to defend,” said the Dutchman.

A solid back four is the foundation behind every great football team and that’s what Van der Sar is hoping to return to this season, after United suffered with the loss of eight first team defenders at times last year.

“It’s nice when you’ve got experience or a back-four with you that have played a long time and at the moment a couple of players are still missing.”

He added that all four of the young defenders that played against Celtic in Toronto have bright futures at the club if they can force their way into Sir Alex Ferguson‘s starting line up for next season.

“The good thing for Chris [Smalling], who is new at the club, is to get a run-in, and Jonny has really come on very, very well, so I don’t think he’s lacking experience. And even the Da Silva brothers, Rafa played more than Fabio, but they are good players anyway.”

Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs is hoping United’s World Cup players don’t bring their troubles back with them.

The midfielder knows how important it is to get off to a good start in the Premier League title race and is hoping players like Wayne Rooney and Patrice Evra – who went out early with England and France respectively – can use the pre season to refresh themselves for the opening game against Newcastle.

“It is always difficult after a World Cup because the players who have been involved in the tournament have time off,” said Giggs.

“You just hope there is no hangover from the World Cup and everyone can hit the ground running. Hopefully our players will come back refreshed and we can get off to a good start.”

If you register with Bwin you can get odds of 13/5 on Manchester United winning the league, putting them second favourites behing champions Chelsea.

Sir Alex Ferguson is confident that the players won’t suffer as a result of having a poor World Cup.

“I don’t expect a hangover. I think there’ll still be a bit of disappointment in the lad, the United boss said.

“I think all the players coming back from the World Cup who didn’t do well, who didn’t reach their expectations may I say, will feel that they’ve missed something.

“That’s because the World Cup’s only once every four years. That’s the horrible part of that tournament.

“We have several players who have come back very, very disappointed. We’ve Patrice Evra for instance, Wayne Rooney of course, and Nemanja Vidic.”

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has rejected reports that he has made a bid for Dutch star Wesley Sneijder. Sneijder, who is preparing for Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain, has been one of the stars of the tournament and his form is believed to have attracted interest from a host of clubs, including United.Reports earlier this week claimed United had sounded out Inter Milan about a move for the classy playmaker. Inter Milan owner Massimo Moratti claimed United had made an approach for the former Real Madrid man, but that the club had no plans to sell Sneijder.

However, Ferguson insists he has not made any bid for the player and is happy with his current squad at Old Trafford. “I don’t know where those reports about Sneijder came from,” Ferguson told the Mail on Sunday. “How can anybody turn me down when I haven’t even made a bid? I believe the squad is stronger than last season with the younger players having another year under their belts”

Ferguson also played down suggestions that he was lining up a move for Germany midfielder Mesut Ozil as an alternative to Sneijder.

This is very interesting as Sir Alex thinks we are actually stronger than last season simply because the younger playeys have a bit more experience. In my opinion, this underlines my fear this summer that we wouldn’t be buying anyone. However, the manner in which Fergie put it ie. ”We’ve a better squad since the young lads have a year’s more experience” gives me some comfort and leaves me optimistic for the coming season. And with the additions of Javier Hernandez and Chris Smalling, I am quietly confident we can reclaim the title next season. I am also happy we are not interested in Ozil as I don’t think he’s what we need right now at all. The last thing our squad needs is another young attackinig midfielder, especially since we have Scholes, Carrick, Anderson, Gibson and possibly Cleverly next season.

Earlier today, Internazionale president Massimo Moratti revealed that we have expressed an interest in signing the World Player of the Year candidate Wesley Sneijder. He also said he didn’t look into our interest because he’s afraid he will be tempted into selling him. In my opinion, this is the signal for us to go and sign him. If we give Mr. Moratti an appealing enough offer, we will reach a fair deal with them and he will switch life in the San Siro to Old Trafford.

As every football fan around the world knows by now, he has been the catalyst of Inter Milan dominance at home and abroad as they clinched a memorable treble and he is also the heartbeat of the Dutch team which has advanced to the World Cup final. He scored his 5th goal of the World Cup as he competes with David Villa for the Golden Boot. He has also contributed with a number of assists. But I’m not going into any further detail about his World Cup exploits or even bother analysing his incredible season with Inter. Why? Because I don’t even want him at United.

The last 10 months of his life as a footballer have been the greatest of his life. He has conquered everything before and after him. He has been central to all the beautiful football around him. Unfortunately when someone has a golden season like this, there price tag soars. And in this day and age it will have soared astronomically. If Arsenal are looking for £30m for Fabregas, then surely Inter Milan will be looking for a minimum of £35m. With our extremely tight budget and spiralling debt, that is just grossly out of the question. However, not only is it the price tag which is putting me off but it’s what I’ve already seen at the club. Anderson will be ready for next season. Cleverly is a truly gifted football also. Darron Gibson is another young lad whose come in for unfair criticism and he is a really talented player too. Scholes still has another year left in him at the top level. You may think I’m clutching at straws but £35m on an attacking midfield is way too much for me.

I firmly believe we have enough attacking midfielders in our ranks to stay away from the ‘inflated market’ as our manager labelled it. What was the point in paying £18m on Anderson if he never got a run of games deployed in an attacking role in midfield?

All in all Sneidjer for me is a big no-no and we should save our cash instead of spending it frivolously.

Stumble and snap. Those were our # 8′s last two actions of last season as a tear to his cruciate ligament curtailing an indifferent season for him.

Back in the summer of 2007, when we signed him and Nani in a double deal worth a combined £30m I was uncontrollably excited by the prospect of both rising stars. After several months settling into their new environment, the Premier League, while Nani was taking it by storm it was Anderson who really caught my eye. After a dubious enough debut in the 1-0 victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford, he came into his own. Game by game his confidence was soaring as he thrived being Hargreaves’ partner in a dynamic central midfield. Only for Scholes’ injury earlier in the season, Ando would never have gotten this chance, but he took the bull by the horns and one of his greatest moments was to follow. He outplayed, outshone and outfought Cesc Fabregas on 3rd November in the Emirates that season. I couldn’t help but think he was the new Roy Keane. Premature it may have been at the time but I’ve always believed in that since up to this day. His season went from strength to strength from there as his swashbuckling, all-action style of play earned him cult status among the OT faithful where a genius little chant was drummed up for him! His wide range of passing ability from defence-splitting balls, to nippy, short passes to accurate 50 yard diagonal passes the lad had it all along with his seaing pace and willingness to get stuck in for the tackle. He even made a mockery of Steven Gerrard when Ando made his Anfield debut. And his season ended on a major high when he netted a crucial sudden death penalty in that magical Moscow night where he added a Champions League medal to his newly acquired Premier League one.

After such a memorable maiden season, it wouldv’e been hard to expect him to surpass a better one at the tender age of 20. And unfortunately he didn’t live up to the heights of the 07/08 season despite winning the title yet again. It was looking like he missed his partner, Owen Hargreaves, as they destroyed teams up and down the country as well as abroad.

Then his 3rd season came and went too too fast.

Again, he started off subtly and then he sparked into life in our 3-1 win at White Hart Lane as he finally slammed home his first ever Manchester United goal in a competetive fixture. (Earlier in pre-season he scored a perfect free-kick in off the intersection of crossbar and post and celebrated with a Maichael Jackson style dance!)  It set us on our way to another victory. It started off a spell in which Anderson captured some great form where he got 1 goals and 7 assists in 9 games which is outstanding for any midfielder, particularly one which is deployed usually to protect the back four. However, the fairytale ends there as he went over on his anterior cruciate ligament and straight away we feared the worse. 6 months out and to add insult to injury, his World Cup dream over. I think it’s more of a coincidence that we ended trophyless when Ando wasn’t there to drive us on from midfield.

So I don’t sound completely biased, he did have his share of shocking performances which you can expect from a youngster learning their trade in the very physical Premier League. But it was his maiden season form which to this day makes me still wholeheartedly agree that he will be the king of midfield for the coming years. The highly energized Brazilian will terrorise the like of Gerrard and Fabregas once more (Unless they jump ship this summer!) and we’ll hear the United fans from the Stretty End chanting

Anderson-son-son

once again!

Free agent Joe Cole looks likely to be headed for a transfer to Arsenal or Tottenham Hotspur.

The midfielder struggled to fit into Carlo Ancelotti’s formation at Chelsea after returning from a long term injury and has been forced to seek first team football elsewhere.

Manchester United were favourites to land Cole on https://www.bwin.com/football earlier in the Summer, but the Old Trafford outfit have apparently ruled out a swoop for the attacker.

With Champions League football high on his list of priorities, it looks like there are only two other clubs for him to choose from, Spurs or Arsenal.

It’s thought that Cole’s former manager at West Ham Harry Redknapp may be the key to securing his signature.

Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes he still has what it takes to play for England.

Owen moved to Old Trafford last season in a bid to get his international career back on track, but an injury in the Carling Cup final ended his World Cup dreams.

The former Liverpool forward admits it was frustrating watching England bow out of the World Cup so early in South Africa, and has left the door open should Fabio Capello wish to give him another chance at international level.

If he takes his chances at United next year there’s every chance he could once again partner team mate Wayne Rooney in an England shirt. It might be worth a punt on free sports betting.

“I went to the last three World Cups and a couple of European Championships so it’s been really different this time,” he said.

“It was frustrating for me and for everyone. There were a lot of questions that came out of the tournament.

“I obviously missed the tournament through injury. Whether I would’ve been picked is another matter. I missed it because I wasn’t available but I’ve definitely not retired from international football.”

Former Manchester United player Roy Keane has launched an astonishing attack on England’s World Cup failures.

The United legend is famously candid when speaking about football and his latest verbal assault was no different.

Among those in the firing line were David James, Robert Green, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Gareth Barry, Emile Heskey and Steven Gerrard.

Keane believes England fans should look at the players on the pitch, rather than blame manager Fabio Capello.

“To keep criticising the manager is crazy. Capello is a brilliant manager,” Keane said.

“The players have to look at themselves. They get away with murder.”

He added that England don’t have as many world class stars as most people think.

“You say that the players are good individuals in the Premier League, but tell me who they are?

“I think Wayne Rooney had a brilliant season. You look at the goalkeepers, I thought David James at Portsmouth, they didn’t have a good season and the other one, Green, at West Ham [United] they just about stayed up.

“Glen Johnson at Liverpool did okay, they had a poor season. John Terry had his issues, I don’t think he had a great season.

“Chelsea won the double but that was down to some world class attacking players. Upson, who played yesterday, West Ham didn’t have a great season.

“Ashley Cole’s just come back from injury to be fair to the boy. [Steven] Gerrard didn’t have a great season at Liverpool, James Milner had a good season.

“[Gareth] Barry I thought was very average for Manchester City this year. [Emile] Heskey started the season up-front for Aston Villa and he got three goals.

“You keep talking about these world class players, and they’re not. Wayne has the best chance but he still hasn’t done it on the world stage.”

It’s hard to disagree with Keane in some respects, particularly when the same group of players have consistently failed under numerous managers. But Capello must shoulder some of the blame too for making the exact same mistakes as his predecessors.  However, it’s always good to see Keano having a rant. Too many players and managers are too scared to say it how they see it and instead toe the party line and err on the side of caution.

Football needs more Keano’s.

Manchester United have announced that they have agreed a deal with French club Le Havre over the transfer of midfielder Paul Pogba.

Le Havre reported Manchester United to FIFA last year for allegedly “tapping up” Pogba, saying: “The player [Pogba] and his parents refused to keep the arrangement because Manchester United offered very high sums of money to the parents of the [player] with the aim of obtaining the transfer of their son”.

United disputed the allegation and threatened to sue the club if the remarks were not withdrawn.

Now though, it appears that the clubs have managed to settle the matter amicably and Paul can get on with his promising career at Old Trafford.

A statement on the official Manchester United website said: “Le Havre AC and Manchester United FC are pleased to announce that following discussions between the two clubs, an agreement has been reached in relation to the registration of Paul Pogba with Manchester United in July 2009.”

‘The terms of the agreement will remain confidential.

“Paul is an exciting young talent who Manchester United hope can prove to be a great success at Old Trafford. Le Havre would like to wish the player well in his future career.”

The Portuguese football association has been forced to strenuously deny rumours that Manchester United winger Nani has failed a drugs test.

The impressive winger has been ruled out of the World Cup in South Africa after injuring himself in training, but rumours have been growing that the injury was just a cover up and that Nani had failed a random dope test.

The rumours – seemingly with no foundation – have been denied by the vice-president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Amandio de Carvalho, who said: “Nani was indeed injured. He fell badly in training and injured himself.

“There’s no intention to hide anything. There’s no need for an operation. He just needs time to recover. He can stay with us during the World Cup, if he wants.”

The head of anti doping in Portugal, Luis Horta, added: “The rumours going around are without foundation.

“At least, with the controls carried out at the anti-doping authority in Portugal there exists no problem.

“Urine and blood samples were collected randomly. As far as we know, it all went well.”

WARNING: This is not a short read.

Ah, Dimitar.

Like, I would imagine, all of my fellow United supporters, I had very high hopes for Mr. Berbatov when he arrived at the club. An alternative to the direct, destructive capabilities of Ronaldo and Rooney and the hard work of Tevez. A more composed, elegant attacking force which would surely provide the key ingredient to unlock the tightest defences.

You don’t need me to tell you how the past two seasons have gone. Berbatov has not exactly set the world on fire, but nor has he been, by any stretch of the imagination, a ‘flop’ as some have suggested. Up until the second half of the season just gone, there were, it seemed, two distinct factions between Manchester United supporters. Those who adored Berbatov and thought the team should be built around him, and those who thought he was a worse than useless waste of money who was detrimental to our play.

And then Rooney got injured.
With key games left to play in the title run-in, Berbatov had to step up. “Now he’ll really show the doubters,” was the opinion of the pro-Berbatov camp. “Well, here’s his chance. It’s now or never,” mused the anti-Berbistas.

As we know, it generally didn’t work out. The most glaring failure was our 0-0 draw at Blackburn, which had we won, would’ve surely seen us win the title. And yet Berbatov worked harder than perhaps he ever had before. But the clinical edge of Rooney was absent, and the rest is history.

Now, people have often spoken of Berbatov’s scoring record. Scott of the excellent Republik of Mancunia has defended this on several occasions, but the fact is that we knew we weren’t signing the next Alan Shearer, even if the Bulgarian did allegedly used to sleep in a Newcastle shirt (we all have our foibles.) He was a creative, deep-lying, playmaker sort of striker. Not a non-goalscoring striker in the Emile Heskey mould – perish the thought – but rather a striker who could do things besides scoring goals better. The Bulgarian Totti, perhaps. And so he was always going to be unsuited to being a lone striker.

Or was he? Speaking of Totti, when, in the 2005-06 season, (largely due to circumstance, in a similar manner that Berbatov was) he was thrust into being a lone striker for Luciano Spalleti’s Roma side, the new ‘strikerless’ formation was remarkably successful, and hugely influential throughout football. Particularly on our very own Sir Alex Ferguson.

Our Champions League-winning team of ’08, then so dependent on the fluid attacking force permitted by Ronaldo that, despite posessing many of the same players, it has effectively been dismantled – was often referred to as ‘strikerless’, but it was in an entirely different way. It was more that it lacked a permanent, obvious striker, not that we were simply never playing with somebody looking to lead the line, as Roma were. But then after Ronaldo left, we played Rooney centrally in a 4-3-3 when it came to the big games. And Rooney is no Kevin Davies either.

As is illustrated in more depth in this article by the superb ZonalMarking, Rooney’s effectiveness as a lone striker does not come from his energy and physicality – although this helps when he does want to act in a more traditional manner – but rather from his movement, and his dropping deep and pulling defenders out of position – acting as a ‘false number nine.’ Also on that article is the perfect example of this, the goal against Arsenal at the Emirates this year.  Rooney is perfect for this role, as he is, despite what we are frequently told by know-nothing media sorts, an intelligent and disciplined footballer, and has the right attributes – an ability to make calm, short passes under pressure, excellent movement, and the ability to drop deep and play more creatively.

But hold on, doesn’t that description remind you of someone even more? Like Berbatov? This is why his ineffectiveness in the role was such a mystery – in theory, he was perfectly suited for it. There are many reasons that could be posed as explanations for why it failed – perhaps he was simply out of form at the time, or that unlike Rooney, he did not have an understanding of the role. But his natural attributes appear to make him an even better candidate for the role than Rooney. So why did it fail?

To compare Rooney and Berbatov this season, we will first have a quick look at their statistics.

ROONEY

Overall

Played: 43
Scored: 33 (5 of which pens)
Assists: 6
Total Involved: 39
Goals per game: 0.77
Assists per game: 0.14
Goals involved per game: 0.91

BERBATOV

Overall

Played: 42
Scored: 12
Assists: 6
Total Involved: 18
Goals per game: 0.29
Assists per game: 0.14
Goals involved per game: 0.43

It may be quite surprising, given that Rooney, when in a 4-4-2, has generally played as an out-and-out striker, and given Berbatov’s creative instincts, that they both have the same relatively small number of assists. But statistics will rarely tell the whole story. Anybody who has watched United regularly this season will attest to Berbatov’s excellent build-up play that can occur before the goal or assist. The combination of Berbatov playing Valencia into space with a clever pass before the Ecuadorian crosses to Rooney for a goal is one that has happened very regularly this season.

But now, we will compare the statistics of the two players when operating as a lone striker in a 4-3-3, and see how they compare.

ROONEY

4-3-3

Played: 17
Scored: 13
Assists: 2
Total Involved: 15
Goals per game: 0.76
Assists per game: 0.12
Goals involved per game: 0.88

BERBATOV

4-3-3

Played: 5*
Scored: 2
Assists: 1
Total involved: 3
Goals per game: 0.4
Assists per game: 0.2
Goals involved per game: 0.6

*Berbatov has made numerous substitute appearances in games that have started with a 4-3-3, but his arrival is rarely in replacement for Rooney, and therefore usually signifies a switch to 4-4-2. Because of this, in addition to the fact that many of these substitutions are very late on, I have chosen to discount these.

As we can see, Rooney’s statistics are scarcely any different when performing in a 4-3-3 to his overall stats. Perhaps surprising, given his role as a ‘false nine’, he does not have a higher rate of assists. But again, if we look at Rooney’s goal against Arsenal at the Emirates, we see that although it was Nani with the assist, the goal was started by Rooney dropping deep. Again, the stats do not show the vital, creative build-up play.

Berbatov, on the other hand, appears to operate much more effectively in a 4-3-3, although the argument can be made that he did not play here enough for the statistics to be very reliable. Certainly he was not as effective as Rooney. This will need a deeper investigation.

Let’s compare the passing patterns of Rooney in a 4-3-3. Being in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 isn’t a simple case of Rooney looking to be attacking himself or creative, respectively. In a 4-3-3, he contributes more to the build-up play. His creative passes generally go out to the wings, and are unlikely to be assists because of that. We can see here that Rooney generally tries to drop deep and distribute his passing out wide: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/1w5aHWX02c03bR2Y0r1y

The difference between Rooney in a 4-3-3 and a 4-4-2 is seen best in the home game against Aston Villa, where we started with a 4-3-3, only for Michael Owen to come on at half time and force a switch to a 4-4-2. In the first half, Rooney make very few passes into the box:http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/014Ht58S3C2iVf6V324b

But in the second half, he puts far more balls directly into the penalty area: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/4N3N9BkD5ZRYt2s4QQ85

Arguably Rooney is therefore more ‘creative’ in a 4-4-2 as he is looking to set other players up – the difference is that he does not contribute to the overall build-up play as much.

All this still points to Berbatov surely being able to fulfil this duty. So what’s the problem? Well, let’s take a look at his passing.

Against Blackburn, the most obvious thing to point out is that Berbatov’s passing is generally a lot shorter than Rooney’s. When Berbatov plays up front on his own, we can see here that he generally takes the short option. And crucially, unlike Rooney, he almost never passes the ball from the centre out wide – the wings have been the basis of our creativity this season, as we have become a team that does everything best, defensively and offensively, out wide. He does not compensate in other ways either – only four of his passes are into the box, and these are all around the perimeter: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/3P1M5I19GB4J8K836k0t

Against Chelsea is even more astonishing – the same is true, but the sheer number of passes Berbatov makes, as the focal point of a team who was on the pitch for 90 minutes, is astonishing. He failed to impose himself on the game and had a lower pass completion rate:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/89K3u7m5323E73Kh63xj

Ultimately, Berbatov again takes the safe option – but in a game where we had little posession, we needed to use it when we had it in as dangerous a manner as possible. Whether it is a lack of understanding of the role or a mental problem, we do not know, but it is clear that Berbatov is too eager to play the safe option when thrust up front on his own.

What this also points to, however, is that Berbatov is a very strange sort of player. Generally, the ‘second striker’ will not play a huge amount of passes, but will look to provide key passes that will lead directly to goals. You can have two players who are very good at passing, but will still be very different – a classic example would be Sneijder and Xavi, or our own Giggs (playing in the centre) and Scholes. Whilst the former will play farther forward, and generally contribute a lot more assists, the latter will generally have a better range of passing, and make a lot more passes but look to keep play ticking over and take control of the game. Berbatov is unique in that he appears to be a hybrid – he plays very far forward, but he also, if you watch him, actually contributes very few ‘defence-splitting’ passes – his game is generally to keep attacking play ticking over, to keep posession in tight situations, and to generally keep play progressing without necessarily providing the killer move.

Having said that, against all but the best opposition, we still tended to play well without Rooney when we played with two strikers, Berbatov and a goalscorer like Macheda or Owen. With both unlikely to be injured at the same point next season, and the addition of the prolific Hernandez, this will hopefully be a problem which we will avoid next season.

Chelsea fire sale?

Undoubted credit has to go to Chelsea for what is now their double winning season. They have a remarkable record at home which I would say is the greatest in Premier League history. They’ve made Stamford Bridge more than just a fortress. Other rivals have good records but they will often lose one or two games at home each season. We are now well past the 2008 date that Roman Abramovich set for his Chelsea departure but it has to be said he has done well to refrain from splashing the cash in recent seasons.

I do believe however that now is the time to overhaul his aged squad with some new investment. One issue is that some of the players that should be leaving Chelsea this summer don’t have much of a sell on value but it will relieve their large wage bill. They should however not have the demands of those Chelsea players concerned about being the highest paid and therefore edging closer to 150k a week.

Another stumbling block is the owners’ frustration with the youth system which has not produced anyone of note so far. That could however just be a sign of the times because smaller clubs it could be argued do a lot more to find and keep hold of young talent. They need to be looking at young players around seventeen and then more established experienced players of say twenty-three. As these players will have good long term value for the club. They will have the hunger and ability to realise they could make their name on the world stage with Chelsea. Then one or two top class proven professionals, with a few of their prime years to run. This can be done without breaking the new transfer records I believe.

For me there are many players Chelsea can play and make little positive impact on the team, yet it does not affect the team’s results. These are the players I think Chelsea can do away with. In goal Hilario, defensively Carvahlo, Alex, Ferreira, Beletti in the midfield Ballack, Deco and up top Kalou. This leaves a few players I am unsure of.

Joe Cole is quite a unique player and brings something different to the team, if he can recover from his recent injury then he will be an asset and worth resigning. Florent Malouda went back to his drab and ineffectual old self for the first half of the season. However he has looked quite the player since the turn of the year and has genuinely impressed me. If he can maintain his current form he is definitely worth keeping. The other player of question is Daniel Sturridge, although there is life in Drogba and Anelka even though they have both enjoyed their thirty first birthdays. As you can tell I don’t believe Kalou is up to standard, to lead the team on his own. However I do not believe Sturridge has been given the chances and a six month loan deal could benefit him significantly. This leaves room for another striker to forge a partnership with either Nicholas or Didier as they seem incapable of finding common ground between themselves.

The future of Joe Cole looks set to be decided shortly, following news that Chelsea have officially released him.

The England midfielder has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United or Arsenal this Summer, but has remained quiet on his future.

Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins admitted that he would like Cole to stay at Chelsea, but it appears his decreasing role in Ancelotti’s side has made him seek first team football elsewhere.

“We’ve obviously been in dialogue with Joe for months now and it’s pretty evident that Carlo [Ancelotti] and myself would love Joe to stay, but it’s down now to the club to see what we can do,”

With the World Cup due to start this Friday, it’s thought that Cole will decide his future before the tournament starts.

Manchester United had been favourites to land the attacker, but Arsenal have seemingly moved into pole position.

Once again, we find ourselves staring down the familiar consensus that follows any failure by Manchester United, no matter how small or insignificant.

We’ve heard it all before – our players aren’t good enough. Whoever our best player happens to be is carrying the side, and we’d be mid-table without him. Our kids aren’t good enough. Ferguson is too tactically naive. We need three or four players to improve our squad or we’ll do well to finish in the top four. Whoever our last best player was hasn’t been replaced.

We’ve been linked to a large number of players in the summer, the majority of them attacking midfielders or strikers. Rafael Van Der Vaart, Edin Dzeko, Mikel Arteta, Joe Cole, Karim Benzema, David Silva and others have all been mentioned, and a lot of fans (and it seems, the vast majority of pundits) seem to think that Ferguson’s assertion that ‘maybe we’ll get one player in’ is hopelessly inadequate.

What these people need to realise, is that our squad is undeniably at least a good size. And when you have a good-sized squad, this means that when you buy another player, somebody has to leave. We have a vast number of strikers, with three established players in Rooney, Berbatov, and Owen, and four youngsters vying for first-team football in Welbeck, Macheda, Hernandez, and Diouf. Hernandez and Diouf are also both 22, and thus aren’t exactly the most youthful of youngsters.

In central midfield, we have Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves, Anderson, Darron Gibson all in the first team. Out wide, Valencia, Nani, and Obertan, and of course Giggs and Park who can play in either role.

So if we do buy Benzema, then because we realistically have too many strikers anyway, this will cost one or two of our strikers the possibility of making it at the club. If we buy Van der Vaart, then the development of players like Gibson and Anderson will be compromised, and we can forget about bringing through some of our other exciting midfielders like Cleverley.

We have to ask – is this worth it? The list of established great players in their mid-to-late twenties that we’ve bought who have gone on to be Manchester United greats is as short as it is pretentious and French. The reason clubs place such importance on youth development is not to save money, but because if we do produce great players like Giggs and Scholes, then they are far more likely to stay at the club for as long as we like, and become more important figures in the dressing room, learning to gel over a long time, and becoming accustomed to our style of football.

If we sign Dzeko or Benzema, are we happy to sacrifice the careers of Manchester-born prospects like Danny Welbeck, or the obviously tremendous potential of Macheda? If we sign Van der Vaart, are fans happy with us losing one of Anderson or Gibson, players who are both unique within our squad? A lot of bad press has been written about these two players, but people appear to have a short memory, because Anderson has always consistently done it in the big games for us – he was arguably man of the match at Stamford Bridge this season – a quality that is rare in youngsters, and that bodes extremely well. As for Gibson, didn’t we all speak about the importance of goals from midfield in the wake of Ronaldo’s departure? He has proven his ability this season, and his all-round game goes far beyond his shooting.

Last season, we lost the title by a single point. I’d argue that there were two key reasons why we lost the league. The first was that we had a huge defensive crisis which caused us a lot of problems, but it would be ludicrous to suggest this is because we don’t have enough defenders – it was an insane injury crisis which is extremely unlikely to happen again. Wes Brown, John O’Shea, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Jonny Evans, Rafael, Fabio, Gary Neville, and even Edwin Van der Sar – none of whom are regarded as being particularly injury-prone, with the possible exception of Ferdinand’s recent problems – were all injured for the same period, but ask yourselves, which other team in the league boasts so many defensive options anyway?

If our first-choice back five is presumed to be  Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, then even if all were injured we could field Kuszczak, Rafael, Evans, Brown, O’Shea. Or a number of other combinations which are all superior to anything our rivals can put together. Chelsea‘s second-choice back four would presumably be Hilario, Ivanovic, Bruma, Alex, Zhirkov. Not bad, but which back line would you rather go into a tricky away game with? Arsenal have Sol Campbell as backup before they have to start playing midfielders in defence, and the laughably error-prone Fabianski as reserve keeper. Again, I think I know who’s winning there. And with the addition of Chris Smalling, we can be reasonably assured that nothing like this will happen next season.

The second reason that i’d argue we lost the league is because of Rooney’s injury. Now, one can argue that we became too dependent on Rooney very easily, but I have always been of the opinion that Berbatov, accompanied by a goalscorer, is a fine replacement for him against all but the toughest opposition – his partnership with Owen was arguably more effective than with Rooney, despite it’s rather obvious and outdated ‘creator-poacher’ blueprint. The problem was that we were unlucky in that Macheda and Owen were both injured at exactly the same time as Rooney, and that Berbatov is completely unsuited for playing the lone striker role. Once again, this is extremely unlikely to happen again, and once again, the problem will be alleviated by the addition of another player in Javier Hernandez, who has been nothing if not prolific. Add to this the fact that the team looked a lot more comfortable in Rooney’s absence after he had been missing for a few games, and I don’t see this as being anywhere near as much of a problem next year.

Despite all this, I do think that – surprise surprise – Ferguson may be right and that making one well thought-out signing might be the best way of going forward. I would argue that Rafael Van der Vaart, David Silva, or Joe Cole would be the best prospects for the same reasons – they all naturally offer something that we arguably lack – creativity in midfield. Perhaps a criticism of our midfield is that whilst we have players who can play defence-splitting passes (Scholes, Giggs), make driving forward runs (Park, Anderson) and score goals (Gibson), we do not, until these younger players develop, have anyone capable of doing all three. The players mentioned above are all capable of doing all three of these. And importantly, they are all also capable of playing on the left (David Silva is left-footed and has played here regularly for Valencia, and Van der Vaart and Joe Cole both play on the left for their countries), where we have limited options. In addition, Giggs and Scholes will play fewer and fewer games and retire soon, so this is probably the best area of the squad to invest in.

One might argue that this doesn’t entirely alleviate the burden of goals on Rooney, but for reasons I have mentioned before, and the fact that these players should bring more goals from midfield, I don’t think this will be a problem. Benzema would help that, but it is doubtful whether he and Rooney would ever be able to play together effectively, he has had a much poorer season than any of the others, and I haven’t seen any evidence that he can play well on the left, so loses out here too. If I had to choose, I think the most sensible option is Joe Cole. The reasoning is simple – he has something to prove, he won’t need any time to adapt to the premier league, we have seen him work well with Rooney, he is the oldest of the lot and would represent a stop-gap in the transition from our current players to our youngsters, and because he is free, we wouldn’t need to worry about recouping the money.

But whether we do or don’t, don’t believe the knee-jerk hyperbole – there is nothing wrong with this squad, and remember that when Ferguson casts his opinion on the forthcoming season, he is rarely wrong. We have heard the same old ABU wishful thinking foretelling our impending decline trotted out time and time again whenever we fail, so do what we always do – remember it, and save it for later on, to have a good laugh when our lads inevitably prove them wrong.

The midfield playmaker finished last season how he started it, on the bench and not in the match day squad at times. A very disappointing position for a player who should see a space for him in the England side, given the regularity in which Gareth Barry has been starting England internationals.

The player had a good first season at the club partnering well with the many midfield partners available to the manager. His strengths were his ability to break up play without the fierceness of Keane or Fletcher and his wide range of passing. However he has struggled to claim the mantel of the teams’ first choice midfielder. ( a role in my view held by Fletcher) His four seasons at the club have produced an average of just twenty five games a season. ( in the league)  He has never been a regular contributor in the goals department but that was a well known fact before he joined, averaging just over four goals a season.

The guy was outclassed in the Champions League Final against Barcelona, where admittedly he wasn’t the only one but he badly let himself down. That night should have been his finest hour against the best midfielders in the business, they proved themselves (Xavi Iniesta) sadly Carrick did not.

He is someone who can control the midfield but only against much weaker opposition, where he has time on the ball. In theory he is a good foil for the talent of Fletcher but his lack of ability to beat a man or no longer find defence splitting passes, leaves the fans wanting so much more.

To add to that United have Darron Gibson coming through. He looks to be a player living on borrowed time and someone who for my money brings little more than his shooting ability to the show. If he thinks he will have the luxury of standing on the edge of the penalty area for the next ten years waiting for a United player to lay the ball to him ( like Lampard) I think he’s sadly mistaken. He could though provide the impact off the bench United need, instead of leaving an 18 million midfielder on the bench to rot.

Throughout a season when Liverpool have been consistently crap on the field, their fans have been consistently mental off the field. More specifically, on an internet forum called Red and White Kop (RAWK).

For the members of of RAWK, their season has been dire for a combination of reasons, the most ludicrous being that there’s a conspiracy within the FA and Premier League to stop them from winning anything.

Quite how this is possible is beyond me, but the ‘RAWKITES’ as they call themselves, or ‘SPASTICS’ as others refer to them, are convinced that Sir Alex Ferguson is involved in the plot and regularly bribes referees to make them lose and help Manchester United win.

Apparently they’re a much better team than us and if not for the corrupt officiating they would have finished higher than us in the table. Without Rooney we’re just a mid table team, although they said the same about Ronaldo. I dread to think where they would finish without Fernando Torres.

One of the amazing things about RAWK is its members blind faith in Rafael Benitez. The man has taken a Champions League winning team and turned them into 7th placed team with no Champions League football for next season. The squad they have now is actually worse than the squad that he inherited from Gerard Houllier, despite spending (wasting) over £200 million on new signings, considerably more than we’ve spent during the same period I might add.

While he was busy fucking up their squad he was also negotiating a very cushy contract for himself. He had them bent over a barrel at the end. They couldn’t afford to keep him and risk sliding further down the table next season, and they couldn’t afford to sack him because they’d have to pay him around £16 million. In the end they negotiated a deal with Benitez and it’s thought that he walked away with a cool £6 million in his back pocket. Not bad for a 7th placed finish I’m sure you’ll agree.

But while the rest of the country was busy laughing at Liverpool and their manager who was at times a fully fledged mentalist, RAWK was busy writing poems about him and making slushy youtube videos about how great he is. Readers of RAWK are led to believe that he was a brave martyr who stood up for the fans against the nasty American owners who haven’t backed him in the transfer market.

Ironically enough, facts are met with derision and cries of conspiracy when posted on there. If anyone dares post anything remotely logical regarding the amount of money Benitez has spent or how he’s used it to buy average players like Kuyt, Lucas and Babel, they’re quickly shot down by “diehard” members or indeed the moderators themselves. That’s right, the delusion isn’t confined to a few members, it’s actually promoted by the forum staff.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to back your manager, particularly in this day and age, but what RAWKITES don’t understand is that they’ve gone way beyond supporting him. They’ve turned him into a figure of worship beyond any form of criticism or objective debate.

Their blind support of a man who has played them like a violin is bordering on insanity. Every time he made mistakes all he had to do was say ‘You’ll never walk alone’ and the fans lapped it up and shifted all blame onto the owners, onto the referees, onto the corrupt FA, onto anybody but Benitez.

Now I wish I could say that RAWK was representative of Liverpool fans in general, but it really isn’t. Other Liverpool sites are embarrassed by RAWK, and the Manchester United forum Red Cafe has a 150 page, 6,000 post thread, just to laugh at their deluded ramblings. They’ve taken supporting their team to a new level of idiocy. Their staunch support of Benitez and their refusal to accept that he could be blame for anything has almost turned them into a cult. They’re living inside an internet bubble where the ‘best club in the world’ is being ruined by outside forces with agendas against them. They epitomize the modern day conspiracy theorist and give us plenty to laugh at on a daily basis.

They regularly assert that the media is against Liverpool, completely ignoring the massive amount of supporters and ex Liverpool players on the TV and in newspapers. Brian Reade, Derek McGovern, Alan Hansen, Mark Lawrenson, Phil Thompson to name just a few. There is probably a bigger Liverpool supporting contingent in the newspapers and on TV than any other club in the league, but logical reasoning like that is ignored on RAWK in favour of an ‘everybody is against us’ tin foil hat wearing band of idiots who make a mockery of their once great club.

Managerial legends like Paisley and Shankly would be rolling in their graves if they saw what Benitez has done to Liverpool. And the supporters on RAWK should hang their heads in shame for putting Benitez on the same pedestal as those two men who brought so much glory to Anfield in years gone by.

The Fat Spanish Waiter has done nothing for Liverpool. On the contrary, he’s wasted hundreds of millions of pounds, alienated some of their best players who were then sold, bought terrible players and ruined their entire squad. Without Torres and Mascherano they’d most likely be in the bottom half of the table, battling it out with the likes of Bolton and Sunderland. So instead of worshipping Benitez like some dignified Martyr, they should start facing facts and analyzing just how he has managed to spend £250 million and still manage to take them backwards.

Only then will they start to regain some form of reality on that cesspit of hatred and bitterness.

After a season that ended with no trophies and no Champions League place for next season, it was hard to see how it could get much worse for Liverpool football club.

Their captain and nightclub DJ attacker Steven Gerrard endured one of the worst season’s of his career at Anfield, evidently realizing that their second placed finish in the previous season was the closest he was ever going to get to winning the title with such a bunch of average players.

Their star striker Fernando Torres did his usual routine of being world class when fit, but not being fit very often, while quite tellingly some of their better performers of last season included the very average Dirk Kuyt and Lucas.

In defence it was jamie carragher who dragged them backwards for most of the season. his obvious insecurity with his lack of pace saw him move further and further back, looking for the safety of the 18 yard box where nobody could beat him with pace. This in turn meant the entire defence had to keep in line with him or risk playing opposing strikers onside. It also meant they struggled to keep teams boxed in and thus the midfield often struggled to keep any meaningful pressure on the opposition box.

This combination of factors proved to be Liverpool’s downfall and the end result was a UEFA Cup place only gained because Portsmouth were denied their place after going into administration.

So how could it possible get any worse for the ambulance rockers?

Rumour has it that Real Madrid are expected to offer in the region of €30 Million for the services of Stevie ‘Starfish’ Gerrard. It is not known what Mourinho has been drinking or how much he has had, but with their captain gone, Liverpool will surely continue on their downward spiral towards the bottom half of the table.

The other rumour doing the rounds is that Liverpool manager and part time lunatic Rafael Benitez will be offered a severance package by the Liverpool board, to finally get rid of him and his depressing brand of football and his long list of fahcts!

With a squad desperately in need of transformation, but no money with which to do so, Liverpool will struggle to attract a top manager to Anfield in the near future. More likely they’ll end up with someone like Gareth Southgate.

So raise a glass with me fellow reds, to Liverpool Football Club and mid table mediocrity.

Wayne Rooney believes the injury that ruled him out of key Manchester United fixtures at the end of the season could have a silver lining after all.

The United striker hopes the rest he has had will reinvigorate him for the World Cup in South Africa this Summer.

England odds are currently 11/1 on Partybets World Cup to end 44 years of hurt since lifting the trophy in 1966, and that is due in no small part to Rooney’s fantastic form for Manchester United.

“Of course I always want to score, but if it doesn’t happen I’m glad it’s in a friendly and not in the World Cup,” he said. “Hopefully I’m saving them up for South Africa.

“It has been a long season for everyone and, of course, players can feel jaded. But I’m quite fortunate because I haven’t trained a lot in the last six weeks.

“I will have another full week’s training in Austria and I felt good against Mexico.

“I had a bit of a stiff neck after the match, but that should pass. Fingers crossed, my break out injured this season will be of benefit during the World Cup.

“I have trained in every session with England and there is no problem with my ankle. You have to hold back sometimes in tackles in training. It can be difficult, but you must be careful not injure yourself or your teammates.”

With the questionable form of Steven Gerrard this season it looks like England’s only gem is Wayne Rooney. Medical staff have confirmed that Rooney will need extensive work in order to strengthen his ligament, leading us to think that an ‘accidental’ stamp by one of England’s World Cup opponents will put him out of the tournament.

I think in that case Fabio should leave Rooney on the bench for the first three group stage games so he is fresh and fit to take on whoever England face in the knockout stages. He can then play in non contact games in training against those not involved in the games. No disrespect to any of the teams England will face and I am well aware that teams can raise their game in a World Cup, meaning no easy games. However Rooney or no Rooney, England should qualify from that group.

I know you can talk about getting a rhythm together and all that jazz, however all of these players will have played around fifty games this season. So selecting young pacey players and resting our stars could play a key part in England’s success in this tournament. That is why players like Agbonlahor or Walcott have to go for me as impact subs, instead of the normal like for like replacements.

It seems in recent season all teams suffer from moderate sized injury lists with players like Rio Ferdinand, Michael Essien, Fernando Torres and Robin Van Persie regularly spending time on the sidelines to name a few. It looks like we ask too much of all our players, let us look at England’s key men.

Frank Lampard has already played fifty times this season, John Terry 55, Gerrard 42, and these lads are all reaching thirty.

It could just be a survival of the fittest….

United purchased for around seven million pound a new raw defender in the form of Fulham’s hot prospect Chris Smalling. The young centre half was spotted at non-league Maidstone and made the switch to Craven Cottage representing excellent sell on value for money. There was speculation at the time that this could be in preparation for United to lose Vidic. However that does not look likely at the moment.

So this leaves United with the more than capable stand in of Jonny Evans plus others like Wes Brown. Evan’s performances have seen him perform consistently for the team during difficult periods. I believe his performances were not given the credit they deserved despite a few wobbles. Wes Brown on the other hand has looked very shaky at centre half looking vulnerable against any player who has pace and is prepared to run at him

Realistically this means Smalling’s opportunities could be fairly limited in his first season with the club. Unless Sir Alex sees a future for him in another position like fullback or in the holding role. Therefore I suggest that he sends the young defender out on loan for at least six months of the season, where he can play every week.

If that is the case it has to be in the Premier League and I think it would be a great learning curve for him to join a team who will be potentially struggling near the bottom of the league such as Wolves or West Brom. That way he can learn his trade in the toughest of circumstances in order to develop him as a player.

Good news for Manchester United’s Zoran Tosic who was selected for the provisional squad. The wingman has been on loan out in Germany for Cologne, managing 5 goals from nine starts and five sub appearances. It has been reported that Zoran has the desire to make his stay permanent in Germany. However he will have been disappointed to have not been at Old Trafford when both Giggs and Nani were unavailable for the Carling Cup Final against Villa.

The final squad will be announced around the 1^st of June.

Other players like Manucho have suffered the fate of being sold after just one season at the club then one season out on loan.

Could this happen to Tosic?

Should United be looking for a new captain?

The term ‘Club Captain’ is more relevant to a right honourable member of parliament is it not. I simply just believe we need to move on from having Gary Neville as captain because he does not look capable of playing ninety minutes week in week out.  He will still be an important person to have around the training ground there is no doubt about that. However for those young players coming through and being asked to perform, we need a captain who is going to be out there with them.

If Gary could perform to his max week in week out this would not be an issue but you have to ask how influential a captain can be who is not playing. This is a similar theme with other potential candidates for captain like Ryan Giggs (age) and Rio Ferdinand (injury). It is rare to have such a big club with captains who are in place on such a semi permanent basis.  This is not something associated with great United sides of the past.

I was so pleased with the fact this season we have decided to use Patrice Evra for the captains job. He has to be one of the most consistent defenders I have ever seen, his bad day is a lot better than most defenders around. The way we also rely on Patrice to run the left hand side both defensively and from an attacking perspective shows how reliable he is. He has to be a strong candidate.

I don’t subscribe to making Rooney the captain he is almost a leader up there on his own anyway. He seems to have a presence in which his team mates rely on. However I think the pressure that will come with being the official captain is unnecessary. So I would instantly rule out the option of selecting Rooney as a candidate for captain.

The next candidate has to be Nemanja Vidic he leads by example and his no nonsense approach will inspire his team mates. However you have to wonder whether his English and communication would be a potential problem. He could be a player who is simply better off sticking to his already important role as the lynchpin of the back line.

The final candidate is the formidable Darren Fletcher who has gained a reputation as our first choice central midfielder. He is completely at home chasing down the most talented ball players in the league, getting in their faces and making things difficult for them. I do however have the concern that I don’t think it would enhance his game and may add extra pressure to a player who is very settled with his role at the moment.

My final verdict for Captain is Rio Ferdinand if he is fit, if he is not Patrice Evra.

City have launched an ambitious bid for the services of England midfielder James Milner. To their fans it may make sense but where exactly will the midfielder play in the City midfield. The riches of City have enabled them to bring together a squad of several top class Premier League players and then several good players.

I would cite a difference in for example Craig Bellamy who is a good player but then in comparison to Carlos Tevez, is the weaker of the two with Tevez clearly on top. The same could be said for Wayne Bridge who is a good Premier League full back but there are many around who are much better.

What we have to remember is that James Milner has come to prominence filling the hole left by Gareth Barry. As Aston Villa never replaced Barry with a senior midfielder and decided to stick with what they had. Milner as a winger was very ordinary was not hitting any headlines.

Yet when he switched into the central midfield role his performances became the launch pad to Villa challenging for fourth position. His ability to break up play in the midfield, drive forward and shoot from distance matched what they had with Barry.

However there seems to be no room for this with Barry, De Jong and Vieira regularly in and out of the team. That still leaves the very able Stephen Ireland to warm the Manchester City bench. He in fact could be used as bait. However Villa won’t want to lose another big player when they will have wanted to build their team around the quality of Milner.  If their signing James Milner as the twenty million pound winger then I think he is simply not worth it.

The desire of Milner is so far unknown but I hope it does not distract him from focussing on playing for England this summer. If he wants to go, then Villa will need to make sure they drive up the price to the highest possible and perhaps include Ireland in the deal. As Villa like City are stuck, as the only players that will improve them are top class thirty million pound players. Villa can’t afford them and City will struggle to attract them.

After a poor season simply based on the fact the fans have been left thinking what could have been, with regards to the Blackburn and Bayern games. Sir Alex has done little to inspire those deeply worried about the future of the team, given the assumed financial constraints of the United cheque book. I think you could argue that without Wayne Rooney the team would struggle to make the top four.

This season there is going to be huge reliance on Nani, who needs to be looking for twenty goals in all competitions as the teams total goals from midfield last season is very poor indeed. Valencia who has been good needs to develop his game to the United standard. I often believe that he simply crosses it and does not aim to pick people out hence the two goals scored from his deliveries in the second leg against Bayern. He also outright blankly refuses to take players on, which has severely hampered the threat of the United attacking unit.

To not have a United team which is capable of getting in behind the defence and exposing them is not the United way. It has stopped Berbatov from being a threat because when he gets the ball the runs are not being made so he can release players down the flanks. When he was at Spurs Aaron Lennon was getting in behind the opposition defence causing problems and this made it easier for Berbatov. It would give him more space and he would not have to work his way past an entire back four.

Another obvious problem is the fact United do not threaten through the middle from the midfield. The squad possesses not one single player who can drive through the middle at pace cutting opposition players out of the game. This is such a vital weapon that United have missed out on for many years now. Admittedly there are not many who can drive through the middle naming only players like Kaka, Fabregas, Gerrard and Essien, who are capable of doing so.

The only place I feel confident about is the backline for one more season I think the formula of Van Der Sar, Vidic and Rio will be ok. Although I think there are always going to be worries about Rio’s fitness. We have an embarrassment of riches at right full back and for my money have the best left back in the world.

Upfront another man is needed and I am not sure whether it is beneficial to keep both Michael Owen and Berbatov. They both only seem capable of holding down the third striker position i.e the automatic striker substitution. For both players their performance won’t have been to the level they have wanted hence leaving room for another striker to come in and take the second striker role. I believe both players this season were capable of scoring twenty goals with the chances they had.

So we are set for another bumpy ride as United fans with the World Cup perhaps taking our minds off the worry. But Fergie’s got something up his sleeve hasn’t he pleasssssse!!

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that Manchester United have accepted Birmingham’s bid for Ben Foster, to allow the goalkeeper to further his career.

Foster has struggled to nail down a first team spot at Manchester united after a series of high profile errors saw him relegated to the bench, even in the absence of injured Edwin Van der Sar. He is expected to complete a £6million move to St. Andrews today after undergoing a medical.

Ferguson has decided to allow the ‘keeper to move on to seek regular first team football. However, he insists FOster is still the best ‘keeper England has got.

“We accepted the bid from Birmingham City simply because we knew how concerned Ben was about his future and I can understand that,” said Ferguson.

“I think most of that comes from his disappointment of not having played enough games to get in the England squad this summer.

“I still feel very strongly about this, that Ben’s the best England goalkeeper and I can’t work out why he wasn’t even considered simply because he didn’t have enough football.

“Sometimes your conscience does come into it and you have to understand a player’s feelings about it. Ben’s been a terrific servant for us, he’s been very unlucky with a couple of injuries he’s had with us last season and I think he deserves the opportunity to do better for himself.”

The agent of Manchester United target Gianluigi Buffon has dismissed speculation linking the goalkeeper with a move away from Juventus this Summer.

The impressive Italian ‘keeper has been strongly linked with a move to Old Trafford, to replace Dutchman Edwin Van der Sar who is expected to retire next season. but Buffon’s agent Silvano Martina insists Buffon has no intention of leaving Juve.

“I don’t know what else to say with regards to Buffon as it seems that he is the only Juventus player who should leave.

“Considering the ongoing reports, I want to remind everyone that Buffon is under contract with Juve and that next season he will play at Juve.

“When he was asked hypothetically where he would want to play if he left Juve, he always said his first choice would be England, but there is nothing else.

“He never said he would leave.

Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano believes he will be sold this Summer, amid reported interest from a host of clubs including Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

The Brazilian international – who has scored 21 goals in 34 games for the Spanish club this season – recently expressed his honour at being linked with a move to Manchester United.

Fabiano’s contract at Sevilla expires next year and he believes the club will try to sell him this Summer rather than let him leave for free next year.

“My departure is very likely, my contract will expire next year and I’m not going to renew.”

“I think that Sevilla will try to sell me this summer,”

The omission of David Silva and David Villa from Valencia’s final game of the season has fuelled speculation linking them with moves away from the club.

Villa has been strongly linked with Barcelona, while Silva has recently suggested he would consider a move to Manchester United.

Comments by Valencia coach Unai Emery suggest that he has already accepted that he will lose key players.

“We played a game to win and ended a season at home with win. Today we had to discard certain players and play with people who were better prepared mentally and physically to play,”

“Any coach wants to have his future team set as soon as possible, but it is certain that some issues take time.”

“We are resigned to the departure of important players, but while they’re here we will count on them. The summer will be long.”

The agent of Manchester United’s Ben Foster says Birmingham City are close to agreeing a deal for the goalkeeper.

Joe hart will return to Manchester City in the Summer after an impressive season on loan at St. Andrews, so the blues are in need of a new stopper.

Sky Sports reports that Birmingham have agreed a fee in the region of £5m and is now in talks with Birmingham.

“We are close to agreeing a deal,” his agent Lee Payne told skysports.com.

“The two clubs have agreed a fee and given us permission to talk to Birmingham.

“We fully expect the deal to be completed either this weekend or the start of next week.”

Sir Alex Ferguson insists Manchester United will recover from their title disappointment by raising the bar next season.

United took the title race down to the final day of the season, but Chelsea‘s emphatic win over Wigan Athletic sealed the title for the blues by a solitary point.

Sir Alex  is no stranger to new challenges, having previously overcome adversaries Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez and Jose Mourinho, and he will assess his squad again this Summer and prepare it for next season’s assault on all fronts.

“It was a disappointment but you can agonise over these things and I’m experienced to know you can’t win them all,” Ferguson said.

“What you try to do is recover from every defeat and try to regain the upper hand next season.

“It’s a challenge. A few years ago it was Arsenal, then it was Chelsea, and each time we’ve managed to raise the bar at our football club – and that is exactly what we are going to do next year.”

Ferguson says he is as motivated as ever to regain the title. And at 68 years old is showing no signs of slowing down.

“I’m at the right club,” he said.

“It’s easy to be motivated at Manchester United simply because of the great players we’ve had over the years.

“Also what drives me on is expectation. In the modern world, once you achieve some success, the next step is to deal with the expectation and it’s very difficult.

“But it’s a challenge and if you don’t want that challenge you won’t survive. And I’ve always accepted the challenge.”

England captain Rio Ferdinand says hard work and dedication are behind Nani‘s turnaround in form this season.

The portuguese winger has suffered with inconsistent performances during his Manchester United career, but after returning from injury in the second half of this season he has become one of the first names on Sir Alex Ferguson‘s team sheets.

“Nani’s really come on since Christmas,” Rio told manutd.com.

“He’s a young player learning the game and he’s got his head down and worked, really knuckled down.

“He’s seen the benefits of that by becoming an effective part of the team.

“The important thing is he’s producing an end product – scoring goals and setting up chances. Because of that he’s getting a consistent run in the team and any player benefits from that.”

Rio believes Nani’s potential means he can go to the very top and become an influential player at Old Trafford.

“Nani’s got the potential to do what he wants,” Rio added.

“He’s one of the sharpest players around, has a great strike with both feet – he’s got the potential to be a top, top player.

“If he continues the way he’s going he’ll be a great weapon for next season.”

Manchester United have emerged as the most likely destination for Valencia midfielder David Silva.

Reports in Spain claim the winger will leave the Spanish club this Summer, with several of Europe’s giants waiting in the wings.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will face competition from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Chelsea to secure his signature, but recent comments from Silva have made them favourites to seal a deal.

“When you hear a club like Manchester United is interested in you it is an honour,” Silva said.

“I am very aware of the Premier League, and in recent years it has been the stand-out league in the world.

“If it came calling, especially if it was a club like Manchester United, it would be very hard to resist.

“I am happy at Valencia but every player has his price and if they get an offer they think is good business anything is possible.”

After an incredible season for Manchester United in which he has scored 34 goals, Wayne Rooney insists he can get even better.

The reds striker collected the 2010 Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award on Thursday to add to his growing number of personal accolades, but he believes his best is yet to come.

“I am only 24. Hopefully I can progress and the best years are still ahead of me,” he said.

“I am always learning every day, and take things in from all my team-mates, both at United and with England.

“As a player you are never the finished article. I want to keep learning and getting better.”

Bulgarian striker Dimitar Berbatov has announced his retirement from international football, with immediate effect.

The Manchester United forward, aged 29, has an impressive record of 48 goals in 77 games for his national side, but has decided to call time on his international career for many “small and big reasons”, including his recent injury problems for United.

“I’ve thought a lot about this decision,” he said.

“I’ve been playing for the national team for 11 years. There are a lot of small and big reasons for my decision.

“I feel tired and have had some injury problems recently. Deep inside of me I think I had to say stop.”

The Irish FA confirmed today that Manchester united will play against an Airtricity League XI in Dublin in a pre season friendly.

The game, which will be part of United’s pre season training, will be the first to be played in the new Aviva stadium.

United Chief Executive David Gill said: “It is a great honour to have been invited to play the opening football match in the magnificent Aviva Stadium.

“Anyone who has visited Old Trafford on a match day knows the strength of Manchester United’s support in Ireland and we are delighted to be able to play a match on their home soil.

“Their loyalty and willingness to undertake long trips to support their team is remarkable. The players always enjoy their visits to Ireland and I’m sure this occasion will be a memorable one.”

John Delaney, CEO of the FAI, said: “We are delighted that the first football match to take place in Aviva stadium will see a representative Airtricity League side in action against one of the top club sides in the world.”

Jamie Carragher’s dramatic u-turn on his England involvement is very convenient to say the least.

His retirement was bizarre in itself. After all, how can you retire from a job you don’t have? He wasn’t close to being first choice with superior defenders John Terry and Rio Ferdinand ahead of him, and he wasn’t even certain to be 3rd choice.

It seemed he had accepted that he wasn’t good enough, so he spat his dummy out and announced his retirement.

Then when approached in April about a possible return to the England setup, he insisted he’d turn down the opportunity because it would be unfair to those who had helped England qualify.

“I’d love to work with Capello, but I’d say no. I read an interview with Alessandro Nesta who’s been asked to come back for Italy and he said he couldnt because he’d be taking someones spot who’d helped get them there. I feel the same. You can’t just walk in when others have put the graft in”

However, the Liverpool defender has changed his tune less than  a month later. England are heading for the World Cup and Liverpool are heading for mid table mediocrity, and Carragher will now take his place in the 30 man provisional squad, despite playing no part in qualifying.

“The World Cup and the Champions League are the highest levels of football,” said Carragher.

“I am not getting any younger, we have no Champions League next season and I am keen to work under Fabio Capello.”

So what has prompted this change of heart? The realization that liverpool are only going downhill? Or has Carragher become a glory hunter?

Paul Scholes has turned down the opportunity of returning to the England fold for the World Cup this Summer.

The Manchester United midfielder rolled back the years this season and produced many dominating displays from his new new position in front of United’s defence.

Scholes had previously retired from international football, insisting that he wanted to spend more time with his family and prolong his club career, but the fact that he was often played on the left side of midfield to accommodate the troublesome central midfield pairing of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard is thought to have been a factor in his decision.

England manager Fabio Capello has been impressed with Scholes’ form this season and was hoping to coax the veteran out of retirement, but was quickly snubbed.

“We tried to convince him to come back for England, but he said no. He preferred to stay with his family. We tried,” the England manager said.

Patrice Evra is proud of his outstanding contribution towards Manchester United’s campaign, despite losing out on the title to rivals Chelsea.

The French left back played in every single league game for the reds this term and was one of their most consistently good performers.

The impressive defender revealed that the players and manager all congratulated him on his amazing season. And he also commented on his pride at lifting the Carling Cup as Manchester united captain in February.

“I was in good form and my team-mates, the gaffer and everyone have congratulated me for my season.

“It was not only about playing the games but performing for the 51 games. This is why I’m very proud of myself. I’m also proud to have lifted the only trophy we won this season, the Carling Cup, when I was captain,” United defender said.

Ryan Giggs has admitted that Manchester United cannot afford to rely too heavily on Wayne Rooney next season if they’re to reclaim their title.

The Old Trafford club lost their Premier League crown this weekend,following a season dogged by injuries and an over reliance on Wayne Rooney to provide the goals.

United winger Giggs believes they need to share the goals around the team if they’re going to succeed next season.

We need to be scoring more goals from different areas and from different players, even though as a team we scored more than we did last season.

‘We were also better defensively this season than last, but we can’t rely on Wayne as much as we have done this season in terms of goals.

‘It was unfortunate for us that Wayne got injured at a really important part of the season, because we’d relied on his goals more or less throughout it. So to get to the business part of the season and not have him, then to have him for one game without him having really trained, wasn’t ideal.

‘But whether the manager does or doesn’t bring in any other strikers this summer, the other players know we need to score more. Whether that’s defenders coming up for corners or midfielders chipping in, we all need to contribute a lot more.’

If our season could be summed up by one single decision, it would be the one where the linesman – while standing in the perfect position – declined to raise his flag against Didier Drogba, who was standing several yards offside at Old Trafford. The Ivorian striker went on to score what turned out to be the winning goal, and arguably the goal that won them the Premier league title.

For that reason I find it difficult to admit that Chelsea are deserving of their newly bestowed tag of ‘Champions’, simply because it isn’t true.

It has to be said that they’ve played some vrey good football this year, and today they eclipsed our record for most goals in a Premier League season by scoring eight against Wigan Athletic. That’s the fourth time this season they’ve scored seven or more and is an incredible statistic.

That said, for all the media w*nking over Chelsea and how they’ve blown the rest of the league away; it remains true that if the linesman had raised his flag as he should have done, we would be celebrating our 19th title today, no doubt about it.

There’s also the issue of the terrible refreeing decisions in the game at Stamford Bridge. First Rooney runs clean through and is 1 on 1 with Petr Cech, only for the linesman to incorrectly raise his flag. Next was the penalty incident when Antonio Valencia was hauled to the ground. then last but not least was the free kickand goal incident, which is hard to take for several reasons. Firstly it was never a free kick. Secondly there was a foul on Wes Brown. And finally there was a Chelsea player standing in an offside position.

People talk about decisions like that evening themselves out over the course of the season, but that’s just a myth that the likes of Andy Gray like to peddle because it saves them having to admit that Chelsea have benefitted massively from key decisions this season. When such huge mistakes go against your team when playing against your direct title rivals, it’s impossible for those mistakes to even themselves out, particularly when they happen in both the home and away games.

So despite all the goals they scored this season, the reason they won the league can be put down to that single decision at Old Trafford. Without that we would have each gained a point and Manchester United would have finished the season on 86 points with Chelsea back on 84.

Yes I’m bitter, yes I’m disappointed, but I’m also extremely proud of the way my team have battled on through adversity this season. We lost the best player in the world and still challenged. There isn’t another team in the world that could have suffered the number of injuries we have this season – especially in defence – and still came within a whisker (or more accurately a flag) of winning the title. To come through it with the best defensive record in the league truly is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the entire squad and backroom staff.

With a couple of tweaks during the Summer, we’ll be there next season to take our trophy back.

As a Manchester United fan I’m no stranger to intense rivalries. Our local derby matches against City, as well as regional derbies against the likes of Liverpool and Leeds United are generally very intense and filled with passion and quite often hatred. But I never quite realized until today that Stoke see us as one of their rivals.

The behaviour of their fans today was nothing short of shocking. They seem to be living in some sort of alternate reality where they’re one of our main rivals, when in actual fact they’re barely even on our radar. I almost expect it when the likes of Liverpool and City sing about the Munich disaster, but coming from Stoke fans it was just weird.

The sheer hatred they have for our club and its supporters borders on the bizarre. Sadly for the Stoke players, their fans hatred for us seems to be more important than cheering their own team on. In fact they were more interested in cheering for Chelsea today than cheering their team on to earning some pride with a dignified display against the deposed Champions of England.

Perhaps the most bizarre song they came up with was “You’re gonna win f*ck all”. If the irony of 11th placed Stoke singing that song wasn’t enough, the fact that we won the Carling Cup this year just made it even stranger. I know the Carling Cup can hardly be described as a major honour, but a trophy is a trophy at the end of the day.

The most unclassy thing of the night though was not the Munich songs, it was the way their fans sang about Chelsea during Sir Alex Ferguson‘s speech. I can only imagine what it must feel like to be a Stoke player, when your fans pay more attention to what the opposition are doing. I guess the players and manager must take a share of the blame for that though.

Their tactic (note this is singular) of ‘win a throw in and get Delap on it’ is incredibly boring so I can understand to a certain extent that they have to come up with novel ways of entertaining themselves each week. However, what I can’t understand is the strange hate filled obsession they have with our football club.

Van der Sar 8 - He could have brought his deckchair for most of the game, but pulled off two world class saves towards the end to keep a clean sheet.

Neville 7 - Got forward well and contributed to the attack, but his crossing was poor by his standards.

Ferdinand 8 - Nothing really to trouble him. Solid.

Vidic 7 - Needed to commit fouls on a couple of occasions due to poor positioning, but played well overall.

Evra 7 - Defended well and was his usual energetic self in attack. Some neat tricks got the crowd going.

Nani 8 - United’s main threat throughout the match. All of our good work went through him.

Fletcher 6 - Unusually quiet game from the Scot. Passing was off and didn’t really stamp his authority on the game.

Scholes 7 - Controlled the midfield with relative ease. Customary booking saw Sir Alex replace him with Gibson with 20 minutes left.

Giggs 6 - Took his goal well, but was poor overall.

Berbatov 6 - Did well to get in good opsitions, but his finishing has become abysmal, particularly with his head. Great assist for Giggs’ goal.

Rooney 7 - Creatively he was very good and his passing was superb. Never really got the opportunity to score and is unfortunate to lose out on the golden boot to Drogba.

Subs:

Gibson 6 - Made a couple of good tackles.

Macheda 5 - No real impact.

Park 7 - Scored United’s 4th with a well taken header.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney believes the reds need to make two major signings this Summer in order to compete at the top level next season.

The PFA Player of the Year wants a return to the treble winning side of 1999 which featured four top strikers. Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer combined to make history by winning the treble that year, and Rooney believes United need similar firepower if they’re going to challenge next year.

The champions look set to lose their crown today, where a win for Chelsea against Wigan at Stamford Bridge would see them win the title by 1 point, if United beat Stoke at Old Trafford.

“If we can bring in two big-name players in it would give us a good chance of getting the league back if Chelsea do win it,” he told The People.

“If you look at the team in 1999 that won the treble we had four forwards, all capable of scoring goals.

“Now there is me, Berbatov and Michael Owen. There is Federico Macheda too, but if we can get one more top forward in it would give us the right balance.”

Rooney’s thoughts will be echoed by the Old Trafford faithful, who feel Dimitar Berbatov has not proven to be worthy of his price tag. While the Bulgarian forward hasn’t been as a big a flop as many claim, he certainly hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, particularly when asked to lead the line in the absence of Wayne Rooney.

Federico Macheda will undoubtedly get more game time next season as Sir Alex Ferguson continues to oversee his development. And Mame Biram Diouf should get plenty of games under his belt too. There’s also new signing Javier Hernandez to come into the fold, while Danny Welbeck may also be in contention after returning from his loan spell. And Michael Owen rounds off the list, however it’s unclear how big a role he can play next season after undergoing surgery.

United are not short of strikers by any means, but Sir Alex may feel he needs a clinical proven goalscorer who can ease the burden on Rooney to win games.

What can you say about Tottenham Hotspur? They’re usually big time bottlers who do their best to be their own worst enemy.

Tonight I expected much of the same from them when they took on Manchester City away at Eastlands. How wrong I was!

The game has just ended and Spurs won 1-0 thanks to a Peter Crouch header late on. I won’t bore you with a match report that I don’t want to write and you don’t want to read. This isn’t about the match itself.

This is about what Spurs have done for us this season. With City spending a quarter of a billion pounds on new players, some were talking them up for not just a Champions League place, but as potential title winners!

Now, after a season of comedy, they’ve given us one final laugh, with much of the credit going to Spurs. They have denied City a chance of competing amongst the world’s best clubs. They have denied City the precious Champions League place that many believe could open the floodgates of world class players heading to City. But Spurs have given us much more than that!

At White Hart Lane they’ve taken three points from Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. They gave us six precious points. And they’ve done the double over our noisy bitter neighbours, just like we did.

So I don’t think I’m alone tonight in saying thank you very much Tottenham Hotspur for giving us just one more reason to laugh out loud at the comedy club that is Manchester City. A truly massive club!

Spanish midfielder David Silva has issued a come and get me plea to English Champions Manchester United.

Valencia’s financial problems have fulled incessant speculation about Silva’s future for the last two seasons, and the star has added more fuel to the fire by declaring his admiration for United.

Silva admits it would be ‘an honour’ to play for a club like United, and added that it would be hard to turn them down if they came calling this Summer.

“When you hear a club like Manchester United is interested in you it is an honour,” he said in the Daily Express. “I am very aware of the Premier League, and in recent years it has been the stand-out league in the world.

“If it came calling, especially if it was a club like Manchester United, it would be very hard to resist. I am happy at Valencia but every player has his price and if they get an offer they think is good business anything is possible.”

Just when you thought Liverpool fans couldn’t sink any lower, they proved us all wrong today.

The funeral like atmosphere at Anfield today shows that the fans have no interest in supporting their team against Chelsea.

And when Steven Gerrard nailed his colours to the mast by setting up Drogba for Chelsea’s opening goal it was met with indifference in the stands.

It was perhaps too much to ask for Liverpool to take points off Chelsea today. They are, after all, in 7th place for a reason. That reason being that they’re rubbish.

I at least expected a professional performance though, instead of simply going through the motions before helping Chelsea win the league.

The performance of the fans was not unexpected though. And their rendition of “Are you watching Manchester?” when Lampard scored Chelsea’s second shows just how pathetic the Liverpool fans in the crowd have become.

They were effectively celebrating the fact that Chelsea were beating them, because in all likelihood it will keep us from winning the league.

If Shankly and Paisley could see how far their once great club has fallen they’d roll in their graves.

Are these the words of a bitter Manchester United fan? Yes!

But at least I can have pride that my team fought til the bitter end, unlike that cowardly bunch from down the East Lancs Road.

I wrote a piece this morning insisting that the pride of the Liverpool players meant they’d try their best to beat Chelsea. How wrong I was.

If it wasn’t bad enough that the majority of Liverpool fans wanted their own team to lose, it now appears Steven ‘Starfish’ Gerrard has now sided with them.

The whiter than white Liverpool captain, who beats up nightclub DJ’s for refusing to play his favourite Phil Collins songs, provided a fantastic assist for Chelsea’s opening goal today.

He saw Drogba making an intelligent run and provided an inch perfect pass for the Ivorian striker to turn around Pepe Reina and put Chelsea in front.

I’ve never been one for conspiracy theories, but Gerrard is apparently not even trying to hide the fact that he’s a Chelsea fan for the day.

I half expected the Kop to jump up and cheer when the ball hit the back of the net. And I’m expecting more favours for Chelsea in the second half.

How pathetically small time do you have to become when your hatred for your rivals eclipses your love for your own club?

Today’s game between Liverpool and Chelsea is being billed as a title decider. A victory for Chelsea would move them three points closer to securing the Premier League title, after three years of dominance by Manchester United.

Liverpool – the underdogs – are being hailed as United’s potential saviours. If they can take just one point from today’s game  the title pendulum would swing back in United’s favour.

Speculation has been rife that Liverpool won’t put up much of a fight, because they have nothing left to play for and won’t want to help United clinch their 19th league title; one more than Liverpool.

Indeed, some internet polls have even shown that many Liverpool fans would happily watch their team lose if it meant that United didn’t win the title. I guess that’s what happens when bitterness and hatred of your rivals becomes more important than the love you have for your own club.

Liverpool faced a similar dilemma at the end of the 1994/95 season. Beat Blackburn and help United win the league, or roll over and Blackburn become Champions. Despite the speculation that Liverpool wouldn’t be up for it, they actually went out and beat Blackburn. It was United that failed to win their game so Blackburn on the league anyway.

I do believe that Liverpool’s players are more professional than their fans. They care more about winning, about honour, about pride. They’ll go out onto that Anfield pitch and give their all. They’ll do their best to beat Chelsea, regardless of how it affects the title race.

However, it won’t be good enough. No matter how hard they try, Liverpool are a shadow of their former selves. They’re suspect defensively. Their midfield is weak and without Fernando Torres they’ll be relying on the world’s best defensive striker Dirk Kuyt or even worse, David N’Gog.

Since Xabi Alonso’s departure to Real Madrid last Summer, they’ve had nobody capable of dominating the midfield and dictating the pace of the game. Alberto Aquilani may still turn out to be that player, but his injury record this season means the jury is still out on him.

They also sold Alvaro Arbeloa and replaced him with Glen Johnson, who is basically a right winger playing at right back. He’s fantastic going forward, but he leaves gaping holes in the defence that Jamie Carragher simply hasn’t got the legs to cover anymore. Indeed Carragher is probably Liverpool’s biggest liability. He appears to be so self conscious about his lack of pace, that he steps further and further backwards during the course of the game, looking for the security of the 18 yard box. This in turn means the rest of the back four has to move with him or else players will be able to run in behind while Carragher plays them onside. The knock on effect doesn’t stop there though. Their midfield is also affected. When top teams are attacking, the defence usually hovers around the halfway line, meaning that any clearances from the opposition are quickly mopped up, the ball is given back to the midfield and another wave of attacks can be started. With Carragher creating such a deep defensive line, Liverpool lose the ability to pen teams into their own half.

What Liverpool lack, Chelsea have in spades. They’re solid at the back. They have central midfielders galore and they have one of the best strikers in the league in Didier Drogba. They also carry a threat from the wide areas with the in form French winger Florent Malouda and recent returnee Joe Cole, as well as Salomon Kalou and Nicolas Anelka who can provide a goal threat from wide.

So for all the speculation and conspiracy theories suggesting Liverpool won’t put the effort in tomorrow. It’s irrelevant. Liverpool can try their hardest, but the fact is that Chelsea are currently a far superior side who should have no problems putting several goals past the Anfield club.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has been voted the PFA Player of the Year for 2010.

A groin injury looks to have put an end to his actions this season, but his 34 goals have helped United fight for the Premier League title after losing Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

Rooney was joined in the team of the year by fellow United players Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher and Antonio Valencia.

Van der Sar 8 - Another excellent display from the Dutchman. Should be ranked up there with the best in the world.

Rafael 6 – Lively performance from the young Brazilian, but he showed his inexperience when he abandoned his post, allowing Ledley king’s header from the corner to find the corner of the net.

Evans 7 - Filled in admirably for Rio Ferdinand.

Vidiv 8 - A rock at the heart of the defence. Dominated aerially as usual and made several key interceptions to keep Spurs out.

Evra 7 – Got forward well and won the first penalty after a good run into the box. Physically sick on the pitch in the second half, but battled through it and played well until he was eventually replaced by O’Shea.

Valencia 6 - Drifted in and out of the game and didn’t really threaten the Spurs back line. Defended well though when Rafael ventured forward.

Scholes 8 - Seems to be enjoying his new role as midfield enforcer. Also seems to have learnt to tackle as he won the ball back on numerous occasions.

Fletcher 7 - Nothing special from Fletcher, but kept possession well and kept the midfield ticking over.

Giggs 8 - In truth it wasn’t his best game, but two expertly taken penalties won us the game.

Nani 9 - Finally showing his class. A touch of brilliance to score the second goal, and ran through the entire Spurs defence to win the second penalty.

Berbatov 7 - Held the ball up well, brought others into play and was unfortunate not to score.

Subs

O’Shea 7 - Aaron Lennon’s late introduction was fruitless for Spurs as O’Shea had the measure of him.

Carrick 6 - No real impact.

Macheda 7 - Excellent pass to set up Nani’s goal.

Manchester City fans revealed a new level of stupidity today by claiming that they tried and failed to steal our famour ’34 years’ banner from the Stretford End.

The banner represents the number of years City have gone without winning a trophy, and the ‘handful’ of City supporters who planned to steal it; aimed to burn it at the derby last week.

The ignorant bitters paid to go on the Old Trafford tour, and planned to deviate from the party and head in the direction of the banner. Fortunately the stringent security measures in place inside the stadium halted their cunning plan.

So not only did they fail in their attempt to commit a criminal act, they also paid for the privilege of doing so. Thanks City , for providing us with comedy gold for 34 long and glorious years.

This is how it feels to be City…

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKlfY4sBUsg

I’ve never quite understood the stupidity of most City fans. Every club has a small minority of supporters who will gladly mock the deaths of rival players and sing songs about Munich or Hillsborough, but when City fans do it there’s a high level of ignorance involved.

Eight Manchester United players died in the Munich disaster when their plane failed to take off. Also amongst the passengers who died that day was an ex Manchester City player – Frank Swift. When their fans show their lack of class by chanting ‘Munich’ at us, they’re also mocking the death of one of their own.

So you have to assume either a) They don’t know the history of their own club, or b) They do know the history, but they dont care.

I’m not quite sure which option is worse. City fans will of course claim that the Munich chants never happened, but if you go to youtube you’re sure to find many videos to the contrary. One thing they can’t deny, however, is that they were throwing inflatable airplanes around in the crowd, as seen here.

Money can buy you mercenaries, but it can’t buy you class!

Van der Sar 8 - In truth he had very little to do, but his excellent save from Tevez’s free kick stood out as the save of the match.

Neville 7 - Struggled at times with the pace of Bellamy, but his desire, determination and tough tackling encapsulated the derby day spirit.

Evans 8 - Adebayor and Tevez rarely got a sniff of United’s goal.

Vidic 8 - Dominated aerially as usual and made key interceptions to keep City at bay.

Evra 8 - Caught out of position on a couple of occasions, but his attacking contribution was first class. Excellent cross to set up Scholes for the winner.

Valencia 8 - Caused havoc down City’s left flank and created numerous chances that really should have been buried. Giggs and Rooney being the chief culprits. Supported Neville in defence very well.

Gibson 6 - Kept things ticking over in midfield, but didn’t really stand out.

Scholes 9 - Dominated the midfield from the deep lying playmaker position. Dictated the pace of the game and popped up with the wining goal in the dying seconds. Showed why Sir Alex rewarded him with a new contract this week.

Fletcher 7 - Another batting performance from the fiery Scot, but couldn’t keep the limelight off the ginger prince.

Giggs 6 - Quite a poor performance from the Welshman. Sloppy in possession at times and should have done better with Valencia’s excellent cross.

Rooney 5 - Worked tirelessly alone up front, but often lost possession and missed a glorious chance to score the opener just before half time.

Manchester United left it late once again to prove that they’re still the undisputed Kings of Manchester.

A Paul Scholes header with just 10 seconds left on the clock was the decisive goal that sealed the win and kept the pressure on Chelsea at the top of the league.

It was the away side that started brightly, forcing City to retreat into their own third for the opening exchanges, with City not entering United’s half until the 6th minute.

United’s pressure wasn’t paying off though, with numerous spurned chances threatening to haunt them later in the game.

City’s first and only attempt in the first half came from a Carlos Tevez free kick that the Argentine striker had dive to win. His effort was headed for the top corner, when Edwin Van der Sar expertly plucked it from the air.

When the half time whistle blew it was United who had dominated.

The second half started with almost total domination by United who didn’t allow City’s home advantage to affect their obvious superiority. Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney both missed guilt edged chances after good wing play by Antonio Valencia.

Gareth Barry attempted to win the game late on by shamefully diving inside the United area. Martin Atkinson waved away his claims and Barry was fortunate to escape a booking.

The game looked like it was heading for a draw as the final whistle approached, when up stepped Paul Scholes to win the game for the visitors. Patrice Evra‘s cross into the box was met by the unmarked midfielder who headed calmly into the bottom right hand corner past a helpless Shay given.

The final score is a lesson to City that money can’t buy you class, it can’t buy you results and it definitely can’t buy you the winning mentality that flows through Manchester United. The same mentality that enables the team to drive forward looking for a winning goal until the final whistle. The same mentality that means United have beaten their bitter rivals in the dying seconds not once, not twice, but three times this season. And the same mentality that allows United to still dominate City on their own turf even after they’ve spend a quarter of a billion on new players.

Tomorrow brings with it what could be one of the most important derby days in the long rivalry between Manchester City and Manchester United. As United Rant put it, we may have blown the title with a whimper at Ewood Park last week, but if results go our way tomorrow we could have renewed hope that title number 19 could still be heading to Old Trafford.

What’s clear is that a much improved performance is needed if we’re to go into City’s back yard and come away with three valuable points. A dominating performance didn’t hide the fact that we were frustratingly clueless in the final third and hardly tested Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal. The absence of Rooney didn’t help, but his return tomorrow could send us into the game full of confidence. World Cup 2010 betting odds place Rooney amongst the favourites to win the Golden Boot in South Africa following his incredible scoring rate this term, and with him leading the line at Eastlands tomorrow we’ll certainly look a much more dangerous outfit.

Manchester City also boast an in form striker, in the form of Argentine mercenary Carlos Tevez. After scoring three past us already this term and picking up last month’s player of the month award, he’ll be eager to put on a display for his former manager and current manager alike.

Rio Ferdinand is doubtful along with Ryan Giggs, but Owen Hargreaves is expected to start from the bench after 19 long months out. City meanwhile, are almost at full strength, with Wayne Bridge expected to return to his left back role and Joleon Lescott the only absentee.

It looks certain to be a fiery encounter, just as the previous games this season have been. United retain hope of winning the title if Chelsea slip up, while City are favourites to land 4th spot and secure Champions League football.

Prediction: United 2-1 City.

Manchester United youngster Fabio Da Silva admits he may have to move to a new club to get first team football.

The talented left back has impressed during his few outings for United but is unlikely to get ahead of regular left back Patrice Eva in the pecking order.

The young Brazilian admits that the chance of a loan move to Sporting would interest him, even though manager Sir Alex Ferguson would prefer he stayed.

“Here in England and in Brazil, Sporting are very well known and respected and they play regularly in Europe.

“Who would not like to play at Sporting? If I can have more chances to play there is no problem.

“The coach would like me to continue in the United squad.

“But my agent thinks that I will not have that many opportunities and so he has advised me to play elsewhere.

“Therefore I will meet with Ferguson at the end of the season and decide what the best option is.”

Wayne Rooney’s stunning form has seen him nominated for both the PFA Player of the Year and PFA young Player of the Year awards.

The Manchester United striker has scored an incredible 34 goals this season, including 26 league goals and has been the key figure in United’s title challenge.

Rooney is considered to be the favourite to win the award, but faces stiff competition from Chelsea‘s Didier Drogba and Arsenal‘s Cesc Fabregas.

PFA Player of the Year nominees:

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Carloa Tevez (Man City)

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)

Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

PFA Young Player of the Year Nominees:

Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

James Milner (Aston Villa)

Joe Hart (On loan at Birmingham)

Wayne Rooney (Man Utd)

The agent of Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has moved to quell the speculation linking the Bulgarian with a move away from Old Trafford this Summer.

Berbatov has divided opinion among United fans, with many questioning whether he has made a big enough impact on the squad following his 30.75 move from TOttenham Hotspur, but his agent believes the speculation comes from the media, not anybody close to the club.

“There is no objective reason for his transfer other than these media attacks,” said Emil Danchev. “I neither know of any interest from any other club, nor has Manchester United said anything in that sense.

“Sir Alex has already made his opinion known on this issue. I do not think that he has to re-affirm his confidence in Mitko [Berbatov] every other day. I prefer to trust Ferguson.”

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is confident Wayne Rooney will be fit to start the weekend’s derby match against Manchester City.

The in form striker has spearheaded United’s attack this season, scoring 24 goals in the process. He has become crucial to United’s style of play and will be a massive boost to Sir Alex if he’s able to name him on the team sheet this Saturday.

Rooney aggravated an injury playing against Bayern munich a week ago, after defender Daniel Van Buyten deliberately targetted his ankle.

But Sir Alex insists the injury isn’t severe and is certain Rooney will be able to take to the pitch against City this weekend.

“It’s not serious and I think he will be ready for the City game,” Ferguson said.

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has criticized his own club for the small time poster they put up around the City after they secured his signature.

The poster featured a picture of Tevez (ironically celebrating a goal for Manchester United against Wigan) with the caption, ‘Welcome to Manchester’. The poster was allegedly a poke at United, whose Old Trafford home has been outside of the city limits since the Local Government Act was introduced in 1972.

United were founded in Manchester, and the boundary changes mean that technically the stadium is outside of those boundaries. Manchester City on the other hand, were formed in West Gorton, which at the time was not part of Manchester. So technically they were never really from Manchester, they just moved here. That’s a secret though, so don’t tell anyone.

Back to the issue, and Carlos Tevez is less than pleased at the behaviour of his employers and insists the poster was nothing to do with him.

“I never understood the intention of that poster,” said the kettle spilling Argie. “What was the point? Tell me. Was it to welcome me to Manchester City, or was it to anger Manchester United? – Nobody ever told me !”

“I’m indifferent towards it, but it is important you know I had nothing to do with the poster. I’d have preferred for it not to have been there. I have respect for all the clubs I used to play for. That was not showing respect, was it?”

It seems nobody told Carlos that Manchester City’s number one focus is and always will be trying to get out of the shadow of their more successful neighbours. Even when funded by a billionaire and aiming for the pinnacle of football, the first thing on their mind was Manchester United. They say a picture paints a thousand words. In this case only one is needed – Bitter!

Manchester united reserve team manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has attempted to lift the doom and gloom surrounding Old Trafford by insisting they can still pip Chelsea and Arsenal to the league title.

Solskjaer admits that it will be hard from this position, but thinks this weekend’s derby against City is a great opportunity for the squad to show what they’re made of.

“We cannot afford for it all to be doom and gloom. We are still in with a shout,” says the Norwegian who is now United’s reserve team manager.

“A derby match against City is the perfect platform for the boys to bounce back. Playing your local rivals is not a time for feeling sorry for yourselves and I don’t think we will be.

“There is no doubt Chelsea are in the box seat but you have to be in there in case of slip ups.

“I can only recall one title race we won in 2001 when it was all very comfortable. The tradition is to make it hard for ourselves but while you are fighting it is not cut and dried.”

Solskjaer went on to bemoan the injuries that have proven so costly this season, and drew comparisons with the treble winning team of 1999.

“Of course the quality is there,” he told M.E.N. Sport.

“The problem has been injuries. I don’t want to make excuses but it has hit us hard in recent months up front.

“The great thing about 1999 was that apart from Teddy Sheringham suffering a few injuries in that season, the manager had myself, Dwight and Andy to call on for virtually the full campaign. It makes a difference.”

It isn’t just the senior squad that has been ravaged by injuries this term. Ole’s reserves have suffered greatly with Federico Macheda being out for four months and Mame Biram Diouf also missing with a groin injury. Danny Welbeck has also returned to United after suffering a knee injury during his loan spell at Preston.

“It has been disappointing they’ve all had their injury problems,” says Ole. “But they are young and exciting and they have got the chance of a lifetime here at United.

“They have got an opportunity to play for Manchester United for many years to come. I wish I was still in that situation.

“If I was I’d be out working long afternoons and practising my heading and shooting. They are all developing talents.

“To steal a march they have to work hard and they will. Diouf has pace, Macheda is quick, powerful and the most natural finisher and Welbeck is an all-round striker.

“It has been disappointing that their progress has been hampered by injury but, hopefully, next season they will be fit and ready to prove they should be the one challenging.”

Solskjaer also commented on the unknown Javier Hernandez, who sir Alex has agreed to sign on July 1st.

“I have never seen him live but the TV clips are impressive,” Ole added. “I always think it is very exciting when the club buys someone nobody has really heard of. I am looking forward to seeing him.”

After bowing out of the title race without putting up much of a fight, it’s time to start looking towards next season and what it will bring. It’s pretty clear that the squad is lacking in certain areas and that investment is needed, but there are also one or two faces that could be on their way out when the Summer arrives.

We have been crippled with injuries at times this season and that has no doubt affected our title challenge, but it’s a squad game these days so it’s difficult to use that as an excuse. Our title rivals have all suffered injuries to key players. Arguably not as bad as our injury crisis, but when you’re missing key players your team is sufficiently weakened. Arsenal will point to the absence of Robin van Persie, while Chelsea fans will lament the loss of Michael Essien.

In truth, the real reason we’re not top of the league is that on the whole we haven’t been good enough this season.

We sold Ronaldo to the Real Madrid circus, while Carlos Tevez joined the Mercenaries XI at the council house. Their replacements were a good winger and a proven but injury prone ex Liverpool player. Was it enough? Not even close.

Antonio Valencia has had a very good season. I can’t knock him for his contribution to our campaign, nor would i want to, but he was never going to replace Ronaldo. Michael Owen was a gamble but it’s time to admit that the gamble failed. We all probably celebrated his last minute winner against City louder than any other goal this season, but we needed a striker who could score 20 or 30 goals a season and stay fit for longer than 5 minutes. Owen simply can’t do that anymore.

Wayne Rooney masked our deficiencies for much of the season by finally stepping up and proving himself to be a world class striker but his absence yesterday shows that we just don’t have enough in reserves when he’s not in the team

I have tried to defend Berbatov for two years now, but he’s making it very difficult to continue. Despite the popular opinion that he’s lazy, he does work hard for the team, dropping back to try and get involved whenever he can. And his creative influence has benefited the team at times. I just don’t think he fits into our way of playing. He is undoubtedly a fantastic footballer who is a joy to watch when on form, but his lack of pace and the way he slows down everything we do is not conducive to the ‘United way’.

It’s clear that he’s not able to lead the line for us in the absence of Rooney. And Sir Alex‘s favoured formation this season has seemed to be the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 with a lone striker, so Berbatov’s role has been somewhat reduced. I have to ask myself why we’re playing this way though. Is it because Sir Alex believes we don’t have the right players to play 4-4-2? Or is it because he doesn’t trust Berbatov?

In years gone by we’ve always had several strikers who came in and got us the goals we needed to win the league. Looking back to 1999 we had Solskjaer, Sheringham, Cole and Yorke. Why do we now only have one striker who can be relied upon to bang in the goals consistently? After Sir Alex’s claims that he tried to sign Benzema last summer, I think he has to make a move for a big name striker during this transfer window or risk being completely reliant on Rooney for goals again. Berbatov – as much as I like him – has got to go.

It’s not just up front where we need strengthening though. Our midfield is decidedly weak compared to other top teams. What we’re severely lacking is a creative spark through the middle and a midfielder who will chip in with goals throughout the season. As the years have gone by, Scholes position has dropped deeper and deeper to such an extent that he sometimes plays in defensive midfield. His ball retention skills are still fantastic, but he no longer creates chances for others with the same regularity that he did in the 2006/2007 season.

Michael Carrick seems to have gone backwards this season. His best season with us was his first when he formed a brilliant partnership with Scholes. Scholes decline has coincided with Carrick’s decline. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Darren Fletcher is the only midfielder we’ve got who can stamp his authority on a game, and even then it’s mainly for his destructive influence on the other team. We need a midfielder who can dominate a game and create chances for the wingers and forwards, like Lampard does for Chelsea, Fabregas for Arsenal and Xavi for Barcelona. Giggs and Scholes are not getting any younger and can no longer be relied upon to be our creative spark on a regular basis. Sir Alex needs to spend some of the Ronaldo money he claims is still available and plug a gap that seriously needs filling.

Squad deficiencies aside, we’ve had a very good season, all things considered. We could and should have progressed further in the Champions League, and probably would have if not for Rooney’s injury. We’ve come mightily close to a fourth consecutive league title. We’ve won the Carling Cup, and at times played some brilliant football. The only really dark spot on our season was the FA Cup exit at the hands of Leeds, but take comfort from the fact that they’ve been utter garbage since beating us and may have to spend another season in the third tier of English football.

We can’t expect to win every trophy every season. We do enter each competition with the intention of winning it, but it would be unrealistic to expect to win a European double every season.

The positives from this season are that our youngsters have gained more valuable experience. Players like Rafael Da Silva and Darron Gibson have shown that they’re able to come into the team and mix it with the big boys. Nani has developed into a top quality winger, capable of tormenting the best of defenders. And Wayne Rooney has finally starting to realise his potential.

So rather than get too disappointed about this season, look to next season with optimism and hope. Hope that the youngsters will progress further and that we might be making a few new signings to boost the squad. I have no doubts that we’ll be challenging on all fronts once again. And even if we don’t, it’s sure to be an exciting ride as every season is.

And remember, it could always be worse, you could be a Liverpool fan.

Dutch legend Marco Van Basten has blasted Sir Alex Ferguson for putting Wayne Rooney‘s career at risk.

The former striker, once voted the world’s best player, had his own career cut short due to a recurring ankle injury, and he was shocked to see Wayne Rooney play on Wednesday despite clearly not being fully fit.

“When I saw Rooney limping against Bayern in the first few minutes I was begging for him to be substituted.

“I still cannot believe why Alex Ferguson, who I rate highly as a manager, did not take him off. I’ve been where Rooney was. I know what it is like. If your ankle is damaged and you get another heavy tackle on it the pain is always with you.

“It can do more damage, and a great striker needs to feel free of pain, if you want him to perform.

“I was watching every step Rooney took on the pitch.

“After hurting his ankle so badly again in the early minutes, I could see quite clearly that he spent the rest of his time walking on his heels. That means pain.

“A top-class striker normally plays up on his toes, so he can sprint or go for every ball that falls in his direction.”

Ferguson’s decision to persist with an injured Wayne Rooney suggests a complete lack of faith in backup striker Dimitar Berbatov. Does Sir Alex’s lack of faith mean he would rather risk Wayne Rooney’s long term career rather than play the Bulgarian in an important match?

Ryan Giggs has offered some words of encouragement for the young players who suffered the agony of last week’s Champions League exit.

Giggs was himself a youngster at United and suffered his own setbacks in his early career, but 11 league titles later he knows it’s how you react to defeats that makes you a Manchester United player.

“It’s how you react to setbacks that ­decides if you are good enough for Manchester ­United.”

“When I was 18 and 19, I had a lot of ­disappointments.

“This can help you in the long run. You can remember nights like last Wednesday and realise you don’t want to feel like that again. You try to do something about it and try to improve.

“You’ve got to take knocks but it is how you come back from them. That’s what makes a ­Manchester United player.”

Giggs prefers to look to the positives of Wednesday night despite the disappointment of losing the quarter final tie on away goals to Bayern Munich.

“There were still so many positives the other night for a relatively young side. Rafael was brilliant in the first half – he didn’t give ­Ribery a kick.

“It was just unfortunate he got sent off. So many young ­players ­performed and there were so many positives to come out of the game – Nani’s ­performance, Darron Gibson’s performance. There were so many great ­displays, it’s hard to take.

“Europe sometimes kicks you in the teeth.

Manchester United have agreed to sign Mexican striker Javier Hernandez from Chivas de Guadalajara for an undisclosed fee.

Javier passed a medical in Manchester this week and has agreed personal terms with the club.

He will join the club on July 1st 2010 subject to a work permit being granted.

“I am delighted to reach agreement with Chivas to bring such an exciting young striker, who has been in such prolific form for both his club and his country. He will be a great addition to our squad and we look forward to welcoming our first Mexican player in the summer,” Sir Alex told manutd.com.

“We are equally excited to play our first game in Mexico, opening the magnificent new Chivas Stadium in July.”

Van der Sar – 7 Perhaps shouldn’t have been beaten from such an acute angle for the first goal, but wasn’t exactly helped by Carrick’s poor defending.

Rafael – 6 Excellent in the first half, but his naivety got himself sent off early in the second half and arguably cost us a place in the Champions League.

Ferdinand – 7 Mainly in control, but both he and Vidic went missing for Bayern’s opener, leaving Carrick to do their work. Badly.

Vidic – 7 Same as Ferdinand. Excellent besides one or two mistakes.

Evra – 3 There was a time when giving Evra anything less than a 7 was unheard of. However, his recent form has been shocking. I am sick to death of him constantly leaving his man with so much space on the wing, and strolling around the pitch like he could’t give a toss. I appreciate that he’s played an awful lot of football and O’Shea’s injury means he hasn’t been able to be rotated like others, but if he’s going to put in such terrible performances as he did tonight then we may as well put one of the reserves on who will at least TRY to defend. I’d rather suffer for a few games and get the real Evra back after he’s been rested.

Valencia – 6 Great in the first half. A passenger in the second. Needs to learn another trick because the ‘kick it and run’ routine has become tiresome.

Carrick – 4 Rubbish.

Fletcher – 7 Tried his best, but wasn’t helped by one of his fellow midfielders doing nothing.

Gibson – 8 Excellent display. He rewarded Sir Alex‘s faith with the opening goal and generally played well. Faded towards the end but that’s to be expected from a player who isn’t a regular and with a man down.

Nani – 9 Man of the match. Always a threat down the left wing and scored two excellent goals.

Rooney – 6 Played a part in the two opening goals. May as well have been sat on the floor for the remainder of his time on the pitch. I hope playing him hasn’t made his injury worse.

Subs:

O’ Shea – 5 Hooooooof!!!!

Berbatov – 5 No impact.

Giggs – 5 No impact.

Van der Sar – 6 Should have done better for the Drogba offside goal, but did well otherwise.

Neville – 5 Caught out of position too many times and crossing was mostly poor. Played well in the last ten minutes. Shame about the other 80.

Ferdinand – 8 Had to cover for Neville quite often and did his job in the middle very well.

Vidic – 7 Dominant aerially. Two headers in particular just ahead of Anelka and Drogba could have resulted in goals.

Evra – 6 Still not back to his best and probably won’t be unless he gets a rest. Looks knackered both mentally and physically and it’s affecting his concentration, leading to poor positioning.

Valencia – 5 Rubbish.

Fletcher – 6 Terrible in the first half. Much better in the second as United upped the tempo.

Scholes – 4 I’ve never sen him give the ball away at such alarming consistency.

Park – 5 Ermm. He was on the pitch, I guess.

Giggs – 5 Similar to Scholes, gave the ball away far too often. I’m not sure how wise it is to play them so often with their aging legs.

Berbatov – 6 Got into some good positions in the second half, but needs to be far more clinical in front of goal.

Subs

Nani – 7 Excellent. Provided a threat every time he got the ball. Should have started.

Macheda – 6 Not really involved much, but got lucky with the goal as it just ricocheted off him into the net.

Gibson – 7 Good cameo. Came on too late.

There comes a time as a football fan, when events and decisions are conspiring against your team that you just hold your hands up and think to yourself, “Why do I even bother watching?”

Of course the answer is because I love football and more importantly I love Manchester United, but officiating like we saw at Old Trafford today really makes me lose a little love for the game.

Chelsea‘s winning goal was scored by Didier Drogba after what should have been one of the most straight forward offside decisions of the linesman’s career. Yet his flag stayed down and the subsequent goal gifts Chelsea a vital extra two points in the title race. And not for the first time this season.

At Stamford Bridge there was equally bizarre refereeing as I wrote about back in November.  That gave Chelsea another two points that they shouldn’t have had. And those 4 extra points could possibly be the difference between winning and losing the title.

It has to be said that the officials do have difficult jobs and they do get a lot of unfair stick from us as fans and even from the players and coaching staff. That said, they need to get the easy decisions right and at the moment they’re just not doing that. It’s not just against us either. We see ridiculous decisions every week from incompetent referees who simply look out of their depth in the Premier League. Are they affected by home crowds? Sometimes, but on today’s performance by Mike Dean and his assistants you’d have to say it wasn’t the case. It’s almost expected that Mike Dean will give a dodgy decision at some point in every game he officiates, and if he didn’t do it with that smug look on his oh so punchable face I could probably just put him down as incompetent, but he actually seems to thrive on being the villain and being in the spotlight. And he’s not alone either, several other “top” referees are the same.

The number of refereeing catastrophes that we see every week make the ‘Respect’ campaign a complete farce. Too often games are won and lost by the incompetence of the men in black, and at the end of the season it’s often the difference between winning and losing the title, getting a place in Europe or even being relegated to the Championship. Tens of millions of pounds are at stake, not just points, so we need to start training referees to a higher level of proficiency and start making them accountable for their actions. The linesman who decided that Drogba was onside today should spend a few weeks in the Championship as punishment for his mistake, and maybe when he comes back he’ll remember to stay alert for the whole 90 minutes.

At the moment the standard of officiating in England simply isn’t good enough. And only with accountability for the match officials will be finally get back the game that we all know and love.

Van der Sar – 8 Excellent as usual. Key saves kept us in the game, until Evra’s brain fart right at the death.

Neville – 5 Over run by Ribery on a number of occasions. Nani saved his bacon. Needless handball gave Bayern the free kick they equalized from.

Ferdinand – 7 Did surprisingly well considering the midfield were offering very little protection.

Vidic – 7 Played well. Had to cover for Evra far too often.

Evra – 5 Left his brain and positional sense at home tonight. Very poor game. At fault for Bayern’s winner.

Match report: Bayern 2 – 1 United

Carrick – 5 Not at the races.

Fletcher – 5 Along with his midfield partners, just not up to scratch.

Scholes – 5 Aside from a karate kick early in the game, didn’t have much impact.

Nani – 6 One of our better performers on the night, but didn’t get much service from an under-performing midfield.

Park – 6 Defensively sound, but offered little in attack.

Rooney – 6 Scored the opener, but aside from that he got very little service despite running his socks off throughout.

After going 1-0 through Wayne Rooney inside the first minute; you’d be forgiven for thinking United would go on to win the game. The tactics would be fairly simple: Allow Bayern to press forward and then hit them on the break. The deficit would force them to throw men forward and the likes of Nani, Park and Rooney could exploit the gaps left at the back as Bayern pushed for an equalizer.

Not only did we do that, we did far more. And if not for Nani’s deflected cross dropping perfectly for Rooney in the first minute the situation we find ourselves in could have been much worse.

I first raised an eyebrow when I saw the starting line up. The back four picks itself and so does the goalkeeper. And in important away games the midfield trio of Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Paul Scholes has proven itself on numerous occasions. It was on the wings where I found myself questioning Sir Alex Ferguson‘s tactics.

Nani was played on the right wing up against the inexperienced Holger Badstuber, a centre back by trade, playing at left back. He was also tasked with tracking back to help Gary Neville deal with Franck Ribery.

On the opposite wing Park was asked to keep tabs on marauding full back Phillip Lahm, also playing out of position.

Admittedly I don’t have a legitimate claim at being the best manager in the world as Sir Alex does, but in my mind it would have made more sense to switch our wingers around.

Park’s defensive qualities would have been much better serve on the right wing to contain Ribery, while Nani on the left could have exploited the space left as Lahm inevitably pushed forward and left gaps.

As it happened, Park was rather ineffective and Nani, while being one of our better players, didn’t get too many opportunities to put balls into the box.

That’s not my only gripe though. After scoring so early we wee second best for the majority of the game. Our tried and tested midfield trio were chasing shadows as Van Bommel and Pranjic dominated the centre of the pitch.

Sir Alex’s answer to this? Take a midfielder off and replace him with a striker. If it wasn’t bad enough that one striker wasn’t getting any service due to the lack of possession in midfield, we now had two strikers not getting any service, added to the fact that we were even more lightweight in midfield and forced even further onto the back foot.

In the end we got what we deserved. Bayern will consider themselves fortunate at the way they equalized. Ribery’s free kick would most likely not have troubled the excellent Edwin van der Sar had it not took a wicked deflection, but in truth it was no more than they deserved. And when Patrice Evra abandoned all sense to allow Olic to stroll through our defence and score the winner, it was symptomatic of the lackadaisical, walk along the beach attitude that flowed through the team for the entire 90 minutes.

Fergie was tactically outplayed by Louis van Gaal, and the players were outplayed and outclassed on the pitch.

All is not lost though. There’s still at least another 90 minutes to play to turn the result around, and with an all important away goal there’s every chance we’ll do just that. But the tactics and the performance need to dramatically improve if stand any chance of getting to the semi finals.

Bayern will be a much stronger team for the second leg, with Arjen Robben expected to return from injury, along with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mario Gomez – who was only fit to play 20 minutes tonight. United are also expected to be considerably weaker too. Wayne Rooney limped of at the end, apparently with an ankle strain that will rule him out of the Chelsea match at the weekend and possibly the return leg with Bayern next week.

Manchester United captain Gary Neville has heaped praise on team mate Dimitar Berbatov for his contribution to United’s recent form.

While Wayne Rooney has been taking all the plaudits, Berbatov has been slowly but surely raising his game and becoming a vital cog in United’s attacking play.

Two goals against Bolton on Sunday followed an excellent performance against Wolves last week, and  Neville believes this is down to Berbatov’s determination.

“Dimitar’s performances in the wins against Wolves and Bolton have showed fantastic determination,” Neville said.

“He has played up front on his own in both games. He was a massive presence running the line for us against Bolton. It was really important.

“It has been so important to us that when Wayne has not been playing Dimitar has been outstanding.”

Van der Sar – 8 Didn’t have much to do in fairness, but produced two world class saves when it mattered. The mark of any great goalkeeper is staying alert even when you’re rarely called upon and he did that to great effect today to keep a clean sheet.

Neville – 7 Kept his flank relatively free of danger and got forward whenever he could to support Valencia. Booed very time he touched the ball by the 6 fingered Bolton fans. Good ol’ Nev.

Evans – 7 Filled in for Rio Ferdinand admirably. Continued his excellent partnership with Vidic.

Vidic – 8 Dominant aerially and made two or three excellent last ditch tackles to keep Bolton out. A beast of a defender.

Evra – 7 Similar to Neville. His flank was pretty quiet for the most part and he supported Nani well.

Valencia – 7 It wasn’t his best game from an attacking point of view, but he made up for it with his efforts by tracking back and helping win possession again.

Fletcher – 7 Did what we’ve all come to expect from Fletcher. Runs around the pitch scaring opposing players into giving him the ball. Also got forward well on a couple of occasions and was unlucky not to score.

Scholes – 7 Given free reign to do what he wanted in the middle, under the protection of Fletcher. Plenty of time on the ball allowed him to dictate the tempo of the game.

Nani – 8 Another excellent display from the Portugueser who continues to rise in stature. The defensive side of his game has improved drastically, and he also bagged himself two assists. Still has an evil head.

Giggs – 7 Playing just behind Berbatov, he continually dropped deep and pulled Bolton’s defenders out of position, allowing Berbatov, Nani and Valencia to take advantage of the gaps and cause havoc.

Berbatov – 8 I must admit I’m always skeptical about his ability to play as a lone frontman, but he was excellent today. He contributed well to the build up of our attacks and was in the right place at the right time to finish two of them off.

Subs:

Carrick – 6 Kept things ticking over in midfield.

Gibson – 7 Scored 90 seconds after coming on.

Macheda – 6 Lively.

Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that long term absentee will be stepping up his return to action by training with the first team.

The midfielder had previously played 45 minutes for the reserves last week, but will not play a part in tonight’s reserve game (now postponed anyway) as Sir Alex is looking to integrate him with the first team and see how he progresses.

His return could bring vital experience and depth to the squad in the title tun in.

“Owen won’t play for the Reserves tonight,” Fergie said this morning.

“He’s going to be training with the first team and we’ll see where that takes him. We’re keen to get him back involved because he’s an experienced player and will be a valuable addition for us in the run-in, when having a strong, fit squad is vital.”

Manchester United ran out deserved winners against Liverpool at Old Trafford as they look to keep the pressure on Chelsea in the title race.

After conceding the first goal, United came back well and thoroughly deserved the 3 points after outplaying Liverpool for much of the game.

Liverpool had opened the scoring through Fernando Torres, but goals from Wayne Rooney and Ji Sung Park sealed the win for United.

Liverpool started the game well and were in front inside 6 minutes as Dirk Kuyt’s cross was headed in by the unmarked Torres.

it looked like it might be another one of those days, but United fought back well and earned a penalty when Antonio Valencia charged into the Liverpool penalty area and was hauled down by Javier Mascherano. He was lucky to stay non the pitch.

For any lurking Liverpool fans who want to claim the foul started outside the box, have a read of this from FIFA:

“If a defender starts holding an attacker outside the penalty area and continues
holding him inside the penalty area, the referee must award a penalty kick.”

Fernando Torres was then lucky to escape punishment after scuffing away all of the grass on the penalty spot in an attempt to unsettle Wayne Rooney. Rooney took the penalty to Reina’s right and it was saved well, but Rooney reacted well and tapped in the rebound to level the score.

Torres was booked 10 minutes later for a lunge on Darren Fletcher. Had the referee seen his early unsporting behaviour he may well have been sent off too.

United continued to press for the second goal and it was Nani who tested Reina next. He cut inside from the left wing and fired a low shot, but Reina tipped it wide.

Valencia then burst forward past Insua and put the ball on plate for Park Ji Sung, but the Korean could only put his header wide.

Carragher was next to go into the book after a foul on the edge of the area on Darren Fletcher. Rooney took the free kick on the stroke of half time, but Reina again saved it comfortably.

United started the brighter of the two teams in the second half as Darren Fletcher didn’t allow Liverpool’s midfield time on the ball. Nani and Valencia were dropping back to defend when we lost the ball and Steven Gerrard – the man who Liverpool often look to for inspiration – was invisible throughout the game.

Park continued to be a threat to Reina’s goal, but his tame shot was caught with ease by the Spanish ‘keeper – Liverpool\s best player on the day.

The winning goal finally came after good work by Fletcher down the right wing. He passed Insua and put in a dangerous ball between the defence and goalkeeper; which Park managed to get his head on and divert past Reina.

Liverpool didn’t put up much of a fight after going behind. A couple of fluffed chances from Fernando Torres produced a few heart in mouth moments, but United were comfortable and deserved winners in the end.

It feels good to finally do a match report about us winning after the last 3 horror shows against the game raising scousers. But more importantly it’s a very tough game out of the way and 3 points closer to winning the title. There’s still a long way to go, but with Chelsea still to visit Old Trafford we have our destiny in our own hands. As for Liverpool, they’ll struggle to finish 4th which will mean more Europe League football for them next season. Can they keep hold of Gerrard and Torres? Who knows.

Van der Sar – 7 Couldn’t have done much to save Torres’ goal. Pretty much a spectator throughout as Liverpool only mustered two shots on target (including the goal).

Neville – 7 Kept maxi quiet throughout. Got forward quite well, but his final delivery was often lacking.

Ferdinand – 7 Kept Torres quiet for the majority of the game. Should have been tighter to Torres for the goal.

Vidic – 7- No real worries for him today. Torres got past him once but on the whole he did very well. Managed to avoid a 4th consecutive red card against Liverpool.

Evra – 6 Kept his wing quiet. Passing was off at times and didn’t get forward as well as he usually does.

Valencia – 8 Drifted in and out of the game, but when he was in it he was brilliant Went past Insua with ease at times. Won the penalty.

Fletcher – 7 Battled hard in midfield and kept the pressure on his opponents.

Carrick – 6 Sloppy passing at times.

Park – 7 Gave the ball away quite a lot. Outmuscled on several occasions and poor control on others. Scored the winner though. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Nani – 6 Quiet game for the Portuguese winger. Never really got into it. Defended well though.

Rooney – 6 Can’t fault his work rate, but it didn’t really happen for him today. Misplaced passes lost us possession too often. Possibly trying too hard. poor penalty but showed good instincts to tap in the rebound.

Today’s Steven Gerrard farce has got me thinking about other instances where Liverpool players were looked on favourably by the incompetent FA, while United players have been punished for identical incidents. Below are just a few off the top of my head. I’m sure there are many more.

1. Robbie Fowler celebrates in front of Manchester United fans, showing his  fingers to symbolize their success in Europe. No punishment. Gary Neville kisses the United badge on his shirt in front of Liverpool fans. Fined £5,000 and warned about his future conduct.

2. Steven Gerrard and Neil Mellor sent off in the 2003 Amsterdam tournament. No bans are handed out to the two Liverpool players. Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes are sent off in the 2006 Amsterdam tournament. Both players are forced to sit out the first 3 games of the Premier League season as the FA bans them for the red cards.

3. Javier Mascherano swings an arm at Leeds’ Jermaine Beckford, leaving the striker on the floor. No action was taken by the FA. Weeks later, Rio Ferdinand is involved in an identical incident with Hull’s Craig Fagan. He was banned for 3 games, which was extended to 4 games on appeal.

Today’s decision by the FA to let Steven Gerrard walk free just compounds the problem.

The FA have consistently shown that they’re completely incompetent and incapable of applying the rules properly. And that they continually like to ban Manchester United players while letting Liverpool players off with the exact same offences, and I haven’t even gone into his two fingered salute to the referee last week, another offence he got away with!

Is it so wrong to expect them to actually do their jobs and apply the rules?

The Football Association lost even more credibility today after deciding against charging Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard with violent conduct.

The Phil Collins fan committed what was dubbed a ‘forearm smash’ on Portsmouth’s Michael Brown last night, sending the midfielder crashing to the floor.

Today the FA had the chance to show their consistency, after charging and banning Rio Ferdinand last month for a much lesser offence, but as usual they’ve bottled it.

Sky Sports News are reporting that “Gerrard will not face any action from the FA.

The scouse DJ beater seems to be immune to the laws of the game as well as the laws of the real world. Well done the FA for showing your complete lack of credibility once again. Do the rules only apply to red shirts with devils on them?

Following Rio Ferdinand‘s arm swinging incident against Craig Fagan of Hull City last month, we were subjected to replays of the incident every five minutes on Sky Sports News.

The incident was quickly picked up on by the tabloids and the media was consistent in its belief that Ferdinand should be banned. He was charged and banned for 3 games, extended to 4 games on appeal after a successful media witch hunt.

Last night Steven Gerrard committed a much worse offence. He committed what was dubbed a ‘forearm smash’ by ESPN commentators on Portsmouth’s Michael Brown.

I’m no great fan of Michael Brown. After his sickening attempt to break Ryan Giggs‘ leg two seasons ago I’d love to have a crack at him myself, but this is about consistency.

Steven Gerrard must be punished for this offence. He escaped punishment for a red card offence last week after sticking two fingers up to the referee after the referee unbelievably stated that he’d seen the incident and didn’t deem it worthy of further punishment. This time though, the FA have to act or they risk showing themselves up to be not just inconsistent but also incompetent.

If the FA are anything like the English justice system; Gerrard will probably escape punishment after arguing that he was getting his retaliation in early, as he did when he cowardly attacked a nightclub DJ.

Van Der Sar – 7 Could have brought his deck chair for this one.

Neville – 7 One momentary lapse in the first half allowing Clint Dempsey to threaten the goal, but after that he was rarely troubled and contributed well to the attack with good crossing.

Vidic – 7 Same as Rio, rarely troubled. Great to see our first choice central defenders finally getting a run of games together though.

Evra – 7 Defended well. Attacked well. Just what we’ve come to expect from him.

Valencia – 5 Subdued display today. Not his usual energetic self and didn’t create much.

Carrick – 6 Drifted in and out of the game. Not at his best but Fulham were not in a position to take advantage.

Fletcher – 7 Another excellent energetic display from the Scot. Didn’t allow Fulham to settle on the ball.

Nani – 8 Excellent display in the first half. Trailed off towards the end of the second half. Would have had a few assists if Berbatov was more clinical.

Rooney – 8 Not overly involved in build up play, but he keeps finding himself in those goalscoring positions so it’s hard to complain.

Berbatov – 9 Fantastic display. Finishing could be better, but his build up play was superb and his assist for Rooney’s second goal was exquisite.

Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has his eyes firmly fixed on a fourth consecutive Premier League crown and can’t wait to move ahead of Liverpool on number of titles won.

United currently share the record of 18 league titles with their Merseyside rivals, but are in contention to win number 19 this season, thanks to the form of the Liverpool born forward.

“I’ve always felt the league is the most important one to win, but especially this year. If we do that it will be four on the run, which no one has done before.”

“And we would go above Liverpool’s number of titles so to do it this year would be a big, big moment for everyone at the club.”

The champions have suffered unprecedented injuries this term, at one point having eight senior defenders injured and having to play Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher in central defence, but Rooney believes the squad has coped well with the injuries and has enough quality to get over the finish line ahead of Chelsea.

“We’ve had some injuries but those who have come in have done good jobs. We definitely have a strong enough squad.”

Last season’s title win finally silenced the dippers and threw their famous banner back in their faces. It read, “Au revoir Cantona, come back when you’ve won 18″.

United won number 18, and after winning the Carling Cup a few weeks ago became the most domestically successful club in England.

Van der Sar – 7 Commanded his area well. One save from a David Beckham volley stood out for me.

Neville – 7 Needed Fletcher to cover for him at times. Got into some good positions, crossing often let him down, but the one for Rooney’s opening goal was inch perfect.

Ferdinand – 8 Never gave the Milan strikers a sniff of goal. A rock at the back.

Vidic – 7 Played well alongside Rio. Dominated aerially.

Evra – 7 Somewhat subdued compared to his usual performances, but still got forward well and didn’t have too much to worry him at the back. Looks tired.

Valencia – 7 A constant threat down the right wing.

Fletcher – 8 Dominated the midfield as well as covering for Neville against Ronaldinho.

Scholes – 7 The aging Milan midfield allowed him to dictate the pace of the game.

Nani – 6 not his best game. Struggled in the first half. Much better in the second half. his pass to setup Rooney’s second goal was exquisite.

Park – 7 Chased Milan’s players all game. Ran his socks off for the cause and scored a goal too.

Rooney – 8 unstoppable at the moment. Two goals take his tally to 30 for the season. Can he match Ronaldo’s 42?

Sir Alex Ferguson believes former Old Trafford hero David Beckham is unlikely to start for Ac Milan at Old Trafford tonight.

The Manchester United boss saw his team win in the San Siro in February and will host the Italian giants in Manchester tonight.

Beckham started the first leg, but has not not made the starting lineup for Milan since.

“He has not started a game since the last time he played us,” the United manager pointed out. “I don’t know if Beckham will play. I haven’t got him down in my conclusions.”

Whether this is a ploy by the United manager remains to be seen.

According to various sources in Belgium, Manchester United have signed promising young full back Marnick Vermijl on a 3 year deal from Standard Liege.

The 18 year old, from Belgium, was reportedly scouted several times by United this season, and the final decision was made by Sir Alex Ferguson and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after being impressed watching DVD’s of him.

Vermijl was allegedly banned from training with Standard Liege after they became aware of his discussions with Manchester United.

The English Champions will apparently pay 220,000 Euro’s to Standard Liege to secure his services.

More details as and when they arrive.

When the story of the bond issue broke in January, Manchester United Supporters Trust membership stood at around a paltry 30,000. That number had almost doubled in the two months following because of the repercussions of the financial details released. Yesterday morning the figure stood at 54,000.

Following a huge push by Manchester United fans to urge friends, relatives and any United fan they know to join MUST – prompted by an appearance on Sky Sports News by Chief Exec Duncan Drasdo – numbers have risen by over 30,000 in the last 24 hours.

The move has been boosted by blogs like this one and United Rant urging members to join, and forums like redcafe  and redissue doing the same.

Drasdo stated yesterday that the Red Knights wanted a show of faith from the United faithful to know for sure that they had our support. He suggested that MUST membership would have to rise to 100,000 for it to be a big enough show of faith.

I am confident that number will be reached easily within the next day or two, but 30,000 members in 24 hours is MUST’s busiest ever day and should not be played down. In fact the website crashed several times due to the sheer number of visitors and new registrations it was receiving.

If you were unable to register yesterday, please try again today. And if you still haven’t received your activation email, please be patient.

More importantly, keep spreading the link around and encouraging the United fans you know to register and give their backing to the Red Knights.

Join MUST today!

The elusive Red Knights convened in London yesterday to discuss their proposed takeover of Manchester United. Deal broker Keith Harris, chairman of investment bankers Seymour Pierce, and Jim O’Neill, chief economist at Goldman Sachs are known to be two of the men involved in the bid, and Duncan Drasdo, Chief Executive of MUST appeared on Sky Sports News this afternoon to speak about the meeting.

While not wanting to give too much away, Drasdo said the Red Knights are definitely interested in moving forward with the proposal, but want a show of faith fro the Manchester United fans before moving forward with plans.

How can you show your faith? It’s simple. Join MUST. At the time of writing, the membership number stands at 54,186. Drasdo and the Red Knights want that number to climb to around the 100,000 mark.

Two months ago that figure was as low as 30,000. So if it can almost double in a matter of months, then surely we can get it over 100,000 with the coverage it gained on Sky Sports News today.

You can also help by encouraging friends and relatives to join too.

Do you own a website or a blog? Put up a banner or a link to MUST to encourage your visitors to sign up. It takes about 30 seconds to do and it completely free.

Join MUST today!

Patrice Evra has become the first Manchester United player to back the fans protests against the Glazer regime.

The French left back spoke after he Carling Cup final win against Aston Villa, and while he didn’t mention Glazer directly, he hinted that he is aware of the fans concerns regarding the current owners and acknowledges the reasons why they have recently been wearing the green and gold of Newton Heath.

“They are the original colours of Manchester United, and the fans wear them because they love this club,” he told the Blomberg News Agency.

“They have their reasons for doing it and we don’t think that they are crazy. They’d like things to change.”

The wording of his comments suggest he’s not alone in backing our right to protest. His use of the word “we” seems to imply that other players in the squad share his opinion.

With reports suggesting the Glazer’s are maintaining their stance of “Manchester United is not for sale“, any publicity is good publicity for the campaign to rid United of the Glazer’s, particularly when it comes from one of the team’s most influential players.

Gary Neville believes winning the Carling Cup final win can be a springboard to further success this season.

If last season is anything to go by, Neville has a strong case. After winning the cup last February, United went on to win an 18th league title and reach the final of the Champions League.

It was also the first trophy won by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in their United careers, and the taste of success led to 3 consecutive league titles and a host of other trophies along the way.

“People may say it’s the lesser of the cup competitions but I think this can be a springboard for us to go on and be more successful,” Neville told MUTV. “It’s proved to be in previous years and hopefully it will be again this season.”

“This competition has been really good to us in the last few years, and it’s great to get a medal around your neck this early in the season,” added Neville.

The United skipper insists they can’t afford to get caught up in the joy of winning the Carling Cup with so many important games still to play.

If it was the last game in the season, we’d all be delirious. But there’s so much still to play for.

“We go to Wolves on Saturday, hopefully with all our players back fit from the internationals, and then we’ve obviously got a big game against Milan.

“Fulham and Liverpool are coming up too and we have to win every game in the league. Nobody’s pulling away in the title race but now it’s time for us to step up and go for it.”

The class of Chelsea fans sunk to new depths today during their match with Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. Rather than sympathize with former player Wayne Bridge for the humiliation and heartache he’s suffered thanks to Chelsea captain John Terry, they chose to boo the left back whenever he came near the ball.

Tensions are obviously still high between Terry and Bridge as indicated by the non handshake before kick off. Terry put his hand out to shake Bridge’s hand, but the City player blanked the disgraced former England captain and walked right past him.

When the game kicked off there were boos and whistles for Bridge, who was the innocent victim in the whole scandal involving his ex Vanessa Perroncel. Most fans would recognize this and leave Bridge alone, but Chelsea fans, classless as they are, chose to show as much respect as their big man™ captain JT. Utterly despicable, but not altogether surprising.

Thankfully their team got a pasting on the pitch thanks to two goals each from Craig Bellamy and mercenary Carlos Tevez, giving us a huge boost to our title hopes.

Craig Bellamy told Sky Sports what he thought of Terry in his post match interview.

“I think you guys make a lot more of it, you know, em, I know what JT’s like, and nothing surprises me about him, so I’m not going to comment on that guy, em, I think everyone in football knows what the guy’s like.”

Click here to see Bridge snub Terry.

Sir Alex Ferguson could be forced to face the BBC cameras under a new Premier League rule that requires every manager to participate in post match interviews for UK broadcasters.

Rule Q17 in full, states that: “With effect from season 2010/11, all managers are required to attend in person and participate in post-match interviews held by or for the benefit of a UK broadcaster or radio broadcaster and failure to do so without just cause shall be a breach of these rules.”

Sir Alex has not spoken to the BBC since a Panorama programme which implied there were improper goings on between the club and his son Jason Ferguson, who was working as a football agent at the time.

Failure to abide by the new ruling could land Ferguson in trouble with the Premier League, who could impose sanctions on the Manchester United manager.

England manager Fabio Capello has warned Michael Owen that he cannot name him in his World Cup squad if he isn’t playing enough football at club level.

The Manchester United striker has struggled to force his way into Sir Alex Ferguson‘s starting line up this season, partly because of the form of team mate Wayne Rooney, and partly because the united boss has often opted to play a 4-5-1 formation with no room for a second striker.

“He is one of the best English goalscorers of all-time but if he doesn’t play, I cannot pick him,” the England manager told The Telegraph.

Only a few days ago I wrote 5 reasons why Michael Owen was a poor signing. Rightly or wrongly, his inability to break into the first team on a consistent basis has made it impossible for Capello to select him. And with Rooney showing no signs of ending his scoring spree, it looks as though Owen may be watching the World Cup from his settee.