Ferguson has little to complain about

Sir Alex Ferguson blamed another defeat on another penalty decision, but once again, sympathy is short for the Manchester United manager.

United have conceded just one penalty in 36 Premier League games - an incredible record which might be an indictment of the constant pressure Ferguson places on referees. Yet in matches in two other competitions […]

Exceptional Villa can bring an end to Arsenal’s profligacy

Arsenal are not beset by goal-scoring problems but profligacy in front of goal has been a consistent issue as the club endeavour to pick up their first trophy since 2005. David Villa has been touted as the answer and Spaniard is set to leave Valencia in the summer, with Arsene Wenger poised to move for the striker.

If Youth Only Knew: If Age Only Could

“We’ve never won a national trophy and yet we have produced more first-team players than any other academy,” says a proud Jim Cassell, the academy director at Manchester City. “We sacrifice our teams sometimes because the priority is the development of individuals. If after 10 years we had four FA Youth Cups but no players, […]

Defensive crisis at Old Trafford evokes memories of Chelsea’s downfall

Alex Ferguson was handed another defensive headache yesterday as his captain Rio Ferdinand left the Riverside Stadium last night with his foot in a protective plastic case after the 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough.
This news comes hot on the heels of the news that Nemanja Vidic will be sidelined for two to three weeks and will […]

Champions League Predictions

The quartet of English sides enter the quarter-finals of the Champions League in differing degrees of form and confidence. But whilst some have been disappointing domestically, they will all have reason to believe that they can go further in the competition this year. But which of the four have the right blend to go all […]

Grand Sham Sunday

So, thanks to Sky’s beneficent patronage of our beautiful game, we can all tuck into our Easter eggs happy in the thought that a true footballing feast is to be served up later this Sunday. Yes, staring at the tele with chocolate round our mouths will be as much effort as is required before our […]

The big four’s stranglehold will loosen

In 10 years time the monopoly of English Football held recently by Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool will be over. This will not happen overnight but gradually, season-by-season, other ‘big’ clubs will be challenging for domestic honours. Money continues to flood into the game and worldwide popularity for the Premiership grows each year – […]

Five Things

1. Not bad losers, just can’t accept defeat
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and assistant Carlos Queiroz will be deserving of their FA charges, if and when they are handed out, following their ridiculous outbursts after defeat against Portsmouth in the FA Cup. They were astounded that their complete domination of the encounter did not […]