This week we witnessed one of the best individual performances the Premier League has ever seen, when Luis Suarez more or less single-handedly destroyed Norwich.

We are nearly a third of the way through the Premier League season and it’s probably only now that we are seeing a Manchester United side playing anywhere near what they are capable of.

The first fortnight of Martin O’Neill’s reign can only be seen as a very encouraging start, bringing back a feelgood factor to Irish football which hasn’t been there since before the Euros last year.

It’s been a very busy week in the world of Irish football.

Today will see the official unveiling of our new manager Martin O’Neill but, inevitably, much of the hype surrounding his appointment has been devoted to his surprise decision to have Roy Keane as his assistant manager.

I was very fortunate to be invited to the annual Nordoff Robbins Football Extravaganza at the Grosvenor Hotel in London on Tuesday evening.

Our columnist is baffled and disappointed by Alex Ferguson’s decision to air dirty linen in public

What a week it has been in the world of Irish football. Providing players and staff with a stern test of character, our final qualifying double header was never going to be smooth sailing but little did we expect events around the two games to spark off so much debate and even controversy.

Tonight’s match against Germany in Cologne is as tough as it gets at international level, with a win for the hosts guaranteeing their inevitable place at the World Cup finals next summer in Brazil.

After both Manchester sides slumped to unexpected defeats in the Premier League last weekend, it was always going to be interesting to see how they reacted in the Champions League this week.