Angry Fans
LIGHT the cigar Sir Alex. It looks like Kevin Keegan all over again. The Spanish waiter has bitten and looks pathetic. Last week's letter of the week was awarded to a person claiming United have the easier run in and a tougher start than all the rest. I at the time felt he has a point but Sir Alex was looking at the bigger picture and was trying the mind games early on to test Rafa and in my opinion it's over before it has started.
A few quotes from Rafa: "Now he is complaining about everything, that everybody is against United. But the second half of the season will see them playing at home against all the teams at the top of the table, it’s a fantastic advantage".
If that is the case Mr Benitez, you are in fact agreeing that United have had a tougher start than most which is arguably the hardest task (well for ye anyway) and have overcome it.
Then he was talking about the fixtures. "Two years ago we were playing a lot of early kick-offs away on Saturdays when United were playing on Sundays -- and we didn't say anything." Really, if that's true Mr.Benitez, you must have forgotten about this then: "We will be talking to the Premier League about this because it is not fair.
"I don't know if it is possible to change these fixtures in the New Year but I hope so because in the last few years, we have played more games on a Saturday than anyone and more away games (after internationals and Champions League matches) than anyone. There are too many early kick-offs and I am not pleased about the situation at all."
Ha Ha, my God all his arguments were poorly put together but sure he is only talking about facts and not playing mind games. You Mr.Benitez are officially a Scouser living in your own dream world. 18 years and counting.
Last week we gave a bitter Red space to sound off. Now we are giving it to a bitter Red Devil. How's that for even-handed? Don't know about anyone else, but I find the perpetual point scoring between the supporters of two most successful clubs in league history more than a little trying, and I would be more than pleased to see Villa take the title this year just to shake things up. But, tell you what Shane, just in the interests of balance, and because you have bothered to research your quotes, have this week's prize letter.
JANUARY 11, 2009. Wrote a note in my diary . . . simply said "Bugger" (Apologies to Blackadder)
OUR SHOUT: Very good CRIP. Would have been letter of the week if we weren't being generous to United in this column.
HOWARD Webb may be counted the Premier League's outstanding referee, but he was unduly officious at Old Trafford. Booking Lampard for his first tackle? Ridiculous. Breaking up play at every opportunity. "Exerting his authority" was how the radio described it. Spoiling the flow of a game which had some of the country's best attackers on show is more like it. And far too many yellow cards.
Have a yellow card after three seconds Cormac. Howard Webb? Yes, he's well hard. Must be something to do with that Phil Mitchell haircut. Actually thought he did well on Sunday, but see below . . .
ROONEY given his usual ridiculous length of rope again at the weekend. Definite yellow card foul on Bosingwa, followed by an outburst against the referee. Yet not punished at all. Fouls, elbows (v Stoke), blatant dissent twice on Sunday - nothing! What does he have to do to get a card? Kill someone? This is the man that your correspondent Richard Kurt describes as his country's "best player." He's not even the best player in Manchester.
Agreed that Rooney (the "spud-faced nipper" as my colleague Richard Kurt calls him) looks like an extra from Shameless on occasions. And agreed also that he is given too much rope that wouldn't be allowed to other players. It will come back to bite him. My prediction - watch the World Cup.
THE "Big Three" (Rooney, Berbatov, Ronaldo) on show, but once again it took Vidic to score the crucial goal. How long before Alex Ferguson wakes up to the fact that he has made a serious mistake?
Right point, but wrong timing with two out of the three scoring on Sunday. But the way they played at Old Trafford Chelsea could have been . . . let's think . . . Derby, and still not won.
GAME after game Chelsea concede goals through not marking players at set pieces (Bordeaux, Fulham - twice - and Manchester United on Sunday. If "Big Phil" can't get his head around this, then he really should be sacked. It's not rocket science is it? Sunday's game was almost a carbon copy of Avram Grant's first game in charge (a crucial game thrown away by poor marking just before half-time). And we all know what happened to Avram.
SCOLARI has to be the worst manager of a Chelsea side for the past 20 years. I think they will be lucky to finish in the Top Five. And that will be the end of him. And probably the end of Abramovich too.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Phil. Shame, but that's showbiz.
HAS the Premier League suddenly become credit-crunch compliant by insisting that players sport retro hairstyles which were fashionable during previous eras of financial crisis? Djibril Cisse, always good for a laugh, is a dead ringer for Mr T as BA Baracus from the mid-80s; Marouane Fellaini has a hair-cut which would look more appropriate on Maurice White from Earth Wind and Fire. But the worst of the weekend has to be the corn row haircut of Andy Carroll of Newcastle . . . the sort of thing that may have been sported by Leroy in Fame, or Craig David. Come on boys. Get original.
Come on Nick, things aren't that bad. Not a single mullet in sight yet
IS there some sort of vendetta against Fellaini of Everton? Admitted he was well offside for Everton's first goal, but he is far from the dirtiest player in the league yet has earned 10 yellow cards for dangerous play this season. Now he will miss the league games and FA Cup games against Liverpool. Heavy-handed or what?
Red card to go alongside Fellaini's ten yellows. He certainly is easy to spot on the field, but he was extremely lucky not to get a red at the weekend. He and Tim Cahill are probably the two most aggravating players in the Premier League at the moment.
THE FA is right to re-open the inquiry into the Carlos Tevez affair. It's clear that West Ham were less than truthful in their previous account of the matter. They insisted that they, and not Kia Joorabchian's MSI, owned Tevez, but now that there is the question of another fee for Tevez it seems to be accepted that the money will go to Joorabchian and not to West Ham. In legal cases, when it is found that the evidence is tainted, there is a right to re-open the hearing. And that's what should happen here, no matter if it damages West Ham, or not.
Time to lay this one to rest surely. It's a dreadful precedent from which no one, least of all West Ham, emerge with any credit. But that was two owners ago. Let's draw a line underneath it.
THE role of Manchester United in the whole Carlos Tevez affair is interesting. As things stand they have had the services of a world-class striker for two seasons by only paying his wages. He has effectively been on loan, and the suspicion must be from their current behavior that they never intended to sign him at all. Why else did they sign Berbatov? On the face of it they fielded an illegible player last season. As he scored many crucial goals for them perhaps they should be made to hand back the Premier League and the Champions League. That's what would happen in Italy isn't it?
Sounds like a case for Perry Mason, or something which would have kept the lawyers of Bleak House or the Circumlocution Office going for 20 years. Strip Manchester United of the Premier League and the Champions League? Yeah, right.
SHOULD Mark Hughes be surprised that he can't sign players at appropriate prices? €12m and €90,000 a week for a reserve left back from Chelsea? €18m for Santa Cruz after one season in the Premier League; €30m combined for Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker, who are workaday players by anyone's definition? Of course people are going to raise their prices for Manchester City, because they know a mug when they see one. And it will be the same for Hughes if he tries to sign European players who, as you pointed out yesterday, have become even more expensive for British clubs to sign because of the collapse of sterling.
Well, Sparky did say that he needed four transfer windows. He can make it five after this one then.
