Manchester United Favourites For Title

This title will not come as a huge surprise to many of you that follow the EPL but I think, even after today's 0-0 result with Newcastle United, that the Red Devils are pretty much guaranteed the Premier League title. Man Utd have always been a team that finishes the season very strongly and they find themselves ahead of Arsenal by seven points. Yes, Arsenal have a game in hand but that will only take them to within four points of United if they win (which, at the moment, is not exactly a guarantee). They also have to play United once more before the season ends and I can't see anything but a win for Fergie's men in that game.

How have United forced their way into the advantageous position they find themselves in? Well, I'm not entirely sure. United fans would be the first to tell you that they have not played fantastically well this season. They have been solid without being spectacular and they owe their league position in a big way to how bad Chelsea have been for parts of the season and how inconsistent Arsenal have been for the entire season. Liverpool were never anywhere near the top four and Manchester City still look a fair way from being a team that can challenge for the title over a full season.

Berbatov: Inconsistently brilliant.

You just have to look at the stats that the Manchester United squad have put up this season to see that it wasn't their best season. Wayne Rooney has only managed 10 goals and Javier Hernandez has only managed 11. To be fair to Hernandez, he has been a bit part player for Sir Alex in his first season and has looked very dangerous when he has played. Dimitar Berbatov leads the United scorers, and the Premier League's scorers with 21. While that sounds impressive, it is still five goals short of the total Rooney got for United last year and it is eight goals short of the tally Didier Drogba reached to take the Golden Boot last season.

United have also conceded more goals this season than they have in the previous five. Perhaps that is because they had to deal with injuries to key players at various times during the season.. Ferdinand and Vidic were both out for a while and they are two of United's best players.

Despite their struggles (OK they aren't really struggles...) they have still gotten the job done and you have to say that Sir Alex always gets exactly what he needs from his players. United have just about proven that they are the best in England once again.

However, what will United do when Van Der Sar is gone? What about when Giggs and Scholes eventually retire? Interesting questions that Sir Alex will need to answer...

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Mighty United Edge Brave Saints

125 Years of Southampton Football Club

Memories of the 1976 Cup final were always going to be in the minds of every Southampton fan up and down the country. Could Southampton do the unthinkable and knock out a Man Utd team that have only lost once this season? Well, no they couldn't, but they pushed the mighty United all the way and deserved more than a defeat.

Saints played this game with no fear and with nothing to lose. They were massive underdogs but they certainly did not look it at times. The first 45 minutes were easily Southampton's as they controlled the game with some slick passing, nice touches and timely runs. Dan Harding, playing at left-back for Saints, was particularly effective running down the wing and caused John O'Shea all sorts of issues. In fact, Harding had the ball in the Man Utd net early on, only to see his effort ruled out for offside.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looked every bit as good as the papers are saying he is and was giving the United midfield and back four plenty to think about with his pace and eye for a pass. Morgan Schneiderlin, so often Southampton's “get-out-of-jail” player in the holding midfield position, was as assured against this United side as he is week in week out in League One. He is a class act and deserves to play at a higher level. Richard Chaplow provided the forward momentum from the centre of midfield while Lambert used his size and strength to hold up the ball. Butterfield also had a great game at right-back.

I couldn't really pick out a player from the United team that had a good first half apart from Fabio who, like Harding for Saints, provided United with plenty of running from his left-back position. Why were United so poor? You could argue that they were not playing some of their best players, but to their credit, Southampton were making it very hard for them to do anything at all. They had no time on the ball and they were out-jumped and out-fought across the pitch.

Saints continued to probe at the Man Utd defence until, with only moments remaining in the first half, they made a deserved breakthrough. Chaplow followed his own throw-in on the right side of the pitch and, when the ball was headed back in his direction, he controlled the ball nicely before he let fly from around 12 yards with a monster of a volley that flew past Lindegaard in the United goal.

Chaplow smashes home the opener

1-0 to Saints at half time!

The second half was always going to be more difficult for Southampton after that goal. United were going to come at them harder than ever to find an equaliser. A United that included Nani, Giggs, Rooney and Berbatov on the bench. Fergie still had plenty of options and talent at his disposal.

The second 45 minutes started much like the first, with Southampton in control. However, Saints were not making as many runs, in an effort to conserve some energy that they would surely need in the latter stages of the game. This allowed Man Utd more time on the ball and that meant they started to create chances. At around the 60 minute mark, Fergie introduced Ryan Giggs and Nani, two of his best players and the difference they made was almost immediate. Nani's pace and trickery made life very difficult for Butterfield who had been so solid up to that point and Ryan Giggs' accurate passing was finding gaps in the Saints' back four. The difference in class was beginning to show.

Owen: Still a deadly finisher.

It took United only five minutes, once Nani and Giggs were on the pitch, to score. A cross from Obertan on the right ricocheted off a Saints body in the box and Owen reacted quickest to put a great header past Bialkowski in the Southampton net.

65 Mins – 1-1

10 minutes later, United made it 2-1. More sloppy play, this time from substitute Ryan Dickson, meant that Giggs found himself with the ball on the edge of the Saints 18 yard box. His perfectly weighted pass found Hernandez inside the box and he put a lovely finish past the onrushing Bialkowski. Dickson held his head in shame and I think at that point the crowd at St Mary's realised that the fairytale was over. United had only had two proper chances and had taken them both.

However, once more to the credit of the League One side, they did not just give up. In fact, Southampton continued to make some chances and nearly found an equaliser late on after a well worked corner between Chamberlain and Harding ended up with the ball flashing just wide of the United post.

The game ended with Man Utd winning 2-1 but that did not matter to the 28,000 Saints fans inside St. Mary's. They were magnificent all day and had kept St Mary's rocking for 94 minutes plus.

Those Southampton players who played today all walked off the pitch with their heads held high. They played hard and with passion and matched, if not outclassed, the best team in England for most of the game. They played proper football, keeping the ball on the ground and played with intelligence. In the end it was not to be but the future is very, very bright.

The Squads:

Southampton (4-3-3): Bialkowski; Butterfield, Fonte, Seaborne, Harding; Guly (N’Guessan 80), Chaplow (Gobern 83), Schneiderlin, Chamberlain; Barnard (Dickson 73), Lambert.

Subs not used: Davis, Richardson, Martin, Doble.

Goals: Chaplow 43

Manchester United (4-3-3) then (4-4-2): Lindegaard; O’Shea, Smalling, Evans, Fabio da Silva (Brown 45); Anderson (Nani 58), Gibson (Giggs 58), Scholes, Obertan; Owen, Hernandez.

Subs not used: Kuszczak, Bebe, Rooney, Berbatov.

Goals: Owen 65, Hernandez 75

Referee: Martin Atkinson

The problem with football

Le Tiss: loved, and loved by, his club

Contracts don't seem to mean anything in football these days. Managers are hired and fired at an alarming rate and players are signed to lengthy contracts that they rarely intend to stick to. In the last 10 years I can think of only a handful of people, both managers and players, who have been with one club for a long time. Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have been at Manchester United and Arsenal for 24 years and 14 years respectively. Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Ryan Giggs (Manchester United) and Matthew Le Tissier (Southampton) are three players who committed their entire careers to one club. There aren't too many more to tell you about, at least not in the last 20 years, which is both a shame and a sign of what football has become today.

Footballers are becoming more and more like mercenaries, playing for whoever will pay them the most money, and managers are under increasing pressure to bring instant success to their clubs and are cast aside if results go against them. Whereas in the past the leagues in any one country would be full of native players, today there are many foreigners who play alongside them. This is the especially the case in the Premier league, which attracts the best players from all over the world. The main problem I have with this is that all the new players coming in to the country have no affinity for any club. They don't support any team and therefore have no ties or love for that team. There is nothing to stop them from leaving when the going gets rough.

Modern players are only out for success. If they don't get it at one club, they will move to another, and another until they do. Call me old fashioned, but I believe you should play primarily for the love of the game and the love of your team. Any trophies or success should be secondary to that. Players like Matthew Le Tissier at Southampton and Alan Shearer at Newcastle United have attained an almost god-like status with their fans but have never won any major honours at those respective clubs. Success was secondary to them and they are loved because of it. The game desperately needs more characters like them.

Also, I have a problem with the frequency with which managers are being fired these days. To expect one man to come in and deliver instant success to any club is utter madness. Sure, the manager plays a big part and a great manager can do great things, but success is also down to the players, the staff behind the scenes and, of course, the Chairman. The reason for managers being fired so often is simple: there are more and more non-footballing people getting involved in football.

We have a lot of loaded businessmen who are buying football clubs these days who have too much say concerning how the club is run at the football level. There are also a lot of chairmen around who also don't know football. These people don't realise it takes time to build a trophy-winning squad and short term success is not always attainable. 

Alex Ferguson

Look at Alex Ferguson. His first three years at Manchester United were pretty naff. It is also claimed that he was on the verge of being fired before he was fortunate enough to win the FA Cup in the 1989/90 season. Following this, Manchester United stayed with him and are now on the verge of becoming the most successful English club in history.

There is a lot wrong with football these days and unfortunately it is all down to money. Football is a business, the players are the assets and we are the customers. Rant over.