Jose Is Genius, But Madrid Want Mour

Last night, Jose Mourinho became only the third manager to win the European Cup with two different teams by leading his Internazionale outfit to an ultimately comfortable victory over Bayern Munich: the first time Inter have ruled Europe since 1965. Added to the six league titles won in just seven full seasons in charge of Porto, Chelsea and Inter and the cluster of other cups (including UEFA and FA cups) in his locker, then the man from Setubal really has proven himself as a 'Special One'. But could he go on to become the greatest club manager of all time?

At the age of 47, he certainly has time on his hands to equal and overtake Bob Paisley's managerial record of three European Cups (all won with Liverpool). The master tactician is bound for the home dugout at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the scene of his most recent success. With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain and Iker Casillas under his charge then it is certainly possible that he could walk away from next year's final venue Wembley with a second consecutive Champions League winner's medal under his belt but that will be easier said than done. When moving to Chelsea in 2004, Mourinho was handed what on paper, was a far superior squad to the one he had just led to success at Porto. Bringing in big money signings such as Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho to complement the likes of John Terry, Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard was a sure-fire route to domestic success but the continent proved harder to conquer. Defeated twice in the semi-finals by a fortuitous Liverpool and thoroughly outplayed in the last 16 by the Ronaldinho-inspired Barcelona side of 2006, the cup with the big ears proved elusive during his tenure at Stamford Bridge, and at Real Madrid he will face similar problems.

The biggest hurdle to overcome could be the presence of an opinionated, extremely powerful owner with sky high expectations. Failure to see eye-to-eye with Roman Abramovich saw a premature end to Mourinho's time in West London and in Los Blancos' President Florentino Perez, Mourinho will be faced with a character of similar ilk. The man with power at the nine-times European champions is as crazy about landing a tenth Champions League title as Abramovich is about landing Chelsea's first. The Real supremo isn't renowned for patience and after spending inconceivable amounts in the transfer window last summer, and still seeing his team knocked out in the last sixteen (for, as if anyone needs reminding, the SIXTH time in a row) and failing to overcome Barcelona in the Spanish league, current coach Manuel Pellegrini has been a dead man walking for a fair while. After ensuring the catalan team, so hated by the Madrilenos didn't make an appearance at the Bernabeu last night, Mourinho could well have more time on his hands than previous incumbents but the pressure on the club is second to none.

Failure to reach the Champions League final next year would instantly see the heat cranked up on Mourinho, and as much as he thrives on it, he still couldn't win the Champions League when at Chelsea. Furthermore, Madrid demand more than just success, sacking the likes of Fabio Capello and Vicente Del Bosque after title-winning seasons on the basis that the football style wasn't attractive. And Mourinho is certainly no Johan Cruyff when it comes to football style. Efficiency, organisation and power are the hallmarks of his teams and whether he can get this message across to Ronaldo et al and simultaneoulsy win over Perez's affections remains to be seen. If he does, and the team walks away as champions of Europe once again, then Mourinho, for sure, will be able to say he is the greatest club manager of all time.

Goal Records for Chelsea, The End of the Big Four and Champions League Football for Spurs: A Season To Remember

So it came down to the last day of the season, for only the fifth time in Premier League history, and Chelsea showed the world that they were worthy champions. A barnstorming display in front of goal saw them smash eight past Wigan, bringing their total to a record-breaking 103 league goals and seeing Didier Drogba knock Wayne Rooney out of the way to claim the Golden Boot with a second half hat-trick. An entertaining ending to what has been an entertaining season. Following on from hitting seven past Stoke City, Aston Villa and Sunderland in the last few months, Carlo Ancelotti's side have shown that Italian boss's teams aren't always about rock solid defences and cagey 1-0 wins. With Frank Lampard hitting his best ever goals tally and Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka both getting into double figures, the boys from the Bridge had no shortage of match-winners in their side. A first ever double is now in sight for the Pensioners with the FA Cup final to come but the Champions League will surely be top of Ancelotti's agenda for next season, with the final being held across town at Wembley Stadium.

Dethroned champions Manchester United, the previous record Premiership goal-scorers with 97 back in the days of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole (1999/2000), will rue the day they lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea, with an injured Rooney looking on from his executive box. That turned out to be the turning point in the title race, as the Blues leap-frogged the Red Devils and never really looked back. Sir Alex Ferguson can look back on a relatively successful season however, as despite selling Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in the close season his side came to within a point of the title and scored eighteen more league goals than last season. As well as Rooney's late season injury problems, his defence was devastated in the winter when Patrice Evra was the only fit defender for several weeks: a period which saw United crash to defeats to Fulham and Aston Villa. With just the Carling Cup in the bag and an unfortunate quarter-final Champions League exit, the Old Trafford faithful will be hungry for more next season, but 2009-10 has been by no means a disaster.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for United's great rivals Liverpool. An abysmal season for last year's runners-ups was capped off today with a 0-0 draw at relegated Hull City which saw the Reds finish in a lowly seventh, their worst position since 1999 and only claiming a Europa League place thanks to Cup finalists Portsmouth's adminstrative woes. With a group stage Champions League exit, and early knockouts in both domestic cups(to Reading and Arsenal respectively), Liverpool have almost nothing to look back on and must think forward if they are to reclaim their place in the 'Big Four'.

Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Aston Villa will all have something to say about that though. Harry Redknapp's boys from White Hart Lane will reap the benefits of a (play-off round permitting) first ever Champions League campaign, and United's noisy neighbours are sure to make waves in this summer's transfer window, looking to put the disappointment of missing out on 4th place behind them. The Villans will be desperate to hold onto Martin O'Neill and push on from their third consecutive sixth place finish, and with the likes of 2010 PFA young player of the year James Milner and his predecessor Ashley Young a year older, they have reason to be optimistic if they can bolster their squad in the summer. With local rivals Everton only finishing two points behing Rafa Benitez's men, change seems inevitable at the legendary club, with new owners, a new manager, a new stadium and new players all on the agenda. Whether crown jewels Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are going to stay could be crucial to the Anfield outfit's prospects.

At the other end of the table, Pompey's administration effectively sealed their fate months ago and Hull City and Burnley had both looked hapless for a number of weeks, despite both hiring new managers (albeit Burnley in somewhat different circumstances to the Tigers). Goal-shy Wolves, Jekyll-and-Hyde-team Wigan and financially-troubled West Ham will have their work cut out next season with promoted Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion promising to be more threatening than the teams they are replacing.

Overall, the gap between the top teams and the rest seems to have closed, with the 'Big Four' suffering 33 defeats between them as opposed to just 17 last season. They are now arguably a 'Big Eight' (the pessimists might call it a 'Big Two' but for one of those look to Spain where there are a whopping 27 points between second and third place) with City, Spurs, Villa and Everton all in the mix for European places. We might find reason to complain about the divers, the controversial decisions and certain manager's team selections (think Mick McCarthy and Roy Hodgson) for big games, but for pure entertainment the Premier League has been as fascinating as ever. It doesn't end here though, now our attention can switch to the FA Cup final, Champions League final and the one event all football purists savour, the World Cup...

Play Up Pompey! Are They the Best Team Ever to Finish 20th?

How incredible it is to see Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final for the second time in three years given their Premier League plight this season. Despite being relegated on Saturday, Pompey performed excellently on the horrendous Wembley pitch the very next day to deny Tottenham Hotspur their first FA Cup final appearance since 1991. The embarrassment felt by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp (not to mention ex-Portsmouth players Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar) must be paramount after his counterpart Avram Grant, with a shadow of the Pompey side Redknapp himself led to Wembley in 2008 ,got the better of him and his expensively assembled North London side. But despite their league position, this Portsmouth team isn't full of mugs.

Their situation at the foot of the league is very much deceiving, as on a few occasions the south coast club has shown true quality this season, namely the 2-0 victory over Liverpool, a narrow 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, and their incredible FA Cup run, where they beat high-flying Birmingham City in the quarter-finals. It is largely down to the bizarre financial circumstances at the club, the revolving door of owners earlier in the season, and the refusal to appoint Grant at the expense of the hapless Paul Hart until midway through the season. Frederic Piquionne (an excellent find from French football) has shown some class finishing, including the first in extra-time on Sunday and the likes of Algerian duo Hassan Yebda and Nadir Belhadj should by no means be considered relegation-candidate players. The evergreen David James marshalled his defence excellently in the semi-final, a defence which included the experience of European cup winner Steve Finnan and South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena. If injury hadn't restricted James to just 22 league appearances this season, Pompey may well be higher up the league. Of course, the nine point deduction for going into administration was the real killer and since then the writing has been on the wall.

The saddest thing, is that despite Grant's incredible achievement of leading his club back to Wembley to face his former employers Chelsea on May 15th, their fate next season could well be even worse. With the finance of the club still in turmoil, it is likely many Portsmouth players will be on their way out this summer. Shorn of the few remaining stars they have, it seems more likely that Portsmouth will head the way of Leeds United and local rivals Southampton in disappearing to the depths of League One, as opposed to the quick return enjoyed by Newcastle United this season. But if they can hold on to Grant, then perhaps the Pompey chimes will keep ringing a bit longer.

When A 3-2 Victory Isn't As Good As A 2-1 Victory

Manchester United were last night eliminated from the Champions League quarter-finals by Bayern Munich, thanks to an incredible volley by Arjen Robben, Bayern's second away goal. This is the fourth time in their history that the Red Devils have been eliminated in such fashion, following away goals defeats to Galatasaray and Monaco in the 1990s and Bayer Leverkusen back in 2002. But what I simply cannot understand is WHY the away goals rule exists?

In the past many away teams would play extremely defensively in European competition. I believe the thinking behind the rule is to make the away team try to attack more than they otherwise would, but surely this in turn makes the home team need to play more defensively. Essentially, the rule says that a 2-1 home win is better than a 3-2 home win, and that a 2-2 home draw is worse than a 1-1 home draw. This is clearly ridiculous, surely all draws should be looked upon as the same, and a victory by a one goal margin should be seen simply as it is - a victory by a one goal margin.

A most ludicrous case comes to mind, back in the Champions League semi-finals of 2003. AC Milan were drawn to play city rivals Internazionale and the two ties took place in their shared stadium, the San Siro. A goalless first leg ensued, and the second leg finished 1-1 after Andriy Shevchenko put the Rossoneri one up before Obafemi Martins grabbed a late equaliser for the Nerazzurri. But as Inter were supposedly the home team in the second leg, it was Milan that went through thanks to Sheva's 'away goal'. Pure folly. Simply put, UEFA should abolish the away goals rule and stick to good old-fashioned extra time and penalties to settle any tied match. At least that way a team has to win by an actual margin.

Nothing to Prove? Or Everything?

Two sublime finishes from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the quarter-final first leg at the Emirates stadium last night will certainly have gone a long way to proving his doubters wrong. The big Swedish striker has been touted as one of the best players of his generation by many on the continent, but he has always had his critics, many of those in the United Kingdom. One of the biggest gripes the naysayers had with him was that he never scored in the Champions League knockout round. He changed that with a goal on German soil against Stuttgart in the last round. Another accusation levelled at him was that he never performed against English teams. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia will have to disagree with that after his showing in north London. As for not doing it in the big matches, Ibracadabra already has a winning goal in El Clasico against Real Madrid to his name this season.

The superstar striker seems to have it all, with aerial ability, great control, no lack of pace and a powerful shot, yet it seems he will always have his detractors. With a demeanour that can come across almost as arrogant as Cristiano Ronaldo, and an attitude that sometimes resembles the laziness of Dimitar Berbatov, the 6 foot 5 inch forward is perhaps not the most likeable character. The man was Capocannoniere (top scorer) in Italy last season with 25 league goals for Internazionale. In fact, in every season he spent in that country, his team finished top of the league (albeit with Juventus, their titles were stripped after the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal). That's a total of five Serie A triumphs. On top of two Dutch Eredivisie titles won while at Ajax earlier in his career. So what exactly does Ibrahimovic have to prove?

His worth, maybe. Despite these achievements, and his silky playing style, the price Pep Guardiola was willing to pay for him sparked outrage across the football community. £40 million PLUS prolific striker Samuel Eto'o. Eto'o, many reckon, is better than Ibrahimovic, with 130 goals in 200 Barcelona appearances, including two in separate Champions League finals. He is also only a year older than his Swedish counterpart so the vast difference in value is highly questionable. The difference is certainly his playing style. Eto'o is a hard-working goal-grabbing striker. Ibrahimovic gets goals but adds a lot more creativity and panache, the kind of football that the Catalans adore. This perhaps, is what Pep Guardiola values so much. After all, the manager is no chump, within 18 months of taking over Barcelona he had won six different trophies - every single trophy the club had competed in during that time. Football's top coaches clearly rate him. Last season his manager at Inter, Jose Mourinho, claimed he was the best footballer in the world. With team-mate Lionel Messi comfortably holding that title at the moment, it might take a long time for the rest of the world to agree. But if he carries on scoring like he did at Arsenal, and lifts the Champions League trophy this May, he may well win over all his doubters...

Fighting for Fabio

With South Africa 2010 looming large, Wayne Rooney seems to be the only England striker who knows he will be in Fabio Capello's starting line up. The United man has been in sparkling form, surpassing his previous season best by 10 before the end of March. But with England prone as ever to the 4-4-2 formation, who is the best man to partner him up front? Here is the case for five Englishmen hoping to be on the pitch at Rustenburg to face the USA on the 12th of June:

Emile Heskey:

With 106 Premier League goals and 57 England caps to his name, the Villa striker certainly has the experience to start in South Africa. The often-maligned Leicester-born forward featured prominently in the qualifying campaign and was widely regarded as influential in Rooney's match winning performances. He provides a considerable amount of assists and helps open space for his strike partner (as was the case with Michael Owen in their Liverpool days and with England under Sven-Goran Eriksson) but his biggest stigma remains a lack of goals. With only seven for his country and averaging just five league goals in his last four seasons, the jury is still out on whether another, goal scoring target man could be the better choice. Cue...

Peter Crouch:

Well, we say a goal scoring target man. Despite netting twenty in thirty-seven England caps, Crouch has only found the net for Spurs six times in the league this season. However, he made a big impact in England's last match against Egypt and like Heskey, provides plenty of assists to his strike partners. Not as strong or pacy as other strikers, Crouch certainly has the skill and height to trouble defences and his impressive international record will stand him in good stead to make the starting line up in South Africa, but one of his Spurs colleagues will be hoping otherwise...

Jermain Defoe:

The diminutive Londoner is more of a natural finisher than Heskey or Crouch but if he's to play alongside Rooney then Capello will be making a big decision. Playing two small frontmen has never been popular in the world of football, and Argentina were much-derided in the South American qualifiers for the use of tiny trio Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi as a front three. Having said that, Rooney has developed his game this season, holding up the ball and scoring headers. Therefore it isn't completely impossible to see him acting as more of a target man with Defoe flaunting his pace and shooting ability alongside him. The striker can be erratic though, and while looking like a world class performer one week( the five goals against Wigan come to mind) he can then go a few games without catching the eye. He's enjoying his most successful season to date, with seventeen league goals, but that is three less than...

Darren Bent:

With twenty league goals, which would have been enough to win the golden boot in last season's Premier League, already in the bag, the former Spurs man must have his heart set on South Africa. Bent has excelled in an often struggling Sunderland side, netting against Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in the process. Clearly a big game player, the ex-Ipswich youngster has yet to show it for England with no goals and only five appearances since his debut against Uruguay back in 2006. He's experienced a major snub before when he was the highest scoring English player in the 2005-06 Premier League and still failed to make Sven's 2006 World Cup squad. He can't do a lot more to get in the England squad, but his place on the plane is far from certain, unlike...

Steven Gerrard:

The Liverpool skipper and England vice-captain hasn't been enjoying his best season but is a dead cert to be in South Africa. However, with Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard forming a solid partnership in the centre of midfield, and plenty of options for the wide berths, could Stevie G do a job for England up front? Playing in the hole behind Fernando Torres last season, Gerrard found his best form, netting sixteen times as Liverpool came agonisingly close to that long-awaited title. This year, with injuries playing a part and a poor squad around himself and Torres, the scouse hero has failed to regain his form of 08/09. But with Rooney establishing himself as an out and out striker, a system which sees the two Liverpudlian's dovetailing up front for the Three Lions could work out well for all parties. But with only a couple of friendlies left before it gets serious, Capello may well have left it too late to experiment...

The nation awaits until June the 12th to see Fabio's final frontmen...

May the Worst Teams Lose...

I was at Villa Park yesterday to witness Burnley collapse to an unprecedented 13th defeat in their first 14 away games of the season, their porous defence leaking five goals along the way. However, impressive home form has kept them in contention and with less than 3 months of the season to play, it seems like it could be any two from seven clubs that will end up in eighteenth and nineteenth places come the end of the season.

Twentieth place is surely accounted for. The 2-1 defeat at home to ten-man Stoke City yesterday sees Portsmouth eight points adrift from safety with twelve games to play, and while mathematically speaking there remains hope, off field affairs seem to be taking their toll on the club. Unpaid wages, the threat of going out of business altogether and the fact their manager was recently caught in a tabloid scandal visiting a brothel doesn't help a team shawn of their FA Cup winning stars of 2008. Only 4 players remain less than 2 years on from that monumentous occasion and this season the club seem to have had more owners than victories to their name. With Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and in-form Birmingham all coming up in their next six fixtures, even wins over rivals Burnley and Hull City would probably not be enough.

Pompey aside, the relegation battle looks to be as exciting as ever with only 4 points separating Brian Laws' 19th placed outfit and Gianfranco Zola's Hammers in 13th. Stoke City and Blackburn have strung a series of results together to pull away from the pack, but early high-flyers Sunderland have nose-dived spectacularly and talk on Weirside has gone from European qualification to avoiding the drop over the last couple of months. Wigan Athletic, so unpredictable earlier in the season have become almost dead certs to lose, with only two wins in fifteen games in all competitions. With a dismal ten goals at Molineux all season, Big Mick's Wolves may be lacking the bite required to stay up.

Phil Brown's Hull have been written off by many but the Tigers are still level with the pack, the recent win over Manchester City and draw with Chelsea restoring some hope for the KC crowd. As for Bolton Wandererers, Owen Coyle has a real challenge on his hands to keep his team ahead of his former employers over the road at Turf Moor.

The basement battle seems certain to go on to the last day of the season as it has so often in recent seasons, and for some clubs it could be a long way back if they go down. For every Newcastle United, surely ready to bounce straight back up, there's a Bradford City, doomed to lower league obscurity. With Portsmouth's financial disaster, they could well go the way of Bradford, but as for the other teams, they will all fancy their chances of maintaining their place in the elite. Perhaps not because of their own abilities, but because of the fallability of others...

Life after Ronaldo. Life after United?

Manchester United were accused by many of being a one man team in Cristiano Ronaldo's last two seasons at the club. But last night, the UEFA Champions League results of Ronaldo's past and present clubs contrasted starkly. While Real Madrid struggled away to 4th-placed French side Lyon, falling to a 1-0 defeat, the Portuguese's former employers powered their way back from a goal down to claim a crucial 3-2 away victory against seven-times European Champions AC Milan. The £80million-man and his Galactico team-mates including former San Siro star Kaka, Xabi Alonso and substitute Karim Benzema, on his return to the Stade Gerland, failed to find an away goal and succumbed to a great strike by Jean Makoun. Meanwhile, United banged in three in Italy, Paul Scholes thoroughly outshining former comrade David Beckham, and while Ronaldinho impressed for the Rossoneri, Wayne Rooney showed that he really is the main man now. The effervescent Clarence Seedorf certainly gave United something else to think about when he came off the bench, and Michael Carrick's bizarre sending off means it isn't quite job done for the Red Devils but Sir Alex Ferguson was more than satisfied with the outcome in Milan.

That can't quite be said for Manuel Pellegrini at Real. Ok, so los Blancos are by no means out of the tie, and will still fancy their chances of overcoming the deficit at the Bernabeu in three weeks time, but the Spaniards haven't progressed past this stage of the competition since 2004, and with their outlay in excess of £200 million last summer, president Florentino Perez will be expecting a lot better from the club that he has put so much cash into. Many say that when you leave Manchester United, the only way is down, and while Ronaldo will be adamant he is going to win trophies in Spain, the all-conquering Barcelona of Pep Guardiola are still ahead of Madrid in the league, and they certainly have their work cut out in Europe. Beckham himself is an example of a number 7 who left Old Trafford for the Bernabeu, and in the seven seasons since his departure, he only has one league title to his name, as opposed to six won in Manchester( plus 2 FA Cups and a European Cup).

Ferguson's men have regrouped and hit top form again in recent weeks after a mid-season wobble, Rooney has taken on the mantle of goalscorer, and last night he netted his 24th and 25th goals of the season. Ronaldo's tally of 42 goals in 2007/08 may well be in sight if he keeps up his form, and the likes of Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra, Park Ji-Sung and Michael Carrick have all been dominant in the recent victories over local rivals Manchester City, Arsenal and now Milan. United have scored 62 goals in 26 premier league games, making them top scorers, and have conceded less goals than both title-rivals Chelsea and Arsenal. It seems United never were a one man team, and while Real have bought many superstars, right now it is more likely that come May, the medals will be in Manchester, and not Madrid.........

The Big Gap

For most of this season, it has looked like it may well be the one where the 'Big Four' are finally broken into. Manchester United lost five league games before Christmas for the first time in years, Chelsea have been solid yet defensively unimpressive in several matches and Liverpool have been on a truly horrendous run of form losing twelve games in all competitions, and finding it nigh on impossible to string more than two wins together. As for Arsenal, well they've performed very well, but let's be honest, with their final league positions in the last 4 seasons reading 4th,4th,3rd and 4th and no trophies since Patrick Vieira was captain, they weren't exactly formidable anyway. Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa have been touted as the trio to do it and their players and form have been impressive in patches. Yet look at the league table tonight and you will see Arsenal, Chelsea and United over 9 points ahead of this 'threatening' trio and the much-derided Anfield outfit just one point off 4th, despite the fact they've been playing so badly for so long. The 'Big Four' may not be getting much better, United look distinctively less lethal without a certain Portuguese player, Chelsea are aging, Arsenal still look a bit lightweight both in defence and at centre-forward and Rafa's squad's frailties are under more scrutiny than ever, but the truth is, they're still miles ahead of the others. City can throw all their Arab's money at the squad and hire whichever managers they want and it does look like they will make the break-through soon enough, but not just yet. Liverpool are still in touch despite their recent form and if they string some results together which SURELY they have to now, they will achieve that 'Guaranteed' fourth place and Champions League qualification. The squads of the big four have the experience and depth which keeps them ahead of the pretenders. You can't buy a whole squad who have been swimming in the deep end of Europe's Elite tournament for most of the past decade in one go. City are trying but it will take time, Villa are going about it slowly under Martin O'Neill, building on each season with shrewd, usually British acquisitons, and Spurs are somewhere in between the two. But no matter how bad the 'Big Four' have become this season, it appears the gap had become so big, that it's going to take the most heroic of efforts for any team to break into their ranks and start to contest titles and Champions League's on a regular basis...

The Magic of the FA Cup is Well and Truly Still Intact

Wow. Did Leeds United, the team ranked 45th in the English league system really just beat the reigning champions and last year's European Cup finalists Manchester United at Old Trafford? Yes, they did. And how? With a lot of passion, brilliant tactics, a fresh on-form striker in the shape of Jermaine Beckford and the luck to catch United having a very, very bad day at the office. The visitors capitalised on some below par defending from a clearly shakey Wes Brown, who had only found out he was playing when Nemanja Vidic pulled up injured in the warm-up, and Beckford made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net. Then the visitors defended with the confidence of a team with the best league record in England this season, albeit playing in the third tier against opposition far inferior to their Manchester arch-rivals. United's frontline, made up of the anonymous £30 million man Dimitar Berbatov and the strangely misfiring England striker Wayne Rooney, just could not muster a reply, and even when Michael Owen, a man who scored more Premier League goals in the past decade than anyone bar Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, was introduced from the bench he missed a clearcut chance of his own. The home team which included such experienced pros as Gary Neville, Brown and later Ryan Giggs as well as promising youngsters of the calibre of Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Fabio Da Silva were simply not up to the task and were deservedly turned over by a well-organised Leeds outfit under the astute management of Simon Grayson. The yorkshire men deserved their day in the spotlight, reminding many of the glory days of 2001 when they ventured into the semi-finals of the Champions League with David O'Leary's team which included Mark Viduka, Rio Ferdinand and Harry Kewell. Times have changed for the worse since but if they carry on with the form shown so far this season, it won't be too long before they are back in the Premier League, where they surely belong. As for the Red Devils, it looks like it might be back to the drawing board for Fergie, who only spared substitute Antonio Valencia from criticism after the match, and threatened to make wholesale changes to the team for the Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester City, which has now unfortunately been postponed due to the snow. If United are to land a record nineteenth league title come May, or reach a third consecutive Champions League final, Berbatov, Owen, Brown and the rest need to seriously get their act together...