Start.

So, where to begin.
Manchester United, the team who ever so cruelly had their title snatched away from them last season, have kicked off this season in a different manner shall we say.
Out of 6 premier league games that they've played so far, they have fell behind in 5 of them, won 3 and lost the remaining 2.
Now you may look at this and say "they recouped points from a losing position though, that's good right?" and in some sense you would be right. But having had a proportion of the squad on international escapades at the Euro 2012, players missing pre-season, players being brought in near the back end of the market, it's not a good thing falling behind and having to push a squad which is all at different fitness levels, to unnecessary levels of intensity.

Now combine that with players that are performing nowhere near their level of ability which we've seen in the past.
I'm only looking at a few players with that sentence however, a couple of names which a lot of United fans including myself have been cursing since i can only remember! Nani and Patrice Evra.
Here you have two players, one who was labelled as the best left back in the world at one point and another who has the world at his feet and nobody enjoys seeing footballers suffer especially when they play for the team you support.
Now Patrice Evra has had a turbulent last five or so years, having had the whole France squad walk out at Euro 2008, losing his place in the National team and losing his brother, you'd almost pardon him for having a slump in form, right? If you play for a team of Manchester Uniteds magnitude, you MUST be at the top of your game for every single match you play, or else you may as well not turn up and that's the truth whether you choose to believe it or not. Yet you look at the Evra and you have a player who seems to have forgotten how to mark, defend and stand up to wingers, be it to get tight to them or give them a yard, he doesn't do either, he gives them 5 yards to do whatever they want to with the ball which does not help your centre halves at all as they themselves have a given duty to mark the centre forwards who dart in after the crosses.
All Evra has to do is show the winger down the line and the danger's either cut out by the centre half or by Evra himself and if you know how to play football, you know how frustrating it is watching players getting dragged out of position and conceding stupid goals.

Now last season we had one hell of a combination of defenders playing at the back, i think we played 8 players their, 3/4 of which are not defenders and a lot of people used that as an excuse as to why we conceded a lot of goals and to some extent, we/ they're right, but that was last season so we move on, right? So we go into 2012-2013 and we see Vidic is back into our line up, collective "cheers" up and down the country because our best centre half is back, maybe some stability! Until Sir Alex starts chopping and changing his goalkeepers around, then Vidic, Smalling and Jones all get injured and suddenly you're stuck with two goalkeepers on rotation, neither of which know what's going on, a 33 year old centre half who by the looks of things hasn't adjusted to his own legs slowing down and adapting his game to them circumstances and a half fit Jonny Evans. Now Jonny Evans has put in a lot of work over the last year or so to become the defender a lot of us, know he can be and everyone has used him as a scapegoat for a United loss at least once, so don't sit their and deny you haven't!

Now we've narrowed it down a bit, you can sort of understand why we're conceding quite a few goals so early in the season.. lack of stability! We really should look at the silver lining and look at the right back position where Rafael's finally settled in and is finally showing the potential we all know he has, plus he's pitched in with a couple of goals too! Luckily Robin Van Persie's took to our team like a duck to water and is scoring goals like they're going out of fashion, 7 in 7 to be precise and our other strikers haven't even come out the blocks yet, which brings me to another subject.

When i myself heard about Robin Van Persie not signing a contract extension at Arsenal, i said to my best friend that i wouldn't want us to sign him because he'd halt Welbecks and Hernandez's progress in the first team, but in hindsight i didn't realise it would take pressure off Wayne Rooney's shoulders who's been scoring all our goals it seems, for the last two seasons!
So far i'm slightly right as well, Welbeck's been kept on the bench and Hernandez does not look like he's at the races, despite him missing out at the Olympics to rest up for this season.
You'd think having another striker being brought in would up your own game, keep you on your toes and give you an incentive to push on for a starting spot but it doesn't seem this way with these two, who knows why? Maybe because they're young, they haven't matured properly yet in that mindset?  As a United fan, i can honestly say i cannot wait till they are both "given the ball and told to run with it" because when they do, hopefully we'll have four strikers capable of scoring at least 20 goals each, that's no exaggeration too, we all know they're capable.

Now to Nani!
We've all seen him labelled as " the next Ronaldo" and we all know why, similar direct styles not to mention they're the same nationality *hurrah*! nobody likes to see a footballer struggle especially when he has bucket loads of potential. However this is a kid, quite literally who got the most second assists in the Premier League last season and still finds himself second choice on our right wing, behind the man who most prefer in that position, Antonio Valencia. Now Antonio Valencia is a very powerful, direct winger who will get the job done 9/10 however Nani brings another dimension to an attack doesn't he? He has skill, flair, pace, power and on his day has one of the best deliveries in world football and he's in a rut. It's up to him and only him to get himself out of it and he can also get out of Ronaldos shadow where most of us believe he is! He has the potential to be the best right winger in the world and a lot of football fans know this. It's all fun saying "a person being paid thousands of pounds to kick a ball should be able to do it correctly" maybe it's not that easy, we're all human and we all have imperfections and feelings! Having 70'000 collectively sighing at you when you do something wrong does not help anyones confidence at all, i'm sure. So instead of booing/sighing whatever .. cheering and encouragement is actually a good enough substitute to help somebody fulfil their potential. Frustration is a bitch but you cannot win as a team and lose as individuals. I've done it before and picked at the first player i saw and blamed them for a loss. Team game!


Think about it.

Player power.

Player power seems to be grasping the headlines in football clubs nowadays, for all the wrong reasons let it be known.

The most recent episode of it has happened at Manchester City who over the last two seasons or so have established themselves as title challengers, putting them amongst teams such as Chelsea and Arsenal who have been challenging Manchester United for the last 15 years or so, Tottenham seem to be sneaking upon the title challenging radar also.

Anyone who follows football, knows about the episode with Carlos Tevez on Manchester Citys european escapades in Germany in the group stages of the UCL this season, a quick recap may be in order.

The night it happened fell on the same night Manchester United managed to scrape a draw at home to Basle FC in which the game finished 3-3, however the Carlos Tevez issue overshadowed that.
 Manchester City were 2-0 down to Bayern Munich and Carlos Tevez and Nigel De Jong were told to warm up as Mancini was looking to attack and claw back the deficit, after calling Nigel De Jong and Carlos Tevez back to get stripped to get ready, he chose Nigel De Jong instead of Tevez to replace Edin Dzeko who was chosen to come off and as you can imagine he wasn't happy with being substituted, reacted angrily to being subbed.
Carlos Tevez however was the most angry of the two, when called upon to warm up once more so he's ready to come on, refused to do so. During the match it was made to look like he refused to play, whereas that wasn't the truth.
After the game, Mancini claimed that "if i had my way, he'll be out of the club" , "he's finished with me, he's finished" .. most Manchester City fans given the impression that they have a player in their squad who doesn't want to play for them, which is understandable because of what went on.
Now when Carlos Tevez moved to the blue side of Manchester, it did manage to trigger an outburst of fans of City, as this was a cross town transfer which are usually frowned upon by football rivals of such.
This issue dragged out across the season and is still spoke about to this day despite, it happening over 6 months ago.
Especially as the gifted Argentinian went on holiday back to his homeland for more than a couple of month, didn't train and launched an astonishing attack the city of Manchester itself.

Roberto Mancini later on in the season let Carlos Tevez back into the squad after Tevez himself, apologised for the actions that took place but after Roberto Mancini took such a strong stand on the night and aftermath of the incident, you have to be asking .. why would you let this player in and disturb the harmony of the squad which has improved since?

Which brings me to an incident that happened over ten years ago.

Paul Scholes, a Manchester United midfielder who refused to play for the reds in a Carling Cup (Worthington Cup, as it was known) tie against Arsenal, which the team went on to lose 4-0, the previous game, Scholes was dropped due to poor form for the game at Anfield which finished 3-1 when Scholes was given ten minutes at the end.

Paul Scholes said himself, about the incident : It is something I regret doing. I wasn’t in a great mood after being left out of the starting line-up for the Liverpool game – our previous match,” he said. “It was basically the reserves who were playing at Arsenal and I got a bee in my bonnet that I wasn’t happy with it and my attitude was, ‘I’m not going’. It was a silly thing to do – I know that. I had reasons for it but it was stupid and I ended up apologising. But I was lucky – Sir Alex would have been well within his rights to get rid of me after I refused to play for one of his teams and I couldn’t have complained about it. I don’t think many players have done what I did. “I got fined for it – a week or two weeks’ wages. I can’t remember exactly but I didn’t do it again! And I definitely regret doing it.” 

What is the difference between the two, i can only presume you're asking yourself?
The only difference's i can make out between the two incidents, is that one player had previously been playing for his current club 9 years before the incident, sort of had a short legacy set in stone so far in his career.
Myself as a Manchester United fan, cannot condone Paul Scholes for this incident, but at the time.. the "press" didn't have that much power, so it wasn't such a big deal.
& ever since that incident, Paul Scholes has become arguably the best midfielder to ever grace the game, of course that's my opinion, not fact.
Then we move onto the issue of Wayne Rooney in the 2010-2011 season. 

The autumn of 2010, the talismanic striker for both club and country revealed that he had no intention to sign a new contract with Manchester United, upsetting the majority of the fanbase of the club, seeing as he has been such a pivotal figure in the side after overlooking the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud Van Nistlerooy.
As more details came out, it was revealed that he had a minor fall out with Sir Alex Ferguson and didn't feel happy with no news regarding incoming transfers for the club.
Now two weeks after this incident, Manchester United fans were pleased to hear that Wayne Rooney had signed a new contract with the club which included a raise in wages, which came as no surprise as every player gets a rise in wage.
In the summer at the end of the season, Manchester United later went on to sign Phil Jones from Blackburn, Ashley Young from Aston Villa and young goalkeeper David De Gea from Athletico Madrid in La Liga.

Now again, i think the difference between the Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez sagas were that Wayne Rooney had already been at Manchester United for 5-6 previous years and had helped the club to numerous titles and cups.

Going back to the Carlos Tevez saga, i can't help but spare a thought for Mario Balotelli.
The youngster knows he's talented as do most football fans, he sees his current manager as a father figure so you'd think they get on, on and off the field.
Although he's young, if you've seen much of him before you'd be forgiven to believe that he could lead a club to glory, despite his age .. you've seen it before.. Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney for Manchester United, Lionel Messi for Barcelona etc etc.


You can't help but think, letting Carlos Tevez back into the squad has damaged Balotelli more than anyone.
As much as a live wire that he is, it's got to of ticked him off. Not to mention the majority of the Manchester City squad being given the impression that they can do what they want and still get a place guaranteed in the squad, although most players won't do anything Tevez did, you'd presume!
Nobody wants to see players over shadowing their respective clubs for the wrong reasons, don't get me wrong this is no dig at Manchester City however, you can't help but think Roberto Mancini has made the wrong decision in welcoming Tevez back into his squad, especially as it seems that Manchester City are looking more and more likely to miss out on their first Premier League title, making it look like they've brought back Tevez for no proven reason and with Balotelli looking like he's ruined his MCFC career with a stupid amount of incidents in the last two seasons.
As a United fan, i must add i hope Roberto Mancini doesn't get fired at the end of this season, it's not deserved.. he's brought a cup in three seasons to the Etihad, brought in Aguero, David Silva, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure.. players years ago most City fans would never of imagined would be wearing the blue shirt of their club.
Improved Vincent Kompany who is recognised by most football fans as one of the best centre halves in world football.
Their uprising in football has seen them linked with players such as Robin Van Persie, Radamel Falcao, the Napoli trio of Marek Hamisk, Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi, Dutch maestro Wesley Sneijder, Croatian dynamo Luka Modric, even Real Madrid players such as Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema at times.
Surely the players mentioned above wouldn't want to work for a manager who lets players come and go as they like?
Lets hope it works out in the long run and Manchester United have a new title challenger in years to come, not just for a couple of years.  

Swansea F.C

Ever since Swansea City won their play off final at Wembley in the summer, i'm not sure many people would of expected them to be 10th in arguably the best league in the world.. just goes to show you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. You could relate their style of play to Barcelona's if you so wish, as their players are calm on the ball, seemingly know what they're going to do with it before they receive it. Their team may not be full of superstars or spoilt footballers and they certainly don't have the money backing other clubs around the world do, but they have a brilliant spine in their first team, their wingers can give any full backs a nightmare on a good day and as of November last year, their central midfielder Leon Britton boasted a 93.8% pass completion ratio, which was the second best pass completion ratio in Europe at that time, bettered only by Barcelona's young midfield prodigy.. Thiago Alacantra, which does indeed mean that he held a better ratio than Wayne Rooney, David Silva, Samir Nasri just to name a few PL midfielders ..along with Xavi and Iniesta joining that list.
However, his pass ratio at the Liberty City stadium was the best in Europe for some time, with figures suggesting it was a ratio of 95.5% completion.
Of course this can be classed as a testament to how Swansea play, as they have dominated most games at home this season, dictating not only the pace of the game but keeping some of the games best strikers quiet, notably Wayne Rooney of Manchester United.

[side note]Now of course you will have the minority of people saying "what if most of them passes are just sidewards or small passes".. i can only suggest to you .. watch Xavi/Iniesta/Paul Scholes/ David Silva.
95% of their passes in a game are made to their fellow midfielder or to a winger, not many midfielders feel the need to try and ping a pass out to a rushing winger on their team.
Xavi completes over 100 passes a game on average, imagine if 95% of them were over the top balls.. he wouldn't have the ratio he does have.. same goes for the above mentioned.

As for Swansea, in the summer they signed Hollands second choice keeper in Michel Vorm(Maarten Stekelenburg is Hollands first choice) who had at the time, the best penalty saving ratio at his former club, Utrecht FC. Many people would suggest he's been Swanseas signing of the season and we're only half way through 2011-2012!
He maybe small however he has pulled off a handful of game winning/point saving reflex saves this season.

With Ashley Williams at centre half they not only have an established Wales international captaining their team, they have a leader who brings the ball out from the back and isn't afraid to pick a pass now and again.
You could say they are the improved Blackpool from last term, who came up aiming to stay up, played some good football but ultimately didn't play good enough.

Manchester Derby.

Well it was never going to be your ordinary, run of the mill derby now was it?
Manchester City last season had won their first cup in 35 years, that cup being the F.A cup and Manchester United secured their 19th league title! History was made for both clubs, not forgetting Manchester City beat Manchester United in the semi final of the F.A Cup to get to the final where they eventually beat Stoke City.
When both teams were drew out in the 3rd round draw for the F.A cup, both sets of fans had mixed emotions, seeing as Manchester City thumped United 6-1 at Old Trafford, some United fans were sensing either a beating of the same kind or a revenge mission of some sorts! One thing was for sure, both sets of fans were not to be disappointed in game, however one set of fans were undoubtedly going to be, after the match had finished!
With Manchester City losing arguably their most influential central midfielder in Yaya Toure for the ACON, their was a debate as to who would replace him for this match, although Mancini did admit himself no player can replace him in their midfield!
Manchester City went into this game, losing to a last minute goal that on any other day, would of been given as offside, to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, yet replied to that loss, by demolishing a Liverpool side lacking Suarez's guile and agility upfront, 3-0, with goals by Aguero, Yaya Toure and a James Milner penalty.
Manchester United who had lost their previous two league games, against Blackburn at Old Trafford 3-2, with De Gea making a mistake to gift Blackburn Rovers their winning goal.
A 3-0 loss to Newcastle away at the Sports Direct Arena was to follow, with Demba Ba(arguably the most inform striker in the league), a stunning free kick by Yohan Cabaye and an own goal by Phil Jones condemned Sir Alex's boys to their first two defeats in a row since 2001!

Manchester City were sprung a surprise when the team sheets were released, when they seen that Paul Scholes had come out of retirement and will be on the bench for todays game, as were a lot of Manchester United fans, arguably seeing one of their best ever players, grace the turf until the end of the season!
Manchester United lined up with what was seen as their first team, Welbeck and Rooney leading the line, Valencia, Giggs, Carrick and Nani in the midfield and Evra, Smalling, Ferdinand and Jones in a basic 4-4-2(which became 4-4-1-1) as the game went on.
Manchester City lined up with Pantilimon in goal, Richard, Kompany, Lescott and Kolarov in defence, (Clichy presumably rested).. James Milner, Nigel De Jong, Samir Nasri and Adam Johnson in midfield with Silva playing the whole behind Sergio Kun Aguero who was the lone forward!

Manchester United kicked off the match, slowly passing the ball around trying to dictate the play yet it was soon to be Manchester City who took control of the game for the first ten minutes or so, however City not being clinical enough with the ball, led to Manchester United scoring the first goal of the game with their first meaningful attack of the game, Ryan Giggs releasing the revitalised Antonio Valencia who jinked past Aleksander Kolarov before fizzing in a cross to the penalty spot where Wayne Rooney met the ball with a firm header and beat Pantilimon with the header that rebounded off the bar before crossing the line for good. Little did both sets of fans know what drama was coming next, a stray pass which made its way to Nani who judged it wrong, as he didn't get a firm touch on the ball, Vincent Kompany lunged in with a two footed tackle, however it must be stated he did take the ball and didn't touch the winger Nani, yet he did take the risk himself which will always be punished, on this case referee Chris Foy deemed this as a straight red card as to the dismay of most fans in the ground, including most MUFC fans.
This did of course lead to Manchester United taking the upper hand in the match as they had the spare man, Manchester City did eventually grasp the game a little tighter however when they did, Manchester United doubled their lead with an athletic strike from Danny Welbeck, Nani having his first proper gallop down the left wing, seen Patrice Evra overlapping, however before the ball was played to Evra .. Nani cut inside in the mean time Cruyff turning Adam Johnson .. released the ball to Patrice Evra whos ball in wasn't the best, after a couple of deflections in the box, the ball looped over Nasri, De Jongs and Welbecks head however Welbeck was quickest to it, swerving an athletic first time volley into Pantilimons far post, the Romanian keeper did get a fingertip to it but it was not enough to stop Welbeck doubling Uniteds lead.
Danny Welbeck was it again for the reds just 10 minutes later, making a direct run at Kolarov who slid in recklessly, with Chris Foy seemingly the centre of attention again, pointing to the spot! Wayne Rooney would be the man to step up, with his penalty going Pantilimons left, Pantilimon did save it however he parred it into the danger box where Wayne Rooney followed up to get his second of the game and Manchester Uniteds third.
Half time was quick around the corner and 2 minutes before half time, Antonio Valencia whipped in a devilish cross which Welbeck couldn't get full contact on to make it a fourth at the Etihad!

After half time Manchester City came out a completely different team, keeping in mind they were down to ten men, they got hold of the ball straight away and Micah Richards found himself in space running at Patrice Evra  and was took down by Michael Carrick which resulted in a free kick in dangerous territory for the home side, and dangerous it proved to be, with Kolarov stepping up and scoring a belter of a free kick, similar to the one he scored against Napoli in the Champions League, down at Anders Lindergaards left leaving the Dane no chance. Manchester City then smelt the blood and began chomping at the bit, slowly dictating the pace of the game once again.
After the hour, Paul Scholes was once re-introduced to the green turf and was greeted by a partisan crowd understandably however, more cheers than boo's were heard!
Yet it was to be the un-retiree who gave the ball away to James Milner who cut back to Aguero who released a first time shot at Anders Lindergaard who couldn't hold the shot, which then spilt back to the Argentinian who poked the ball beyond the Dane to get the scoreline to 3-2.
The whole of the Etihad stadium were lifted by the little Argentinians goal however it wasn't to be the fairytale finish for the blue side of Manchester, they applied a lot of pressure to a second half United side that seemed to switch off completely and couldn't control the game until the last ten minutes when Anderson was introduced to the match, presumably to keep control of the ball with Scholes, Carrick and Giggs in midfield..
Manchester United fans hearts were in their mouths however in the last minute as Rio Ferdinand completely took out Micah Richards in dangerous set piece territory .. as Kolarov proven in the first handful of  minutes in the second half, however it was not to be as Anders Lindergaard parred the free kick with his hands, albeit into dangerous territory however Uniteds defence were quick  enough to pounce to the second ball and get it out of the danger area.
Manchester City fans can be proud of their team because they did prove they have the mettle to dance with the big teams in the big games, albeit without the Toure's/Gareth Barry and down to ten men!

MOTM for MUFC: Chris Smalling
MOTM for MCFC: Sergio Aguero
Flop of the match for MUFC: Phil Jones
Flop of the match for MCFC: Aleksander Kolarov.

The Journey of RVP(Robin Van Persie)

As this is my first article, i won't be going "all in" on Holland and Arsenals most inform striker of 2010-2011 but i will try my best.

When the maestro was bought for just £2.75 million, he was merely seen as a replacement for the legend that was and still is, Dennis Bergkamp.
Not many EPL fans had seen much of him in the Dutch league at Excelsior and of course, Feyenoord. Also to add, not many Arsenal fans in particular probably thought that one of their heroes in Bergkamp could be replaced, you could say they were proven wrong in just one season? Or you could not, it's all about opinions in football!
When he first moved, he was under the wing of possibly the best striker to grace our league in Thierry Henry and one of Hollands best strikers in Bergkamp of course and you can't ask for much more if you're an up and coming striker in the best league in the world and being mentored by one of the best managers in the game in Arsene Wenger, am i wrong?
Some people/critics will point out that he is "injury prone" as the phase is known as, however when he isn't injured and he is getting through balls to his left foot, is he unplayable? Is it right to call him one of the best strikers in Europe, maybe the world? Just the year of 2011 has lifted him up there to be considered the best in Europe? Of course you have Lionel Messi, Mario Gomez, Benzema, Higuain etc.. however Robin Van Persie has come out of the shadows of Thierry Henry, Bergkamp, Wiltord, i could go on .. not to mention Nasri and Fabregas, moving away from Arsenal which has put the dutch Maestro at maybe the peak of his career without anyone over-shadowing his movement?