“Too Big for This League,”

“Too Big for This League,”

“We’re the Barcelona,”

“Of the Lower Leagues,”

Fan Ownership at Barcelona is well known throughout the world but not many know about the Fan Ownership at West London’s very own Barcelona….

Brentford

Recently we have all seen the invasion of foreign owners into the English game with a lot bringing positive changes to the club, although I doubt Blackburn will think the same about the Venkys.

However with the serious financial trouble seen at Portsmouth, Crystal Palace and Plymouth recently it seems that there is more of a reason for clubs to start being more sustainable and self-sufficient not relying on ‘Sugar Daddies’ for the future of the club.  Through the help of Supporters Direct, who have actually recently had their funding cut, a few clubs, albeit more in non-league have turned to fan ownership. In the Football League though the club owned mostly by the fans is Brentford FC of West London.

In 2006 the club were taken over by supporters group Bees United who had raised money through the fans and through supporters direct. At the time some fans even went on a mammoth bike ride fundraising. Brentford are my second team and going with a friend to see them play I’ll always remember on the wall that there was a scale showing how much they had risen to date.

They got the majority shareholding of the club, 60% in January 2006 and currently own 60.3% of the club. Recently the club have received some more financial clout with professional gambler Matthew Bentham, who according to a trusted source of mine, well a friend, “knows what he’s doing.”  He committed to investing £1 million a year in the club for five years in 2010 and bought 35 per cent of the club with the option of buying up to 75 per cent of the shares in 2014.

But is fan ownership a positive move not only for Brentford and could we see it more in English Football in the near future?  It says on the official Bees United site:

“Through Bees United the influence of ordinary supporters in the future of the Football Club has increased significantly, and with it democracy and accountability.”

And this is really the whole premise behind fan ownership. At Brentford they have stabilised since the takeover and despite a relegation to League Two they are now back in League One sitting just one point outside the play off places but behind 3 former Premier League clubs in Charlton, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday which means the chance of promotion is still fairly low. Performances on the pitch are not now overshadowed by financial woes. It has worked so far at Brentford. So will we see a rise in fan ownership in clubs soon?

In the Football League currently there are only 3 clubs; Brentford, Exeter and AFC Wimbledon that are really supporter run along with some big non-league sides such as the newly reformed AFC Rushden and Diamonds and Chester City F.C.

In Germany clubs, apart from those that have historical ties with businesses such as Wolfsburg are required to have 51% fan ownership. The Bundesliga has the highest average attendance of any football league across the whole world with an average of just under 42,000 last year. However the one thing that really separates the Bundesliga from English football is that last season the average ticket price was only €21,89 whereas in the Premier League only 6 clubs’ cheapest matchday ticket is less than this.

This is probably how it could work in England, part ownership for medium sized clubs. It can work with wholly fan ownership in non-league and the lower leagues where running cost are lower .Also with the huge clubs like Manchester United and Liverpool you can see it working due to their huge fan bases and stadiums such as at Barcelona and Real Madrid, more so when you consider the anger vented at the Glazers at Manchester United and the previous Hicks and Gillett regime on Merseyside.  The thing is though for clubs like Wigan, who have the same yearly matchday income than Chelsea gain in one home game, according to ESPN in their recent match, who have high running costs and a small fanbase it will be hard for them to be self-sufficient without some form of external investment.

Attendances at some Football League clubs such as Leeds are down almost 15% which together with the current financial climate is leading to a huge amount of financial worries in English Football. Debts are soaring at big and smaller clubs and many fans are becoming disgruntled with the way some owners treat their clubs.

True supporters of teams would really rather secure the long-term future of their clubs through fan ownership than see a detached investor bring some short term success that could potentially lead to the extinction of the club, as nearly seen at Portsmouth. It gets rid of short termism which has become all too commonplace in English football and brings about added transparency that a lot of supporters want and crave. Now, of course it could mean an eventual lack of funds and a compromise in spending but this is the case with single investors anyway.

Full blown fan ownership may not work as effectively in England as it has for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Osasuna and Athletic Bilbao. The German model of 51% ownership by supporters will probably be the way forward for a lot of English clubs in the future with a want to secure the long term future and for supporters to make a positive and big impact on their club.

‘WHO ARE YA?’ is a new weekly feature on EPL Talk that profiles players who have been capped for England and fallen from grace and players who never really reached their full potential, with the help of some anecdotes .Feel free to give some feedback on the article and your memories of the player. If you’ve got any ideas for players for me to do in the future just mention them in the comments box.

This player won his one and only England cap in 2002 but never lived up to his full potential.

So this week we take a look at Michael Ricketts.

Background: Ricketts started his club career at Walsall in 1996 and stayed there 4 years until 2000 scoring 15 times for the club.

In the summer of 2000 he was snapped up by Sam Allardyce at Bolton Wanderers, then in Division One (Championship), for a nominal fee of £400,000. He played a huge part in getting the Trotters promoted into the Premier League scoring 24 goals leading to promotion via the Play-Offs with a win over Preston in the Final.

He took the Premier League by storm with 15 goals from August to January including a memorable winner against Manchester United at Old Trafford.  Due to this great run of form and England’s manager being the ever experimental Sven Goran-Eriksson he received a call up for England’s friendly against the Netherlands in February 2002. At the time Sam Allardyce likened him to Ruud Van Nistelrooy but unfortunately he had little impact on the game playing only 45 minutes. After this game though Ricketts was unable to score again in the same season for Bolton.

Where it all went wrong: In the January transfer window of 2003 Middlesbrough splashed out £3.5 million on the 6 foot 3 inch striker.  Leaving Bolton with a record of 37 goals in 98 games Middlesbrough just wasn’t the right club for Ricketts with the striker failing to recapture his form, hitting the back of the net just 3 times.  At the North-East club he developed a reputation of being a big timer and the striker said this to The Sun earlier this year in reflection of his move to Boro:

“People can say what they want but I didn’t feel like that. I just wanted a new challenge. I was disappointed when a possible move to Spurs fell through but Middlesbrough came in and was still a big opportunity for me — like Andy’s is at Liverpool.

“I suppose I was the hottest young striker around at the time but Boro had a completely different style to the way Bolton played.

“I was used to being one of the main men but at Boro they didn’t play through me.

“Then I got injured the following pre-season, did my Achilles and was out for three months. Any player will tell you how hard it is to catch up after that. I got quite depressed.

June 2004 saw a move to Championship Leeds on a free transfer for the striker. Yet again though Ricketts did not impress scoring only once for them in the League Cup against Swindon. The two years he spent at Leeds included loan spells with Stoke, Cardiff and Burnley in which he only mustered 7 goals.

Southend brought in the striker in 2006 with Ricketts playing only twice for the Essex side. At the end of the season he was released for being overweight.

Subsequent spells short term spells at Preston and Oldham were ultimately fruitless with again Ricketts’ fitness and weight hampering his chances.  After a loan spell at Walsall he returned to the Bescot Stadium permanently with a move in July 2008. Ricketts didn’t do badly for the Saddlers averaging a goal every 3 games.

August 14 2009 saw a move to Ricketts’ 11th club, Tranmere Rovers. As per usual his time there did not go as planned with the striker scoring only once and having his contract terminated on the 21 January 2010.

Earlier this year Ricketts was in the news again. Not for a move to another club but due to his charge of common assault on his girlfriend that resulted in a 12 month community order and a £200 fine.

Ricketts was seen as the next big English striker in 2002 after an impressive 15 goals in the 2001-2002 season. Since that England appearance though Ricketts never found his form again and has become a Football League journeyman famed for his weight problems. However Ricketts doesn’t think the England cap was the turning point in his career with him saying this to the Sun:

“People say England was the start of the decline but I don’t agree. I was proud to play for my country and will always be grateful for it.”

Apart from The Gaffer waxing lyrically about Swansea, there has not been that much on the other two promoted sides here on EPL Talk. It has been quite a year for QPR and Norwich but what did 2011 mean to them and what could happen to them in 2012?

Norwich City:

Promotion for Norwich into the Premier League came as a huge shock to a lot of people. They had only just been promoted back to the Championship after a season in League 1 that had begun with a 7-1 loss against Paul Lambert’s Colchester United. Despite being very consistent, Norwich really snuck in to promotion with much of the attention focusing on Cardiff and Nottingham Forest throughout the season. When they beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Fratton Park to seal promotion in May, you could tell from the fans’ and Paul Lambert’s reaction that they were shocked, with the Canaries boss saying at the time “It’s an absolute miracle what’s happened here.” Earlier that day Cardiff had suffered a surprising home loss to Middlesbrough and this gave Norwich the promotion chance that they took.

They have done very well in the Premier League so far this season. The team is full of a lot of relatively unknown players but their policy of buying from the Football League has paid dividends so far. Grant Holt and Steve Morison have both been superb as the big men up front with the pair scoring 13 goals between them already this season. Kevin Pilkington and Wes Hoolahan have also been impressive with Hoolahan adding something to the attack from midfield. They are always happy to play 4-4-2 and defend from the front and have not found goals too hard to come by so far.

However the Canaries will want to improve defensively, more so away from home though. You definitely think they are going to concede a few against the better teams but with Norwich you can see them getting chances with Holt being a very useful impact player for them. Some will call them this season’s Blackpool with their high amount of goals scored and conceded but they seem to have slightly more steel and the steady start may help keep down expectations and not lead to a long winless run. They do seem a little susceptible to the counter attack as seen against Tottenham and Newcastle but it has been a great first half of the season for them and a great year for the Norfolk side.

End of Season Prediction: 15^th

Queens Park Rangers: QPR won the 2010/2011 Championship pretty convincingly losing only 6 times in an always competitive division. Their form did dip at the end of the season with dropped points at home to Derby, Hull and Leeds which, together with the Alejandro Faurlin saga, led to a real anti-climax in being champions. Securing the trophy on the last day of the season was met with relief rather than jubilation with the third party ownership case hanging over them until the breaking news just hours before the start of their final game of the season against Leeds that they would escape a points deduction with a £875,000 fine.

Last season Adel Taarabt was imperious, gaining a place in the 2011 PFA Championship Team of the Year with Sean Derry being inspirational from midfield after his signing from Crystal Palace. This season though Taarabt has not been played nearly as much, despite impressing recently and his most memorable moment of the season so far was going home on the bus during the 6-0 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

The summer saw a huge upheaval in the ownership of the club with Malaysian businessman Tony Fernandes taking over the club along with the Mittal Family from pantomime villains and F1 moguls Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore. Ecclestone and Briatore had led the club in a tumultuous period that saw no less than 7 managers between 2007 and Warnock’s appointment in 2010. Fans were particularly disgruntled with the owners due to this and home and away fans alike were highly annoyed with the huge hike in ticket prices that saw Manchester City fans charged £73 for a ticket in the away end.  QPR now have the stability in place and brought in proven Premier League experience in Shaun Wright-Phillips, Joey Barton and Luke Young in a late transfer window shopping spree along with strikers Jay Bothroyd and DJ Campbell.

The Shepherds Bush outfit have done fairly well but are still in 16^th with 4 wins so far. Recently supporters have got angry with Joey Barton and his performances. QPR have struggled more so at home, but are still doing well especially considering the team that they came up with that were all proven at Championship level but not in the Premier League. Winning at home to Chelsea has undoubtedly been their highlight of the season so far and probably even 2011 despite being outplayed by nine men. That was their only home win and with Bothroyd and Campbell misfiring it has been left to Heidar Helguson, who has a stunning leap, to score the goals. Home matches have often been a case of ruing missed chances like against West Brom just a few weeks ago. Faurlin has been the best player with impressive performances in midfield helping to get the team moved forward with his impressive passing range.

Additions to the squad are definitely needed in the January transfer window as it feels that this is the season, where it is very close at the bottom, for QPR to stay in and enter a period on stability both on and off the pitch in the Premier League.

End of Season Prediction: 17^th

So it has been quite a year for both QPR and Norwich with the Canaries maybe being the shock of English football in 2011 and QPR finally returning to and trying their best at staying and entering a sustained period in the Premier League.  Both sides can improve but it is testament to the quality of them and the top of the Championship that sides can come up and start to prove themselves better than clubs did even a few years ago.

‘WHO ARE YA?’ is a new weekly feature on EPL Talk that profiles players who have been capped for England and fallen from grace and players who never really reached their full potential, with the help of some anecdotes .Feel free to give some feedback on the article and your memories of the player.  If you’ve got any ideas for players for me to do in the future just mention them in the comments box.

This player scored in his one and only England game and is the joint top England U21 goal scorer along with Alan Shearer.

So this week we take a lot at Francis Jeffers, the ‘fox in the box’.

Background: Jeffers commenced his career at Everton and made his debut at only 16 years and 335 days old on Boxing Day 1997. It looked like Jeffers had a lot of potential at an early age and understandably he was tipped as England’s next big striker. He had a record of a goal every 3 games for Everton but sullied his reputation very early on his career with a row with then Toffees manager Walter Smith about a pay rise.

However this did not deter Arsene Wenger from signing him for Arsenal in 2001 for £8 million. No wonder Arsene is reluctant to splash the cash these days.  In his time at the Gunners he only played 22 times scoring 4 goals, with 2 coming in one FA Cup game against non-league Farnborough in 2003. Of course he faced stiff competition to the world class Thierry Henry and also Sylvain Wiltord not to forget Dennis Bergkamp but Jeffers could just not cut it at Arsenal.

Being at Arsenal did give him his one and only England cap though. His only appearance and goal came against Australia at Upton Park in 2003 when he scored a consolation goal in a 3-1 loss after a great move by England’s young hopes at the time; Wayne Rooney, Jermaine Jenas and himself.

Where it all went wrong: After an unsuccessful couple of years at Arsenal Jeffers was sent back to Everton on loan in 2003 making 22 appearances for the side but being sent back quickly due to another dispute with a manager, this time David Moyes. He then went to Charlton in the summer of 2004 for a still very high £2.6 million. That season he scored just 5 times and was then sent to Rangers in the August of 2005 on loan but again failed to stamp his mark on the team and a regular place which then led to Charlton boss Alan Curbishley choosing to release Jeffers in May 2006.

Somehow Jeffers got another chances when Blackburn signed him in June 2006, a season in which Rovers were playing in the UEFA Cup. Yet again though the move with unsuccessful and he scored only once for Blackburn. He played 9 games on loan at Ipswich in 2007 and scored 4 times but could not get a permanent deal there as Blackburn rejected two bids from the Tractor Boys for the striker and then personal terms were not agreed when a bid was finally accepted.

Strangely Sheffield Wednesday decided to pay £700,000 for the services of Francis Jeffers but his time at Hillsborough was blighted by injuries and he scored only 5 goals for the team. He was released in May 2010 and could not gain a move back to the Premier League when his trial at newly promoted Blackpool did not go right for him.

Newcastle was the next stop for Jeffers; well Newcastle United Jets of the Australian League, where he signed on a ten game guest contract. Jeffers did manage one goal in his time down under but he joined SPL side Motherwell in February of this year. He scored only once and has now returned to Newcastle United Jets on a 1 and a half year contract.

The ‘fox in the box’ was once billed as the next big thing for England and even scored on his England debut but disputes with managers, injuries and ultimately a lack of skill lead to Francis Jeffers falling to obscurity and out of the spotlight.

‘WHO ARE YA?’ is a new weekly feature on EPL Talk that profiles players who have been capped for England and fallen from grace and players who never really reached their full potential, with the help of some anecdotes. Feel free to give some feedback on the article and your memories of the player. If you’ve got any ideas for players for me to do in the future just mention them in the comments box.

This player has played for 3 different clubs in the Premier League alone and has played 11 times for England U21.

This week we have a look at Jon Stead.

Background:

Stead started his career at Huddersfield Town, his local team, who currently reside in League One. He was a steady performer in his first two seasons for the Terriers after making his debut for the Yorkshire side in August 2002. The 2003/2004 season was a real breakthrough season for this striker when he was signed by Blackburn Rovers in the January transfer window after scoring 18 goals for Huddersfield in just the first half of the 2003/2004 season. Rovers shelled out just over £1 million for the forward. In the remainder of that season he scored 6 times to help keep Blackburn up.

In February 2004 Stead earned an England under-21 call up for the game against the Netherland at the KC Stadium. Being at the game I remember vividly the big screen showed a shot of Stead’s shirt hanging up in the dressing room. At the time much was expected of this young player and you could sense the excitement in the crowd when he came on.

When he had signed for Blackburn their then manager Graeme Souness said “He has natural enthusiasm and ability. We believe he will prove to be a valuable asset,” and he did turn out to be valuable when he was sold to Sunderland in a deal worth £1.8 million in 2005 after failing to impress next Blackburn manager Mark Hughes, who eventually led the side to UEFA Cup football.

Where it all went wrong:

At Sunderland, Stead only scored 2 goals in 35 matches despite Mick McCarthy saying this when he signed “He has scored goals in the Premier League, so he’s a great signing for us,”  and was sent on loan to Derby County for 17 games in the 2006/2007 season when he only scored an underwhelming 3 goals. In January 2007 he had another shot at the big time with Sheffield United buying the player for a fee of £750,000. Jon fired in 5 times in the remainder of that season but could not prevent the Blades slipping down into the Championship after West Ham’s win over Manchester United on the final day of the season. The next season wasn’t good for Stead as Billy Sharp and last week’s feature of ‘Who Are Ya?’ James Beattie began to lead the line but he did manage to score six goals that term.

Jon Stead left the Blades in 2008 to join Ipswich still in the Championship. Stead did slightly better for the Tractor Boys mustering 18 goals in 63 appearances with a loan spell at Coventry for 10 games in 2010 included. Stead though turned down a move to Blackpool despite Ipswich accepting a bid of just 1p from the Tangerines. He certainly won no fans by turning down the move, a chance in the top flight, as Blackpool couldn’t meet his then current wages of £12,000 a week.

Last season he did eventually move to Bristol City and he averages just under a goal every 4 games for the Robins. Unfortunately for him he has never lived up to his early potential that led to an England under-21 call up and numerous Premier League moves and now he is third in the pecking list of strikers at Bristol City behind the physical Albert Adomah and the ever impressive Nicky Maynard.

WHO ARE YA?’ is a new weekly feature on EPL Talk that profiles players who have been capped for England and fallen from grace and players who never really reached their full potential. If you’ve got any ideas for players for me to do in the future just mention them in the comments.

His career transfer fees amount to £14.5 million and he has been the player that has broken two teams transfer fees but WHO ARE YA?

Well it is James Beattie.

His scoring record speaks for itself but James Beattie never really reached his full potential at the highest level even after being capped for England 5 times.

Background: Starting his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1995 he moved to Southampton in July 1998. In the 2000/2001 he had a run of scoring 10 goals in 10 games and then he scored 14 goals the next season, admittedly one in which he was injured for two months. Beattie finished 3rd in the Premier League scoring charts in 2003 but was also the top English goal scorer in the Premier League that season. Southampton were beaten in the FA Cup final of 2003 after a narrow 1-0 loss to Arsenal when Robert Pires scored the only goal of the game at the Millennium Stadium.

In that same year of 2003 Beattie earned his first of five England caps under the ever experimental Sven Goran-Eriksson  in the 3-1 loss to Australia at Upton Park, which incidentally was the same game that Wayne Rooney made his debut. Unfortunately for Beattie though his career did not follow a similar path to Rooney’s.

Where it all went wrong:  He played his last ever game for England in November 2003 and was not selected for the Euro 2004 squad. At the time I liked Beattie and the way he mixed his physical strength with the way he could finish chances and was actually a little surprised with him not being included as a different option for the Euro 2004 squad. Beattie was obviously disappointed with not being included for the Euros and I even heard a story that at a summer football camp the then Southampton striker was a special guest but the children were not allowed to ask him about why he wasn’t playing for England at the Euro Championships.

2005 saw a move that you would have expected to help Beattie’s footballing career when he moved to Everton for their then club record fee of £6.5 million. At the time David Moyes said that “His record stands up with all the striker in the Premiership,” and former Everton striker Graeme Sharp even said that “He’s a real signing for the future of Everton.” Clearly he was very highly thought of at the time and he was starting to reach his potential top years as a player being 26 when he was signed by Everton. However as you can probably tell he never made the desired impact at Everton despite everyone’s high hopes and never really recovered. He scored 13 goals in 76 games but fell out of favour with Moyes and scored only twice in his third and final season at Everton. With a mix of injuries and poor performances Beattie just couldn’t settle in at Everton and just never reached the potential that Moyes and Everton saw in him when they signed him.

Sheffield United splashed out a record £4.5 million for the centre forward in 2007 and he did have an incredible record of scoring 34 goals in 64 games for the Blades but at Championship level. He was still performing but not at the highest level and definitely not at the level that was expected of him in 2004 and 2005 but he got another chance at the Premier League at Stoke scoring 9 goals from January 2009 to mid-2010 but his appearances were limited because of a dressing room bust-up with Tony Pulis.

He was shipped off to Rangers in the SPL but his time there was again blighted by injuries and just not being able to get a string of games together to get some form before joining Blackpool on loan last season but he again failed to score in the 9 games he played.

This season he trained with Bournemouth just to get his fitness in shape after Rangers cancelled his contract in May this year. He has just been given a lifeline by Sheffield United in League One and will hope to rekindle some of his old form.

So, James Beattie was once thought to be the future of Everton and the next big striker in the Premier League and for England but lack and form and injury problems meant he never lived up to his full potential.

Coming up soon… Jonathan Stead and Francis Jeffers.

Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium sounds classier than the Sports Direct Arena, has the fifth largest capacity in the Premier League but they will want to grow their fan base, both nationally and internationally, to help them expand and go on to become more successful.

City has just over 1 million fans on Facebook whereas rival Man Utd has over 20 million. You could say this doesn’t mean anything but in my opinion it is hugely significant. At the moment Manchester City are still a small club in terms of global fan base mainly because they have been largely unsuccessful in the Premier League and FA Cup for a long time until now. It’s obvious that Man City just doesn’t have the same amount of foreign support as Manchester United. Last year United had revenues double that of Manchester City and a large amount of that was due to the huge amount of merchandise sold in continents such as Asia. At present City aren’t real players in the foreign merchandise market mainly due to the fact they haven’t been a major force in the Premier League, a competition that is beamed around the world every weekend. This limits their revenue numbers and although Sheikh Mansour seems to have an incomprehensible amount of money, it could hit them hard when it comes to the financial fair play rules imposed by UEFA.

Another thing is that Manchester City doesn’t have a large amount of fans outside Manchester and the North West of England. Or outside of the Stockport area, Man United fans would tell you. I live just west of London and have never seen someone wearing a Manchester City shirt except when they have been playing at the nearby Wembley. You always see plenty of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea shirts. Even though Chelsea is local, they did seem to become a lot more popular circa 2005.

There is often an obsession in England about supporting your local team, but the truth is that many people don’t. Children pick a team to support when they are young, mainly due to their peers at school. Conversations about football, and dare I say banter, start at a very young age at school. When you’re young, you normally support who your friends support and who are doing well. If Man City can start a ‘dynasty’ by winning the Premier League this year, then in the future children are going to grow up seeing Man City doing well, so naturally more people will start to support them. This means that we will see more Man City shirts all around the country if they replicate United’s success in the Premier League era. Their fan base will grow rapidly which will only do positive things for them as a club.

More success will lead to more fans worldwide thanks to the exposure of the Premier League around the world. Again Man City will hope that over the next 20 years they will be as popular and recognised all over, not only the UK but around the world.  This will help them financially but if City can become as popular as Man United worldwide, together with the owner’s deep pockets, they could well be an unstoppable force in the future.

Glamour is not a word that will be used to describe Bolton’s clash with Stoke on Sunday but nevertheless it is still an incredibly important to both sides and could well be significant to how they fare this season. Based on league standings, which admittedly is something you never base a prediction on in the Premier League, you would expect a win for Stoke but Bolton are desperate for a win and their first home points of the season but Stoke also have to try and resolve their problem of losing league games after they have played, normally very well, in the Europa League on a Thursday night.

Bolton, much like Stoke are always said to have been a long ball team. However with Owen Coyle, who was at one point tipped for the Arsenal manager berth earlier on in the season, have been trying to play more expansive football but with the long term injuries to Stuart Holden and Chung-Yong Lee it has been harder for Bolton to play well through the midfield.  With front man Kevin Davies, an England international lest we forget, they do sometimes want to knock it long with the majority of midfield creativity coming through the impetuous Martin Petrov.

Coyle is actually under serious pressure and I believe if Bolton don’t get anything out of this game then he could no longer be in a job on Monday morning. This is controversial I know but not much focus has been on Coyle with the majority of pressure being on Steve Kean instead. And this could be the time that the Bolton board decide enough is enough with no Premier League managers being sacked so far this season (and moving into an international break of two weeks). The Trotters are pointless at home this season and even though they have played Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City, this is not good enough after nearly three months of the season so a win or at least a draw is desperately needed.

It is well documented that the downturn in Bolton’s form has really been caused by their FA Cup semi-final loss to Stoke and as that game was significant in both Bolton and Stoke’s seasons so is this game.  If Bolton lose this game, which is one that they do have a great chance of winning, then they could find it hard to recover and could inevitably lose their manager but a win could give them the lift and momentum they need to recapture the form of some parts of last season, where relegation was never a real possibility.

Despite looking strong in mid-table, this game is vital for Stoke too in proving their credentials of being able to find the right mix between playing in the Europa League and the Premier League. They have lost all three of their previous games on a Sunday after their Europa League games to Sunderland, Swansea and Arsenal. This game is vital for them and Tony Pulis to show that this season the Europa League, which they are doing well in and is clearly of high importance to them, is not going to have too much of a detrimental effect on their league form.

Another reason that makes for an interesting game is Stoke’s style of play and which Stoke turn up. Everyone know about Stoke and their throw-ins but as someone pointed out in a previous post about Stoke, “Will someone not say Stoke are a physical side in an article,” and I do agree to an extent that Stoke aren’t always a very physical side.

They are a physically big side, but who isn’t with Huth, Shawcross and Crouch et al in your team. The thing with Stoke is though, that they only play with a physical style when they feel they can use it and sometimes bully teams into submission. As we saw against Newcastle on Monday night, the long throws and goalmouth scrambles didn’t really work for Stoke, apart from the awarding of the penalty of course. Also against Israeli outfit Maccabi Tel Aviv on Thursday Stoke did play well with slick passing moves and width provided by wingers Jermaine Pennant and Matthew Etherington with full back Shotton also looking rather good, with an useful long throw-in to boot. However Stoke did use their classic mode of long throw followed by goal against Tel Aviv in the reverse fixture at the Britannia Stadium as the Maccabi defence could just not handle the power of Crouch and Jerome up front.

It will probably be hard for Stoke against Bolton to use their physicality as the Bolton centre backs Cahill and Wheater, as well as tough tackling left back Robinson, are all physically strong and good in the air meaning it could be up to Etherington and Pennant on the wings to create chances as the Bolton backline doesn’t exactly ooze pace. The fact that like Bolton, Stoke do lack a cutting edge in the centre of midfield with the Delap and Whelan really being the weak link in the team, means that this game is not going to be won in the centre of midfield which is an area where lots of games in the EPL are won. If Stoke can sort this area out then they will probably not find it as difficult to manage playing at home and in Europe.

So even though this game may not appeal to the masses, or even to the neutral, it is an absolutely huge game for both sides involved and is likely to be a major point in both the winner’s and loser’s season.

The EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) is about to set in and is due to drastically change the way youth players are developed in England.  The changes will begin in the 2012-2013 season and it will mean that academies are set up in a four tier system and it will also see every club gain funding for at least four years, with amounts differing depending on the level of the club’s academy. However this could have serious effects on both Football League and Premier League clubs, with Premier League clubs allowed to pay considerably less for youth players. It could also affect the England team, with the possibility that now due to lower prices the Premier League teams will buy more English youth players rather than one from abroad.

Clubs from the Football League did vote the changes through with 46 members voting in favour of it. However this was probably largely due to the fact that the Premier League threatened to cut its £5.3 million of funding to the Football League clubs for their youth development. It seems that due to the threat of losing this funding that Football League clubs voted it through, showing that in essence the Premier League is blackmailing them. Peterborough Chairman Barry Fry certainly thought so telling the BBC “What frightens me is that a lot of clubs will pull out of having a youth system altogether.”

When a Premier League team buys a youngster from the lower leagues at the moments the transfer fee is decided by tribunal but with the new rules being brought in, they will now only have to pay compensation for the player based on a sliding scale of age thus not really factoring in the talent or experience of the player they are buying. For example Chelsea recently bought the 14 year old Oluwaseyi Ojo from MK dons for £1.5 million, but if that transfer would’ve gone through after the rule changes then Chelsea could buy him for under £150,000.

Premier League clubs will of course buy more English youngsters but it isn’t that likely that they will actually play. Due to the high stakes of the Premier League and the financial pressure and incentive it brings as we see at the moment, it is not always the case that managers blood youngsters effectively because of the threat of relegation or them losing their top four place for example. We have seen the likes of Everton and Arsenal, although most of their youngsters were not English, bring youngsters through well but just not enough clubs do it. Even with the chance to bring in young players from the Football League more cheaply I still don’t think that many of the” bigger” clubs will have the guts to let young talent come to the fore. If the money in the Premier League wasn’t so important then maybe we would see more home-grown youngsters being fielded. What are the odds a large majority of players bought under this system will be loaned back to clubs in the Football League?

It will almost certainly not benefit Football League clubs as some really depend on the money they get from selling their talented youth players. In the case of Watford and Crystal Palace, bringing through youth players and being able to sell them has played a large role in keeping the two clubs afloat.  The lack of money for the players could also lead to many clubs having to drop their youth setup which won’t help anyone. These Football League clubs will not have enough players coming through and this could lead to the youth setup being completely centred towards the Premier League. Now, of course this could have a positive effect as training players at Premier League clubs could make them better and give them more confidence but yet again who knows how many will go onto play for the first team and how many will find themselves at lower league clubs.

Now of course the Premier League has to stop bringing in as many foreign youngsters but this system is going to disadvantage the 72 other professional clubs in England. It would mean that some clubs who have the money to spend on the players, who have had no history of youth development, will be able to source the best young players.  A better way would to be paying money to the Premier League or higher tariffs on foreign players under 21 being brought in. Then if Premier League clubs did decide to pay the higher price of bringing in someone from abroad then the extra money could go to the Premier League to distribute between the Football League clubs to use on youth development. The major problem in sight for an idea like this is the EU who will probably put a stop to this.

Lastly many in the Premier League are saying that this system will benefit the England team which is still a major bone of contention.  The argument is that due to the lower compensation players will be snapped up by better teams and be able to reach their full potential. However I don’t think it will have a major impact on the England team. Players who have proven quality, and are the ones likely to go on to play for England are often bought by higher placed clubs anyway, due to the impressive scouting network.

If a Premier League wants a young English player who will be able to play for them in the near future then they can easily do it. Lowering the compensation will just make it cheaper for them in my opinion. And if players are not snapped up by Premier League clubs initially, they will later. Take Ashley Young as an example, who was in the Watford youth academy. After impressive performances and being given the freedom to play, they are bought and if these footballers are good enough they will go on to play for England. It would be better to change the way we train the players physically and mentally to improve the England team.

The centre of excellence in Burton is a huge step forward but players need to develop a love for the game which some of them don’t have due to the pressures of training and how it sometimes takes over their life. If we can fully utilise this centre of excellence and instil a nationwide style of play for the national team from a young age then it is likely England can move forward, with players moving up the England age groups with a team spirit and cohesion that will benefit English football in the long run.

After the incredible 6-1 win against Manchester United, Manchester City are now the leaders of the Premier League, five points clear of their Mancunian rivals. However the surprise story of this season so far though is Newcastle United, with the Magpies in fourth on 19 points.

Last season the North East outfit finished 12th in a tumultuous season. Former manager Chris Hughton, who had taken over as manager after their relegation to the Championship, was sacked in December 2010 after a 3-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion. Former Charlton Manager Alan Pardew took over the helm and was not a popular choice with the fans. He was widely criticised by the fans through the media on things such as 606, the football phone-in show, for his tactics; particularly when his team went a goal down. Now it is safe to say that Newcastle is a football mad city and the fans are very passionate but it was sometimes unfair to criticise the manager. Along with this shock managerial change Newcastle United were rocked by the loss of top goalscorer Andy Carroll to Liverpool on the final day of the January transfer window. They then managed to consolidate their position in mid table, but fans were still unhappy with Pardew. So after last season seeming like a bit of a debacle, even though the Magpies did achieve their aim of survival, what has changed for them to be able to make such an impressive start this term?

Amazingly their great start has coincided with the loss of two of their most influential players in the summer transfer window. Kevin Nolan left to relegated West Ham for a fee of £3 million to reunite with his former manager Sam Allardyce despite Nolan being the club captain last season. They also lost the talented but temperamental Joey Barton to QPR after his spat with the board. However the club have signed plenty of talent in the summer which has led to their great beginning to the season. Demba Ba came in on a free transfer from West Ham and has already scored 5 goals in 8 league appearances this season. Gabriel Obertan was brought in from Manchester United. The pacy French winger looking more impressive for Newcastle than he did for the Red Devils although it still seems his final product is lacking. Fellow French midfielders Cabaye and Marveaux came in during the summer from Lille and Rennes respectively. It has led to a francophone midfield and frontline for Newcastle along with Hatem Ben Arfa who has recently returned after his horrific injury. All these players have looked superb and are starting to forge a great understanding between one another.

The whole team seems to be playing with a good team spirit and pretty much every player has looked impressive individually so far this season.  Goalkeeper Tim Krul has claimed his place in the team, with great saves as seen in this past weekend’s game with Wigan. Pardew has now gotten the team playing a 4-4-2 formation at home with Ba and Best looking strong up front. Great service is provided by Gutierrez and Obertan for the strikers together with wing backs Coloccini and Ryan Taylor so Ba so can get on the end of more crosses and score plenty of goals. Centre midfielders Cabaye and Tiote have looked to have taken an uncompromising stance in midfield with both players looking good with Cabaye scoring a great winner against Wigan. Pardew has really got the team playing in a style that suits them which is leading to them being able to win games and perform well.

Many Pundits are now saying that the Toon army should be giving owner Mike Ashley some credit for what he has done. Personally I think that they should give him some credit for getting rid of Carroll for a ridiculously high fee and finally giving Pardew the funds to bring in players. Understandably fans are still reluctant to give credit to Ashley with many more wanting to praise the players and Pardew. Fans are still annoyed with the way Ashley treated Hughton and previously Kevin Keegan and for the way he initially handled himself when wanting to sell the club. Not forgetting his cringe worthy exploits he got up to in a Chinese Restaurant, look it up, but it wasn’t a nice site.

Newcastle are the surprise package of the Premier League so far, but whether they will be able to hold on to a top six spot come May is another question but if they carry on with the same spirit and style of play it is a possibility. Some will argue that they have had easier fixtures so far this season, which is true with them playing seven of the bottom seven already, but you can only play what is in front of you and they did claim an impressive 2-2 draw against Tottenham on October 16th.  They have shown vast improvements due to their style of play and summer signings and top 8 is a definite possibility but top 4 may just be out of their reach due to the stronger Tottenham and Liverpool as well as Arsenal vying for 4th spot.

Wigan Athletic are in the bottom three, along with North West neighbours Bolton and Blackburn, after an abysmal run of six losses on the trot. They are much maligned for their poor attendances despite football being Wigan’s second sport behind rugby league and the club faces competition for fans from the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City. And after a poor start what’s next for Wigan this season?

Wigan narrowly avoided relegation last season with a Hugo Rodallega goal on the last day against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, which was enough to keep them up. However they lost star player Charles N’Zogbia to Aston Villa for a fee of £9,500,000 and their only really signings of note were goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi, who has looked impressive but due to the fragility of the defence has not been able to show his full potential, and Shaun Maloney. Wigan did not really bolster their squad well enough and already look to be paying the price with the solitary win coming against a QPR side, which hadn’t been on their shopping spree at the time. Their squad just doesn’t seem to be strong enough or has the depth for them to do well this season. And if injuries deplete the team Wigan could really struggle.

Defense has been a real problem for the Latics this season with teams being able to cut them apart with ease. Their defensive performance against fellow strugglers Bolton last week was truly atrocious. There were far too many individual errors and incidences of players giving the ball away in their own third. Steve Gohouri being an example of a player guilty of this.

Manager Roberto Martinez has got the team trying to play expansive football since his instalment as manager in 2009. It just doesn’t seem that they have any defensive cohesion so playing in the way they do does not work with Wigan. They constantly try to pass it out from back and as seen against Bolton it often leads to their downfall, with defenders looking for impossible passes and often giving the ball away to the opposition in dangerous areas, and of course in the Premier League they get punished for this. Sometimes for relegation threatened teams it is better to adopt a more defensive, physical style of play with Stoke doing this since their promotion in 2008. Stoke have now become an established mid-table team and as shown with Blackpool last season, attacking football without a good enough defence can’t keep you in the League.

As well as defensively, Wigan have been poor going forward with a meager six goals being scored in the first nine games. Three of these goals have come from former Chelsea player Franco Di Santo and they were all deflected efforts. The loss of N’Zogbia has meant they have lost valuable goals as he was their top goal scorer with ten goals last season and also provided a lot of service to the likes of Rodallega which they don’t have now.

This season is going to be very tough for Wigan. Owner Dave Whelan has said that he doesn’t want to sack Martinez which he should be applauded for but it is going to be tough for him in the future with the club largely reliant on his money, with less revenue gained due to their low attendances, an average of only 17,682 being the second lowest in the league ahead of QPR who are admittedly restricted by the size of their stadium. If Wigan get relegated this season, their crowd size will falter and they will lose a large majority of their squad meaning life in the Championship could be very tough especially with the large number of ex-Premier League teams in that division.

They have started poorly but in their next three games the Latics play Fulham, Wolves and Blackburn, all teams around them in the table. These three games could be crucial to their season. A low points total will lead to a lack of confidence and a real feeling that relegation is going to be tough to avoid but a good run could lead to them gaining momentum that could get them the points they need to stay in the league. It certainly looks like relegation is a really possibility for Wigan this season but of course as shown this weekend with Manchester City’s thrashing of Manchester United and QPR’s win against nine-man Chelsea, football is unpredictable so Wigan of course do have a chance of survival.

West Brom are clearly recognised by most Premier League fans and pundits as the yoyo team of the division. Over the last 10 years they have been promoted to the Premier League four times and relegated three times. Even their now classic BOING BOING celebration sort of represents their predicament as the perennial yoyo club. However West Brom now have the chance to finally get a firm footing in England’s top flight.

In the last ten years West Brom have kept getting relegated back to the Championship for a few reasons. First chairman Jeremy Peace has refused to spend big when going into the Premier League. He has wanted the Baggies to stay strong financially by spending within their means and not spending too much money in desperation to stay in the “promised land” of the Premier League. We have seen clubs such as Hull City and Portsmouth very recently spending a lot more than they could really afford in the pursuit of safety but they still both got relegated and ended up in serious financial trouble when relegated to the Championship. West Brom have not done this and they have been able to keep the core of their team, thus leading to more harmony — and more loyal players willing to play and compete for the Baggies in both the Championship and Premier League.

Also the Baggies attacking style of play, typified by the team under Roberto Di Matteo, has led to their title of the yoyo team. Their attacking free-flowing football has always seemed to work for them in the Championship with promotion coming quickly but it has typically been part of their downfall in the Premier League with teams not allowing them to play their style to their full potential.

Now though, West Brom with Roy Hodgson as manager have a real chance to establish themselves as a mid-table Premier League side. After the controversial sacking of Di Matteo in January, Hodgson was brought in to keep West Brom up which he did with ease. Now with Hodgson’s tactical awareness and some spending in the summer transfer window, West Brom should be able to push on.

The signing of the impressive Shane Long shows intent from the Chairman to try and stay in the Premier League for a sustained period. Long has impressed already this season and West Brom are already in 12th place after a slow start.

The Black Country outfit now have a very solid spine to the team with international goalkeeper Ben Foster, strong midfielders in Josef Mulumbu and Steven Reid along with the impressive strike partnership of recent addition Long and last season’s top scorer Peter Odemwingie. With Hodgson instilling a good balance between attack and defence, as emphasised by the last half of the previous season, it now means the Baggies look very strong. The defence looks stronger with three clean sheets already this season and with the strike force along with creative wingers/midfielders in Jerome Thomas and Chris Brunt it looks as if West Brom should have no problem scoring plenty of goals this season.

Of course there is the possibility of the fabled “second season syndrome” setting in for West Brom. It certainly did set in for the likes of Reading and Hull recently. However this season is the chance for West Brom to really start to prove themselves as a Premier League team because they’ve now definitely got the people, the resources and know-how to do so.

Let me begin by being clear: This is a long shot. A REALLY long shot. A lot of stars have to align to make this happen. And as a Liverpool fan, I’m not especially anxious or worried about it. I actually subscribe to the argument that one season without European football wouldn’t hurt us and might actually help, allowing time to rebuild and challenge for the league title (the current Holy Grail for LFC fans) and domestic cups.  And given that Liverpool actually sat 20th in the table at one point this season and genuinely feared a possible relegation battle at the beginning of January, a solid 6th place finish should not be looked on as a failure.

But Liverpool qualifying for European football next season is still mathematically possible if nothing else, so let’s take a look at how it can be done.

First and foremost, Liverpool absolutely must win all of its remaining six fixtures, and not drop a single point. I know what you’re thinking: That’s never going to happen. It is a hard thing to ask, but Liverpool is actually one of the few teams that seem to be growing and improving and coming together as one unit. They haven’t found the level of consistency that they need yet, but recent performances suggest that they do have the talent. If Liverpool can pull it together, they would finish the season on 66 points.

Let’s look at my chart to determine how it may be possible:

Then to finish 5th and qualify for Europa League, just ONE of three things needs to happen.

Let’s start with the LEAST likely: Chelsea needs to drop 14 of its remaining 21 points, which means drawing or losing its remaining seven fixtures (editor’s note: Chelsea beat West Brom today so the Blues now have six fixtures remaining). There is no way I’d ever put money on this, but something is terribly wrong at that club and they’ve gone on bad runs of form already this season. This is a team that is fraying and falling apart. While there is no reason to think that they will go on a run quite that bad, I’m still not sure many among us would be too shocked to see it happen.

The second, only slightly more likely, option for Liverpool is to see Man City drop 9 of its remaining 18 points. Given the quality in the side and the relatively easy run they have, this should never happen. But if Tevez is indeed out for the season, who knows? They always look poor (ironically) when he’s not playing. Like Chelsea they aren’t the most unified side, and while not likely, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them fall apart.

Finally, Liverpool’s most likely option, in my opinion, is for Tottenham to drop 8 of its remaining 21 points. And unlike the other two options that require some stretching of the imagination, this scenario is actually not hard to see. They still have to play away to Chelsea, Man City, and Liverpool, and to host Arsenal. They also face a resurgent West Brom and the ever-unpredictable Blackpool, who thumped them 3-1 when they met in February. If injuries and fatigue catch up with them in the run in, they could have problems, and dropping 8 points would see them finish below Liverpool on goal difference.

(The goal differences between Liverpool and both Chelsea and Man City are likely to be too great for them to finish level on points, so they would need 65 to finish below Liverpool.)

While each of those scenarios are tall orders individually, if a miracle occurs and TWO of them happen, Liverpool could actually finish 4th and make the Champion’s League next season.

As I stated in the beginning, Europe next season is a long shot for Liverpool, and I’m not getting my hopes up or losing sleep over it one way or the other, but after the storms we’ve walked through this season, it is nice to hear the sweet sliver song of a lark in the distance – however faintly.

Liverpool winning 3-1 away at the KC stadium. Surely, no-one expected anything less if not anything more. The reigning champions level again for the umpteenth time, their leaky defence ensuring that the goal difference keeps them behind Liverpool in second place. Yes, they did have two games in hand but chasing points and championships is not the most comfortable proposition especially when you have key Champions League encounters looming on the horizon. Hence, the Red Devils didn’t exactly have a cakewalk waiting for them at the theater of dreams this weekend.

Spurs have rescued their season somewhat considering it was their worst ever start to a season. The Lilywhites didn’t have much to play for coming in to Old Trafford. Although winning the last 5 of their 6 games, a mostly fit squad, the fact that United had one eye on their Champions League semi-final, Spurs were looking to be a decent bet to pick up something from the game. But their record against the champions, with their last win at Old Trafford coming in 1989 didn’t inspire much confidence for the London outfit. The expected changes were made with the young Brazilian Rafael Da Silva taking his rightful place at right-back while Rio Ferdinand and Nani also returned to the mix. As for Spurs, injuries to Michael Dawson and Roman Pavlyuchenko meant that Ledley King started and Darren Bent retained his place up-top.

Both teams started brightly enough ensuring a good battle in prospect. Clearly, Tottenham had done their homework and reminiscent of their last encounter in the Carling Cup final, Aaron Lennon, once again, ran circles around Patrice Evra. United simply failed to curb the Spurs movement down the right flank. While around the same time, Wilson Palacios lunged viciously with both feet up at the tackle-magnet Cristiano Ronaldo prompting the latter to avoid it by jumping at the last moment. Howard Webb was oblivious to the whole incident. Back to the right flank, united were being driven out of their own territory. The French left-back looked clueless against Lennon, possibly his greatest nemesis in his Manchester United career uptil now. It took 28 minutes for the inevitable to happen when Vedran Corluka and Lennon combined down the right with the Croat crossing for Bent with the ball falling in between Vidic and Ferdinand and Bent on hand to smash it home.

Tottenham 1 – 0 Manchester United: Old Trafford – Silence.

Three minutes later, Lennon still terrorizing the united defence down the right but crossing himself this time for the poaching Bent. The Englishman flicked the ball to the far post where Rafael went AWOL leaving Luka Modric free to bang it in.

Tottenham 2 – 0 Manchester United: Old Trafford – In shock. (Merseyside – popping Champagne).

The goal bringing back bitter memories for the united fans as Porto scored a last minute equalizer the same way in the Champions League quarter finals. The ones looking on in the stadium or through different means through out the world were stunned more so by United’s play than by the scoreline. United, incensed, went all out but a couple of unsuccessful free kicks and corners was their only reward.

HALFTIME.

FlashBack :
Date: 29 September 2001
Place: White Hart Lane, London

United trailing 3-0 at half-time looking down and out after being thoroughly outplayed in the first. But changes at half-time, some hairdryer treatment by the fiery Scot had the red devils transformed in the second half. What transpired after that is highly placed now in the united folklore. United smashed in 5 goals ending up hammering the spurs 5-3. Surely, the United faithful were hoping for an encore.

Changes again at half-time with Carlos Tevez replacing Nani, Fergie looked to increase the tempo. United looked like a team possessed, urgent and hungry to reclaim their throne at the top of the table. Some vintage United-esque play between Berbatov and Ronaldo saw the Portuguese but a good save from Gomes ensured that the scoreline wasnt disturbed. Minutes later, Rooney found Carrick running in the box with a superb ball prompting Gomes to come out to save the former Tottenham man from scoring. Instead, he brought down Carrick albeit getting a touch on the ball in the process, but Mr. Webb generously awarding united a penalty. A more suitable scoreline you think would have prompted a different decision. The enigmatic Portuguese stepped up, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slammed the ball straight down the middle sending Gomes the wrong way.

Manchester United 1 – 2 Tottenham: Old Trafford – Faith Renewed.

Adrenalin was pumping, united were smelling blood and Paul Scholes was brought on for Fletcher to extract more creativity. Within minutes, Berbatov held the ball up well to feed Tevez who found Rooney on the left and Wazza cut inside, found space and smashed it past the former PSV man at the near post.

Manchester United 2 – 2 Tottenham: Old Trafford – Electric.

The Red Devils were pumped up and even the spurs knew what was coming. In under a minute, Super Roon beat Lennon on the left before sending a delectable cross to a sprinting Ronaldo who obliged by heading past Gomes sending the red half of Manchester into raptures.

Manchester United 3 – 2 Tottenham. Old Trafford – Wild euphoria!!

Tottenham looked on in despair, trying to find some sense in all that was happening. United were far from done as Ronaldo sent in a ball from the right to a prowling Rooney in the box. The English hitman fired it past Gomes but a last ditch save from Woodgate wasnt enough to keep it from trickling over the line to give united some breathing space.

Manchester United 4 – 2 Tottenham: Old Trafford – Normal service resumed.

United a touch slower now, but rampant nonetheless. The red devils displaying exhibition football and spurs waiting for the misery to end. Rooney, master of creativity for the day, strolled past Lennon before chipping in a ball from the left for the lurking Berbatov who headed an effort only to be parried by Gomes but scrappily putting it in the back of the net ultimately.

Manchester United 5 – 2 Tottenham. Old Trafford – At their loudest best this season.

United climbing back to the summit

Twenty two minutes, 5 goals, and United making a statement about their verve and style, something they haven’t done a lot this season. But as a certain gentlemen calling this to be a ‘squeaky-bum’ time, the Red Devils couldn’t have found their rhythm at a better time. The hairdryer from the gaffer, a masterstroke substitution and United rediscovering their passion, a recipe which ended a potential upset into a rout. But expect more twists and turns as the BPL is at its topsy-turvy best. As for Arsenal and their makeshift defence, they should be worried.