Having had a chance to calm down and get over the disappointment of United throwing away another lead late on in a game, I’ve taken advantage of the benefits of Sky + and re-watched the game against Birmingham from Tuesday night to try and figure out what went wrong and why in that rather damp affair.

Following the full-time whistle, my immediate reaction was to lay most of the blame for the teams mediocre performance mainly at the feet of Darren Gibson, a man I’ve often described as a “Champ Manager 14’er.” What this means is that, in Champ Manager terms, most of his stats (passing, pace, technique, tackling) would be 14 out of 20, with the possible exception that his long shots may reach as high as 16 out of 20. Another explanation I’ve heard to summarise his ability is that, “he’d do well at Villa.”

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Wynn Grant over at the brilliant Football Economy has highlighted some research done by the egg-heads at the Professional Football Players Observatory (no, I hadn’t heard of them either) that believes that, of all the teams in contention for the Premiership title this year, Man United are the most likely ones to be lifting the trophy come the end of the season. From Football Economy:

“Manchester United are on track to win the Barclays Premier League title.   That’s not my view, but is the conclusion reached by the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO), a research organisation based in France and Switzerland. Read the full story

There are players who have flogged their guts out for their clubs throughout their whole careers without ever knowing what it’s like to hold a winning Premier League medal – think Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Then there are others like Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick who have collected 3 in his three seasons at Old Trafford and may well be on his way to maintaining a 100% record with a fourth in the next couple of weeks.

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Many issues are still to be decided this season. The Premiership is a tight three horse race which can go to any of them, the only relegation certainty is poor Portsmouth with nobody knowing who else will survive while Newcastle is the only Championship club assured of a Premier League comeback. The European Champions League has not yet reached the semi final stage with all eight remaining clubs still in with a chance but despite all that uncertainty, the ridiculous silly season has already started!

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Get ready for a wild eight week ride folks. As Sir Alex Ferguson has a habit of saying at this stage of the season “Squeaky bum time” is here and it has arrived with a vengeance starting this coming Sunday with the visit of Liverpool. Clashes between these two old rivals have always been fierce yet the stakes have never been higher than they will be this weekend…and for a very good reason. Read the full story

Get ready for a wild eight week ride folks. As Sir Alex Ferguson has a habit of saying at this stage of the season “Squeaky bum time” is here and it has arrived with a vengeance starting this coming Sunday with the visit of Liverpool. Clashes between these two old rivals have always been fierce yet the stakes have never been higher than they will be this weekend…and for a very good reason. Read the full story