Watching Manchester United v Blackburn on ESPN, I saw that Wayne Rooney was missing and assumed he was injured.
First half, United played at netball tempo and it was absolutely pathetic. Carrick was at centreback with Valencia at right back and Rafael in central midfield.
Yakubu scored and it was 1-0 at half-time, Berbatov equalised, and when Yakubu scored again, the Bulgarian equalised again. Then, after 80 minutes nervous keeper David De Gea was badly at fault in failing to punch a ball away from young centreback Grant Hanley, who followed up to head the winner from one yard.
Man United 2 Blackburn Rovers 3.
Turned out that Rooney was dropped by Sir Alex.
Wayne and Colleen went out to dinner with Jonny Evans and his girlfriend, and Darron Gibson and his girlfriend on Boxing Day after United thrashed Wigan 5-0.
An exclusive in The Mail on Sunday said that Fergie dropped them and fined them a week’s wages and made them do extra training.
They went out four days before the next game.
Is that not allowed? Boxing Day was last Monday and United’s next game, against Blackburn, was on Saturday, News Year\’s Eve.
Or did something happen we don\’t know about?
My first thought was : This is an Irish night out that went a bit over the top.
Jonny Evans is from Belfast, Darron Gibson plays for the Republic, and Wayne is third generation County Down.
BUT I THINK SIR ALEX OVER-REACTED.
If he\’d played Rooney against Blackburn, United would have won! Rooney is the man Nani plays with. Valencia always looks for him.
Rooney sets the tone, creates the tempo, races around demanding the ball, makes the others play with energy and urgency to keep up with him.
Without Rooney, against a makeshift Blackburn side containing four raw kids, he fielded a weak, incoherent eleven and the performance was garbage in attack as well as in midfield and defence. They deserved to lose.
ARSENAL beat QPR 1-0.
QPR are a nice little team with no goal threat. Jay Bothroyd doesn\’t score and doesn\’t hold it up either. Promoted teams rarely have a striker.
The game was tame apart from Taraabt\’s karate elbow on Arshavin\’s jaw early on. Why did the ref ignore that assault?
The score was 0-0 after 69 minutes and then Arshavin at last set up Van Persie with a pinpoint pass in 70 minutes and Robin buried a textbook left-foot strike to earn the points.
That match-winning goal was his 35th in the calendar year of 2011 and one less than Alan Shearer\’s record.
Shearer scored his 36 in 42 games.
RVP bagged his 35 in 36 Premier League games.
THEO WALCOTT, the most over-rated footballer in England, had one of his worst games and bottled a one on-one chance, shooting well wide. 40% of the crowd groaned, 40% were silent and the rest… just laughed.
But Walcott wants a pay rise to £85,000 a week !!!
As John McEnroe famously said, “You cannot be serious!”
Apparently, Podolski only wants to come if he can play centre forward.
Fulham v Arsenal is at 5.30 today on Sky.
Ridiculous clown Roberto Mancini made far too many changes, dropping David Silva, his main man. If you have Sunderland away and Liverpool at home, play your best team at Sunderland, who are easier to beat.
Mancini will rotate himself out of a job this year if he goes on making dumb decisions like this. And he’ll miss Yaya Toure more than Chelsea will miss Jogba.
MANCHESTER CITY couldn\’t score a goal in 93 minutes at the Stadium of Light on New Year’s Day.
Dzeko was as useless as Bendtner and Nasri was so peripheral that you\’d have needed GPS to locate him, and the best they could do was a late header by Micah Richards that hit the bar.
Then, in the last minute of stoppage time, Sunderland broke away neatly and sweetly and Ji went round Joe Hart and scored a glorious winner with the last kick of the match.
Wow! Sunderland 1 Man City 0.
A good result for Sir Alex and a great one for Martin N’Neill.
By far the best game was on Thursday night when Liverpool played Newcastle at Anfield.
Because Craig Bellamy was on fire.
And long-lost crock Gerrard came on and galvanised the stadium and his team – and scored a beautiful goal to wrap the game up.
A Daniel Agger own-goal had put Newcastle one up in 25, then Charlie Adam found Bellamy, who rifled in a shot from 14 yards. It was again clear that Andy Carroll is no Demba Ba and I began to wonder if Liverpool would finish mid-table if Carroll continues to play like a plank while Suarez is suspended for the next eight games.
Still, I was thinking, at least Jose Enrique is a good playmaker as well as a fine left back.
Then Gerrard came on for Charlie Adam in 59 and Liverpool scored two goals.
Please note : The excellent Tiote, back at last, was very unlucky when the ref gave a free-kick against him when he dispossessed Agger.
Bellamy’s whiplash free-kick flew wickedly, swerving and dipping, and went in off the forehead of Simpson for 2-1 in 67. The defender, breaking from the wall to cover the line, obstructed his keeper Tim Krul.
Then there was drama at the other end as big centreback Skrtl kicked Ba’s neatly angled dink shot off the line. That was one of the 10 most impossible clearances of this young century.
Carroll then headed a very inviting Stevie G cross against the bar.
In 78, Jordan Henderson played Gerrard in on the left and Stevie turned the clock back about seven years by slotting left-footed through the legs of Krul. He nutmegged the best keeper in the EPL and that coup de grace was so good that I waved my tiny plastic rattle. It\’s green and popped out of a Christmas cracker 10 days ago.
Yes, Craig Bellamy was fantastic. Still spiky, competitive and inventive, Bellamy is a fireball who means it and loves it. He\’s skilful, still fast, plays with pride and phenomenal determination, unlike scores of tossers in this obscene league of mercenaries.
Yes, of course he’s an abrasive, mouthy, obnoxious twerp covered in ugly tattoos.We all know that.
But in this game Bellamy was as compelling as he’s ever been, against one of his former clubs.
This 3-1 victory put Liverpool above Arsenal, having played a game more. Then Van Persie’s goal restored the Gunners to fourth place.
MAN CITY v LIVERPOOL is on Tuesday at 8pm on Sky.
And Citeh is one of Bellamy’s former clubs. Craig Bellamy\’s desire, his hunger, his ravenous appetite, is what I love to see. This Welsh striker loves every kick, every sprint, every tackle and every minute, unlike the flaccid, half-hearted tossers who make up many squads in this billion dollar League of Mercenaries.
Theo Walcott isn\’t fit to lace Bellamy\’s boots. He\’s playing a different sport. He\’s been there five years and he hasn\’t made it. Theo Walcott isn\’t good enough to play for Arsenal and never will be.
On Wednesday, Newcastle and Manchester United will kick off the second half of their campaigns knowing what Man City have done or not done against Liverpool.
Will Rooney start that game?
I bet Sir Alex now wishes he’d fined Rooney and made him do extra training but played him against Blackburn.
PS. Did you see Sherlock last night?
Hilarious 21st century entertainment as Holmes and Watson are enlisted by the government to sort out Irene Adler, a saucy dominatrix in Belgravia.
“She provides recreational scolding,” says Sherlock’s manadarin brother, who occasionally recruits the ace detective when all else fails : Irene holds compromising pictures of a member of the royal family on her cameraphone.
Sherlock is superior nonsense and I love it.