January 2012 - Let's Get Back To Basics!

I have been positively looking forward to the Christmas matches and they did not disappoint, did they! The top of the Premier League keeps changing and the bottom is even more outrageous. Who would have predicted all of that?! Let's start with the Blackburn Rovers. I have expelled a lot of energy on the subject of this football club; the chaotic shambles of Venkys' position, the inability of manager Steve Kean, their lowly position and the sheer unhappiness of their fans. Then what happens, they blag a draw at Anfield with an ex-Cobblers goalkeeper and then beat Manchester United comprehensively at Old Trafford! If ever a man deserved to stick two fingers up to all of us, it had to be Steve Kean; he genuinely deserved his moment of sweet revenge. But, if Blackburn were to be taken seriously, the match they then needed to win was the next one at home to Stoke City. Tony Pulis and his excellent team are a hard nut to crack, and despite quotes of great sympathy for Mr Kean, his side comprehensively dealt with Blackburn just to prove to us that despite everything, they truly are a relegation team. Yakubu Aiyegbeni is a top quality striker, I have seen him destroy many great defenders in his days in a 'Boro shirt. If Blackburn achieve the impossible, and survive, his role will be central to that end. Much as I admire the Yak, and believe in his supreme talent, this one is beyond him. But, the fact that Steve Kean will now appear to survive, at the very least, until the end of the season is a testament to the one signing he got right absolutely right. Somehow though, I just cannot believe, even with players returning from injury, that Blackburn are good enough. At the top of the table, the champions continue to prove me wrong again and again. I suggested that Manchester City would be eliminated from the Champions League, and United would would handle the Christmas run-in with consumate ease. Well, well, well, after ruthless victories against Fulham and Wigan, we distracted ourselves with the whole 70th Birthday business and forgot that the seemingly deluded Steve Kean and his lowly warriors would be blown away by the balloons and choke on the birthday cake! Wrong again, not only did they lead and surrender a two nil lead they then won the game with a good old fashioned scruffy set-piece; that birthday cake must have been splattered all over the walls! And as for the three boys who went on a Boxing Day night out, oh my god, what were they thinking?! Fergie needed Rooney for that match, but as a result, he has now lost some much needed fluency. The three-nil reverse at windy Newcastle will have devastating consequences - due to a funeral, I didn't make the trip sadly. That night on Tyneside, may have just decided the league, just like Berbatov's semi-final miss under the cross-bar last season cost Manchester United the F.A. Cup. ergie's side suddenly look out of sorts and judging by the post-match comments of the Newcastle strikers; all the other sides suddenly sense that Evans and Ferdinand are as fragile as a pair of Owen Hargreaves' knees. The midfield is in need of a general and Giggs is not the answer, Anderson never will be, Darren Fletcher is sorely missed and Michael Carrick is just not that sort of player; What would United give to have a Roy Keane in there now shaking a few egos! Wayne Rooney for whatever reason is not in a good place, and with Hernandez not quite on the boil, Fergie and Rooney will have to kiss and make up quickly because the boss needs his main man more than ever; Squeaky Bum Time here we go! Manchester City!! Come on here we go...then came the Africa Cup of Nations! A fantastic tournament exhibiting colour, passion and skill; but a living nightmare for Mancini. He has finally got the opportunity to spank his reval Fergie out of sight then he loses the Toure brothers and worse still he's in the press moaning about it! Shut the hell up man! Keep it to yourself! Probably the best news Fergie heard on his trip back to Manchester the other night! His big players really need to stick it to United on Sunday in the F.A. Cup,after the Newcastle game, this is the biggest game of the season. Yes, it's the F.A. Cup 3rd Round and all that, but one feels that if United win this one then Fergie will push the psychological rhetoric into over-drive and Mancini's eardrums will suffer intolerable damage. For me, I sense that he is similar to Kevin Keegan, and Fergie knows that a little tickle at the right time in his sensitive areas might just SEND HIM MAD! This Sunday is crucial! There is so much else to say, but I will keep my counsel for the time being. Come on Tottenham! Have Spurs got what it takes to find the right extra player to take them to a special place - the title. I truly believe that this is Harry Rednapp's best opportunity to win the Premier League, but heneeds a January signing to really up the ante. His record in the transfer market suggests that he has the ability to sniff out the right asset to do a old fashioned smash 'n' grab and force the momentum. But scrapping for relegation points at the Stout and Salted Peanuts end of the table really is a far cry from the Champagne and Canapes atmosphere on the championship home strait. I truly want to see this realistically become a three horse race, and as many scribes have suggested, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal definitely will be at the party next season and a crowded party really is no fun. I'd like to see Defoe get a run in the side and show the world that he really can score crucial pressure goals, at poignant moments in decisive games. Let's watch the transfer window and see how strong Daniel Levy really is at the Roulette Wheel of Harry's fortune. I need to talk about my beloved Middlesbrough in the Championship. 6 weeks ago, it was looking very much a two horse race for the West Ham United and Southampton, suddenly everyone is fluffing their lines, 'Boro have learned how to sneak a few last minute wins and it's all loooking tighter now. Unless Southampton lose their nerve at home, I cannot see them failing. Big Sam, for me, is the manager England could have had, I rate him that highly, but then again Tony Mowbray is such a hard-bitten veteran of Championship promotion chases that you dare not write off the 'Boro, but I sense that my Teeside friends and I will be be dining at the Preniership top table via a trip to Wembley and the play-offs against a desperate Cardiff City side who also know the pain of that route all too well. Like the Premier league, it's hotting up very nicely. I just hope the BBC can keep that fabulous League Show on our screens and let us bread and butter fans enjoy watching our humble sides on TV for a while longer. Happy New Year to you all. I'm off to prepare for the Whittlebury Park Wedding Fayre and daughter Alice's 3rd Birthday. We will remember Alice's stillborn twin Grace Amelia Noel of course at the same time. Music is life, life is good, and the football is still fabulous. Come On 'Boro! Come On Cobblers!