Goals from Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young gave Aston Villa a narrow 2-1 victory at fellow strugglers Wigan on Tuesday.
After an even first half, two goals in the space of 11 minutes after the break allowed Villa to take a stranglehold on the English Premier League encounter, which they held on to despite James McCarthy’s late consolation.
Villa’s 24-million-pound man Darren Bent was quickly into the game, taking delivery of a lovely through ball from Carlos Cuellar with instant control, although his finish was weak and straight at Ali Al Habsi.
Midfielder Stewart Downing then tested the Wigan goalkeeper, who was up to the shot, with Bent also finding the goalkeeper with the rebound.
Wigan winger Charles N’Zogbia had two decent chances for Wigan and – despite failing to work Brad Friedel in the Villa goal – teed up striker Hugo Rodallega, who should have done better from the edge of the area.
The Colombian then squandered a great chance mid-way through the half, firing over after superb build-up play from McCarthy.
The rest of the half petered out, but Villa flew out of the blocks after the interval and found the opening goal inside four minutes.
Young had already seen an effort tipped over by Al Habsi when his corner was met by the head of Cuellar. But while Al Habsi made a magnificent save to deny the Spaniard, the ball looped up on the goal line and was nodded in by Agbonlahor.
Wigan’s response was immediate, with McCarthy’s cross headed inches over his own crossbar by Villa defender James Collins.
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But Villa stamped their authority on the game on the hour mark when Young was needlessly tripped inside the box by Hendry Thomas and the forward picked himself up to smash the penalty down the middle of the goal and past Al Habsi.
Young missed a good chance to make it 3-0 before McCarthy pulled a goal back on 79 minutes with a shot that deflected in off Collins. But Wigan could not muster another to claim a share of the points.
The announcement that the keys to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford are all but set to be handed over to West Ham in favour of Tottenham’s bid will have come as little surprise to most, but the nature of the decision’s release and a few aspects that have come to light since are most troubling.
West Ham were always deemed favourites for the stadium, namely due to their geographical closeness between their existing ground, Upton Park, and the site of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
Their bid was in direct contrast to Spurs’ bid. West Ham proposed to keep the running track, a key issue when dealing with the Olympic Park Legacy Company, and have already got sufficient plans in place to make revenue, such as striking a deal that would see Madonna perform at the stadium and an agreement to have Essex play their Twenty20 games at the stadium.
Spurs however, from the outset, were not afraid of rocking the boat. They planned to demolish the stadium, the running track included, and build their own stadium to suit their own needs. As part of their bid, to appease outcry from the world athletics community, they also planned to redevelop Crystal Palace, the current home of UK athletics.
Sources leaked as early as yesterday suggested that the decision was all but made in West Ham’s favour, before the Olympic Park Legacy Company had even reconvened to make a final decision. It has since transpired that the board came to a unanimous verdict. Add into the mix that an 11am press conference had been called in central London for today, only to then be postponed until an hour or so later, and it would appear that the board had already made their mind up as to the victor in this most bitter of pursuits.
Former Spurs Chairman Lord Alan Sugar had this to say on the days events: “I am somewhat outraged that there have been leaks. The OPLC board say nobody should take any notice of them and that no decision has been made, but usually there is no smoke without fire. The leaks about Tottenham only meeting three of the five-point criteria, well, if that’s the case why did they even get past the first rounds of the process? It has not been very well handled.”
Lord Sugar is of course correct, no final decision has yet been made and the OPLC, while a major player in the decision, is an advisory board. The government and Mayor Boris Johnson are expected to rubber-stamp any such preference that the OPLC may have though and the Spurs bid, while not completely finished, does look somewhat dead in the water.
It does beg the question though as Lord Sugar also queried – if Spurs’ bid fell down on two of the major criteria to win the bid, why were they even considered?
The theory doing the rounds now is that Spurs’ bid was doomed to failure from the outset and that it was being used as nothing more than a pawn in negotiations between the OPLC and West Ham over various issues such as keeping the word ’Olympic’ in the stadium name. Even if West Ham do choose to sell the naming rights to the stadium they must now ensure that the word Olympic remains in the title and the OPLC also sought a firm and lasting commitment over the issue of the running track, the main issue of debate between the two bids.
Conspiracy theorists will have a field day over the coming weeks and any such decision will be bitterly contested in another round of who can make the most unpleasant comments towards the other, but it appears West Ham’s bid has been favoured due the club’s stronger links with the community.
If that is the main criteria, then it is hard to argue against, for a football stadium is supposed to be the epicentre of a community, however, it does appear that Spurs have been misled from the beginning to a certain extent. The honesty of their bid and their true intentions has been clear from the start whereas West Ham’s has at times hidden behind smoke screens and emotive rhetoric.
As happened with England’s failed bid to win the rights to host the 2018 World Cup, there appears to be more at work here than meets the eye. It is odd for such a strong and well-structured bid such as Spurs to come up so short with concerns to what the OLPC were looking for.
West Ham have presented a very strong case and perhaps their victory was assured purely on the strength of their bid, little more. From the West Ham perspective, Spurs are simply crying foul because they lost and the fact that West Ham’s bid already has so much in place with concerns to bringing in various revenue streams is certainly commendable. However, in keeping with the mood that has dominated the bidding process so far, this story may have a few twists and turns in it just yet before it is over.
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With our theme of looking into the future of football this week coinciding with the Champions League games, it got me thinking about the taboo idea of a European Super League forming in the future. The Champions League has played a huge part in the expansion of football as a global brand but is part of the progression a formation of a Super League featuring the best teams in the world? Would it be exciting knowing that your team (whether that be Manchester United or City, Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool or Chelsea) will be playing the likes of Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich twice a season rather than travelling to Wigan and Blackpool? Or would the fans of the latter mentioned teams lose support because there is no visit from the big clubs anymore?
In 2009 Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he felt a European Super League could happen in the next decade. With the vast amount of money involved in football, especially the Champions League, you can see why there may be plans on the horizon in in the beautiful game. Just take a look at the reputation of the FA Cup, which has declined since the rise of the Champions League, and the importance to finish in the top four. Maybe in the future, the Premier League might lose the same appeal if the richest/biggest clubs are the only real competitors and the only real competition is from the occasional European games.
I imagine the concept working with a 20 to 24 team league structure full of all the best teams in Europe competing over home and away fixtures throughout a season. There is the possibility of a play-off at the end of the season with the top 4 clubs competing over semi-final and final rounds to determine the European Champions. However, there may be some debate over to which teams qualify as I am sure UEFA would want to include teams from all over Europe rather than fill it with teams from England, Spain, Italy and Germany. So what are all the positives to this possible future proposition for football?
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Pros:
– Entertaining fixtures week in and week out. It will be a showcase of the best teams in the world competing against each other over a whole season, TV deals with clubs will be as high earning as ever and the demand for tickets will see average stadium attendances over the 100,000 mark.
– Football evolution. In the history books of football there have always been changes to the game so that it progresses and this European Super League will be seen as an improvement to the game as a whole. The days when European Cup football was competed over a knock-out competition will be seen as out dated.
– There could still be a chance for those breakaway clubs to compete domestically in their national cup competitions.
– After a few seasons UEFA will be forced to form a European Super League Two to open up more competition with a promotion and relegation system introduced. Eventually more leagues will be introduced, creating a European type pyramid league system.
– Global club football. The formation of the Super League persuaded South America and Central America to create a similar league structure and the World Club Cup tournament compliments the season.
– The quality of international football increases with the best players in the world playing against each other on a regular basis.
Personally I would not like to see a European Super League because it would be a change in football for the worse. However, I do believe that it will be formed in the future due to the rich clubs getting richer and the potential in profit that a Super League would create. Although, domestically in England, I believe clubs would still be able to survive due to the love of football in this country. Let’s have a look at the negative points to a Super League…
Cons:
– The history of football will be changed forever if the Super League was to be created. The league competition domestically across Europe will lose all its foundations and may see clubs going out of business. Might as well rip up the record books and start again.
– The new Super League persuades clubs to become franchises and those clubs involved will lose touch with their fans for the sake of the clubs ‘brand’. Clubs relocating becomes a trend, players start to reach £500,000 a week salaries with £200 million transfer fees!
– A breakaway league causes such a divide with the domestic leagues that a divide in the sport occurs. With UEFA’s rules for the Super League no longer recognised by the FAs nationally and FIFA is forced to only accept players from the Super League for international football (Think Rugby League and Union).
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– Therefore the clubs competing in the Super League would not be allowed to enter domestic cup competitions or play friendly games with clubs from the national leagues.
– The pyramid system advances so far that the future European League (five) sees the likes of Wigan Athletic playing Monaco which sets new records for lowest attendances and television views.
– Fans of the Super League clubs become disillusioned and form new clubs encouraged by the successes of AFC Wimbledon and FC United.
– After several seasons the Super League has lost that special Champions League feeling that it was based on. Fans shunned by their now franchised clubs are starting to protest and demand a return to the domestic league structure of the past.
My alternative would be to move the Champions League tournament to the end of the domestic leagues and played within a month like FIFA’s World Cup. Domestic leagues would run earlier and finish early with winter breaks; this would allow clubs to focus on domestic and European competitions individually, which would increase competition.
Roma coach Vincenzo Montella is hoping to offset the hurt of their Champions League exit with a win over Lazio in Sunday’s league derby.Montella watched from the touchline as Roma were bundled out of the Champions League by Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday, and has instructed his players to win back their fans with a strong performance against their city rivals in the Serie A.It is Montella’s first derby at the Roma helm, though he experienced many in his time as a player for the club.The Italian, who has gone undefeated in Serie A since replacing Claudio Ranieri in February, is expecting a typically fierce and difficult encounter.”I’ve asked my players to face this derby as calmly as they can,” Montella said.”There will be many implications from tomorrow’s match. Of course it’s important for both teams for their position in the table and it’s important for us because we have the chance to try to win back our fans.””That’s why I expect a warm welcome tomorrow. Roma supporters know how to cheer their players on when they want and that’s my hope for tomorrow.””The team understood the mistakes made in Donetsk and is in good shape. Of course we will play to win, as the rest of the games played up to now.””It has been a difficult week, but I think I’ve managed to keep the team calm. Lazio are bound to be the favourites, as they’re ahead of us in the table, but there will be the usual fiery derby atmosphere.””Lazio have an expert coach (Edy Reja), the team is very balanced, they have talented players that are able to make the difference on the pitch and they are a close group.””Lazio has all the characteristics of a dream team. I think the coach should be praised for creating such a group of players.””We are not afraid, I don’t think my players are at all afraid, that’s just something journalists are saying. We are ready for the derby and ready to win it and I’m sure Lazio is the same.”
Martin O’Neill will head to an arbitration tribunal to resolve a disagreement over his departure from Aston Villa.The 59-year-old left Villa Park in August after four years as manager at the English Premier League club, and the two parties have so far failed to come to an arrangement over the terms of his departure.A statement from the League Managers Association said that because the dispute could not be solved through mediation, it now must be heard by the body’s arbitration tribunal.”It has not been possible to resolve the dispute concerning the termination of employment,” the statement read.”Premier League managers’ contracts contain a clause requiring the parties to mediate their differences in the event of a dispute and, if the dispute cannot be resolved at mediation, that the case moves forward to the Premier League Managers’ Arbitration Tribunal.” “The tribunal is ideally placed to resolve disputes of this nature, combining the skills and experience of prominent individuals from football and the law.” It is not the first time the tribunal has been required to resolve cases like O’Neill’s dispute with Villa.One-time West Ham boss Alan Curbishley and former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan both had their constructive dismissal claims against the clubs upheld in 2009.
1. Status Quo – With the season reaching squeaky bum time, Manchester United pulled out their party piece run-in trick of grinding out late goal wins in games they looked hardly capable of scoring in, gently applying some much needed oil to their behinds in the process (a metaphorical continuation I instantly feel cheaper for going with). Having started with the constantly impressive Javier Hernandez, whom Mark Lawrenson noticed “never ever, ever stops moving” like some kind of deadly transvestite shark, it was his replacement by the equally calculating dead eyed predatory instincts of Dimitar Berbatov that finally swung the pendulum United’s way (another metaphor I’ve never understood, as a pendulum’s constant, indecisive conclusionless motion is precisely what makes it a pendulum). A recklessly snap joint decision by Jonny Evans and Stuart Holden to try and scissor each other in mid-air might have ended the American’s season, and earned a red card and suspension for the former, reducing United’s injury hit squad to 2 natural defenders and a cardboard cut out of Owen Hargreaves for their trip to West Ham next week.
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2. Keep on Runnin’ – Whilst United were revelling in the execution of their annual party trick, Arsenal were wallowing in the prospect of pulling off their yearly bottle job at the arse end of the season (a turn of phrase that paradoxically couldn’t be both less and more apt for them) before just about holding it together despite the latest effort to bolster their own in house comedy keeping howlers Christmas video. Manuel Almunia may not stand as statuesque as Wojciech Szczesny, being a full inch shorter, but did his best to stand as still as one during a “down your throat” Steven Reid header before his triangle button became inexplicably stuck and he raced pointlessly out of his goal, straight into Sebastien Squillaci and like some ghastly Benny Hill tribute sketch played by Sacha Baron Cohen playing Bruno playing Hill, gifted Odemwinge a tap in second. The Gunners displayed a deal of champion’s spirit to haul back level courtesy of an Arshavin goal and a Van Persie foul, but couldn’t find a winner. Apart from on their bench, where Jens Lehmann pyramided his fingers and cackled like a bond villain returning from an earlier presumed death intent on world domination. Mwa ha ha ha.
3. Luiz Luiz, Oh baby.. – At Stamford Bridge Chelsea suddenly realised they were back in the hunt for something or other and overcame Manchester City with even less help than usual from their £50m marquee signing Fernando Torres. The real star of transfer deadline day has emerged as David Luiz who’s taken to Premiership football like a duck to pancakes. The Brazilian now has 200% more goals for Chelsea than Torres and looks a nailed on cert to establish himself amongst the top defenders in the league. With the Da Silva twins over at Old Trafford also making strides, Brazil’s back line for their own World Cup in 2014 is threatening to look suspiciously like a bad Led Zeppelin tribute band. Or possibly some kind of ill planned Starsky and Hutch convention where everyone’s turned up as Starsky. It’s also ominously likely to bring back that tired old football cliché about how effortlessly better the Brazilians are at football than everyone else, a trope rather unhelpfully compounded when tough tackling defensive midfielder Ramires effortlessly slalomed his way through City’s defense to slot home a sambarific second. Why couldn’t Elton John have adopted a Brazilian baby?
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4. Cum on Feel the Noize – As one 20-odd million pound player was taking the spotlight away from a ludicrously over expensive teammate, another was doing the same at the Stadium of Light where human chipmunk and long lost relative of Dave Hill from Slade Luis Suarez, continued to reaffirm his already widespread (and assumed) reputation as the best of Liverpool’s January acquisitions. After taking the lead from a penalty no one could decide the merit of even after numerous replays and exhaustive Redknappian literally’s, Suarez wriggled his way onto the nearside touchline before lashing the ball home from an unfeasibly tight angle. The inflated and squashed Claire Balding impersonator that currently masquerades as Steve Bruce was understandably unhappy with referee Kevin Friend’s decision to award the opening spot kick in the area despite initially whistling for a free kick outside, but as with all decisions in life, it’s always advisable to seek a second opinion. Preferably from someone twice as far away as you are. That’s why I never trust on scene reporters milling around in front of stuff. They never know anything. The story is always bound to have been broken 20 minutes earlier on Twitter. We should just scrap assistant referees altogether and replace them with a Twitter version. They could be called Twiterees and be forced to communicate solely in banal text speak and a limited amount of characters. Lolz.
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5. Oranges and Lemons – Blackpool continue to do everything right and everything wrong at exactly the same time in every game, leaving them as the only competition for the most entertaining season DVD with Arsenal’s in-house comedy keeper howlers 10/11. They remain fantastically enjoyable to watch but such is their worrying dependence on skipper Charlie Adam that his inevitable summer departure could see them capitulate completely from a side where everyone just looks like they work on a building site, to a side where everyone plays like one too. I really really don’t want them to go down though. There aren’t nearly enough good orange things in football. Not since Holland went dirty and Wes Brown got rubbish.
Other Things I Noticed: Roberto Martinez seems to have grown back his hair. Alex McLeish looks like a peeled orange. Aston Villa have gotten worse since losing James Milner, and so has James Milner. Stoke have now used up their entire non-set piece goal quota in one game and Louis Saha’s hair has finally stopped exploding after seven months. It’s now just singed, but still looks rubbish.
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You can follow Oscar on Twitter here, http://twitter.com/oscarpyejeary where you can observe him communicating solely in banal text speak and a limited number of characters. Lolz
Sao Paulo kept the pressure on Campeonato Paulista leaders Palmeiras with a 4-1 win away to Noroeste on Sunday.Visitors Sao Paulo took the lead through a penalty from goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni 35 minutes into the match at Estadio Dr Alfredo de Castilho.
Midfielder Marlos doubled the lead on the hour mark, before forward Dagoberto made it 3-0 on 76 minutes.
Defender Halisson pulled one back for the hosts two minutes later, but substitute Ilsinho struck in the 90th minute to restore the three-goal advantage.
The win keeps Sao Paulo second, one point behind top-of-the-table Palmeiras.
Noroeste are one point from safety in 17th place.
Corinthians lost ground on the top two after going down 2-1 at home to Sao Caetano.
The mid-table visitors led through goals in each half from forward Eduardo, the first from the penalty spot just nine minutes in.
Paulinho got a goal back for the hosts on 80 minutes, but they were unable to take anything from the game.
The defeat sees Corinthians fall six points behind Palmeiras.
Sao Caetano are up to eighth.
In other matches, fourth-placed Santos also dropped points in a 0-0 draw away to Americana.
Linense defeated Bragantino 2-1 at home, while Oeste came from behind to beat visitors Ponte Preta by the same scoreline.
Bob Houghton has resigned as India coach after allegations of racism were dropped by the country’s football federation.The Englishman, 63, was the subject of an investigation by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) following claims that he made a racist remark to a match official during a friendly against Yemen last October.
Houghton, who coached Swedish club Malmo to the 1979 European Cup final, described the allegations as ‘nonsensical’.
“The AIFF feels that in the absence of any definitive and concrete evidence the allegations against Mr Houghton cannot be sustained and therefore the AIFF agrees to withdraw all charges and allegations made against him,” the statement said.
“However, Mr. Houghton, for his personal reasons, does not wish to continue working in India and in his position as the head coach of the Indian football team.”
Houghton, who took over India in 2006, was contracted until 2013 after agreeing a new deal last year.
His tenure was marked by public disagreements with AIFF officials over the state of football infrastructure in the country and he had been tipped to walk away on several occasions.
Some sources have suggested that the federation agreed to drop the charges in exchange for Houghton’s resignation, with the arrangement reportedly suiting both parties.
A single point. Saturday, lunch time kick-off, the time earmarked as the moment Manchester United would go out to Ewood Park and do the job required of them in sealing a record 19th League title and surpass Liverpool’s tally of 18.
Yet, it was very nearly not to be. A strong side having been named, Sir Alex Ferguson made sure he showed his opponents respect in not wanting to show any complacency in his squad selection, recognising that until it was mathematically true, United were in no way guaranteed to be champions.
The only major change being Tomasz Kuszscak taking position between the posts in place of Edwin Van Der Sar proved to be a decision that may well have been a regret in wanting to rest the retiring Dutch ‘keeper, keeping him fresh for his final most important moments of the season and indeed his career. His Polish stand in having a torrid day, looking nervy and leading to a dominant United side being deflated after going one goal down after 20 minutes.
There on in United looked restless, shaky and frustrated against a resilient Blackburn, and it looked as though it might not be their day until with under 20 minutes left, Javier Hernandez broke through Blackburn’s back four, beating the offside trap and just about latching on to a sublime pass from Ryan Giggs, and although the ball looked beyond him, the young Mexican was able to take a touch away from Paul Robinson who dived out, taking Hernandez with him, conceding a penalty and providing Wayne Rooney with the opportunity to take his team within minutes of being crowned champions.
In front of United’s travelling support, Rooney stepped up to emphatically drive home his spot kick, leading Ferguson’s men to see out the match, with Blackburn not looking to challenge from there on, until the final whistle was blown, and Manchester United were once again crowned Premier League Champions. With that, here are five things that may be taken from the game.
1) Tomasz Kuszscak – Weakest Link
On such a momentous day, I will try and limit the negative statements. However, as is this also an analysis of the match itself, I would not be doing what was expected of me if there was not some sort of critique of certain performances, and the one that is certain to be considered a let down unanimously is that of Van Der Sar’s understudy. If, as expected, Kuszscak is leaving Old Trafford this Summer, he will not have left fans with a pleasant leaving moment.
A nervy performance throughout, his own lack of assurance in United’s goal seemed to filter through to the rest of the defence, looking an indecisive unit at a time when Van Der Sar would have allowed for far more control. It started badly when he failed to make up his mind as to whether or not to pick up a ball that may well have been judged a back pass, early in the first half and from there was never able to regain any confidence, looking out of sorts when coming for crosses and could have dealt with matters better in the build up to the opening goal of the game, looking to chase the ball after it had been crossed and finding himself out of position.
Perhaps a lack of match practise had been to blame, perhaps nerves had played a part knowing his contribution was of importance in helping seal the title, but whatever may have been affecting him, it does not excuse what was a below-par showing at a time when Ferguson will have wanted to keep Van Der Sar fresh in not having to play him when a reliable option is available. For a goalkeeper who has had positive contributions at times in his United career, his performance on Saturday afternoon emphasised the importance in picking an adequate replacement for next season as United’s first choice goalkeeper.
2) Paul Scholes appearance helped to regain control
With a defence that looked short on confidence for various reasons, after conceding an avoidable goal, United came under pressure from Blackburn. Despite having more possession, in terms of attempts, Blackburn were more than a match for Ferguson’s team, with his side failing to make much of the possession they had, even coming close to conceding a second when early in the second half When Olsson rose above Valencia to powerfully head the ball against the post.
However, United held on, refusing to lay low, and when Scholes was brought on for Fabio, it helped to regain a dominance in midfield, bringing a personality that had been there before, knowing what was required for the big occasion, and although still stifled by Blackburn’s resistance, the display began to look more self assured, showing threatening signs until Giggs played a superb pass to Hernandez leading to being awarded a penalty that would seal the title.
3) Ryan Giggs continues to astound
On what might otherwise be described as a day of frustration for Manchester United, fans will no doubt feel reassured that no matter what, there is always a big game personality, who might produce something that may just be enough to see their side through. On many occasions this season, that man has been Ryan Giggs, and once again provided yet more evidence for this on Saturday afternoon, helping orchestrate the moments that led to the all important title-winning goal.
However, this was not his only contribution, in a game that saw the seasoned veteran out run players over 10 years his junior, tracking back to win the ball and providing top quality tackles in fighting for every ball. Saturday, 14th May 2011 marked the day Ryan Giggs won his 12th League title, adding yet more gloss to an already glistening career, there was not a single player in the squad that deserved such praise as he. A great role model on the pitch, and no doubt a superb advertisement for yoga as well.
4) The critics have been answered
The game at Ewood Park certainly seemed to sum up United’s season away from home, often looking indifferent, their consistency at Old Trafford has truly made the difference in what has been an unusual but refreshing season for the Barclays Premier League. Teams have been more competitive than ever, the neutral will have been extremely entertained when teams have been so closely competing. The fact that nothing had been decided so late on was testament to the strength of competition within the league.
Matches found themselves to be far less predictable, with no one game allowed to be taken for granted. With a lack of dominance at the top of the table, some took on this fact to criticise United, despite being top for much of the season it was felt that the squad that had been assembled was far from vintage, and as such were considered lacklustre and poor. However, some will argue that it was simply a case that other sides had also improved, with the likes of Tottenham, Manchester City and later, Liverpool emerging as stronger sides.
Indeed, United had suffered with the loss of Ronaldo, as well as being hampered by injuries to important players like Ferdinand and Valencia as well as the retirement of Gary Neville. But regardless of the opinions on Ferguson’s men, what cannot be denied is their desire to win, the hard working attitude and the fact that a game was never lost in their minds, refusing to give in with this belief often rescuing matches. An example is when United travelled to Blackpool. It had looked to be one of those days, a nightmare when Blackpool went 2 goals up early on. However, in the second half a resurgent squad worked their way back into the match, exploiting Blackpool’s weaknesses to pull away with a victory.
Throughout the season this attitude has been evident and for all the faults of the team, some quality football has also been played, hitting form with the return of key players, emphasised most by Antonio Valencia, returning from such a long lay-off to become an ever present threat on the right wing, and providing a new attacking edge to United’s play.
Of course, the emergence of Javier Hernandez is also not to be forgotten, scoring 20 goals in all competitions so far, he has been regarded by many as the signing of the season, especially given the relatively modest sum that was paid for him, in light of other grotesquely more expensive signings, such as that made by Chelsea in January for a certain Spanish striker.
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5) 19 Times. All eyes on Barcelona.
Naturally, Sir Alex Ferguson will not take the final game of the season against Blackpool lightly. The fact the title has already been won, he will no doubt want to end the season with a victory on which to receive the trophy officially, setting up a wild celebration amongst the United faithful.
The fact the title has been sealed will now mean all the focus will be on the Champion’s League final at Wembley, and with the game against Blackpool as well as Gary Neville’s testimonial still to come, these games will provide opportunity for Ferguson to analyse which of his squad will be starting at Wembley on 28th May, as well as keeping his players fresh with some game time before the big occasion.
As is Sir Alex Ferguson’s way, he will be looking on to the next one. For now though, his players will be allowed to revel in their achievement, bask in their glory for what they have done. To overhaul Liverpool’s tally of 18 titles is something that many will never have foreseen. A remarkable feat, but as is Ferguson’s way, he will soon be looking on to the next opportunity, and soon will be looking to the next season, it what will provide a new challenge. But for now fans will enjoy such glorious times of happiness and celebrate the victory of a side that has been written off throughout. 19 times. Well and truly deserved.
Men of the match: Phil Jones for Blackburn. Ryan Giggs for Manchester United.
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Beijing Guoan went third on the Chinese Super League table with a 3-0 win at Nanchang Hengyuan on Saturday, while Shaanxi were held.Beijing, who finished an agonising two points shy of the AFC Champions League places last season, maintained their strong start by routing Nanchang in a bright second half.
Portuguese import Roberto scored his first goal in a Beijing shirt on 33 minutes, a prelude for what was to come after the break.
Honduras international Walter Martinez picked up his second goal in as many games in the 70th minute, before midfielder Wang Changqing added the finishing touches with a 90th-minute sealer.
Beijing move to third place, one point behind Guangzhou and two points off leaders Hangzhou Lucheng after five games.
Elsewhere, Shaanxi Chanba faltered at home to Changchun Yatai, settling for a 1-1 draw after both clubs made early inroads.
Changchun striker Zhang Wenzhao opened the visitors’ account with a goal in the 12th minute, one that was matched by former Zilina attacker Tomas Oravec 10 minutes later.
In other results, Qingdao Jonoon bounced back from consecutive defeats to edge Dalian Shide 2-1 in a thriller at Qingdao Tiantai Stadium.
Qingdao, who escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth last season, rocketed to a two-goal lead by the 55th minute thanks to a brace by Brazilian attacker Eber.
Bulgarian striker Martin Kamburov kept it interesting by pegging one back for Dalian in the 70th minute.
Finally, Jiangsu Sainty and Henan Construction fought out a 1-1 draw at the Nanjing Olympic Sports Center.
China international Zhao Peng put Henan ahead in the 11th minute, a lead that would last only seven minutes before on-loan Adelaide United striker Bruce Djite found the net.