Winning is a Habit

A lot has been, and is going to be said regarding Sir Alex Ferguson's team selection for Manchester United's defeat against Everton in the FA Cup Semi-Final at Wembley. Whilst Arsene Wenger's argument of the "laughable" and "disastrous" playing surface may have affected Sir Alex's team sheet, essentially Manchester United were always going to send out a "weakened side".

Sir Alex needed to rotate his players as much as he could in the quest for an unprecedented Quintuple. For Manchester United to have achieved this feat, they would have played out 67 football matches since the season opening Community Shield victory against Portsmouth in August. Many football fans will argue that, when all a professional footballer has to do all week is train and play matches, a 67 match season should be of no concern. The truth is it is of concern.

Consider Cristiano Ronaldo, who spent the first two months out injured, yet has still managed to feature in 45 matches so far this season. Can it be good for anyone, even a professional athlete, to put their body on the line for that level of intensity? Don't forget Manchester United players are carrying this intensity year on year, having completed arguably their greatest success last season staving off Chelsea's threat to win the Premier League and Champions League Double. Oh and whilst England did not compete, don't forget that this season followed a very competitive Euro 2008. Manchester United, as with other top sides, cannot put their strongest side out from game to game.

However there is a fine balance between squad rotation and selecting a team to win. Winning is a habit, and if a side starts drawing and losing games that can too often affect a club's long term performance. Arsenal suffered such a problem last season, when in the dominant position of leading the Premier League, and comfortably set in all three cup competitions, Wenger sent a weakened side to Old Trafford for the FA Cup. They lost that match, ended the season empty handed, and with Club Captain William Gallas throwing a tantrum at St. Andrews.

Martin O'Neill has also become a victim to prioritising competitions. Aston Villa were a comfortable 3 points clear of Arsenal in 4th place when he decided to put a weakened side out against CSKA Moscow in the Uefa Cup. Since then, Aston Villa have fallen 7 points behind Arsenal having played a game more, a run of 10 games without a win.

So there is a fine line, and Sir Alex will be hoping that this defeat does not contribute to another end of season blip. But then, who are we to question the great man? When the dust settles, will we be remembering the Semi-Final defeat to Everton, or the back to back Premier League and Champions League double?

Accrington Players Bury'd for Match Fixing

The Football Association, moving as swiftly as ever, has charged five footballers with a breach of gambling rules. They were found to have placed significantly large bets on the result of Accrington vs. Bury, played on the last day of last season. The five footballers, four from Accrington and the other from Bury, staked bets of over £10,000 on the result, with Bury winning the eventual match 2-0.

At the end of last season, I recall the incident vividly. The Friday before the match, bookmakers had suspended the market, meaning that no-one was able to get a bet on the game. No information followed this, and thus there was a lot of confusion and curiousity amongst both the the bookie and the punter.

It soon followed that there had been significantly irregular betting patterns concerning the game, and that Bury had been backed quite heavily for the victory. Instantly one knew that the shit was going to hit the fan, although no-one could have expected it to have taken almost a whole year later for anyone to get charged.

Coincidentally, that summer I spent a week on my FA Coaching Course with a Bury player, who when hearing I worked for William Hill was curious if I knew anything of the event. This player was happy to convey his side of the story. On arrival at the ground, the players were met with a heavy police presence, something rather unusual for lower league football. The player was oblivious to the betting syndicate at the time, but whilst at the ground had heard that there was a plan for Accrington to allow his Bury side to win. Apparently, it was an annual ritual that, if neither side were playing for anything come the end of the season, Accrington would just allow Bury to win the game. The player was glad to be the beneficiary, and not having to consider throwing the game himself. However, as he tells it, Accrington kicked off and their centre-forward sprinted towards goal and unleashed an effort that the Bury goalkeeper only just tipped over the bar. The Bury player commented to the centre-forward that he thought they weren't trying to win, and the forward responded by saying he hadn't heard anything about it. After that, it was game on.

Now, I'm not saying anyone is innocent or guilty, but it is certainly an interesting angle on the whole event. The chances are that Bury would have won the game anyway. If you are going to throw a match, fair play to the Accrington players for making it a nothing match, and trying to win as much out of it as possible. However... it is entirely unprofessional, and having been caught, should certainly be given a life ban from football.

Scotland's Drinking Problem

The idea of Scotland having a drinking problem is like saying the Spanish are racists. This is not news to anyone. However, and I'm pretty sure that Barry Ferguson and Allan McGregor have got this message now, the reaction has not been about their impromptu all night (and most of the morning) drinking session, but of their reaction when on the bench for the Iceland match. To put it simply, the two players are complete idiots. What on earth was going through their head to decide to put two fingers up, and to whom?

The paths of professional football and alcohol have crossed several times. The most prominent of all the professional footballers to have a drinking problem must be Paul Gascoigne. Gazza was notoriously the joker in the pack, and his lust for life was to be his inevitable downfall, even after coming back from a very serious self-inflicted knee injury. But Gazza was a drunk with a bit of class, and an unrivalled jovial side.

When England were snapped and shamed across the tabloids for their drinking chair shenanigans, Gazza's reaction was to score a screamer against Scotland, and to mimic the whole event with a water bottle.

It is understandable that players will occasionally slip from their role model lifestyles, it's acceptable that, on occasion they will have one too many to drink. That is why we can laugh at Paul Merson for his drinking celebrations, why we can laugh at Gazza pulling down Paul Ince's shorts, why we all laughed incredibly when Tony Adams dropped Steve Morrow and broke his arm (granted he probably wasn't drunk at the time but he was also an alcoholic). But pretty much no-one laughs when instead of representing your country, you're acting like a child on the substitute's bench giving two fingers to the rest of your international career.

Earth Moving Italian

It seems apt that, on a weekend where Italy suffers a destructive earthquake killing hundreds, that England jumps on the media bandwaggon. This weekend in England, an unknown Italian sent shockwaves around the footballing world. But who is Kiko Macheda? And should we even care?

Macheda's goal has been compared to Steve Bruce's "last minute" winner against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993, a goal that had Brian Kidd and Alex Ferguson jumping on the touchline, convinced that was the goal to win Manchester United their first Premier League title for 26 years. Macheda's goal could be of similar importance with Liverpool breathing heavily down their neck, but the biggest comparison should probably be in the 5 minutes of added time. As Martin O'Neill suggested, you wouldn't have got that at Villa Park. That aside... Macheda took his goal very well, and has added even more excitement to the end of the season. But should we care about another promising striker coming through the Old Trafford ranks?

David Johnson was a part of the All Star Manchester United Youth Team with Beckham, Scholes and co. but despite being prolific in that side, never made it with the first team and soon found himself at Ipswich. However, whilst it didn't work out at United, he became a legend at Portman Road firing them into the Premier League.

Jonathan Macken followed not long after, again full of goals in the youth set-up before failing to make an impact at senior level. Macken moved on to feeder club Preston North End, and under David Moyes almost carried Preston into the Premier League, but instead made a £5 million move to Manchester City.

Erik Nevland was Manchester United's record goalscorer in the reserves, and was given a fair crack in the senior side, but as with the players before him found life in the senior side a struggle. Nevland took a while to overcome the rejection from United, but is now settled at Fulham, where his recent goals have helped carry them to safety, with an outside chance of Europe.

David Healy scored his first goal for Northern Ireland before his first senior Manchester United goal, which says a lot for both the strength of the United youth set-up and the weakness of the Northern Ireland set-up. Healy is now Northern Ireland's record goalscorer, but never made a success at Old Trafford, and is occasionally featuring for Sunderland.

It was Giuseppe Rossi that broke Nevland's reserve goalscoring record, before he too broke into the first team. Rossi appeared to be a genuine talent, and filled the boots of Diego Forlan not once, but twice, when Villareal then signed him for £8 million.

Frazier Campbell, currently on-loan at Tottenham Hotspur, featured in the early part of the season for Manchester United having been prolific on-loan for Hull City in the Championship last season. Campbell, also a part of the England U21 set-up, has not had the opportunity to show his talent at under-performing Spurs.

Why is it that all of these centre forwards have promised so much but never made it at Old Trafford? It's because Sir Alex Ferguson has never held back with his cheque book where signing the best centre-forwards in the world is concerned. From Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham, Dwight Yorke, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Diego Forlan, Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov... Manchester United might be able to produce some talented young centre-forwards, but they will never compete with the fact that they can buy the world's best talent.

The difference between a world class forward and a regular forward compared to a world class centre-back and a regular centre back is phenomenal. There's a plethora of world class defenders, but if you were to consider the number of world class centre-forwards, or attacking players... a much smaller number stands out. And thus there is less of a need for world class centre-backs. It is much easier for a player such as Jonny Evans, or Wes Brown to come through the youth system than it is for Erik Nevland or David Healy. These players have still been very good players, particularly the latter few... but it is almost impossible for any of these players to make that impact at Old Trafford.

So... should we care about Macheda? Well... there's two big differences about Macheda that the other players didn't have. Firstly, Machede offers something different physically. He is fast, he is strong, and he is tall. Healy and Nevland in particular suffered from a lack of pace, and what Campbell has in pace he lacks in physical presence. Secondly, and potentially the biggest element, Macheda is the first player to have come through the tutelage of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Reserve Team Manager. This may mean nothing, but if Solskjaer can coach even half of the natural talent he possessed then... perhaps... but I wouldn't bet on it.