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Even before all the matches of the Barclays Premier League finished, Manchester United laid claim to the trophy because of the total points earned in their respective matches that puts them way ahead of their nearest competitors. This third successive Premier League title came after a gripping match between Manchester United and Arsenal on May 16. Though the match turned out to be a draw with neither side scoring a goal fans stayed glued to their seats only due to the fact that a single pass could convert into a goal and consequently lead to a chain of events.

United was only a single point away from clinching the title and this probably could have been the primary reason for their laidback performance. The first half of the game saw United players playing at a walking pace while the players from Arsenal were probably trying to play for the cameras. In the process of trying to convert a picture-perfect match winning goal, Arsenal lost quite a fair bit of focus on actually heading for the goal and sneaking a pass between the somewhat indifferent United players. The first half of the game was uninteresting and relatively forgettable. A stunning crossfield pass from Rooney was controlled quite efficiently by Cristiano Ronaldo only to be lost near the goal. Even though most players including Tevez played well below par still United refrained from making changes till halftime. Ji-sung Park replaced Tevez in the 67th minute and his Nike Tiempo trainers appeared to be on fire as he almost immediately charged towards the Arsenal goal post. Park netted the ball within minutes of coming on to the field though the referee denied the goal because of a highly questionable offside.

Probably the longest 90 minutes in Premier League history came to a draw with the final scores at 0-0. United have one more match to play and if this was the exuberance that was displayed at the almost win situation then United’s concluding game for the Premier League could turn out to be the most tedious and droning 90 minutes ever.

After the defeat from Manchester United with a score of 1-0, the Arsenal Goalkeeper voiced his opinion of the dismal performance made by his team mates. With an outstanding four saves Manuel Almunia has a unique personality that is distinct from his other team mates even in the dressing room. The only thing working for the team, was Almunia’s goalkeeper gloves. Without his contribution, United would have rampaged Arsenal and the Score tally would have been a real demoraliser for the team.

Known for his honest and frank opinion he could not hold back his feelings and remarked that a number of players of Arsenal even before the start of the play were under tremendous pressure and as a result after 25 minutes of play went totally blank. Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger was clearly unhappy. The players were not able to keep the ball with them and it appeared from their body language as if they did not even know how the ball should be kept.

He also added that even in the dressing room they were very disappointed as it appeared to be a lost game. He said he was surprised and felt very bad in the manner some of the players performed as all of them were really looking forward for this game for a long time. He further remarked that there was no doubt that it was a big game and competition where pressures do play a role, but he expected the players had that requisite experience to handle such pressures.

However despite this defeat of 1-0 from Manchester United, Almunia is confident that Arsenal will overturn the situation and they are capable of doing it.

The hottest pair today in the modern day football rivalries is Arsene Wenger versus Sir Alex Ferguson. When we compare their background it differs vastly but the basic philosophy of Football for both of them is the same that is attacking and free –flowing manner of playing in the games.

On one hand Arsene Wenger has a team that outshines in aesthetics when compared with all the other rivals while the steel of Ferguson’s United cannot be matched by Arsenal that is the trade mark of all successful teams of Ferguson. It would sure be exciting to see the two super managers face off against each other in a game of Football Manager 2007, never mind in real life. Wenger has really come out of that image of that Calm and composed Frenchman who would just observe sitting at the touchline. His involvement has now become full of emotions and is one of the best passionately involved boss. However he still has not reached that stage of motivating by fist- pumping as is the case with Ferguson who is seen employing with his team.

If we consider the Combustibility factor and rate them on a scale of ten, then both the men have the capacity and the potential of reaching beyond the scale of ten. But the method employed by both of them varies to vent the fury. On one hand Ferguson takes the straight route irrespective whether it is the referees or it is the rival managers, whereas the fury of Wenger can be counted from the word “Listen” that measures his fury. It is a calculated effort directed on those whom he perceives has done wrong to his team of himself.

The success of the two can be compared by the Silverware where Manchester United have got a total score of 15 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Ferguson and Arsenal score is 7 plus 4 Community/Charity Shields since the arrival of Wenger

It seems that anonymous data that is reflecting in some gigantic calculation is enough to reduce the game of football and footballers to a set of statistics. Never the less there are people out there insisting to see the world like that, for those Dimitar Berbatov’s first season at Manchester United states reflected 13 goals in all competitions; 27 matches of Barclays Premier League with 8 goals; had shooting accuracy around 50% with 20% conversion chances. It is been argued that this is a woeful season for a player who costs £30.75 million. The statistics are fair but they fail to convey – the essence of Dimitar Berbatov’s contribution; the artistry of his volley; the elegance of his pull back & takes; the audacity of his lightning turn and intuitive flick.

The statistics of almost all the matches, for all the top performers and for the all breath taking events are collected to analyze that “X” factor of success. There is an entire academic set up trying to establish the reason for the dominance of English teams in the Champions League. The reason is above that in the statistics, the reason is the peerless spectacle. It should be seen in the vision of Arsène Wenger & Ferguson in particular.

The fans and spectators would always like to witness the game, share the excitement and would love to enjoy the game. Though they would understand the statistical matrix very clearly to understand the win and lose side of a game but no one would leave the ground with a percentage of passes competed in his head; unless of course they were recording and analysing everything in real time on their new Dell Inspiron 1545 notebook. However, for most normal people, only  the moments and excitement would be locked in their heads, and not the individual shooting, or passing statistics. The fun they have at the live game can never be tasted in the ProZone’s matrix of numbers or in front of a computer screen.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) had received a complaint from the Trust of supporters of the Manchester United with respect to club’s policy for purchase of season ticket. In the present scenario the season ticket that gives the right to access in the 2008-09 seasons for the entire 19 games of the Premier League at a price ranging from £394 to £912 includes the catch that the holder is also compelled to purchase tickets for all the matches of Champions League, the FA Cup and every League Cup. Clearly this becomes difficult for many ticket holders as they are not financially or otherwise able to travel to every league game throughout Europe. The amount paid for these league games, and travelling to them, is obviously gigantic, and probably wouldn’t even cover the costs of a 52 inch Sony KDL-52W5500 HDTV. In November an Essex University Law professor’s support was cited by the trust whereby they complained of abuse of power by the club. They also said that the season ticket holders were forced for payment for less important games but were refused best home cup matches.

The Office of Fair Trading responded by saying that the club can continue for the next season’s their Cup policy but will have to inform for the extra cost to the fans. The Office of Fair Trading added that they had not entertained the complaint of the trust under the Competition Act. However they said that the automatic payment right for the cup matches was allowed to the club but there were a number of terms that was potentially unfair in the policy for the season-ticket.

The Club post announcement agreed that tickets for the entire cup matches will be guaranteed to the holders of the season-ticket for the next year irrespective of allocations for opposing fans and the officials.

Manchester United has dominated the awards list of the PFA with a total of five out of the six nominated player coming from Manchester United and only non-Manchester United nomination being Steven Gerrard from Liverpool. The other Manchester United nominees are Nemanja Vidic, Edwin van der Sar, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand. The voting for these awards had taken place before United Manchester had their recent plunge in the form which goes to explain the total domination in the list of nominee in the “PFA player of the year award.”

There is a strong possibility of Defender Nemanja Vidic as the most favourite contender to lift the trophy of the “PFA player of the year award.” As far as Steven Gerrard is concerned there is also a possibility of the Adidas Predator Absolute X TRX SG football boots wearing player benefiting from split votes over United players. If Ryan Giggs wins this would be his first award and if Cristiano Ronaldo wins the award he would be the first player to win consecutively for three years.

Similar is the situation in the Nominees for the “PFA young player of the year award” where Rafael Da Silva and Jonny Evans the United pair are the strong contenders for this award. However besides this pair Stephen Ireland of Manchester United, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor of Aston Villa and Aaron Lennon of Tottenham are also in the race.

Both Young and Agbonlahor from Aston have been impressive throughout while on the other hand even Lennon of Tottenham has also been successful in drawing attention this season.

Federico Macheda has once again shot to limelight with one more crucial intervention that led Manchester United to win 2-1 against Sunderland. He has been brought off the bench one more time in the past six days and it worked again. The seventeen year old scored the winning goal for United.

Somehow there is a strange feeling about the situation in which United is placed. At present they have restored their single-point advantage  over Liverpool and are placed in the Premier League table at the top and they have already captured the League Cup and are also in line in the FA Cup semi-final. On the other hand Fulham and Liverpool have registered a good win against Manchester United. They have managed a 2-2 draw to Porto at home and had late wins against Sunderland and Aston Villa with the help of a 17-year young Italian lad that somehow are not very convincing. This feeling has also been reflected by Ferguson.

However whatever is the case Macheda in one week had made it happen again which goes to prove that he has that something extra and special that works. At this pace he is quickly outshining even Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of star calibre, and we expect the popular young player will be endorsing his Nike Total 90 Laser II SG and signing other lucrative sponsorship deals before too long. The Sunderland defenders for their part said that these are the old Manchester United tricks of scoring late goals that he has observed over the past many years and it just proves that it is a great side. The manager has the outstanding capability of churning out one player after another and making one great team after another. Surprised at this secret of success he gave the entire credit to the manager for believing in the young lad.

The 17 year old Italian Federico Macheda decided the fate of Manchester United by making the deciding goal of the game in the 93rd minute and taking the club to a victory of 3-2 against Aston Villa. He was signed from Lazio’s junior team just 18 months before and has continued the Old Trafford tradition of placing trust on the young players.

When Macheda was being presented champagne for the man of the match he literally grabbed the same from Gary Neville’s hands showing the innocence of his young age.

At one point of time United were down 2-1 and this would have brought back Liverpool to the race for the title and even when Cristiano Ronaldo squared off with a score of 2-2 then their game in their hand would have been the only advantage, but this 3-2 win has changed the picture totally and United is back on top.

This was a rare occasion when Ronaldo was a sideshow in front of the 17 year lad even after scoring both the initial two goals including the second equalizer goal. The promise and power lurking in Macheda’s Nike Total 90 football boots seems to have quite simply overshadowed the man who is usually considered Man U’s best player, Ronaldo. Similarly Carlos though having got the required start that his team got appeared to be ineffective. Similarly Luis Nani, Gary Neville and John O’Shea also did not give an impressive performance.

Players of Liverpool who must be watching the match must have contemplated that the badly wounded United would consecutively loose three league games, but at the end of the match it was Ferguson who had the final say and said that he was not of the opinion to treat Liverpool as the biggest threat.

On Friday Sir Alex Ferguson was quoted saying that Chief Executive of Manchester United David Gill is considering staggering of the games. Ferguson in the past was in favour of a shut-down similar to the continental style during the middle of the season and justified the winter break as beneficial which would come immediately after New Year fixtures.

However Ferguson is also aware of the fact that the acceptance of this concept is not there in England although there was a situation when all the top clubs voted in favour of having a winter break but were not able to decide on how to schedule the same.

Now the Manchester United boss is considering the extension by one more week of this current season as he wants to accommodate the qualify games of the world cup for England to be played in June against Andorra and Kazakhstan and this he feels would more than justify having a winter break. He further added that due to the lack of rest, injuries suffered by the English players are much more common than their counterparts in Europe. Most continental European players have a break to take off their Adidas, Nike or Puma football boots and recover from the rigours of regular season play. Ferguson further emphasised that the figures support his observation that the English players play with a lot of troubles and sprains and as they approach the months of late February or early march many play with injuries.

Meanwhile David Gill is expected to put up a proposal to spread one round of fixtures of the Premier League in January over a period of three weeks which would satisfy broadcaster requirements and at also providing two weeks break to all the 20 clubs players so that they could re-charge themselves.

After the stunning defeat of Manchester United by the in-form Liverpool, Rafael Benitez is very high on confidence and believes his team has bounced back for contention of the Premier League title. Running through the previous week, he said with the Reds having a superb win of 4-0 of Real Madrid have once again have thrashed Manchester United 4-1 and are on their way for the Premier League’s title.

At Half time, Fernando Torres capitalised on the mistake of the United defence and fired on them making it a level. Fernando Torres in his Nike Total 90 Laser football boots has been instrumental to Liverpool’s success and Benitez has often called him the key to winning the Premier League title. Finally before half time, a penalty by Steven Gerrard gave them the advantage before going in for half time up 2-1. The second half also saw some disadvantage for United as their team got reduced to ten players. A free kick from Fabio Aurelio with the sending off of Vidic with the substitute from the Red’s Andrea Dossena making a lob in the 90th minute did the final scoring.

As a result of this win their gap has moved to four points with the Manchester United at the top positions. Though United is in the driving seat, Rafael Benitez feels they are back in the title run. He further added that they have defeated Europe’s top two sides, the Manchester United and Real Madrid with convincing margins and scoring 4 goals in each of the match which is fantastic.

When confronted with the possibility of getting the title, he said for that United have to lose some games while they will have to win practically all the games. He said that they the Reds are better placed as they are high on belief, confidence and are winning matches convincingly. The only thing is that they should not commit any mistakes and need to be focused and consistent with concentration on every match.