Mike Phelan

I realise this post can be easy to say in defeat, but this is something that I've been thinking for a while... it's time to ship out Mike Phelan and his short shorts.

Phelan is completely out of his depth - he lacks the tactical nous, an appreciation for continental football and a touchline charisma. It's no coincidence that our period when we played our most attractive football was when Queiroz led the training sessions or was ordering players from the touchline. Ever since Queiroz has left, our style has slowly degenerated from a free-flowing 4-3-3 formation with rotating forwards (Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez) to an old-school rigid 4-4-2. I realise we have reached CL finals and won the league since Phelan took over, but most of that has been down to a system and legacy laid down before, which over time is slowly crumbling.

How many times have we been hopelessly outplayed this season? City both games, Benfica, Basle, Atletic Bilbao, Wigan... the list goes on. And this is not symptomatic of this season, this has been happening for the past 2 years.

Changes are required in the staff this summer, and this needs to start with the removal of Phelan and the appointment of an experienced and cultured man with new ideas.

The derby to end all derbies

I realise many moons have passed since I last posted, but tonights fixture has convinced me to don my keyboard once more.

Firstly, credit to City for keeping the faith (despite Mancini telling the press another story) and making this title race one of the most exciting in recent years.

Fergie has said we should go for the win. I'm not sure whether this is gamesmanship as I think secretly the main objective for him tonight is keeping a clean sheet after October's debacle. City need to win - we do not. I hope we play 4-5-1 and look to smack them on the counter-attack. De Gea, Evra, Ferdinand, Evans, Valencia, Carrick, Rooney will definitely start. Assuming, we play 4-5-1 that gives us a few conundrums:

Right back: Rafael, Jones or Smalling? If Dzeko plays, Smalling could be quite useful in the air. I personally would like to see Rafael play, simply because he gets forward and has a good understanding with Valencia. Plus having him bombing down the wing will hopefully give Gael Clichy something to think about.

Left midfield: Young or Nani? I'd go with Young here as he is quite useful at drawing fouls and taking set pieces.

Central midfield: Scholes, Giggs, Cleverley, Jones? Assuming Carrick starts, I'd go with Scholes and Giggs. Jones doesn't quite seem to have the awareness of where his central mdifield partner is, which has left gaping holes in other games. Cleverley has been extremely poor since coming back from injury.

Overall, I can see tonights game being tight, tense and very nervy. Tevez will have a point to prove so I think we'll have to be careful with him, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Balotelli on the bench either. Lose tonight and the momentum is firmly with City and they will win the title (and we will only have ourselves to blame after Wigan and Everton).

I'm going for a 1-1 draw. COYR

Lowdown on Keane's potential successors

Well it's been a long while since I last posted here (for various reasons) but todays events compelled me to make a return and discuss who could take over the mantle as Manchester United's driving force from midfield.

Firstly, there must have been some serious damage behind the scenes to prompt Keane's removal from the United payroll. For me anyway, it doesn't make sense to dispose of probably of our best central midfielder (at present) especially when we cannot sign a replacement immediately due to the transfer window. Surely we could have waited 2 months for the window to be open and then get rid? Well what's done is done now I guess...

A lot of people have touted Ballack as the solution to the problem. Not in my eyes. Ballack is more the modern midfielder in the mould of Lampard, someone who gets forward, scores goals, and has an eye for a pass. Whilst he would be a welcome signing, time is not on his side either (he is 29) and so he would last for a maximum of 3-4 seasons anyway. Not to bait the theory conspiracists amongst you, but perhaps freeing Keane was a calculated ploy on Fergie's part, saying to Ballack that he wants him and is prepared to sacrifice a legend for it.

Gerrard, Vieira and Essien have also been suggested. Give me a break. These players have recently signed contracts with their respective clubs, and I'm pretty sure United have enough respect for themselves, and the contracted players' clubs to count them out the equation.

Gennaro Gattuso is another name who has been linked in the papers. Now this guy would be an excellent signing, and despite the fact he has openly admitted he would like to wear the famous red shirt one day, he would be cup tied for the champions league and I very much doubt AC Milan would allow one of their star players to leave mid-season.

I'm going to save who I think could be a viable solution for last. Jon Mikel Obi. Whilst the signing has not been confirmed yet, this kid has enormous potential (and current ability), would be eligible to play in Europe, and would join Man Utd match-fit (Norwegian season ends soon). Let's hope that his agent, and Chelsea's underhand transfer dealings doesn't ruin the deal for us.

Fergie shoulders the blame for our poor start

Is Fergie reading my blog? Because no sooner had I posted a rant about the incessant player swapping every game, he finally admits to the press that his tinkering is the reason for our poor start. Anyway, there is not much we can do about it now but field our strongest lineup whenever possible, perhaps giving rests to players during the League and FA Cup periods (I honestly can't see Fergie seeing them as priorities anyway).

With regards to tonights game, Sparta Prague have shown that they are a very good and technical side and so even if we get 1 point tonight, it can be seen as a good job. I would probably expect Giggs and Scholes to start following their respective injuries and we will need their creativity after our desperate performance at the weekend. Also captaining Sparta will be United old-boy Karel Poborsky who showed at Lazio and Benfica that he was a better player then his performances suggested at Old Trafford. Rio and Keane will be missing (family bereavement and virus respectively) so Silvestre should lineup alongside Brown or O'Shea.

I'm not sure if others would agree with this one, but I think our strikeforce should consist of Smith and Ruud tonight. Ruud's pedigree in Europe makes him a certainty whilst Smith's goal-scoring start to the season surely warrants a place in the team. Post your thoughts below...

Title hopes fading away

I was speaking to a fellow Man Utd supporter yesterday, post-Birmingham, and his scathing words still echo in my ears... "Fergie is f*cking insane, why the f*ck is he playing 4 strikers on the pitch at the same time?! What the f*ck is wrong with him?!"

It seems that many of my fellow United supporters are growing increasingly concerned at the plight of the team. We have made our worst start ever to a premiership season and our central midfield looks weak. This is further exacerbated by our strikers unwillingness to put the ball in the back of the net in the Premiership, with our top scorer, Smith, starting to be played out of position or left on the bench.

At first I was of the opinion that it's not our team getting worse, but teams in the Premiership getting better. However, a friend of mine, yesterday re-iterated a point that he has been saying to me for a few months now, regarding teams like Charlton, Boro, Birmingham et al... the so-called 'solid' teams. I quote:

"No longer satisfied with trying to win, they try not to lose"

Never was that more appropriate than yesterday. I'm sorry to say that if Birmingham play for a point at home, then they will get relegated, and from me there will be no sympathy. You have to play to win at home. The match could have gone on for another hour and Birmingham would not have scored. I can understand it if they came to Old Trafford, but at home it is not acceptable. People pay good money to watch premiership games.

Next rant, our team. Why oh why does Fergie insist on swapping the team every game? Henry, Reyes, Pires, Cole, Campbell and many more of their team were on international duty and still they made Arsenal's starting lineup. The fact that the line-up is changing so frequently will eventually be our downfall as the team does not get time to gel. Furthermore, playing 4 strikers up front is not going to return goals when there are no creative midfield players to lay on the chances... Ronaldo should have stayed on and shifted over to the left side where he could have had more success than he had against Julian Gray. Regarding our midfield situation, I'd like to know why P. Neville has been so harshly omitted from the central midfield position following his superb performances there last season. I'm certain he would do a better job than some of weak performances we've seen so far from Keane, Djemba-Djemba etc.

Quick international roundup

Sorry for not writing frequently lately but I have been a bit busy of late. Anyway, it seems like a good week in general for Man Utd's internationals. Ferdinand was outstanding alongside Campbell as England beat Wales and Azerbaijan. Keano helped the Republic of Ireland ease to a 2-0 win over the Faroe Islands and also a solid draw with France.

Nistelrooy returned from suspension to fire holland to a 3-1 win over Finland, who had drawn with Macedonia in their previous match, whilst Ronaldo produced another sparkling performance (and 2 goals) to help Portugal to a 7-1 thrashing of Russia following their embarassing draw with Liechenstein. However, Fletcher was unable to make an impression as Scotland succumbed to a 1-0 defeat by Norway and a 1-1 draw with lowly Moldova.

It was unfortunate that Giggs wasn't able to make the starting lineup for Wales against Poland as I am convinced he would have made the difference (it was a fantastic game of football by the way!). It really is a great shame that such a magnificent player has never been able to grace an international tournament, and it is now looking likely (barring a miracle) that England and Poland will occupy the top two slots.

Thoughts on Glazer's takeover proposal

I'm going to take a negative stance on this one, even though like the majority, I am on the outside looking in. Many of the United fans I have spoken to are vehemently against Glazers proposal, and see it as a bigger threat than the Sky takeover bid.

Conspiracy theorists propose a hit-and-run scenario by Glazer, others suggest that the he will take profits out the club and place them in his own pocket, rather than re-investing. This is a very real possibility because Glazer doesn't have enough money to buy the club, let alone invest his own money into transfer funds. We definitely can't expect a Roman Abrahamovich situation here. The fact that Glazer will have to take out a loan to purchase the club means that United will be effectively turned into a mortgage laden model. Therefore we are transformed from a club in profit, to a club in debt. Again, while this doesn't pose a problem to the survival of the club, it will definitely have a hard-hitting effect on immediate transfer funds.

Another cause for concern is Glazers' apparent lack of knowledge of the traditions and vast histories of our club. Some reports have claimed that it wasn't Glazer's idea to buy the club, but his sons who are United fans. The fact that Glazer is an experienced sports "owner" and will have little concern for our famous history means that he will use the club solely for profit, exploiting us fans by hiking up ticket prices. Additionally, Glazer (who has very close ties with Sky) may undersell us and give Sky world exclusive rights to our games.

I would like to re-iterate that I in no way claim to know all the details, but only see things as they are portrayed in the public eye. After all, when Glazer bought the Tampa Bay Bucs they were the laughing stock of the league. He hired the right people, who in turn hired the right people to turn the team around. However, if Glazer does have an ulterior motive then as United fans, we all have reason to be concerned.