Manchester United: Sir Alex, It's Your Title To Lose

Shaka Anderson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:25:58 -0400

Back in December, I wrote an article that provoked some fury among Arsenal fans. Arsenal were leading the table by five points and playing well, yet I predicted that Manchester United would win the league.

Well, April is almost upon us now and what do we have, Man UTD are leading the table by five points and playing well. Nobody seems to be able to stop Christiano Ronaldo from scoring, which means Chelsea and Arsenal are now praying for miracles to save their seasons.

Now, I didn't want to make that prediction because I want my team to win the league, but at the end of the day, Chelsea are just not good enough.

I think although Avram Grant has made some very dumb decisions, he has not gotten enough credit for the way he has hauled Chelsea back into the fight to be in second place with a team that belongs to Jose Mourinho. The truth is though, that it will be too little, too late.

Take the last week for example. I was at White Hart Lane for the draw against Spurs and I was almost in tears at the end of the game. If I was a neutral fan, I would have said that this was the best game in the Premier League all season bar none as most of the games involving the "Big Four" have been snorefests. The fact fact is that I'm not a neutral and Chelsea had a chance to maintain the gap to Man UTD and blew it.

This was their best performance offensively under Avram Grant so far, but defensively it was our worst. Too many goals conceded from set pieces.

Now people will say, "you beat Arsenal." And I will say, "yes, we did." The fact is though, we are still five points behind with only seven games remaining. We need to beat Man UTD at Stamford Bridge and hope they lose another game elsewhere. If anyone can see where there are going to lose elsewhere, then please let me know.

Arsenal are now on their worst run under Arsene Wenger. The strength in depth comments that I made back in December are now coming home to roost. They have relied too much on getting Robin Van Persie back from injury instead of buying a top striker to put in the rotation. Emmanuel Adebayor is now struggling but has to play because there is nobody else.

Now Eduardo has been injured as we all know, with that horrific tackle and Robin Van Persie is taking time to get back to form after injury. When Kolo Toure was at the African Cup of Nations, they were relying on Phillip Senderos where he has shown that he is not a Premier League defender.

They should have more top quality players to provide some genuine competition for places. It's no wonder that Arsenal have not won anything so far in the last three years. Wenger needs to spend and stop being so tight.

The fact is that Arsenal are a young team that have found the going tough when the tough should get going and are now paying the price for having a thin, youthful squad with no experience to fight for the league. I'm sure their time will come; but not this year.

As for Liverpool, I think it's better left at that.

The title is Man UTD's to lose. They don't have to beat Chelsea or Arsenal to win the league, unless God answers my prayers for a miracle...

Until then, mine's a Guinness please!

Chelsea FC: Avram, You've Got a Stay of Execution

Shaka Anderson — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:11:28 -0500

Two weeks ago, as I sat in my seat at Wembley behind the North goal, I felt the lowest I'd ever felt as a Chelsea fan. The team hadn't turned up, the fans were asleep, and we got beaten by a Spurs side that was inspired to win their first trophy in nine years. The team selection and formation was wrong, the subs were ineffective, and there was no heart in their performance.

Don't get me wrong, I accepted the fact that we got beaten with good grace because Spurs deserved to win the Carling Cup and therefore deserve all the credit and plaudits.

The reason I mention this is because up to this point of the season, although Avram Grant has only lost three matches out of 35 games (which, by the way, is a record any manager should be proud of), the problem was that the three losses were crunch games. You have to wonder whether Grant has the ability to mould this team to win the big games.

On Saturday against West Ham, I witnessed a performance from Chelsea that at least convinced me to give him a stay of execution. What I witnessed was a selection that was not Chelsea's best lineup, but a team performance that demonstrated that they can come back from adversity.

While it was only West Ham, I was expecting another boring, tight, woeful performance. Instead I witnessed Chelsea's best performance in at least four months. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to win with boring play, but boring this was not.

One of the main reasons was the inclusion of Wembley refugees Michael Ballack and Joe Cole. Clearly they should have been in the team against Spurs.

Last night against Olympiacos I was again expecting a drab, boring, tight game when Chelsea shocked me again with style. This time there was no mass rotation, just two changes—Didier Drogba in for Nicolas Anelka and a forced change in goal of Carlo Cudicini for an injured Petr Cech. This continuity did the trick in my opinion.

So Grant has my backing at least for now because he has demonstrated that he can get Chelsea playing well and winning games. It's just hoping he can replicate this type of football for the big games.

Bleacher Report - Articles by Shaka Anderson

Manchester United: Sir Alex, It's Your Title To Lose

Chelsea FC: Avram, You've Got a Stay of Execution