Stan's 5-Point Stance: No Place for Spitting in Game, Van Gaal Riding His Luck

In this week's "Five-Point Stance," Stan Collymore visits topics related to the Premier League spitting controversy, Everton and Aston Villa's relegation concerns, Per Mertesacker, Mark Hughes and Manchester United.

1. Spitting offences deserve same punishment as biting and diving

On the back of the Jonny Evans-Papiss Cisse situation, I have been asked a lot today which is worse: spitting, diving, or biting? When I was playing, spitting was the worst thing you could do.

Leg-breaking challenges were part of the game, and you had to get on with them. There was no real diving, and Luis Suarez had yet to come here and take a chunk out of another player.

So spitting was the utmost in no-nos on a football pitch. It's filthy and unhygienic, and both players deserve a two- or three-game ban.

We should put spitting, diving and biting all in the same bracket for the same punishment. They are all things we don't want to see, and they're all as bad as each other.

Racism on a football pitch is the demonising of one group of people by another, and it should be at the higher end of punishments.

However, spitting at an opponent is worth a two- or three-game ban for the health angle alone.

2. Aston Villa and Everton are not 'too good to go down'

I remember helping to pick up the pieces of a team that was considered "too good to go down" when I joined Nottingham Forest in 1993, the year after they went down in Brian Clough's last season as manager.

I joined under Frank Clark in pre-season, and luckily, we got promoted immediately and then finished third in the Premier League. That scenario is now impossible with the financial differences.

But we see the Championship littered with former Premier League stalwarts like Forest, Norwich, Ipswich, the Sheffield club and Wolves, which is proof that it is very hard to come back.

No team is too good to go down. And if you go down now with the financial incentives coming from the television deal, it arguably comes at the worst time ever.

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For clubs like Aston Villa and Everton, it really is time to go on a run of good results. I don't think Everton will get relegated because they have a decent run of games toward the end of the season.

But I wonder if Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright will have a word with Roberto Martinez to remind him this isn't Wigan—the free-flowing football is great, but we need to defend properly.

I can't feel safe for my own team either, as Villa have Manchester City, Spurs, Manchester United and Southampton ahead. But we do have games coming up against teams around us as well.

It's in Villa's own hands, and they need to build on the momentum from the last-minute win against West Brom. I would happily have Villa being knocked out of the FA Cup this weekend if it meant staying in the Premier League.

3. Per Mertesacker must become the leader in Arsenal defence

Per Mertesacker is probably one of the most maligned figures in the Premier League at the moment, seen as the root of all Arsenal's woes.

But you don't play for Germany over 100 times unless you are a very good player. At least two very good managers in Joachim Low and Jurgen Klinsmann have picked him regularly for international duty.

The problem for Arsenal—which becomes obvious when they play against the best teams—is their lack of organisation and shape on the pitch.

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You could have Franz Beckenbauer and Bobby Moore or Vincent Kompany and John Terry playing in that Arsenal back four, but because they don't have attention to detail on how to defend with and without the ball, individual players can look worse than they actually are.

If I was Arsene Wenger, I would put my arm around Mertesacker and say, "On the pitch, you have to organise and be the disciplinarian."

The squad brought in Gabriel Paulista, but in all honesty, I don't trust Wenger's policy in buying defenders anyway. With his pedigree, Mertesacker is the best they have.

Arsenal's gamble on Laurent Koscielny after just one season with Lorient in Ligue 1 worked out in their favor, but former central defenders such as Sebastien Squillaci just haven't worked.

For the run-in, Wenger needs to be looking at his most experienced players. Gabriel might come back in after his current injury, but Mertesacker, Koscielny and the rest of the Gunners defence must work on shape on the training ground.

4. Mark Hughes must be considered a serious candidate for Manager of the Year

After Mark Hughes' time in London with Fulham and Queens Park Rangers, I thought he could be somewhat toxic for future appointments because of his relationship with Kia Joorabchian. He seemed to be buying a lot of his players (per the Metro) and appeared to be losing his way as a manager.

Stoke City was arguably his last-chance saloon at the top level, and he has really grasped it.

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He transformed a squad that had only Ryan Shawcross as a saleable asset and several players on decent contracts who were getting a bit long in the tooth, moulding them into a good football team.

They could be heading to their best finish in the Premier League, which—when you bear in mind the change in style Hughes has provided with little money to spend—means he should be considered one of the managers of the season along with Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce.

Stoke obiviously needed someone creative, so bringing Bojan Krkic to a club known for work rate and physicality was an important move for them.

But they have stayed afloat in recent weeks despite a torn ACL sidelining Krkic, with Stephen Ireland doing that job for a while.

Hughes is definitely in there as a candidate for Manager of the Year this season.

5. Louis van Gaal proving the adage to be a great manager you have to be a lucky one too

Manchester United have been getting results without playing well, and nowhere was that more evident than the 1-0 victory at Newcastle on Wednesday.

United are playing under the radar, and they took off Angel Di Maria after a disappointing performance. And then a ball drops in the box, Tim Krul passes it to Ashley Young, and that's three points heading back to Old Trafford.

All the great managers such as Sir Alex Ferguson, Bob Paisley and Bill Shankly, have had that bit of luck at times to get your team out of a trough. And Van Gaal is getting his luck in spades now.

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The battle for fourth place this season will come down to United and Liverpool, behind Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal.

Liverpool are just ahead in my eyes because they are playing their way into form, and the goals are not coming from flukes; they are punishing teams.

But if United carry on in this fashion, players with experience of winning trophies figure to hit a run of form themselves.

The United way has always been to play with width and tempo. Van Gaal's style is more patient, which seems at odds with the recent past.

But if Old Trafford fans are patient, the Van Gaal who has won trophies in the past will come to the fore. At the moment, United are in transition, and Van Gaal—rather than drawing on his tactical nous and genius—is digging from the well of luck.

How long Van Gaal and United can ride that out remains to be seen.