Manchester Clubs Setting The Premier League Pace

These are exciting times to be supporters of either Manchester United or Manchester City. The two Manchester clubs are currently slugging it out at the top of the Premiership. Whatever City can do with their expensively assembled superstars, United are outdoing them with their expensively acquired youngsters!

You just have to raise your hat to that legendary statesman, Sir Alex Ferguson. Just how does he do it is the question I want to ask. Credit must be given to the Red Devils coaching team. Phil Jones, David De Gea and Ashley Young are talented players but they aren't mentioned in the same breath as City's signings of Aguero, Nasri and Silva. And yet, Young, Jones and De Gea are contributing to the best start that United has had to a Premiership season.

Manchester United are traditionally slow starters in the Premiership. The coaching staff at Melwood have done such a great job with Fergie's Fledglings Mk II that the Red Devils have been nothing short of explosive in their Premiership matches. West Brom, Spurs, Arsenal and Bolton could not keep up with the movement and pace of this young team. Not many in the Premiership can, in actual fact.

Wayne Rooney's transformation from sulky star to United's only superstar has been more telling. Eight goals in four games including two hattricks represents a complete turnaround to a player who wanted to leave United a year ago. His goals should dry up eventually as he is a notoriously streaky striker. When that happens, Rooney will simply thread killer passes to Hernandez in order to maintain United's goal scoring threat. Such is his importance to United that Rooney must already be regarded as one of United's greatest ever players.

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Awesome Red Devils Arsenal Humiliation Leaves All Speechless

Alex Ferguson has done it again. He has reinvented a new Manchester United team every bit as dangerous and driven as the ones in previous years. United must be the Barcelona of the Premier League in the way they keep churning out fantastic youngsters season after season.

Danny Wellbeck, Tom Cleverley, Fabio and Rafael Da Silva are the latest products of the youth system conveyor belt, and augmented by smart money signings of David De Gea, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, Ferguson have sure-handedly laid the foundation for another decade of dominance.

The way the "kids" and the "seniors" played together in a "team" to totally humiliate Arsene's Arsenal left me speechless. It may not be the Arsenal we knew, but it was Arsenal all the same. In retrospect, the 8-2 scoreline seemed like the right scoreline.

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Rooney or Berbatov? Whose Overhead Kick Is Best?

The Manchester derby over the weekend was termed as a possible do-or-die for Manchester City. Lose the match and the Blues would be virtually out of the title race. Manchester United once more did not play as well as they can, but yet the Red Devils got the necessary three points to stay four points clear of Arsenal and eight points clear of their "noisy neighbours" City.

The Citizens were unfortunate not to have left Old Trafford with a point, Wayne Rooney's strike was a goal worthy to win any match. Manchester City once again could not produce the goods when it mattered. Mancini's safety first approach is not paying dividends for the expensively assembled side.

With Rio Ferdinand injured, Mancini opted for Tevez as the lone striker, leaving Edin Dzeko on the bench. Dzeko's introduction in the second half gave Manchester City more options in attack. City's most outstanding player, Yaya Toure was noticeably anonymous against United. His marauding forward runs were missed, as City attacks continually broke down as midfielders hardly got forward in support of Tevez.

All in all, Sir Alex Ferguson put out a predictable 4-5-1 lineup (as he typically does in big matches) and Mancini should have tried to capitalise on the absence of Ferdinand by fielding Dzeko. Rooney's goal settled the contest and United was the happier side, going into the dressing room.

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Rooney Debacle Brought Out Rare Fergie Vulnerability

When I first read the news that Wayne Rooney will leave Manchester United, I was hardly surprised. After all, the man has done that before. At a tender age of 18, he ditched Everton for the best club in the country at that time, Manchester United. So yes, he has done it before and should it be a surprise that he is ready to say goodbye to a club on the decline?

What was more surprising was the obvious vulnerability shown by Sir Alex Ferguson. That was really poignant for me. Never before had a player leaving been that heartbreaking for a man who has seen it all and won it all. Fergie was clearly hurt by Rooney's insistence to leave Old Trafford. In Manchester United, no one player was bigger than the club but in my opinion, Rooney came very close to being an iconic symbol of United. Every season, Rooney's performances and heart have mirrored that of United's legendary manager and these two could have been seen as kindred spirits. As such, for Rooney to turn away from United is a stab in the back for the Scot - something Fergie is not used to experiencing.

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English Premier League Suffering From Lack Of Flair And Young Talents?

James Milner and Wayne Rooney have won the PFA Young Player and Player of the Year Awards. The PFA unfortunately did not do a great job in nominations for Young Player of the Year. How else would you explain why Rooney and Fabregas are nominated AGAIN for Young Player? In fact, I think that Joe Hart have had a fantastic season making 126 saves and keeping ten clean sheets thus far. He has been instrumental in Birmingham's first Premiership season and should be credited for Birmingham's League-best defensive home record.

Either way, I would normally associate young players with lots of flair, pace and technical trickery. However, this year has been devoid of any such player. Victor Moses came into the Premiership as possibly that type of player but unfortunately he still need time to mature and blossom.

When you think young talents, this year especially two players come to mind and they are from the Spanish La Liga. Sergio Canales and Iker Munian.

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Things That Make You Go Hmmm - Power Of Team Spirit

Some thought provoking pictures to illustrate the beauty of team spirit. Some oldies but goldies.

These pictures demonstrate how close and attached team mates, both international and domestic players can become as they strive and compete towards a common winning cause.