"Leed"ing the way

What a way to start the New Year. No, I'm not talking about Reading vs Liverpool.

There's a new Becks in Manchester. And by god, is he a rising star. This was the first time I witnessed Jermaine Beckford play after hearing a lot of "rumours" about how good he is. After his performance at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Third Round, in my opinion, they are not "rumours". He gave Wes Brown and Johnny Evans a run for their money and even more. What's more - he even came out on top. Don't be surprised if he's on his way to the Premier League come summer time.

As for Leeds United performance, they were quite magnificent. Their attitude was marvelous. I am out of superlatives to define their hard work and passion. The result that they earned at Old Trafford justified all of the above said qualities. People might say this was a one-off from Leeds United but they are run-away leaders in League One and should earn promotion to the Championship comfortably.

For a League One team to come to Old Trafford and play two up front till the 87th minute, even after going one nil up in the first half, speaks volumes about the manager. I agree, it might have turned out to be a collossal mistake, but the attitude to go for it even at the risk of getting beat was refreshing for the neutral fans and spectators.

It is a real pity, especially for football lovers, that Leeds United are in League One. They have a team to be more than match for any team in the Premier League. Lets hope this is a sign of things to come for Leeds United in their quest to get back their suspended status of being a top club in Europe.

A Long Weekend

The EPL took a week long break to accommodate the oldest competition in football - The FA Cup. I didn't mind the FA Cup weekend as there was still football on TV unlike the international weekends, where you hardly get any football on TV.

If you notice, I had mentioned "didn't mind" the FA Cup weekends. Till last year, there were atleast 3 or 4 matches on a Saturday and 2 matches on a Sunday for all to see. So you hardly missed the lack of the EPL, since you still got to see some football. But this weekend, the first weekend of the FA Cup for the big teams(3rd round), there was ONE match shown on Friday, ONE on Saturday and ONE on Sunday.

What has the public done to deserve such a sparse weekend of football on TV? Has the importance of the FA Cup - "The oldest competition in football" - hit rock bottom that the media doesn't care about how many matches they are showing? Or has the credit crunch hit them too, that they cannot afford it?(I don't believe that)

Thank goodness for La Liga, I still got some football this weekend.