"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.

Effective or Football

In recent times, when a team comes to either Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge or The Emirates, they try to play football with a mind-set that there is no use putting 9 men behind the ball. What this has done is, to make United, Chelsea and Arsenal into fantastic counter-attacking teams. So much so that, they've started to rely on counter-attacking football to score goals.

This was very evident during the United-Sunderland game, where Sunderland parked their bus for 90 minutes and United could not get the breakthrough. Then comes the 91st minute, where a corner for Sunderland turns into an United goal. Off the counter-attack of course. The question is, should Sunderland have allowed United to counter?

A better question would be, should all teams coming to the above mentioned grounds follow Sunderland's example?

As a United, Arsenal and Chelsea fan, I wouldnt like it. As any other team's fan, I would love it.

As a football fan, I would just switch off the TV.