The Madness of Sir Alex

Alex Ferguson has recently dropped Ruud van Nistelrooy for reportedly not chasing down a long ball. This sort of decision seems more likely to have come from Sam Allardyce than one of the elite mangers. Leaving out your top-scorer, who is also one of only two World-Class players at the club (Gabriel Heinze is the second) is the sort of move that can only backfire. This is exactly what has happened with successive European teams being linked with his signature for next season.

This decision is made even stranger by the fact that Man Utd have been linked with Juan Roman Riquelme also this past week. Riquelme is the sort of player who does no running off the ball, a sort of Romario of the modern era. Indeed Riquelme was marginalised by Barcelona a couple of years ago for this very reason.

By antagonising Ruud to the point he had to phone van Basten to be assured of his world cup place is surely the strangest decision even Ferguson has made in recent years. If Ruud was ever to decide that Man Utd was not the right place for him to win trophies and leave, Ferguson's dreams of a second European Cup would surely leave with him.

Benitez needs the eggs

There is a conversation in the movie Annie Hall where Woody Allen jokes: This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, “Doc, my brother's crazy, he thinks he's a chicken,” and the doctor says, “well why don't you turn him in?” And the guy says, “I would, but I need the eggs”.

I have watched many Liverpool games both this and last season and there is no doubt that Steven Gerrard has grown into a truly world class player. It is also true, though, that Gerrard greatly imbalances the Liverpool side. Moved this season onto the right flank due to the absence of a true right winger, Gerrard has played as best he can often making key contributions and gaining points single handedly. However, he often shows a lack of discipline in repeatedly drifting to the centre leaving gaping holes for the opposition to exploit. The midfield is, admittedly, where Gerrard plays best and where he can make the most of his abilities but he must recognise that by repeatedly doing this he not only neglects his duties he crowds out the other midfield maestro Xabi Alonso.

Rafael Benitez must of course have recognised this and the thought of reluctantly selling him to raise funds to improve the rest of the team has probably crossed his mind. However, there is currently little likelihood in Liverpool being able to perform consistently without Gerrard in their ranks. But Benitez is in the process of building a title contending team, which may eventually involve Gerrard playing a less significant role. In the meantime, though, Benitez’s hands are tied as he needs the eggs.

Italian World Cup Squad

The Italians had a headline-grabbing win against the Germans this week winning 4-1, with three of the goals coming from the strikers. This win will be seen by much of the media as an endorsment of the Italians' World Cup credentials despite the current German side being barely comparable to the East German sides of the 70's.

The game did however indicate the depth of talent within the Italian squad, the win was achieved without certain starters Totti and Rino Gattuso. The absense of Totti allowed Del Piero to start behind Gilardino and Luca Toni with all three on the scoresheet and surely the plane to the World Cup.

The race to be the fifth choice striker in the Azzurri squad is hotting up, Cassano, Lucarelli, Inzaghi, Vieri and Iaquinta all competing for a single spot. My favourite for the final place would be Pippo 'I think, therefore I'm offside' Inzaghi. Superpippo is enjoying a good run of form scoring two this weekend to take his tally to 10 goals in 10 Serie A games. Marcelo Lippi seems to want to take experienced players, so Lucarelli, Iaquinta and Cassano could all be left behind, while Vieri has not be as prolific as Inazaghi despite leaving AC Milan to play in a less demanding league.

With good competition for places the Italian side are able to pick the in-form players and are surely a team that the others would be nervous about playing come this summer.