It's halfway point

Xmas & New Year have gone. Five months of footy left. Seems a good enough time to look at the state of the Premiership.. and hey, whaddya know? United are still top of the league. And what’s this? Six points ahead of our main rivals, Chelsea? Who’d have thought.

Well, looking at the performances, it’s obvious. The fact that the common bloke in the street would now love us to finish above Chelsea when we were previously the team everybody loved to hate, speaks volumes for the general opinion about Chelsea. Whereas United have been entertaining to watch more or less all season, Chelsea have been a bit laboured and their results at times flatter them. The number of points dropped by them lately is no surprise, lesser teams are sussing them out. Mourinho’s comments to the press that bearing in mind his own team’s form, he’d expect United to be way out in front sound a bit hollow to these ears, and if he wants to get involved in mind games, he’s dealing with a past master with Fergie and will come off second best. Not sure I’m comfortable with the neutral being behind us, as United thrive on the siege mentality but we’re top for now and that’s that.
Now a bit of humble pie. I ranted in the Summer about a certain player called Ronaldo who’d misbehaved a bit in the World Cup. Well, if you call winking at a team mate misbehaving. Yes, I got caught up in the melee going on at the time. Let’s face it, he wasn't much of a villain really and since coming back to United at the start of the season, hasn’t put a foot wrong and is scoring goals for fun. And that’s all that matters to a United fan. Do it on the pitch week in and you can bugger chickens in your spare time or eat babies for all we care. Likewise Rooney – not scoring enough but he’s got a tireless work ethic and it’ll come. It’s not as if he’s not contributing is it? Respect to Scholesy, Giggs, Saha (only now is he injured – well it had to happen), the big man Vidic who’s settled in now, and Ole & Rio. And everybody else. All this and Larsson to come.

Liverpool & Arsenal seemed to have settled down and will probably be in the top 5 come May, but no threat to us. Good to see Bolton & Portsmouth holding their own. I’d say West Ham, Charlton & Watford are doomed though. And quite right. Too many southern jessies in the Prem. Come on Preston! And Wolves of course (9th in the "Championship" and within touching distance of the playoffs).