Chicharito The Revelation To United's Season's

As the old cliche goes, a picture says a thousand words.

When Javier Hernandez first descended upon Old Trafford last July after a successful World Cup with Mexico, not much was suspected of the young hitman. In fact, he was largely seen as just a back-up for Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney. But as the season progressed and Berbatov's form melted faster than a 99 in the blistering Summer heat, Sir Alex decided to give Mr Hernandez, his eager 21 year old, a taste of Premier League football and from that moment on he never looked back. Despite featuring mainly as a sub up to October, fans were already relishing the prospect of him partnering fellow hitman Wayne Rooney in a 'relationship made in heaven'. It took time for this relationship to blossom but when Sir Alex finally began to give Chicharito a run of games, he took chance after chance after chance. At one point, he even boasted 10 Premier League goals from just 14 shots on target.

February rolled around and after scoring consistently from cameos off the bench, Sir Alex decided to hand the Mexican a rare start in the match vs Wigan at the end of the month as a reward, and trust me it had been a long time coming. The resulting performance from the 'Little Pea' signalled the beginning of the end for Berbatov and his United career as Javier netted twice and grabbed a MOTM award as United ran out comfortable winners 4-0. Lord Ferg then decided in favour of Chicharito for their next game as they travelled to Stamford Bridge to lock horns with Chelsea. However, Hernandez was foiled by a resilient Chelsea defence and was subsequently chosen on the bench for the next game at Anfield. Berbatov moaned and slouched his way across the pitch throughout the game and so when Hernandez was introduced at half-time, it would've seemed that his positive influence would be able to breed new life into the United side continuing their awful run on the road this season. Hernandez went on to score in injury-time but the match itself ended 3-1. Hernandez was then regiven his first eleven place vs Arsenal next weekend, and again for United Champions League match vs Marseille at Old Trafford. Much to Berbatov's dismay, the Little Pea bagged a brace along with yet another MOTM award. 

Since the beginning of February, Berbatov has only managed a mere two goals. Only two bloody goals. Javier Hernandez on the other hand has mustered 9 in 17 games. The thing about Berbatov was that although he has scored 22 goals this season, a large portion of them came in games where he scored 5, 3, 3, and 2. So if you take them away we have a total of 9 goals scored in 35 appearances. That's averaging just under a goal every 4 games. He's dangerously inconsistent. So inconsistent there are already reports linking him elsewhere due to Hernandez's prolific record.

What Hernandez has done since arriving is nothing short of remarkable. Scoring 20 goals in your debut season is a tough enough assignment but for a team with the calibre of Manchester United? Wow. In fact, the last United player to score twenty goals in his debut season was none other than Ruud Van Nistelrooy himself. And what a revelation he turned out to be, eh? 

United fans can already smell the desperation that reeks from Berbatov's dressing room and unless he can pick up some consistency, he can call it quits on his United career. "Moan all you want, it wont change my mind" was a phrase my mum used to coin every now and again when I was a kid and I figure it fits the bill perfectly for the Bulgarian's scenario.

My Favourite Athletes

A hero from rugby. A hero from football. A hero from golf. Scroll down to see more.

Brian O'Driscoll

Bit of a gimme this one, the Irishman is a non-stop bulldozing machine. Every match he gives 100% and although he may not be as influential as he used to be he still chips in with important tries, as he did when Ireland squeezed past England in 2009 on their way to a first grand slam in more than 60 years. 

O'Driscoll inspires me simply because of his passion for the game (and maybe a tad because he's Irish!). I remember watching him play on the Lions Tour when I was younger and I was in awe. I mean, the things he could do with the ball were just incredible. His hunger and desire for the game have remained with him throughout his career and when he was unjustifiably speared by New Zealanaders Kevin Mealamu and Tana Umaga I feared the worst for arguably the world's best rugby player. That dislocated shoulder sidelined Drico for 5 months and although rugby fans around the world were thrown into panic, BOD came back stronger than ever and with it, consolidating his place in rugby history.

As centres are more renowned for their ability to break the oppostions back-line, O'Driscoll is a more gritty, on the ball player than most centres. He becomes most involved when the ball's on the ground however as a centre he's made a name for himself for scoring tries, and some quite wonderful tries at that.

                                                                                                   

Ryan Giggs                                                                                                                                

Truly an inspiration. A gift from the football gods. The Welshman has competed in every Premier League season since its introduction in 1992 and he remains as key as ever to the United squad. To remain playing football at the highest level for the better part of twenty years is simply remarkable. Even after competing all these years his physique for the sport is still as sharp as a knife and he has continued to run the United midfield, wherever he plays in the park.

The Welsh Wizard inspires me simply because of his hunger for the game, even at this stage in his life. Most athletes usually deteriorate as they ascend upon their 30's but Ryan Giggs is a wonderful exception, and a brilliant example to the kids at that. Children all over the world idolise the 11 time Premier League winner and rightly so as he continues to set a good example on the pitch, as well as off the pitch. Giggs also boasts numerous records including scoring in every Premier League season to date, most appearances in a Manchester United jersey, as well as most recently, becoming the oldest player to score in a Champions League game at the age of 37 years and 148 days. His loyalty to Manchester United goes unrivaled among the football world and he has gained monumental respect from players, clubs and fans for his time spent at United. He is truly a footballing great.

Luke Donald

                                                                                                           

Until earlier this year, nobody would've suspected that this Englishman would be competing among the top golfers in the world but here is, playing the golf of his life already boasting 6 top 10 finishes in just 7 events this year. The world no.3 never really got going in the early part of 2010, only making 5 top 10 finishes coming up to September. But my oh my, how he turned on the style from then, finishing the year strongly with 2 top 5 finishes in his last three outings.

I like Donald purely because he's the underdog. I know that's never really a reason to have somebody as your 'favourite' but I just find watching him play fascinating. For instance, I was delighted for Luke when he won the WGC Accenture Matchplay event earlier this year at Doral, playing flawlessly the whole tournament. He's quickly established himself this year as a top class golfer and jumped 4 places in the world rankings in the process, climbing to a career high 3rd which he currently holds. Having proved himself as a serious challenger earlier this year at the Masters I'm hoping he can keep his act together and maybe win one of the three remaining majors, preferably the British Open at Royal St. George's GC in July as there would be an amazing reception from the home crowd if he won, being English of course.

Irony's A Bitch For Poor Old Jose

Jose Mourinho's gone mad. FINALLY.

After the dreadful Champions League semi-final last night Mourinho arrived at the traditional press conference infuriated. He was raging. Literally raging. He went as far to say that Barcelona's defeat of Chelsea in the CL semi's back in 2009 was a "scandal".

Mourinho, who had been sent the stands for mouthing the words "well done" to the 4th official, was borderline psychotic in his approach to the press and when he was pressed on how he thought the ref did he simply replied:

"I am disgusted at the world we live in. No one has any chance against Barca. Where does all this power come from? To win like this is very nasty'

'if i say what i think about uefa my career finishes here. But i leave a question, why?! Why Obrevo? Why tonight?

It was rather ironic that Mourinho complained about the referee as he had said on Tuesday that Pep was a manager who wants referees to get decisions wrong.

"I am not asking the referee to help my team. If the referee is good everyone will be happy - except Guardiola. He wants them to get it wrong."

"This is something I have never seen in the world of football."

Managerial counter-part Pepe Guardiola refused to be drawn into the hole Mourinho had dug for himself and chose to focus on the football rather than what happened elsewhere, particularly the lorryloads of theatrics that went on. He said:

"Reaction to rant of Mourinho about the referees and Barcelona? Have nothing to say."

"We're 90 minutes away from CL final, we're trying to get there."

The match itself had been severely starved of quality and had it not been for a late Lionel Messi show, it would have been known as - what the twittersphere began to label it - El Crappico. Foul, after foul, after foul, it nearly became an all-out brawl as both sides saw red either side of half-time. Barcelona substitute keeper Pinto was involved in a half-time scrap with Alvaro Arbeloa when he saw red and midway through the second-half Real Madrid defender-turned-holding-midfielder Pepe challenged for the ball with Dani Alves, who went down on the ground in a heap and the result was inevitable, a red card for Pepe.

The two Spainsh giants have now played each other four times this season with Barca prevailing twice, Madrid once and a draw in the League which basically has the league in Barca's hands for yet another season . With yet another El Classico to come next Wednesday you can only hope that a repeat of this El Farcico could turn the worlds most looked forward to clash into nothing but another 'one of those matches'.

The Race For 4th

Ah yes, the annual race for that final most sought-after Champions League place is finally upon us. 4th place, a place which defines the type of club you are. If you finish 4th you can declare yourself a 'big 4' club. If you finish 5th, well..God help you.

 For the past three years its been occupied by three different clubs, two of London descent and the other, hailing from Merseyside fresh from their long-standing battle with Everton. Last year became the first time Tottenham had qualified for a European competition of this magnitude and my oh my, how they impressed. Destroying Inter Milan on their own turf and also screeching past Inter's cousins AC at the San Siro, you don't see that very often for a team in their maiden season in the Champions League.

Right now, its Manchester City who occupy the world-renown 4th Champions League spot but their season has fallen apart of late. First came their dismissal from Europe at the hands of European minnows Dynamo Kiev, then they suffered heavy defeats at the hands of Liverpool and Chelsea which have let 5th placed Tottenham back into the fray. A season which had started so promisingly - going top for a brief period of time before city rivals United knocked them off the perch - they began to rely on talismanic skipper Carlos Tevez so heavily that it forced Roberto Martinez to say that no other player in the team could score a goal. Alas, Tevez - like all players - has had his problems this term and having saved himself from the wrath of public hatred around Christmas time, he's been the main source of income for City's front three. In fact, let's discuss City's front three. Mario Balotelli, - the troublesome trouble-maker - joined City last summer for a fee in the region of £24 million. He has repaid City by scoring 9 goals, collecting 9 yellow cards and picking up two red cards just for good measure. When 'bib-otelli' isn't playing for Manchester City you can find him crashing his car into walls or if that fails, he'll probably be in the foyer throwing darts at City youth players 'mistaking' them for dart boards. January signing Edin Dzeko has been fairly quiet during his time at Eastlands so far, scoring a mere 4 goals in 15 appearances albeit some from the bench. With a manager who's under copious amounts of pressure to win silverware I fear this may be his last season unless, y'know, somehow he pulls a rabbit out of the hat and beats United in the FA cup semi-finals tomorrow.

Off to London now to assess Tottenham's chances. The Lilywhites are priced at 2/1 to beat City into 4th but if you already have your wallet at the ready I'd advise you to slowly put it back where it came from. Although they may only be 3 points behind City with a game in-hand the run-in looks incredibly hard to Spurs to pick up some much needed points. First they have Arsenal next Wednesday, then ten days later its off to Stanford Bridge and two matches later they do battle with faltering Manchester City before its on the road one last time to Merseyside to take on a rejuvenated Liverpool side. Tell me that's not incredibly difficult to gain maximum points off? Gareth Bale's opinion is somewhat different. He told the press in the post-match conference after Spurs' exit from the Champions League that
"We need to win every game and we will go out there to win every game. We know that we are capable of beating all the other teams. We beat them all last season at some point so there is no reason why we can’t get maximum points. “We don't fear anyone. We have the players and are capable of scoring goals. We are just going to go out there, show what we can do and hopefully finish in the top four." Bold words from the Londoners' most prized asset and although he seems somewhat optimistic, the chances of Tottenham finishing for a second successive season in 4th look undoubtedly slimmer every week.

Of course these two are the front-runners for 4th spot but we can't underestimate a newly reformed Liverpool side. Since 'King Kenny's return Liverpool have looked every inch of the side that very nearly won the league under Rafa back in 2008 and to be honest, there doesn't look like a team that can stop them. Beating Man City and United rather comfortably shows that the Merseysiders are back in business. And the interesting thing is they only lie 8 points behind Man City. With a consistent run of form and Carroll and Suarez banging in the goals, its hard to see their form coming to an abrupt stop. But mind you, it will be incredibly difficult for them to achieve such a feat as they would have to win their remaining 6 games to even stand a chance. Still, that's what makes the Premier League what it is.

Ireland vs Macedonia - Thoughts

Don't worry. Its all over. You can now breathe a sigh of relief. Those last 10-15 minutes were unbearable but we did, in the end, get the job done. Just. That first half performance just about did it but we were looking edgy towards the end of the game.

The first half was one of our better performances in recent times. The way we passed the ball about - almost Barcelona-esque at times - made us look invincible and after 21 minutes we had two goals to show for it, partly aided by Macedonia's shaky goalkeeping. We kept the tempo up for much of the first half but we were undone by some slick Macedonian play which saw our own Richy Dunne turned inside-out and they halved the deficit to just 2-1 minutes before the break.

Much of the same was expected of us in the second half but we looked a different team when the Irish came out of the tunnel for the second half and not in a good way. We began to look weary and gave away a lot of unnecessary free-kicks in innocuous parts of the pitch. We became sloppy. We allowed Macedonia to play football and us Irish basically invited them to have a few pops at goal which could have proved costly in the end if Westwood hadn't denied goalscorer Trickovski, we'd have been in real trouble.

Coach Giovanni Trappatoni had named the line-up on Friday afternoon and in it, he included the names of three Irishmen who were to make their first competitive starts in an Irish shirt. Kevin Foley was employed at right-back, Darren O'Dea at centre-back and Kieran Westwood was covering for the injured Shay Given. In my opinion, they all did what was required with Westwood making saves when called upon. Kevin Foley, the Wolverhampton Wanderers right-back came across as an exceptionally comfortable individual on the ball and O'Dea performed solidly making it hard for the Macedonian's to break down the Irish wall of defence.

The only negative of the night was the injury to current FAI Player of the Year Kevin Doyle, who took a knock on his knee meaning he was subbed inside the 20 minute mark. Tony O'Donoghue reported pitch side that Doyle would be missing the match against Uruguay on Tuesday and the injury is sure to upset Wolves boss Mick McCarthy who has depended heavily on Doyle this season to make sure Wolves maintain their Premier League status.

We also saw the end to the on-going fiasco that surrounded James McCarthy as he FINALLY made the competitive appearance that see's him officially become an Irish player. McCarthy came on as an 86th minute substitute for Robbie Keane and he put the bed those rumours of his club coach Roberto Martinez claiming that he still hadn't made up his mind of who to play for when he came on late in the game. McCarthy stated both this week and last week that he had his mind set on becoming an Irish - and not Scottish - player and when he came on he was met with an enormously gracious response as the Irish showed they welcomed him into the clan with open arms and we're glad he's here to stay.

I'd also like to commend Robbie Keane on his record-equaling 40th match as captain. That in itself is an achievement and he now draws level with Andy Townsend for most times captaining Ireland. Even though he may be past his prime he showed tonight that he still possesses that strikers instinct with an ever-instinctive finish that saw Ireland match Russia and Slovakia's table topping 10 points from 5 games.

Here's to more of the same from Keane and hopefully he can surpass Townsend's record and with it, bring Ireland into the Euro Championships in 2012.