Man U 0 Blackburn 0......... To quote Sir Alex "It's a blow, there's no question about it. It makes it really difficult to win the league now, that?s a fantastic result for Chelsea. It has slipped away from us; we have a lifeline if Chelsea blows it, but to my eyes they have an easy game against Bolton on Tuesday. We would expect them to win that and it will put them four points clear."

....There you have it straight from the horse?s mouth, not just more desperate mind games from Sir Alex? frankly everything being equal Chelsea should take the title....if it wasn?t for the fact that this closing premiership season had not been such an abysmal disappointment.

Let?s stay with Man U for the moment and Dimitar Berbatov in particular, little doubt that Wayne Rooney absence should have given Berbatov the opportunity to shine, yesterdays performance suggests that Sir Alex?s love of the 4 -5-1 formation has a detrimental effect on Berbatov who tended to play deep or deep midfield, evident with Macheda sitting up front in the lone striker position, Berbatov was frustrated at every turn and was clearly un happy with his team mates, subsequently squandering good chances to score, with the benefit of hindsight Berbatov was a ill judged ?30m investment ....
And that is my point the failure of English clubs in the Champions League this season is due as much to economics than poor performance the de-valuing of the UK?s currency (sterling), sterling has lost around 25 per cent of its value over the last two years against the Euro, leaving Sterling?s value considerably depreciated.

To enjoy the levels of success and be able to capitalize on that success premier league clubs need to constantly invest in attracting the best playing talent in the world.
In 2009 with the pound hovering around 1.18 against the Euro saw a curtailing of premiership spending in last summer?s transfer market, along with lowering Investment by England?s clubs illustrated by Chelsea, Abramovich?s expediential cutting the amount of investment than previous years, bluntly premiership clubs sold players during 2009, and subsequently cut spending, Man U sold Ronaldo and Tevez, Arsenal sold Abdebayor and Toure, Liverpool sold Alonso are example, the effect on this season?s European Cup results for the first time reflect those of the Champions League ?.and that before taking into account the staggering levels of debt with in the premierships top clubs?

I can feel a frying from Kayoko, and Swallow, because I have always been an advocate of advancement from the training ground?.. the real life, real time scenario is spend, spend, spend?.Look at the champions league semi?s, significantly 2009 investments, Barcelona ?98.45million, Inter Milan ?83.24million, and Lyon ?70.17million, get the picture ??Cash is King ?.


Edit: Kayoko Terry?s challenge on Milner Chelsea V Aston Villa was cynical and considering Milner is an England team mate says it all, Terry should have seen straight red pure and simple....