Premier League Round-Up 22/11/10

When summing up this week’s Premier League programme there is only one place to start.

Not that long ago it looked as though Arsenal had banished the fragility which has plagued them in previous seasons, but their capitulation at home to Spurs suggested nothing has really changed.

Credit to Harry Redknapp for inspiring the second-half comeback which earned Spurs a first win at the home of their fiercest rivals in 17 years, but the game was really about Arsenal snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

They should have been home and dry by half-time but – in scenes reminiscent of their visit to Wigan’s DW Stadium last season – once the fightback begun there was no sign of the Gunners arresting their slide towards defeat.

One team without such fragility issues is Bolton, and Owen Coyle’s side continued their march up the table with a crushing 5-1 win over Newcastle.

Neither Johan Elmander nor Kevin Davies has been particularly prolific while ploughing a lone furrow at the Reebok, yet by bringing the duo together Coyle has formed one of the most dangerous strike partnerships in the league.

Both struck twice on Saturday, with Chung-Yong Lee – one of the most underrated players in the top-flight – getting the other goal for the Trotters. Andy Carroll’s eighth of the season gave the visitors a glimmer of hope but ultimately proved academic.

Just as impressive was Manchester City’s 4-1 win at Fulham. Roberto Mancini’s side have received their fair share of criticism for negative displays but attack was the order of the day, with even the much-maligned Yaya Toure breaking forward to get on the scoresheet.

Mark Hughes’ side, on the other hand, will be nervously looking over their shoulders after the early-season unbeaten run is now starting to look like, well, just loads of draws.

Fulham are now just one place above the relegation zone, thanks in no small part to Birmingham’s surprise win over Chelsea.

While Lee Bowyer scored the goal, taking advantage of a centre-back in Alex whose pain-killing injection seemingly had side-effects of drowsiness, the star of the show was Ben Foster.

After his unconvincing display for England on Wednesday, Foster proved he is still a viable contender for the national side by keeping out everything Chelsea threw at him and earning his sixth clean sheet of the campaign.

As Birmingham are on the up, their west midlands neighbours are all heading in the opposite direction after defeats this weekend.

Aston Villa, missing several key players, were nonetheless outclassed by a Blackburn side comfortable from the moment Morten Gamst Pedersen put them into a first-half lead on Sunday.

The spirit remained from last week’s draw against Manchester United, but Gerard Houllier’s side lacked a cutting edge in the absence of Marc Albrighton.

That result leaves Villa a point ahead of West Brom, who are in freefall with one point from four games.

Stoke were the beneficiaries of some generous defending this time around, Jon Walters adding to Matty Etherington’s penalty with a second-half brace in the Potters’ biggest away win since their return to the Premier League.

But the situation remains far from desperate for the Baggies, which is more than can be said for local rivals Wolves.

A fourth successive defeat leaves them on a paltry nine points, although any side would have been hard-pressed to respond to the opening goal from Blackpool’s Luke Varney.

Varney’s effort, a volley from way out which arced over a helpless Marcus Hahnemann, conjured up memories of Hugo Rodallega’s goal of the season contender last year.

On the subject of Rodallega, the Colombian striker did not enjoy quite as fruitful an afternoon at Old Trafford on Saturday.

A two-footed lunge saw him sent off, after team-mate Antolin Alcaraz had seen red just minutes earlier, and Manchester United’s margin of victory could have been far greater than 2-0.

Defeat for Wigan saw them slip into the bottom three, where they have Wolves and West Ham for company.

Saturday’s defeat at Anfield was comfortably the Hammers’ worst performance of the season, which is really saying something given their record of seven defeats and just one win in their opening 14 games.

Liverpool barely needed to break a sweat, racing into a three-goal lead before half-time, and one gets the feeling they could have not turned up for the second half and still scored a couple more without reply, had they so wished.

Monday night’s game was one of the most exciting since Richard Keys returned to out screens on a weeknight, Everton and Sunderland sharing the spoils in a pulsating 2-2 draw.

Danny Welbeck made up for the absence of Asamoah Gyan by scoring both goals for the Black Cats, sandwiched between efforts from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta.

But both sides missed golden chances to win the game in stoppage time: first Welbeck snatched at his shot when well-placed, then Everton substitute Jermaine Beckford prodded wastefully over after being put clean through on goal.

Team of the week (4-4-2): Foster (Birmingham); Eardley (Blackpool), Gallas (Tottenham), Johnson (Birmingham), Evra (Man Utd); Holden (Bolton), Meireles (Liverpool), Pedersen (Blackburn), Silva (Man City); Tevez (Man City), Elmander (Bolton)

Premier League Round-Up 04/10/10

If fans were surprised by the top of the Premier League table in recent weeks, that is nothing compared to the sight of Liverpool in the bottom three after seven games of the season.

Roy Hodgson’s side lost their unbeaten home record to newly-promoted Blackpool thanks to goals from Charlie Adam and Luke Varney, and will also be without frontman Fernando Torres for some time after the Spaniard was forced off through injury.

Charlie Adam

The visitors were deserving of the victory, and are more than holding their own in the top flight after being tipped for relegation at the start of the campaign. A consolation from Sotirios Kyrgiakos was not enough to dampen their spirits and now it is Hodgson – rather than opposite number Ian Holloway – who is left with plenty of thinking to do.

To add insult to injury, local rivals Everton climbed out of the drop-zone with their first win of the season at the hands of Birmingham City.

Tim Cahill sealed the victory after a Roger Johnson own goal had given the Toffees the lead, and the result brings an end to Birmingham’s 18-game unbeaten home run in the league.

The other two spaces in the bottom three are filled by Wolves – who lost 2-0 at Wigan – and West Ham, who were held at home by Fulham.

Wolves were given an upward task as soon as captain Karl Henry saw red for an indefensible foul on Jordi Gomez which was so bad it even left Mick McCarthy unable to defend his player.

Karl Henry

Gomez recovered to open the scoring with a 65^th-minute free-kick, before Hugo Rodallega deflected a Christophe Berra clearance beyond Marcus Hahnemann with five minutes to go.

West Ham had to come from behind to extend their unbeaten run, after Clint Dempsey was left unmarked 10 yards out to open the scoring before half-time.

Frederic Piquionne scored his third goal in as many games to level the scores, but the game lost all sense of rhythm thanks to a questionable performance from whistle-happy referee Andre Marriner.

At the top of the table, Chelsea extended their lead to four points after seeing off a wasteful Arsenal side at Stamford Bridge.

Didier Drogba and Alex got the goals with fine finishes, but the visitors will live to regret their profligacy in front of goal, with Laurent Koscielny the main culprit.

Second place is now occupied by Manchester City after Adam Johnson’s winner earned them a third successive league win.

Adam Johnson

But the game will be remembered for the broken leg suffered by Newcastle’s Hatem ben Arfa, just the latest in a worryingly-long line of Premier League players to suffer serious injuries in the season’s early weeks.

Carlos Tevez’s penalty and Jonas Gutierrez’s equaliser are mere footnotes in a match which reignited debates about dangerous tackling in the top flight.

City’s rise to 2^nd is at the expense of Manchester rivals United, who have now drawn all four of their away games in the league.

Their game at Sunderland was one of few chances, and those which did come fell to the hosts. Steed Malbranque fired the best opening straight at Edwin van der Sar, while Bolo Zenden struck the outside of his fellow countryman’s post.

Another Dutchman hitting the headlines was Rafael van der Vaart, who scored both goals as Tottenham came from behind to beat Aston Villa.

Marc Albrighton had opened the scoring for Gerard Houllier’s men before van der Vaart capitalised on two Peter Crouch knockdowns to beat Brad Friedel either side of the break.

Hot on Tottenham’s heels are surprise package West Brom, who followed up last week’s win at Arsenal with a rather more subdued draw at home to Bolton.

They also had to come from behind after Johan Elmander lashed home a first-half strike, but after James Morrison’s equaliser the Baggies could have easily snatched all three points.

The final match of the weekend saw Stoke City climb into the top half of the table for the first time this season thanks to a hard-fought triumph over Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn.

Jon Walters scored the only goal of the game against the club where he started his career, tucking home from a Matty Etherington through-ball to add to his Carling Cup strike against Shrewsbury in August.

Team of the week (4-3-2-1):

Gilks (Blackpool); Baird (Fulham), Bramble (Sunderland), Jagielka (Everton), Crainey (Blackpool); Mulumbu (West Brom), Reo-Coker (Aston Villa), Essien (Chelsea); van der Vaart (Tottenham), Etherington (Stoke); Elmander (Bolton)

Premier League Round-up 20/09/2010

For the second weekend running, Manchester United contrived to throw away a two-goal lead against opponents from Merseyside, but this time they had the resolve to snatch a late victory over Liverpool.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side looked to be cruising before Dimitar Berbatov netted an early contender for goal of the season, but Steven Gerrard then proceeded to punish needless fouls with two quickfire dead-ball goals to draw the visitors level.

Dimitar Berbatov

While the timing of recent equalisers for Fulham and Everton had given United little time to respond, on this occasion they had more than 20 minutes to find a winner. And Berbatov was the man to provide the crucial goal, completing his first hat-trick in United colours.

The three points kept the Red Devils third in the table, now level on points with an Arsenal side who threw away an almost-certain victory against Sunderland.

While Cesc Fabregas’ opener was a little lucky, there was nothing fortuitous about the marvellous display of possession football displayed by the visitors at the Stadium of Light.

Even when Alex Song’s dismissal reduced Arsenal to 10 men, they continued to play like they were the side with the one-man advantage, running their opponents ragged and creating more than enough chances to win the game.

But Tomas Rosicky spurned the best of those chances when he fired a penalty high over Simon Mignolet’s crossbar, and Arsenal only had themselves to blame when Darren Bent fired home a stoppage-time equaliser.

Carlo Ancelotti

The result at the Stadium of Light allowed Chelsea to extend their lead at the top of the table to four points. Their 4-0 win over Blackpool also brings their goal difference to a remarkable +20 after just five games.

The tie at Stamford Bridge was over by half-time, allowing Carlo Ancelotti to rest some of his stars ahead of next week’s visit to the City of Manchester Stadium, and Nicolas Anelka will be eager to feature against his former club after being deemed surplus to requirements for Sunday’s encounter.

Next week’s opponents Manchester City will go into the game on the back of a much-needed away victory at Wigan, during which Carlos Tevez returned to goalscoring ways.

City’s captain has been guilty of the odd embarrassing miss this season, but the Argentinian’s confidence seemed unaffected as he brilliantly chipped over Ali Al-Habsi to open the scoring.

Yaya Toure

Roberto Mancini will also be happy to see Yaya Toure notch his first goal for the club – City look to have firepower all the way through their squad, with Toure the ninth different player to find the net for them this season.

Wigan now find themselves in the unenviable position of looking up at all three promoted teams, after impressive wins for West Brom and Newcastle on Saturday took the duo up to seven points.

While both will be delighted with the weekend’s travails, the Baggies’ win is even sweeter for having come against local rivals Birmingham.

A stirring second-half comeback helped Roberto Di Matteo’s side emerge with all three points, after netting three in a Premier League game for the first time since May 2009.

Meanwhile, Newcastle saw off an Everton side still yet to win a league game this season, thanks to a stunning strike from Hatem Ben Arfa on his full debut for the club.

Everton, missing the injured Tim Cahill, will need to pick up the pace soon to avoid being drawn into a relegation scrap.

Two sides with similar ambitions, Stoke and West Ham, played out a 1-1 draw in a game with more attacking verve than one might expect from two teams struggling at the wrong end of the table.

The Hammers led through Scott Parker’s scrambled goal before another Rob Green error allowed Kenwyne Jones to equalise, but both sides had chances to win what proved to be a very open game.

West Ham’s next game is at home to Tottenham, who banished talk of a Champions League hangover by displaying great stamina to see off bogey side Wolves.

Steven Fletcher

Despite the 3-1 defeat, Mick McCarthy will be buoyed by the goalscoring return of record signing Steven Fletcher, who could well ensure a comfortable season for the midlanders if he continues in this vein of form.

Fulham could certainly do with a goalscorer of Fletcher’s ability, especially with Bobby Zamora ruled out for several months. But Mark Hughes’ men kept up their unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw at Ewood Park.

Hosts Blackburn, whose manager Sam Allardyce was hoping to demonstrate his credentials for Europe’s top jobs, will need to concentrate on holding on to a lead – they have now scored first in four of their five Premier League games, but only have five points to show for their efforts.

In the weekend’s remaining game, Aston Villa hosted Bolton in a match full of players looking to stake their claim for a place in Fabio Capello’s next England squad.

Ashley Young, who impressed in August’s friendly against Hungary, showed his class with a cracking free-kick, while Kevin Davies, who has all-but admitted defeat in his quest for a call-up, might be thinking of revising that statement after firing home his first goal of the season at Villa Park. With Jermain Defoe injured and Carlton Cole low on confidence and form, now might be the time for Davies to earn that long-awaited England cap.

Team of the week (4-2-3-1):

Friedel (Aston Villa); Jacobsen (West Ham), Ivanovic (Chelsea), Squillaci (Arsenal), Zabaleta (Man City); Yaya Toure (Man City), van der Vaart (Tottenham); Pennant (Stoke), Jarvis (Wolves), Malouda (Chelsea); Berbatov (Man Utd)

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Premier League Round-up 13/09/2010

This weekend showed once again why the Premier League is so popular, with one of the most thrilling encounters of recent years being played out at Goodison Park.

Manchester United were without Wayne Rooney for the trip to Everton, but – whatever Henry Winter tells you – his absence did not lessen their capacity to win the game. Dimitar Berbatov led the line well and scored the third goal which seemingly clinched victory for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, but Leighton Baines’ crosses caused havoc in the United box, allowing the hosts to score two injury-time goals and salvage a remarkable 3-3 draw.

Ferguson – who later saw his son’s team Preston throw away a similar lead to lose 4-3 at Burnley – must be concerned at his side’s failure to close out games, and he might begin to question the concentration of stand-in defenders Gary Neville and Jonny Evans. While the two are at opposite ends of their respective careers, they are perhaps equidistant from the pinnacle of their abilities.

Michael Essien

United’s late collapse allowed Chelsea to move four points clear at the top of the table with a comfortable 3-1 win against West Ham. Early goals from Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou meant the champions barely had to break sweat, as they sat back and allowed their hosts plenty of possession.

It is difficult to judge Chelsea’s start to the season based on the opposition they have faced so far, but you can only beat what is placed in front of you – something Manchester United have failed to do twice now.

While their rivals continue to hog the headlines, Arsenal are going about their business quietly yet effectively. The odd defensive hiccup remained in their 4-1 victory over Bolton, but Arsene Wenger’s side adjusted well to the loss of Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie.

The scoreline was harsh on a Bolton side very much in the game until the laughable dismissal of Gary Cahill, but Owen Coyle’s side needed to capitalise more on their concerted spells of possession and take the chances presented to them. If you don’t do that, Arsenal will punish you.

The ‘big three’ were joined in the top four by Blackpool, who continued their fairytale start to the season with a surprisingly-comfortable 2-0 win at Newcastle’s St James Park.

Ian Holloway’s men were reliant on goalkeeper Matt Gilks to preserve the lead given to them by Charlie Adam’s first-half penalty, before DJ Campbell sealed the win in stoppage time. Toon Army manager Chris Hughton may be regretting his decision to leave new signing Hatem ben Arfa on the bench, with the midfield trio of Nolan, Smith and Barton failing to provide the necessary creative spark.

Elsewhere Fulham saw off a spirited but indisciplined Wolves outfit at Craven Cottage, in a game which will be remembered for a distressing injury suffered by Bobby Zamora. The England man’s leg snapped under a challenge from Karl Henry, bringing back memories of former Arsenal striker Eduardo’s horrific break in January 2008.

Moussa Dembele

But unlike Arsenal on that fateful day, Fulham were spurred on to record a hard-fought win, Moussa Dembele’s double placating Mark Hughes’ misery somewhat. His opposite number Mick McCarthy, meanwhile, will be concerned that Christophe Berra’s late red card is one of three which could have realistically been awarded against his side.

Another player to see red on Saturday was Sunderland captain Lee Cattermole, who did not even last half an hour against former club Wigan. Two yellow cards in the space of five minutes brought an early end to the combative midfielder’s afternoon for the second time this season.

£13m man Asamoah Gyan still came close to securing an unlikely three points for the 10 men of Sunderland, but his well-taken volley was cancelled out by an instinctive finish from Antolin Alcaraz, who turned in Tom Cleverley’s wayward shot for his first goal in Wigan colours.

1-1 seemed to be the scoreline of the weekend, with Manchester City’s tie against Blackburn and Tottenham’s trip to West Brom both ending in the same scoreline.

City will rue defensive errors and attacking complacency, as they made a meal of coming back into the game after Joe Hart gifted the opener to Nikola Kalinic. Roberto Mancini’s men had 20 shots on goal to Blackburn’s 4, but could not find a way past a determined Rovers back-line.

Chris Brunt

And Spurs were similarly guilty of gifting a goal to their opponents, with a static defence failing to respond when Marc-Antoine Fortune’s shot looped up and spun towards the back post, allowing Chris Brunt to equalise with a rare headed goal from all of a yard out.

Sunday’s televised game was not one for the purists, with Birmingham and Liverpool playing out a dull goalless draw. The hosts had the better chances, but Pepe Reina was equal to everything thrown at him by the Blues, while at the other end an uncharacteristically-negative selection from Roy Hodgson left Fernando Torres feeding off scraps for the most part.

Team of the week (4-2-3-1)*:

Reina (Liverpool); Kaboul (Tottenham), Jones (Blackburn), Dann (Birmingham), Cole (Chelsea); Song (Arsenal), Scharner (West Brom); Arteta (Everton), Fabregas (Arsenal), Adam (Blackpool); Berbatov (Man Utd)

*Team selected ahead of Monday night game between Aston Villa and Stoke

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Premier League round-up 30/08/2010

This weekend marked the last round of Premier League fixtures before the close of the transfer window, and understandably the 10 games played were – on the whole – cagier affairs. Players were keen to avoid mistakes for fear of being replaced by trigger-happy managers before tomorrow evening, and thus took fewer risks.

Such an attitude led to more tentative displays from the likes of Tottenham, who failed to pierce Wigan’s sieve of a defence as they fell to a 1-0 defeat. Perhaps distracted by Thursday’s Champions League draw – which paired them with holders Internazionale – Harry Redknapp’s side lost focus and lacked the attacking vigour of last week’s win over Stoke.

After beginning the game looking to avoid defeat, Roberto Martinez’s Latics soon realised they had a chance to get all three points from the visit to White Hart Lane. Spurs failed to heed a very visible warning shot in the form of Antonio Alcaraz’s embarrassing miss, and minutes later Hugo Rodallega (below) notched his first goal of the season.

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The Colombian’s winner will give Redknapp cause for concern, and he will be keen to avoid similar slip-ups after the Champions League ties in Milan, Bremen and Enschede. With margins of error smaller than ever this season, just one European hangover could be the difference between Champions League qualification and a season in the Europa League.

One team looking more comfortable at the moment is Arsenal. Spurs’ North London neighbours saw off a stubborn Blackburn outfit and could have easily added to the two goals scored by Andrey Arshavin and the resurgent Theo Walcott.

This is exactly the kind of game Arsene Wenger’s side have dropped points in in recent years, but even when their forwards were squandering chances at one end, the Gunners’ back-line limited Rovers to few clear-cut chances at the other. Despite picking up a red card on his competitive debut for the club, Laurent Koscielny looks like a smart acquisition by Wenger.

That 2-1 victory leaves Arsenal on seven points, the same tally as Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson’s men brushed past basement side West Ham with Dimitar Berbatov starring in a 3-0 win. The watching Fabio Capello will be relieved the Bulgarian has retired from international football, with Berbatov’s fellow countrymen taking on a weakened England back-line in Friday’s European Championships qualifier.

Nemanja Vidic

As important as Berbatov’s flair was the performance of Nemanja Vidic at the back. After a poor World Cup the Serbian is quickly getting back to his best at Old Trafford, and West Ham’s forwards barely got a touch on the ball, let alone a clear sight of goal.

But Arsenal and United are still chasing champions Chelsea, who kept up their 100 per cent record with a stroll in the park against Stoke. The Potters’ negativity left them playing a game of damage limitation even before Florent Malouda netted the opener, but Tony Pulis’ side know these are not the games from which they should be looking for victories. Still, with Stoke still yet to record a point this season, their home game against winless West Ham in September is already looking like a relegation six-pointer.

The top four is rounded off by Aston Villa, who bounced back from last week’s humbling at St James Park with a hard-fought 1-0 triumph over Everton. A well-taken goal from Luke Young may see Fabio Capello start to regret the full-back’s retirement from international football, while another impressive performance from Marc Albrighton made the £26m sale of James Milner look smarter by the day.

Milner’s new employers Manchester City slipped to a shock defeat at Sunderland, who are quickly turning the Stadium of Light into a fortress. Micah Richards, so impressive last week against Liverpool, was the villain of the piece this time round as he brought down Darren Bent for the decisive penalty kick.

Not so long ago, the thought of Birmingham against Blackburn on Sky would have encouraged the casual supporter to turn off the TV and get a headstart on their work for the week ahead, but not any more. Blues boss Alex McLeish has recognised the 1-0 wins of last season will not be so easy to come by without Joe Hart on the club’s books, while Bolton manager Owen Coyle has brought a fluid passing system with him from Burnley.

Roger Johnson

He has also brought Robbie Blake with him, and the veteran striker was the Trotters saviour, firing a late free-kick into the top corner of Ben Foster’s net to complete a comeback after goals from Roger Johnson and Craig Gardner had given Birmingham a 2-0 lead. Foster’s opposite number Jussi Jaaskelainen, meanwhile, had a game to forget – a needless slap on Johnson saw the Finn dismissed before half-time.

Another ground which witnessed a 2-2 scoreline was Blackpool’s Bloomfield Road. Luke Varney’s profligacy in front of goal contributed to Sheffield Wednesday’s relegation from the Championship last season, but the former Crewe man enjoyed a more fruitful debut with Ian Holloway’s team. Opponents Fulham will have impressed manager Mark Hughes to some degree after coming from behind for the second week running, but there remain question marks over their defensive solidity.

Aside from Blackpool’s fairytale start to the season, perhaps the biggest surprise this term has been the form of Mick McCarthy’s Wolves. They kept up their unbeaten record with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle, in a game which turned into a physical battle between the two midfields. A series of crunching tackles from Wolves captain Karl Henry silenced Newcastle hard-man Joey Barton but the Toon Army picked up their game in the second half to earn a deserved point.

On the subject of combative midfielders, Christian Poulsen enjoyed an impressive debut as Liverpool saw off the challenger of West Brom. Fernando Torres may have grabbed the headlines with the only goal of the game, but Poulsen showed a good understanding with Steven Gerrard, giving the Anfield faithful reason to be optimistic despite the departure of Javier Mascherano. The visitors can also be relatively happy with the performance, suggesting defensive collapses like that suffered against Chelsea are a thing of the past.

Team of the week (4-4-2):

Mignolet (Sunderland); Luke Young (Aston Villa) Vidic (Man Utd), Vermaelen (Arsenal), Baines (Everton); Al-Muhammadi (Sunderland), Poulsen (Liverpool), Mikel (Chelsea), Nani (Man Utd); Berbatov (Man Utd), Varney (Blackpool)

Europe 4-0 England: Champions League round-up

Now the dust has settled on the Champions League quarter-finals, with no English teams making it to the final four, it is time to reflect on the reasons for Arsenal and Manchester United failing to progress.

Arsenal’s exit is the more understandable of the two, considering their injury problems. As if Cesc Fabregas’ broken leg wasn’t enough of a setback, Arsene Wenger’s side was forced to make do without their defensive leader and their main creative influence, in William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin respectively.

Gallas’ absence was the most significant. Time after time a lack of communication between the Gunners’ back four cost them dear, with Emmanuel Eboue’s positioning for the clinching fourth goal symptomatic of a makeshift defence ill-equipped to deal with the movement of Lionel Messi and Bojan.

Arsenal's back line had no answer to Lionel Messi

Although Nicklas Bendtner led the line admirably at the other end, he was well marshalled by Gabi Milito and Rafael Marquez, whose performances simply emphasise the strength in depth which separates the Catalans from Wenger’s young squad.

In the end Barcelona’s convincing victory was little surprise, and Arsenal will need to draw on all their reserves when they visit White Hart Lane on Wednesday.

But if Arsenal’s departure was somewhat expected, Manchester United’s exit from the competition at the hands of Bayern Munich comes as a minor shock.

The main talking point before the game was Wayne Rooney’s inclusion in the starting line-up, and I feel Sir Alex Ferguson made the right move in risking his star man.

This may come as a surprise considering Rooney’s rather subdued performance, but the sad truth is United have no other individual who comes close to worrying defences in the same way as the England frontman.

Despite not being directly involved in the moves leading up to Nani’s two goals, even an injured Wayne Rooney was enough to keep opposition defenders on their toes. Indeed it was perhaps Bayern’s overestimation of the 24-year-old which freed up so much space for his Portuguese team-mate.

Rafael’s sending-off was of course a factor, but one might wonder why Ferguson reverted to a 4-5-0 formation when his lone striker’s ankle injury flared up.

The answer to this can be found by looking at the impact made by Dimitar Berbatov when he finally took to the field with 10 minutes remaining.

Berbatov thrives on the space created by a strike partner, and his own minimal movement means he often struggles as a lone frontman. With wingers Nani and Antonio Valencia overworked to the point that the former was seen visibly gasping for breath after one lung-busting run, the Bulgarian was required to make space for himself and fight for the ball. He is unlikely to be seen doing this at the best of times, and last night was no exception.

Sir Alex Ferguson will surely deny it, but yesterday’s elimination offers proof – if any was needed – that Carlos Tevez should still have had a place at Old Trafford.

United’s success this season has been based around a fully-fit and on-form Wayne Rooney, with no ready-made replacement in the same mould.

Rooney’s game is so strong because his goalscoring and link-up play is complemented by a willingness to chase every ball and never let the centre-backs settle. For the entire second half yesterday, the often-shaky Daniel van Buyten and Martin Demechelis were allowed time and space to get forward, with only the occasional burst forward from Nani and Valencia causing them problems.

United saw before the break how the Bayern centre-backs struggled with the movement of their front three, and if they could call on someone like Tevez, rather than Berbatov and the ineffective Ryan Giggs, we might have seen a contest in the second half rather than an attack-versus-defence encounter in United’s half of the pitch.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s reluctance to call upon Federico Macheda and Mame Biram Diouf, coupled with Michael Owen’s season-ending hamstring injury, suggests the Red Devils could not afford to lose both Tevez and Cristiano Ronaldo without bringing in an experienced replacement.

Mame Biram Diouf was not even named on the bench last night

It is all well and good having talented youngsters on your books, but if you are unwilling to utilise them in high-pressure situations it seems ridiculous not to augment the striking talent at the club, even if just bringing in someone on a short-term deal, as they did with Henrik Larsson in 2006.

Instead of making excuses about refereeing decisions or about Bayern players crowding around the official in a manner not dissimilar to previous United sides, Ferguson needs to have a look at his own shortcomings.

His side had no response to a Bayern side lacking their own one-time talisman Miroslav Klose, and whose star men Ribery and Robben underperformed save for one crucial moment of genius.

For all the intelligence of Ferguson’s initial approach to the match, at this level of football you need to have a Plan B which you can rely on.