League Ladders

The biggest thing to take from the midweek fixtures: there is a Cold War underway in Manchester!
It was freezing cold in all of England but the icy stand off between local rivals who are fighting a war between themsleves and world domination showed how tense it has the potential to become. Nobody wanted to lose. Alex Ferguson sent his captain out to speak to the media with the script already written - we came to win. And in truth they did. A draw was what United wanted. They want the staus quo to continue.

City need to change the way things are but their manager is right to think this doesn't happen in 90 minutes, Mancini might have gambled but after this stalemate City stay in the head of all those wearing worrying frowns at Old Trafford.

*****

A trip to St James Park may be all Sam Allardyce needs to get the winter fires burning. Observations to make other than the fact that Blackburn can start games as powerful as any team in the league:

1) Joey Barton may be a pretty lucky man to have stayed on the pitch and we all know his past record but do we really need pundit after pundit acting as though they have never seen a punch thrown before. There are a lot more sneaky things going on during every week of the football season. Francis Lee is still considered a legend and never took a backwards step.

2) The empty seats that litter this passionate home ground. The economy is dreadful, football is too expensive - so wake up all those who run this particular league of plenty - if seats are not being sold in Newcastle a few days after a great win against Arsenal then maybe ticket prices need to be looked at and standardised once and for all. If it looks like people don't watch the product locally then what will those around the world viewing on their expensive TV packages make of it next time they are sold the broadcasting rights. You can only go back to the well so much.

*****

Liverpool fans who booed at the DW, lit up phone lines and internet sites with complaints that they couldn't reproduce Sunday's form against Wigan should take a step back. They have been wracking up points since relegation seemed more than just a bad headline. They are positioned to make a run and nothing more than that matters this side of Christmas.

*****

Rafael van der Vaart's handball against Sunderland has been glossed over by the fact that Spurs deserved to win the game. Glossed over in the same way that they are in a pretty poor run of form despite beating Internazionale. Steve Bruce has found another gem in Asamoah Gyan, as much as you can 'find' a star of the last World Cup. Still, he gambled when others did not.

*****

There is something strange going on at Villa Park. When Martin O'Neill left the club we knew that Villa wouldn't be long for an injury crisis. Those unchanged teams have a bad habit of taking their toll. Yet, it seemed that Villa were pretty set in terms of where they were going and the players who were essential to what they do. Instead 2010 has been something of a quiet revolution. Nathan Delfounso and Marc Albrighton have blown away a lot of what we believed was true about a stagnant looking Villa side. They may not setting the world alight, but like Martin Kelly at Liverpool, will save their club £5-10million in transfer fees and have the backing of their home support from day one.

******

Six of the very best and worst

1) Could it be true that Michael Essien wanted a little bit of revenge against Clint Dempsey for the elbow on Jose Bosingwa.

2) Cesc Fabregas knew exactly when to put the boot in. Joe Cole went off earlier in the season for something very similar. Why apologise though? Will he write to the FA and plead his case for a three match ban. You got away with one - end of story.

3) Jermaine Beckford might just hold the key to David Moyes' eternal frustration in breaking into the big time with Everton. The quality of the goal was of equal importance to its timing. 15 goals from any striker at that club will reap massive rewards.

4) Stoke really are formidable at home. Say what you want, and here we say plenty, but Tony Pulis and the Stoke fans have the ability to drag every last drop from the players.

5) Ian Holloway is absolutely correct to say that nobody should give him any stick about changing his side. If you are a paid professional then that is what you are. The headlines 'Footballer does what he is paid to do' should never be news.

6) Paul Gascoigne was a footballing genius and it is all so very sad.