GET OUT OF OUR WAY
The festive season tends to be the ultimate case of "no rest for the wicked" for English football teams. Ironically, some think it's a good time to have a winter break - including Wayne Rooney apparantly. Yet as far as a lot of English fans are concerned, festive football is part of the festive season, it's a family day out etc. Whatever the thinking, these Premiership fixtures aren't going away any time soon and at least teams don't play on Xmas day any more which apparantly they did way back when. Anyway, United came into the festive period as the team to beat, and that was after they already had a game in hand. Still, enough teams were hot on our heels.
Well before the festive period really started, United were due to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Well I know there was plenty of snow around at that point but I never thought that a "Grand Slam" match would ever get called off due to white stuff. Well apparantly the Stamford Bridge pitch was playable enough but they were worried about people hitting the deck outside the stadium. Given that lesser games including some in lower divisions did go ahead it was pretty embarrassing. That left United with two games that had to be rearranged and Fergie must be hoping that he doesn't have to deal with a late season fixture pile up - we'll see what happens to both sides in the cups.
Ironicallly, once the festive period got started, the snow actually began to clear. First up we beat Sunderland 2-0 at Old Trafford in what was a pretty straightforward affair. However we saw out 2010 with an iffy 1-1 draw vs Birmingham at St Andrews which can't have been what Fergie had in mind, particularly given that the Brum goal was actually offside. However we did claim the first Premiership goal of 2011 on our way to beating West Brom 2-1 at the Hawthorns. That leaves United top of the Premiership, level on points with 2nd placed Man City but with a +6 goal difference advantage and two games in hand. No one has the consistency to stop us right now!
North of the border, Aberdeen hired Craig Brown as their new manager and the man that gaffered Scotland's 1998 World Cup team set about rejuvenating the Dons SPL campaign. That effort started with a 2-1 win over Hibs at Easter Road which was the Dons first win anywhere for seven games. And then came a 1-0 win over Hamilton at New Douglas Park. Finally there was a 1-1 draw with Dundee United at Pittodrie which actually dissapointed the new gaffer. I think the fans will let him off for now though. The Dons rise to 9th in the SPL and out of the relegation zone, now six points clear of Hamilton and the drop(though the Accies have two games in hand) and seven points behind Motherwell and the top half of the table.
In the meantime the Dons take a timeout from SPL action next weekend as they face SD2 side East Fife at Pittodrie. Now when the draw was made the Dons were lurching from disaster to disaster. That seems to have been sorted out. Furthermore the Dons prospective opponents are in the lower half of their division so surely this'll be another step to redemption for the Reds. Yet the Dons have picked up a nasty habit of being mugged in the Cups under both Mark McGhee and Jimmy Calderwood before him. Yet surely all things considered the safe bet is for the Dons to make the next round from here at least - particularly on current form.
Further afield and there was one last trophy up for grabs in 2010 with Inter becoming the sixth European team out of six to reach the Club World Cup final. This time the opponents were TP Mazembe and Zayed Sport City. Goran Pandev opened the scoring for the Serie A side with Samuel Eto'o making it two before half time. The Congolese side from a league no one had heard of before with were then finished off with a late goal from Johnathon Biabiany. When the dust settled, Inter had become the fourth European side in a row to win the competition - which is getting to be a pretty impressive record. Even if it wasn't enough to keep Rafa Benitez in a job.
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