United Disgrace

While Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, Manchester United continued self-destruction with a dismal 2-0 defeat down at Carrow Road. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wayne Rooney, and Cristiano Ronaldo started on the bench, but all came on at various times over the course of the match. Somehow, they still failed to break down a Norwich defence which had shipped out 63 goals in 31 matches and had not kept a clean sheet since October 16 in a 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion. That's 22 league matches and two cup ties. With Arsenal earning three points over Middlesbrough at the Riverside, it looks increasingly likely that United will have to settle for third place and third qualification round in next season's Champions League.

Another Everton youngster makes the headlines with a record-breaking strike in the final minutes of their match against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park on Sunday. James Vaughan, on his senior debut as Everton's youngest player ever, came off the bench in the 74th minute and proceeded to become the youngest scorer in Premiership history. At the age of 16 years and 271 days, he beat the previous record of 16 years and 357 days, set by James Milner in December 2002. Comparisons to former Everton starlet Rooney are inevitable, especially with Rooney set to return to Goodison Park when United visit on April 20.

Elsewhere in Europe, the biggest game of the weekend took place at the Bernabeu between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Faced with Barcelona's 4-2-3-1, Real manager Luxemburgo went with a daring 4-3-3, which spared him the trouble of choosing two out of the three forwards at his disposal. This proved to be a masterstroke, as all three - Raul, Ronaldo, and Michael Owen - scored on route to a 4-2 victory. Incredibly, Barcelona more than doubled Real in terms of chances at goal, but with Samuel Eto'o stretchered off with a dozen minutes left and Real shifting into defensive mode with a trio of substitutions that saw three of the four goalscorers come off the pitch, they failed to claw back the two-goal deficit, allowing Real to come within six points in the league table. With seven games remaining, the two-horse race at the top suddenly got a lot more interesting. Further down the table, four points separate the five teams ranked 3rd to 7th, with Champions League qualifications still to play for.

Finally, a note on the England vs. Northern Ireland World Cup qualifier, which I watched last night. I had read about David Beckham's lack of tactical discipline in this match, which boiled down to his inability to stick to the wing and stretch the Northern Ireland defence. Indeed, Becks roamed too often into the middle of the park, but why complain when we ran out 4-0 winners and Joe Cole put in a solid performance on the problematic left side?