Sheriff Kimbo's Thursday Thoughts #17

The worst thing about being at Villa Park to watch us draw 0-0 with Arsenal last night was that I missed the Manchester derby; in all fairness, they have served up some corkers this season haven't they. They always look a bit tasty too. That is always entertaining; football is FAR too soft these days, so any sort of spark like the apparent disliking these two set of players have for each other is far more entertaining than it should be!

Some Villa fans enjoyed United getting through on the basis that Gareth Barry didn't get to the final, and some were happy on the basis that they think City will go all out for it whereas United won't take it so seriously. Personally I don't buy into that; Sir Alex has installed a winning mentality that means they will want that final win just as bad as we do, even if on paper it does seem like it would mean more to us. That is probably true of the fans but I don't believe for one second that will be the case for the players.

The coin throwing incident was not nice and I was disgusted that some of the United fans were cheering it. Sure, it is their local rivals and yes, Craig Bellamy is not exactly Mr Popular but that kind of activity should not be condoned. I hope they are punished, but on the flip side of that it is not really the fault of United is it? So more to the point, I hope the people that threw the objects have been/get caught.

For me, Wayne Rooney has been the standout player of this season. Some other players have had a great season and will undoubtedly be in contention for the player of the year award (Tevez, Lampard, Fabregas) but in my eyes Wayne Rooney has been THE standout player. He has actually improved this season, in as much as he leads the line better than he did. When you add that to the talents that he already had, it makes for one hell of a fine footballer.

The fine writers of this site have recently debated on whether or not there should be a winter break; while the argument 'for' is not without its valid points, for me it is a simple case of 'no' because the weather is too unpredictable here. Plus I too am a traditionalist and see Boxing Day as a day that revolves around football, horse racing and leftovers!

It is a sad state of affairs when administrators are deciding who can play for a football team. Sadly that is exactly what has happened at Crystal Palace, with Victor Moses getting pulled out of action this week. What is so, so frustrating about the current state of football is that anyone with half a brain could see this happening years ago; it will get worse before it gets better too.

In particular I fear for Pompey though. How bad do things have to get that you can’t even pay your website fees? I actually hope it is just a stupid administrative error rather than just a case of not being able to afford it, because if it is... well let's just say the likes of Manchester United will probably have a lot more supporters down south in a generation’s time.

When I was a wee schoolboy, I used to regularly play football against a lad who was very good with the ball at his feet and taking players on. Thing was, whenever he got tackled, he would either, a) limp around like he had been hurt somehow; or b) kick out (personally I used to love playing against him because he was easy to rile up!) and the reason I mention this is that on more than one occasion this season he has crossed my mind when I have been watching Real Madrid... dear oh dear Ronaldo, what an absolute moron you are.

Speaking of morons, I see that Adrian Mutu tested positive for a banned stimulant earlier this month. Seriously, how stupid can you get? Now in his defence it does seem like it was something mild (a weight loss drug) but after what has happened in his career, wouldn't it make sense to be absolutely extra careful about everything that goes into his body? Footballers, eh!

Hope you all had a good week. Speak to you next Thursday.