Dealing with the loss

If Sir Alex thought he was going to get away without properly replacing Ronaldo, it looks like he may have to think again. And quickly.

I know the season is only a week old but Manchester United are showing all the creativity, imagination and daring of a junior level civil servant.

Their midfield is crying out for someone to add a spark of magic, a player with natural skills who can make things happen.

Against Birmingham they were predictable and midweek they were even worse, although a lot of credit has to go to Burnley's defensive team in that case.

On both occasions, Wayne Rooney, who should have been hustling and bustling in and around the box, was instead having to drop deep to try to create something. And, while he is more than capable of doing that, it is not where he is at his most effective.

In my opinion Ronaldo brought three things to the United stable. Firstly, and most obviously, his own skills. Not only was he good at setting things up he was also an excellent finisher, as his 30 goals a season indicates.

The second thing he added was the 'distraction' element. When he was on the pitch, opposing teams would be watching him like a hawk, often double marking him. That, in turn, gave the rest of the players more space to operate.

Finally, Ronaldo was a morale booster. Having him in the team gave the rest of the side a feel-good factor. You are obviously going to play with a spring in your step and added confidence when the best player in the world is alongside you.

It seems Sir Alex may have just underestimated the combined importance of everything Ronaldo brought to the team. Not just as a player but as a talisman.

The transfer window doesn't close for another week, so there is still time for the canny Scot to sort out what could turn into quite a serious problem. And he certainly has the cash to spend if he wants.

On the other hand, he may think he can make do with what he has. But that, on the evidence so far, may not be enough to go for that unprecedented fourth title in a row.

A league too far

So, who thinks a European 'super league' is actually a good idea? Anyone? ...anyone?

Arsene Wenger brought up the subject last week, suggesting big clubs would need to think about forming such a league in the near future because the financial rewards of the Champions League would no longer be enough.

And we all know that football is about money now, not sport, which adds weight to his somewhat worrying prediction.

"I'm not sure 100 per cent that I am right but I feel that there are some voices behind the scenes in our game aiming to do something about a European league, especially if the rules become too restrictive for the big clubs as things currently stand," he said.

The question is, of course, how would such a league work? Would it mean replacing the current midweek games with European league matches? Like a permanent version of the group stage?

Of all the possibilities I have heard, that is the only one that has even a small amount of sense about it. But it would come with plenty of negatives too.

Who would get in the league, for example? Would the make-up of the league be decided every year depending on how teams finish domestically? Or would it be a permanent selection of teams with promotion and relegation each year? If so, how would you decide who goes up and down?

Another problem with this is the boredom factor. Who would be bothered to turn up to watch a mid-table European Super League clash towards the end of the season when neither team had anything to play for? It would be dullsville.

That's why the Champions League system actually works now. You get the league element at the beginning but then the excitement of a knockout in the latter stages. Keeps everyone on their toes.

The other danger of having this sort of set-up is that you would end up with each club having two teams. The best one reserved for Europe and the other one - probably the kids - being played back home. If so, domestic football would be seriously devalued and that would have a knock-on effect on the entire game.

Another suggestion mentioned this week, even though Wenger said he thought it unlikely, was that the big teams would pull out of their domestic leagues entirely to dedicate themselves to Europe.

At face value, that would be a very silly idea.

The fans of the big teams would soon tire of playing clubs like Barcelona, Milan and Bayern week-in, week-out. What makes those sort of matches special right now is that they are rare and exclusive. If it was your only source of competitive football, the fans would get very bored, very quickly.

Some have said that if this happens it would kill the domestic game. I don't agree. I think it would revitalise it. Those that remain in the league would be happy in the knowledge that the playing field had suddenly become so much more level.

And I believe, new clubs would form in Liverpool, Manchester and London to mop up the disillusioned supporters who refuse to follow a team around the continent just because it earns the club more revenue.

If, and I realise this is a big if, Europe's elite want to breakaway and form their own super-league then I say let them. I could be wrong but I don't think it will last, and a few seasons down the line they will be coming back to domestic football begging to be let in. And that is when they should be told to go play with a bus.

But that scenario is both hypothetical and extremely unlikely. If this proposal does gather momentum and come into being, the chances very much are that it will be a midweek league. A simple replacement for the current competition.

Do I want that to happen? Not at all. Don't fix something that isn't broken. Sadly in a sport where money is everything, it will take a lot more than an old saying to stop the big clubs following a path of gold.

Backing the Gunners

I've had a lot e-mails this week in response to my Premier League predictions, a few of them agreeing with me, and most thinking that me and the plot have gone our separate ways.

But the ones that really irritated my socks off were from people criticising me for predicting Arsenal were going to win the league on the back of a single game.

One clown, whose name I will keep to myself, said it was very 'amateur' of me to claim Arsenal would win the league just because they had stuffed Everton 6-1.

Well, John (oops, sorry, it just slipped out), I have news for you. By the time the Arsenal game started, my column had not only been written, edited and laid out, but was probably already on the printing press.

The reality is, I based my prediction on several factors. Firstly, there was what I had seen of Arsenal in pre-season, which was, for the most part, impressive. Secondly, I took into account the fact that Wenger is under major pressure to deliver success this season.

Finally, I took a look at the other main competitors and concluded that Liverpool lack strength in depth, Chelsea are gunning for the Champions League and Manchester United are going to severely miss Ronaldo.

That is why I tipped Arsenal for top spot. Not just because they had one seriously good result. That would have, admittedly, been rather sad.

Time will tell, of course, whether or not I was talking out of my bottom. But I have seen nothing in the course of these first few games to change my mind.

Come next May, Arsenal will be champions.

Warnock's warpath

The world of football needs to do something to sort out this goalmouth technology situation.

This week we had yet another example of an obvious goal not being allowed because not one of the officials at the match noticed the ball had crossed the line.

Unfortunately for the authorities the incident went against Crystal Palace whose manager - none other than Neil Warnock - was never going to take it lying down.

"We've been let down by four people - and not one person in black could see it. It's absolutely ridiculous. I don't know how they keep their jobs. It absolutely stinks," he said diplomatically.

In fairness to him, it was an extremely obvious goal. Extremely.

Palace were 0-0 at the time and went on to lose the match against Bristol City 1-0. So the error effectively cost the away team a point (possibly three). How costly could that prove come the end of the season? Imagine Palace miss out on promotion by a point. Or, worse still, get relegated by a point.

If this were just an isolated incident then fair enough. But it happens several times a season and at all levels of the game.

If the footballing powers refuse to introduce goal line cameras due to some bizarre form of technophobia, then they should at least go with the fallback plan of putting extra officials behind the goals.

Something has to be done about this, and soon. Luckily, Warnock was involved in this latest incident because you can guarantee he won't let anybody forget his team were cheated out of a point.

Not for a very, very long time. If ever.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com