Talks with David Gill about renewing the Rooneys contract at United stalled back in August and with only one year remaining on his contract the 24-year-old has made it clear he wants to leave.

Sir Alex is “shocked and bemused” as to why Rooney would want to leave “The best club in the world”

So, “where to” for Rooney? Like I said before in “The start of Rooney to Real” there are only a few clubs he could actually go to.

Real Madrid, Manchester City and maybe Chelsea are the only clubs I think he would go to. He wouldn’t fit in Barcelona, and he wouldn’t go to Italy, cause it doesn’t fit his style of play.

Both Real Madrid and Chelsea have successful striking duos. Real have Ronaldo and Higuain, and Chelsea have Drogba and Anelka. Manchester City have Tevez, and every other striker they have is expendable (Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Balotelli, and Jo) and we’ve seen what Rooney and Tevez could do together.

Where do you think Rooney will go?

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Manchester United had to first get past stoke, and pray that Wigan pulled off a miracle.

United went with their strong back line, there is never any doubt who the starters are there. Giggs and Nani started wide, while Scholes and Fletcher secured the middle, and Rooney would have to deal with Berbatov alongside him.

It only took 12 minutes for Berbatov to miss his first of the match. Brilliant service from Nani to find Berbatov and it hits off his head and over the bar. Really should have scored.

Berbatov again! In the 23rd minute Nani would find Berbatov again, this time from the opposite flank, and you guessed it! He missed again, the Bulgarian cant buy a goal at the moment!

It was all United, and it was only a matter of time before they found the back of the net. This time it was Fletcher who happend to be in the right place at the right time. A corner was fed from Giggs and Vidic headed it down into the area and after some pinball in the box, Fletcher finished.

Finally Berbatov provided something, as he laid the ball square as Nani dummied Giggs came in and slapped it first time from the PK spot to put United up 2-0 before the half. its a good goal from the United living legend.

2-0 at half

United would be given yet another own-goal this season as Danny Higginbotham tried to intercept a cross from Rooney but instead found the back of his own net.

Berbatov and Scholes would come off for Macheda and Gibson in the 62nd.

At this point everyone was getting word of the rampage Chelsea was on at Stamford Bridge. Drogba had passed Rooney in goals and was on his way to clenching the Golden Boot award.

United did not let up and continued to put the pressure on stoke even after it was certain they had been dethroned. Great professionalism from United.

With only 6 minutes left Park would give United their 4th from a corner kick.

It was all over, Uniteds reign has ended. Chelsea dismantled Wigan 8-0! Other than a hand-full of individual awards United would walk away from a season with absolutely no silverware.

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Sir Alex shouldn’t have gone to a 4-4-2, but instead have kept the formation (4-5-1) that was working, only replace Rooney with Berbatov. It should have looked like this; Carrick, Fletcher, and Scholes in the center, because Chelsea ran rampant in the middle with only Fletcher and Scholes there, Nani and Valencia on the wings and Berbatov as a lone striker.

The first real chance of the match went to United as Valencia found Berbatov with a center after shrugging off Zhirkov like he was 50 pounds lighter. The Bulgarian would send it wide from a header.

10 minutes later Malouda, who has been in extraordinary form, was in down the byline past Fletcher, who in my opinion gave up way too easily, there was almost no effort to stop Malouda, as he supplied a great ball for Cole who pulled off a very creative back heel to find the back post. And with in 20 minutes United was down 1-0 at home.

It wouldn’t take long for United to go on the offensive and 6 minutes later, Park would get himself in a great position past Zhirkov to draw a foul in the box. There was clearly contact and critics will say Park tried to over sell it. Well there is nothing in the FIFA laws of the game that says “A foul will not be given if the player fouled attempts to over sell the foul”

4 minutes later Chelsea would have their appeals as Neville barged into Anelka in the box. To be honest, that was also a foul; Neville makes no attempt to play the ball. I am tired of game analyst claiming “It’s such a big game, that’s not gonna be given” The bottom line is, a foul is a foul, regardless of where on the pitch, or the time elapsed when the infringement occurs.

Just before the half Berbatov would have an excellent chance after a brilliant through ball from Park, but what does the Bulgarian do? Having a clear chance to push the ball forward with his right and shoot left footed, he decides to cut back! He lacks the predatory finishing skills of a Rooney, Tevez, or Drogba. And that’s why United should sell him right away!

United began to look more like the reigning champs only to have their hopes crushed by idiot linesman who was only a spectator to the clear offside position of Drogba that would result in the second goal for Chelsea.

After 2 goals down, the substitute who should have started, Nani did what he’s been doing best and that’s supplying from the byline as Macheda slaps the ball in, literally with his hand to give United some hope. But it was too little too late.

Sir Alex should have at least started the second half like he ended the game, Park off for Macheda and Nani on for Scholes.

The match would end 2-1 and move Chelsea 2 points clear of United.

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Not surprisingly, people have begun to play down United’s great accomplishment. Ex-United defender Paul Parker is one of them, claiming “Manchester United’s record 11th consecutive clean sheet in the Premier League is a great achievement, but I am not sure I would crown them the best defense of all-time.”

He continued by saying that “It used to be the case [ 10 to 15 years ago] that defenses were constantly tested, regardless of their league position” 10-15 years ago? Coincidently that’s when Parker was playing.

But Parker is an idiot! Football has evolved, the days of “kickball” are over in the EPL. Kickball is still played in the lower divisions of English football, which is some of the most unattractive football in the world, but in the premier league the game is much more diverse then it was 15 years ago. Defenders are smarter now, they have to be!

Defenders no longer wait for a long ball from the opponent, only to return it in the same fashion. Teams are much better at keeping possession and building an attack now.

The United defense have earned this achievement by playing great football, wonder if they can make it to 1000 minutes.

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Vidic lost his marker at the far post to head home his fourth of the season from a corner in first-half stoppage time and give United a lead they just about deserved on the balance of play. That goal was registered at the second attempt after Cristiano Ronaldo had a header of his own disallowed just moments earlier. Rooney had casually knocked the inital corner into play while nobody except Ryan Giggs was looking, and the Welsh veteran jogged over to the ball before quickly crossing in to the far post for Ronaldo to glance a header past goalkeeper Petr Cech. However, the linesman’s flag was immediately raised and referee Howard Webb ruled that, as none of the officials were made aware that the ball was in play, the corner must be retaken.

Midway through the second-half, United doubled their lead when Patrice Evra – returning from a four-match ban for his row with a Chelsea groundsman at Stamford Bridge last April – curled in a cross that was too high for Berbatov to head but Rooney was able to prod home from close range.
Berbatov put the gloss on the victory with three minutes of normal time remaining when he steered in Ronaldo’s free-kick delivery at the near post.

Considering the inevitably fevered build-up to the match, the first-half was a largely uneventful one.
The referee handed out four yellow cards, the first to Frank Lampard after just four minutes for a cynical trip on Ronaldo. Ronaldo found himself in the book midway through the half along with fellow Portuguese Ricardo Carvalho after the two tangled with each other while battling at a corner.

The only shot on target preceding the opener came from Berbatov after Rooney had found him in the Chelsea area with a delicate flick. The Bulgarian striker was in front of goal but his left-footed shot under pressure was tame and an easy stop for Cech.

Chelsea boss Luiz Felipe Scolari brought on Nicolas Anelka at half-time to partner Didier Drogba, but the league’s top scorer did little to aid his coahces cause.
The Frenchman could not muster any efforts on goal himself, while Drogba blazed one strike over the bar and air-kicked another attempted volley as the Blues chased the game.

Four more booking were handed out before the final whistle, including one for Rooney, whose performance deserved both the goal he scored and the yellow card he received.

Ronaldo fired a shot inches wide from distance and had a free-kick loop up off the wall and tipped over the bar by Cech before he set up the third goal that ended Chelsea’s unbeaten run of 20 away matches in the league.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport

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“That will be a big game. It’s unusual to have it in January, it’s usually towards the end of the season,” Ferguson told Inside United magazine.

“It’s been later – in the last two or three games – for the last two seasons. It doesn’t matter when you play Chelsea, though, it’s always going to be a massive game.”

“It’s a little different with the timing, but we’re still aiming to win it. They’ve done very well away from home but not so well at home so it’s been interesting from them this season.”

If United win at Old Trafford they will be within one point of Chelsea with two games in hand.

“If we can get within a couple of points of Chelsea and we’ve games in hand, then we’re in a great position,” he said.

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“It was a competitive game but I did not think there was one bad tackle in it,” said Ferguson.

That may be the case Sir Alex, but three of the seven cards were for mouthing off to the official. Officials should be respected and unfortunately Riley had to set an example out of the biggest club in the World.

I agree that players should respect officials, but there has got to be room for emotion, passion and even some theatrics.

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One Player! Sir Alex, don’t be so naive! Chelsea just confirmed Deco! Arsenal confirmed Nasri! Even Man City look to have confirmed Jo and are on the hunt for Ronaldinho! Yes United won both the Champions League and Premier League last year, but Chelsea were not far behind. With a coach like Scolari and signings like Deco and Bosingwa, United are going to be in for a rude awakening if they think they could buy one player!

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Most recently Arsene Wenger revealed that the signing of Marseille’s highly-rated 20 year-old Samir Nasri is likely to happen. “And if it does happen, it will be before the start of the European Championship.” Wenger told Telefoot. The young attacking midfielder has already been compared to Zidane.

Also, Carlos Vela has just received clearance to begin his long-awaited career for the Gunners. The teenage Mexican international signed a five-year deal with the Gunners back in November 2005, but was not given clearance by FIFA legislation.

Arsenal are not wasting anytime in swooping up some of the worlds best young talent.

Come on Sir Alex, just give Ronaldo the amount of money he wants [cause you have it, and he deserves it] and move on. Enough talk, its time to act. You have your eyes on some of Europes most sought after players, they wont be available forever.

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