"Who are ya??"

I've just witnessed a cracking week of football.. a week where Arsenal did the 'double' over Man Utd ("Manure"..?). In what was the "blockbuster" weekend in the Premier League, Arsenal and Liverpool pulled off what they would call invaluable results. How Liverpool actually manage to win games really baffles me. They are just a richer version of Bolton with a Steven Gerrard. That's about it. How Arsenal continue to perform well against the top 3 and still remain 4th baffles me even more! This time, Manchester United showed the lack of concentration which I've only seen Arsenal possess in games against Sheffield Utd, West Ham and Bolton.

The biggest news of the week though, would be the announcement of the new President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) - Michel Platini. The French legend's helm is sure to be a stormy one, with reforms in the Champions League being promised. He also wants to impose salary caps - how that will be possible with players like Lampard, Ballack, Terry, Cole (Aren't they all at Chelsea?!) earning over a 100g (pounds) per week is really the big question. The main debate will be about the Champions League though.

Platini wants to trim the number of participants from the major nations (England, Italy and Spain) and trying to increase the number in the so called minor ones (Poland, Bulgaria). As far as I'm concerned - the current format is alright. If teams from Poland and Bulgaria start competing in the group stages, the knock out rounds will become down right boring. There will be no intrigue left in the competition which is really the best in terms of quality of football played in the world. The whole idea of "Champions League" will be spoilt. Teams which are weaker will be easier to play against for the big guns and in all honesty trying to reduce the number of 'big guns' will only reduce the quality of football.

The format of the Champions League already provides enough space for upsets to happen. We, as football fans really want to see Barca vs. Arsenal, Man Utd vs. Inter and Bayern vs. Liverpool - not Sparta Prague vs Wisla Krakow or Slovan Liberec vs. Legia Warsaw! Platini should consider other alternatives to improve football - not decrease the value of the Champions League. The teams which participate from England, Italy and Spain are top class, period.

If this proposal does get ratified, who knows what the G-14 of teams would do? Start a new competition for themselves? He better look at all these consequences before he pushes for such a radical change in European Football.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to all the Arsenal players who played against Man Utd. They never gave up and in particular Rosicky and Fabregas were outstanding. Van Persie made a huge impact and he really is the new 'Van the man'. Henry scored with his head, which is a really rare occurrence! The Arsenal fans were magnificent and after the 94th minute, they were chanting to Manchester United and their fans -- "WHO ARE YA?!" and rightly so!! We beat the Red 'Devils' twice this year and we deserve to celebrate 2 magnificent results!