ADRIAN DURHAM COLUMN: Premier League play-offs... Ben Foster shuns England... Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool envelopes?
A play-off system at the top of the Premier League is inevitable. The question is when. This season could force the issue.
It’s not even mid-February and Manchester United are virtually champions already.
Another spectacular finish to the season would be fantastic but City’s decline and United’s improvement, with the rest not even trying to win the title, make that highly unlikely.
Fireworks party: The Championship play-off final is a great occasion and could be replicated in the Premier League BALE IS A TARGET AND IT'S TOTTENHAM'S FAULT Are Tottenham turning Gareth Bale into a target? Take Bale out of Spurs this season and they’d be mid-table.
I don’t think the Premier League has seen a better example of a one-man team. He has transformed games and won loads of points for them.
Enlarge Target man: Tottenham's Gareth Bale is the subject of a strong tackle by James Perch of NewcastleSo how do you stop him? This weekend we’ve seen some horrendous fouls again, the worst of which was Lee Cattermole’s first-minute butchering of Aaron Ramsey.
I desperately hope that no player goes out thinking they’ll 'put one on Bale' as a way of taking him out of the game and keeping Spurs quiet. Not only will it rob us of a chance to see a terrific player but it will also speed his departure abroad.At the start of the season only Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs could realistically win the title (Arsenal’s belief that fourth place constitutes a trophy told us all about their ambitions).
Chelsea have set a new record for hitting the self-destruct button in one season and halfway through the season it became clear only two clubs were in the race.
Then in January, in the middle of a run of one goal in three games City sold a striker and didn’t replace him.
Effectively the rest of the Premier League have rolled over and allowed United to win the title.
So how do we guarantee excitement when the season could be over three months early?
Football should follow both codes of rugby and introduce a play off system.
It’s flexible but you could have the top four involved – fourth plays third, winner plays second and winner of that plays the 'champions' after 38 games in a huge Grand Final at Wembley.
It would generate more money from TV and sponsorship and it would mean more football and extra excitement for fans.
Rugby union fans hated the idea at first but now Twickenham sells out every year for the biggest club game in the world. Imagine a Wembley final to decide the Premier League champions – this would rival the Champions League final.
The play-offs are a massive success in the Football League and it would be a true test for the top clubs – they would need to be consistent enough for a top-four finish over the course of a 38-game season, and then peak at the right time for the cup-style play-off campaign.
If you love football, you will love this idea. Bring it on!
Four questions after West Brom’s win at Liverpool:
1. How sad is it that Ben Foster refuses to play for England?I understand and respect that he’s a family man and they watch him regularly for the Albion. But on last night’s form he could challenge Joe Hart.
I guess if his old club manager Roy Hodgson can’t persuade him nobody can. It should be every football mad youngster’s dream to play for his country.
And Ben Foster’s story is so amazing that it leaves me puzzled as to why he rejects the international game. Back in 2005 he played for Wrexham in the Football League Trophy. He was in the middle of his fifth loan spell in four years after failing to make the breakthrough into the first team at Stoke City.
Also in the Wrexham team that day was Darren Ferguson (he scored the second in a 2-0 win over Southend), whose father Sir Alex was watching from the stands. Foster was outstanding so Sir Alex paid £1million to take him to Manchester United. Fairytale stuff.
Hard to believe a kid given that kind of break would soon turn his back on England.
Enlarge England's No 1? Ben Foster brilliantly saves Steven Gerrard's penalty last night at Anfield2. Why isn’t Romelu Lukaku at Chelsea?
He’s got power, pace and he can finish. I saw him on the opening day of the season come on and cause havoc, scoring the 3rd in a 3-0 win, also against Liverpool. He’s doing it in the Premier League so why aren’t Chelsea using him? He should be a contender for Young Player of the Year.
3. How long ago does the Carragher-Hyppia partnership, which helped Liverpool win the Champions League, seem now?
Martin Skrtel looks like a hard man but he isn’t. Daniel Agger is costing Liverpool goals on a regular basis – he was at fault for both against West Brom.
Jamie Carragher’s imminent retirement will be keeping Brendan Rodgers awake at night. He’s virtually got a whole back four to rebuild. And he needs a new goalkeeper.
4. Has anyone worked out which names were in Brendan Rodgers’ envelope?
On the eve of the season he revealed to the Liverpool players (and in front of the TV cameras in the documentary Being Liverpool) that he had put three names in an envelope.
He believed those would be the names of three people who would let Liverpool down by the end of the season. The next day they went out and were soundly beaten 3-0.
Good work Brendan. But who’s in the envelope? Maybe Brendan himself?
Listen here, Jamie: Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers issues instructions to veteran defender Jamie Carragher during Monday night's defeat by West Brom VIDEO: Rodgers' card trick looks like it might back fire...&
