CHELSEA'S KIDS AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH

On the face of things, it's a noble idea on Roman Abramovich's part. Having won the league by spending hundreds of millions of pounds, the Russian thought he'd save himself some money, and indeed earn some credibility within the football community, by winning future trophies with young players developed at the club's academy. You know, by following the Arsenal model, rather than the financial doping one. The only problem – and it's a significant one, this – is that the club's young players just aren't good enough. Carlo Ancelotti has filled his rather bare first-team squad with kids but only two, Josh McEachran and Gael Kakuta, have actually started a game this season. McEachran, to be fair, has the potential to be a genuine force in the coming years but the rest of Chelsea's young bucks just aren't good enough. Kakuta is all fluff and no substance, Daniel Sturridge is brainless in the heat of the action, while defenders Patrick van Aanholt and Jeffrey Bruma are average at best. To paraphrase Alan Hansen, Chelsea ain't going to win anything with these kids.

GARETH BALE NEEDS A BETTER SUPPORTING CAST

Gareth Bale is being judged by unfair standards. If he is not sprinting past defenders and teeing up his Tottenham teammates for tap-ins, or indeed scoring himself, people think the winger has had a poor game. That, however, is not necessarily the case. For a start, Bale, like all wingers, relies on others to get him the ball. If they don't, he can't do his stuff. Secondly, Bale's contributions to a game are generally only recognised if Tottenham score from them. Take Tottenham's games against Inter Milan and Bolton in the space of four November days. Against the Italian side at White Hart Lane, Bale set up goals for Peter Crouch and Roman Pavlyuchenko after a couple of stirring runs and precise crosses. Against Bolton, he made those very same runs and delivered some great balls into the box but this time, Crouch and Pavlyuchenko were profligate in their finishing. The consensus was that his efforts against Inter were brilliant, and his performance against Bolton poor. But with some better finishing from his teammates, he would have been judged exactly the same.

EVERTON AND LIVERPOOL NEED TO SHARE A GROUND

Glance at the Premier League table this morning and the two Merseyside clubs are stuck in the mediocrity of mid-table. And it's all down to money. Both clubs desperately need big, modern stadiums to generate more match-day revenue, but both are struggling to even contemplate how to the finance any potential new development. The ground-sharing solution is blindingly obvious and while it may upset the traditionalist, it is the only real way forward if the city wants to play host to two serious Premier League clubs, at the top of the division.

PUBLIC RELATIONS ARE A?KEY?COMPONENT
The most important moment of a manager's week, according to Gerard Houllier, is the post-match press conference. Why? Because, the Frenchman believes, it sets the tone at the club for the rest of the week. In that sense, Roy Hodgson would do well to listen to the words of one of his Anfield predecessor. What a manager says and how he presents himself shouldn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it does. Hodgson is crippling himself at Liverpool, not through his cautious tactical outlook or lack of results, but by what he says and how he looks. His body language screams confusion; his words, while mostly honest, are depressing, defeatist and uninspiring. If he doesn't send out more positive vibes in the very near future, the substance of what he's doing at Liverpool won't matter a jot.

SLICK STYLE CAN WIN YOU PLENTY?OF?FRIENDS

There is a far more positive feel about this season's Premier League. Where before half the teams in the division attempted to fight, literally as much as metaphorically, to stay in the division, a good portion now want to play their way to safety. Take a bow Bolton Wanderers, Blackpool, West Brom, Wolves and Wigan for attempting to go out and win games, rather than sit back and hope the other team contrives to lose them. Three of these sides may, ultimately, end up being relegated but at least they'll do so having given a positive image of their clubs, and the areas they represent. No longer will we think of the likes of Wolves, Bolton and Blackpool as depressing industrial towns with equally depressing football clubs.

DOES ANYONE FANCY A TRIP TO ABU DHABI?

The reason Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City was to use the club as a marketing tool to promote the UAE capital. But the Sheikh's ownership of City has been an entirely vacuous experience. His regime at the club has become a byword for greed, ego and utter tedium. Everybody wants to move to Eastlands, but nobody wants to be there. The Sheikh couldn't have made his native state less appealing. A weekend in Blackpool – yep, even in mid-winter – is a more appealing prospect than Abu Dhabi right now.

THE IRISH ARE NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME

It has been a dark and dank Premier League season thus far for Ireland's players. Shay Given and Robbie Keane can't get a game at their respective clubs, John O'Shea is in and out of the Manchester United side, while Richard Dunne now finds himself on the outside of Gerard Houllier's Aston Villa regime, as does Stephen Ireland. That's just the start. Keith Andrews can't shake his groin injury, Glenn Whelan can't get a game for Stoke and Damien Duff is struggling for form. There's more. James McCarthy's season has been ruined by an ankle injury, Leon Best can't get a sniff at Newcastle, something which also applies to Darron Gibson who has managed just two league appearances for United all season and Stephen Kelly at Fulham, who hasn't played a minute since Ireland's game against Norway. Even those Irish players who are playing well – Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Kevin Foley – find themselves at a club in the bottom three. Things can only get better.

ARSENAL FANS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE ANGRY

There seems to be a general perception that Arsenal supporters, who haven't seen their side collect a trophy since 2005, are wrong to ever criticise Arsene Wenger simply because the Gunners play attractive football. It's absurd. Firstly, to say that passing trumps a more direct style of play is snobbish; it's purely a matter of taste. Secondly, Arsenal have never really had a tradition of playing beautiful football. It is not embedded in the club's culture, unlike their fantasist neighbours at the other end of the Seven Sisters Road. They are a more pragmatic bunch and just because they're being served foie gras on a bed of dressed greens, doesn't mean they can't desire bangers and mash.

ALEX FERGUSON WAS A YEAR OFF ON WELBECK

Last season, Alex Ferguson predicted that Danny Welbeck would make England's World Cup squad. The words were greeted with disbelief but this season the striker, on-loan at Sunderland, has gone about proving that the Manchester United manager's instincts remain as sharp as ever. Apparently Welbeck struggled over the past couple of seasons because he was growing too fast. Now, however, everything appears to be in proportion and his natural ability has shone through. Fast and strong, with a keen eye for goal, Ferguson must now regret the fact that he never inserted a recall clause in Welbeck's loan move to the Stadium of Light. On recent evidence, the 20-year-old would be an ideal partner for Wayne Rooney.

IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, NICE GUYS DO FINISH LAST

Poor Chris Hughton. Here was a decent man thrown into a unscrupulous world and even though he was succeeding in what he was asked to do, he was sacked by Newcastle essentially because he wasn't ruling his dressing-room with an iron fist, swearing during television interviews, firing bottles of water at the ground or shouting obscenities into the ear of the fourth official. That is the way managers are expected and because Hughton didn't conform, Mike Ashley assumed he couldn't be doing his job properly. What a pity.

ccronin@tribune.ie