It's game on for title hopefuls

Over the past two months, nothing had really compelled me to write in this space. I hadn't stopped watching football, I still manage to see the better portion of six games or so a week. It's that nothing grabbed me enough to compel an online rant, or even a bold analysis.

Oh, and the bloody bus drivers are striking in this God-forsaken city, but that's another story.

But having watched what was the most compelling weekend in the Premier League this season, the fat is truly in the fire, and I'm ready to rant.

Starting with Rafa Benitez rant on Friday against a man best described as the "petulant Scot," what had been a moribund season so far got a kick in the pants. It seems everyone who doesn't drape their bedroom with Red Devils agrees that Benitez wasn't wrong to suggest Alex Ferguson gets away with murder when it comes to referees and the FA, but Liverpool's manager has gone off the deep end, picking a fight he can't help but lose.

I think the worst thing anyone can take out of the "rant" is that Benitez is anywhere near as vacuous as Kevin Keegan. The former (twice?) manager of Newcastle United will forever rue the day he said he'd love to beat out Man United for the title. Kevin Keegan was a fantastic footballer, but I think his record speaks for itself.

Benitez, on the other hand, didn't get to where he is today because he is a stupid man. If Ferguson believes this, even for a second, I feel sorry for him. At this point in the season, Benitez wouldn't have risked causing a stir without a purpose.

Perhaps he felt Liverpool needed some extra pressure, a situation the Reds have thrived on in the past (their success in the Champions League has often come under some sort of duress). With his teams title rivals conveniently slipping up whenever Liverpool dropped points, it's possible Benitez wanted someone to start biting at their heels, and who better than Ferguson and United. Perhaps he wanted to remind Ferguson that it is Liverpool who are challenging them for the title, and no one else (I'll get back to that). I'm positive, however, that Benitez has some sort of method to his apparent madness.

The next event to get under my skin was Liverpool's 0-0 draw against Stoke. You would hope that a team would respond to a manager's rally cry with some sort of positive display. I think the result speaks for itself. Stoke did a great job of play the kind of football that leads most North American sports fans to label the game "boring": park the bus, lump the ball up field, have one man chase, repeat. It ground out the result. However, Stoke may think this is the route to Premier League survival, but they remain only three points ahead of West Brom, who actually try to play football. Both may go down, but at least Albion will do it with some amount of style.

As for Liverpool, their ability to win the match was hampered by several reasons. First was Lucas, who is not Xabi Alonso. Where Alonso looks to play a good ball to the feet of his teammates in space, Lucas punts the ball up to where he hopes his teammates are. Tinkering in this area of the pitch (moving Steven Gerrard back and putting Babel, Keane or even Nabil El Zhar behind the striker would have helped) was needed, but not addressed.

Second, having Jamie Carragher and Fabio Aurelio at fullback isn't the best set of circumstances. Carragher put in a fantastic effort, but he is nowhere near as effective as the injured Arbeloa. On the other side of the pitch, Insua has proven he is Liverpool's most effective left fullback for the league, whereas Aurelio disappears far to often when not in Europe.

Third, I thought Dirk Kuyt established about a year-and-a-half ago that he is an industrious winger, not a striker. With Torres fit and Keane and Ngog available, each one has more ability playing up front. Kuyt has scored a decent number of goals this term, but most I can recall have come with him playing off the wing.

Enough about that. Liverpool's season won't be decided against Stoke City at the Britannia, it will be decided at Old Trafford, and at home against Chelsea and Arsenal.

Lastly, the game at the Theatre of Dreams on Sunday was a miserable affair, but not because Man United won. Chelsea are in dire straits, and that fact was laid bare on the pitch.

Chelsea are bereft in attack, with two moody strikers who are anything but reliable. In midfield, Frank Lampard alone exhibits any perceptible amount of passion, often to excess. Deco and Ballack seem unable to lift their game when it matters most, while Joe Cole, whose career was revived last season under Avram Grant, seems lost under Scolari. At the back, the unit is only as composed as the incendiary John Terry allows them to be. What must newcomer Bosingwa, who has been one of the top performers in the league this season, think when his captain flys off the handle when it matters most for the team? I couldn't help but think how differently the game might have gone had Chelsea's true talisman, Michael Essien been fit for the match ...

That leaves us with Scolari, who like Cole, seems adrift in the roiling sea that is the Premier League. I think the Brazilian is lucky Roman Abramovich was nowhere near Manchester on Sunday, or else he might have found himself in the unemployment line on Monday. The man who led Brazil to World Cup glory will have to act quickly, if there is indeed anything that can be done at all, if he wants to right the ship.

A good place to start would be to find a talented young striker with funds raised through the sale of Didier Drogba, who clearly didn't want to be playing in the cold at Old Trafford (too bad for him that it looked awfully cold in places like Pamplona yesterday as well). A midfielder wouldn't be bad either, someone with at least an ounce of passion, which would be one ounce more than was on display Sunday.

That being said, Manchester United are the champions, and look prepared to stay that way, at least for the time being.

Its good to be back.