LIKE AN ESPECIALLY BITCHY SLUMBER PARTY:

Manchester United are a bunch of spoiled brats (Peter Bills, 23 March 2009, Independent)

[They're] a bunch of spoiled brats who lose the plot when they lose a game. They can't handle defeat and so they can't call themselves great.

The best teams, the greatest of all, have a composure, a calm about them. Ryan Giggs epitomises such qualities; even in defeat at Fulham on Saturday, he went calmly about his business, trying to soothe the furrowed brows and petulant brats around him.

It is said that Ferguson was incensed with Rooney after the Liverpool defeat, hence his decision to drop him for the Fulham match. What he really thought about the child-like Rooney after his two stupid bookings which brought a red card at Craven Cottage, remains a secret.

Rooney completely lost the plot because United were losing the match. When they're winning, he's a bundle of joy, smiling, running, linking and jinking. But when things are going against United, he's like a dirty bomb waiting to explode. That's not the hallmark of a great player. He needs only to glance at Giggs to see what greatness is all about.

To have one player like that might seem an expensive luxury but Ferguson has two. Cristiano Ronaldo never fancied it from the start at Fulham, waving his arms petulantly, getting booked for a wild lunge at Danny Murphy and then arguing with the referee so repeatedly that he could also have got a second yellow.

You can't both have a normal testosterone level and act like these players do. The one bright side for Manchester United is that the useless Berbatov is hurt.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2009 12:09 PM