Things we learnt

1 United look a good bet; Others are shaky
We'll expand on the Utd-Chelsea game in a while but for now, awful as Chelsea no doubt were yesterday, fact is Man Utd made a serious statement of intent with that 3-0 win. They were energetic, lively, strong-minded, had a good tempo and when it came to the crunch of a big game, had the mindset to go for it and win. Chelsea look more vulnerable than any time recently, they're not playing for Scolari and Drogba's a liability wandering around like that. Liverpool and Rafa lost the plot a little by drawing at Stoke - no easy place to win obviously - but after the rant by their manager they needed to make their own statement. That they struggled to says a lot about their chances of sustaining this challenge. Leading onto...

2 Rafa doesn't fancy our Robbie
Look, we do seem to be having a go at poor Robbie Keane a lot here but we hold no grudge against the man. Much as we Irish may moan about the craziness of Benitez leaving Keane on the sideline, it's not like Keane has shown lethal, deadly finishing recently. But with Pool drawing 0-0, needing a goal from somewhere, that Benitez again left Keane on the line says everything you need to know about his real feelings on the striker: he doesn't think he's up to it. Rightly or wrongly, that's a simple fact. That Benitez spent £20m on a striker he's decided six months later isn't good enough must raise questions in Pool supporters (and American owners) heads. That Benitez went to Stoke with Kuyt up front on his own and two sitting midfielders says a lot about his mentality too though.

3 RTE ought never do GAA specials (ever!)
Take your pick on the worst moments of a typically cringe-inducing, clichéd, Late Late show GAA special. The Fields of Athenry by Brush Shiels. Bertie and Dunphs together. Showing Darragh that pic of Brian Dooher. More of the Kerry-Dublin "hilarious characters and stories from the golden era of football". The woeful attempt at parody from the comedian that was simply in bad taste. The lack of effort at including anything slightly to the left of the bigger names. Late Late specials are always terrible. This was especially terrible. Please spare us anything like this again. Please.