THE FINISHED ARTICLE

It's been a while since the last FA and that's my fault entirely, so apologies to those of you out there who have been eagerly waiting the next edition. Even if that means I'm just apologising to my fiancée who reads my articles despite already knowing she disagrees with about 80% of what I think, do and say.

85 NOT OUT

Chelsea 's magnificent unbeaten home record continues after a 1-1 draw with Manchester United. For a long while it looked like Chelsea may finally lose at Stamford Bridge , especially after Nicolas Anelka couldn't redirect a glaring opportunity towards goal rather than away from it. It's fair to say that Ferguson 's men haven't clicked in the early stages of this season, but it wouldn't be overstating the importance of Sunday's game to say that defeat would have been a serious blow to Man.Utd even though we're not yet into October.

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

Manchester City fans have been revelling (most of them, anyway) in the fact their club now has untold wealth at its disposal. The feel good factor couldn't stop Chelsea spoiling Robinho's goal scoring debut, but it was certainly more than enough to blow away Portsmouth 6-0. The books have been slashing City's price for the title and to win the league without the big four. As you know, I've backed Portsmouth without the big four and am still happy with that selection despite the drubbing Harry Redknapp's team received on Sunday.

Why?

It's going to take time for Man.City to truly separate themselves from the likes of Aston Villa, Everton and Portsmouth . They are not that good yet, to think they will challenge the top four this season. The top four will be unchanged this year, as most of you I'm sure would agree, and over time it looks more than likely that City will be able to put together a squad and team good enough to seriously challenge the leadership at the helm of the Premiership (or do we have to call it Premier League, now?). As of now Man.City will have to fight it out with Villa, Pompey and Everton to see who is the ‘best of the rest'. I'm confident Portsmouth will be in and about 5th – 7th position all season and we'll look at the situation progressively on the FA as the weeks go by.

THE REASON FOR TECHNOLOGY IS BLINDINGLY OBVIOUS

After the completely unacceptable decision in the Watford/Reading game to award Reading a goal which never, ever was, the common theme since has been the need for football to embrace technology to ensure such atrocious decisions are never again part of the game at the highest levels.

I'm 100% in favour of technology being brought in for goal line decisions, but not because of this absurd judgement at Vicarage Road . You shouldn't need video replay to tell you that ‘goal' never happened; a pair of functioning eyes would be more than sufficient. I do find it amusing that Graham Poll has been quite vociferous in his condemnation of the linesman. Although it is impossible to disagree with the criticism that Nigel Bannister has received for his error (and I do accept people make mistakes, but this was too ridiculous to let slide), it's hard to take Poll, in particular, seriously. This is a guy who in the biggest tournament in sport (The World Cup, if you were wondering) failed to send off Josip Šimunić for two yellow cards, eventually dismissing the player after giving him his third caution of the match.

If you haven't seen the ‘goal' which has been credited as a John Eustace own goal, take a look and make your own mind up as to whether this is the worst decision you've ever seen. If you feel you've seen worse, tell us about it in the forum.

ANCELOTTI SKATING ON THIN ICE

Opening the Serie A season with two defeats wasn't the way in which Carlo Ancelotti hoped the 2008/09 campaign would begin. That's how it transpired for Milan and the claws were sharpened further around Ancelotti's neck. Two much needed wins in the space of a few days in the UEFA Cup and at home to Lazio in the league has given the Milan coach at least a couple of games of breathing room. However, Milan can afford very few mistakes from now for a prolonged period of time if Ancelotti is to see out the season. Already four points behind Inter in the league after only three games, Milan can't afford to let Jose Mourinho's new side gain too much of an advantage. Inter have been relentless in league competition ever since the fall out from the deep seated corruption in the Italian game a couple of years back and Milan will know full well that Inter are unlikely to buckle if they are allowed to be frontrunners season long.

THE ODD MAN OUT

I never understood why Barcelona wanted Thierry Henry. At the time they had an awesome front three of Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi. Admittedly, Ronaldinho soon went off the rails and had become a shadow of the player he so recently was, but Barca had uncovered new young stars in Bojan and already had a player in Iniesta who could play as an attacking midfielder or on the left of a front three.

And yet Barcelona went out and spent a lot of money on a player they didn't really need and have still not been able to adequately incorporate into the side. All the while trying to offload Eto'o, who in my view, is the best out and out number 9 in the world. Questions had been raised about Eto'o being a disruptive influence inside the club and his potential departure was seen as addition by subtraction.

Nevertheless, Eto'o has remained with the Catalans and seems well and truly back in favour. The best business Barca did all summer was not selling the Cameroon forward. Henry, meanwhile, continues to struggle and rarely looks on the same wavelength as Messi or Eto'o. He'll point to the fact he was the club's top scorer last season, but anyone who saw Barca play for much of last season will have seen how glaringly obvious it was that things were just not working and there was no sign of change in the opening match of the La Liga campaign at Numancia (a 1-0 loss for Barcelona).

New coach and former Barca captain, Pep Guardiola, has to get things right and soon. Leaving Henry out on a regular basis may seem like a bold move, but it's surely the right one.

That's it for this week, see you in two weeks.