TWIF 4 - Offside or onside?; All change at Forest; Blackburn circus continues.

Boxing Day in the Premier League saw one of the more talked-about goals of recent weeks. In the game between Manchester United and Newcastle United at Old Trafford, Jonny Evans diverted Danny Simpson's cross into his own net to hand the visitors a surprise 2-1 lead. The problem was that Papiss Demba Cisse was in an offside position in the six-yard box, but didn't play the ball at any point. After much deliberation the own goal was eventually - and correctly - given. Cisse did not touch the ball so was technically not offside, yet there's the problem with the law. How can a striker inside the six-yard box be not interfering with play? He was close enough to David De Gea for the goalkeeper to worry about, and close enough to Evans for him to feel he had to take defensive action. Referee Mike Dean got it right according to the laws of the game, but the rule is surely wrong in this instance. In the six-yard box at least, offside should mean offside. That doesn't excuse Sir Alex Ferguson's behaviour though. He should know better at his age and his experience. It's no surprise he won't face any action over it; his reputation has saved him for years.

Nottingham Forest are in a decent position in the npower Championship, just a point off the play-off places, helped by a terrific 4-2 win over Leeds United on Boxing Day. There was much surprise then, that the owners, the Al Hasawi family, decided to sack manager Sean O'Driscoll just hours after the game. There had been rumours in and around Nottingham for a while that O'Driscoll was on borrowed time, and there was a suggestion that he would be out with a defeat, but to get the chop after a win was very strange timing. O'Driscoll paid the price for new chairman Fawaz Al Hasawi moving the goalposts mid-season. The start of the campaign brought talk of a three-year plan and a year of consolidation, but now it seems like it's promotion or bust. There was a collective sigh amongst the City Ground fans when his successor was named as Alex McLeish. It hardly excites the faithful on Trentside. He has a particular style of football which isn't really the Forest way, and of course there are the two most recent sackings at Birmingham City and Aston Villa which stick in the memory. To say he has to hit the ground running is an understatement if he is to win the fans over and the club's owners are to find out that the grass is greener on the other side.

Speaking of which, I assume the Blackburn Rovers hierarchy thought they would be going places after finally getting rid of Steve Kean and replacing him with Henning Berg, a former title-winner with the club as a player. Despite being hated by the fans, Kean left Ewood Park with the club in 3rd place, after a fairly respectable start to the Championship season. The Venky's group, which owns the club, had the plan for Berg to come in and steer them towards a return to the top flight. Following one win in ten games, the Norwegian is out of a job after just eight weeks in the hot seat with Rovers plummeting to 17th in the table. The fans were desperate for Kean to go for months and months; I bet there may even now be some who would have him back. Talk about 'Be careful what you wish for'!

Finally I will sign off by saying thank you for your support and for reading Behind The Goal in the first half of the season. Happy New Year, and I hope you and your club has a successful 2013.

TWIF 3 - United, England, Forest

Before a ball had been kicked this season I predicted that Manchester United would win the Barclays Premier League, and although Chelsea made a fast start, and Manchester City continue to pick up points without hitting top gear, I haven't changed my mind, and this past Saturday evening's game against Aston Villa just showed why they are once again favourites. (Ladbrokes have them at just 10/11 for the title now.) United's record at Villa Park - unbeaten there since 1995 - meant that we all assumed that three points would be theirs. Nobody expected then that they would fall 2-0 behind. Yet even at that point there was a feeling that Sir Alex Ferguson's team could fight back. We have seen it enough times. Like the Reading v Arsenal game a couple of weeks ago, all it took was that first goal back for the ball to start rolling. Ferguson has the league's top scorer in Robin van Persie, and England's best player in Wayne Rooney leading his line, yet it was Javier Hernandez who would prove the match winner with two goals and a big part in the third, which went down as an own goal. Chicharito may be further down the pecking order than he would like, but he remains one of the league's deadliest finishers when given a chance. That and his own and his team's never-say-die attitude in adversity looks like being the key to another title tilt.

England head to Sweden on Wednesday night for a friendly which, if I'm being honest, I'm not eagerly anticipating. The next World Cup qualifier is not until March, so I'm not too sure what Roy Hodsgon can learn from it in terms of tactics and systems. The fact that Wayne Rooney, Theo Walcott, Jonjo Shelvey, Kyle Walker and Aaron Lennon have all pulled out due to injuries suggests that their club managers don't want their players going out for a meaningless game. I wonder how many of those five will be back in club shirts this weekend? It does however open the door for a couple of others to make their mark. Carl Jenkinson deserves an opportunity after showing remarkable improvement in his form this season for Arsenal, and Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace, who no doubt will be a top player in the future, has a very early chance to show why most of the Premier League wants him when the transfer window opens. Even if they do make their England debuts, they're not fully committed to the Three Lions though, as it's only a friendly. Jenkinson has represented Finland at youth level, and Zaha could still play for Ivory Coast. The idea of selecting your nationality has got to stop. In my opinion, they are both English and should play for England. Teams shouldn't be allowed to bring in ringers. It hasn't got Scotland very far, has it!

My team Nottingham Forest continued their solid progress in the npower Championship with a hard-earned point at local rivals Leicester City on Saturday. The home side had every right to feel aggrieved with Forest's penalty which made the final score 2-2 - replays suggested that the defender took the ball - yet even so, their profligacy in front of goal meant that they didn't deserve more than what they got. Besides, we were due a piece of luck; that was our first spot kick awarded to us for 60 games! Forest have drawn more times(8) than any other team in the league, and if they are going to achieve more than their current mid-table position, they need to start turning some of those into wins. They have only lost three times however, and arguably they could have got results in two of those. Maybe we aren't as high in the table as we should be, but I was disappointed to read Paul Taylor's piece in the Nottingham Post which implored the owners to keep faith in manager Sean O'Driscoll. There is no suggestion that his job is under threat. The Al-Hasawis know that the task of making Forest great again is a long term plan, and to suggest otherwise is making smoke without fire.