Roberto Mancini has received a barrage of criticism in recent months for several choices he has made as Manchester City manager, but his decision to offload Stephen Ireland to Aston Villa looks to be a masterstroke.

The Irishman signed a four-year contract with the Midlands club after he was sold in a part-exchange deal that saw James Milner move to Eastlands.

Ireland had spent large spells on the substitutes bench in the second half of the season after excelling himself in the previous campaign, while Mancini had openly questioned his temperament.

The move to Villa looked to be a fresh start for the midfielder as he would be playing under Martin O’Neill, who may have been able to nurture Ireland’s undoubted talent.

However, O’Neill left the club just before the start of the season and since then, things have gone from bad to worse for Ireland.

His first appearance came as Villa slipped to a 6-0 thumping at Newcastle and although midfielders Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell, Nigel Reo-Coker and Marc Albrighton have been missing in the Villa midfield in recent weeks, Ireland can not claim a regular starting berth.

In twelve appearances for Villa – five from the substitutes bench – Ireland has been well below his best, has yet to register a goal and has already been linked with a move away from Villa Park – just under four months since his arrival. Those who brought football shirts with his name on it when he made the move certainly won’t be happy with this news.

O’Neill’s replacement, Gerard Houllier, is prepared to adopt a patient approach and give Ireland a chance to “settle in” at the club but, like Mancini, the Frenchman has admitted that he needs to show a better attitude.

So, on his showing so far, would it be fair to say that Mancini has been vindicated with his decision to sell the former Republic of Ireland international?

It would be foolish to write off the Villa midfielder as, at 24, the best years of his career should be ahead of him.
Ireland, it should not be forgotten, is a tremendous player on his day and his award as Manchester City’s Senior Player of the Year and his nomination for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Young Player of the Year in the 2008/09 season is testament to that.

His replacement at Manchester City – Milner, who went one better than Ireland by winning the PFA Young Player of the Year last season – is also struggling to find his feet at Eastlands, although the Leeds-born £24 million signing is making regular starts under Mancini.

However, Ireland is seen as a disruptive influence on the dressing room and he may have clashed with one of the more high-profile players at City.

Swapping him with the much more sedate Milner will reap rewards on the pitch eventually – the England international’s class will shine through.

Ireland could have given Mancini one more headache that he did not need this season – his departure was a good thing for the Italian and for the Blues.

Manchester United have previously proved to even their harshest critics in the Premier League that they know precisely how best to develop youth, with the club in the past producing the likes of Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Gary Neville. However, it is undeniable that, more recently, Fergie has failed miserably to find his magic touch when it comes to developing precocious young talent.

This became no more evident than last night at Upton Park, when United fans were forced to sit back and watch as a side composed of a mixture of youth and experience was ripped apart in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of struggling West Ham United. This was clearly a sign for all to see that perhaps the future does not look bright for United’s youngsters.

Despite Javier Hernandez already showing a few magic touches this season since his arrival at the club, and Rafael successfully replacing Gary Neville as the club’s best right back, Fergie has repeatedly failed to develop a new spine capable of replacing adequately his aging Manchester United side. Anyone looking to bet on Premier League winner should remember this.

With the Glazers’ debt still limiting the amount of money the club has to spend on bringing new talent in to the squad, the onus has fallen firmly on Sir Alex to develop, rather than purchase, a side that is capable of continuing to challenge those at the top of the English Premier League and in European competition.

Should Fergie fail to show that he is capable of following in the footsteps of Arsene Wenger and bring through a batch of youngsters who are capable of replacing his star players, then United could be set to endure a barren patch similar to that which Arsenal are still hoping to emerge from. The Premier League weekend predictions suggest United will get back to winning ways again Blackpool, but will they really hold out for the rest of the season?

After previously suggesting that United fans are only happy when trophies are coming to Old Trafford, the pressure is only likely to increase on Fergie to show he can still find the diamonds in the rough.

A distraction from an increasingly frustrating Premier League campaign appears to be the only benefit of Liverpool’s Europa League run this season.

After becoming used to the glamour and riches of Champions League football it has been something of a humiliation for Liverpool to drop down into Europe’s secondary competition this year.

More games, more live scores coming in and less money means it is not high on Liverpool’s priorities as they look to make it back into Europe’s elite competition in 2011.

Despite that they still sit top of Group K with two wins and two draws from their opening four games. Last time out a dramatic 14 minute Steven Gerrard hat-trick saw them come from behind at Anfield to beat Italian side Napoli.

That put them three points clear at the top and just one win away from winning the group.

But, as Hodgson prepares to take a weakened side to Romania to face Steaua Bucharest on Thursday you have to wonder how much Liverpool want to be in the competition.

After all the under pressure Hodgson has already conceded he sees next Monday’s trip to Aston Villa as his priority. Their need to pick up Premier League points is becoming critical after defeat to Tottenham last Sunday left them floundering in 10th place, 12 points off leaders Man United and seven points from the final Champions League place.

With the influential Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher out injured the strain on the squad – and Hodgson – is starting to show.

Those regularly looking at Football live scores note that a win in Romania and qualification may boost the side’s morale ahead of tougher challenges ahead. But if you offered Hodgson the option three points in the league instead, I know what he would choose.

Spurs and Liverpool suffered mixed fortunes at the weekend in terms of results, with the former coming from behind to nick all three points. However, although Spurs fans may have been the happier immediately after the final whistle, it seems likely that both sets of fans will be moaning into their pints for some time to come and looking back on the fixture as one which didn’t hand either side’s hopes of making an impact in the league this season any sort of boost.

The reason for this is, of course, relatively severe injuries to two key players, Rafael van der Vaart for Spurs and Jamie Carragher for Liverpool. Both players are instrumental to their sides’ chances, with Van der Vaart one of the Premier League’s most productive players since his move to North London from Real Madrid, and Carragher an influential figure both on and off the pitch at Anfield and this is shown in the football betting.

It is perhaps Van der Vaart’s injury that will prove to be most troubling, despite the fact that Carragher’s may be more severe in nature. Van der Vaart has developed an effective relationship with Gareth Bale in the Tottenham side and the pair have been behind many of the headline results secured so far this campaign by the team. He has introduced a touch of world-class quality to an already impressive squad and will be sorely missed by Harry Redknapp and the Spurs faithful and the Champions League betting will reflect this.

What’s more, his injury is the latest in a long line of little niggles that have hampered him to some extent since his transfer. Redknapp must be wondering when these injuries will come to an end so he can have a fully fit and firing player at his disposal.

Redknapp has previously raised doubts about Van der Vaart’s fitness levels because the player didn’t experiencing an adequate pre-season in Spain, so the Spurs boss will just have to hope that the player’s fitness problems don’t end up making him more and more of a sidelined asset as the physically exhausting Premier League season progresses.

Inter Milan may be the champions of Europe. The men in Chelsea Shirts may be champions of England and all the talk in Spain might be about the Jose Mourinho revolution at Real Madrid; but last night Barcelona proved that they are by far and away the best team in world by thrashing Real Madrid 5-0 in the El Classico.

As well as being the best team, the age old debate of the greatest player in the world was also answered last night; with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing against each other for the first time in La Liga. Ronaldo could only look on as Messi stole the show in the Nou Camp, leaving the capacity crowd drooling at the display they had just witnessed.

Those over at footballboots.co.uk note that this defeat was Real’s first of the season and the first under new manager Mourinho. But it wasn’t just the score line that raised eyebrows; it was the manner in which this defeat was inflicted by Barca. With Messi at the centre of all their attacking play, they looked unstoppable; with their crisp passing, non stop movement and penetrative running causing Real all sorts of problems throughout the 90 minutes.

Unsurprisingly it was Messi who was the star of the show for the home side. He had already hit the post in the first half, before he really turned on the magic. Despite numerous attempts by Madrid players to stop him by any means necessary Messi continued to terrorise. With one glitsy run and one defence splitting pass setting up David Villa and Xavi respectively, Barca nearly extended their lead; but neither could find the end product that Messi’s skill deserved.

However it wasn’t long until two pieces of Messi magic were turned into goals. Another sublime pass set up Villa, who turned and fired past Iker Cassilas and 2 minutes later Messi jinked past 2 Real defenders before picking out Villa for his second of the game and Barcelona’s fourth.

It wasn’t until stoppage time that Real finally found a way to stop Messi; even then it wasn’t by playing fairly. Sergio Ramos scythed down the tricky Argentinean to earn himself his second red card in a week and with it ending a torrid game for Real Madrid.

After the result of this game and the performance of Barcelona; surely they will once again become champions of Spain and elude Mourinho of the success he so desperately craves at Madrid. Maybe it’s about time that Mourinho gave up the title of ‘The Special One’ as there is only room for one in world football; and that is Lionel Messi.