Andy Gray

If Manchester United beat Barcelona on Saturday then Sir Alex Ferguson's team will have completed a Premier League and Champions League double that might well be his greatest achievement.

Although I disagree with those who say that Manchester United haven't been great this season, I do recognise that Sir Alex's current squad lacks the star talents of previous year: Wayne Rooney is a fantastic player and Javier Hernandez is becoming a terrific striker but there are no Cristiano Ronaldos or David Beckhams in this team.

The 2011 vintage is exactly that - a team - and while this may not be their most exciting group of players, it is certainly their grittiest. The fact that they haven't conceded an away goal in this competition is emphatic proof of that.

Sir Alex has had to be manipulative this season in the way that he has tweaked his starting line-ups, rotated players and deployed them in different ways. He's provided a tactical master class to all other managers. With this squad, the whole is better than the sum of its parts and it's a unit that I believe can overcome Barcelona.

Sir Alex has said that his side are ready for Barcelona. Since wrapping up the title a couple of weeks ago, Ferguson and his coaches will have been focussing on their tactics for the final. They will have impressed upon each player exactly what is expected of them against Barcelona.

Lionel Messi and co deserve a lot of respect but Manchester United will be determined to avenge their defeat of two years ago. I only hope they won't be too keen but Sir Alex learned from that defeat in Rome and, when he says his team will be ready, he's showing us that he has faith in them.

If I was still playing, I would want to be a Manchester United player. I would be desperate to get out there at Wembley and Saturday night couldn't come soon enough.

These are the nights you dream about and, once his players cross that white line, Sir Alex will have to trust his players in the way that he has done for the last 20 years. That's often produced great results and I believe it will again on Saturday.

It's been a long and eventful season - from Chelsea's early dominance to Manchester United's long unbeaten run and eventual record-breaking 19th league title - so I think it's time to reflect on some of the key protagonists and events. I've got no time for criticising those who have struggled so I've decided to roll exclusively with the good times. Here's my 2010-11 top five...

Best Player
Carlos Tevez has been prolific and thrilling to watch in a team of new players. It can take a while for new signings to gel but Tevez has been the talisman as well as the binding glue for this emerging Manchester City team. He's scored goals and created chances for others and is only one of two strikers to find the net more than 20 times. The Argentine would be a huge loss if he leaves Eastlands but I also think that the Premier League as a whole would miss him. Let's hope he stays.

Best Manager
Sir Alex Ferguson's 12th Premier League title represents a phenomenal achievement and, at 69, the Manchester United boss remains as sharp and wily as ever. I've also been impressed by Roberto Mancini across town at Manchester City. He's coped very well with the challenge of managing a complex set of personalities and winning the FA Cup and finishing third represents great progress for the Blues. My manager of the year? It's a joint Manchester triumph.

Best Match
I'm going to stray outside of the Premier League for this one. I really loved the Champions League group match between Tottenham and Inter at White Hart Lane, a splendid occasion and a reminder of the dizzying heights this wonderful game of ours can reach. Gareth Bale was sensational that night and, for 90 minutes at least, it seemed like anything was possible for Harry Redknapp's side.

Best Signing
I said at the start of the season that I had high hopes for Manchester United signing Javier Hernandez and he certainly hasn't let me down. With a phenomenal 20 goals in his first season, Hernandez represents an absolute bargain for the Red Devils, who signed the Mexican for £7 million last summer. He's been a revelation alongside Wayne Rooney and brings out the best in the England striker. The man they call little pea might well play a big part in next weekend's Champions League Final.

Unsung Hero
I might get a bit of stick for this one but I've been very impressed by Nigel de Jong this season. The Dutchman returned from South Africa under a cloud of deserved criticism for his performance in the World Cup Final. In a squad of stellar international talents, de Jong has been sensational in midfield. There is no doubt that Manchester City are a far superior team when he is in the side.

Aston Villa's current league position will come as a surprise to many. After all, they have consistently finished in the top six for the last few seasons and boast a number of established internationals. Darren Bent and Ashley Young both started for England against Wales in a big qualifier and Stewart Downing then started against Ghana.

Look at the rest of the squad and you'll find plenty of other quality players who are automatic starters for their countries: Richard Dunne, Stiliyan Petrov, Michael Bradley and James Collins to name but a few. And that's without mentioning exciting young talent like Marc Albrighton and Fabian Delph.

So how are they in this mess and who's to blame? Well, for starters, it's not Gerard Houllier, who arrived at the club with the season well under way. I said at the time that Martin O'Neill's departure was ill-timed and inconsiderate and I stand by it. A lot of what is happening now is a direct consequence of that.

As for Houllier, he didn't have a chance to see his players in pre-season or get time to mould the squad as he would have liked to. We saw how Roberto Mancini arrived midway through the campaign last year and also had players at the club who weren't necessarily his cup of tea but couldn't be offloaded immediately.

He had to wait till the summer to pick who he wanted to stay, leave and who he wanted to bring in. If Houllier stays till August, and I hope for Villa's sake he does, he'll also have a chance to do some business in the transfer market and have a squad of players that better matches his philosophy and game-plan.

Don't judge the Frenchman now, judge him in a year's time when he's had sufficient time to do things his own way. I can't see Villa going down so it's only fair he has a chance to make a fresh start in the summer.

As a former Villa player, I've been disappointed to hear players speaking out about training methods and other matters that are not their concern. Once they hang up their boots, they all have the choice to go into management and make all those decisions themselves. For the time being, they're paid to go out and play.

A final word on Ashley Young. He's a super player who can have a very successful career at club and international level. I understand he was offered the biggest contract in the club's history and he decided to reject it.

If he feels that Aston Villa can't give him the opportunities he wants, that's up to him and I wish him all the best, but what isn't fair is for people to suggest he's leaving because he doesn't want to play under Houllier. Ashley decided he wants to leave and it wouldn't have mattered one bit who was in charge at Villa.

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I have to say I was really glad to see Fabio Capello bringing some new faces into the team.

Scott Parker obviously isn't that new a face, he's been around for years, but has rarely started for England in important games and I'd like to see him get an extended run in the team. I've got nothing against Gareth Barry, who I think plays that holding role very well for Manchester City, but I just think the West Ham favourite gives you that little bit more energy and dynamism.

As for Jack Wilshere, what is there to say that hasn't already been said? He has skill, composure, an outstanding range of passing and a fantastic football brain - everything you need to become one of the very best players on the planet. He's already been starting games for Arsenal all season and has now started a few in a row for England and has been very impressive in all of them. It's not normal for a player as young as him to cope with playing against the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta which is what happened when Arsenal were up against Barcelona but cope he did; that's how good he is.

In the heart of defence John Terry is obviously an automatic starter but the absence of Rio Ferdinand has given Capello something to think about. I really like Bolton's Gary Cahill and think he's good enough to play for England but I can see why he went with Michael Dawson on the day. The Spurs man has been playing Champions League football this season and that sort of experience is invaluable when taking the step up to international football. Ashley Young and Darren Bent are two others who rarely start for their country but they were both in the starting eleven against Wales and had good games. And that's even without mentioning Andy Carroll.

Competition for places is always healthy and it's not good when certain players think all they have to do is show up for duty to walk into the team. This is an exciting time to be an England supporter and I hope we see a few more players getting a rare chance to start on Tuesday night when England are up against Ghana.

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It used to be the case that the England cricket captaincy was the subject of much debate in the papers, pubs and amongst commentators and analysts.

The football captaincy was far more straightforward: someone was given the armband by the manager and in the unlikely event that the skipper was out of action, the vice-captain would step in. If that man was then out himself, the manager would select someone else on a one-off basis.

That's how it used to be. We all know why John Terry was stripped of the captaincy last year but I'm not so sure that was the right decision to start with. What happened between him and Wayne Bridge was an off-field matter that had nothing to do with football and I wonder whether Fabio Capello didn't jump the gun.

Maybe he should have waited till after England's next match, seen how the other players and indeed Terry himself reacted to it all and then decided on the best course of action.

All this has only become an issue over the last couple of weeks because the man Capello chose to replace Terry - Rio Ferdinand - has missed so many England matches through injury (including the World Cup) and will also be out of next Saturday's tie against Wales.

The way I see it, there wasn't an obvious candidate, in the absence of Rio and Steven Gerrard, to step in. Okay, Frank Lampard has worn the armband for Chelsea when Terry has been out on occasion and Wayne Rooney would love to be handed the responsibility. But Lampard isn't perhaps the most natural leader and Rooney has plenty on his plate already.

I can see why Rio was the choice. He's a quiet man most of the time but that's not to say he's not quietly offering advice and encouragement to his team-mates and he's certainly highly respected by all his peers.

Terry is different of course; he is a lot more vocal and a far more dominant presence in the changing room. He believes he was born to be captain of a football team and relishes the responsibility.

So I don't see a problem with giving it to JT. What I do have a problem with is how public this whole issue became, with the various protagonists having their say through the media. I know it's a little different but can you imagine different Manchester United players arguing over who should be captain in newspaper columns and interviews? Never in a million years.

The most important thing is that England continue to focus on the basics and that means winning their next match.

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The other day somebody asked me what I thought were the three things you needed to win the Champions League. "Xavi, Iniesta and Messi," I replied.

Joking aside, Barcelona are of course the outstanding team in the competition this year, though their tie against Arsenal ended up being tighter than many would have thought. With 20 minutes to go, it was Arsenal who were going through, let's not forget, and Barca did benefit from a pretty harsh decision when Robin van Persie received his marching orders.

But those are discussions for another day and Pep Guardiola's men played really well over the two legs and probably deserved to go through. It sounds like an obvious thing to say, given they're the 2.32 favourites to win the competition, but they really are the team to beat.

You need talent, belief and luck to win the Champions League. Don't underestimate the importance of the last one because no matter how good a team is, they need some decisions to go their way. Luck doesn't just extend to decisions made by the man in the middle, it also includes a shot that hits the upright and goes in rather than for a goal kick and, of course, injuries.

We know how good Barcelona's side is but if, all of a sudden, they missed the three guys I've just mentioned, their task would be so much harder.

Another team who has plenty of belief and talent is Real Madrid. They also have one of the great managers. Jose Mourinho has won this competition twice already, including doing so with a Porto team in 2004 who were huge outsiders.

I like the balance of this current Madrid squad and there's something about Mourinho teams that makes them ideally suited to two-legged knock-out competitions. It's as if they know exactly what they need to do and when to get through each round by hook or by crook.

I like the way Real have played in this competition so far this year and if you're looking for a bigger price than that of Barcelona, the 6.2 on them may be the best bet going.

Another side I fancy to do well is Shakhtar Donetsk. They were very convincing in knocking out Roma and let's not forget they beat Arsenal at home in the group stage too.

Some football fans over here may not know too much about their side beyond Eduardo but it's got a good blend of youth and experience and they're capable of playing some neat football at times so at a big price of 34.0, they may prove to be very good back-to-lay material.

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It was meant to be the match made in heaven but just recently Jose Mourinho and the Real Madrid hierarchy seem to have fallen out of love just a bit.

The big masterplan was of course to knock Barcelona off their perch at domestic level and win the Champions League sometime over the next two or three seasons. They still have a pretty decent chance of going all the way in Europe but as regards the race to the La Liga title, it will take a minor miracle to prevent Barcelona from defending their title.

In typical fashion Mourinho has very much done things his own way since arriving at the Bernabeu. He made the big call that so many other recent managers weren't prepared to make and told Raul that his time as a Galactico was up; he decided that Rafael van der Vaart wasn't his sort of player and brought in young, energetic talent like Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil and Angel Di Maria. It would be absurd for him to leave at the end of this season. Building a team takes time and even though Real fans and Directors are notoriously impatient, they can't expect the Portuguese manager to get the team operating in perfect sync in his very first season. The players he's brought in are part of a three or four year strategy and as such it will take some time for Mourinho to be completely sure how best to employ them.

'The Special One' has never made any secret about the fact that the Premier League remains his greatest love. Manchester City may come calling if they decide Roberto Mancini isn't the man to take the club forward and a return to Chelsea shouldn't be ruled out either but I suspect he's actually got his eyes on another job. Sir Alex Ferguson can't keep going forever and I'm pretty sure he'll have a huge say in who eventually takes over from him. Mourinho is one of the few managers in the game who can say Ferguson's United haven't got the better of him and the United boss respects his dedication, attention to detail, confidence and ruthlessness. They'd be a good match those two and I'm clearly not the only one who thinks that because Mourinho is currently the 3.7 favourite in the next Manchester United manager market on Betfair.

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Much has been made of Fernando Torres' so-called slow start at Chelsea but it must be remembered that he hasn't even played a full game for them yet. It's far too early to condemn him.

The Spaniard did cut a forlorn figure against Fulham and I understand Chelsea fans who had expected him to hit the ground running. But it doesn't always work like that, especially for strikers. A front man needs to play his way into a side and they need to adapt their system to him.

Torres had a poor World Cup, despite winning it with Spain, he struggled at the end of last season and hasn't been at his best this term. He has scored nine goals though, which works out at about one goal every two games, around nineteen a season. For £50 million, it's understandable that fans want a better return than that but it's not a bad record when you consider that the boy is not playing to his full potential.

Carlo Ancelotti has to decide how he is going to get his team to play to Torres' strengths. He may need to re-jig his midfield and there are big decisions to make there. Does he go with five or will he play two strikers? Can Didier Drogba and Torres play together? What about Nicolas Anelka? I'm not sure that Ancelotti sees three up top as a long term solution but, as with all these questions, only time will tell.

Roman Abramovich would not have paid £50 million for Torres if he didn't believe he was a great player. He and Ancelotti will not be alarmed by what they've seen so far. Once he scores his first goals for Chelsea, he will be up and running and more success will follow. He has a lot to offer the club. Remember, Torres may yet win Chelsea the Champions League this season. My advice to fans? Give Torres a chance.

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What's going on with Arsenal? We've seen some pretty odd things happening in their matches this season: a loss at home to Spurs when they were ahead, Cesc Fabregas allegedly making some accusatory comments to the ref during their recent match against Everton, Abou Diaby retaliating after a heavy Joey Barton tackle and of course... the subsequent loss of a four goal lead in that very match.

I think the answer is that the pressure is starting to get to them. The pressure of not having won a trophy for more than five years. Once they win one I wouldn't be surprised to see them go on and land more silverware soon after. But, until they get over the line, I can see the players and indeed Arsene Wenger getting frustrated and allowing their emotions to get the better of them. Especially when a few things start going against them. Fabregas' reaction was a result of Louis Saha's goal standing despite the Everton man being in an off-side position and Diaby's reaction was as a result of being on the wrong end of a slightly reckless challenge.

So it's a mental thing really that could be Arsenal's undoing because they've got a fine squad at the moment crammed with classy experienced players and promising youngsters. Robin van Persie has been excellent since he returned and up to a few weeks ago (when he got injured) Samir Nasri wasn't far off being the player of the season.

What they maybe don't do as well as the likes of Manchester United is defend leads. When they're a goal up their instinct is to keep attacking and going for more. Sometimes that's going to work but on other occasions it's going to leave you exposed at the back; sometimes you need to win ugly. Just ask George Graham!

Barcelona may prove too strong in Europe and it's a four-way fight in the Premier League so you've got to say they'd have to play unbelievably well to win the title this year. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you should be backing at them at prohibitively short odds-on for the Carling Cup but I wouldn't put anyone off backing them to win the FA Cup at 5.1. It was the last competition they won and I can see them repeating the feat this year.

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The Home Nations Cup (Carling Nations Cup) is back and I'm very excited that this great competition has returned to the international football calendar. I was involved in it as a player back in the day and I always looked forward to the tournament. After all, there's bound to be some rivalry amongst the different teams and that makes for good, hard, competitive football matches.

The big story of course is that the English FA have decided they don't want to be involved this time round and whereas I'm disappointed by that, I'm not the slightest bit surprised. For the FA, the World Cup and European Championships are seen as the competitions they are desperate to win and they obviously feel that being able to pick and choose who they play in international friendlies is a better option that playing against the other four Home Nations teams.

It could be that it's a decision based on commercial reasons or it could be that they feel that playing against more varied teams gives them better preparation for qualifiers and the two big tournaments I've already mentioned. It's their prerogative but I think it's a shame, not to mention the fact that there will be a few England fans out there that would have looked forward to a tournament that England had a really great chance of winning.

Who's going to win it then? Scotland. But before you shout "of course he's going to say that!" hear me out. As I've said before when writing for Betfair, Scotland don't boast international stars such as Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness and Denis Law right now.

Darren Fletcher is a great player who is a regular starter for one of the biggest clubs in the world and Charlie Adam is already a super player and will only get better, but beyond that household names are few and far between. But there are a handful of good, established Premier League players such as Barry Bannan, Phil Bardsley, Alan Hutton, Craig Gordon and James Morrison who are now more than ready to start making a name for themselves on the international scene.

That's not to say the other teams don't have a few high-quality individuals themselves but I like what I've seen of Craig Levein so far and I think he'll be desperate to win this competition. He has every chance of doing just that.

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