The gradual shaping of things

I'm not happy. Leeds have not only wiped out their fifteen-point deficit, but they have also climbed off the bottom of the table following an opening six-game winning streak. They're a cheating, dirty football club, with an idiot for a manager... but still, sometimes you have to take your hat off and congratualte a team that has achieved so much.

My hat is staying firmly on my head. I have no intention of removing it for Dirty Leeds. As far as I'm concerned, they should still be in debt, and therefore in a relegation mess as they wouldn't be able to afford any of the players they currently have - players that have helped them win thier first six games of the season.

But I will take my hat off to Leyton Orient. An undefeated start to the season has so far yielded 16 points, which is an impressive points tally considering I had them down as relegation fodder. I'm not so stubborn to wish them all the best and hope that they go up. If it means replacing a 'bigger' team in the Championship then I'm all for it.

Just four teams of the league's 92 remain without a win this season. Step forward Derby, QPR, Sheffield Wednesday and Grimsby!

The Premier League is starting to take shape, and if things remain as they are then we can expect a deluge of whinging from both José Mourinho and Alex Ferguson. We can also expect moaning from Rafa Banitez too, as he's gained this annoying trend of becoming a whining git the more his team wins.

Kalou's goal against Blackburn was onside, so I don't know what piece of action Mark Hughes was watching when his side escaped from Chelsea with a 0-0 draw. It was a major let-off, but I like Blackburn because they're a plucky team.

I'm surprised Sheffield Wednesday have started so poorly. Brian Laws made an immediate impression last season when he took over and lifted the Owls from the bottom six to the brink of the play-offs. Now Laws is looking up at his old team Scunthorpe, who are safetly tucked away in mid-table after a solid start to the season. Who'd have thought that at the start of the season? I'm not sure how long Laws will last at Hillsborough... I've already covered the fact that Leicester and Carlisle have much less patience with their managers, so the clock must be ticking for the man who thinks a Sonic the Hedgehog haircut is still trendy.

I'm not sure what's going on at Leicester, actually. Why did they sack Martin Allen so soon in order to replace him with Gary Megson? He was rubbish at Notts Forest, and that was a league below, so God knows what Milan Manderic thinks he'll achieve at the Walkers Stadium. I for one think that they will continue to struggle. I'd say 17th place is theirs for the taking.

Poor old Emile Heskey! Thinking he's now a settled part of the England team he's gone and done what all England players do at the most inconvenient of times: break a metatarsal. Even when I was younger (and I'm still relatively young now) this used to be called a broken toe. But the media think it's trendy to use the term metatarsel because it's what everyone else called it when Beckham broke it years ago. I don't even know whether I got the spelling right there. I don't even care.

Time to do some work now, so until next time (they're getting more and more infrequent!).