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Manchester United currently sit top of the league, having lost two of their ten games, slightly ahead of title rivals Chelsea and Manchester City.

The explanation for this, we are often told, is that competitiveness within the Premier League has increased, but could another reason be that the elite in the top flight simply isn’t as strong as it used to be?

Chelsea have perhaps been the most impressive team in the league this season, with summer signings Eden Hazard and Oscar settling in superbly alongside the magnificent Juan Mata behind Fernando Torres. However, they remain a flawed side, which is part of what makes them so exciting. When we take a look at their European form, they were out-classed twice by Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk in this season’s Champions League as they seek to retain their European title, even if they managed to win their latest encounter at Stamford Bridge.

Credit must go to Roberto Di Matteo for moulding a new style in the aftermath of last season’s success and he really has done an excellent job considering the circumstances and pressures placed upon him. However, they are far from the finished article and in 18 games this term, they’ve kept six clean sheets, but let in 27 goals. That they’ve scored 46 goals of their own has largely covered up the fact that they remain an unbalanced outfit and against true quality, as they’ve shown against Manchester United, Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar and Juventus so far this campaign. They are not alone, though.

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson invested heavily in the summer on both Robin van Persie and Shinji Kagawa and while they may have already qualified from a weak Champions League group after just four games, the sense that they may struggle against greater challenges persists and they’ve been bailed out time and time again by the quality and strength of their forward ranks.

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They were outplayed by Liverpool at Anfield, even with the opposition being reduced to ten men following Jonjo Shelvey’s red card and against Tottenham, Southampton and Chelsea they’ve also looked worryingly fragile at the back, even if the Everton loss on the opening day can be attributed to a somewhat makeshift defence, which continues to cause problems. While last term they were bordering on an embarrassment in Europe, crashing out of both competitions in quick succession, making a mockery of Ferguson’s rebuke that his team weren’t struggling and that the mere suggestion that they were was laughable.

Roberto Mancini’s side this season have looked a shadow of the one which won the Premier League last term, in part due to a failure to really strengthen the starting eleven over the summer and the manager’s needless tinkering with the side’s system, which has caused more harm than good.

The fact that they’ve had two difficult groups in Europe two years running hasn’t helped matters, coming up against Bayern Munich and Napoli last term and Real Madrid, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund this. They’ve barely displayed even half of their ability in this competition and that’s how you truly judge the elite, by how they fare against what other countries have to offer and whenever the occasion has called for a performance, they’ve come up short.

Cast your mind back to the talent that was on offer in this country just a few years ago – Chelsea had Arjen Robben, Claude Makelele, Hernan Crespo, Michael Essien and Ricardo Carvalho. Manchester United had Ruud van Nitelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Edwin van der Saar. Arsenal Thierry Henry, Roberto Pires and Cesc Fabregas. Liverpool had Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano.

Yet each side, due to economic reasons and top players either being pursued by the Spanish duopoly of Barcelona and Real Madrid or simply coming to the ends of their careers, haven’t replaced their outgoing stars with players of the same quality. There’s not quite as much depth or talent at the top in the Premier League these days, which allows those teams below to become more competitive. The league has undoubtedly levelled out more, which has only seen standards slip, particularly in terms of defending.

Standards are certainly slipping, which makes it a much more difficult league to predict for the most part and it makes fabulous entertainment. Most of us can agree that Chelsea’s Champions League win, much like Liverpool’s back in 2005, wasn’t a showing of strength, more an acceptance of both teams limitations and neither were the best teams in the final, let alone throughout the competition.

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Ask yourself this, how many truly world-class players does the league possess this season? Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Juan Mata, David Silva and Robin van Persie may come into that bracket, but there’s not a whole lot else to choose from. Then contrast this with the number that was in the Premier League say three years ago, or five.

Each title challenger these days has an obvious weakness for the opposition to exploit, whether home or abroad, and as competitiveness increases, the quality across the board has spread, meaning our best is now no longer comparable with what the rest of Europe has to offer. For many this is good news, it all depends what you want to take from the league, but when looking back at what the league was like when English sides were the teams to beat, a gradual decline has most certainly set in.

Do you think the Premier League is as good as it has been in the past? Do you prefer it the way it is now? Follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1 and let me know what you think.

Abhinav Mukund’s 25th first-class century, and half-centuries from B Indrajith and Dinesh Karthik gave Tamil Nadu a 244-run first-innings lead over Baroda on the second day of their 2016-17 Ranji Trophy fixture in Raipur. Tamil Nadu’s bowlers had backed Abhinav’s decision to put Baroda in by knocking them over for 93 on the opening day. They ended the day on 79 for 1, with Abhinav on 40 and Indrajith not out on 18.Abhinav scored an even 100 off 165 balls, while Indrajith struck a more sedate 68, off 166 balls. The duo, who came together at 32 for 1, extended their partnership to 147. Karthik then struck a brisk 65, before new-ball bowler Munaf Patel wiped out the lower order in quick time to finish with 4 for 91 and wrap up Tamil Nadu’s innings for 337. Baroda made a more assured start to their second essay, ending the day on 44 for no loss, trailing by 200 runs.In Hyderabad, Punjab responded strongly after dismissing Uttar Pradesh for 335, finishing on 243 for 3. UP had ended the opening day on 300 for 6 with Kuldeep Yadav on 62 and Saurabh Kumar batting on 39. UP added 35 more for their last four wickets. Kuldeep was dismissed for 71 and Saurabh made 52. Sandeep Sharma took 5 for 85 for Punjab, while Shubek Gill, the right-arm medium pacer, took 3 for 57.Punjab were buoyed by their opening batsmen, Manan Vohra and Jiwanjot Singh, who both struck half-centuries and shared a 117-run partnership. Uday Kaul struck 33 and played second fiddle in a 96-run third-wicket stand with captain Yuvraj Singh, who was unbeaten on 72. Punjab are behind by 92 runs.It was a slow day at the SDNR Wadeyar Stadium in Mysore where only 177 runs were scored in 88.2 overs on the second day. Mumbai, who resumed on 244 for 5, put up 345 in their first innings, before reducing Railways to 76 for 3.Suryakumar Yadav, who began the day on 60, compiled 110 – his 11th first-class century. Legspinner Karn Sharma added two lower-order wickets to his tally to finish with 5 for 81. Railways’ top-three took their time and got off to starts, but none could stay on. Left-arm spinner Vijay Gohil took two wickets and Tushar Deshpande, the right-arm medium pacer, took one as Railways went into stumps trailing Mumbai by 269 runs.The Bengal-Gujarat match in Delhi, meanwhile, was called off due to smoggy conditions.

Paul Collingwood: “I wouldn’t make us favourites …every team is coming here and thinking theycould win it.” © Getty Images

Less than 48 hours after Paul Collingwood lifted his first piece ofsilverware as England captain his mind was turning towards the nexttrophy up for grabs. The team arrived in Johannesburg on Mondaymorning, along with India, completing the line-up for the ICC WorldTwenty20.The celebrations after the victory at Lord’s will barely have calmeddown – and Collingwood said the team was still ‘buzzing’ – but in themodern international game there isn’t much time to reflect. However,although the seven-match ODI series has denied England any warm-upmatches for the tournament, Collingwood believes the tight schedulecan benefit them.”We played some fantastic cricket against them [India] and we comeinto the World Twenty20 with a lot of confidence. We have gotexperienced Twenty20 cricketers amongst our squad and hopefully theycan give us a little bit of an edge over the other teams. We are alllooking forward to it, we are buzzing, it has only been a couple ofdays since we won the game on Saturday and I think that quickturnaround could work in our favour.”I think the same kind of skills are used in both forms ofthe game, maybe it’s just a little bit quicker. Of course it wouldhave been great to get a couple of games in, but all the players arein good form and confident, and when you are confident you go out andplay your best cricket. I think that will be a massive advantage tous.”The English domestic game has been at the forefront of Twenty20cricket and that is reflected in the 15-man squad with Jeremy Snape,Darren Maddy, Chris Schofield, Luke Wright and James Kirtley beingnamed in various specialist roles. But despite a seemingly significantadvantage in Twenty20 – Maddy and Snape are both in the top 10 ofmatches played, while no one else featuring in South Africa is on thelist – Collingwood was reluctant to think of his team as likelywinners.

Andrew Flintoff is a massive player, I’ve always said he’s two players in one. Not just on the pitch, but his character off it too. He’s vital to us in the dressing room

“I wouldn’t make us favourites, that’s the beauty about thiscompetition,” he said. “Every team is coming here and thinking theycould win it. Twenty20 cricket is like that; it only takes one inningsto turn the match around or one bowling spell. But I think it is anadvantage that we have been playing a lot recently. Our skills shouldbe up to scratch, obviously we are match-fit, and that’s the edge thatwe need to go all the way.”Although Collingwood said everyone was match fit, there are still hugequestion marks over Andrew Flintoff. He played through the pain atLord’s, after a steroid injection, and Collingwood didn’t commithimself to how much of a role he will play in the next two weeks.”We are just going to have to assess it as we go along. He’s desperateto play, obviously he has a little bit of soreness in the ankle sowe’ll have to be sensible. But so long as he is desperate to play andit’s the right decision for the day then Freddie will be playing.”And as Flintoff showed at Lord’s, when he claimed 3 for 45 includingthe scalps of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, he adds an aura tothe England team. “He is a massive player, I’ve always said he’s twoplayers in one,” added Collingwood. “Not just on the pitch, but hischaracter off it too. He’s vital to us in the dressing room and spurseveryone on. It’s great to have him here and hopefully he’ll play abig role.”With or without Flintoff, the team won’t be short on big-hitting poweras the lower order demonstrated against India. Dimitri Mascarenhasslammed five sixes in five balls at The Oval, but most of the talk hascentred around Sussex allrounder Luke Wright who made 50 off 38 ballson debut.He was promoted to open in the deciding match and although he fell fora second-ball duck, Collingwood said Wright’s place is likely to be atthe top where most of his success for Sussex stems from. “Maybe he’llbe in the top three, we’ve got to finalise our strategies but he’sobviously done very well up the top of the order and those six overs[with fielding restrictions] are going to be crucial.”There isn’t much time for Collingwood and Peter Moores, England’s coach, to put thefinishing touches to those plans and work out their best eleven.England’s opening match is against Zimbabwe, in Cape Town, on Thursday.

Gul was impressive against England in 2006, picking up 18 wickets in the four-match Test series © Getty Images

Umar Gul, the Pakistan fast bowler, has signed a one-year contract with Gloucestershire for 2007. Gul, 24, led Pakistan’s attack in the absence of Shoaib Akhtar against England in 2006 and was by some distance their best bowler, taking 18 wickets in the four-Test series.”I am very excited about joining a county steeped in such great history as Gloucestershire’s,” Gul told the club’s website. “I believe that with a lot of hard work we will be able to achieve many good things in the coming season.”Jon Lewis, the Gloucestershire captain, was delighted to have secured the services of such a promising fast bowler. “This is a massive boost for Gloucestershire cricket,” Lewis said. “Umar is a quality fast bowler and will bring a real cutting edge to our attack. Throughout this summer he was the most consistent and threatening Pakistani bowler in England. I have been watching him from close quarters during the summer and have been thoroughly impressed by his professionalism and appetite for the game.”Gul is currently in India for the Champions Trophy. Although he will be available to Gloucestershire for the entire 2007 season, he could miss the opening matches if selected for next year’s World Cup in the Caribbean.

Scorecard

Ryan Bovell made a battling 44 but Cayman Islands collapsed for just 159 at Toronto © Getty Images

Osinde Henry, the medium-pacer, rattled the Cayman Island batting line-up with a seven-wicket haul as Canada were on course to a comprehensive victory in the Intercontinental Cup match at Toronto.Along with Umar Bhatti, the left-arm medium-pacer, Osinde destroyed the Cayman line-up in just 54.1 overs. Osinde finished with an impressive 7 for 53, his best figures, and the Caymans collapsed for 159, still trailing by 181 runs. Canada soon rattled up 151 in quick time in their second innings, with Qaiser Ali producing a steady 67 and set Caymans an improbable target of 333 in their final innings.The Caymans were in further trouble in their second innings and finished at 38 for 1 at the close of play.

Ian Botham: says it’s time for someone else to have a go in England’s middle order© Getty Images

Ian Botham, the former England allrounder and now TV commentator, has called for Nasser Hussain to be axed from international cricket to let the younger players come through.Talking on BBC Five Live, Botham said, “It’s easier for someone to settle down with [Graham] Thorpe and [Mark] Butcher than if you lose three senior players simultaneously.” He continued, “If Thorpe, Butcher and Hussain choose to leave suddenly, then it’s very difficult for youngsters to come in. We should adopt the Australians’ approach and say, ‘Thanks a lot Nas, but now we’ve got to go forward’.”Hussain, 36, captained England in 45 Test matches between 1999 and 2003, and, along with Duncan Fletcher, was widely regarded as moving the side in the right direction.Having played 95 Tests, he has made it no secret he wants to make the 100 mark, and on England’s recent tour of the West Indies, he helped his side to a 3-0 win by scoring 197 runs at an average of 32.83. However Botham, never shy to air his views, believes the selectors should start looking ahead to the 2005 Ashes series, and that means no more Nasser.”Our target has to be the Australians and I don’t see Nasser playing a part against the Australians,” Botham added. “Despite everything he’s done for us, I think it’s time now for a [Andrew] Strauss, a [Paul] Collingwood or whoever to come in to that middle order.”

JOHANNESBURG-Disappointing in the extreme as it was, the defeat against India at Centurion on Saturday is just the latest of setbacks for Pakistan. Having lost all three of their important games, they flew off to Bulawayo with long faces Sunday morning, hoping to muster a huge win against Zimbabwe to somehow grab the last Super Sixes slot from Group A.Leaving it to the last, and then qualifying through the net-run rate was what captain Waqar Younis eschewed. He did want to make it to the Super Sixes fair and square, all wrapped in glory by beating India after lacklustre displays against Australia and England. But making it through the `back door’ (as Waqar had described it before the Indian encounter), howsoever less palatable, is the only option left open to him now.And that too, if Australia retains its exalted status as the only team unbeaten so far in this World Cup against England on Sunday. When one wrote these lines, the match was on, and England after a bright start had faltered to 170-odd for six with seven overs remaining.So Australia was on course to full 24 points, and India was right behind them at 20 – both having made it to the next round. The scramble was now between England, Zimbabwe and Pakistan – the first two with 12 points, with Pakistan at eight.But victory against Zimbabwe, and four points emanating from it, would make it likely for Pakistan to edge the other contestants out. More so as Pakistan’s last game of the pool, would allow them to know exactly what was required while batting and bowling. But whether this Pakistan outfit is capable of achieving precise results is a point of conjecture.The ability surely is there – it is the execution and the mindset to perform against the odds which is in question.Only about four months ago, Pakistan had blanked Zimbabwe in all five games there, scoring above 300 runs in three matches. Though they would hope to put up a similarly emphatic performance in their last league game, who knows what is in store for them now. That series in any case seems to have taken place ages ago.Since then Pakistan has under-performed like never before, losing seven of their 10 matches. What is worse, their performance against minnows Namibia and Canada too has been at best scrappy, in one department or another. For instance, even Zimbabwe managed well over 300 runs against Namibia and Netherlands, while Pakistan could only make 250-odd apiece against both. Then the bowling has allowed the opposition off the hook on all occasions except India – when it received a spanking from the word go, allowing India to more or less finish the game by the 12th over by conceding 100 runs. Waqar had a two-wicket burst, and Afridi and Akhtar got a wicket apiece, but by then the horses had already bolted.The defeat against India has made one thing quite evident: Pakistan badly requires rethinking and regrouping. That is if they want to salvage a measure of pride, and go any further than the Super Sixes, if they reach there at all, that too with points in the bank against other qualifiers showing a blob.Coming back to the match against India, there is no denying that Sachin Tendulkar was in sublime form. But the fact of the matter is that the Pakistani bowlers bowled to his strengths, feeding him short and wide ball on both sides of the stumps and a string of half volleys. The Shoaib Akhtar delivery that bowled Tendulkar was the only one that ripped into his body, and the bowler was instantly rewarded with the wicket. Virender Sehwag has a known weakness against deliveries rearing off a length and aiming towards his rib cage. He didn’t get any until Waqar got lucky with him as he slashed on yet another wide one.That Waqar and Akhtar bowled poorly was understandable, but Akram, though he was more economical than the above mentioned duo, bowling with such singular lack of discipline was mind-boggling.Not that his admission is any consolation, but Waqar later admitted that the bowlers didn’t bowl according to the plan. For one over or two, that is understandable, but for the entire first half of the match? And what good is a plan that is forgotten the moment your key bowlers, the so-called match-winners, step on to the field.So far, there seemed to be little method in what Pakistan has done in this World Cup. There have been some individual performances that have stood out, none more than Saeed Anwar’s remarkable ton against India. But Pakistan has filed to fire as a team, in every department of the game.They need to get their act together to sustain them from now on. But would they?

Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreed to play in Sharjah’s one-day cricket tournament for the next three years, say organisers.The twice-yearly Coca-Cola Cup suffered a setback in Aprilwhen the Indian government banned its national team from competingthere for three years.Media reports said the Sharjah tournament’s vulnerability topossible match-fixing may have caused the Indians to withdraw. Theevent attracts crowds mainly from Sharjah’s ex-patriot Indian andPakistani population.”Although I’m hopeful India will play here again, matchesinvolving Pakistan and Sri Lanka will create great interest,”said Zahid Noorani, chief executive of the Cricketers Benefit FundSeries, which runs the tournaments.The two countries contested a 30,000 sell-out final in April,when Sri Lanka won after Pakistan triumphed in all four of theirgroup matches. New Zealand had replaced India as the third team.The next event, involving Zimbabwe as the third nation, willrun from 26 October to 4 November, Noorani said. Prize money has beenincreased to US$250,000 from US$100,000, with the winner receivingUS$120,000 and the runner-up US$80,000, he said.The Emirates Cricket Board is holding an inquiry, headed byformer West Indies captain Clive Lloyd, into allegations of matchfixing at the Sharjah tournament and elsewhere in the U.A.E.

Aston Villa and Wolves played out a dour Midlands derby with both clubs keeping up their unbeaten starts to the new season. A point sees Mick McCarthy’s side rise to the top of the Premier League for a few hours at least, with Villa moving into fourth.

Chances were few and far between at Villa Park as both sides seemed content to take a share of the spoils with Alex McLeish coming through his first derby game unscathed as manager of the hosts.

He will be very unhappy that his side failed to hit the target in the first half despite an attack boasting the likes of Darren Bent, Emile Heskey, Charles N’Zogbia and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Heskey was guilty of wasting a glorious chance to open the scoring heading inches wide from an Agbonlahor cross. Wolves also had chances of their own with Stephen Hunt’s header being tipped wide by Shay Given.

The home side cranked up the pressure in the second half with Agbonlahor testing Wayne Hennessey with a low drive before Richard Dunne thought he had broken the deadlock only for his header to be nodded off the line by Wolves striker Kevin Doyle.

Come the final whistle both sides seemed pleased with a point which consolidated their strong start to the new campaign.

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Shashank Manohar, the BCCI president, has closed the door on the Decision Review System (DRS), saying that unless the system became “foolproof”, India’s stance would remain unchanged. Responding to questions from the public on BCCI’s Facebook account, Manohar said that India’s sole issue with DRS concerned lbw decisions. Manohar pointed out that he had raised this issue even during his first stint as BCCI president, between 2008 and 2011.”Actually telling you the truth, the BCCI was never against the DRS system right from the time of my earlier tenure,” Manohar said. “We had issues only regarding the leg before decisions to be decided by the DRS system. For everything else we were accepting the DRS system.”Manohar said that in his previous tenure as BCCI president, the ICC had asked India to accept DRS as a whole, which the board rejected.”At the ICC meeting, it was decided that either we accept the DRS system as a whole or we don’t accept a DRS system. We were not willing. And today also we are not willing to accept the DRS system for leg-before system because when you shoot it from a distance, a parallax develops and then you are not able to give the exact direction of the delivery.”Secondly, instead of the umpire imagining the bounce and the direction of the trajectory, it is the person sitting behind the camera who is going into the DRS. He is going to have his imagination put in the place of the umpire’s imagination with regard to the bounce.”According to Manohar, he had posed the same question concerning lbw decisions to the DRS manufacturers at an ICC executive board meeting back in 2011.”Even the person who has evolved this DRS system was not able to answer me and was not able to satisfy all the members of the ICC,” Manohar said. “And as you know, there are lot problems even in the DRS systems which are raised by various countries. Therefore unless and until the DRS system is foolproof with regards to leg-before decisions the BCCI will not accept it.”The BCCI has never favoured the DRS ever since its inception. Manohar’s reasoning is similar to his successor N Srinivasan, who served as BCCI president till 2013. Srinivasan consistently opposed the DRS, calling the referrals system “faulty” as there was a lot of luck involved, which he did not support.Manohar’s remarks are bound to hurt the ICC, which has remained optimistic. After the ICC’s annual conference in Barbados in June, Dave Richardson, the ICC’s CEO was confident that the “modern player was more amenable to new ideas and innovation.”A couple of those modern Indian players, including the country’s Test captain Virat Kohli and lead spinner R Ashwin, have expressed openness to the DRS without offering any in-depth view. Kohli had said that he would like to discuss the DRS with his team, while Ashwin had pointed out that he would not mind the DRS minus the predictive element.