English Football League / Ben Herd / 18 December 2008 /

The Shrewsbury right-back is spending a spell on the sidelines at the moment but takes time out to talk about Paul Ince's dismissal, standing up on a chair and singing to his team-mates and getting "skinned" by Dennis Romedahl at 17.

It's not been the best of weeks so far; we played Grimsby away on Saturday and continued our poor away form with a 1-0 loss.

To be fair, the weather conditions played quite a big role, but having said that, I suppose it's the same for both teams. Unfortunately, I was once again left on the bench. This is probably the longest (when fit) that I've gone without forcing myself back into the team.

I was suspended a few weeks back and, up until Saturday, the team had maintained a winning streak. It's never easy not playing, and if I'm being completely honest, I hate it but I accept the manager's decision. There's a flurry of fixtures coming up in the next few weeks so I hope I get a chance to play. I'm not the best watcher of a game from the bench, especially when you've got to put up with the physio's poor banter!

As I've mentioned before, we occasionally have overnight stays for away games. These trips have taken on an added feature for a Friday evening. Let me explain: during training on a Friday, there is a series of sprint competitions which eventually whittle down to a 'Losers Final' with the eventual loser having to sing a song of his choice at dinner.

This week, one of the quicker lads, Steven Leslie, lost out and gave us his rendition of one of Cliff Richard's classic Christmas songs. Fair play to him he was awful, but it was all in good jovial spirit.

I know what it's like to stand in front of your peers and sing - I've had to do this several times, especially at Christmas when I was in the youth team. We had to stand on a chair in the middle of the canteen and sing our heart out, in payment for cleaning the pro's boots all year - quite difficult when you're getting pelted with brussel sprouts!

Someone who probably won't be singing for his Christmas dinner this year is Paul Ince, after getting relieved of his duties at Blackburn Rovers. Maybe the Premiership came a little bit too soon for Ince, after having relative success with Macclesfield and then MK Dons last year.

I do believe that no matter what level you play at in your career and how much success you obtain during your career, management is a different ball game all together. It was refreshing to see someone of Ince's calibre choose to serve his apprenticeship in the lower leagues.

Many have tried and failed, notably Tony Adams. If the press were to be believed, it would appear that Ince "lost" influential members of the dressing room. That's something that can seriously undermine a manager, true or not. Maybe if Ince had had a touch more experience, he might've dealt with this differently.

One player that has upset the apple cart in recent times is Dimitar Berbatov. There's no doubting he is pure class in a similar mould to Cantona except with deceptive pace. I have read some reports that Berbatov has put United out of kilter a touch, with Tevez having limited playing time, but I have to disagree.

In fact I believe he offers a new dimension to United's game. Here at Shrewsbury the player most comparable to Dimitar is probably Richard Walker (no, not the betting.betfair.com Premiership previewer!) - although with not quite the same turn of pace.

A bit like Berbatov the goals haven't flowed as freely for him this season, but what he does bring to the team is one of the best first touches and vision I have ever seen, hence my nickname for him is 'The Magnet'.

Obviously goals is the most important aspect of any centre-forward's game, sometimes if a striker doesn't score, you tend to question what contribution he has made. With Berbatov and "The Magnet" they offer much more, making the ball stick in the final third and bringing wide men into play.

I have spoken of Berbatov's qualities but one attribute that he often doesn't get credit for and which I have briefly touched on is his deceptive pace. As a full-back you come across many pacy wingers. One player that didn't look that quick but was lightning was Dennis Romedahl. I was fortunate enough to have played against him when I was 17. To be honest I love testing myself against really quick players as you have to be 100% on your game at all times, but there is no better way of gauging yourself and developing a different positional sense than by playing against quicker players.

The key, in my opinion, is to try and get as tight as you can to them. The aim of this is to prevent them having space to knock the ball and run at you. Also I try and be as hard as I can in a tackle with them just to see if they fancy it after taking a bit of a whack!

Staying on the United theme, I see that they have jetted to Japan for the World Club Cup.

It will be interesting to see how Chelsea and Liverpool fair in United's absence. Just how much they have to play in catch-up.

I can foresee a Glasgow Rangers-style fixture pile-up towards the back end of the season. For me I believe Man Utd at [2.8] for the title are terrific value; they have the squad to cope with the extra demand plus they are a lot more youthful than the favourites Chelsea [2.32]. Back United with any money left over from Christmas and reap the rewards come May.

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