Football Food For Thought / Ralph Ellis / 15 December 2008 /

Ralph Ellis looks at the weekend's results and performances to talk us through the striking partnerships that at the moment are hot, and those that are not.

In theory picking football teams is easy. Name a goalkeeper and then your ten best players and that's it. In practice, of course, it's never quite so simple. It's about blend and balance, and a magical piece of gel that nobody can ever quite explain that either bonds the group together into a unit or leaves them falling apart.

That's never more true than when you are trying to form the partnership that matters most - up front where the goals get scored. What looks unstoppable on paper often fails on the green grass of the pitch. And sometimes the more good players you've got, the more difficult it can be to find a way that works for all of them.

That's definitely the problem facing Manchester United this season. Bringing Dimitar Berbatov into the club seemed to be £30million spent on creating a group of strikers who would score at will right through the demands of a busy season. Instead it's thrown what was a smooth Formula One goals machine into a spluttering, coughing set of cogs and wheels that aren't quite working together.

Berbatov has got two league goals to his name so far and he's not exactly making things happen around him either. Going back to White Hart Lane should have been the perfect stage for a player whose confidence borders on arrogance to make a statement. Instead all he showed was that he's struggling to fit in. Furthermore he's keeping Carlos Tevez out of his best role, not helping Wayne Rooney to click, and Cristiano Ronaldo is having a very indifferent time of it too.

Then again there's Chelsea where Didier Drogba is finally fit, free from suspension, and looking half interested in playing. That should help Luiz Felipe Scolari's side to kick on and take over the title race - it's certainly what those people backing them as [2.26] favourites think is going to happen.

But can he play with Nicolas Anelka? The evidence of yesterday's second half comeback against West Ham suggests it's possible and it certainly helped Anelka stretch his lead at the top of the Premier League scoring charts as he got his 14th of the season.

Did you take my tip to back him to still be there at the end of the campaign at [6.6] a few weeks ago? He's as short as [2.56] now. Drogba and Anelka have hardly ever been used together. Avram Grant did it once to turn round a game against Arsenal last season and they were unstoppable, and there were signs again yesterday that with some work they could be a deadly partnership. But will Scolari tear up his normal tactics to go 4-4-2 to make it happen?

One striker who has struggled is Robbie Keane, left on the bench by Rafa Benitez while Liverpool searched in vain for a winning goal against Hull. There's a myth growing around his £20million transfer - which even Benitez seems to believe - that he's failed to forge a partnership with Fernando Torres. Yet because of the Spaniard's injury problems they have actually only started six League games together - and in one of those Torres came off after half an hour. Selling Keane isn't the answer until there's a proper chance for the two to work together - and if it does come off that could well be what helps Liverpool, still top of the table and great value at [5.8] for their first ever Premier League triumph, to click.

The weekend brought the first real signs that the big four could yet become a famous five as Aston Villa battered Bolton to move above Arsenal on yet another one of those weekends when none of the established Champions League clubs could win. Villa have got a magical pairing of Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor. They are now [2.72] a top four finish, while Agbonlahor's eighth and ninth goals of the season saw his price to be top English goalscorer come in to [4.5]

Michael Owen's deadly finish in Newcastle's 3-0 win at Portsmouth showed he's still the star predator - it was his seventh League goal from just nine starts. It proved that a natural goalscorer is always capable of finding the net regardless of the team he's playing for. And Tim Cahill showed the same thing for Everton as they stole a late winner at Manchester City.

At the bottom end of the table Paul Ince has a roster of front men with good goalscoring records but do any of them want to play for him? They responded to a 3-0 defeat at Wigan by heading to Dublin for their Christmas party. Roque Santa Cruz - who was one of the few that didn't fly to Ireland - is ready to move on, Benni McCarthy has done nothing, and Jason Roberts isn't being given a chance. Blackburn are now five points adrift, are [2.92] to be relegated, and Ince's meteoric rise up the management rankings seems about to burn out. At least it will give him time to go away and do his pro licence before he tries to come back again.

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