Rio's Daft Prank

It seems Rio has a sense of humour, at least if we believe John O'Shea. The Irish defender reckons he was made to endure a difficult test during his unusual minutes as goalkeeper.

Robbie Keane (and I'm sorry if I wrote Berbatov in the match report) almost scored a consolation goal for a wounded Spurs at White Hart Lane on Sunday when Rio Ferdinand's casual backpass found him facing only our emergeny keeper, John O'Shea who had to wear the green jersey because of Edwin van der Sar's injury. The Irish defender came out of his box to produce a fantastic sliding tackle, much to the amusement of the United bench.

O'Shea thinks it was not a dreadful mistake by Rio - he suspects something rather different.

'I think Rio gave the ball away deliberately, but I`ve asked Edwin if he gets a clean sheet bonus because I want half of it for that,' O'Shea said.

That's the spirit mate! Giving the ball away deliberately at White Hart Lane... that needs nerves even when you're 4-0 up. O'Shea was equal to the challenge and showed his aptitude for goalkeeping. His personal tragedy is that he's a jack of many trades but master of none. He's a good left-back but Heinze and Evra are better. He's a good right-back but Gary and Brown are better. He's a good centre-back but Vidic and Ferdinand are not in the same league. He's not good as a defensive midfielder but he can play there against smaller teams - but Carrick is much, much better than him.

And now he seems to be a good goalkeeper at a team which have an army of shot-stoppers, including a world-class veteran Dutchman. Hail O'Shea whom I blasted so often without admitting I quite like him!

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