TV View:D'you know, it's getting to the stage where we can't turn on our telly on a Saturday any more without seeing Irish sporting history being made, to the point where we're almost getting blasé about the whole thing. And no, we're not talking about John O'Sheazinho's goal at Anfield, rather David Gillick's gold medal-winning run in Birmingham at the European Indoor Championships.

Can it be two years since George Hamilton famously celebrated Gillick's gold in Madrid thus: "If you're down around the new Dundrum town centre right now you can pop out your breasts with pride because here is the champion of Europe, David Gillick, the local lad made good!" Two years it is. Well, Gillick was at it again, although George was much more restrained this time around, refraining from provoking a mass outbreak of indecent exposure in and around Dundrum town centre. He was, though, highly elated, as were Con Murphy's studio guests, Derval O'Rourke and Jerry Kiernan.

George: "Absolutely magnificent! Absolutely sensational" Derval: "Absolutely superb! Absolutely out of this world!" Con: "He showed great resilience and character." Jerry: "Absolutely!" Absolutely fabulous, it was. Which isn't quite how poor Rafa Benitez would describe the conclusion to Saturday's joust at Anfield.

"Are you beginning to get a tingle already," a feverish Richard Keyes had asked Jamie Redknapp before kick-off. Jamie looked momentarily startled, until finally surrendering an "eh, yeah". David Platt admitted to feeling a tingle too, so, in that sense, the panel was tingling as one. We tried, just for the hell of it, to imagine Bill O'Herlihy asking Johnny Giles if he felt a tingle pre-match, but could only picture Bill ending the broadcast with a bandaged nose.

"Can you believe it's 17 years since Liverpool won the title," Richard asked Jamie. "Yeah, it's been a transition," said Jamie, bringing a grin to the face of United-supporting Plattie. "That's one hell of a transitional period," he resisted saying, but you knew he was thinking it.

Any way, by the middle of the second half Andy Gray had concluded that Manchester United had come for a draw, noting the rather defensive make-up of their bench. "When you look at the substitutes that were picked that tells you a little story - O'Shea, Silvestre, Wes Brown, it's very difficult to think that one of them could come on and change the game," he said.

And with that O'Sheazinho changed the game by winning it, prompting Alex Ferguson to do that dance that you usually only see performed by your inebriated uncle when The Birdie Song comes on at the after-wedding do. Peter Kay does a sublime take on this spectacle, we're guessing Fergie was his inspiration.

"Liverpool played fantastic, we were very lucky today," Fergie told Sky, later conceding that the referee was right to send off Paul Scholes. When Fergie's being that magnanimous and candid you just know it's United's season.

The game of the weekend, though, came yesterday, when West Ham and Spurs battled it out for the title of "dodgiest defence in the Premiership". By half-time West Ham were 2-0 up.

Included in the West Ham defence was Anton Ferdinand, the 22-year-old defender who used to be the future of English football, a tag he inherited from his big brother, and is now beginning to symbolise all that's wrong with it.

It's been a rough few months for young Anton. He's been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and violent disorder after a brawl at an east London nightclub, he had a window in his Baby Bentley smashed by vandals, and, worst of all, he was caught out telling a fib when he told the club he was visiting his sick grandmother on the Isle of Wight. He was, in fact, off in South Carolina partying 'til dawn with his pals, not too many days before a game. "I genuinely did go and see my Gran when I got back," he insisted yesterday.

Five minutes to go and West Ham were leading 3-2. "You have to ask yourself, how are West Ham bottom of the table," Andy Gray asked himself, and us. Full-time and they'd lost 4-3. It's hard to figure, but maybe the commitment and professionalism shown by Anton and his pals has something to do with West Ham's woes. What Anton probably needs is a loan spell at Sunderland. But if we were him we'd leave the Baby Bentley behind and take the bus.