That's a wrap

As the Sky cameras pulled away from Fratton Park and Old Trafford the videos of those games could be thrown in the vault just in time for the door to shut. "That's it boys, lock away the 'noughties'"! (I warn you now it's a long one)

It's been some ten years; firstly I'm pretty sure we were all doomed at least twice this decade. As the year, decade and century turned just ten years ago all our machinery's clocks were due to change to year 00 thus making the whole world implode. Of course our machinery was clever enough to realise it was 2000 rather than the reliving of Christ's birth and we survived.

In footballing terms the last 120 months have seen some wonderful moments and also some horrible ones. Among my favourite ones were the 5-1 thrashing England gave the Germans, John Terry missing in Russia (cruel maybe but still funny), Sporting JLGB beating North Manchester K.D on penalties in the cup and going to my first ever match at Old Trafford- United vs West Ham January 1st 2001 3-1 home win, not sure I'll ever forget the first feeling of walking out from the underbelly of the stadium out into the stands to hear the noise.

Amongst the most horrible moments have to be England losing to Portugal on penalties, Ronaldinho's floated cross/shot over David Seaman, Steven Gerrard's pass towards David James intercepted by Thierry Henry, South Manchester coming back from 4-0 down to beat Sporting JLGB 6-4 and Martin Keown jumping all over the back of Ruud van Nistelrooy- if he'd scored that damned penalty the invincibles never would have existed (slightly bitter I know but I'm allowed).

Suddenly many more bad England memories are coming flooding back, and as it's already 3.00 a.m and I don't wanna be up all night with football nightmares it's time to give the English or at least it's Premier League the opportunity to fight back. So here it is, my Premier League XI vs my European XI

The Premier League XI is simply any body that played in the Premier League whose greatest contribution came whilst playing in the EPL and in the last 10 years. Though the Premier league has evolved, into lots of teams playing a variation of the 4-5-1, the decade kicked off with most sides still playing the classic 4-4-2 and this is what my Premier league manager of the decade, Sir Alex (predictable? who cares), would have played.

Picking a goalkeeper for any side is a struggle but I'm going to go for Shay Given, just ahead of Brad Friedel, Jussi Jaaskelainen (I googled it yes) and Edwin van der Sar, simply for consistent brilliance often playing behind some dreadful defenders. If only he were English.

At right back Gary Neville takes his place. No doubt Neville has had some long-standing injuries but these didn't come till 2007. As a person disliked by most, as a footballer disliked by most but mainly because he wasn't on your team- go on you can admit it, you like him really, besides who else you gonna pick? Danny Mills?

The left back slot goes to another still flying high in the Premier league and another often hated as a person. Ashley Cole come on down! Playing all his football in the 'noughties', and often in the papers for his own naughties, the former Arsenal left back is again relatively unchallenged in the last 10 years.

At centre back I'm going for what will most likely be a controversial partnership for different reasons. First up is a man who, granted had a crazy start and end to the decade, had a big part to play in 'the invincibles' of 2003/04. Of course it's none other than Sol "where have my marbles gone" Campbell. A rock at the back for Spurs, Arsenal, Pompey and England for big chunks of this decade. Of course there was the free transfer move from White Hart Lane to Highbury and the Notts County debacle but still. More surprisingly he's partnered by Liverpool's very own Finnish star- why it's big Sami Hypia of course. Captaining Liverpool to a F.A Cup, League Cup, UEFA cup treble and then winning the Champions league in one decade is pretty impressive for a player so underrated by any one outside the Anfield family.

In midfield I'm almost tempted to go for an all Manchester United quartet. I could go with Beckham, Scholes, Keane, and Giggs. I could replace Beckham with Ronaldo. But I'm not going to, don't get me wrong two of them will still be in there.

At right wing I'll kind of cheat. I'm going to shove Steven 'Stevie G' Gerrard out on the wing. There are three reasons for this. Firstly I wanted to avoid picking Ronaldo. Secondly I wanted to pick Gerrard but not ahead of my centre midfielders. And thirdly one of Gerrard's main contributions for Liverpool has been his ability to drag the team out of the mire from any position on the field and he has played wide right many a time for King Rafa of Liverpool.

On the left wing is THE player of the decade. The only man to score in every Premier League season since it began. Yes it is Ryan Giggs! Not much hasn't already been written about Giggs and though you could argue his main contribution came pre 2000 you could also argue it came post 2000. And simply for his proof of longevity and loyalty in these days of tearing up contracts and injuries galore I'm going for post 2000.

My midfield marshal is another member of les invincibles, it's Patrick Vieira. The Frenchman is living proof that you didn't need to play for a majority of the decade to catch the eye, after all he only spent the first five years over here before moving to Italy but his greatest contribution definitely came in an era where Arsenal weren't criticised for having a soft core to their team. Along side him is the midfielder who can't tackle, astonishing when you consider how well regarded he is. Of course it's Paul Scholes, another whose professionalism, loyalty and longevity added with his skill and Champions league semi-final winner against Barcelona see him slot straight in.

Up front is the kind of strike force any manager would drool over. Despite both these players moving onto Spain in the last few seasons they did their real damage whilst at Old Trafford and Highbury. First up is the quintessential goal scoring striker and the man quickest to 50 Premier League goals, Ruud van Nistelrooy. That's the goals inside the box taken care of. What about the cut in from the left and curling shot passed the keeper from outside the area... well handball or no handball that would have to be Thierry Henry, pretty much in the Premier league he was the French for va va voom!

Moving straight onto the European XI, and simply it's players with European nationality whose main contribution came outside the English Premier League, so Owen Hargreaves would be welcome here, although he's not. Making the tactical changes for Europe is a man whose biggest managerial contribution will hopefully come in England next decade. A man who won two (possibly three) Serie A titles and on La Liga title in the last decade, Fabio Capello.

In goal is without doubt a keeper Fabio would be familiar with. It's Gigi Buffon. World Cup, Serie A titles and a relegation. It's been a rather frantic decade for the keeper who also found time to become the most expensive shot stopper ever. Nuff said really!

Right back for team Europe would be captain of Barcelona and therefore current captain of both the World's and Europe's best team. Carles Puyol. Adding 2008 European Championships to his ever-growing list of silverware means this Catalonian won't go the way of many and fail to deliver on an international stage.

Maldini! It only needs one word really. Unfortunately retired before his countrymen got their hands on the World Cup but somehow I still feel part of that triumph belonged to him. Another whose best work came in the 90's, and possibly the 80's, but whose work in the 'noughties' should not be over looked. Besides he played at the top level till he was 40!

Two more Italians in centre back, Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro. Playing most of his 21st century football in Milan, Nesta has made four apperances in the UEFA Team of the Year and watching him in his prime it was obvious to see why in 2002 he became the most expensive defender in the world. He also had a pretty decent year in 2006 winning the Champions League and World Cup, most would struggle to do that on Football manager. His partner in crime is the only ever defender to win FIFA World Player of the Year and that alone speaks volumes. This decade has seen him play for Inter, Juventus, Real Madrid and Juventus again, not a bad collection of bloody good teams. Now 36 and still playing for Italy don't count him out to pick up more honours before he retires.

The only player to win the Champions League with three different clubs plays at right wing for EFC (Europe Football Club). So the 90's may have seen Clarence Seedorf win his first two but the 'noughties' saw him win two more this time both with A.C Milan. And despite being a back-stabbing piece of work moving from the San Siro to the San Siro and supposedly being at the centre of many Dutch arguments this decade Clarence is still a class act of a footballer!
These days’ jokes about Chuck Norris suggest he can do everything, but whilst I was at school we used to joke that Pavel Nedved could do anything, and thus he finds himself in my squad. Nedved is a Ballon d'Or winner and was simply a footballing genius.

The central midfield for Europe might not have the bite of its Premier League opposition but it certainly has the skill. The man to sit and play the ball wherever he feels will be Andres Iniesta. Twice a Champions League winner and once a European Championship winner it's been quite the European decade for one of the most underrated footballer's on the planet, and that says a lot when you consider how highly he's thought of.

If you asked any footballer what he'd like his final act as a footballer to be he probably wouldn't answer "head butt someone in a World Cup final". And of course Zinedine Zidane wouldn't have wanted it either but in a weird way I'm thankful it was. Zidane walking passed the World Cup trophy is probably one of the images of the decade, sporting or otherwise. He was also a bloody good player and anyone who takes a penalty like that in a World Cup final deserves a place in this team.

Upfront are two of Europe's biggest striking servants, in terms of years playing at the top and goals. And our final World Cup winning player to make the team is Alessandro Del Piero. The goal scoring and goal-creating machine could probably make a team of the 90's as well but I'm not interested in that. He's survived several injuries and relegation and yet the man who is Juventus' best ever goal scorer is still right at the top of the game. Along side him is a man who seems now to be overtaken at his team by the new, young, expensive strikers around him. But remember kids he is Spain's and the Champions League's top goal scorer and his name is Raul. He's scored more goals for Spain and more goals in the Champions League than anyone else, what more do you want?

And the result?! Well as with many of my high and low points of the decade this one will go to penalties. And with Fabio no doubt going over and over penalties in his preperations before 2010's World Cup I'm going to have Steven Gerrard lashing home the winning penalty past Buffon!

OK I've gone on for a long time and I'll finish with this thought; A lot's changed in a decade, after all, this time 10 years ago Manchester United had just won yet another Premier League title and were after another and we all looked towards June where we believed England could win an international trophy for the first time since 1966. A lot has changed in the last 10 years and then again, it might just be exactly the same! Good night and happy New Year!

Manager of the Season!

Yet another week when football, and the Premier league in particular threw up a whole load of headlines. From weather based cancellations, more injuries to David Moyes' Everton, Lionel Messi picking up yet another award after winning the World Club Cup for Barcelona, 3 time taken penalty, the Spurs' players 'golfing' trip to Dublin and of course unpredictable results by the bucket load.

Ok granted the bucket maybe wasn't as deep as in past weeks but there was still losses for Liverpool, Manchester United, and Celtic whilst Chelsea dropped points at could be relegation fodder West Ham.

Chelsea were looking invincible just a few weeks ago and suddenly, having lost to Blackburn on penalties in the League cup, they seem anything but. Petr Cech would find it difficult to get into the England squad on current Chelsea form, if England had any goalkeeper they could rely on, and John Terry is playing at his worst for some time. Tony Cascarino said on Sky Sports News today that he couldn't see Chelsea playing worse than they currently are but he seems to forget that in January some of there most influential of players will be jetting off to Angola to take part in the African Cup of Nations. It may of course have little effect on the Blues but it will leave Carlo Ancelotti looking over his shoulder at United and Arsenal.

Talking of the champions, that's United of course and not Arsenal, their title defence is starting to look a little nervy to say the least. When Sir Alex says "there's no light at the end of the tunnel" you can't help but listen. Of course just a day or so later the Glaswegian was stating that many of his defensive injuries were nearly back and he wouldn't be swooping into the market to pluck out and defensive cover come January.

The fact is thought that whilst United lost for the 2nd time in 3 league games they once again lost to an in form side. Fulham are transformed under Roy Hodgson, from a team who would have been relegated had it not been for Rafa Benitez resting all is players in a match against them a couple of years ago (don't remember Arsene Wenger complaining then), into a side who look at home in Europe and are easily disposing of the champions. At this point you'll all be looking at the title and thinking something along the lines of "Oh he's going to say Roy Hodgson is manager of the season. Bit premmature but fair enough." You're wrong of course, the Premier league 2009/2010 Manager of the season goes to either....

Roberto Mancini- Manchester City's new manager is going to have an incredible season, winning the Carling Cup having beaten city rivals United in the semi final and then going onto finish 4th in the league. Oh no the future's not been decided yet?!? I thought it had, I thought that's why City sacked Mark Hughes. Wait so Mancini hasn't already won the league cup and got to 4th? He's done nothing in English football so far you say? Well I am mistaken. So Mark Hughes leads his side to 6th in the Premier league, a good position to find yourself in just before Christmas, and a league cup semi final and still gets sacked! He wasn't managing United or Chelsea, teams who would frown on being 6th at any time of the season passed the third game, he was managing at City, a side who have never finished inside the top 6 in Premier league history.

For those of you who didn't work out the last paragraph was written slightly tongue in cheek. I'm also not a big fan in the way Manchester City have gone about sacking a manager who, though he hasn't blown the Premier league away, has done little wrong to get sacked. I'm especially not a fan of Garry Cook, who is chief executive down at the City of Manchester Stadium. In the past he has been referred to as the David Brent of football, watching him in Monday's press conference acting arrogant and passive aggressive towards journalists you can see why. Cook was unflappable in suggesting the club were right to sack Sparky and did nothing wrong with the way they went about it. For me though deciding you're going to sack a manager three weeks before you actually sack him and then doing it after a victory is almost definitely the wrong way to go about it! I'm not saying that sacking a manager needs to be an impulse decision but that victory over Sunderland should at least have bought him some time and having the new guy in place almost by the time Hughes had left the changing rooms for one last time must have been a kick in the nads for the Welshman. In the end though it will be City who may well regret Hughes' sacking most, if rumours are to be believed then should Mancini fail to make the top four he'll be sacked and the Blues of Manchester and their fans will once again be green with envy over the stability just a few miles away.

But why stop there! We have another nomination to come....

Ladies and Gents I give you, Rafa! Well what a season, back in November they were knocked out of the Champions League and found themselves in near disarray in the Premier league. Then came wins against Arsenal, Wigan and Portsmouth in a week and the whole season turned around. They surged up the table into fourth place and won the FA Cup and Europa League double. Ok so granted just like the Mancini hypothetical situation it could end up not being so hypothetical, but again like with Mancini I can't see it happening.

The reason I'm picking on Benitez, other than it being fun, is he just makes it too easy. About 10 days ago the Scouse Spaniard said "the season starts here", in which case he's started with 3 points from a possible 9 with a goal difference of minus 1, and judging on how badly the real seasons gone so far he may just take that.

We were led to believe at the beginning of the season that if Torres and Gerrard were fit then it would be extremely difficult to stop Liverpool finally winning the league, they haven't stayed fit and it has exposed the holes in the squad and specifically the Rafa made problem of having few strikers after selling Robbie Keane, Peter Crouch and Craig Bellamy in the last couple of seasons. Indeed even with El Nino and Stevie G fit they have been anything but firing, as on Saturday when they were well out played and out gunned by south coast strugglers Portsmouth. I know only a few short weeks ago I said Liverpool were dangerous in the race to the top four as a wounded, out of Champions League, animal type way but having seen them continue to struggle and Spurs and Villa looking just as strong or stronger I'm starting to believe they'll be lucky to finish ahead of City, Birmingham or Manchester.

With the end of the year and in fact end of the decade approaching it's only inevitable we start to reminisce over the last 10 years of football. Personally I'll be blogging about it next week but for now with the exciting Christmas schedule to come over the next week or so I'd like to look forward, after all the season truly starts here!

So many questions...

It's been a busy few weeks for the Sidler and I've seemingly got a little lazy with my blogging. Just as I looked for some inspiration to start up again the Premier League came up with a weekend of unpredictable results followed by a midweek full of action drama and talking points. You can't fault midweek football when it's like it was this week, that is of course unless your name happens to be Arsene and you happen to be be unhappy about some manager's team selection. I wonder if Arsene would be so arsey if his team had won... no need to wonder he probably wouldn't have cared less.

The truth is Mr Wenger shouldn't be too unhappy after his team's performance against Burnley yesterday. Don't get me wrong they didn't defend well enough and they didn't finish some of their early chances but Burnley were excellent and may have won had Stephen Fletcher's goal not been ruled out, what happened to the offside rule where the attacking side got the benefit of the doubt?

The last few days in football have certainly thrown up more questions than answers, and much debate will of course be on Mick McCarthy and his choice of team to play against the champions. Having secured 6 points out of 6 his side travelled to United, most would be hopeful of an outside chance of nicking a point or three. Mick though decided to play a team full of his non regulars and admitted afterwards he had pretty much already decided his team would lose no matter who played.

The former Sunderland manager perhaps had a point. His side were coming up against a United team scorned after losing to Aston Villa at the weekend, and the reds rarely lose two league games in a row, especially at Old Trafford. And in the side's defence this wasn't a team of no hopers nor were they overrun by United, until the opening goal that is of course, but then how many times has that happened to even the best of side's at Old Trafford. Also in Mick's defence isn't football a squad game in these modern times? Long ago of course players played every game in which they were fit and available for, these days though the title isn't won on who has the best 11 but on who has the best 25 or so and it's the same down at the bottom. And though Mick may have technically broken the Premier League's rule on picking your best available side, has he really done anything worse than the United's and Arsenal's of this world who rest players for the league cup, it is simply prioritising. On the flip side is the fact that Wolves did break a rule and that it in turn gives United an advantage in the title race. Added to that there is the obvious annoyance to fans who had to pay £45 for the ticket alone just to see Wolves turn up with a second string, they arguably turned up at Old Trafford with a stronger side for the Carling Cup game. For me the defence out weighs the prosecution against Wolves and the only ones it harms are Wolves themselves, for the fans of course all will be forgotten if they beat Burnley and go on to avoid relegation come May.

There was of course questions for United as well, the first being why didn't Fergie play two up front against Aston Villa. I don't want to take anything away from Villa but United aren't the kind of team who should play 4-5-1 at home. For me though the real question for United and the Scottish knight was asked not at Old Trafford on Tuesday but at White Hart Lane on Wednesday. Why didn't you sign Niko Kranjcar? The Croat was the picture of perfection as his team ripped through the static defending of fellow 4th place wannabees Manchester City. He created lots, he scored twice and he scared the living daylights out of defenders. United have been lacking this scare factor many times this season, other than the boy Wayne of course, who became 2009's top Premiership scorer on Tuesday. Up until recently though United have lacked enough creativity in midfield and there has been lots of talk about who Fergie might invest in during the January transfer window, especially with £80 million of Ronaldo money still hanging around. Yet Wednesday's destructive play by Niko not only highlighted that Spurs look far more likely than City to be in the top 4 it also highlighted him as the best value transfer of last summer, at £3 million it's a wonder why no one else tried.

Wenger said this week that eight teams still had a chance of winning the league, and though mathematically he may be right there's surely no more than four who have an actual chance. Outside of the usual Chelsea, United and Arsenal there is of course the wild card, Aston Villa. Martin O'Neil's side have started asking the question, why not? Wins this season against Liverpool, Chelsea and United have caught the headlines. Draws with fellow Europe chasers City and Spurs and wins over Birmingham and Fulham mean they have gathered valuable points where City and Spurs have dropped against similar opposition. With Stewart Downing finally fit after his summer move it is like Villa have made a new signing just before the busy December period, added to the fact Emile Heskey has scored a few goals and Martin O'Neil has replenished his squad before next month's transfer filled period, Christmas come early if you please.

At Anfield my 2nd favourite headline maker (behind Arsene of course) was up to his favourite pastime, creating headlines of course. Guaranteeing a 4th place finish for his team may well end up being the moment Rafa started writing his own resignation letter and it leads me to ask, why?. Liverpool currently lie 5 points outside the top four, this is of course a pretty small margin, especially at this time of the season, but as it is only December it's also a long way to go before you start guaranteeing anything, never mind turning your season around. In their 2-1 win over Wigan, Liverpool may have grabbed 3 points but they hardly set the world alight or gave much proof that their form from now till May can be better than Villa, Spurs, City or even Birmingham for that matter. Liverpool's defence is still weak, the midfield still aren't creating enought and the strikers, outside Fernando Torres of course, aren't up to much, despite David Ngog's goal on Wednesday. Of course Benitez will luck an absolute genius should his side get in to the top four but his previous as far as mid season press confrences are concerned suggets they won't... and that's a fact!

It would be remiss of me not to mention the wonderful run that Birmingham find themselves on. Can it last? With money to come from their new owners in January it is indeed a possibility. The Blues from England's second city have one of the league's smaller squads and yet Alex McLeish has seen his side win 5 Premier League games in a row and sit behind Liverpool on goal difference alone. Like many pundits I predicted that Birmingham would be mere relegation fodder, a decent side who would struggle to find goals. And yet Cameron Jeremoe and changed man Lee Bowyer have proved that theory very wrong. I can't imagine Birmingham being in the European places come the end of the season but a top 10 finish is certainly a possibility and Birmingham fans could have hardly asked for more than that in August.

One last question lingers following the midweek football- were Arsenal playing claret and blue or white in their match against Burnley last night. Of course I know the answer, it was claret and blue right? Ok ok I'm joking but the point stands. We often purr over the beautiful football Arsenal play, and rightly so, with players like Fabregas and Arshavin at their disposal it is unsurprising. And yet last night they were outplayed, out passed, out Arsenaled. Burnley were fantastic. Mcdonald, Fletcher, Elliot, and Eagles caused the Arsenal defence all sort of problems and they came within an offside flag of a yet another unlikely home victory. Arsenal were of course very good themselves for periods of the game but as soon as Burnley didn't concede a second and then won themselves a penalty the result always looked to be going Burnley's way if anything. If Burnley can learn to defend better away from home they'll almost definitely be in the Premiership for season 2010/11.

Wenger of course had to complain not only about Wolves choice of players for their trip to Old Trafford but also that his team had to play three times in one week. With action as good as it's been I have to answer his question with a question.... Can't they all play seven times a week?

Someone a Little Special

First up today I'd like to apologise to all Spurs fans, well not all, just any who I like. Last week's blog was meant to be about Spurs, their wonderful striker Jermain Defoe and specifically their resounding victory over Wigan. As I began to write about their chances of getting into the top four Liverpool got knocked out of the Champions League and suddenly my attention was averted elsewhere. Since then Spurs have gone to Villa Park and got a very good point against Martin O'Neil's side and looked good doing so.

Enough of that! It's been a whole 12 days since I mentioned England, of course I blogged about international football after what is now one of the most famous footballing moments of the modern era, THAT handball.

Talk of international football is to be expected, we are only 7 months away from the World Cup and excitingly only 5 days away from the draw. Week after week we are shown images of Fabio Capello and Franco Baldini as they sit in the stands of yet another Premiership team, eyeing up the players already in the England squad and perhaps more importantly those not.

And with talk of which players will or won't get to join J.T, Wazza, Stevie and the boys (I've got to give it the Steve Mclaren it was quite fun to call them that), some names start to creep in that might just surprisingly force their way in. At the beginning of the season Jack Wilshere was amusingly mentioned. Keiran Gibbs is another Arsenal youngster with an outside chance and more recently David Dunn's shining performances for Blackburn have been praised at the highest level. Of course sometimes players aren't good enough for the press to consider them that the player themselves must mention it, enter Tyrone Mears.

For me the surprise name that Fabio may well want to pay close attention to is a midfielder whose surname begins with B. A talisman for whichever team he's played for. Who inspires with his football ability and his personality. A player who has had his fair share of injuries, with a special talent for dead ball situations.... NO NOT BECKHAM! It's good old smiley Jimmy Bullard!

Go back to January of this year and perhaps the the most surprising of that window's transfers was that of Bullard from Fulham to Hull. The £5 million Phil Brown handed over seemed to be an absolute bargain for a side who had started to sliip down the table after such a fantastic start to the season. Bullard's enthusiasm, skill and hard work makes him an all round fantastic central midfielder and one who had performed solidly for Fulham and had them dreaming of a place in Europe. Phil Brown though needed to reinvigorate his side who had gone backwards since the start of the season that could of had then dreaming of Europe.

Suddenly though disaster struck! On debut for Hull Bullard picked up an injury on the same knee he'd dislocated during his time at Fulham. It was cruciate ligament damage and would rule him out of the rest of the season. The Tigers went on to struggle for the rest of the season as the ex West Ham youth watched from the sideline. Relegation may have been the nightmare turned reality had the form of Newcastle and Middelsborough not been so poor.

This season though Jimmy is back, and with a bang! Again Hull have found themselves struggling, and Phil Brown has found himself in danger of being sacked/resigning/leaving by mutual consent (same thing different PR companies). But the ex Wigan player seems to be saving his manager's job almost on his own.

8 valuable points in the last 4 matches have come in some way or other via a piece of magic from Bullard. It is not always his goal or assist that has set up the points for his side but it is certainly his personality that has been stamped on every game, no more so than on Saturday. Playing against City, Hull were looking like the inferior side that they are. Mark Hughes though played straight into Phil Brown's hands. When Robinho was taken off, understandably considering his recent injury and hard work during the match, it left a bigger hole for Bullard to occupy. As the three points seemed to be heading for the home side Hull won a penalty. Up stepped Bullard and with the calm and collectiveness of the best around he dispatched it beyond Shay Given and the points were shared.

Of course that wasn't the end of it, Bullard then went and mimicked his manager's moment of madness from last season. That moment was of course when Brown gave his half time speech at the City of Manchester stadium on the pitch with his side 4-0 down last season. Bullard stood, circled by his team mates, and pretended to tell them off. Even Brown found it funny, and how could he not. All the pre game talk had been about that moment derailing Hull last season and here was the man of the moment taking the piss out of it, the line under that moment is thoroughly drawn.

Who could tell me J.B (yeah I'm at it again) isn't worth a place on Capello's plane to South Africa in the summer? Put it this way; in a match where Lampard is injured would you rather Michael Carrick of Jimmy Bullard replace him? Exactly what I thought.

His exuberance alone is something that is not only rarely seen in football it is certainly seen no where else in the England squad. Along with that he has excellent dead ball taking skills, highlighted by his ability to step up at the most pressure filled moments and score a penalty.

If there is to be any major surprised in the England squad for next summer's World Cup then we should forget all about Arsenal youngsters or even Blackburn veterans and go for the shaggy haired blonde....no not Beckham... Jimmy of course!

Earning their Spurs?

It was brought to my attention that I was the only blogger out here in the world of wide webs that hadn't yet posted about something that happened at the weekend. No, it wasn't Lee Bowyer's goal or Liverpool's first goal scorer sounding more like a Pokemon than a defender. Of course it was Wigan's woeful defending. What? I'm not missing the point am I? Wigan lost 9-1! There's no need to mention their opponents. OK! Fine I'll swallow my pride. Spurs won 9-1 and weren't they fantastic.

The moment Harry's boys beat Liverpool on the first weekend of the season I knew something was going to happen with the boys from the lane this season. At one point Spurs were riding very high in the table, and they went into the game against Manchester United on September 12th unbeaten. It led me to tell a friend, a Tottenham fan, that I'd blog about his side's excellence if they managed to beat my own beloved Manchester United. It didn't happen, despite Jermaine Defoe's extremely early goal.

And so Harry's men went on to lose to Chelsea before dropping points to Stoke and Bolton. There was wins against Preston, Burnley and Pompey in between but they were now hardly setting the world alight.

Fortunately for them the other contenders for forth place, as long as something seriously wrong doesn't happen to Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal, have been dropping points.

Aston Villa for example, lying in 5th place after their closest rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool, could only draw at the weekend, have themselves dropped too many points recently. Draws against Burnley, Everton, Sunderland and Wolves have come since their win over Chelsea. They are always a force to be reckoned with in any game but simply they do not have the consistency or depth to challenge for 4th spot and once again 5th will be the best they can do.

Meanwhile, down at the City of Manchester Stadium, the great pretenders are doing just that, pretending! After beating Arsenal and coming within a whisker of an away draw to hated rivals United, City have done nothing, and I mean that in the nicest way possible. Actually that is unfair, City have set about trying to set a new Premiership record of games drawn in a row. Nothing wrong with drawing with Villa and Liverpool away but in drawing with Fulham and Burnley at home, especially when they were ahead, they have shown huge defensive frailty despite spending 24 million on Joleon Lescott and Nigel de Jong being one of the most impressive players in the Premiership currently.

Outside those two and Spurs and Liverpool are the dark horses. Sunderland are riding on the crest of a wave. Darren Bent is on supreme form and has scored against all the 'Big Four' in the last 3 months but neither him nor his manager will have any real design on a top four finish and that's because it's just short of impossible. Everton have always been the side we most expected to break the top 4, and most recent to do so, but now find themselves way down the table. Of course if anyone will get them back up the ladder it is David Moyes but top 4 is just too far away.

Back to the weekend though. Spurs destroyed Wigan 9-1, and being honest Wigan were lucky to get 1, Thierry Henry's handball was so obvious, sorry it's just the first name that comes to mind when I mention handball. Jermain Defoe was outstanding, any regular readers will already know my love for the ex West Ham striker and how much I want him to be an England starter. Aaron Lennon continues to prove why he should be THE right winger in the England squad, whilst his rival Shaun Wright-Phillips seems hell bent on getting himself out of the squad. It is Tottenham's attacking verve that is so eye catching at the moment and as any Arsenal fan will tell you, attack is often the best form of defence. And yet Spurs defence is still in question. A fit Ledley King is almost unbeatable, but a fit Ledley King is almost as rare as a rich student. Spurs though are richer in squad depth than some of their 4th place rivals and with a player as talented as Luka Modric yet to come back, Harry may not need to spend too much of Daniel Levy's money to keep his assault on the 'Big Four' going.

And now to the paragraph I've most looked forward to. If only some of the world's professional football pundits read my column- because right now I'd like to point out to them all who they tipped for Premiership glory this season, especially Alan Hansen and Phil McNulty. Yes ladies and gents it was of course Liverpool. Yes back in August everyone tipped Liverpool to win the league, how could they not, getting better every season under Rafa Benitez and United without Ronaldo, no one could see past Liverpool. Now, at five to eleven on November 24th, Liverpool find themselves in seventh place, 5 points behind 4th place Spurs. Liverpool have been good on so few occasions this season I can only really think of wins at home against Stoke and United. With Gerrard and Torres in and out of the side, due to several injuries, Liverpool have often been without their main men to dig them out of a hole, as in Lyon a few weeks ago. Injuries have also hit several other squad players and the most talked about man not to start a Premierleague match this season, Albert Aquilani, will have to be world class as soon as he does start a game if they are to improve. The match against City on Saturday only put the Red's frailties into a greater light, they still can't defend set pieces- when Craig Bellamy eventually got one past the first man Adebayour scored. And they still don't have enough match winners, with Gerrard marked out the game by de Jong there was no one to step up.

And yet tonight something that most of us would not have predicted happened, Liverpool went out of the Champions League in the group stages. Throughout Rafa's years in charge when Liverpool have struggled domestically moments of European magic have saved them. This time it will not be the case. Jamie Carragher today said "The Europa League is still a piece of silverware" but it is not the one Liverpool should be playing for, nor is it a foregone conclusion that they will be anywhere near winning it. This should demoralise and humiliate a club who's history is all about winning the Champions League and it should lead to Benitez being sacked, but it won't. Liverpool cannot afford to sack Benitez and have to pay his wages along with whichever expensive European would come in to replace him. This makes Liverpool dangerous, they are now a squad who have disappointed very passionate fans, a club who know only a top four finish can give them a way into the Champions League, and a manager who knows that failure to get the top 4 position will cost him his job!

Of course what your all really interested in is how did Sporting JLGB do this week. Well after weeks of games cancelled and all players being out of match fitness, facing a side in form in the league, with two of our best players still out injured there was only ever going to be one result..... we won, 1-0, a score that is so rarely seen in our league it took me about 2 days to believe it happened. So through to the next round of the cup we go. Next week another cup game and the week after yet another.... well it's all silverware ey Jamie!

Hey Bobbi what is the French for "Handball"

After a night as exciting as last night I thought I'd fall straight asleep, of course I didn't. It had nothing to do with thinking about Slovenia's win against Russia, Portugal's inevitable victory over Bosnia, nor Greece making it to the World Cup for the first time in a while, nor Algeria's historic play-off win over Egypt, I wasn't even thinking about Uruguay being the last team to qualify for said tournament. Now you're all expecting me to claim my sleep deprivation had something to do with France's draw, and subsequent win over two legs, against Ireland, well it didn't, I just don't sleep too well generally.

There is though some people I could well imagine having varying sleep patterns last night who could blame the game. I say the game, one incident that changed everything. If the match last night had finished France 1-1 Republic of Ireland there's a good chance that I wouldn't have anything particular to write about, I would be writing about all the teams who qualified, not just last night but all the teams going to South Africa. Instead it finished Platini 1-1 Republic of Ireland, oh how I hope that French bastard is happy (excuse the French).

So here's my run down of how some of the main player's in last night's play would have slept;

Richard Dunne; A wall at the back for the Irish last night. That was until his foundations were rumbled and down came the wall. As the final whistle blew Dunne, a man in supreme form at the moment who would have been instrumental in the World Cup, sat on the edge of the box. He looked desolate, like a broken man, how he didn't cry was beyond me. When they eventually got back to the team hotel I imagine Dunne, talking to barely any one, pacing around asking himself the usual questions "why!", "what if", "what now". Maybe the Villa man got an hour or two sleep at the end of the night, when every question had been asked, but unanswered. Unfortunately for Dunne they will remain unanswered, he has to go back to his club side and concentrate on the Premier league, as hard as it may be. Next time the World Cup roles around, in 2014, Dunne will be nearly 35, so for him last night may have been it.

Giovanni Trapattoni; A legend in Italian, world and now Irish football. Watching the 70 year old in today's press conference one thing is for sure- he's pissed off. All the questions that Dunne may have asked himself last night Trapattoni has asked them all and more to himself, to the FAI, to Liam Brady, to the press. The Italian doesn't take the view of many, most of us would blame the player involved in the incident, the Italian blames the officials. But perhaps more importantly he has questioned FIFA, and he is right to. He has questioned the choice of officials but more importantly the ranking system suddenly imposed by FIFA for the play-offs, and why his team were the only non-ranked side to play away in the 2nd leg. My assumption on Ireland's manager is that he did sleep, not too well though, he was probably constantly woken up by his own thoughts, all those questions would have not set well on his mind. At 70 the ex-Juventus man would be forgiven for thinking about retirement, I hope he stays on and leads the Irish to the Euros in 2012, and if the universe likes maybe they could knock out France somewhere along the line.

Thierry Henry; This is a tricky one. Henry is an awesome footballer. He is one of, if not the best player I have ever seen. I have never seen Pele or Maradona, often mentioned as the two greatest players, play football and so I cannot wade in on the argument, but certainly in terms of the last decade he is the player of our time! The Frenchman made a name for himself playing for Arsenal, a team, perhaps unfairly, known for cheating. And yet you could never really tar Thierry with the cheating brush, Henry was too busy cutting in from the left, destroying a defender or two on the way, and curling the ball majestically past the keeper and into the top corner of the goal. Last night however I feel Henry has damaged his reputation forever. As the ball came over he could have made a choice, attempt to keep the ball on legally, difficult but legal, or knowingly handle the ball to keep it on the pitch. He did the latter, he cheated, it's that simple. Henry will now be synonymous with that handball, no matter your opinion on him, it has happened before with other world class players. Diego Maradona may be the world's best player ever and yet most can't think about him without discussing his handball moment, 'Hand of God part one' if you will. And another Frenchman, another who could argue to be one of the best players ever, Zinedine Zidane can not now be thought of without the headbutt which ended his career. Back to the point though, sat next to Dunne in the penalty area after the match was Henry. He sat, pensive looking, and consoled Dunne. Later on he laughed off suggestions he should have told the ref he handled the ball, for me it was an act. Henry is generally a fair man, one who slept last night, but the voices in his head probably kept waking him up.

Our final players can be mentioned together, neither would of had problems sleeping, they would not have needed sleep tablets, hot milk or a bedtime story. Quite frankly these two may as well have slept together last night, snuggling up to each other in the warmth of their own disgusting bodies, safe in the knowledge that, apart from Russia, it was job done. The two morons are of course Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter. Moron A, that's how I'll refer to Platini from now on, is the Frenchman in charge of UEFA. It is him who does not want video refs. I admit that the ref may not have asked for video evidence but with all those Irish complaints I can't help but feel he would have done. Of course Moron A would argue that his idea to have extra linesman behind the goal would have worked last night, unless of course the linesman was tying his shoelaces at the time. But it is Moron A's absolute refusal to have video software help out referees which has caused us to look elsewhere, test out his extra linesman and thus slow the process of getting more correct decisions. Moron B, for Blatter, is the head of FIFA. A man concerned with only two things in life, money and wrecking the English game. It is his love of money which led to this debacle. Never before have qualifying play-offs been seeded, but suddenly with France and Portugal, packed with big money making names such as Henry and Ronaldo, due to be in the play-offs Moron B changed the system. He couldn't possibly sit idly by as one money maker knocked out another. In came the seedings and through went both Portugal and France. One of his officials may have been wrong and the use of video refs called into question again but Moron B won't care, he just made some more money.

I feel for the Irish I really do, I also feel for the referee. It may have been an awful decision but it was not one he made on purpose, he will now always be the referee who allowed that goal and I hope for his and his family's sake he continues to be an international ref and doesn't get any death threats that have come the way of other controversial refs. For Blatter and Platini the means does not matter, it is all about the result. The same could be said of Henry, I hope it plays on his and the French's conscience and they perform the way they should in the World Cup. Most of all I hope that all this doesn't take a shine off the World Cup. For now it will cloud all our excitement, hopefully come 4th December it will all be forgotten!

Who's making the right noises?

They say a week is a long time in football, and yet it seems I haven't been able to write about it in three. This despite Sir Alex's ranting, United losses to Chelsea and Liverpool, the 2018 bid being restructured, Liverpool being on the verge of Champions League exit, David Beckham leading L.A Galaxy to the MLS Cup final and Robin van Persie using horse placenta to cure his ankle. All in all there's been a lot to write about. Perhaps my lack of activity stems from the Sunday leagues, down at the bottom rung of football life has been stagnant, the weather has caused havoc with our fixtures with the last 3 cancelled.

But I return to you now to blog about the topic you have come to realise I am most passionate about- international football. The weekend just gone was in fact one of those few occasions when the sporting gods threw all international sport at us at once. And England came up short, everywhere!

The rugby union side, destroyed by injuries, were dreadful to say the very least- they won but they may as well have lost. The cricket team, with some injuries, were well beaten in the 2nd Twenty20 international (the one run win on Friday hardly saves them). The rugby league side, not with injuries, had Australia on the ropes, leading with 20 minutes to go and then lost, 46-16.

Then there was the football team, led by new father and stand in captain Wayne Rooney, interrupted by injuries to all but two of their regular starters. The 2nd (or possibly 3rd) choice side took to the field against the most successful side in World Cup history, Brazil, of course. I mention their history because that's what the next few months are all about, the World Cup that is. The fact that England lost is unimportant, that they played averagely as a unit is also redundant, this match was all about those 'fringe players' and if they could cement their place in the squad to South Africa.

In goal Ben Foster, who has been dodgy for England in the past, had a good game. He made a couple of decent saves and his only dodgy moments, giving away the penalty and a kick from the ground going straight to Kaka, were the faults of Wes Brown and Matthew Upson respectively, and importantly didn't get punished. Wes Brown managed to almost certainly write his name off the squad list, the right back position is one of England's problem areas behind Glen Johnson and yet Brown was so awful it just will not do in the World Cup, it is a shame for a player who has been so solid at club level. The rest of the defence was more solid, I'm still not convinced by Lescott and Bridge but who there is to replace them is a question I can't answer and I'm afraid nor could Mr Capello. In midfield obviously Gareth Barry is a World Cup starter, his main competition would be a fit and in form Owen Hargreaves but that is still yet to be seen. Jermaine Jenas did little wrong, but unlike Capello's first match in charge, when Jenas got the winning goal, he did nothing right and will never get passed the first choice England midfield and would also struggle against the 2nd choice. On the flanks James Milner continues to impress with a mix of industry and skill and will definately be on the plane. On the opposite flank though, with Mr Beckham helping his side to the MLS Cup final, Shaun Wright-Phillips did himself no favours with a mule like first touch, of course things may have been different for him had captain Wayne got on the end of his early cross. Up front Kai's dad ran his heart out as always, and the captain's armband suited him well, he IS a future United and England captain and record breaker and if anyone was going to break Brazil it was going to be him. Finally was Darren Bent, a player I have often said I would have in my England squad- perhaps no more. The former Spurs player played, well, like he was back at Spurs and not at his Sunderland best. Playing like that will not help his chances, which after Saturday I believe are all but gone.

All this means that Foster, Upson, Bridge, and Milner are all edging closer to that plane with only injury likely to stop Upson and Milner. It also means that players such as Joe Cole, Owen Hargreves, Phil Jagielka and maybe even Michael Owen still have a change. Finally it means David James, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Wes Brown and Darren Bent will still be hoping till the last.

Of course England weren't the only ones playing on Saturday and the only one's who gave us some clues to the future. For one there was the opposition, Brazil, World Cup favourites and rightly so. Many 'purists' have complained that Brazil don't play with the flare and beauty of the 1970 winning and 1982 losing sides but in this day and age of greater physical players it is almost impossible. Then again any side with Kaka, Robinho, Maicon, Elano, Nilmar and Dani Alves amongst their ranks can hardly be thought to have a lack of flair and class. The debate though is pretty pointless, the real talking point is how good they look as a team and with the odd adjustment to the side, including Robinho coming back into the side, few would doubt their World Cup credentials.

Elsewhere Spain, the World Cup's joint favourites, took on the team who on talent alone should be one of the favourites but add in their hopeless manager and you have a team who barely qualified for the World Cup. Of course Argentina won't be so bad at the tournament but don't expext them to be good enough to retire Carlos Tevez- clearly life for the blue side of Manchester must either be so stressful or boring that it makes you consider retirement so young. Spain look healthy, and that's an understatement, a side that boast Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi in the centre of midfield and Torres and Villa upfront are dangerous (they have loads of other talent but why bother naming many or any others).

Two of Europe's super powers taught us very little as Italy and Holland drew 0-0. The Dutch will always flatter to decieve before inevitably losing in the quarter finals, noooo it doesn't sound familiar at all! The Italians at times seem to be clueless, Marcello Lippi seemingly thinks he's back in 2006, choosing as close to the World Cup winning squad as possible whilst trying to push through a passport for Brazillian born Juventus striker Amauri and ignoring Italian born attacking midfield genius Antonio Cassano.

Of course one of the other favourite's for the World Cup, and seemingly every World Cup, Germany, did not play this weekend, and all our thoughts should be with Robert Enke's family and the German and Hannover squads, football is sometimes the least important thing in life.

In Cardiff the boys of Wales took on the men of Scotland in a match that mattered not to getting ready for the World Cup and was just further proof as to why Scotland never needed to worry about a Great Britain squad at the 2012 olympics, none of thier players would have been in it! The Scots have a bleak future, in the short term at least, with George Burley finally sacked, how he'd survived so long is beyond me, and with players barely good enough for the Sunday leagues there is a lot of rebuilding to do. Lots of names are being thrown about for the post and perhaps the Scots should go back to the tried and tested, and soon to be out of a contract, Walter Smith. I'd go for youth and inexperience in Darren Ferguson, it's out there I know but I'd like to see the SFA be a bit daring. The Welsh though have something to smile about, despite a qualifying campaign that ended as soon as a good performance in Russia didn't end in a win they do at least have extremely talented youngsters such as Aaron Ramsey, Simon Church, Gareth Bale, and Joe Ledley- all young and all collecting many caps already.

The hosts meanwhile were playing Japan to continue their on pitch preperations. Bafana Bafana will be so determined to play well in the World Cup and not find themselves as the first hosts failing to advance passed the group stages. To kick start their warm up matches they drew 0-0 with the Japan in Port Elizabeth. It doesn't sound exciting does it, but after the match Motoaki Inukai, President of the Japanese FA, complained about the famous vuvuzela trumpet, an African instrument known for being loud. It is according to Mr Inukai too loud, You can't hear yourself speak. I will be bringing it up (with Fifa president Sepp Blatter),". As far as noise is concerned it's South Africa making the loudest ones... or maybe it's Japan!

First Scotland! Then the World?

It has been quite sometime since Henrik Larsson looked like this, but oddly enough this is how I remember him most. Ok not in the Sweden shirt, but with his dreadlocks scoring goals in the green and white hooped top of Celtic. For those of you who don't know, Larsson announced his retirement yesterday. 2009 has already seen legends like Maldini, Figo, Nedved and Dean Windass, ok well the latter may not quite be a legend, hang up their boots, and now Henrik joins them.

In all senior levels of football one thing remains the same, the size of the net! So surely a goalscorer in one country could suggest he is a goalscorer in any country. Therefor a great goalscorer for, say Celtic, could claim to be a great goalscorer full stop, one of the best in the modern era.

But is it that simple? Can Larsson really be compared to the greats of today's game or does his extended time in the Scottish Premier League mean he can not really be compared to the Inzaghis and Shevchenkos of the world.

His main opponent in Scotland is that cheeky chappy Mr Ally McCoist. McCoist was at the heart of the Ranger's attack during their 9-in-a-row league winning sides. His record is 2nd to none, well it would be, he scored a goal every 1.66 games for the blues of Glasgow, not bad. But not Henrik, the Swede has a goal record of one every 1.3 games for Celtic. Oh yeah, he's also the top scorer ever in the SPL, so as far as Scottish football goes, he's a great!

It seems that most of Europe's best goalscorers in the modern era are linked by the fact that, in the main, they have scored most of their goals for one club. Shearer has Newcastle, van Nistelrooy has Manchester United, Shevchenko has Milan, Batistua
has Fiorentina, Inzaghi has Milan and Trezeguet has Juventus. You basically get the point that an extended period at one club equals more goals. It's the same with managers, consistency breeds success because you get used to the way player's around you play and eventually the team plays around you.

So can we really judge the dreadlocked (well he used to be) Swede for staying at one place, after all his contemporaries stuck around at one place for so long. Then again Inzaghi scored his goals against opposition such as Inter Milan and Roma, with players such as Fabio Cannavaro and Walter Samuel in defence. Larsson scored his goals against Aberdeed and Dundee, with players such as Jamie McAllister and Chris Coyne, I won't say anything too untoward about the latter two but you get the comparison.

So Larsson is a great goalscorer in Scotland, and it clearly attracted many clubs to him, the fact there is any debate suggests there is some reasoning to say he is one of the modern greats. Then there is Henrik's other clubs. He impressed enough at Celtic to earn him a shot at the big time with Barcelona. In his first season with the Catalan giants he picked up a serious injury and played just 10 league matches, although he did manage a Champions League goal against Celtic, uncelebrated of course. In season two for Barce he scored 13 goals in 40 matches, not a great strike rate but still enough goals to help win La Liga. But perhaps his best performance came in the Champions League final as a substitute against Arsenal, he came on with Barcelona 1-0 down and turned the game on its head supplying both his team's goals in a 2-1 victory. It led Ronaldinho to say "With Henrik leaving us at the end of the season this club is losing a great scorer, no question. But I am also losing a great friend. Henrik was my idol and now that I am playing next to him it is fantastic." and Thierry Henry to say "People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Giuly and everything, but I didn't see them today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on, he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto'o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight." Not bad praise at all!

His performances for Barcelona led to them offering him a new contract, he turned it down, instead to go home to Helsinborg. The homecoming was put on hold, after playing for one of the world's biggest clubs another approached him as a loan signing for 3 months, Larsson was Premiership bound with Manchester United of all teams. He scored 3 goals in 13 matches in all competitions and picked up more silver wear with United winning the Premier league and asking for a medal for Larsson. Oh yeah he once again plagued former manager Martin O'Neil by scoring against Villa in the FA Cup.

So Henrik Larsson, a man who scored lots and lots of goals in Scotland. Who moved to Barceolna and won the La Liga and European Champions League and then moved to Manchester United and helped them win the English Premier league. A man who scored at 3 World Cups and was so inspirational to the Swedish team he was asked out of international retirement twice. A striker who's goal per game record is up there with the best and even better than some.

Yet the nagging feeling won't go away, would Larsson have scored so many in the peak of his career if he'd played in a top league. More to the point, when you chose a best 11 from the last decade would Larsson get in your team? For me the answer is no! Give me Raul and Henry up front any day and I'll be a very happy manager! On the other hand I'll never forget the young Swede running away in celebration, tongue sticking out, because goals are worth the same no matter what level of football! Take a bow son, take a bow!

Doing it easy is just, to easy!

Football really does damage your health. From the cold sweats to the over aggressive celebrations, the heart and most of the body aren't really built to take the punishment but some how we battle through, we watch, we enjoy!

Sometimes our passion goes further, it makes us take part, maybe when we're not good enough, or fit enough, or don't really want to. At times in the last few months Diego Maradona would have felt a whole new feeling, that maybe, for once, he wasn't good enough. Throughout his career Diego has always been too good. But it was always at playing the game, managing the game is like a whole different sport, one which many talented players have failed at.

And the Argentinian legend had seemed to be one of those as well, having taken the position of national manager Diego has put his almost Godesque status in his native country on the line, he has struggled. So, going into the final match of the qualifying campaign away to Uruguay, Argentina were on the brink of not getting to a World Cup for the first time since 1970.

Having been the villain of the piece for many months Diego threw on young Mario Bolatti as a late substitue and just four minutes later Argentina led 1-0 and that was that, the old enemy were heading to South Africa.

With Maradona at the helm Argentina look week, frail, and all together at a loss as to how play football. Scary thought considering they posses the world's best player, Lionel Messi, and several other rather decent players, Tevez, Higuain, Veron, Mascherano, Gutierrez, Heinze to name but a few of them. And if they continue playing the way they have been the World Cup will not last long for them.

Unfortunately for their rivals they wont continue to play this way. The World Cup does magical things to footballers, especially those who have suffered adversity on the way to said event.

Rewind if you will just 4 years ago. The Italian national team arrived in Germany on the back of one of the biggest scandals to hit any footballing league in the world. Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio, three of the countries biggest teams were relegated to the 2nd tier of football, whilst Milan and Regina picked up points deductions. The scandal meant players such as Italian captain, Fabio Cannavaro, would be playing in Serie B, imagine John Terry in the Championship if you will.

The Italian side were not expected to do too well with the scandal expected to be on the minds of all of thier players. In the group stages the Italians were good but not exceptional, beating Ghana and Czech Republic then drawing with U.S.A, the Azzuri topped their group as was expected. Four years earlier Italy had gone out in Round 2 against Guus Hiddink's South Korea, who were helped by a dreadful Italian performance and some rather awful home refereeing decisions. This time round they faced Australia, managed by none other than Guus Hiddink, this time it was Italy who got the rub of the green, being awarded a 95th minute dodgy penalty to make it 1-0. The quarter final was a 3-0 run over of the very average Ukraine.

Suddenly the semi's were upon us and excitement had reached fever pitch. The Italians scored two late goals in a magnificent extra time match against the Germans and the final was set up, the determined Italians vs the French, a team who possesed a retiring Zinedine Zidane. I could write a whole post dedicated to that man, possibly one just dedicated to the picture of him walking past the World Cup trophy and down the tunnel after his sending off. The Italians of course won on that night! They fought through adversity, through pain! They won when they perhaps felt they weren't good enough, were too emotionally injured and perhaps they didn't even want to be there!

Any one writing off Argentina, in the same way that many wrote off Italy, would be stupid. In 2002 Brazil were written off after a dreadful qualifying campaign, of course they won the World Cup that year. Meanwhile England this year qualified easily and head to the World Cup full of expectation, that will be furthered by the media's and fan's view that we will win the World Cup. Maybe we need a touch of Argentina, although with Wayne Rooney in our ranks we may just have an English Maradona!

Essential work horse or time for the glue factory?

There is a man amongst England's current strike force who, when he scores England win. Oh how I wish it was Wayne Rooney. Admittedly only once in a competitive match have England failed to win when Mr. Rooney has been on the score sheet, although this was a rather big match in Russia back in October 2007.

There is a player amongst England's current back line who has played 57 times for England (at time of writing) and scored 6 goals. England have never lost when said player scores, although they do have a draw against Brazil on one occasion. Unfortunately John Terry doesn't score often enough.... oh wait the first player is Emile Heskey, oops!

Yes 'Big' Emile has never been on a losing side, or even a drawing one, when he has scored for England. But then his international record reads played 57 scored 7, JT is only one goal off!

The list of when Heskey has scored his goals is as follows; Malta, Spain, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Slovakia, Kazakhstan! Some decent enough opposition, well Spain, Germany and Denmark at least.

But the simple stats and that list don't tell the full story. Heskey's first goal, against Malta in a friendly, was scored way back in June 2000, his first competitive goal came in that match in Munich, you know the 5-1 victory for England!!! Since then he has scored two, yes only two, more competitive goals for his country, at the 2002 World Cup against Denmark in the 2nd round and against Kazakhstan in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. That goal, which is his most recent goal for England, was scored one week short of the 7th anniversary of his previous competitive goal, now there's a striker!

Fast forward to the present day and the Aston Villa striker, that's Heskey not Terry by the way, has come out and said he may need to leave his current team to guarantee his place in the squad for next year's World Cup. This is no surprise. Fabio Capello has made it clear that the players in his squad will have to be playing club football in order to get into his squad and Heskey simply is not. Of course I've already pointed out Heskey's goalscoring problem, but even during his most successful club spells, at Leicester and at Wigan, the ex Liverpool striker wasn't a great goalscorer. What is probably more worrying is a statistic surrounding Wayne Rooney; if Heskey is in the side to set up Rooney why is it that the Manchester United striker has scored 6 goals without Heskey on the pitch and 5 with him on the pitch since Capello took over at the helm. Now of course there isn't a great deal between the two figures and it isn't complete proof of anything but it does beg the question of whether Rooney, who is supposed to be the main beneficiary of Heskey's presence, is really benefiting from him being there.

Meanwhile across the land there is players such as Jermain Defoe, Carlton Cole and Darren Bent playing regularly and scoring goals for their club sides. Furthermore Cole and Bent add goals to their game of height and strength, something Heskey has never been able to do. Added to the list of possible partners, for the almost undroppable Rooney, are Gabriel Agbonlahor, who may well get to play in place of Rooney against Belarus, Peter Crouch and even Michael Owen. All these players are capable of scoring more goals than Heskey and each have their own attributes which could be vital to any World Cup campaign something Heskey can boast less and less about.

On Wednesday England play Belarus at Wembley in the last game of the World Cup qualifying campaign, it doesn't matter all too much, in terms of result, but for some players, specifically Emile Heskey, it could well kick start their campain to get on the plane to South Africa next summer.

Football's West Lothian Affair!

Welcome to the English Premier league, home of some of the world’s greatest teams, players, managers, coaches and stadiums. Not all of them English admittedly, and I mean that for the players, managers, coaches and to an extent the stadiums, although the choice of Australian builders for Wembley wasn’t what you’d call an inspired choice, but the teams are most certainly English.

Welcome to the Scottish Premier league, home of some of Scotland’s best teams, players, managers, coaches and stadiums- well it has all of Scotland’s teams, for now!

There may be no greater tragedy in domestic football if than if Glasgow’s powerhouses of Scottish football, Celtic and Rangers, were to join the English leagues.

There can only be one reason for these two sides to want to join the elite this side of the border, money. Many will suggest it is for success but it is clear that this is an afterthought as it is money that breeds success and not the other way round in most cases. In most domestic leagues throughout, certainly Europe if not the World, there is usually only three or four clubs who are likely to win the league. I don’t need to go through the list of the main players in England, Italy, France, Germany, Spain or Scotland we know them all. But look at Russia, Austria, Belgium, Israel, Portugal, Ukraine, Holland it is always the same teams competing in the European competitions, we can only assume it’s therefore the same teams picking up trophies domestically.

It is also the same clubs who win the big prizes in Europe, mainly from England, Spain and Italy. There has of course been the odd surprise from, say, Portugal or Germany. There is also the ever unpredictable UEFA Cup/Europa League which throws up winners from all over the place, although this may end now with the new set up favouring consistency as it’s more esteemed cousin the Champions League. Consistency means the strongest teams will always rise to the top and lowers the risk of upset. So expect Champions League drop outs or those who struggled domestically last season, and ended in the 2nd tier of European football, to be competing in Hamburg come May.

The point here really is that Celtic and Rangers have no divine right to the money that the English league generates, funny way to suggest it I know, but basically being the most successful club/s by a country mile in a below par domestic league is not exactly a one off, unique in only Scotland. It happens everywhere, and yet there isn’t to my knowledge any question of Anderlecht and Standard Liege joining the Dutch leagues just because the two countries are neighbours.

Actually the whole thing is extremely laughable for one big reason! In 2012 there will be some small multi-sport event in London, you may have heard of it, the Olympics I think it’s called. In said event there is a football medal up for grabs. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have never competed in the football at the Olympics. The reason for this is because at the Olympics the four nations compete together as Great Britain, at football they compete separately with separate Football Associations. With the Olympics being held on home soil the BOA (British Olympic Association) thought it would be a jolly good idea to enter as many, if not all, sports available. The English F.A thought a football team in the Olympics would also be a jolly good idea. The Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh F.As on the other hand were all worried about their status as separately competing nations when it comes to footballing matters. I think we all agree a fair argument. How then can it be a good idea for Celtic and Rangers, the two sides from Scotland with any remote chance of making an impact internationally, to compete in English competitions, where they have little or no chance of qualifying for said international competitions? Way to show some patriotism!

Some north of the border have suggested that it would be good for the Glasgow monopoly on all competitions to flee. After all it would bring serious competition back to the league and bring the crowds back to the grounds. Cue all those south of the border with Sky Sports channels switching off as soon as Inverness vs. Aberdeen kicks off. A lack of Celtic and Rangers in the league would not make the rest of the clubs better teams, it would just get of the two decent sides. The league might come down to more than just the four Glasgow derbies in a season but only a few seasons of Aberdeen and Hearts reign (these clubs are an example) would mean they instantly became a lot richer than the likes of Falkirk due to European money, suddenly two new ‘superpowers’ of Scottish football and we’re back to square one, great!

Meanwhile down in England! “Welcome to Parkhead on this cold Saturday afternoon as Celtic take on Portsmouth”, just think of the hoards of Pompey fans wanting to make the long, and no doubt, expensive trip to Glasgow during these times of recession. Fans of both Celtic and Rangers will tell you that atmosphere’s at their grounds are amazing, and no doubt the games I’ve watched that these teams take part in have seen great crowds, but then again I only watch derby games and European nights so it’s hardly surprising. The fact is that most, if not all, team’s fans are the same. Loud away from home, loud at big games, loud when the mood suits them, but quiet a lot of the time and there to watch football being played and not make ridiculous amounts of noise all the time. The other thing I’d say for the fans is that I went through Manchester the night after Rangers UEFA cup final loss and I’d rather not see my city looking like that again thanks, one off maybe but I still don't want another potential Milwall or Leeds.

Celtic and Rangers aren’t good enough to compete week in week out in the Premier League, maybe one day, with all the money the Premier League generates, they will be. But that’s the point; they have done nothing to warrant all that money. I’ll tell you what my Sunday league football club could do with all that money and then we’ll start our Europa League campaign!

Just Fab-ulous!

Whoa! Bad nights sleep last night. Never mind the fact I've been sleeping on a blow up mattress with a broken sleeping bag for the last couple of weeks. But last night, when I eventually got to sleep, my mind wandered and I start dreaming, well it was more of a nightmare, after United's dreadful performance, and may I add, Sunderland's excellent one, I was thinking of when United last played so poorly. Suddenly it came to me, that horrible night last May! The night of Iniesta, of Messi, of Xavi, of Guardiola, the night of Barcelona. They were awesome, and in my nightmare I saw them all celebrating with the trophy in hand. And suddenly I shot up, wide awake, and in a cold sweat, it was horrible.

It got me thinking about all walks about football, specifically I was thinking about Barcelona, about the midfield with Xavi and Iniesta and how good a pairing they are, last week I wrote about two good midfielders and their passing ability, there isn't many better than the Spanish duo though.

And then I got to thinking about England, who play Ukraine this weekend- a game I won't be watching due to the farce that the match is only being broadcast online for a fee- and how the last time England played particularly poorly they came up against the same duo. By the way these three paragraphs are all just leading up to the actual thing I'm writing about, which hasn't even been mentioned yet! The point is that Barcelona's youth academy is awesome, has already produced Iniesta, Xavi and Messi into their first team and will also be responsible of Bojan when he eventually breaks through. "So what?" I hear you cry! You already knew all this

But think again, who of you watched Arsenal's match on Sunday? There was a man on that pitch, only just a man, who ran the game like someone of many more years experience, at the heart of nearly everything his team did right against Blackburn was yet another Spanish central midfielder, one of only 21 years of age, one who, had history played out differently, could have been in central midfield back in May for Barcelona, of course Cesc Fabregas.

Fabregas was simply awesome against Blackburn. The passes were sublime, coming straight out of a text book and onto the foot of a more advanced player, usually leading to a goal or at least a shot saved by the excellent Paul Robinson. Fabregas is 21, just 6 and a half months older than myself, which is both scary and unfair. He has been handed the captain's armband very early on in his career and though it is far from the best part of his game it is unfair to judge him on it and he can only grow into the role.

The squad around Cesc is young and inexperienced and, certainly Premiership wise, he is one of the most experienced players in the squad. Having a player of Andrei Arshavin's quality will only help to mould the Spaniard into a better and better player. A match winner he most certainly already is, the curling volley against Blackburn proved that he has the goals in his arsenal (pun intended) to win any match. If Fabregas can add a little more consistency into his game, something that will no doubt come with age, then he could become one of the best players around, if he is not already.

It is this last sentence that must frighten Arsenal fans. Not because he is frighteningly good, or because they're scared of great footballers, after all they've already had one of the best players to have graced god's green earth play for them (Thierry Henry before you ask) but because he may become one of the world's best playing for the club you might say he was born to play for, Barcelona.

Being one of the best in the world you expect to win trophies, Arsenal are trophy less since 2005, not good enough for one of the "big four". Arsenal have also recently been the most likely of this quad to fall out of said quad, although maybe not this season. The fact remains though, without trophies both Cesc and the man who has changed the face of Arsenal, Arsene Wenger, will eventually decide that the Emirates is not the place to ply their trade, for the latter it may mean retirement. If Wenger does not retire then there is a chance Fab could follow the Frenchmen but Cesc may leave sooner than that with rumours of a return to Catalan unwilling to go away.

I for one, surprisingly enough, hope he stays in England. It's nice to have the greatest players on earth playing in front of our eyes week in, week out. The Spanish league can't measure up for all round brilliance, even with this seasons additions of Kaka, Ronaldo and Xavi Alonso (yet another world class Spanish central midfielder- hardly fair). Don't get me wrong, the Premiership will still be great to watch without him, but you can't say the same for the brand of football his team play. Arsenal are brilliant to watch, in both their positives and in their failures. The loss of Cesc will not be the end of their lovely football, but the loss of Wenger will be, and once Cesc is gone there may only be a matter of time before the Professor is gone to!

Passing the Test of Time

C.S Lewis once said that “Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.” For the 'old men' of the Premier League apparently you start living them again once your old as well.

Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are 34 and 35 respectively, in the young mans game that is Premier League football this is absolutely ancient. No doubt that the youngsters of today's game with all their trickery and pace have brushed passed these old veterans showing them how far football has come since their heyday of the mid to late 90's! Or not!

While players such as the Brazilian Anderson and the Portuguese, successor to Ronaldo, Nani have struggled this season, the godfathers of the current United team have really shown the way. On Saturday against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium, a tricky place to go, Scholes had pulled all the strings in the first half but the forwards had no luck in breaking the Stoke defence. Meanwhile prowling on the touchline was Giggs, one week on from his match winning performance in the derby game. Nani had been the picture of inconsistency, going from lovely runs to pointless step overs in an instance.

It has been difficult for the young Portuguese winger since joining United, and even more so now he seems to feel pressured into replacing the now departed Ronaldo. After 55 minutes of doing his best to replicate his countryman on came Giggs as Nani's replacement to prove it should be the timeless Welsh wonder he replicates. Within 7 minutes it was Stoke 0-1 United, and inevitably Giggs was the provider with his ball into Dimitar Berbatov to score.. Just 16 minutes after that and it was game over! Stoke 0-2 United, and again Giggs with the ball into the box, this time for John O'Shea to head home.

Two quotes jumped out after the game to truly tell the story.
"They (Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes) are both great players but Scholes was magnificent. He (Paul Scholes) was the best player on the pitch by a country mile. Then Giggs makes the two goals." That by Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager who you felt could have gone on about Scholes's contribution for hours.

The second came from Phil McNulty, who perhaps best described why Giggs is just so good and Nani is far from it.
"Let's hope Nani was taking a note of how Ryan Giggs set up Dimitar Berbatov for his goal. Football is essentially a simple game made complicated by players like Nani." Never has much a truer word been said.

How many times have the ginger maestro and his Welsh compatriot been retired by some critic or other. Scholes especially has had a hard time of it the last few years. Injuries have kept him out for long periods of time, worries were especially high a few seasons ago when he had double vision and dizziness for months people feared for his career. Back he came the season after, playing a massive role in getting United to the Champions League final with an awesome goal against Barcelona in the Semi final. Again last season people were questioning how much longer Scholesy could continue, overrun and losing possession more in some matches than he had in whole seasons previously. Now suddenly he has returned to his best once again. United have only lost once away all season, against Burnley, and who wasn't in central midfield to keep possession that day? Paul somebody or other!

Surrounded by a team that is growing in confidence and experience Scholes and Giggs do not need to supply the pace, there is plenty of that. Nor do they need to throw themselves round the pitch; though Scholes still does, rarely winning the ball of course, for that there is Wayne Rooney and Darren Fletcher. Instead Paul and Ryan can concentrate on winning games and in helping others take the limelight with goals they are instead stealing it themselves.

Down in Sunday League it is the opposite. When some players come back old and injured they cannot handle the pace. Delusions of grandeur are also commonplace in Sunday league, mix in the two problems and you have a player who is a waste of space. Even more annoyingly someone who argues their way into a team, and then is awful. Thankfully said person is now out of the team and has retired himself, he is no Scholes, no Giggs, he is barely worth typing about. After a two week break we sadly succumbed to a 5-1 loss against a weak side, manager and player errors a like caused it but we'll be back, unfortunately after yet another two week break.

Back to the good old duo! What is perhaps most telling about them is that Sir Alex still plays them both. He is not one for sentiment, when you're past it you're past it! And remembering the amount of times these two have been written off they mirror their boss, down and out for one minute, world beaters the next- they may not quite be his children but in footballing terms they may as well be! All this without a backflipped celebration in sight!

The Pride of Manchester!

It's so difficult to describe that it makes it easy! I am of course talking about yesterdays amazing derby! And I mean that it made me so speechless the only way to describe it is "it left me speechless", well not quite, for the first time ever I got to watch a derby with my dad, who supports Manchester City couldn't exactly stay silent could I?

Fortunately for me, my dad agreed, United deserved their victory, or perhaps more they just didn't deserve not to win. Helped by some shoddy City defending yes, but without the shocking mistakes that were at fault for two of City's goals they'd have been well out of it!

Perhaps the point is to look at City after this game more than United! We know what Manchester United are capable of, from Rooney's slick skills and cool finish for goal one, my how he's growing in stature from match to match, we also know that one on one in the box you always want the ball to be at Michael Owen's feet, unless you happen to be Shay Given. But it is City who we learnt most about this weekend.

Hold on City fans your team is about to be complimented! Your players were outstanding, OK the defence might need a kick up the backside, apart from Kolo Toure who looked pretty good other than defending at set pieces. The main thing to look at is the City side of 12 months ago. Would they have lost that match 4-3 with the last kick of the game? No! They would have lost 4 or 5-0, OK they may have got one.

Shay Given was outstanding, if Michael Owen loves playing against him then he's probably given Dimitar Berbatov one or two nightmares, Gareth Barry looks every bit as good as he does for England in his City shirt, Carlos Tevez was at his damn near best and was unlucky not to score himself late in the first half. Of course there was also Craig Bellamy, in the team only because of injuries and suspensions, Mark Hughes nearly ended up grateful for that boot to the face last week, Bellamy was near impossible to play yesterday, helped out slightly by Rio but nevertheless the Welsh strikers performance was over shadowed by only one other- and he really is the Welsh master. I don't know what vintage wine from Wales is like but based on Giggs' performance it must taste bloody good!

Remember aswel City were without two of their superstars, the man who kicked it all off last season Robinho and the man who, according to Sir Alex, is City's best player, Emmanuel Adebayor. How much difference those players would have made on this occasion is debateable but certainly these are players who will make a difference in many matches this season and suddenly City, after two good displays against two of the best in Europe, will have to be taken seriously. Look at another team looking to break into the top four this season, Spurs, they have wilted against both United and Chelsea.

Of course it wasn't all good for City, despite coming along way their defence was still pretty pitiful. I personally thing Wayne Bridge is average at best, and regular readers know my opinion on the overpriced and average Joleon Lescott. Micah Richards had a bad game but if he can get back to the player he once looked like he could be Micah could still find he may have a seat on a plane to South Africa next summer. Another man not covering himself in glory after yesterday was of course Mark Hughes. I can understand his frustration but he must know that the extra two minutes were there for a reason, and not just because they were at Old Trafford and United were looking for a winner. Never mind the fact City also could have used those two minutes to find a winner there's also the fact that "The 4th official has indicated there will be a MINIMUM of four minutes added on time" Nuff said!

As for Sunday League football, well there was none this weekend unfortunately, although that gave us all time to recharge the batteries and watch the derby so no bad thing.

One last note to go with an article that appeared in the Times on Friday! As it said "Birmingham remains the UK’s second city in population alone. In all other respects, next to our kid, it’s bobbins." After yesterdays brilliant derby, Manchester may well just becoming England's first city- in football alone that is!