Arsenal, Sunday round-up

Arsenal 0-3 Chelsea read the full time at Ashburton Grove last night, although by the time the whistle went there weren't many left in the place. The game then, Arsenal started brightly with some decent ball retention and we got in behind Chelsea once or twice, but then it all proceeded to go very very wrong. A super ball in from Ashley Cole was brilliantly taken by Drogba to give Chelsea the lead, and then 3 minutes later Vermaelan decided to try and make a carbon copy of the first and stuck the ball in his own net. There was clearly some kind of miscommunication, Almunia had come out and was waiting to collect quite comfortably but Vermaelan could probably hear Drogba breathing down his neck and tried to deal with it. Deal with it he didn't. Second half and another decent Arsenal start lead to what we all thought was a goal back for the hosts, Arshavin finishing off a bit of a scramble in the box, but the ref ruled it out because of a foul by Eduardo. Firstly Cech didn't have the ball in his hands yet so it couldn't have been given for that, secondly Ivanovic got clumsily in front of Cech to make things difficult for him, and thirdly when the Chelsea players were desperately trying to block the ball on the line you could see that even they didn't think it was a foul. If it was given for high foot then sorry, I can't buy that, there is high feet going on all over the place and little Eduardo was never in danger of getting near Cech's head and for me the goal should have stood. Anyway we move on and some more decent play resulted in nothing and Chelsea still looked dangerous on the break, and with a freekick late on Drogba put the icing on the cake. I thought Chelsea were excellent yesterday and are probably right now the best team in Europe. Arsenal demonstrated once again their inability to deal with Chelsea's size, power, experience, tactics and fucking Drogba. A man whom we all admire as a beast of a footballer, but one we all hate with every fibre in our bodies, he just loves playing us. 11 points is now the gap between the 2 teams and even if they win the game in hand 8 is still a mountain to climb. It's still November so there is a lot of football to go and so yes I think it's still possible to get back into the reckoning, but with our lack of consistency I don't think we'll do it.

Looking at some of the wider questions from this game, Arsenal just aren't built to win the league at the moment. The game has moved on in the short years since 2004 invincibles and the doubles in 2002 and 1998, and the manager has failed to move his team in the right direction. All the aforementioned assets that Chelsea have are ones we are desperately lacking in. Of course we know that Arsenal came beat anyone in the world on their day and if that goal had stood yesterday, who knows what would have happened, and if Van Persie, Bendtner, Clichy, Gibbs and Diaby had been fit, it might have gone the other way but at the moment we're miles from winning the league. That's why it's frustrating to hear the boss say after the game that the Carling Cup 'is not one of our priorities' and so almost accepting defeat to Man City on Wednesday. That's not acceptable for me, of course we'd all love to be champions again and the Champions League is still a very real possibility but I'm frankly sick of that 'haven't won anything in 3/4/5 years' tag now. If we could win either of the cups this season then it would give the group some collective confidence - not the confidence you get from scoring a few goals, the confidence you get from knowing that you and your teammates are winners, and that you can dig in hard in those tough games and pinch results. At the moment we don't really have that and certainly don't have it for 38 games in a season. Having said all that, if you look at what we are and what the club is doing then it's really no surprise that we aren't genuine title contenders. We spent £10million this summer on 1 player and sold 2 mainstays of the first team for £25million and £16million, so how can we be any better than last year? The 2007/8 season where we led for as long as we did then Birmingham happened, and it all went sadly wrong, we had a typical team of Lehman, Eboue Gallas Toure Clichy, Rosicky Fabregas Flamini Hleb, Adebayor Van Persie. That summer we sold Hleb and failed to tie Flamini down to a contract, and replaced them with practically a youth player in Ramsey and an unproven and injury prone Nasri. So if almost winning the league in 2008 was practically as good as we could do, how can we sell 2 first teamers, not really replace them, and expect to do the same or better the next year? Since then Nasri has done pretty well and Ramsey has come on leaps and bounds but our competitors are buying proven experienced internationals like Berbatov, Anelka, Torres, Deco, Vidic etc, and teams like Spurs and Man City are shelling out eye watering figures to try and break into the top 4. My point is that we're a talented side who are probably continually punching above their weight and the fans shouldn't be surprised to see us getting beat by Chelsea 3-0 at home, most other teams do aswell! Whether it's the managers stubbornness or the financial repercussions of the new stadium (or likely both) that hamper our movement in the transfer market, they and we must understand that we'll never live with Chelsea and Utd in the league if things don't move on. I love Arsene Wenger and I would never suggest he has to go, he can stay until the day he dies as far as I'm concerned, but he is as intelligent as frustrating at times and you feel that his glory days with this club might be behind him. There is still that elusive Champions League crown which he'll continue to pursue until the day he gets his hands on it, and it's a competition that as many people say suits us a lot more than the league. We've strolled through an admittedly easy group stage and as I said earlier we can beat anyone on our day. Liverpool are already out and we can't face Utd or Chelsea until at least the quarters, and staying clear of the 2 English boys will be massive for us.

Man I hope I haven't been too negative there, I'm trying to be as honest as I can. Yesterday we looked bereft of attacking options - one small skillful player for another was the Eduardo/Vela change - and I genuinely can't wait for Bendtner to get back in the team. It's a big season now for the ambitious Dane and I'm one of his most patient fans so I hope he can get us back on our feet. Arshavin is a magician at times but in between those times he's plain lazy. It was he that let Ashley Cole go for the first goal and probably should have been present when Cole put the cross in for the 2nd. As previously stated, Wednesday night against Man City is a big game now because we want a trophy to hold up at the end of the season. It might be the shittest of the lot but it's still something and a medal round your neck is gonna be more satisfying that another disappointing Champions League semi exit. Not to mention all the nonsense up at Eastlands in August, it would be nice to put one over Adebayor and Hughes. Come on the Arsenal.

Phew, Liverpool beat Everton, Birmingham beat Wolves and Barca beat Madrid. Enough of a round up? Take her easy.

Saturday round-up, Van Persie

Avram Grant got a friendly welcome back from Utd yesterday, with the champions beating Pompey 4-1 at Fratton Park. Rooney hat-trick, good for the fantasy league I guess and plenty of penalty practise to boot. I must confess that I haven't yet seen the highlights - I woke at 8 this morning in a terrible hungover state and the morning MOTD had already begun. I did see the rest though including West Ham winning 5-3 against Burnley, the Hammers were 5-0 up and then decided to just chillax for the last 20 minutes and it could have been a shocking slip if David Nugent had buried his 2 great chances. 3 cheers for Jimmy Bullard who's goal celebration is rightfully taking a lot of plaudits today. If you aint seen it yet, check it out. The world and his dog can continue to laugh at Man City's misfortunes at the back, yesterday was their 7th draw in a row and I think the 3rd or 4th time they were leading in those games. 7 points from a possible 21 can be leveled out to 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 defeats which is very poor form. I know they haven't actually lost those games but it's the number of points that matter not the amount of defeats that you have. A rather unsavoury incident that Linekar and the boys didn't comment on (not at least in the Sunday morning version) was an Adebayor challenge on Paul McShane. The ball is well gone and Adebayor comes in late on him and there's some forward motion to stamp on the Hull player. Good job McShane didn't make a big deal of it because we all know Adebayor has previous in these sorts of things, you ungrateful fucking wanker. The late game between Villa and Spurs was a bit scrappy and we didn't see the open expansive game with some of the leagues most in form players that I was hoping for. It ended 1-1 and Villa should really be the happier with that because after they scored it was pretty much backs to the wall for them. Defoe had one rightfully chalked off, he had 2 or 3 really good chances, Cuellar cleared one brilliantly off the line, Krancjar had a few digs etc etc. A good result for Liverpool that.

As I awoke yesterday I had no idea what was about to hit me. I did my customary checks of Facebook, Twitter (follow me p_langrotta) and then the Arsenal website, and there it was - Van Persie ruled out for 4 to 5 months. Pow, right in the kisser. Apparently there has been some kind of misdiagnosis of his ankle injury, and he now needs to go under the knife to repair ligaments which is very bad news. Van Persie has said that this trip to Serbia had nothing to do with it and the fact that 2 weeks have passed since the injury occurred probably won't make much difference in the end. He's going to miss almost all of the Arsenal season (if it's 4 months then we're looking April, if it's 5 then May) now and even if he does come back for the latter stages, it'll take him a while to get back that sharpness and confidence he did so well to build up these last 3 months. He'll have just enough time conveniently, to be completely ready for the fucking World Cup, how handy for Holland. It's a massive blow for the Arsenal, who might have been able to cope without him for 6 weeks but not for 5 months. We have to hope now that Eduardo, Bendtner and Vela can not only step up to the plate but also stay free of injury. It's very possible now that the boss might dip into the market in January and buy Chamakh or someone, and I really think he has to. If we beat Man City on Wednesday in the Carling Cup then we'll have a 2 legged semi in January, the FA Cup coming in and by February the Champions League again. I'm desperately disappointed for the lad, he's had his problems with niggly muscular injuries before but it looked like he had finally overcome that until this happened. Like Eduardo a couple years ago the rest of the team have to try and use this now as a weapon to spur them on, raise their games and fight to win some silverware this season. There's no better way that to tonk Chelsea today and make a big statement about the title. Come on you boys. Take her easy.

Sunday games, World Cup draw, Kieron Dyer

There are 3 mouth watering Premier League games to get stuck into tomorrow, and I intend on being very hungover to watch them. They run in order of salivation which is useful, with Wolves v Birmingham at midday. I can't remember if this is the black country derby, or the east midlands derby, or the midlands derby, but whatever it's named it's a big game for Wolves. They're struggling right now in the relegation zone and haven't won since September, a 2-1 win at home to Fulham. Since then they've been beaten at Molineux by Pompey and then hammered by Sunderland, Arsenal and Chelsea, and in December have to play away at Man Utd, Tottenham and Liverpool. Ouch. All that means that tomorrow really is must win for them or they'll soon see themselves cut adrift at the bottom. The Mersyside derby at Goodison follows and it it's a strange scenario to have both teams struggling for form right now. Everton's small squad is being highlighted at the moment, they desperately need the likes of Jagielka, Neville, Arteta and Osman back involved sooner rather than later. And as for Liverpool the big questions surround Torres and Aquilani. Is Torres going to be fit? My hunch is yes, maybe just for the bench, and will we ever see Aquilani start a game? My hunch is yes, but not tomorrow. It surprised me a little last week when I realised that already a third of the season has gone and we still haven't seen the 'little prince' start for the Reds. If he's fit, play him, that's the only way he'll get sharp and get 100%, if he's not then why is he on the bench? Does giving him 10 mins at the end of every game really help him settle in? I'll go for a draw.

Then the big one. Oh yes, Arsenal v Chelsea is a truly massive game particularly for Arsenal, and a game that we have to win if we're going to win the league. A draw would keep everyone quiet enough but it'll be a matter of time until we drop points again in a silly away game and that gap will once again increase. The only way we can have an effect on the title race is a win tomorrow. The psychological boost it would give all the players would be massive and would really put Chelsea under some genuine pressure - if the Gunners win their extra game in hand the gap would only be 2 points. Team news is indicating that Gallas is 50-50, which means he will play and I suspect the team will be the one I picked Thursday. We're going to need a big defensive performance from Song and the back 5, and then we know up top we have the quality to get a goal or 2. As for Chelsea, it looks like Lampard will be back and they are massively strong all over the pitch. Who of the Chelsea boys would get in the Arsenal team? Quite a few. The other way round? Not many. This would be mine: Cech - Sagna, Gallas, Terry, A.Cole - J.Cole, Cesc, Lampard, Arshavin - Van Persie, Drogba which is 5 outfield players each. Great team that but you're missing Essien, Anelka, Ballack...whoops those are only stupid fucking Chelsea players, Clichy, Nasri, Eboue....come on the Arsenal.

This time next week we'll know the 8 groups for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. I've got to admit that I love draw day whether it's this or Champions League or FA Cup - jesus, just remembered the 3rd round draw is on Sunday, YEAAAH! - and with England in with a real shout next summer it should be an exciting 15 hours of video montages, shit football guests and interminable rule reading from some FIFA twat. that link will take you to Goal.com which has kindly drawn up what it thinks might be the 4 seeding pots, taking into account world ranking, qualification results, the last 2 World Cups, federation separation and all the things that apparently matter. If these are on target then England will be a top seed, and could face a real rape of a group like; Holland, USA and Ivory Coast, or a real 3 course meal of a group like; Slov/enia/akia, Honduras and Algeria. There's naturally a million combinations and it's fun to play 'what if' for 20 minutes but we'll see what comes out next Friday.

Finally, it's good to hear that Kieron Dyer is close to a return for West Ham following more injury problems. Dyer's West Ham career got off to a horrible start when he double broke his leg in a cup match and missed something like 18 months of football. Dyer will be 31(!) in December and I'm reliably informed by Wikipedia that he has made a paltry 297 club appearances in his career, one blighted by injury. He's got a mountain of talent and has turned out for England 33 times already, all we can hope is that in the latter years of his career, we can see some of that ability once again. Take her easy.

Premier League, Avram Grant

The Premier League returns tomorrow but in all the Champions League mayhem I failed to mention that there were 2 midweek results. Hull will be breathing considerably easier after their 3-2 win over Everton, but will have Everton to thank for that rather than themselves. Hull stormed ahead in the first half after a shocking 45mins from the Toffees, at which Moyes remarked afterwards that it was one of the worst performances he had seen since joining the club. Everton are getting dragged into it, no question about that now. They've only won 4 of their 13 games in the league so it seems that last years' elusive European place is once again taking it's toll on a club with a small squad (and injury problems to boot). Everton started slowly last season if I recall, but after the turn of the year really started to motor and ended up in an impressive 5th place and an FA Cup final. I think they're already too far behind to hope for something similar and right now, they're a long way behind the progress of Spurs and Man City. As for Hull this result keeps the wolves away from Phil Brown's door for another week, but they go to Eastlands tomorrow, the scene of last seasons almighty of fuck ups and the now infamous 'sit down' at half time. Fulham also won in the week, comfortably beating a currently manager-less Blackburn 3-0. Not much to add other than I'm a bit pissed off that I got rid of Dempsey from my fantasy league - the Texan bagged a brace. Poo.

Looking forward to tomorrow's action, the game of the day is probably the late kick off between Villa and Spurs. Both teams have had good starts to the season and are vying for that 4th place which would mean Champions League football next year. Villa have some really good players - Young, Milner, Agbonglahor, Dunne, Freidel - and being at home they'll be expected to take the initiative. I'm still a bit worried about them in central midfield and I think that is probably why they won't quite have enough to get 4th at the end of the season. Petrov is coming back from injury and is a very good player but I don't think Sidwell is particularly good, Reo Coker neither, and Delph seems to have fallen out of favour. They are all decent players but they probably lack the quality that you see in their competitors - Barry, Modric, De Jong, Krancjar. O'Neil is doing a great job there and is probably in charge of the best young English talent in the division, I'm sure he'll be there or there abouts when Fergie decides to knock it on the head at Utd. As for Spurs, I said last week that I thought that of all of the chasing pack they were probably the best suited to make a charge for 4th. Well, I didn't see anything in that 9-1 win that will change my mind. In midfield they have some sick footballers and will soon have the wonderful Modric back in their ranks. Huddlestone looks like he might become the great central midfielder that all us Arsenal fans hoped he wouldn't, Lennon is tearing things up everytime he plays, and here on Nov 27th 2009 I will say they'll get 4th place. Their concerns continue to be in defence where their ever rotating centre back pearings keep getting injured or getting 'Ledleyd' as I like to put it. I don't think Assou-Ekotto is a great player and Corluka is a slow bastard, clearly a centre back shunted out to right back where he doesn't want to be. If they can tighten things up defensivley then I think they could have a great season, but tomorrow I'll go for the draw, 2-2. Other games, it'll be interesting to see how Wigan respond to their mauling with a game at home to the world beating Sunderland side, and Blackburn v Stoke will be a pretty game I'm sure.

Pompey host Utd tomorrow in what will be Avram Grant's first game in charge after agreeing to take the reins yesterday. In a strange turn of events, Paul Hart is now apparently 'considering' an offer to move upstairs in place of Grant, after turning down his old role as head of youth development. I'm sure Grant will be happy to be back in football management but when he looks at the job on his hands he might wish he stayed in Israel. He did a good job at Chelsea stabalising things after Mourinho left and was the width of the post away from winning the Champions League for the Blues. It was never going to last of course, Chelsea wanted to get a real world class big name in there to handle the big egos, unfortunatley no-one told Scolari he had to leave his ego at home. On top of the Champions League final, he got to the Carling Cup final and lost in extra time, took the league battle down to the last day with Man Utd (despite being some distance behind when he took over), and signed current mainstays Anelka and Ivanovic while he was at the club. A lot of ticks in a lot of boxes if you ask me, good luck Avram, you're gonna need it. Take her easy.

Champions League, Lampard, El Clasico

Last nights Champions League action was far less exciting than Wednesday's, although isn't everyone's day just slightly better when Man Utd lose? Clearly not for Utd fans, but for the rest of us it just perks up your day, puts a skip in your walk and puts some magic in your tea. With Wolfsburg losing in Moscow all Utd needed was a point to clinch top spot, but with a young team they failed to capitalise on some good early chances and were punished by a deflected strike. They now go into the last game away at Wolfsburg knowing that if they lose then they'll have to settle for 2nd place in the group - and FYI the Germans aren't through yet so they'll be giving it everything. The merits of finishing 1st or 2nd in the group stage have long been argued back and forth. Firstly, the guys who tend to say that it doesn't matter are the ones who tend to finish 2nd, no surprise there. Secondly, if you look at the 2 groups with Madrid, Milan and Barca, Inter in then it's clear that there will be very tough runners up anyway. And thirdly, it probably is an advantage to play your home leg second, with the crowd behind you etc etc, but it's only an advantage if you get a good result away. Taking that all in teams will always want to finish top, you send a message out to other teams, it means your winning matches so breeding confidence, but ultimately, as long as you're there that's what counts. Just ask Liverpool.

An increasingly impressive Bordeaux side dismantled Juve with a 2-0 in France, clinching them top spot in group A. They have played great this year and are a point off the top in Ligue 1 to boot. Bayern won their game which sets up a great clash between them and Juve on matchday 6, a winner takes all bout between 2 of Europe's most decorated clubs. Madrid are in control of group C with a win against Zurich, but are still not technically over the line - it would take a 4-0 defeat to Marseille if my maths serve me correctly (and they rarely do). Milan slipped up to a 1-1 draw against the French last night, and by golly did they almost lose it. Brandao hit the bar from the six yards out and then collapsed in his disbelief, and in the dying minutes Dida could only watch a header smack the base of his post and shoot off to safety.

Chelsea came away with an impressive 1-0 in Porto to clinch top spot in their group. I have to say I really can't wait now for the Arsenal v Chelsea game on Sunday. I have to admit that I'm genuinely a little nervous, I'm not gonna say worried, worried is what I'm not feeling at all, I swear. They look very strong all over the pitch and Anelka and Drogba are flying right now, not to mention the impending return of Lampard. His 3 week prognosis has soon become a 2 week one (horse placenta much?) so he's expected to be back for the London derby. It's a bit early to start previewing the tactics but the first goal could be massive in this one. If Chelsea get it then it's going to be a struggle to break them down, if we do though, we could have 'em. The Arsenal injury news will come through today so fingers crossed no-one else has died since Tuesday and we can put out our strongest lineup, which I think Wenger will go as; Almunia, Sagna Gallas Vermaelan Traore, Song Denilson Cesc, Arshavin Eduardo Nasri. I don't think this is the right one for Walcott to come back into, particularly when you saw how well Nasri played on Tuesday. I fancy him though to start against City next week in the Carling Cup - big game after big game, I LOVE football.

The London derby is probably not the biggest in Europe this weekend, it's gotta be El Clasico, Barca v Real. There's a lot of interesting blogs and video pieces on the BBC Sport site to get stuck into, and I learned a lot about the Spanish game and the history of this fixture from having a browse. It's the battle of Castile (under General Franco's reign) v Catalunya, where a lot of the Catalans still want independence and still consider themselves as a different country to Spain. Apparently during Franco's very bloody reign in charge, the Camp Nou was the only place in Spain where people could go and talk about how much they hated the government and discuss overthrowing him, without getting arrested. Incredible stuff. All that makes for a tasty game between 2 of the best teams in the world and Madrid will be smarting over Barca's treble, and the small fact that at last May's game at the Bernabeu, Barca smashed Madrid 6-2. Ouch! Take her easy.

Champions League, Hart, Sir Dave Richards

Despite an admirable performance and good result in Hungary last night, Liverpool are out of the Champions League. Fiorentina did enough in Italy to beat Lyon 1-0 and so seal Liverpool's fate, which will be Europa League football after Christmas. It'll be interesting to see how they react now in both the league and when the European games come round again. Benitez has a very good record in 2 legged ties on the continent and will probably now be favourites to win the trophy, although we all know it doesn't always work that way. It's possible they'll face the likes of Valencia, Roma, Sporting, Villareal, Benfica and Werder Bremen, who are all doing well in the competition so far, not to mention the other Champions League 3rd placers (at the moment one of Juventus or Bayern will be there, Marseille and Atletico probably too). That is a shit decent group of names there, which will be topped up by some poorer teams sure, but Liverpool are going to have some job on their hands if they want to win it.

Barcelona beat Inter 2-0 at Camp Nou to put them back on top of group F, and both will be pleased that Rubin could only draw 0-0 at home to Kiev - that result will surely be the one that the Russians will look back on if they don't get through. All that means that the 2 big boys will only need draws to get to the last 16 and complete 2 rather unconvincing qualification campaigns. I was lucky enough to watch the Rangers game last night but I could have had more fun sitting in a dark room for 4 days counting the seconds go by. An impressive Stuttgart team beat the Gers 2-0 at Ibrox thus completing a miserable home campaign this year, that trip to Sevilla will be a lot of fun in 2 weeks. Unirea beat the Andalucians 1-0 last night to leave them in control of that 2nd place, they go to Stuttgart on match day 6 for the big showdown knowing that a draw will be enough. Finally in group H Arsenal beat Liege 2-0 at the Grove to clinch qualification and top spot, (the only team to do so I might add) but the win came at a price. The injury gods weren't satisfied with their work during the international break, oh no, if Gibbs didn't break his foot in Lithuania then he certainly did last night. It was frankly a shit tackle from some twat and now the kid will miss 3 months of football, great. Gallas and Arshavin tried their best to kill each other in the air in a challenge that left Gallas subbed and Arshavin's head pissing with blood, both should be fine for Chelski though.

Onto tonight's action then. Group A, Bordeaux are already though thanks to their tactical mastermind Laurent Blanc (France job for him?), the wonderful Gorcuff and the Chamakahattack. That means we will lose either Juventus or Bayern at the group stage, the Italians in control with 8 points and Bayern with work to do on 4. The two sides meet in 2 weeks in Turin so Bayern will be praying that they can close that gap tonight to get in touch. Group B, Utd are through and will be as winners if they can better Wolfsburg's result, they have a cracking game in Moscow tonight which if they lose then CSKA will draw level on points with the Germs. Like the titans in group F, the big teams in group C are struggling a little and this group remains wide open. Madrid, Milan, Marseille and Zurich can all still qualify but it's the 2 superpowers who remain in control at this stage. Finally group D is all done and dusted in terms of qualification, Chelsea and Porto are through, all that remains to be decided is who takes top spot. Chelsea go to Portugal tonight which is a difficult place to go, I imagine we'll see a draw.

Paul Hart was last night sacked as Portsmouth boss with the club sat adrift at the bottom of the league with just 7 points. I suppose if any manager 'deserves' to be sacked then it should be the one doing the worst job, but you can't help but feel sorry for the man. If you look at his career he's had great success at youth level, helping bring through players like Woodgate, Jenas, Reid and Dawson at small clubs with poor resources. He was in fact promoted from within at Pompey, in charge of the youth setup there and then called into the front line to take charge when Tony Adams left. He's had so many great players sold from above his head - Diarra (£20m), Johnson (£18m), Crouch, Defoe, Muntari, Kranjcar and probably more that I can't think of off the top of my head. And was he given that money to spend? No. It underlines what a terrific fall from grace that Pompey have had. They won the cup in 2008 and had AC Milan coming to Fratton Park in the UEFA Cup. Harry Redknapp must have known there was a hurricane coming his way and jumped ship to Spurs, and left the shit storm to blow up in Adams' and Hart's faces. Not to mention all the nonsense off the pitch with players not being paid, Peter Storrie going to court over fraud charges and having an owner for 5 minutes then realising, he's got no money, so selling it to another owner who probably has no money. It really is a bit of a disaster down there. The bookies favourite to take over is Darren Ferguson and there's also old Avram Grant in the mixer who has just returned to the club as Football Director. Whoever it is, they've got a mountain to climb.

Finally today, the England World Cup 2018 bid is turning into a big of shambles - they obviously want to make Pompey look good. A couple weeks back the board and 'team' were rejigged and a few people got sacked, and now the Chairman Sir Dave Richards has resigned his post. Couldn't have done it 2 weeks ago Dave? The whole bid is looking doomed before it's even really begun - Jack Warner has already had a pop at us, and we're going to need that crazy bastard's CONCACAF support. It's a shocker really that we created the game and have only had the thing once. Especially when shit teams like Chile, Uruguay and Sweden have had it, and Mexico, France, Italy, Germany and Brazil will have all had it twice by the time 2018 comes around. Absolute disgrace. I know it's the WORLD cup and it has to go different places but that really is poor, these days, it's all political. Take her easy.

Champions League, Wigan, Fabregas

Champions League is back on the agenda for tonight with 3 British clubs in this half of the draw still in the mixer right now. 3 could soon become 1 though with both Rangers and surprisingly Liverpool teetering on the edge of going out. Liverpool's group (E) has Lyon already through and the other spot will be filled by either Liverpool or more likely Fiorentina. If the Italians beat Lyon at home tonight then it's all over for Rafa regardless of what they do. If they lose and Liverpool win (and Liverpool should win, their game in Debrecen is against a team who have lost all 4 games so far) then Liverpool will have things back in their hands when they play Fiorentina at Anfield in 'matchday 6' where they'd need to beat the Itai's. A draw in Florence tonight though would make things even stickier. Providing Liverpool beat Debrecen and Fiorentina then they would be level with Fior and so things would go down to the head to head - Fior beat Liverpool 2-0 in the return game so it would have to be some night at Anfield to see Liverpool squeak through. The bottom line here is that Rafa's team have got themselves into one motherfuck of a position and if they somehow do get out of this, they'll be very very jammy. The home defeat to Lyon was a killer, not holding on for the win in France was costly too, and even the game they did win was a dire 1-0 over tonight's opponents from Hungary. Personally I think Fiorentina will beat Lyon tonight and we'll be done with it.

Rangers' group (G) is so poor (with the exception of Sevilla who are already through as winners) that with 2 points with 2 games to go Rangers are still well in the mix to get to the knockout stage. A win at home to Stuttgart tonight is a must and they have to hope that Sevilla don't lose to Unirea, then things go down to the last game. Quite remarkable really, Rangers are a side who are normally pretty strong at home in Europe and have already been battered by Sevilla and Unirea at Ibrox. I've done the maths and it's possible that if Rangers win tonight and results go right they might only need a draw in Seville in the last game, and would therefore qualify with a ridiculous 6 points! Realistically they've gotta be going for 2 wins, which is why there are murmurings that Kris Boyd will be given a rare start in Europe tonight, I assume to go 442 and go for the Germans. There is still that 3rd place to play for of course which still bizarrely gets you into the Europa League, somewhere that Rangers might be able to punch their weight.

Arsenal in group H need just a point tonight at home to Liege to secure qualification and a win would definitely give them top spot, but we might get that anyway if results work out. Arsenal have looked ok in qualifying, beating AZ and Olympiakos at home but a sloppy last minute set piece (set piece? Arsenal? No, I don't believe you) in Holland and a mental opening 10 mins in Belgium (2-0 down, came back to do 'em 3-2) are still reminders of Arsenals frailties. I don't expect the same problems to feature tonight despite the fact I think the boss will rotate a little with Chelsea in mind. Eboue will do is typical right back job to rest Sagna's legs, Gallas may drop out, Vela might get a run, maybe even someone like Merida. The other 3 teams still have a chance of getting through so I expect Liege to push us hard but in the end at home, in front of your fans, gotta be home win.

Group F is probably the most fascinating of the lot with Inter, Kazan (congratulations, they were crowned Russian champions again on the weekend), Barca and Kiev on 6,5,5,4 points respectively. The big game is at the San Siro of course, and if either side lose AND there is a winner in the other game then one of the big boys will be in some serious danger. Too many permutations here for me to comment further, just sit back and watch the fireworks.

The Wigan players have had something to say following their 9-1 thrashing at Tottenham on Sunday, they're going to refund the tickets of all the supporters who went to the game. While this might only be about 15 tickets (rugby town) it is a mighty admirable thing to offer and I applaud the Wigan players for doing so. It's all well and good saying that they'll look at themselves, watch the tape and work on X,Y,Z blah blah blah, but this is a real genuine way of saying sorry and I think it's a good move. At home to Sunderland next boys, get stuck into 'em.

Finally Cesc Fabregas was the nominated player to take part in the Champions League press conference for Arsenal yesterday, and the headlines coming out are 'gooner for life' etc. That's not the case though is it? I think all Arsenal fans love Cesc, love him like our son/brother/dad (delete as appropriate) and want him to be here forever, doing his little shimmy pass, his emotional celebrations and just being Cescy. But it's inevitable that he will go back to Spain, one day. The task for the manager and the club is to make that 'one day' in 7/8/10 years, not 2 or 3. He's a catalan boy so back to Barca would seem logical but I've also seen quotes saying his family would bless his move to Madrid if it came along, and make no mistake that over the next few summers there will be intense pressure from both clubs. If Madrid have 80mill to spend on Ronaldo, 50 of Kaka, 40 on Benzema then it's safe to say there is money there, and Barca aren't exactlty poor neither. It's gotta be on the pitch that makes the difference, winning the league and/or Champions League in the next year or 2 would play a big part in keep our captain around for a very long time. Take her easy.

Tottenham, Third of the Season, MLS Cup

A bad weekend for an Arsenal fan got much worse yesterday when the Spurs hammered Wigan 9-1 at Shite Hart Lane. No, that was not a typo, 9-1 was really how it finished. 'Jeeesus Chhriiist' was my dads reaction, my brother wouldn't believe me until I provided him with some iPhonevidence and although I'm sure most football folk would have gone home win there yesterday, no-one could have predicted that. Jermain Defoe was outstanding in front of goal, Lennon was equally terrific being involved in the majority of the goals and even big Crouchy got in on the act - a good day for Spurs was a good one for England too. The old saying was trotted out by Robbie Savage on MOTD2, 'it could have been more,' and it really could have been. Kirkland made 2 or 3 really good stops and Crouch missed a couple early on, it's not inconceivable that we could have seen double figures. A word for Wigan then who will be feeling pretty embarrassed about the game and so they should be. For a professional team at any level or in any country to lose a match 9-1 is frankly disgraceful, the lack of application and hard work doesn't need to be assessed, there was none. Martinez is an intriguing bloke, he's got his team to beat Chelsea and Villa this year, but then they get beaten up badly the next week. Work to be done senor.

With everyone in the Premier League having played 12 or 13 games now, we're as close as mathematically possible to being a third of the way through the season. Doesn't feel like it right? The top two spots are held by the strongest teams and there's no real surprise up there, Arsenal have done well considering that most people expected us to be the team to relinquish that 4th place, and Liverpool have done much worse than expected. My opinion on the Scousers is well covered, I don't think that Benitez is quite good enough and has made a lot of mistakes tactically and transfer-wise-ly to demonstrate that. If Liverpool with THIS good last year, how can they be THIS good again when they sell Alonso, one of their best players and key reasons why they were THIS good? Gerrard and Torres can't stay fit, niggles for Johnson (£18million?!!?!), Benayoun, Agger etc and all of sudden you're looking at a very average squad who will now do well to make top 4. Below that Spurs, Villa and City are all doing ok but have already dropped enough points to make you wonder if they really have what it takes to get Champions League football - on yesterday's result you have to say Spurs are looking the best candidate. Sunderland, Stoke and Burnley have all done very well so far and all look pretty strong at home - thanks Sunderland. Then from Blackburn down to Wigan is a group of teams who have had some good results and some equally poor ones. Blackburn seem to be doing enough right now and are demonstrating that you don't need to worry about the games against the top sides, if you can keep beating those teams around you every other week then you've got a good chance of staying up. It's the bottom 5, Hull to Pompey that have as you would expect had the poorest starts this year. Pompey still only have a paltry 7 points and will be desperate for a run of back to back wins - good luck against Utd next weekend lads. West Ham have too much quality to be in the mire for much longer, I worry big time for Bolton (actually I don't worry cos I fucking hate Bolton) and likewise for Wolves - I think Mick has to be a bit more realistic and go ugly and direct when you need to. That's that then, the league is shaping up quite nicely and it's true that at the moment it is as exciting as ever.

Finally, congratulations are in order to Real Salt Lake City who beat the LA Galaxy on pens last night in the MLS Cup Final. The thought of anyone giving a toss about this 5 years ago is laughable, but proof that the Beckham factor is still reeling us in. Becks scored his pen and was involved in not only the Galaxy goal (1-1 in normal time) but also in getting some bloke stretchered off - that's what we wanna see Dave, get stuck in lad! The alien looking Landon Donovan missed his pen and 'the Galaxy' go home empty handed this year. It's done some good for Beckhams reputation over there though, and he can now go to AC Milan knowing that he's at least put in a decent shift this time. Who fancies a Milan v Utd Champs League quarter, first leg 0-0 in Milan, second leg, Beckham steps up to take a free kick at the Stretford end, just as he did against Greece all those years ago, the ref blows his whistle, 89 mins on the clock, Becks strides forward, he deliciously swoops the ball over the wall, it dips, it curls, Van Der Sar is scrambling, OHHHH WHAT A FUCKING GOOOOALLLLL!!! A dagger in Fergie's heart, yes yes yes, Becks takes his boot off in celebration, he looks towards the bench, and launches his boot at Fergies red face, just as he had done to Becks many moons ago, OHHHH SHIIIITT!! The boot cracks Fergie in the face, he's down, but the ref didn't see it!! Oh my lord, that's it, it's over, MILAN have done it, they're through!! Take her easy.

Premier League round up

We'll start at the Stadium of Light where yesterday Sunderland beat Arsenal 1-0 thanks to a Darren Bent goal. The goal, well it's well covered ground with the Gunners, defending set pieces. A corner came in which was not dealt with and you have to praise Bent's persistence and hunger to squeeze through and get to that ball first. That was a persistence and hunger that none of the Arsenal players demonstrated, an abject attitude of 'someone else will deal with it.' Arsenal started brightly but the only time I remember us testing the keeper was Rosicky's chance early doors. After that it was a series of nice moves ending in not much of anything. Sunderland certainly deserved at least a point and maybe all 3, this was probably the worst we've played all season, but there was for me a stone wall pen on Vela in the dying minutes. Despite all my claims earlier in the week, yesterday was exactly the kind of game we could have really done with Van Persie to pull some magic out of nothing. Nasri and Rosicky looked like they hadn't played much football of late and even Arshavin off the bench couldn't create that little spark of Russian genius we've come to expect. Sunderland did very well and I'll say again that they are the most improved team of the league for me, and beat Arsenal with Cattermole, Gordon and Jones all missing. Hmm. One of the interesting things to come out of the game was Arsene Wenger's post match comments - now as a full time Gooner I've watched the Arsenal TV stuff, the BBC MOTD full version and the Sky TV full version. Arsene is rarely so critical of his players and you could tell he was very upset and very angry with some of them. He didn't name anyone individually of course but kept referring to 'several players not being prepared properly' and all sorts of stuff. Hopefully he gave them a bit of a shafting and not the usual talk of spirit and resilience and quality that bores me a bit. It's Liege on Tuesday which if we win means qualification and topping the group, before all battle stations turn to murdering Chelsea at the Grove.

Liverpool can't catch a break right now can they. After 18 minutes of their 2-2 draw with City they had already made 2 enforced subs who will join their lengthy injury list. The first half was absolute shit but when Skrtel lost Adebayor (haha) in the City box and turned a Gerrard free kick in, the game finally came to life. City will probably be happier with their point at Anfield (especially considering Lucas missed a great chance last kick of the game) but that is now 6 draws in a row for Hughsey. I don't rate Lescott or Bridge, I think Zabaleta is pretty average and Toure is past his best now so it's clear that the back is where their problems lie. As for Liverpool I can't be the only one to think that they just look poor right now, they look like they're always playing with 9 men or something because there just never seems to be a pass on, they never get it wide, they just look rubbish. They could be out of the Champions League come Tuesday night and then the Mersyside derby at Goodison is next Sunday - Rafa is under the cosh.

Chelsea spanked Wolves with half their team missing and Utd won comfortably against Everton, to leave the gap of 5 points between the two. Arsenal are a further 3 behind now but with a game in hand. If Arsenal can beat Chelsea next weekend and win that game in hand they will only be 2 behind their west London rivals, so it's not panic time in north London just yet. As for Utd, they'll always be there or there abouts and despite not playing well this season (yesterday was the best I'd seen them) they still have the points on the board.

I predicted a draw at the KC yesterday but had no idea what a draw was in store. West Ham went 2-up early on but in typical Hammers style chucked that lead away and somehow went in at half time 3-2 down! A jammy deflection and a shocking penalty decision really contrived against them mind you, and they rallied well to equalise and might have even pinched the win themselves. There was a good win for Birmingham at home to Fulham and jammy Villa got a late goal to nick a point from Burnley. Villa v Spurs next weekend should be a good game, the winner will take a big psychological step to that elusive 4th place - lets hope for a 6-6 draw then. Take her easy.

Keane, Henry

If you haven't seen the outburst from Roy Keane's press conference yesterday, get yourself over to YouTube or SSNews or somewhere else I can't be bothered to link to. It really is a fascinating watch, Keane basically lays into the Irish players and particularly the FAI for all their protestations and calls for a replayed game vs France. He does make a few valid points - they should have done better to clear the ball, they should have probably been out of sight by that point anyway - but in typical Keane style he launches some outstanding verbal missiles at the FAI. One man who gets attacked in particular is FAI chief executive John Delaney, who Keane simply said 'John Delaney? I wouldn't take any notice of that man.' Haha that even made me laugh writing it, classic steaming Keane. Roy does of course have plenty of previous with the FAI and as he revealed yesterday plenty with Delaney himself, with some kind of issue they had over the 2002 World Cup in which Keane was a player. As I said I do agree with some of what Keane said, including most strongly with a point he made about Ireland v Georgia in the qualifying campaign in which Ireland won 2-1 thanks to a ridiculous decision to give Ireland a penalty - there was a tackle outside the box and the ball squirted out into the box into the keepers arms and all of sudden, pen. However Keane seems to ignore the fact that, yes the SHOULD have stopped the free kick coming in, and they SHOULD have perhaps scored a crucial second earlier, but they didn't. The handball DID happen so there is no should or could about it, that actually happened so there's no use in going on about what didn't happen.

Following the continued rows and appeals and complaints blah blah blah, Theirry released his own statement yesterday apologising and saying he wants the game to be replayed. While this gesture should be appreciated (which it was in a statement from Robbie Keane) it can't really be seen as anything other than an empty gesture for me. Henry is smart enough to know that the game won't be replayed so he's happy to make that appeal to get a few PR points back. Looking back at the incident again, Arsene is spot on with his press conference comments yesterday, saying something like 'what is the most frustrating thing is that the ref has given the goal, knowing that something is wrong. He walks back from the goal mouth knowing that the goal he has to give, should be disallowed but hasn't got any reason not to give it.' And there's more on the fact that video evidence should come in which I suppose following Wednesday night is now inevitable.

That's that for today as I know tomorrow will probably be a big'un and my fingers are gonna burrrrn. Take her easy.

Ireland, Premier League, Arsenal corner

Debate rumbles on following Wednesday night's events in Paris with the Irish FA calling for the match to be replayed. Sorry, this is never going to happen. Blatter and Platini have fixed the playoffs, they've seen France play terribly and sneak through, and of course the Henry handball in the mixer to, they may be a couple of pricks but they 'aint stupid. What kind of precedent would this set, that anytime a team gets a bad call the match has to start again from scratch? The fact is that even after that 'goal' there was another 15 mins of football to be played, and even if the goal had been chalked off then there would have been a penalty shoot out. No-one feels more sorry for the Irish than I do but the request to replay the game is madness really. They got a bad call, a shocking call which cost them the POSSIBILITY of getting to the World Cup - Ireland weren't in a winning position remember, the game was very much alive. I watched the Trappatoni press conference yesterday (of about 20mins I think I understood about 18mins, use the translator Gio!!) and even he admitted 'I know it is impossible to play the game again,' he's reacting sensibly and rationally, not emotionally. It's interesting to see a few of the players (Duff, Doyle even Liam Brady) coming out and saying that they didn't blame Henry, they blamed the ref and lino, and it's really the fans and journalists who are targeting the Frenchman. I repeat what I wrote yesterday, this was Henry's fault, the officials can only call what they see and without more officials or video evidence this will continue to be the case. Are you really telling me that if the ref saw that handball he would have let it go? Do me a favour guv'nor. There has also been some sly Arsenal bashing going on in the press due to Henry's past, one twat called David Cross (Mirror) wrote 'next time Arsenal are cheated, no-one can compain, this was a big game.' Sorry mate, hasn't Henry been playing for Barcelona in Spain for the last two and a half years? What exactly has this got to do with the Gunners? Maybe he picked up these hand juggling tricks on the Med, whatever though Cross you can fuck off.

Premier League football returns tomorrow, finally back to some real football! Stand out games look to be the early kick off Liverpool v Man City, Hull v West Ham, Man Utd v Everton and Sunderland v Arsenal.

Liverpool will win this one, surely?! It's been a while for them, before that 2-0 win over Utd it was a 6-1 hammering of Hull all the way back in September. Gerrard is back in the team which is massive but they will still be without Torres and Aquilani isn't ready to start yet (still?). City have some really good players of course but still haven't found the right balance all over the pitch, they're currently in a run of 5 league draws. I think eventually they're going to get that world class manager the team maybe needs to get them into the top 4 - don't get me wrong I like Hughes but when you look at the squad list at Eastlands, the owners will think the logical change will be with the gaffer. Would Hiddink draw 5 games in a row (against Burnley, Birmingham, Fulham, Wigan and Villa)? Don't think so.

Hull got a desperately important win against Stoke last time out and they'll be looking to consolidate that with another result against struggling West Ham. I think Hull are shit and they have a piece of shit manager in Phil Brown and I thoroughly hope they get smashed by the Hammers and go down. Leaving my personal feelings for Brown aside I think this'll go a draw. West Ham have done ok of late despite the defeat to Everton - win against Villa and draws with Sunderland and Arsenal - and I think the quality in their side will keep them up ahead of shit like Hull. Franco could maybe do with making them a little harder to beat and go 4-5-1 away from home (might be enforced now with Cole out) and try and score on the break.

Utd v Everton on paper is a tasty one but right now I'm not sure which versions of these 2 sides will turn up. There's the dogged hard working Utd who keep plugging away and eventually break teams down in an anti-climactic way, and there's the very average Utd who give the ball away, have shit wingers and look mighty dodgy at the back. Same goes for Everton who have looked good when Saha is on form, Bilalyad....Bily looks a real find and the industrious Osman and Pienaar can always find a goal from somewhere. But sometimes that small squad will get battered by Benfica and beaten 3-2 by Bolton, bit of a cliche but the first goal in this game could be all important. Utd win though.

Sunderland are for me the most improved side in the league this season (no-one counts Spurs who have always been decent, they just didn't play decent last season). Steve Bruce is a good coach who has brought some steel and quality to that midfield - Malbranque, Cattermole (crocked), Cana (think the boy is class) and he's got Reid and Richardson playing well. This is a tough tough game for Arsenal and we're going to have to defend really well if we wanna win the thing. I suspect the team will be Almunia - Eboue, Gallas, Vermaelan, Traore - Song, Ramsey, Cesc - Eduardo, Rosicky, Nasri. I think with Sagna and Arshavin's midweek marathons they'll get a rest, not Gallas though he's too important, Ramsey continues to impress for club and country and will deputise for Diaby, and the front line features 2 attacking midfielders to help with the tracking back. Denilson is back in the squad so might come back for Ramsey but I think mid week against Liege would be a nicer one for him. Away win, by 1 goal.

Finally some other Arsenal bits and pieces, Gibbs has only bruised his foot so should be back for Chelsea next weekend, good news. Eduardo has signed new long term deal (as usual with Arsenal it's just 'long term' no date, I understand it to be 2014) which is more great news. The Crozillian really needs to step up now that RvP is out and I fancy him to bag one tomorrow. Take her easy.

Henry, Euro Round Up, Algeria, Uruguay

Wow, what a boring and uncontroversial night of football that was. Le hand of frog? France reached the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw aet in Paris last night but the game was marred by what can only be described as cheating from Theirry Henry. Was it a handball? Definitely. Was it cheating? Definitely. Is anyone suprised? Definitely not. The ball came over the top from a French free kick and a possibly offside Henry trapped the ball with his hand (ok, first one he MIGHT have got away with) and then flattened his hand out and flicked the ball back to his right foot to stop it going out of play. He then pokes it (with his foot surprisingly) to trusty Gallas in the middle to face it home and break Irish hearts. Henry should feel ashamed of himself this morning and I'm afraid last night will go a long way to destroying his reputation in football round the world. You could see after the whistle how embarrassed he looked, barely breaking an Henry mid-frown, and then went over to Richard Dunne and sat down next to him to probably apologise. This is a team who have just qualified for the World Cup, shouldn't they be running around like mad French chickens? Not if you KNOW you didn't deserve it. I love Henry for what he did for Arsenal and I'll certainly never forget those wonderful moments he provided this football club with but last night was a sad indicement of where the game is going. The recent spate of diving, last nights handball, I don't want to sound like an after school special but kids are watching all this happen and are seeing every week footballers being rewarded for cheating. It raises questions again about TV replays which would have definitely caught Henry out, if there had been an extra official behind the goal I'm sure he would have seen it too. It's difficult to blame the lino or ref if they didn't see it, and some suggestions that Henry should have called it on himself are a mile away right now. But should they be a mile away? Golf and snooker players will admit fouls on themselves, you see occasionally a cricketer admitting a nick or a bounce before a catch. It would be lovely to see footballers taking this road but I just can't see it happening, they will do anything to win. Henry will rightly be shafted for this, but in a few weeks something else will happen that'll have us up in arms again, and France are still there in SA and Ireland won't be. Platini and Blatter will be delighted of course, their bullshit seeding system gave the powerhouse every chance to get through despite a shocking qualifying campaign. We'll see how happy they are when Rooney handles the ball in against France or Germany in a semi.

The game itself is what will make the handball even more difficult to swallow for Irish fans. It's not as if it was a French onslaught and the handball was the 'bit of luck' they deserved, oh no. Ireland played some great stuff and took the lead after a well worked move was finished by Robbie Keane. They might have been ahead before that following a great headed chance for Kevin Doyle, and in the second half more chances and half chances came to O'Shea, Duff and a great one from Keane where he's round the keeper but his heavy touch ran the ball out. France were pretty poor of the bits I heard and saw, Lloris in goal was excellent over the 2 legs, so when you're keeper is your best player that says it all really. But France are there, by hook or by hand they have made it. They've made it certainly in spite of Domenech, not because of him. They still look like a group of classy individuals and not a team, and I know Paddy Viera might not have the legs anymore but in a similar Beckham style move, I'd like to see him brought back in to try and unite the French. They still have Ribery to come back in and when a player like Benzema can't get off the bench then you know there is a great depth in quality. I expect with the feel good factor in France now that Domenech will keep the job for the World Cup (which he shouldn't) and it'll probably be a disappointing last 16 defeat to an Ivory Coast that'll be the final nail in his final coffin. As for Ireland, the disappointment and anger will be raw for a while but they have made some significant strides this campaign. They've got a great coach who makes them very tough to beat (the 1-0 in Dublin his only competitive defeat - they actually beat France 1-0 in Paris last night didn't they?!), they have a good team spirit and if they can add one or two bits of quality (get McGeady playing well, bring Reid back in, Stephen Ireland gonna stop being a twat?) then they've got a great chance to get to Euro 2012. I'm not sure of it but I think all these good results etc will help their world ranking, therefore helping their European co-efficient so that the next campaign will give them an easier draw etc. Well done Ireland, you did a quarter of me very proud, and France, you made a half of me embarrassed but relieved.

Slovenia won 1-0 against Russia to remarkably put them through on away goals, so there'll be no magic from the little Arshavin next summer. So from a neutral point of view that's a shame, from an Arsenal point of view there's now little chance he'll break his neck in South Africa. Greece won the game that no-one cared about with an honestly impressive 1-0 win in Ukraine. I'm glad on reflection that Greece went through, they don't have tossers like Shevchenko and Voronin in their team. And lastly in Europe my big tip for the night was spot-off, Portugal won 1-0 in Bosnia for a comfortable 2-0 aggregate job. Breathe easy again Blatter, Ronaldo will be at the World Cup.

In the big African showdown in Sudan, Algeria beat Egypt 1-0 to send the underdogs through. Again I think I'm glad that the Algerians made it, the nonsense they had to go through by being bricked and cinder blocked as the drove into Egypt last week was a disgrace. We can moan about handballs and dives all day long but that really is quite incredible. Finally Uruguay unsurprisingly took the last World Cup place with 1-1 draw against Costa Rica (2-1 agg). This happened at godknowso'clock so I don't really have anything to say about it. Well done all the 32 teams, the thought of 3 games of football a day next summer has already got me salivating. Take her easy.

Playoffs, Dzeko, Rodwell, Adebayor, Gibbs, Smith

Lots of little bits and bobs to get through this morning. The final places in the World Cup Finals will be decided tonight with all 3 of the 'big sides' in winning positions as I write. What a game we would have if Ireland could score first in Paris but I fear that the French will be too strong tonight. Not that we'll know of course, the last I heard no-one has bought the TV rights to this game over here unless I can be corrected? Good old 5 live anyway. Russia have left things a little jammy against Slovenia, who again, if they get the first goal there could be an almighty Soviet clash out there - I still expect Russia to do enough mind. The game that even Greeks and Ukrainians don't care about is poised at 0-0, hopefully we'll get another 0-0 and the penalty shoot out will go on for so long that neither of them make it to SA. I've got a feeling for Bosnia against Portugal though, that's my tip for the night. I've never really rated Portugal highly tbhonest, I hate the fact they have no good striker, Ronaldo is out injured, the likes of Nani, Quaresma and Simao can have good nights but are notoriously flaky, and yes they are constantly doing England in tournaments. It's always better that the 'big' teams make the World Cup, but for Portugal I'm happy to make an exception.

One man looking to do the damage for them tonight will be the fantastically named Edin Dzeko. The Wolfsburg front man is a beast of a striker at 6'4, he's powerful, skillful and most importantly knows where the goal is. At 23 he's already got 14 goals in 22 Bosnia caps (that's for a relatively average team), and scored a mammoth 36 goals in all comps last year. I can't claim to have seen tons of the lad but the occasionally flick onto ESPN to watch the Bundesliga and Man Utd v Wolfsburg this season have shown me enough. He's been angling for a move to his 'boyhood club' Milan next summer, and believe me whoever does get him (and it won't be Arsenal, he'll cost about 60 billion euros) will have a super class player.

I'm not normally bothered about transfer speculation like this but this story brings up some larger questions about young footballers. Chelsea are apparently after Everton's impressive youngster Jack Rodwell and have allegedly already had a £14million bid rejected by Moysey, who is holding out for 20/25mill. Firstly, the kid is 18 years old and has only played 27 times for Everton so 14million is an astronomical price if you ask me, let alone 20/25. Secondly, will he play at Chelsea? When there is guys like Malouda, Obi Mikel, Joe Cole and Zhirkov all sat on the bench, it's difficult to see it. And thirdly, is it in the best interests of Rodwell to go? Rooney left Everton for his big money move to Utd and he's turned out to be a superstar footballer, mainly because he got a chance there. If I was Rodwell (who has recently signed a new long term deal) I'd hold out for a few more years yet before that big move to a Champions League side. It's sad to see these big clubs (Arsenal are guilty just the same) stock piling young talent in their squads and potentially hurting their chances - Bostock at Spurs, Delph at Villa - these guys still have a big career ahead of them, I just wonder if they might be best suited sticking with Palace and Leeds respectively.

Adebayor has been flapping his gums yet again about being forced out of Arsenal. Shut up Emmanuel, you're at City now, worry less about us and more about that great drawing run you're on.

After all of yesterdays praise of Kieran Gibbs 'le loi de sod' (sod's law) awoke and decided to shaft Gibbsy in his foot. A suspected metatarsal break happened in a 0-0 draw for the U21s against Lithuania, which means we're likely to see Armand Traore get another chance at left back. Please Arsene, use Armand, don't think about Silvestre.

And finally, it seems that Walter Smith is the next jock to duck the chance to be Scotland manager saying he doesn't want to do the same job again. Walt, haven't you been Rangers manager once before?! Take her easy.

Scotland, Gibbs, Van Persie, Simpson

So as expected George Burley has been sacked as Scotland manager for a run of poor results that really were indefensible. The next Scotland friendly is in March against the Czech Republic so it's vital that the SFA take their time on this one and get the right man. But who is the right man? Some of the obvious candidates seem to be distancing themselves from the job before they've even been shortlisted. Graeme Souness yesterday and now Mark McGhee this morning has said he's not interested despite being interviewed and very close last time round. It's easy to think that Souness has his media work and McGhee is newly installed as Aberdeen boss (although that hasn't stopped him moving on abruptly before, ahem Reading, ahem Leciester) but if you look at recent history, no-one seems to want the job! Alex McLeish had done a great job with the Scots in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign, beating France home and away and coming withing minutes of beating Italy (that is some tough group no?), but fancied a job at Birmingham. Birmingham you say? A yo-yo club sat in the Championship, or being the man at the helm of you're country? Alex came soooth to Anglaand. Walter Smith had the same dilemma when the Rangers job was on offer and again walked away from his country. It's no surprise then that the people who are clamouring for a crack at the toughest job in British football are people with no jobs or experience (John Collins), people with shit jobs (Jim Jeffries, Kilmarnock) and probably just about any other bloke who has a Scottish cousin. Craig Levin who has had a great start to the season with Dundee United is probably favourite right now, unless Walter Smith wants to give it another go - just until he gets that call from Cardiff City or West Brom of course.

Kieran Gibbs starred in the England U21's 1-0 win over Portugal at Wembley on Saturday, which has prompted more calls from the media that he should be given a shot with the senior team. As an Arsenal fan it'll come to as no surprise that I really rate Gibbsy and if he can get a decent run in the side (Clichy's dodgy back will see to that right now) he should go to SA. He played left midfield for England on the weekend which shows versitility, he has got bags of pace, could give that England left side a natural balance (tuck Gerrard in at 65mins vs. Argies in the quarters?) and all these things and more are what Wayne Bridge doesn't have. I'm glad the world is slowly waking up to the fact that Bridge is absolute shit, a view I've held for some time. More Arsenal love-in from me, but there isn't a better place in the world for a young player to be than at London Colney every day. Wenger gives the young lads a chance, sends them on good loans (where they're actually needed and used) and even if they're eventually sold on, the education and support they get is superb.

Speaking of on loan Arsenal players, Jay Simpson continues to impress at QPR as their top scorer this season. He did really well in the Carling Cup run last year and it was only a question of competition that a loan was the sensible option. However, with RvP now crocked for the time being, if the loan clause permitted I'd like to see him brought back as a bit of extra cover. You don't even have to be that good or that experienced a player to play up front for the Gunners, with all the savage balls you get from Cesc and Shava you're bound to tuck a few away. Van Persie for the record has been given a prognosis of 6 weeks by the Arsenal official site, but I suspect that is 6 weeks on his arse until he can get back into full training and match fit etc, so probably early January before he's back involved. Considering that it could have been 3/4 months I suppose we have to take that as good news, and look at the positives like 'he'll be fresh' and the fact he'll be back and running hot by the time the last 16 of Europe comes round. Rob has been quoted as saying he's flying (with the Arsenal medical team's blessing) to Serbia to meet some weird witch doctor woman who will massage placenta on his poorly ankle, and make it all better again. Rob's been spending too much time in those Amsterdam coffee shops if you ask me...Take her easy.

Burley, England goalkeepers, Arsenal front line

At the time of writing, momentum is gathering surrounding the impending dismissal of George Burley as Scotland manager. They were humbled by a young and far from full strength Wales side on Saturday, which followed yet another disappointing qualification campaign for a major tournament. I personally don't think Burley was ever the right man for the job. With the exception of Hearts, at every job he's had Burley has never come close to a 50% win ratio, he has only won 3 of 14 games in charge on his country, and is frankly nothing more than an average football league coach. However, following a disappointing qualifying campaign which included a horror 0-0 at home to Norway (Chris Iwelumo, take a bow son) and defeats to Macedonia, Holland and Norway, the SFA decided to stick with him. So in light of that what difference does an admittedly embarrassing 3-0 defeat to Wales really mean? For example Norwich got relegated last year and decided to stick with Bryan Gunn. First day of the season they get raped 7-0 by Colchester and Gunn is sacked in the morning. Now, no team likes to get beat and 7-0 is really quite a disgrace for a professional football team, but why, after the worst thing that can happen to a team - relegation - do the board stick with the manager, and then one defeat later they sack him?! If the SFA thought Burley was good enough after losing to Holland, one defeat in a meaningless friendly surely shouldn't change their minds. Graeme Souness (who has ruled himself out of the running) said this morning that 'if Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson were in charge of Scotland they would have the same problems and results as any other manager,' because the pool of Scottish players is not only lacking in numbers but crucially in quality. Is he right? Do the Scottish supporters just have to come to terms with the fact that they're team is a group of average individuals with one or two bits of quality, and expectations that you can qualify for a major tournament regularly should be reigned in? With Walter Smith's contract at Rangers up in January (weird, no?) he is the obvious choice, and he'll make the sensible decision to bring Boyd and Ferguson back in the fold.

Fabio Capello has raised doubts over the goalkeeping situation for England today, stating that at the moment David James can't train for 2 days following a match. The man is 39 so is there any surprise? If James is still struggling in March/April time then he probably shouldn't go to South Africa - England will play 4 matches in 15 days if they make the last 16 - for the same reasons that Ledley King shouldn't. Fab is a tough cookie and anyone who isn't 100% won't get a seat on the plane, simple. Ben Foster played against Brazil and did ok but his mistakes over the last few months have been well documented. He can't even make the bench for Utd at the moment so for me he's not a viable option - he'll probably squeeze on the plane as the 3rd keeper, maybe just for the experience at a tournament, but how often are both you're first choice keepers going to be unavailable? So that leaves Green who I like and will surely go, and I'd like to make a case for Chris Kirkland. I really like the Wigan stopper and I always notice him having good games against the Arsenal. He has a history of back problems but if he's stays fit I'd be perfectly happy to seem him get a shot. Robinson is probably the other choice, he's done ok for Blackburn despite playing in a team who concede a lot of goals.

Robin van Persie will have tests and scans at Arsenal today to determine how bad his ankle injury is. I've heard all sorts from ruptured ligaments, damaged ligaments to maybe even some broken bone in there, but the club are refusing to speculate until they know more. RvP himself has broken his silence claiming he'll be out for 4 to 6 weeks which sounds pretty optimistic, with other outlets claiming 2,3 or 4 months. Hopefully the man himself is right. Despite Robin's obvious quality, his goals and his assists, I'd rather have lost him that Fabregas, and I'd rather have lost him than Gallas or Vermaelan right now. The papers are calling it the end of Arsenal's title hopes, but we have Eduardo who will now move central, Vela waiting in the wings, and Eduardos wide berth will be filled with Walcott (soon), Nasri, Rosicky, Diaby can play there with Ramsey filling his void, not to mention Wilshere and Merida. The thought of Silvestre having a 3 month stint at centre back instead of Gallas scares the living shit out of me, having Eduardo playing up front instead of Van Persie doesn't.

Europe, Brazil, Africa, Van Persie

Ireland worked their socks up all night but are now left with a tough task of overturning a 1-0 French lead on Wednesday night in Paris. First half was a pretty scrappy affair with an offside goal from Gignac being the closest France got to a goal but Ireland had a great chance to take the lead. Keane was played in but could only get a mid-air toe on the ball which was stopped by an impressive Lloris, and the ball fell to Lawrence who had pretty much a tap in to score the most important goal of his life. Somehow he scuffed the ball into one of Patrice Evra spindly little legs and the ball flicked wide. Good defending? I suppose, I mean he was there and got something on it, but I couldn't believe Lawrence missed it. Second half France cranked up the pressure and had a few decent penalty shouts, and then an Anelka shot was deflected in off St. Ledger and the post. Ireland rallied with changes and a few half chances, another good bit of goal keeping held them up though for it to end 1-0. I don't think it's all over yet though, it's not 2,3 or 4-0, Ireland can certainly go there and get a goal, they'll probably need to score first though to put some pressure on the French.

I saw the first half of Russia v Slovenia which ended 2-1 to the home side. From watching just 45mins and what I've heard on the second half, Russia can count themselves to be a bit lucky. The tie is delicately balanced now and a 1-0 Slovenia second leg would send the Slovos through on away goals. Portugal were likewise a bit jammy in their home leg winning just 1-0 against Bosnia, who hit the woodwork at least 3 times I read. The other game went Greece 0-0 Ukraine, nothing to report here. All the 8 teams have a good shout to go through still and so far none of the ties have been as cut and dry as they would seem on paper. More to come on Wednesday.

If we learnt anything from watching England v Brazil yesterday it's that if England are going to win the World Cup next year, it won't be because we're the best team. Brazil gave us a bit of a lesson in how to keep the ball, they looked solid at the back (when their centre back wasn't striding forward taking a few men on and pinging one from the edge of the box) and have quality all over the front line. I know it was a second string team in some tough heat but it was a very disappointing display, from a lot of players who had a great chance to impress the boss in one of the last friendlies before the squad is named. Rooney looked good first half, Milner kept plugging away, Defoe was OK off the bench, Wright Phillips beat a man once or twice. These really are the very half positives we can take. The back four were just shit, Wes Brown topping the pile of shitness with his classy chest back to FostOH NO, NILMAR HAS APPEARED AS IF FROM NO-WHERE TO PINCH THE BALL AND THE KEEPER HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO BRING HIM DOWN. Right back is a bit of problem at the moment and after last night I'm really not sure who will go to SA as back-up to Johnson. Hopefully Kieran Gibbs can come on leaps and bounds so we can finally put Bridge to sleep. We've struggled now against France, Holland, Spain and Brazil but did well to beat Germany in Germany. When you look at that list it's no wonder we're a 'quarter final team' because we can't seem to play that good attacking football we see week in week out, when it comes to those big games.

Cameroon and Nigeria booked their places at the World Cup but one place is still outstanding between Egypt and Algeria. The permutations before the game were as follows: a 1-0 Egypt win would send Algeria through, a 3-0 win would send Egypt through, but a 2-0 win would mean that all head-to-heads, goal difference, goals scored etc would be totally equal. What happened? Yep, 5th min of extra time Egypt got the second goal they needed and now there will be a one off playoff in Sudan on Wednesday. Quite incredible really, especially considering the Algerian bus was attacked with bricks and such as it came into Egypt - they clearly don't like each other.

Finally, in a fucking meaningless friendly between Holland and Italy last night, RvP got injured. Sound familiar? That's because it's happened before, at least twice off the top of my head. I've seen the challenge on YouTube from Chellini and it looks pretty innocuous really, I think Rob has rolled his ankle under his body or something, but the early prognoses is 2 maybe 3 months out with ankle ligament damage, and with Wenger being notoriously cautious on such matters we probably won't see him until January. The man has been in such good form this season and is the perfect player to play in that role, I'm vexed about it.

I'm off to watch Kidmore End Reserves v Coley Park - don't tell me that Ireland v France is bigger than this. Take her easy.

Domenech, TV Rights, Euro Playoffs, LA Galaxy

I know Raymond Domenech has said some quite ridiculous things in the past but I heard one yesterday that Robbie Keane will be pinning up on the dressing room wall tonight at Croke Park. 'They are the England B's, we know what to expect, there will be no surprise in the World Cup playoffs.' Wow, good luck Ray. This coming from a man who has not only made some strange soundbites, he's made bizarre team selections, he falls out with players left right and centre (if you believe what Monsieur Henry has to say) and I surely can't be the only one who is surprised he's still at the helm. I'm sure the French FA will see to that if things go badly over the next few days, just don't come knocking on Arsene's door, merci.

There has been a new set of TV rights 'crown jewels' drawn up in the last few days. These jewels are protected events that have to be shown on 'free-to-air' television, and are chosen based at least partly on their cultural impact to society. This at the moment includes Wimbledon, the World Cup Finals and the Open golf, but the new set of guidelines (which still have to be agreed by the government) include all Euro/World cup qualifiers home and away (fuck yes!) and get rid of some shit that no-one gives a toss about like the Challenge Cup final. All the hype has been about the Ashes which I'm not bothered about, I'm just pleased that at last we can watch all the England games on normal telly and Sky can go and sit on it for once. It would be nice to think that someday the Beeb would take a punt on a few Premier League and Champions league games so we might have some decent coverage instead of huge ad breaks and Andy Townsend giving Liverpool and constant blowie. BBC Sport made a good move getting a few Championship games but go on lads, go one more.

The remaining European playoffs for the World Cup are as follows: Portugal v Bosnia - no Ronaldo, no good striker, hopefully Dzeko and Misimovic bang a couple in for the Bozos; Russia v Slovenia - Russia have the magical little Arshavin so they should win, but also have Pavlyuchenko so should lose; Greece v Ukraine - what a shit match! The thought that one of these will be the SA is rubbish, unless they get into Englands group of course :)

Finally, the great David Beckham and his army of Los Angelenos overcame the Houston Dynamo 2-0 aet last night to reach the MLS Final (they do like their league finals don't they, the yanks). They'll play either Chicago or Salt Lake City in the final and I'd fucking love it if DB curled in a 90th min winner, just like the Greece goal at Old Trafford.

Come on England! Take her easy.

Ireland v France, Fergie, Gartside

The World Cup playoffs begin tomorrow for the European sides left standing, including an exciting tie between Ireland and France. Now, being one half French and one quarter Irish myself you could certainly say that I have quite an interest in this one. First off, the fact that the playoffs were seeded is an absolute FIFA disgrace - but did we really expect anything different from the bumbling buffoon that is Sepp Blatter - that's not even a name is it, it sounds like some kind of German starter of assorted meats. The seeding already happens in the group stage so we are left with the 8 teams that deserve to be here on merit, FIFA just want to make sure they get France, Portugal and Russia into the finals. Well I reckon it would be lovely to see all the underdogs get through, and then for Ireland to smash Germany in the quarters. But alas here we are. I'm going to sound like a chronic 'fence sitter' but I really don't know who I'd like to see go through. France obviously have some really quality players and despite doubters are always in with a shot of winning the thing, but Ireland have played brilliantly over the campaign and it would be fantastic if they do make it to SA. France on paper will be favourites but tomorrow night, under the lights, a sold out Croke Park will be rocking. Despite this I don't think they need to be 1-0 or 2-0 up necessarily to win the tie, as long as it's level after tomorrow night they're in with a shout. Naturally it would be nice to take a lead to Paris on Wednesday, but the Parisen crowd are notoriously harsh on their teams (football and rugby) and will demand more than support their boys. This can induce mistakes and frustration which will all play into the visitors hands, and is also why French national teams generally prefer to play regionally in places like Lyon and Marseille.

Yohann Gorcuff has impressed me, and although a different type of player, France may have finally found a way to replace the irreplaceable Zidane (one of the 3 best players I've ever seen at a match, Bergkamp and Kaka the others), and any team who has Henry, Anelka and Benzema as a front line is going to cause you problems. 3 Arsenal players included would have been 4 if Clichy was fit, possibly 5 if you include Nasri, and a further 3 ex-Arsenal boys in there too - Wenger likes his French. Ireland have talent in their squad too, McGeady is dangerous, Keane and Doyle up front will be a handful and strength, experience and quality in Dunne and O'Shea at the back. All makes for 2 crackers.

Alex Ferguson (you won't find me using any 'Sir' prefix to that on this blog) has been fined £20,000 and given a 2 match touchline ban (another 2 games suspended) following his comments about Alan Wiley. I said a few days ago that I thought this is all a load of nonsense really, but I'm not complaining about anything that will annoy Fergie. Those 2 games are at home to Everton and away to Pompey and if you look at Utd's recent form you can't help but be worried. Valencia is a fine athlete and physical specimen but maybe he should belong on a running track for Equador because he ain't much of a footballer. Carricks having a rough time of it, Nani even worse, so they're having to rely on Rooney and Giggs to bail them out of some sticky situations. If it goes on much longer Fergie will probably bring in a couple in Jan to shake shit up, David Villa maybe, and Angel di Maria? Fucking hope not anyway. Stick with Owen, Mr. Fergie, seriously, he'll come good...

Finally, Phil Gartside's proposal over a new 2 tier Premier League system with the Old Firm was predictably and thankfully rejected yesterday. As I said earlier in the week, we have the best league in the world and if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Gartside is obviously looking to 'fix it' to serve his own personal Bolton interests, as if no-one would notice. Take her easy.

England, International Retierment, Pavlyuchenko

England v Brazil coming up on Saturday and a first look at England against a South American side under Capello. I'll go for a draw as a prediction because I think the Brazilians under Dunga have added a different dimension to their play, they seem to be more of an Italian team than a traditional Brazilian one. He's added steel to that midfield with Gilberto Silva and Melo, strength up front with Luis Fabiano and of course they've got plenty of quality all over the pitch, not least with the fantastic Kaka. Brazil is still the yardstick that every team has to measure up to for me, if England win the World Cup next year but don't get a chance to play the Brazilians, well no-one will care but I think there would be a fraction taken off the win. Brazil v England final? Would be splendid, guv'nor. Here's who I'd take if I had to pick the squad today:

James, Green, Robinson;
Terry, Ferdinand, A. Cole, Johnson, Upson, Brown;
Gerrard, Lampard, Barry, Beckham, Walcott, Milner, Carrick, Young, J.Cole;
Rooney, Defoe, Bent, Crouch.

So first 2 keepers are in and I'd take Robinson over Foster - far too many mistakes for my liking but he'll be there in 2012, 2014 etc. At the back first 4 pick themselves and I've added Upson for centre back and Brown can play there and right back. I suspect he'll bring one more than that (Bridge, Lescott) to cover the left side at the expense of Young/Walcott/Milner, but you can play Barry or Milner there quite easily for me. In the middle the first 4 are certainties (yes, I include Becks in there for sure), I'd take Walcott who can also go up top, Milner great versatile player who's impressed in a white shirt recently, Carrick as the standard ball playing replacement for Lampard, Young again is versatile and can go past people, and finally J.Cole as a little secret weapon. I've left of Wright-Phillips and Lennon there, I just think the options I've picked are slightly better - Shaun has done well in an England shirt and scored a few goals, I just think he lacks a bit of quality, and as for Lennon, he's had a great season so far but I think Walcott's danger in front of goal gives him an edge. Up front Rooney is really the only dead cert but Defoe is scoring plenty, Crouch is a handful for any defence and Bent is scoring as well. Carlton Cole, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Owen, these are all capable guys but with Capello probably only taking 4 strikers I think they'll miss out. He might bring Heskey because he obviously likes him with Rooney but I think Crouch is more than capable to play that role and also chip in a couple himself. Any late runs to the squad? Unlikely for me, there will always be injuries in the run up but I can't see any drastic changes to that, Hargreaves if he had a great 2nd half of the season? Gibbs if he wants a left back? That's all I can think of.

Yesterdays comments on Luke Young have raised a bigger debate on international retirement. I'll say right off the bat I don't like it. Fair enough if you're an ageing star who just can't keep up with all the extra games and travelling, and you've already done a mammoth stint for your country (Giggs springs to mind). But you look at someone like David Beckham who is bouncing back and forth over the Atlantic every few weeks, even just to get 10 mins off the bench for England. What about Jamie Carragher? With all of Terry and Rio's injury problems over the last few years he could have notched up a really decent number of caps, not to mention the long term concerns about Rio's back. If Rio doesn't make it to SAfrica and Jamie sees Matty Upson playing centre back against Spain in a World Cup semi, he'll be as sick as a parrot. Playing for you're country should be the pinnacle of the game. I understand the rise of club football and the Champions League is such that maybe that's not the case anymore. Stephen Ireland is another case in point. All that nonsense about his alleged dead grandmother caught the bastard right out. And now, with Ireland on the brink of getting to a World Cup he's nowhere to be seen. He's not too old, he's not got tons of caps already, there's no good reason why he shouldn't be involved in the Ireland team - plus he's actually a really good player! What annoys me the most though is players who retire from internationals, and then come back. No, un uh, no way, you can fuck off. Once you go, you should be gone for good. Francesco Totti wants to 'come out of international retierment' for the World Cup to help Italy win it. If I'm Luca Toni or I'm Antonio De Natale, I'll be telling Totti he can fuck off and die. I've put the time and hours in flying to fucking Bratislava on a freezing Wednesday last November, I've been kicked around the park by the Romanians, I've sat on the bench in Dublin when I could have been in sunny Rome, YOU don't get to come in at the end of the race and cross the finish line. Simple.

Finally, I see that Roman Pavlyuchenko wants to leave Spurs to ensure he is still in contention for Russia, presuming they qualify for the World Cup. Well, I can't see 'Arry having too many sleepless nights about that one, Daniel Levy on the other hand will be once again feeling like a fucking mug for having shelled out £14 million on Romeo, and he'll have to shunt him out for 5 or 6 to St. Petersburg or some shit. Another great bit of business from the Tottenham Hotspur money making machine. Take her easy.

Video Evidence, Old Firm, Torres, Ashton, Enke

The debate about TV evidence in football rumbles on in the wake of the N'Gog dive on Monday night. Here's my 2 cents on it. Goal line technology, no question. It's a pretty straight forward one, it's had various trials in places and right now I can't see any reason why it can't be implemented. Another tick for me goes in the retrospective action box. This means basically with hindsight and reviewing of various TV angles, people can be punished for things that have been missed (i.e. Robert Huth punch recently) AND things that have been misinterpreted (i.e. the N'Gog dive). This is where the authorities don't want to get involved, but if common sense prevailed then it would be great to see a yellow card upgraded to red for 2 footed tackles for example. As I said yesterday the arguement that this takes power away from referees doesn't wash at all, do you think N'Gog would take a dive if he knew he was going to get caught out after the game? You might argue yes, a player will do anything to get the win but I'm sure Mr. Benitez would see it differently when he's without the player for 3 games. Where I'm still not sure is for TV replays to be used live during games. I know it takes a very small amount of time to look at a replay and say 'yep, N'Gog dived, no pen, yellow card' but not all decisions are as clear cut as that. Is it feasible to let every offside go until the move has finished, and then check if the striker is level? I think you're totally changing the game of football if that happens. And on top of that, people see things differently anyway so you're trusting whoever is in that referee booth to make a more accurate call than the guy on the pitch. For example, Darren Fletcher's (tosser) tackle on Cole (money grabbing wanker) that resulted in the free kick that lead to Utd goal on Sunday. Did he get the ball? Certainly there was some contact. Did he actually go over the ball? Possibly, it's really debatable. Did he get a lot of Cole in the process, even get Cole before the ball? Possibly. You start to see my point.

Bolton chairman Phil Gartside is to propose a new 2 tier Premier League of 18 teams each, at a Football League/LMA Meeting on Thursday, with the suggestion that the Old Firm could come down and join in. Irrespective of the points I raised yesterday regarding the behaviour of some Glasgow fans, there is the sectarian divide to consider, the policing issues, the England vs Scotland hate issues and probably many more that say this is not a good idea. But from a footballing point of view, I'd fucking love to see Rangers v Arsenal on a cold night in December, pissing it down at Ibrox! Maybe that is best saved for Europe though. I can totally see why the Old Firm want to come down here, MONEY$. They both have a fantastic fan base and it would be intriguing to see where they slotted into English football - probably in the 2nd of these 2 new leagues if Gartside had his way - but I wouldn't trust a bloke who employed Sam Allardyce for so many years. In the words of the great proffessor from North London, if they left Scotland it 'would kill Scottish football,' and he's probably right. And for now, well we have the best league in the world so fuck them.

Looks like Fernando Torres won't be going under the knife to sort his groin/hernia/hairstyle out. Super Nick Bendtner did his groin agaisnt Spurs a few weeks back and Wenger knows straight away to stick him on the op table and get it sorted properly. You get the impression that Rafa is willing to put the players' long term fitness on the line just to keep the wolves at bay. He might be able to sneak a goal in a big game but you get the impression until he gets it properly taken care of, The Kid is no use to anyone.

Another injury concern is Mr Dean Ashton. No?....Bleaches his hair blonde......Plays for West Ham?...Always injured? Yeh that's him. Speculation is mounting that Deano will have to retire at the tender age of 25 following his broken ankle (I wince everytime I think about it) and other persistant niggles. I have to say I like Ashton, he could have (or hopefully still can) been Rooney's perfect foil up front for England. He's big and strong (like Heskey) can score goals (not like Heskey) and has so good touch and vision when dropping deep. All the best Dean.

Wow, I've just heard that LUKE YOUNG has turned down Don Fabio's call up to the England sqaud and decided to retire. What a terrible fucking shame that is. The stalwart of that wonderful Charlton defence that...went down, and then the sparkling full back in the Middlesborough team that...went down. On top of all that, he played for Spurs. Thanks for all your bad defensive displays against the Arsenal, Luke. What a shame.

What really is a shame though is the sad news that Robert Enke died yesterday in a suspected suicide. I'm not going pretend that I knew all that much about the bloke, but for a keeper to have played for Monchengladbach, Barca and Benfica, it's a pretty sad day for football. Take her easy.

Liverpool, Utd, Scotland and Europe

Liverpool dropping more points last night. Time for Rafa to pierdete? Si. Regardless of injuries and suspensions etc it is totally Rafa's fault that the squad at Liverpool is in the state it's in. To go into a new season with Torres as the only recognisable striker in a team hoping to win the league and Champions League is madness. Ok N'Gog has done OK (more on him late) for a young unproven striker, but Voronin wasn't even on the bench last night, the admittedly poor Babel hasn't been given the run up front he needs, and don't get me started on the transfer policy. The likes of Crouch, Bellamy, Keane and Cisse have all been cast aside and have all proved since what good players they are. I'm sure Owen would have picked Liverpool over Utd this summer if he'd got a call from Benitez, but he'd rather spend his time wasting money away on Johnson and Aquilani. Johnson is a very good player no doubt, but £20 million?! Was Arbeloa really that bad? Another 20 going on Aquilani, a player who has looked class but is relatively unproven and his history is riddled with injuries. And then Alonso. A contract remember is a 2 way thing. A player can decide to see out his last year for example, picking up the money every week even if a manager doesn't fancy him. So by that same token a manager doesn't have to sanction a transfer for a player who maybe isn't loving things at that time, that player has pledged his commitment to a club for a certain amount of time. I'm convinced that as soon as the window was shut that Alonso's hankering for Madrid would be over for another year and he would be getting down to business for the Scousers. Bad management. This all stems from Benitez trying to get hold of Barry, who would have been a steal at £12 million this summer, and falling out with Alonso a couple of years ago when he stayed home from a Champions League game so he could be there for the birth of his daughter. Rafa seems like a bitter and confused old man.

I had a little smile last night while watching the game when Liverpool won their penalty. A clear blatant dive from N'Gog rescued a point for the Reds, and I hope he now gets slaughtered for it in exactly the same way Eduardo was in August. Everyone said at the time that the Eduardo dive (yes, it was a dive) should set a precedent which of course it hasn't. There's been countless dives since then and practically nothing is being done or said about them. There were some shocking this said about the wonderful Crozillian, that bordered on racist and I even heard and saw things like 'I hope he breaks his leg again' - 5live and talksport no bullshit. Of course a week later when Rooney is already going down against Arsenal it's 'clever' play from an Englishman, and when Bent is practically on the floor by the time Gomes touches him last week it's 'cute' from another Brit. Fucking bollocks. I think everyone would like a level playing field and I think the retrospective action is probably the only way. The FA spout crap like 'it would take power away from the referees,' surely it would give more power to referees! If someone is caught diving, ban them for 3 games and move on. Believe me, if Wenger is without Eduardo for 3 games or Bruce without Bent or Fergie without Rooney, those managers will soon let those players know not to do it again. It would soon regulate itself because no-one wants to miss football for such a stupid reason as taking a dive.

On Fergie, his lips have once again got him into a spot of bother. He said he's 'losing faith with referees' this time, and for once I'm coming to his defence. Does it really matter what Ferguson or any other manager for that matter say about referees? SSNews, 5live, Talksport and countless others dissect everything anyone ever says every minute of the fucking day. Hell, I'm doing it right now. But for god sake does anyone really give a toss? If he's calling a ref a cheat then it can be argued that is an attack on his character and professionalism which is certiantly punishable, but this is really much ado about naffink. The aforementioned younger Ferguson, Darren, in yesterday's blog has been sacked by the way. Reading made an approach to talk to him when trying to find Coppell's replacement and they were denied, for Peterbrough to then sack him a few months later. Nice one!

Quick Euro round up from the weekend, and 'Pats GAME OF THE WEEK' (good title, no?) has to go to Lyon v Marseille in France which ended 5-5. The fact that it was 4-2 Marseille with 10 minutes left tells you plenty, and it also tells you that you'd rather have been watching that Sunday night than X Factor. There were I'm sure wins for other teams in various combinations all over Europe but that'll do for now. Oh, quick World round up, Becks' LA Galaxy are in the semis of the...league...after beating the colossal CHIVAS!! this week. That rules out Becks from the England game apparently, but you know I'm a huge DB fan and he's got to be on the plane to South Africa next summer.

Scotland finally, and it's been brought to my attention that the Celtic fans were singing over the minute silence at their game with Falkirk on Sunday. Apparently this happens every year, I'm not sure for what reason but the point is there is absolutely NO good reason. Rememberance Sunday isn't about making a stupid political point about war, it's not about making any religious point of view heard, it's not about football quite frankly. It's about remembering all of the people who have died for us, for whatever reason, whether you agree or disagree with the political ramifications, I couldn't care less. If you're going to sing over a minute silence, that one minute of the year to respect those that died, then you're an absolute disgrace. 'If you want to criticise our troops, then by all means stand in front of them.' Don't think I'm anti-Celtic here, the Rangers fans have plenty to be ashamed about following their behaviour in Europe last week. And it's hardly the first time is it - the UEFA Cup final in Manchester was marred by violence on the streets. A big screen in the city centre broke down just before kick off and the place went mad, with fans even going for the bloke who was trying to fix the thing! This has been in line with the fall from grace that the Old Firm are having in the SPL. Mowbray looks a bit lost, so many questions about Rangers' financial situation, and Hibs, Dundee Utd and Motherwell all getting closer to those magical Champs League spots. I can see one going this year I really can.

Take her easy.