Play Up Pompey! Are They the Best Team Ever to Finish 20th?

How incredible it is to see Portsmouth reach the FA Cup final for the second time in three years given their Premier League plight this season. Despite being relegated on Saturday, Pompey performed excellently on the horrendous Wembley pitch the very next day to deny Tottenham Hotspur their first FA Cup final appearance since 1991. The embarrassment felt by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp (not to mention ex-Portsmouth players Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch and Niko Kranjcar) must be paramount after his counterpart Avram Grant, with a shadow of the Pompey side Redknapp himself led to Wembley in 2008 ,got the better of him and his expensively assembled North London side. But despite their league position, this Portsmouth team isn't full of mugs.

Their situation at the foot of the league is very much deceiving, as on a few occasions the south coast club has shown true quality this season, namely the 2-0 victory over Liverpool, a narrow 2-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, and their incredible FA Cup run, where they beat high-flying Birmingham City in the quarter-finals. It is largely down to the bizarre financial circumstances at the club, the revolving door of owners earlier in the season, and the refusal to appoint Grant at the expense of the hapless Paul Hart until midway through the season. Frederic Piquionne (an excellent find from French football) has shown some class finishing, including the first in extra-time on Sunday and the likes of Algerian duo Hassan Yebda and Nadir Belhadj should by no means be considered relegation-candidate players. The evergreen David James marshalled his defence excellently in the semi-final, a defence which included the experience of European cup winner Steve Finnan and South Africa captain Aaron Mokoena. If injury hadn't restricted James to just 22 league appearances this season, Pompey may well be higher up the league. Of course, the nine point deduction for going into administration was the real killer and since then the writing has been on the wall.

The saddest thing, is that despite Grant's incredible achievement of leading his club back to Wembley to face his former employers Chelsea on May 15th, their fate next season could well be even worse. With the finance of the club still in turmoil, it is likely many Portsmouth players will be on their way out this summer. Shorn of the few remaining stars they have, it seems more likely that Portsmouth will head the way of Leeds United and local rivals Southampton in disappearing to the depths of League One, as opposed to the quick return enjoyed by Newcastle United this season. But if they can hold on to Grant, then perhaps the Pompey chimes will keep ringing a bit longer.

When A 3-2 Victory Isn't As Good As A 2-1 Victory

Manchester United were last night eliminated from the Champions League quarter-finals by Bayern Munich, thanks to an incredible volley by Arjen Robben, Bayern's second away goal. This is the fourth time in their history that the Red Devils have been eliminated in such fashion, following away goals defeats to Galatasaray and Monaco in the 1990s and Bayer Leverkusen back in 2002. But what I simply cannot understand is WHY the away goals rule exists?

In the past many away teams would play extremely defensively in European competition. I believe the thinking behind the rule is to make the away team try to attack more than they otherwise would, but surely this in turn makes the home team need to play more defensively. Essentially, the rule says that a 2-1 home win is better than a 3-2 home win, and that a 2-2 home draw is worse than a 1-1 home draw. This is clearly ridiculous, surely all draws should be looked upon as the same, and a victory by a one goal margin should be seen simply as it is - a victory by a one goal margin.

A most ludicrous case comes to mind, back in the Champions League semi-finals of 2003. AC Milan were drawn to play city rivals Internazionale and the two ties took place in their shared stadium, the San Siro. A goalless first leg ensued, and the second leg finished 1-1 after Andriy Shevchenko put the Rossoneri one up before Obafemi Martins grabbed a late equaliser for the Nerazzurri. But as Inter were supposedly the home team in the second leg, it was Milan that went through thanks to Sheva's 'away goal'. Pure folly. Simply put, UEFA should abolish the away goals rule and stick to good old-fashioned extra time and penalties to settle any tied match. At least that way a team has to win by an actual margin.

Nothing to Prove? Or Everything?

Two sublime finishes from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the quarter-final first leg at the Emirates stadium last night will certainly have gone a long way to proving his doubters wrong. The big Swedish striker has been touted as one of the best players of his generation by many on the continent, but he has always had his critics, many of those in the United Kingdom. One of the biggest gripes the naysayers had with him was that he never scored in the Champions League knockout round. He changed that with a goal on German soil against Stuttgart in the last round. Another accusation levelled at him was that he never performed against English teams. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia will have to disagree with that after his showing in north London. As for not doing it in the big matches, Ibracadabra already has a winning goal in El Clasico against Real Madrid to his name this season.

The superstar striker seems to have it all, with aerial ability, great control, no lack of pace and a powerful shot, yet it seems he will always have his detractors. With a demeanour that can come across almost as arrogant as Cristiano Ronaldo, and an attitude that sometimes resembles the laziness of Dimitar Berbatov, the 6 foot 5 inch forward is perhaps not the most likeable character. The man was Capocannoniere (top scorer) in Italy last season with 25 league goals for Internazionale. In fact, in every season he spent in that country, his team finished top of the league (albeit with Juventus, their titles were stripped after the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal). That's a total of five Serie A triumphs. On top of two Dutch Eredivisie titles won while at Ajax earlier in his career. So what exactly does Ibrahimovic have to prove?

His worth, maybe. Despite these achievements, and his silky playing style, the price Pep Guardiola was willing to pay for him sparked outrage across the football community. £40 million PLUS prolific striker Samuel Eto'o. Eto'o, many reckon, is better than Ibrahimovic, with 130 goals in 200 Barcelona appearances, including two in separate Champions League finals. He is also only a year older than his Swedish counterpart so the vast difference in value is highly questionable. The difference is certainly his playing style. Eto'o is a hard-working goal-grabbing striker. Ibrahimovic gets goals but adds a lot more creativity and panache, the kind of football that the Catalans adore. This perhaps, is what Pep Guardiola values so much. After all, the manager is no chump, within 18 months of taking over Barcelona he had won six different trophies - every single trophy the club had competed in during that time. Football's top coaches clearly rate him. Last season his manager at Inter, Jose Mourinho, claimed he was the best footballer in the world. With team-mate Lionel Messi comfortably holding that title at the moment, it might take a long time for the rest of the world to agree. But if he carries on scoring like he did at Arsenal, and lifts the Champions League trophy this May, he may well win over all his doubters...

Fighting for Fabio

With South Africa 2010 looming large, Wayne Rooney seems to be the only England striker who knows he will be in Fabio Capello's starting line up. The United man has been in sparkling form, surpassing his previous season best by 10 before the end of March. But with England prone as ever to the 4-4-2 formation, who is the best man to partner him up front? Here is the case for five Englishmen hoping to be on the pitch at Rustenburg to face the USA on the 12th of June:

Emile Heskey:

With 106 Premier League goals and 57 England caps to his name, the Villa striker certainly has the experience to start in South Africa. The often-maligned Leicester-born forward featured prominently in the qualifying campaign and was widely regarded as influential in Rooney's match winning performances. He provides a considerable amount of assists and helps open space for his strike partner (as was the case with Michael Owen in their Liverpool days and with England under Sven-Goran Eriksson) but his biggest stigma remains a lack of goals. With only seven for his country and averaging just five league goals in his last four seasons, the jury is still out on whether another, goal scoring target man could be the better choice. Cue...

Peter Crouch:

Well, we say a goal scoring target man. Despite netting twenty in thirty-seven England caps, Crouch has only found the net for Spurs six times in the league this season. However, he made a big impact in England's last match against Egypt and like Heskey, provides plenty of assists to his strike partners. Not as strong or pacy as other strikers, Crouch certainly has the skill and height to trouble defences and his impressive international record will stand him in good stead to make the starting line up in South Africa, but one of his Spurs colleagues will be hoping otherwise...

Jermain Defoe:

The diminutive Londoner is more of a natural finisher than Heskey or Crouch but if he's to play alongside Rooney then Capello will be making a big decision. Playing two small frontmen has never been popular in the world of football, and Argentina were much-derided in the South American qualifiers for the use of tiny trio Sergio Aguero, Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi as a front three. Having said that, Rooney has developed his game this season, holding up the ball and scoring headers. Therefore it isn't completely impossible to see him acting as more of a target man with Defoe flaunting his pace and shooting ability alongside him. The striker can be erratic though, and while looking like a world class performer one week( the five goals against Wigan come to mind) he can then go a few games without catching the eye. He's enjoying his most successful season to date, with seventeen league goals, but that is three less than...

Darren Bent:

With twenty league goals, which would have been enough to win the golden boot in last season's Premier League, already in the bag, the former Spurs man must have his heart set on South Africa. Bent has excelled in an often struggling Sunderland side, netting against Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in the process. Clearly a big game player, the ex-Ipswich youngster has yet to show it for England with no goals and only five appearances since his debut against Uruguay back in 2006. He's experienced a major snub before when he was the highest scoring English player in the 2005-06 Premier League and still failed to make Sven's 2006 World Cup squad. He can't do a lot more to get in the England squad, but his place on the plane is far from certain, unlike...

Steven Gerrard:

The Liverpool skipper and England vice-captain hasn't been enjoying his best season but is a dead cert to be in South Africa. However, with Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard forming a solid partnership in the centre of midfield, and plenty of options for the wide berths, could Stevie G do a job for England up front? Playing in the hole behind Fernando Torres last season, Gerrard found his best form, netting sixteen times as Liverpool came agonisingly close to that long-awaited title. This year, with injuries playing a part and a poor squad around himself and Torres, the scouse hero has failed to regain his form of 08/09. But with Rooney establishing himself as an out and out striker, a system which sees the two Liverpudlian's dovetailing up front for the Three Lions could work out well for all parties. But with only a couple of friendlies left before it gets serious, Capello may well have left it too late to experiment...

The nation awaits until June the 12th to see Fabio's final frontmen...

May the Worst Teams Lose...

I was at Villa Park yesterday to witness Burnley collapse to an unprecedented 13th defeat in their first 14 away games of the season, their porous defence leaking five goals along the way. However, impressive home form has kept them in contention and with less than 3 months of the season to play, it seems like it could be any two from seven clubs that will end up in eighteenth and nineteenth places come the end of the season.

Twentieth place is surely accounted for. The 2-1 defeat at home to ten-man Stoke City yesterday sees Portsmouth eight points adrift from safety with twelve games to play, and while mathematically speaking there remains hope, off field affairs seem to be taking their toll on the club. Unpaid wages, the threat of going out of business altogether and the fact their manager was recently caught in a tabloid scandal visiting a brothel doesn't help a team shawn of their FA Cup winning stars of 2008. Only 4 players remain less than 2 years on from that monumentous occasion and this season the club seem to have had more owners than victories to their name. With Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and in-form Birmingham all coming up in their next six fixtures, even wins over rivals Burnley and Hull City would probably not be enough.

Pompey aside, the relegation battle looks to be as exciting as ever with only 4 points separating Brian Laws' 19th placed outfit and Gianfranco Zola's Hammers in 13th. Stoke City and Blackburn have strung a series of results together to pull away from the pack, but early high-flyers Sunderland have nose-dived spectacularly and talk on Weirside has gone from European qualification to avoiding the drop over the last couple of months. Wigan Athletic, so unpredictable earlier in the season have become almost dead certs to lose, with only two wins in fifteen games in all competitions. With a dismal ten goals at Molineux all season, Big Mick's Wolves may be lacking the bite required to stay up.

Phil Brown's Hull have been written off by many but the Tigers are still level with the pack, the recent win over Manchester City and draw with Chelsea restoring some hope for the KC crowd. As for Bolton Wandererers, Owen Coyle has a real challenge on his hands to keep his team ahead of his former employers over the road at Turf Moor.

The basement battle seems certain to go on to the last day of the season as it has so often in recent seasons, and for some clubs it could be a long way back if they go down. For every Newcastle United, surely ready to bounce straight back up, there's a Bradford City, doomed to lower league obscurity. With Portsmouth's financial disaster, they could well go the way of Bradford, but as for the other teams, they will all fancy their chances of maintaining their place in the elite. Perhaps not because of their own abilities, but because of the fallability of others...

Life after Ronaldo. Life after United?

Manchester United were accused by many of being a one man team in Cristiano Ronaldo's last two seasons at the club. But last night, the UEFA Champions League results of Ronaldo's past and present clubs contrasted starkly. While Real Madrid struggled away to 4th-placed French side Lyon, falling to a 1-0 defeat, the Portuguese's former employers powered their way back from a goal down to claim a crucial 3-2 away victory against seven-times European Champions AC Milan. The £80million-man and his Galactico team-mates including former San Siro star Kaka, Xabi Alonso and substitute Karim Benzema, on his return to the Stade Gerland, failed to find an away goal and succumbed to a great strike by Jean Makoun. Meanwhile, United banged in three in Italy, Paul Scholes thoroughly outshining former comrade David Beckham, and while Ronaldinho impressed for the Rossoneri, Wayne Rooney showed that he really is the main man now. The effervescent Clarence Seedorf certainly gave United something else to think about when he came off the bench, and Michael Carrick's bizarre sending off means it isn't quite job done for the Red Devils but Sir Alex Ferguson was more than satisfied with the outcome in Milan.

That can't quite be said for Manuel Pellegrini at Real. Ok, so los Blancos are by no means out of the tie, and will still fancy their chances of overcoming the deficit at the Bernabeu in three weeks time, but the Spaniards haven't progressed past this stage of the competition since 2004, and with their outlay in excess of £200 million last summer, president Florentino Perez will be expecting a lot better from the club that he has put so much cash into. Many say that when you leave Manchester United, the only way is down, and while Ronaldo will be adamant he is going to win trophies in Spain, the all-conquering Barcelona of Pep Guardiola are still ahead of Madrid in the league, and they certainly have their work cut out in Europe. Beckham himself is an example of a number 7 who left Old Trafford for the Bernabeu, and in the seven seasons since his departure, he only has one league title to his name, as opposed to six won in Manchester( plus 2 FA Cups and a European Cup).

Ferguson's men have regrouped and hit top form again in recent weeks after a mid-season wobble, Rooney has taken on the mantle of goalscorer, and last night he netted his 24th and 25th goals of the season. Ronaldo's tally of 42 goals in 2007/08 may well be in sight if he keeps up his form, and the likes of Darren Fletcher, Patrice Evra, Park Ji-Sung and Michael Carrick have all been dominant in the recent victories over local rivals Manchester City, Arsenal and now Milan. United have scored 62 goals in 26 premier league games, making them top scorers, and have conceded less goals than both title-rivals Chelsea and Arsenal. It seems United never were a one man team, and while Real have bought many superstars, right now it is more likely that come May, the medals will be in Manchester, and not Madrid.........

The Big Gap

For most of this season, it has looked like it may well be the one where the 'Big Four' are finally broken into. Manchester United lost five league games before Christmas for the first time in years, Chelsea have been solid yet defensively unimpressive in several matches and Liverpool have been on a truly horrendous run of form losing twelve games in all competitions, and finding it nigh on impossible to string more than two wins together. As for Arsenal, well they've performed very well, but let's be honest, with their final league positions in the last 4 seasons reading 4th,4th,3rd and 4th and no trophies since Patrick Vieira was captain, they weren't exactly formidable anyway. Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa have been touted as the trio to do it and their players and form have been impressive in patches. Yet look at the league table tonight and you will see Arsenal, Chelsea and United over 9 points ahead of this 'threatening' trio and the much-derided Anfield outfit just one point off 4th, despite the fact they've been playing so badly for so long. The 'Big Four' may not be getting much better, United look distinctively less lethal without a certain Portuguese player, Chelsea are aging, Arsenal still look a bit lightweight both in defence and at centre-forward and Rafa's squad's frailties are under more scrutiny than ever, but the truth is, they're still miles ahead of the others. City can throw all their Arab's money at the squad and hire whichever managers they want and it does look like they will make the break-through soon enough, but not just yet. Liverpool are still in touch despite their recent form and if they string some results together which SURELY they have to now, they will achieve that 'Guaranteed' fourth place and Champions League qualification. The squads of the big four have the experience and depth which keeps them ahead of the pretenders. You can't buy a whole squad who have been swimming in the deep end of Europe's Elite tournament for most of the past decade in one go. City are trying but it will take time, Villa are going about it slowly under Martin O'Neill, building on each season with shrewd, usually British acquisitons, and Spurs are somewhere in between the two. But no matter how bad the 'Big Four' have become this season, it appears the gap had become so big, that it's going to take the most heroic of efforts for any team to break into their ranks and start to contest titles and Champions League's on a regular basis...

The Magic of the FA Cup is Well and Truly Still Intact

Wow. Did Leeds United, the team ranked 45th in the English league system really just beat the reigning champions and last year's European Cup finalists Manchester United at Old Trafford? Yes, they did. And how? With a lot of passion, brilliant tactics, a fresh on-form striker in the shape of Jermaine Beckford and the luck to catch United having a very, very bad day at the office. The visitors capitalised on some below par defending from a clearly shakey Wes Brown, who had only found out he was playing when Nemanja Vidic pulled up injured in the warm-up, and Beckford made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net. Then the visitors defended with the confidence of a team with the best league record in England this season, albeit playing in the third tier against opposition far inferior to their Manchester arch-rivals. United's frontline, made up of the anonymous £30 million man Dimitar Berbatov and the strangely misfiring England striker Wayne Rooney, just could not muster a reply, and even when Michael Owen, a man who scored more Premier League goals in the past decade than anyone bar Thierry Henry and Robbie Keane, was introduced from the bench he missed a clearcut chance of his own. The home team which included such experienced pros as Gary Neville, Brown and later Ryan Giggs as well as promising youngsters of the calibre of Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and Fabio Da Silva were simply not up to the task and were deservedly turned over by a well-organised Leeds outfit under the astute management of Simon Grayson. The yorkshire men deserved their day in the spotlight, reminding many of the glory days of 2001 when they ventured into the semi-finals of the Champions League with David O'Leary's team which included Mark Viduka, Rio Ferdinand and Harry Kewell. Times have changed for the worse since but if they carry on with the form shown so far this season, it won't be too long before they are back in the Premier League, where they surely belong. As for the Red Devils, it looks like it might be back to the drawing board for Fergie, who only spared substitute Antonio Valencia from criticism after the match, and threatened to make wholesale changes to the team for the Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester City, which has now unfortunately been postponed due to the snow. If United are to land a record nineteenth league title come May, or reach a third consecutive Champions League final, Berbatov, Owen, Brown and the rest need to seriously get their act together...

Foreign Owners + Managerial Appointments = Sheer Stupidity

The decision by Manchester City's Arab owners to sack Mark Hughes despite only two defeats this season is frankly ludicrous. Roberto Mancini may have done fairly well at Internazionale, 3 Serie A titles is impressive( albeit the first was handed to them after Juventus were stripped of it due to their involvement in the calciopoli scandal) yet he was shown out of the door because of a failure to progress in Europe. With no managerial experience of the Premier League, there is little or no evidence to show he'll do any better than Hughes was doing. Ok, the welsh manager had seen his side drop points at home to the likes of Burnley, Hull City and Fulham but victories over Arsenal and Chelsea plus an impressive performance at Old Trafford surely pointed towards progress. Hughes' signings of the likes of Shay Given and Craig Bellamy were really paying off, and Carlos Tevez is just starting to hit form, yet a team with so many new players can't be expected to win the title straight away. Unfortunately, it appears that's what the management were expecting, they are hard businessmen and their understanding of football is clearly not the greatest. I'd be surprised if Mancini lasts as long as Hughes did. Another foreign manager replacing a perfectly good British manager, thanks to the stupidity of foreign owners.

Further stupidity of foreign owners who clearly don't know what they are doing is exemplified by Messrs Hicks and Gillett at Liverpool. Their decision to reward the ever-insolent and sarcastic Rafael Benitez with a pricey 4 year contract extension seems to be costing them dearly. Rafa's reputation at Liverpool is based on two trophies won his first two seasons at the club. Yes, the first was the Champions League, but Lady Luck surely played a bigger role than the Spanish boss in that conquest, as first a Steven Gerrard screamer edged them out of the group stage, before Luis Garcia's goal that never crossed the line against Chelsea in the semi-final and then the miracle of all miracles in that incredible final in Istanbul. Their league performance that season was dismal, a 5th place finish, 37 points behind champions Chelsea. Yes, they won the FA Cup the following season but two 3rd places and a 4th place finish between 2006 and 2008 were merely adequate, the Anfield outfit never really threatening to win the title. Last season they came the closest yet but still finished trophiless. With Fernando Torres, Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Jamie Carragher and Pepe Reina at the top of their game, the team seemed to thrive, but with Alonso gone, Torres and Gerrard unable to stay fit for more than 4 or 5 games in a row and Mascherano, Carragher and Reina not firing on all cylinders, the rest of Rafa's shoddy squad are showing their true colours. Flop signings have been the real hallmark of Benitez's regime, the likes of Fernando Morientes, Ryan Babel, Bellamy, Andrea Dossena, Robbie Keane and Andriy Voronin have all failed to live up to the Kop's standards and the fact the spaniard is still in a job when the likes of Hughes and Alan Curbishley aren't is simply outrageous. Yes, he signed Fernando Torres, but it doesn't take a genius to tell that he's a great player! The foolish North American owners have put themselves in a situation where it would cost more money to sack Benitez than to fail to qualify for the Champions League, an ever more likely prospect given their current league position of 8th, following an appalling seventh league defeat at bottom of the table Portsmouth. 4 wins in 17 games speaks for itself, and elimination from a less-than-daunting Champions League group is surely not good enough for a club of Liverpool's stature. At almost any other club Benitez would be on borrowed time, yet thanks to the financial situation of Liverpool, it looks like he could well be comfortably sailing his big scouse ship into the Europa League and mid-table obscurity in the coming year...

The Premier League Team of the Noughties

As the decade draws to a close, I've been thinking about the best players of the last ten years. Initially I thought I would choose a 'World Team of the Noughties' but there are simply too many candidates to choose a satisfactory XI, so I've narrowed it down to just Premier League players. By no means am I saying these are the best eleven players of the last ten years, there are certain areas of the team where I was spoilt for choice, and others(particularly right-back) where candidates were thin on the ground. However, if I'm going for a 4-4-2, i think based on their consistent performances, these players would certainly take some beating.

GK: Brad Friedel
'Brad Friedel!? Are you crazy?' I hear you ask. Well no, over the last decade, Friedel has for me, had the safest pair of hands in the Premier League and surely deserves to have been playing in the Champions League. The current Villa stopper holds the record for most consecutive Premier League appearances, well over 200 and counting(at time of writing). After leaving Liverpool for second tier Blackburn Rovers in November of 2000, he helped guide the Ewood Park outfit back to the Premier League that very season and remained a fixture in their goal until Martin O'Neill came calling in Summer 2008. This decade Petr Cech had 2 outstanding seasons, Edwin Van Der Sar broke a record for consecutive clean sheets, Shay Given defies his own height with some of his performances, but for sheer consistency it has to be the big bald American for the number 1 shirt.

RB: Steve Finnan
A difficult position to decide with few obvious candidates. Lauren was impressive in Arsenal's invincibles team but has since disappeared into obscurity, Chelsea have gone through too many right-backs of late to present any real contenders and Gary Neville has become captain of Manchester United but hasn't been as consistent in recent years so I've decided to plump for Steve Finnan. The Irish international is remarkably the only player to have played at all 4 levels of English football, the Conference, the World Cup, the Champions League, the UEFA Cup and La Liga. An FA Cup and Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2006 and 2005 respectively, Finnan had previously made the PFA team of the year in 2002 for his part in keeping Fulham in the Premier League after helping them to promotion the previous season. After a brief stint in Spain, Finnan goes into the new decade hoping to help new team Portsmouth maintain their Premier League status.

CB: John Terry(captain)
Chelsea's resurgence in the new millennium may largely be down to an influx of Russian cash courtesy of a certain Mr Abramovich, but at the heart of their success has been a home-grown centre-back by the name of John Terry. Leading Chelsea to their first league title in 50 years, then succesfully defending it as well as playing his part in 3 FA Cup and 2 League Cup victories are good enough reasons to warrant his presence as captain in this team, and retaining the England captaincy under the astute Fabio Capello would help his case further. In those title winning seasons, Terry lead a seemingly unbeatable defence, and he chips in with his fair share of goals too. The less said about that penalty in Moscow the better though...

CB: Rio Ferdinand
Football has almost forgotten the turmoil that the Manchester United defender went through back in 2004. Hung up to dry by the FA after the dubious 'missed drugs test' affair, Ferdinand was banned for 8 months, missing Euro 2004 and dashing United's 03/04 title challenge. The former Leeds and West Ham man has bounced back stronger than ever though, playing a major part in United's back-to-back-to-back titles, and 2008 Champions League victory. Added to the title he won in his first season at United way back in 2003, as well as 2 league cups, the 2008 Club World Cup and 76 England caps, Rio has certainly achieved a fair amount this decade. His partnership with Nemanja Vidic in the last 3 seasons has seen comparisons drawn with United's legendary Bruce-Pallister pairing of the early 90s. Out injured at the moment, Rio will be hoping to return to form and fitness soon and help England's World Cup challenge in South Africa next summer...

LB: Ashley Cole
The only man to play in two different European Cup finals with two different English clubs, albeit losing both, the speedy left-back has gone from strength to strength this decade. As a youngster at Arsenal he dazzled on the left flank, winning 2 Premier League titles including the season the Gunners went unbeaten, as well as 3 FA Cups. A further 2 FA Cups at Chelsea and a first League Cup triumph have added to the Londoner's CV and fantastic form in 2009 have led to him being labelled the best left-back in the world by some. Another one who will be looking to make his mark in South Africa 2010, but not before he has another shot at the Champions League and Premier League titles with Chelsea...

RM: Cristiano Ronaldo
Only a Premier League player for 6 seasons, but the only England-based player to win the FIFA World Player of the year award all decade. The portuguese winger arrived in England as a skinny 18 year old, and initially came across as just another inconsistent tricksy winger with no end product. After a couple of years that changed though, and the new beefed-up Ronaldo turned into a goal machine, netting an unbelievable 90 goals in all competitions in his last three seasons at Old Trafford. Not only quantity, but the quality of his goals also stood out, think the cheeky flick against Villa, the free-kick against Portsmouth, the 40 yard screamer at Porto and the counter-attacking masterpiece in the Champions League at Arsenal. Weighing in with plenty of assists too, the Madeira-born forward certainly warrants his tag as 'World's most expensive player'.

CM:Steven Gerrard
The Liverpool talisman certainly deserves a place in this team, as for the last decade he has been the heartbeat of the merseyside outfit, leading them to European glory and maintaining their position as one of the Premier League's big four. Always willing to put in maximum effort, and chipping in with important goals almost whenever Liverpool are in need, Stevie G has been incredible. His role has changed through the decade from playing all across the midfield to becoming a sort of second striker to Fernando Torres, where his attacking prowess has prospered. If England are to win the World Cup next summer, they're going to need this man firing on all cylinders.

CM: Frank Lampard
Signed from West Ham in 2001, the attacking midfielder has made himself a legend at Chelsea, finishing second in the polls for FIFA World Player of the Year and Ballon D'or in 2005 and becoming the Premier League's highest ever scoring midfielder with 112 and counting. Playing a major role in Chelsea's Premier League and domestic cup success, Lamps even found himself on the scoresheet in the Champions League final back in 2008, only to lose out to Manchester United on penalties. Rarely missing games, Lampard has arguably been the most consistent outfield player of the decade and has also scored 20 goals in 76 England matches. For England, it's considered that Frank and Steven Gerrard can't both play in central midfield together, but for this team of the decade, they are both irreplaceable.

LM: Ryan Giggs
Giggsy has won more trophies in his career than most clubs do in their entire history. 11 Premier League titles, including 6 this decade, as well as 2 European cups, multiple domestic cups, and numerous individual accolades have all found their way onto the Welshman's CV over the years. He also holds about a million different records, including being the only player to score in every Premier League season, the first player to win consecutive PFA young player of the year awards and the most appearances for Manchester United. As effective as ever at the age of 36, Giggs has been United's best player this season according to the Actim index, and recently scoring his 100th league goal and winning the BBC Sports personality of the year award, the winger-cum-playmaker just keeps on going. A model professional and a true inspiration to everyone in the game, it's a crying shame that he never had the chance to show his skills in an international tournament..

CF: Thierry Henry
The frenchman certainly brought plenty of va-va-voom to the Premier League and was Arsenal's most important player in their 'invincibles' team of 2004. Becoming the gunners all-time top scorer with 226 goals was no mean feat, and only Alan Shearer and Andy Cole have scored more Premier League goals than him in history. He finished as the league's top scorer in 4 different campaigns including netting 30 in that unbeaten season. It is seen by many as a crime that he never won the World Player of the year during his time at Highbury, and perhaps European glory was what he missed under Arsene Wenger, losing in his only Champions League final to Barcelona in 2006, a club he would join a year later and with whom he would finally achieve European success earlier this year. The quality of Henry's goals were usually sublime, and the sight of him cutting in from the left wing and punishing goalkeeper after goalkeeper became a common sight. A true modern legend of the game, regardless of his antics in the World Cup play-offs last month...

CF: Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Goals, goals, goals. That's what Van Nistelrooy lives for, and his 5 years at Manchester United were full of them, netting 44 goals in all competitions in his only title-winning season of 2002/03. The dutchman was prolific, bagging 95 Premier League goals in his time in England and would surely have made 100 if his fourth season hadn't been heavily disrupted by injury. The ultimate goal poacher, Ruud has since gone on to play for Real Madrid, and is the second highest Champions League goal-scorer of all time, behind current team mate Raul. This is largely down to his prolific European performances while at United, scoring a whopping 38 goals in 47 Champions League matches. There have been some great strikers in the Premier League this decade, but for pure goal-scoring ability, none have matched Ruud Van Nistelrooy..

Bench:
Edwin Van Der Sar: 4 solid years at Fulham, before becoming United's best keeper since Peter Schmeichel. Broke record for consecutive clean sheets earlier this year.
Jamie Carragher: Liverpool stalwart who became one of the most solid centre-backs in the Premier League. Premature international retirement may prove costly to England who are thin on the ground when it comes to top quality defenders heading into 2010...
Patrick Vieira: Captain of Arsenal's invincibles and an incredible leader and defensive midfielder, his clashes with Manchester United's Roy Keane were highlights of the early part of the decade.
Robert Pires: Another member of Arsenal's invincibles, the winger scored and set up plenty of goals and linked up fantastically with fellow frenchman Thierry Henry. Now with Villarreal in Spain.
Claude Makelele: Chelsea's gain was Real Madrid's loss as the Blues turned into a title winning outfit and the galacticos fell apart. Made the holding midfield role his own.
Didier Drogba:
Took a couple of years to settle into England but the big Ivorian striker has been phenomenal towards the end of the decade and seems unstoppable going into the new decade.
Wayne Rooney: Burst onto the scene as a 16 year old in an Everton kit who scored a screamer past David Seaman at Goodison Park back in 2002. The forward then moved to Manchester United where he is fast developing into one of the world's most feared strikers. Surely will make the first XI for the next decade...