Success, Failure and Referees...

Well it's finally over, and what did we learn? That the favourites with all the best players really can win the World Cup, that global superstars can flop miserably at finals tournaments, and that refereeing mistakes are just as prominent as ever.

Firstly, the Spanish were worthy winners despite never getting into their full stride, only scoring eight goals in their seven games. There's not a lot left to say about them that hasn't already been said but their entire squad oozed quality. When the likes of David Silva are left on the bench, Fernando Llorente makes one impressive substitute appearance then doesn't get another look in and Fernando Torres gets forced out of the starting line-up, it is clear that the team was more than special. If they go on to claim the 2012 Euros as well, La Furia Roja may well go down as THE best international team of all time. A compelling final was somewhat ruined by Holland's appalling discipline and their cheek at criticising Howard Webb, claiming his refereeing cost them the Final is plain ridiculous as if anything, he should have reduced them to at least nine men in the first half. More on refereeing later.

As for the superstars, Wayne Rooney flopped harder than most, but it is incredible to think that between the England striker, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Torres, Franck Ribery and Kaka - six of the most marketable sportsmen in the world, they only managed one goal. That being from Ronaldo who contributed a sixth goal in Portugal's 7-0 rout of North Korea, hardly a strike of importance. The reasons behind these poor performances are not completely clear, a lack of fitness seemed to afflict Rooney, Torres and to an extent Kaka, and Ribery was perhaps unfortunate to be involved in the absolute farce that was the French team. Yet where these big stars flopped, others flourished. David Villa surely muscling past Rooney, Torres and Didier Drogba for the title of world's best centre forward, and Uruguay's talisman Diego Forlan continuing his Europa League form of the past season and putting in performances that earnt him the coveted Golden Ball prize. Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben both excelled in the Dutch team and Sneijder particularly should be in contention for FIFA's world player of the year award come December. Key player in Inter's treble winning season and crucial to his team's run to a World Cup final, few could claim to have matched his achievements this year.

As for the refereeing, Frank Lampard's goal that never was obviously sticks in the mind, as do several contentious offside and handball decisions. Not to mention Webb's leniency in the final. Should technology be introduced? I think so but only for clear decisions, more precisely, whether the ball crossed the line or not, and offsides. Fouls are usually debatable even after several replays so this could slow down the game too much, but for a fourth official to observe whether the ball crossed the line or if players were offside on a monitor is perfectly feasible for top level football and this would hardly delay the game, if at all. Whether FIFA give it the go ahead remains unlikely as Sepp Blatter has always insisted the game remains the same from grass roots up, even though quite clearly an amateur game in the park is quite different from a UEFA Champions League final at Wembley in front of 90,000 fans and a worldwide TV audience while each player earns six figure sums per week. Perhaps better training for the referees, who are almost all part-time could be an option. There's enough money in the game to have full-time paid referees and if they were given serious training each week, mistakes might be minimalized. But it looks like the experiment carried out last year in the Europa league with extra officials next to the goals will persist, which of course means more officials are needed and always leaves room for human error. Some things will never change I guess...

Other World Cup mentions should go to New Zealand, who did incredibly well to leave the tournament unbeaten, after three draws in the group stage. They were still knocked out, but for a team that were expected by most to be on the wrong end of cricket scores, they did their nation proud, finishing ahead of 2006 world champions Italy. The Italians, like the French and the English have to seriously reconsider their teams, formations and philosophies...rebuilding is definitely on the agenda if these are to challenge in Brazil 2014. The Germans also deserve praise for excelling with some direct, attacking football, a blend of youth and experience, and that hard-faced German attitude that just seems to drag them through tournament after tournament. Mesut Oezil, Thomas Mueller and Sami Khedira are all going to be ones to watch over the coming seasons and will surely again feature prominently at Euro 2012.

All in all, a successful first World Cup in Africa, with less crime and transport issues than anticipated, and eventually plenty of entertainment despite some of the dull football which marred the early group games. The 4-2-3-1 formation took prominence and some of the latter stages produced scintillating football, particularly Holland's thriller with Uruguay and Germany's rout of the defensively-disastrous Argentina. Now it's over, what to do? Well, a month today and the Premier League season will be recommencing. Excellent.

Getting Closer to Glory

Well, what interesting semi-finalists we have. Spain, pre-tournament favourites have flattered to deceive yet David Villa has practically dragged them through to their (inexplicably) first-ever World Cup semi-final with five goals, mostly brilliant, when most of his team-mates, notably Fernando Torres and Gerard Pique have looked decidedly off-colour. Back-to-back 1-0 wins over Portugal and Paraguay have done the trick for La Furia Roja but they are about to face their trickiest test yet. The Germans, yet again, have shone despite being overlooked by many before the tournament. They destroyed England 4-1 then went one better and exposed Diego Maradona's sorry excuse for a defence with a 4-0 win over the Argentines. Maradona's decisions to leave out the likes of Barcelona's Gabriel Milito and Inter's Javier Zanetti look even more foolish than they already did now. The emergence of Mesut Oezil and Thomas Mueller have been instrumental to the sudden flow of German goals. Added to the incredibly prolific Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski and it's incredible the Germans weren't thought of as real contenders at the start of the tournament. Yes, neither of those strikers have been great for club lately but both do the trick for country. Perhaps England could take note, Peter Crouch has similarly performed better for country than club but he wasn't given a sniff by Fabio Capello in South Africa. Joachim Lowe has succeeded where Capello failed in drilling his team tactically and ensuring every player knows their exact role in the system, a 4-2-3-1 which seems to be the vogue formation of the World Cup, again England could take note...

In the other semi-final the Dutch will be fancying their chances. Fresh from beating Brazil, the brilliant club form of Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben seems to have continued into the World Cup, where others (Rooney, Messi, Ronaldo) have all stumbled. Combined with an effective Dirk Kuyt and Robin Van Persie(the only one who is perhaps not quite firing yet) in another 4-2-3-1 formation, the Oranje would appear to have their best chance of claiming a first ever World Cup. An astonishing thought when considering the legends the Dutch have had at their disposal down the years: Johan Cruyff, Johnny Rep, Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Ruud Van Nistelrooy...Not one has lifted the World Cup. But then, nor has Spain, so we have two chances of witnessing a new world champion this year.

Somewhat surprisingly, Uruguay, the underdogs of the last four, already have two World Cups in the bag, albeit from way back in 1930, the inaugural tournament, and 1950, the first post-war tournament. Luis Suarez has received much abuse for his own 'hand of god' incident but really, I defy anyone to do differently in that situation, where if he didn't act his team were certainly out of the World Cup. By making the handball, Suarez made the sizeable sacrifice of missing a possible semi-final as well as missing the penalty shoot-out (where he would have been a key-taker) while still handing Ghana a very good chance to win by scoring a penalty. No, Ghana only have themselves to blame after Asamoah Gyan, previously impressive throughout, bottled the all important penalty kick. Uruguay then won the shoot-out fair and square, Sebastien Abreu with a sublime 'Panenka' style kick to round things off. However, without Suarez, the Uruguayans will be up against it on Tuesday night, and much will be required of Diego Forlan who has scored three goals so far and like Sneijder and Robben continued his club form of the past season, where he scored winning goals past both Liverpool and Fulham to lead Atletico Madrid to Europa League glory.

Personally, I believe the Dutch will just have too much quality for the last South American team in the tournament, and that the Germans' form will just be enough to edge out the Spaniards, who aren't quite firing as well as they were expected. However, in this World Cup anything can happen as we've seen so far with some bizarre results and Messrs Forlan and Muslera for Uruguay, and Villa and Casillas for Spain in particular will be looking to see their countries into the final next Sunday. The feast of football goes on, with the final only seven days away! Oh yeah, and the third place-play off the night before, if anyone's interested? Anybody?

The Factors Behind the Failure

After watching England's World Cup dreams disappear on Sunday afternoon while stood in a sunny, sweaty field at Glastonbury festival, it has taken me a few days to really think about and decipher exactly where we went wrong. Here are my thoughts on the combination of faults and fate that denied England a third successive quarter-final:

Lack of form:

Newly-instated captain Steven Gerrard went into the tournament on the back of probably the worst season of his career with Liverpool, so confidence couldn't exactly have been high. Other key players had also been off form, with John Terry having a less than convincing spell for Chelsea mid-way through the season and Wayne Rooney failing to find the net in the last two months of the season, despite incredible form before that. Similarly Jermain Defoe's goals had dried up long before the end of the season and Emile Heskey didn't start a game for Aston Villa from February onwards.

Injury problems:

Yes, other countries have them too but losing captain Rio Ferdinand immediately prior to the tournament didn't help. Not only that but Rooney, Aaron Lennon, Gareth Barry, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson had all picked up injuries in the latter part of the season, and Rooney and Barry in particular never looked to have fully recovered from these. David Beckham and Michael Owen were also ruled out of contention a few months before the finals, and while the former had become only a fringe member of the squad, and the latter hadn't been involved for a few years, if they were fit and firing at the business end of the season, they may well have made a difference.

Selection issues:

Fabio Capello made some interesting decisions in his squad, and starting line-up selections. Leaving Sunderland goal machine Darren Bent at home in favour of no-goals Heskey is seriously debatable, as is the choice of Shaun Wright-Phillips ahead of Theo Walcott. SWP was used as an impact substitute repeatedly but could Walcott have made more of an impact off the bench? Arsenal's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Barcelona springs to mind... Also, the inclusion of Michael Carrick seemed rather pointless as he was off form and well down the pecking order, perhaps a fifth striker would have been a better option. Regarding the starting line-ups, choosing Rob Green in the first match was clearly a mistake, as he simply isn't anywhere near as good as David James, despite the age of the latter. Capello obviously realised this in time for the Algeria match but by then the damage had been done. The lack of Peter Crouch in the line-up was also a mistake, I feel. Whereas the likes of Frank Lampard and Gerrard get lambasted for not performing for country as they do for club, Crouch is quite the opposite, and has been more prolific for country than any of his clubs, netting two against Egypt and one against Mexico in recent friendlies. Surely he should have seen more action. Again the refusal to use Joe Cole until late on in the last two matches was controversial, when he is another who has repeatedly impressed for England, including as recently as the Japan friendly shortly before the tournament.

The rigid system:

Capello stuck with 4-4-2 throughout the qualification campaign and continued through the tournament, with the exception of a brief spell against Slovenia where Joe Cole was bizarrely deployed off Defoe, and then Heskey in a 4-5-1. Yet it is this 4-5-1 system that Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool frequently employ, and Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, certainly England's three most dangerous players revel. At United Rooney often leads the line, with the likes of Park Ji-Sung, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs lurking behind him, at Liverpool Gerrard has shone playing behind Fernando Torres and at Chelsea Lampard has found form as part of a midfield three playing alongside more defensive partners such as Jon Obi Mikel and Michael Essien. A system with Rooney ahead of Gerrard flanked by Lennon and Joe Cole and with Lampard and Barry making up the midfield has been much touted by fans and journalists alike, but Don Fabio has never taken heed.

Unnecessary off-field controversy:

The whole Terry-Bridge affair (literally) which resulted in a change of captain could not have helped matters ahead of the World Cup. Further hoo-hah ensued when Capello was forced to ditch his 'Capello Index' by the FA, a scheme of his where players would be rated throughout the tournament on the manager's personal criteria. The FA feared this could offend his own players when they were rated and the idea was canned. As if Terry and Capello hadn't been involved in enough controversy already, come the tournament itself, they combined to maximum effect. The Chelsea captain announcing at a press conference that a meeting was to be held where he and the other players would voice their opinions and 'if it offends some of us, who cares?'. The next day Capello called Terry's actions a mistake and insisted no meeting of that kind had taken place and that it was simply a normal team meeting. This resulted in both parties losing face and the media cried of rifts in the England camp.

A slice of bad luck:

Injuries aside, England were unlucky in that had Algeria held on for two more minutes against the United States, the Three Lions would have been group winners and faced Ghana instead of Germany, and it could have been oh so different. Similarly, if referee Jorge Larrionda and his linesman had spotted Lampard's blatant goal against Germany, then at 2-2 England would have had the momentum against the old enemy and could well have pushed on for a victory. Not that this excuses the appalling defending that followed.

So where do we go now then?

Fresh faces are needed it would appear, with the likes of Lampard, Gerrard, Heskey and Ferdinand all the wrong side of thirty. Ashley Cole, John Terry, Matthew Upson and Peter Crouch are no spring-chickens either. For the Euro 2012 qualifiers it would be nice to see some new faces in the squad. Perhaps the likes of Ashley Young, Adam Johnson and the afore-mentioned Darren Bent deserve more of a run in the side. Other young players such as Everton's Jack Rodwell and Arsenal's Jack Wilshere will be hoping a good start to the season could see them being involved sooner rather than later. In goal, Joe Hart surely needs to be handed the number one shirt as David James is on the brink of retirement, and Green clearly isn't up to the job. As for the manager, it is hard to see how sacking him will help as a new man would have to start from scratch. Capello is experienced enough to be able to learn from the World Cup and it would be foolish to replace him when there are no obvious candidates to take over and do a better job. There are serious problems with England, and to get this team to perform at a big tournament it is going to take some extremely hard work. But it's not impossible, and if the star players can finally manage to work as a unit, like Germany and Brazil do time and again, the long wait for a trophy could end in Poland/Ukraine 2012. Don't hold your breath though...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I feel the mood needs lifting after England's drab, dire, depressing and downright dismal draw with Algeria last night, so instead of ranting about how bad the match was, which would be far too easy, I'm going to treat you all to my World Cup 2010 Ridiculously Named Players XI:

GK: Boubacar Barry

If only England midfielder Gareth had a first name as amusing as the Ivory Coast goalkeeper's, we might have had something to smile about when he started in Cape Town last night!

RB: Danny Shittu

Yes, we know him well as he has played in England his whole career, but that still doesn't stop the Nigerian defender's surname from making the average male football fan from enjoying a quick chuckle upon hearing his name.

CB: Waldo Ponce

Complete with long hair and an alice band to match the name, the Chilean defender doesn't sound like the kind of man that is going to leave centre-forwards quaking in their boots...

LB: Gaetan Bong

Could be found playing left-back for Cameroon, but with a name like that is equally likely to be found with red-eye, the munchies and listening to Bob Marley.

RM: Kim Kum Il

The 46 Korean players in the tournament were all battling out to make this team, and Kim Kum Il, the North Korean who plies his trade with a team called 'April 25' has stormed in to claim his place in the starting line-up.

CM: Surprise Moriri

The South Africa man, who plies his trade for Mamelodi Sundowns is probably the only guy at the World Cup who isn't sure whether people are greeting him or trying to give him a bit of a shock... SURPRISE!

CM: Israel Castro

The Mexican makes the team purely on the basis that visual-learners are likely to imagine a castrated Israeli upon hearing his name.

LM: Siphiwe Tshabalala

The tricksy winger scored an absolute beauty to open the tournament for the hosts, but this resulted in confused fans trying to talk about his goal and forgetting how many 'sha's 'ba's and 'la's there were and in which order. The silent T just confused matters further...

CF: Prince Tagoe

Unlike William and Harry, who could be seen on ITV earlier alongside David Beckham with grins which should not have been seen on any self-respecting Englishman's face at any point this weekend, the Ghanaians actually get their royalty involved with the football. Hang on, he's not actually a Prince? Oh...

CF: Georgie Welcome

The Honduras frontman sounds like the sort of man who would greet his guests with open arms, take their coats, offer a cup of tea and make sure they get on the right bus home.

CF: Herculez Gomez

The USA impact sub who could easily pass as a WWE wrestler, a super hero or a video game character...

And the manager?

Nigeria's Swedish coach Lars Lagerback can claim this position, as any man with a booze-related surname can feel free to manage an imaginary team of mine!

And on that note, it may be time to go and drown my England related sorrows...

Where Did All The Goals Go?

We might only be eleven matches and four days into the tournament but I'm going to throw some disconcerting statistics out there. There's only been one match with more than two goals in it, no team that has scored has lost and there's not even been a 2-1 scoreline yet, let alone a 3-1 or 3-2. In short, there's not been anywhere near enough goals. Compare this to 06 where there were 27 goals in the first eleven games (9 more than so far this time) there seems to be something wrong with the teams' attitudes at this World Cup. Many teams seem more preoccupied with defending and trying not to lose than pushing on for the win. Coaches are making more defensive decisions, such as Cameroon's Paul Le Guen choosing to use Samuel Eto'o on the right side of midfield instead of playing the prolific forward through the middle where he might actually score. Holland were underwhelming in victory over Denmark today as were France, Italy and England in their opening draws. Argentina were nowhere near effective enough against the Nigerians, scraping a 1-0 win with Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Gonzalo Higuain all failing to find the net.The only big-name nation to impress so far have been the Germans, who in typical fashion dispelled the doubters with a clinical attacking performance against an Australian team who were coming into the tournament with high hopes. There have been a few other brights sparks so far, with South Korea impressing with some aesthetically-pleasing football when defeating the dour Greeks and the hosts South Africa opened the tournament with a better showing against Mexico than many had expected. Ghana and Japan also did well to defeat Serbia and Cameroon respectively but neither of those matches were particularly exhilarating.
The World Cup is certainly yet to really take off, but there is hope yet with Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast all getting involved tomorrow before the much heralded entrance of the Spaniards on Wednesday.
Let's hope Kaka, Ronaldo, Villa et al can set the South African stage alight where others have so far failed!

Green's Blunder Just Too Familiar...

In true England fashion, the Three Lions got our 2010 World Cup campaign off to a dubious start. An absolute howler from goalkeeper Robert Green sent far too recent memories of Paul Robinson and Scott Carson flashing before the nation's eyes again. The question is, what was Fabio Capello doing selecting him in the first place? He's not had a great season for West Ham United, a Premier League howler against Bolton springs to mind, and there are two other goalkeepers in the England squad that surely have a better claim than the Hammers number one. Joe Hart may be young but he's been truly exceptional for Birmingham City over the past year and made the PFA team of the year. Veteran David James is also surely more competent than Green, and despite injuries over the past year, would still be a preferable option in goal, with plenty of experience to add to his natural ability. Ledley King's half-time withdrawal was also discouraging, and Jamie Carragher looked suspect as his replacement. It would be fair to say that a fit Rio Ferdinand would have been much appreciated in Rustenburg today.

But let's focus on the positives. After poor performances against Mexico and Japan, at least England played well for most of the match. Emile Heskey was effervescent in attack, new captain Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard both put in good shifts alongside each other in central midfield, Wayne Rooney grew into the game and looked threatening and there were similarly impressive performances from Aaron Lennon, Glen Johnson and substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips. However, the result leaves much to be desired, and Capello's men will need to be more clinical against the weaker opposition to follow, Algeria and Slovenia. Not only do we need to clinch qualification, it would be good to find some form before the knockout stages where Germany, Argentina, Brazil and the rest could be lurking. By no means a disastrous start, but the Three Lions need to eliminate these notorious errors and controversial moments from their World Cup itinerary if 44 years of hurt are finally going to end.

Jose Is Genius, But Madrid Want Mour

Last night, Jose Mourinho became only the third manager to win the European Cup with two different teams by leading his Internazionale outfit to an ultimately comfortable victory over Bayern Munich: the first time Inter have ruled Europe since 1965. Added to the six league titles won in just seven full seasons in charge of Porto, Chelsea and Inter and the cluster of other cups (including UEFA and FA cups) in his locker, then the man from Setubal really has proven himself as a 'Special One'. But could he go on to become the greatest club manager of all time?

At the age of 47, he certainly has time on his hands to equal and overtake Bob Paisley's managerial record of three European Cups (all won with Liverpool). The master tactician is bound for the home dugout at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu stadium, the scene of his most recent success. With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Gonzalo Higuain and Iker Casillas under his charge then it is certainly possible that he could walk away from next year's final venue Wembley with a second consecutive Champions League winner's medal under his belt but that will be easier said than done. When moving to Chelsea in 2004, Mourinho was handed what on paper, was a far superior squad to the one he had just led to success at Porto. Bringing in big money signings such as Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho to complement the likes of John Terry, Claude Makelele and Frank Lampard was a sure-fire route to domestic success but the continent proved harder to conquer. Defeated twice in the semi-finals by a fortuitous Liverpool and thoroughly outplayed in the last 16 by the Ronaldinho-inspired Barcelona side of 2006, the cup with the big ears proved elusive during his tenure at Stamford Bridge, and at Real Madrid he will face similar problems.

The biggest hurdle to overcome could be the presence of an opinionated, extremely powerful owner with sky high expectations. Failure to see eye-to-eye with Roman Abramovich saw a premature end to Mourinho's time in West London and in Los Blancos' President Florentino Perez, Mourinho will be faced with a character of similar ilk. The man with power at the nine-times European champions is as crazy about landing a tenth Champions League title as Abramovich is about landing Chelsea's first. The Real supremo isn't renowned for patience and after spending inconceivable amounts in the transfer window last summer, and still seeing his team knocked out in the last sixteen (for, as if anyone needs reminding, the SIXTH time in a row) and failing to overcome Barcelona in the Spanish league, current coach Manuel Pellegrini has been a dead man walking for a fair while. After ensuring the catalan team, so hated by the Madrilenos didn't make an appearance at the Bernabeu last night, Mourinho could well have more time on his hands than previous incumbents but the pressure on the club is second to none.

Failure to reach the Champions League final next year would instantly see the heat cranked up on Mourinho, and as much as he thrives on it, he still couldn't win the Champions League when at Chelsea. Furthermore, Madrid demand more than just success, sacking the likes of Fabio Capello and Vicente Del Bosque after title-winning seasons on the basis that the football style wasn't attractive. And Mourinho is certainly no Johan Cruyff when it comes to football style. Efficiency, organisation and power are the hallmarks of his teams and whether he can get this message across to Ronaldo et al and simultaneoulsy win over Perez's affections remains to be seen. If he does, and the team walks away as champions of Europe once again, then Mourinho, for sure, will be able to say he is the greatest club manager of all time.

Goal Records for Chelsea, The End of the Big Four and Champions League Football for Spurs: A Season To Remember

So it came down to the last day of the season, for only the fifth time in Premier League history, and Chelsea showed the world that they were worthy champions. A barnstorming display in front of goal saw them smash eight past Wigan, bringing their total to a record-breaking 103 league goals and seeing Didier Drogba knock Wayne Rooney out of the way to claim the Golden Boot with a second half hat-trick. An entertaining ending to what has been an entertaining season. Following on from hitting seven past Stoke City, Aston Villa and Sunderland in the last few months, Carlo Ancelotti's side have shown that Italian boss's teams aren't always about rock solid defences and cagey 1-0 wins. With Frank Lampard hitting his best ever goals tally and Florent Malouda and Nicolas Anelka both getting into double figures, the boys from the Bridge had no shortage of match-winners in their side. A first ever double is now in sight for the Pensioners with the FA Cup final to come but the Champions League will surely be top of Ancelotti's agenda for next season, with the final being held across town at Wembley Stadium.

Dethroned champions Manchester United, the previous record Premiership goal-scorers with 97 back in the days of Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole (1999/2000), will rue the day they lost 2-1 at home to Chelsea, with an injured Rooney looking on from his executive box. That turned out to be the turning point in the title race, as the Blues leap-frogged the Red Devils and never really looked back. Sir Alex Ferguson can look back on a relatively successful season however, as despite selling Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez in the close season his side came to within a point of the title and scored eighteen more league goals than last season. As well as Rooney's late season injury problems, his defence was devastated in the winter when Patrice Evra was the only fit defender for several weeks: a period which saw United crash to defeats to Fulham and Aston Villa. With just the Carling Cup in the bag and an unfortunate quarter-final Champions League exit, the Old Trafford faithful will be hungry for more next season, but 2009-10 has been by no means a disaster.

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for United's great rivals Liverpool. An abysmal season for last year's runners-ups was capped off today with a 0-0 draw at relegated Hull City which saw the Reds finish in a lowly seventh, their worst position since 1999 and only claiming a Europa League place thanks to Cup finalists Portsmouth's adminstrative woes. With a group stage Champions League exit, and early knockouts in both domestic cups(to Reading and Arsenal respectively), Liverpool have almost nothing to look back on and must think forward if they are to reclaim their place in the 'Big Four'.

Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Aston Villa will all have something to say about that though. Harry Redknapp's boys from White Hart Lane will reap the benefits of a (play-off round permitting) first ever Champions League campaign, and United's noisy neighbours are sure to make waves in this summer's transfer window, looking to put the disappointment of missing out on 4th place behind them. The Villans will be desperate to hold onto Martin O'Neill and push on from their third consecutive sixth place finish, and with the likes of 2010 PFA young player of the year James Milner and his predecessor Ashley Young a year older, they have reason to be optimistic if they can bolster their squad in the summer. With local rivals Everton only finishing two points behing Rafa Benitez's men, change seems inevitable at the legendary club, with new owners, a new manager, a new stadium and new players all on the agenda. Whether crown jewels Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are going to stay could be crucial to the Anfield outfit's prospects.

At the other end of the table, Pompey's administration effectively sealed their fate months ago and Hull City and Burnley had both looked hapless for a number of weeks, despite both hiring new managers (albeit Burnley in somewhat different circumstances to the Tigers). Goal-shy Wolves, Jekyll-and-Hyde-team Wigan and financially-troubled West Ham will have their work cut out next season with promoted Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion promising to be more threatening than the teams they are replacing.

Overall, the gap between the top teams and the rest seems to have closed, with the 'Big Four' suffering 33 defeats between them as opposed to just 17 last season. They are now arguably a 'Big Eight' (the pessimists might call it a 'Big Two' but for one of those look to Spain where there are a whopping 27 points between second and third place) with City, Spurs, Villa and Everton all in the mix for European places. We might find reason to complain about the divers, the controversial decisions and certain manager's team selections (think Mick McCarthy and Roy Hodgson) for big games, but for pure entertainment the Premier League has been as fascinating as ever. It doesn't end here though, now our attention can switch to the FA Cup final, Champions League final and the one event all football purists savour, the World Cup...

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.