Decision made...now go and win it...

So it's been announced...England's 23-man squad for the World Cup finals. And obviously Fab and I (that's Mr Capello to you) had differing ideas of who should stay and who should go!

Walcott is the big surprise, especially as he was deemed good enough to go to Germany 4 years ago by Sven even though he had never played a Premier League game for Arsenal at the time. Now with 4 years playing experience behind him, the 'Fabster' thinks he's not quite making the grade. Personally he runs a bit hot and cold for me, but I probably would have had him on the bench instead of Mighty Mouse - Wright Phillips.

So how did my predictions fare? Bent, Huddlestone, Dawson, Warnock, Carrick, Milner, Heskey - Well only 3 out of my 7 got the red card, so pretty poorly if truth be told... We'll see who was right, I hope it's Capello!

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham).
Defenders: Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), John Terry (Chelsea), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).
Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), James Milner (Aston Villa), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).
Forwards: Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

The players come from just 8 different teams, and all players play in the English Premier League. Spurs and Chelsea supply the most with four players each...

Aston Villa - 3
Chelsea - 4
Liverpool - 3
Manchester City - 3
Manchester Utd -3
Portsmouth - 1
Tottenham - 4
West Ham - 2

One thing to note - out of the supposed 'big 4', not one Arsenal player - Thanks for helping develop the English game Mr Wenger!

Time to go shopping!

The January sales are on; and while there won't be many bargains around the Premier League this month, there are a number of clubs who need to do some shopping during the Transfer window.

Not least, in my opinion, Man Utd. I'm still not quite sure how they are still on the shoulders of Chelsea at the top of the Premier league when they haven't really got started yet this year!  I still think they lack a cutting edge after Ronaldo's departure; a creative presence in midfield in the mode of Beckham and Scholes, and maybe some steel (remember Roy Keane!) would be welcomed. Cloning a couple of new Wayne Rooneys would help; Wayne 1 could win the ball, pass it off to Wayne 2, and then play a great ball for Wayne 3 to finish it...because let's face it, he can't continue to do it all on his own this season...

After last season's crazy 100 million bid for Kaka by Man City in January, you wonder what those jokers at 'Middle Eastlands' will get up to this month!  Rumours already suggest bids  for Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Inter Milan defender Maicon; and the Daily Telegraph suggests that City boss Roberto Mancini is close to making Inter Milan defender Ivan Cordoba his first signing.  It seems the Italian invasion I predicted a week or two ago is likely, as other rumours include moves to City for Juventus centre back Giorgio Chiellini, Inter Milan forward Mario Balotelli and AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso.

The BBC has used its local affiliations well in this report, where they break down the transfer options and gossip on a Premier League club by club basis...

Premier League Movers and Shakers

Interesting snippets from the BBC report - Van Nistelrooy to Liverpool? Viera back to Arsenal?  David Villa to Chelsea or Man Utd? Although Chelsea seem to be out of the mix after boss Carlo Ancelotti was quoted as saying "Will we sign anyone in January? Absolutely no way. Will I do a forfeit if we do? Yes, for sure. Will I run around naked in the snow? Yes!" 

We shall wait and see...! I'm back to bed after far too little sleep on New Year's Eve! Let me know if I miss anything!

Citeh? You're having a laugh...

So picture this... you give a man as much money as he wants, allowing him to buy the best available players from around the footballing world (which totalled about £200m); you agree a performance target of a Top 6 finish and around 70 points for the season...and then...you sack him! 

What's that all about? Sometimes the actions of Premier League football clubs are laughable.  Manchester City currently lay 6th in the Premier League table (on target); if they win their next 2 games (likely, as they are vs Stoke & Wolves) they will be at the halfway point of the season and have exactly 35 points (on target). They are in their first Cup semi final for over 20 years where they face Man Utd in January. A reasonable man might think 'So far so good' right? Obviously not. There are few reasonable men running the boardrooms of Premier League football clubs these days. 

Hughes spent nearly £200m on players during his 18-months at the helm, including a record-breaking British transfer fee of £32.4m on Robinho. He also spent heavily on Gareth Barry (£12m), Roque Santa Cruz (£16m), Tevez (£25m), Adebayor (£25m), Kolo Toure (£15m) and Lescott (£22m). It would have been considerably more had outrageous bids for Kaka, Terry and Eto' been accepted...

I think Barry and Tevez were good signings, but the others came with special Arab billionaire price tags...and have not yet proved their worth. But he's not been sacked because of poor transfers.  

City released a statement in which Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak 'explained' the club's decision  "The targets were agreed as a result of the player acquisition strategy of the club being radically accelerated in the summer. A return of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set. Sheikh Mansour and the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change."

Now admittedly a run of 7 consecutive draws is problematic when you're pushing for a top 6 finish, but on the other hand, whist they've drawn too many games, City have only lost 2 matches this season - a last minute heartbreaker to Utd *smile* and a fairly significant trouncing by Spurs last week. That's fewer games lost than anyone else in the league!!  When they are where they wanted to be (top 6) and on track for their points target (plus a semi final against their nemisis), how can the evidence suggest that Hughes was doing anything other than what he was contracted to do?   

This is another instance of a multi-billionaire owner throwing his toys out of the pram because they weren't top of league and running away with it. Ask Sir Alex Ferguson...it takes a long time to get to the top...

The question is, can Roberto Mancini do any better? He has been out of football for 18 months since Inter Milan sacked him and replaced him with Jose Mourinho last summer. He did do very well in Italy, but that is no guarantee of success in the Premier League...Only time will tell..

One thing is for certain though...the timing is such that Mancini will be able to spend another fortune in the upcoming January transfer window! Watch out for an influx of Italians to Manchester!  

And we're off...

It always amazes me how quickly the first day of the Premier League season comes around...and every year it seems to get quicker! I think that is more a symptom of getting older than a shorter off-season!

I'm a little short of time today, but I thought I'd get in a few predictions and we can see where we fall short next May...

Premier League Champions - Chelsea

FA Cup Winners - Arsenal

League Cup Winners - Tottenham

Champions League Winners - Barcelona

I don't see Man Utd winning the league for a 'fourth' (thanks Gary) year...I haven't seen enough yet to show me that they won't miss the spark, energy and creativity of Ronaldo...but I hope to be proven wrong. I think Chelsea will get their stuff together with Ancelotti, but I think Liverpool missed their chance last year. Man City could sneak into 4th ahead of Arsenal...

Oh yes, and Bristol City will finish 7th in the Championship - just missing the play-offs again...

I'd be intrigued to see your thoughts...