New England manager Roy Hodgson has announced his 23 man squad for this summer’s European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine.
As ever, on paper it looks a strong group of players but only time will tell if they will be able to perform well as a team when the pressure is on.
Here is my take on the squad:
Goalkeepers:
Barring injury, the number one is and will be Manchester City’s Joe Hart, fresh from his side’s Premier League triumph. The 25-year-old is without doubt the best goalkeeper in this country and has …

Joey Barton – One of Our Own?
The vultures appear to be circling again around the coiffured corpse of poor old Joey Barton. As if the prospect of a ten-game suspension wasn’t enough, even Twitter, his most faithful source of allies, appears to have turned on him, with the emergence of what surely must be a previously unheralded army of 140-character assassins ranging from a former England captain to a fictional character from Brookside. So much so that he is seemingly having to re-define the goalposts of triumph, having decided that …

With the domestic season complete, save for a handful of play off games, this weeks football stories have been dominated by the men on the touchline.
Some have been sacked, some have been kept, and one has chosen to take up the seemingly poisoned challis that is the England job.
This weeks first managerial casualty was Aston Villa‘s Alex McLeish. After arriving from Villa’s arch rivals, newly relegated Birmingham City, it was always going to be an uphill task to win them over and I remember scratching my head at the time, …

Well where do we begin, the end of a legend was overseen today and the “king” was sent packing. Was it the right decision only time will tell, but I personally feel the decision was just a little rash, yes Liverpool were poor this year and a lot of people point to their home record yet they lost the same as Chelsea and only one more than Newcastle, Arsenal and Tottenham.
The problem with the Liverpool team was turning draws into wins; nine draws is a lot for any team but …

Wow what a final day of the season that was, Since the Premier League was formed in 1992 we have not witnessed a final day like that before,this goes to show that in terms of excitement, value for money and Quality the Premier League is head and shoulders above other Leagues. With only two minutes remaining Sir Alex Ferguson must have thought he would be getting his hand on his 13th League Title but then out of nowhere Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero scored to hand Manchester City …

Squad: (GK) Joe Hart, Rob Green, John Ruddy (DF) Glen Johnson, Phil Jones, John Terry, Joleon Lescott, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Leighton Baines (MF) Theo Walcott, Stewart Downing, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard, Scott Parker, Ashley Young, James Milner (FW) Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Andy Carroll
 
Probable Formation: It could be the usual 4-4-2 Hodgson has preferred as 4 wingers are selected but with Wayne Rooney suspended in the first two games, England could well start with Andy Carroll up front alone with wingers providing crosses …

The league has finally come to an end in the most extraordinary fashion. In merely two minutes, Manchester City elevated from hell to heaven to end their 44-year league title drought. The biggest winner of the dramatic day must be football fans worldwide.
With the curtain fallen, the attention is now shifted to the European Championship. Nevertheless, the cool-headed Englandfans will realise they have much more to worry about this summer.
When Hodgson announces the squad on Wednesday, there will not be an X-factor or anyone who is on the cream of …

Roy Hodgson will announce his first England squad today, the players representing the country at Euro 2012. With Rooney suspended for the first two games the side is looking a little lightweight in terms of goal scorers, many punters are thinking England are at best an outside Euro 2012 bet. In the possible absence of Darren Bent the three likeliest candidates to fill the centre forward position for England are Peter Crouch, Andy Carroll, and Grant Holt, all who have had varying degrees of success this season for their clubs. …

As long as I live, I don’t think I will ever see a Premier League season end quite that dramatically. My loyalties lie with a team outside of England’s footballing elite, and even I found myself going through so many different and crazy feelings and emotions, I can only imagine what it must have been like for supporters of all of the sides with something to play for yesterday (United, City, QPR, Spurs, Arsenal, Bolton, Newcastle) because at one point or another in every game the results were either favourable …

This list might very well create some controversy (hopefully positive) and that is fine. Choosing this list is much like choosing who England should take to Euro 2012, everyone will have an opinion and this opinion can be debated down at the pub until closing time. But I do want to set a list of ground rules for my Premier League MVP XI.
First I shall define what I consider an MVP (Most Valuable Player) to mean. There is a difference between most outstanding and most valuable. …