Most of today’s papers say that Rafa will be out by the weekend and on his way to Inter.

Real Madrid are keen on Gerrard.

Chelsea are considering a move for Torres.

At least 2 clubs in Europe are tracking Mascherano . . . . .  .where will it end for the Reds faithful fans?

Based on the above Lucas could be your key midfielder next term, and you can be pretty certain nobody is going to nip in and make an offer on him!

I guess the big question is who will take the Gaffers job.

There’s been plenty of speculation. But with the board saying there will be little money to spend, this could be the worst possible time to take the helm at Liverpool, who in my opinion need a £50 million kitty to get them back in the top 4. Even that may not be enough, the way City, Birmingham and Spurs are going.

Fulham’s Roy Hodgson was hotly tipped but having sat back and taken in what the board have said recently about spending he may well consider himself better off at Craven Cottage for another term.

Getting Beckford on a free and under a 4 year deal should see Everton find some much needed pace and threat up front and take some pressure of the midfield who score more goals than the strikers half the time.

Dont be surprised to see at least another 3 new faces before the new season for the Toffee men.

I think he is one of the most influential coaches in modern football, and gets the best from his players much like, Fergie and Mourinho.

He announced his 23 this week and although I would have taken Baines, and left Barry behind the rest of the choices made a lot of sense to me.

Some people say that Walcott was a shock. the only shock for me is that he was in the 30 to start with.
Theo Walcott, bless him, was thrown into the spotlight at the last World Cup when Sven selected him and unfortunately this has had a terrible effect on young Theo.

What was a promising young player back then got it into his head that he’d made it and was good enough to play for his country alongside real players like Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard. This has resulted in him not progressing in the past 4 years and I can only hope that by being dropped now he will perform better for Arsenal next season as he tries to get his career back on track.

I think Aaron Lennon is far more suited as not only does he have speed but he can also cross a ball, Wright-Philips can scare defenders with his speed and shots.

I’d like to see Crouchy given a fair chance out in South Africa. His record is superb and with Rooney he can surely get a few goals in the finals.

The Full Final 23 looks like this. What are your thoughts?

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).

Harry likes to spend when he is in charge and if the teams can’t get enough success to help balance the books then I worry that it could all end in tears for Spurs within 3 years.

Despite Harry saying Spurs would not spend big to get a quick road to success they have splashed cash and some would say it’s paid off. Tottenham finished fourth this season and can look forward to European football next season. Something that, despite the money it brings, could see the Spurs soccer machine creak and stall.

At this moment in time every Football Rumours column is rife with talk about Harry signing this and Harry signing that. Micah Richards, Steven Pienaar and Curtis Davies are just 3 names being linked with Spurs in today’s papers, their combined cost would likely be approx £30 m.

There’s no doubt that Spurs will need to strengthen if they want to repeat a top 4 spot next year and have a lucrative run in Europe, but unfortunately I can’t see it happening.  Spurs got their top 4 spot secured on the last day of the season and they don’t have the spending power of Man City. Liverpool are likely to spend big. Rafa will see it vital, if he stays, to push back into the top 4 and that means more support is required for Torres and Gerrard. Don’t be surprised to see the reds spend big this year, they need it.

If City and Liverpool can get the funds I am sure they’ll leapfrog Spurs next year, even Birmingham could be given a handsome transfer kitty to help them kick on from their 9th spot this year.  With the extra games that European competition brings I really think that Tottenham could struggle to make top 6 next year and that could cause financial melt down.

If their run in Europe ends quickly and their spending hits £40 million, which is more than their profits this year, Spurs could be on the slippery slope to ruin quicker than they’d like.

I hope for Redknapps sake and for Spurs sake that it doesn’t happen but Portsmouth and West Ham fans had Harry in charge once and despite periods of success are now both broken clubs. I’m not saying Harry’s to blame but I do say Harry needs a strong chairman to govern his spending.

If managers haven’t seen enough of the players over he past year then what the hell have they been doing?
This isn’t a “pop” at Capello, it’s another pop at the FA bigwigs.

I can’t believe Rooney, England’s most potent weapon, was risked against the hard working Mexicans. Just coming back from injury Rooney should have been spared this run because unlike several other England players he can’t play half heartedly. Every game is a must win for Wayne and that means he puts himself about and will pick up knocks.

The likes of Theo Walcott however dawdle around the pitch as if they just expect to be on the plane.
For someone with so much speed and ability this boy plays way too passively to be a danger. At some points I feel he’s going to stop mid-run and say “Please can I get past you and take a shot?” , if only he had more venom he could be such a player.

for those of you who think England under performed in this game, think again. Mexico are through to the finals themselves and have some good talent, and as I say it is hard for some of those England players to go flat out in a game like this.

Unfortunately for some, this will be the game that signals the end of their world cup.

Capello will have caused himself more headaches than anything else after this game. Rio Ferdinand and Ledley King were hopeless at the back and classier forwards would have punished England heavily for some of their  positioning last night.

Green did well in goal, but I think Capello has already decided upon James to Start in South Africa. Terry, Ashley Cole, Lampard and Joe Cole must also be down to start in my opinion. Why would you not play them? they’ve just won the league together and know each other inside out. Capello would be mad not to keep them as a unit and build the rest of the team around them.

Glen Johnson, despite an excellent goal continues to worry me. He leaves holes at the back when he goes on his runs and Ferdinand just couldn’t cover last night.

ok it’s hard to read anything into these games  and there’s another friendly to come but I’d look at playing the following as my starters in South Africa:

GK – Green

LB – Ashely cole

CB – John Terry

CB – Jamie Carragher

RB – Glen Johnson

LM – Joe Cole

CM – Frank Lampard

CM – Steven Gerrard

RM – Aaron Lennon

CF – Peter Crouch

ST- Wayne Rooney

I very nearly left crouchy out for Heskey who I think brings Rooney into the game better but Crouchy’s record speaks for itself. It’s not always pretty . .. . . . it’s never pretty, it’s Crouchy, but he is a very effective player. I think Lennon would cover better for Johnson when he goes on a run and Carragher is a better positional player than Ferdinand.
the midfield I would almost diamond as I’d pass more defensive duties to Gerrard than I would to Lampard.

Whatever happens it’s gonna be a great world cup, C’MON!

With the parachute payments paid to relegated clubs I thought there would never be any “New” teams coming up, so to see the seasiders make a premier league debut can only be a good thing.

Holloway has started something quite magic at Blackpool, transformed them from a gritty horrible team to play into a high flair attacking horrible team to play against!

The buzz around the club will be terrific for the town but also for the premier league. The sooner the FA and the premier league and Sky can stop rewarding teams for going down MORE than rewarding the teams for coming up the better. We’d then see more teams push to get there.

Holloway has worked hard at getting a great team spirit and work rate from his players this year, and the way he gets the best from his players reminds me of David Moyes who has been doing a similar thing with Preston and Everton in recent years.

Long may he continue and long may Blackpool enjoy the dizzy heights of Premier League football.

Just over 80,000 people were there to witness Inter carry out a smash and grab on the German Champions, who must wonder just what else they need to do to to get their hands back on the trophy.
Bayern dominated possession, had more shots, piled on pressure but just could not break through to punish Inter and perhaps that is why Inter so deserved this win.

Milito secured his place in the history books by grabbing the 2 goals that must have felt like hot irons being pushed into the hearts of the Bayern players.

Those of you wondering if Argentina will have enough strength and will to cause a shock at this years world cup will have had your spirits lifted by the Argentinian Milito. Maradonna has an abundance of attacking footballers available to him and could resort to a 4-3-3 for some games which could see Milito, Tevez and Messi running at defences together.

Mourinho brought off Milito in injury time so the classy forward could receive a standing ovation from the Inter faithful. Don’t be surprised to see Mourinho making an offer for the Argentines services next season.

This match though was as much about Mourinho as it was about football. Tactically he is at times flawless, nobody can deny how well Inter have defended through this competition, even down to 10 men against the fancied Barcelona, Inter held on to win through to this crowning moment.
The Bernabau could well be the home ground of Mourinho next season, and he certainly made himself at home here on Saturday. Real Madrid hope to take him as their head coach before the World Cup and then hand him a blank cheque to help Real finally wrestle the Spanish title away from Barca next year.

The guys over at www.designandartwork.co.uk have created a great looking chart that is a lot easier to follow than the official FIFA match planner.

The chart can be downloaded from their site by clicking here.
http://www.designandartwork.co.uk/images/2010_World_Cup_Wall_Chart.pdf

There’s no doubt about it there are some very tasty looking matches for the offering but the final outcome was a tough call.

It’s be great to see England go all the way ( and that takes some saying being a Welsh man), but unfortunately I see them getting beaten in the final to . . . . . . Argentina.

Am I mad? you might ask.
I know Diego is a nutjob of a manager, I mean to leave a player like Zanetti out is beyond belief, but my feeling is that once they get to the finals the players will just do there own thing and any team with Messi in is going to be a threat.

Before I started sketching this out I was thinking Brazil had no chance this year, but something about seeing their name down on the sheet and a picture of the World Cup made me reconsider. You can never right them off.

So here’s how I see it going:

Group A – winners France, runners up Mexico

Group B – winners Argentina, runners up Nigeria

Group C - winners England, runners up USA

Group D – winners Germany, runners up Australia

Group E – winners Netherlands, runners up Cameroon

Group F – winners Italy, runners up Paraguay

Group G – winners Portugal, runners up Brazil

Group H - winners Spain, runners up Chile

SECOND ROUND MATCHES
France v Nigeria – winners Nigeria

England v Australia – winners England

Germany v USA – winners Germany

Argentina v Mexico – winners Argentina

Netherlands v Paraguay – winners Netherlands

Portugal v Chile – winners Chile

Italy v Cameroon – winners Cameroon

Spain v Brazil – winners Brazil

QUARTER FINALS

Netherlands v Portugal – winners Portugal

Nigeria v England – winners England

Argentina v Germany – winners Argentina

Cameroon v Brazil – winners Brazil

SEMI FINALS

England v Portugal – winners England

Argentina v Brazil – winners Argentina

FINAL

ENGLAND v ARGENTINA, winners Argentina

THIRD PLACE
Portugal v Brazil – winners Brazil

The Catalan club where keen to strengthen after dropping out of this years Champions League cup at the semi final stage. This signing is a huge coup for them. Villa has been linked with every top club in Europe in recent years, and Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Real Madrid, all clubs which have expressed past interest, will sit up and take note of this sign of intent from Barcelona.

has signed a four-year deal and is the first summer capture for the Catalan club, with Cesc Fabregas also said to be a target.

The Spain international who was the top scorer at Euro 2008 despite missing the final through injury, is due in Barcelona on Thursday and is booked for a medical. Villa has signed a four-year deal and is the first summer capture for the Catalan club, with Cesc Fabregas also said to be a target.

His arrival at Barcelona is likely to lead to increased speculation over the futures of strikers Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, although Ibrahimovic scored 21 goals this season. Henry has already been linked with a possible lucrative move to the USA.

Real Madrid will surely see the combination of Messi and Villa as a huge threat for next season and are already in the process of sourcing a top striker themselves. Benzema is likely to leave and Real reportedly will spend up to £40 million for the right man, although there will be no repeat of last years mega spending spree. Could Torres be the target? Chelsea and Manchester City are reportedly ready to sign the Liverpool striker but Real Madrid could spoil the party and offer him a dream move to his native Spain.