A well worked goal from Stewart Downing and Ashley Young (35 minutes) was enough to see off a young, hungry Welsh opposition who were spurred on by their 2-1 win against Montenegro at Cardiff City Stadium last Friday.

The 3 points for England means that they only need to seal a point against Montenegro on October 5^th to guarantee qualification to the finals in Poland and Ukraine next year.

However, while 3 points was a great result for England, the performance left a lot to be said about an England team who have looked bewildered and unsure of themselves since the World Cup campaign in 2010.  Once again England played at an under-capacity crowd at Wembley (72,000 out of the 90,000 seat capacity) while the night actually completing their first home win in over a year.

The problem with England is that it’s becoming clearer and clearer where there weaknesses and it is much easier to pick out the negatives of their performance than the positives.  Once again, England failed to control and dominate large portions of the game for the full 90 minutes, while only managing 53% possession in the game overall.

Possession is the name of the game in international football, and when you consider that all of the top European teams including Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Portugal have had around 5-10% more possession on average than England in the Euro 2012 qualifiers, it really doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pick out the flaws in the team.  Even the best sports gambling sites must have at least 10:1 odds for England to win.

I DO think it’s too easy to criticise England over individual performances and results.  Even Spain lost 1-0 to Switzerland in the World Cup 2010 finals group stage match, and the best teams don’t always win games.  But when you look at England over the last 5-10 games it’s clear to see that they are not living up to the par their main European rivals.

England were great against Bulgaria when they won 3-0 away last Friday, but they failed miserably to get behind the Wales defenders and create opportunities upfront. Players such as Downing, Smalling, Barry and Lampard were also too wasteful in midfield and once again the question of “technical ability” comes into play.  Too many square, backward passes and a lack of runs down the wings characterised England’s performance in my opinion.

One thing that frustrates me about England pundits and the manager is that since our failures at the World Cup 2010 we have convinced ourselves that we have learned from our mistakes and are now a much better team for it.  I don’t think this is the case at all.  We are still 100% dependant on a fit Wayne Rooney playing upfront.  Rooney is the source of England’s entire creativeness and is the only real playmaker in the team who can envisage runs and make the right passes.  Not to mention he is the only player in the 1^st team who is regular scoring goals.  Maybe Danny Wellbeck will improve by next year, but I don’ see us having any world class substitutes upfront.

The goalkeeper and defence is our next biggest problem.  If Joe Hart is injured I don’t think we have anyone proven goal keepers on the bench to back him up.  And if John Terry or Ferdinand gets injured then we will be reliant on either Cahill, Upson, Phil Jones or Smalling to replace them.  The latter two are great, young players but with at 19 years old I think it’s a huge ask to play them in a potential Euro 2012 knockout game against Brazil, Portugal or the Netherlands.

Finally, our midfield still lacks quality. Scott Parker is good but too old and sits too deep, Barry is very one dimensional, Downing and Walcott are both completely overrated when it comes to the International scene (trust me, they miss plenty of chances for England) and Lampard, Gerrard are just to old, slow and predictable for the game.  Lampard doesn’t make the runs that he used to which begs the question what does he even provide in a 4-1-2-3 formation which is so dependant on fluidity, speed and unpredictability.  He doesn’t have the discipline to hold deep as a holding midfielder not does he have the engine and drive to run around the pitch as part of a three-pronged attack for 90 minutes.

In conclusion, I think England are a solid top 10 international football team and will get to the Euro 2012 finals no problems.  But I don’t in a million years see us winning the cup nor have that good a chance of getting past the quarter finals.  We just don’t have that good players in our team, and against lesser European teams such as Russia, Czech, Serbia and Greece we are still going to have problems breaking them down, holding on to the ball and keeping a clean sheet.  You can read a full listing and Euro 2012 odds for these teams at OnlineGamblingSites.net.

No one likes an easy winner and losing from the start is depressing. To kick some real competition into your games introduce the idea of fines. Set up a pool of money which at the end of the competition gets granted to the overall winner. Fines can be exacted for, for example, not voting in polls, making subs when injuries occur and not updating score sheets when necessary. This means that if players do not log in to check their team’s performance one week, they will be fined for their lack of interest. A general lack of love will get penalised!

Nothing keeps people interested like the chance of winning prizes. Although there is, of course, a prize at the end of the fantasy football competition itself, it’s a good idea to introduce some weekly prizes. This could be from having the highest scoring individual player to owning a man of the match. This gives those players who may never actually win a match (or anything!) the chance to get some prizes. Prizes could range from small monetary bonuses to shopping vouchers.

A little thinking sometimes goes a long way and these tips will hopefully spice up any fantasy football syndicates, rewarding effort as well as good team choices. See how you fare this season, best of luck!

Chelsea’s original interest in Parker has been increased ever since news of midfielder Michael Essen’s 6 month layoff.  The Ghanaian international also missed the opportunity to represent his country in the World Cup 2010 (after they got through to the quarter finals).

The ideal situation for Chelsea and West Ham owners is a 1 year loan.  This would allow Chelsea’s new boss Villas Boas to secure his services for a year and fill the void left in midfield, whilst if West Ham get promoted then he can return to the West London Club in the Premier League in 2012.

Aston Villa however are also in the race to sign Scott Parker for £8 million.  McLeish’s £20 million sale of Ashley Young to Man Utd and £20 million sale of Stuart Downing to Liverpool FC which was confirmed today gives him plenty of money in the summer transfer kitty.  McLeish also has his eyes set on Manchester City’s goal keeper Shay Given and Wigan’s Charles NZogbia.  You can currently bet soccer online that Manchester City will win next season’s Premier League crown at odds of 6:1.

Tottenham Hotspur’s owner Daniel Levy has apparently turned down an improved bid by Chelsea for midfield playmaker Luca Modric.  Modric had one of the best seasons of his career playing in the Champions League last season and garnered attention from a number of European clubs both in the Premier League and abroad.  The 24 year old Croatian is only 14 months into a new 6 year contract at Tottenham, and has said all along that he enjoyed it at the club and wouldn’t want to leave.  He’s also gone to South Africa with the club for their pre-season tour, during which time they’ll play the Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.

However, recent news have suggested that Modric has handed in a written transfer request and would like to move to Stamford Bridge this summer.  Harry Redknapp has insisted no transfer request has been handed to him though.

Finally, Patrick Viera has retired from football after spending the last two years at Manchester City.  The 35 year old started his career at Cannes, before moving to AC Milan in 1996 and then moving to Arsenal 9 month later.  Here he helped the “unbeatables” win the 1998, 2002 and 2004 Premier League trophy, including their historic season when they went 38 games unbeaten. The French International will now become Football Development Executive at Manchester City.

The biggest news story over the summer break has been Andre Villas-Boas’ appointment as manager of Chelsea FC.  At 33 years old, he will become the youngest manager in the Premier League.  Old than many of Chelsea’s first team players such as Drogba, Terry, Anelka and Lampard in fact.

However, sometimes with youth comes a winning dynamic that’s needed to make changes to an altogether ailing team.  Drogba, Anelka, Lampard and Terry are all past their best.  Even Ashley Young has hit the big “30” and will need a suitable long term replacement at some point.  If you look at Man Utd they’ve just let Oshea and Wes Brown go to Sunderland.  I guess once you get past 30 years old in football you really need to be filling the bill to stay at the club.

Whether or not Villas-Boas fulfils the promise of a lifetime will need to be seen.  Abramovitch has taken an extraordinary risk promoting the former Porto boss to manager of Chelsea FC with only 3 years of managerial experience behind him.  He’s also never played football professionally in his life.  However, what he does have is a winning formula.  Villas-Boas was announced Porto manager in June 2010. In his first season in charge he managed to break all kinds of Portuguese records.  Unbeaten in 36 games, the most points ever won in a 30 game season, 4 trophies (including the Portuguese Super Cup, UEFA Europa Leage, Primeira Liga and the Portguese Cup).

Boas certainly knows how to win games.  But there’s no argument Chelsea FC is a huge step up from the Portuguese leagues.  He’s now being ordered to go after the UEFA Champions League as opposed to the Europa League and the English Premier League over 36 games compared to the Primeira Liga which is only 30 games with easier competition.  I wouldn’t bet on Chelsea FC winning next league without taking advantage of bonuses for online sports betting. There’s far too much competition, experience and influence of “money” to win such a big league with a young manager.  Ferguson is over double his age for example.

The other risk involved for Boas is that at such a young age he could become mopped up at Chelsea FC.  The huge array of personalities to overcome in the dressing room at Chelsea FC combined with the owner’s willingness to sack managers after a trophy-less season will put more pressure on Boas than he’s ever had.  He’ll also have to completely re-build the squad and spend hundreds of millions of pounds flipping players in the British transfer market which I don’t think he has much if any experience of doing before.

In other transfer news, Arsenal have reportedly signed Lill’s Gervinho, Man Utd have signed Aston Villa’s Ashley Young for £20 million and are still trying to lure Arsenal’s Nasri to their midst. Meanwhile, Arsenal are struggling to keep hold of their best players including Nasri and Fabregas, and may end up failing to secure a Champions League place next season.

For now though, lets look at a review of the 10/11 Premier League season and how each of the top 4 teams needs to improve for next season.

Manchester Utd

Winning a record 19^th domestic title and getting into the Champions League Final at Wembley was no easy task for United.  They faced difficult games many times this season – a fact with was can be backed up by their pithy seven away league wins.  It’s no secret that Utd will need to bloster up their team this summer and make some BIG signings if they have any chance of catching up with Barcelona’s mesmerising team in Europe. And with Scholes, Neville, Hargreaves and Van der Sar retired, Sir Alex will have to build up his team again from scratch and bring in plenty of experience for defence and midfield.  Utd’s most susceptible area of defence next season in 2011/12 will be the goal keeper without question.  Although Utd have sealed the deal to bring in David De Gea from Athletico Madrid, there’s no chance he will ever be able to replace a world class, experienced keeper like Van Der Sarr.  Their goalkeeper alone probably earned them an extra 9 points this season (which is why teams such as Arsenal and Tottenham still fail to bridge the gap).

Chelsea

Chelsea had a poor season by their own standards: winning nothing and failing to get to a single cup final.  With Ancelotti gone, former Chelsea manager Gus Hiddink is supposed to be Abramocitch’s first choice manager.  I can’t see a complete squad overhaul not happening this summer.  The next manager will have to turnover some of the dead weight such as Drogba, Anelka, Terry, Lampard or Malouda if he’s to have any chance of building his own team without any set backs in the dressing room.  Torres will obviously stay, which will probably mean a 4-5-1 system for Chelsea next season. A new midfielder and striker will definitely be on the books to replace Deco and Ballack from last season and provide back-up to Ramires who doesn’t look ready for the big games yet. Mikel is an obvious candidate for the transfer market, while Terry and Lampard could both be intelligent sales if done for the right amount (£20k+).  Chelsea have also suffered down both flanks these season which means the possibility of signing a winger or two won’t be hysterical.

Manchester City

In contrast to Chelsea, Roberto Mancini led City to their most successful season ever: 3^rd in the Premier League with automatic qualification to the 11/12 Champions League plus an FA Cup trophy (their first major trophy in over 35 years).  I think next season will all be about challenging for the title.  City’s owners have already sunk more than half a billion pounds on first team players (not too mention to academy) and they’ll finally be looking to see a return on the pitch for their investment.  In terms of transfers, I really think City could do with a couple MASSIVE buys in midfield and upfront.  They need someone who can make them tick like Tevez does and score plenty of goals from midfield.  I can imagine a Drogba, Lampard, Schneijder or “Danny Murphy” type player doing this for them.

Arsenal

What can we say about Arsenal?  Same attractive football, yet still failing to win anything.  The 2-1 defeat in the League Cup Final against Birmingham was a terrible result in my opinion.  A team like Arsenal which has not won a trophy in over 7 years should be battling to win the League Cup and not be run over by a relegated team like Birmingham.  Wenger needs to actually SPEND money on some experienced, “been there, done that” players this summer.  The minimum I’d expect is to bring in a few players that have won major trophies such as the Champions League.  Arsenal cannot rely on Fabregas (who might leave) and Van Persie (who’s nearly always injured) to lead the team again.  He needs some more experienced, physical centre backs then Djourou, he needs a top-class goalkeeper (not three good ones), and he needs to bring in another goal scoring midfilder.  Ramsey and Wilshere are OK in midfield but I don’t see them scoring more than 10 goals in a season between them (Wilshere has only ever scored 1 Premier League goal).

Man Utd won 4-1 and cruised past a very poor Schalke at Old Trafford last night to seal their place to make it their third Champions League Final in the last four seasons.

Two goals from Brazilian midfielder Anderson and a solo effort from Gibson and Valencia (assist from Gibson) justified Ferguson’s starting line-up team selection.  I think with odds of 10:1 of Schalke progressing through the leg that a lot of fans will have been registering at a sports betting site like Bet365 (with a £200 sports betting bonus for new players) and staking some cash.

Ferguson had fielded a heavily weakened side to the team that beat Schalke 2-0 away in Germany last week, with no less than 8 changes in the team.  Rio, Vidic, Carrick and Rooney were all left out of the squad whilst Vidic, Evra and Fletcher all started on the bench.

With one eye on their crucial title-decider against Chelsea on Sunday one can understand the line of thinking going through Sir Alex Ferguson’s head.  With the tie practically sealed with two away goals and leading 2-0 on aggregate it would have taken a huge surprise by Schalke in order to prevent Utd passing through to the final.  Even with a weakened starting XI, the likes of Oshea, Berbatov, Valencia, Nani, Anderson and Van Der Sar are all easily capable of winning teams.  Just in case, Ferguson had the big names such as Vidic, Evra, Fletcher and Hernandez to come on in the second half.

Summing up Utd’s performance tonight, you’d have to take into account that they were playing a heavily inferior team.  With all due respect to Schalke, they are probably one of the worst teams to ever make it this far in the Champions League.  The void in quality was shown by Utd’s 6-1 lead on aggregate, which is the highest ever aggregate for the Champions League semi-final.

Man Utd didn’t disappoint with their performance today.  They were calm and collected throughout the game; however they clearly lacked the attacking flair, personality and “cutting edge” that has become their flagship for winning so many games.  In Champions League games it is Utd’s ability to launch counter-attacks, send in accurate through balls and switch play effortlessly with Scholes, Rooney and Evra to get behind opposing teams.  However this team lacked all that.  They were good, but clearly not the Red’s first team.

One of the disappointments of Man Utd this season is Anderson.  Bought for £15 just a few seasons ago, he has failed to cement his place in centre midfield or even score enough goals to get the fans attention.  Anderson was originally brought in as a Brazilian play maker to replace Paul Scholes. However his lack of potency upfront (both in terms of goals scored and dribbling past defenders) has really made his future suffer.  Although brought on as a penalty taker in Utd’s Champions League winning side in Moscow 2008, he has never seemed to take advantage of Utd’s dwindling midfield and claim a place for himself.

The loss leaves United just 3 points clear of Chelsea now with 3 games to go, who are due to play Utd at Old Trafford next week in what will be a crucial title decider.

Ferguson has already admitted that Chelsea are now “back in the title race” with the West London team just 3 points off Man Utd on the same goal difference.  This means that a win would propel Chelsea up to 1^st in the league on goal difference with just two games to go.

Ferguson will be devastated to have lost away to a youthful Arsenal side just weeks in the final stage of the season.  With Fabregas injured in training, Arsenal resorted to play 22 year old Aaaron Ramsey, 19 year old Wilshere and Song in midfield, with Nasri, Walcott and Van Persie upfront.  Compared to the masses of experience in Utd’s starting selection with Carrick, Anderson, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Park and Rooney everyone would have expected Utd to earn 1 point at least after 90 minutes.

The loss is hugely damaging for Utd.  Given Chelsea’s controversial victory over Tottenham at Stamford Bridge last weekend, where they were awarded an offside goal and another goal which hadn’t crossed the line completely, Utd were under pressure to fulfil their title obligations.

Realistically, 1 point would have been good enough for Man Utd.  With just 3 games to geo, a draw at Arsenal would have meant Utd could afford to lose to Chelsea at Old Trafford and still guarantee to win the title with 2 games remaining.  However the loss to Arsenal means that although the title is still technically in Man Utd’s hands if they win all of their remaining games, the same is true for Chelsea.  If Chelsea win their last 3 remaining games starting with Utd at Old Trafford then they will be guaranteed to defend their 2009/10 Premier League Crown.

Predicting this weekend’s crunch time game will be no different to when you play roulette online.  A decision here, a red card there, a poorly marked free-kick could all contribute to the season’s title winners.

For Utd, you just feel it is a must-win game.  However, while I believe that Utd are a better team with more spirit, confidence and depth than Chelsea, the fact that Chelsea have nothing to lose going into this match probably actually makes them favourites.  Consider the situation for example, one month ago Chelsea were ruled out of the title race and Ferguson has discarded them.  Now Chelsea are in rampaging form (8 wins from last nine games), Torres is starting to look like the player he is capable of being, and Utd will be extremely nervy about not conceding the title at the last minute.  All of the expectations are on Utd’s shoulders who at times will be unsure whether to attack or play for a draw, whilst Chelsea basically know that they have to go there to win.

Wow, this week’s semi-final results were extremely interesting.  With two crucial clashes between Barca vs Madrid and Man Utd vs Schalke, I don’t think anyone would have expected two away victories of 2-0!

For Man Utd, their 2-0 victory away against German opposition Schalke was a masterclass performance, probably one of the best matches that Utd have ever played away in Europe over the last 10 years.  Their 2-0 victory away (note the two AWAY goals) practically sends them through the final at Wembley.  With the away goals rule, it means that Man Utd only have to score one goal at Old Trafford to guarantee succession since this would require Schalke to score at least 4 goals away from home to beat them.

The away victory against Schalke will have practically sealed United’s third European Cup Final in four years – extremely impressive given the difficulty of progressing through club football’s toughest competition.  The 2-0 victory was also Ferguson’s first away victory on German soil, and as the saying goes, Utd have never lost a knockout tie having won the first away leg.

Barcelona managed to dominate Real Madrid’s Galacticos at the Bernabau in a game where both teams had players see red in addition to a fiery Mouhrniho being sent to the stands after recriminating with the 4^th official over Pepe’s sending off.  At this point the stakes seems higher than a real cash casino.

Barcelona’s ability to dominate and tear apart Real Madrid away from home is a true testament to their class and ability in my opinion.  Even without Spain’s World Cup Final winner Iniesta in their ranks, Barca still managed to maintain 70% possession in the first half and take control of the game far more than Real Madrid.  Over the course of the match it seems that Mournho’s pre-match rambles and digs out Guardiola failed to get into his head as Barca played their usual cool, slick, controlled game of football.

Mourinho’s tactical line-up for the match was one of the most interesting points of discussion.  Madrid’s fans are used to seeing their team attack other teams at home at the Bernabau, however the way Mourniho set his team up was much more a defensive “siege” mentality in a 7-3 system.

Central defender and Portuguese international Pepe was played in defensive midfield in order to protect the back four, while Xabi Alonso and Lass Diarra was similarly used to bolster the backbone of midfield and try to break up any flowing football from Barca’s attacks, specifically with Xavi, Pedro, Messi and Villa in mind.  Throughout the game it seems Mourinho’s plan was to break the game up, prevent any flowing football and hopefully end the game with a clean sheet.

Unfortunately Mourinho’s tactics completely backfired as he team failed to really come up with any chances on goal and integrate Ronaldo, Di Maria or Ozil into the game.  Every time Real Madrid broke up a Barca attack and got the ball they failed to counter-attack fast enough with their wingers playing far too deep down the pith.

Both of the 2-0 away results practically guarantee a repeat of the Man Utd vs Barca final from Moscow 2008 which Barca triumphantly one 2-0.  However this time round, one would suspect Man Utd have more of a balance to their side and have learned to control games more as opposed to counter-attacking with Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney.

The first semi-final of this year’s Champions League competition takes place tonight with Ferguson’s light headed Man Utd team taking on what is pretty much the competition’s biggest surprise this season in the German outfit, Schalke, who currently lie 10^th in the Bundesliga.

For Man Utd, tonight will represent their 12^th European Cup semi-final whilst they have only passed this stage to the final 4 times.  Victory for Utd would send Utd through to a third final in the last four seasons.  Their most recent victory came against Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow, and they almost managed to break records for successive European titles after facing Barcelona in the 2009 Final in Madrid only to lose 2-0 in what was overall a dim performance after a magnificent campaign.

Can Man Utd win a 4^th European Title which will help push them back into the platform of European glory along with the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid (record 9 titles), AC Milan and Barcelona?

If Utd succeed in winning the European title this season it will be something special, but not just for obvious reasons.  Asides from casting away Roman Abramitch’s team in the process (who have waited more than 5 long years to win Europe’s and club football’s premier competition), they will have to beat either Mourinho’s rejuvenated and financially backed Real Madrid “Galacticos 2” side or Barcelona and their 3 nominated Player or the Years including record breaking 50 goals in a single La Liga season Messi.  Beating Real Madrid or Barcelona in the Champions League final at Wembley could also be goal keeper Van Der Saar’s last professional match, having stated his intentions to retire at the end of the season.  It could also prove a peaking moment for Utd veterans Giggs and Scholes who are likely to retire now or after next season – one more season than their team mate Gary Neville could muster.

Adding another twist, if Man Utd pull through tonight and next week then it will be the first time ever that Ferguson’s side will have beaten a German team in a two leg fixture.  Similar to the England national team, Ferguson’s Lancashire team seem incapable in the past of beating German opposition and living up to their resilience and obstinacy.  English teams have cracked up against German opposition like a mobile casino game crashing.

Pundits and commentators in the build-up to tonight’s game will have to favour Man Utd to go through; however it probably doesn’t help Ferguson’s side by adding extra pressure.  As Ferguson would say, a semi-final is a semi-final. There are no easy teams or games.  You have to score goals and defend solidly in order to go through.

Overall, it should be an intense, exciting game tonight.  Schalke have won all of their home games this season (including beating Valencia and Inter Milan in the knockout stages), while Utd similarly have one of the best ever home records in the Champions League having not lost a match in more than five years.  Both teams will attack, both will show spirit, but like all tense European encounters it’s likely that a decision either way will decide the tie – be it a controversial penalty, red card, injury or free kick.

If there’s one thing for sure it’s that Ferguson will be desperate to score at least one away goal at the Veltins-Arena with what will probably be either a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1 formation with Rooney playing alone upfront and Hernandez on the bench. Two goals or more would be an absolute treat. If I was to bet on this game however I’d make it 2-1 Man Utd purely because of their added experiences this far into the competition.