England's interim Rugby coach Stuart Lancaster has named the 32 man squad he will be taking into the 2012 Rugby Six Nations competition. The team will be attempting to defend their Six Nations title and in an attempt to do so Lancaster has finally broken ties with the England World Cup winning squad from 2003. The remaining veterans from that success who were part of England's disappointing 2011 World Cup campaign are no more, and with it their shadow over the squad for so long has now been removed. By contrast the squad features a cluster of new uncapped players and their inclusion combined with the departure of Martin Johnson late last year heralds the start of a new era for the England Rugby team.

The squad in full is:

Forwards: Props: A Corbisiero (London Irish), D Cole (Leicester Tigers), J Marler (Harlequins), M Stevens (Saracens), D Wilson (Bath Rugby); Hookers: D Hartley (Northampton Saints), L Mears (Bath Rugby), R Webber (London Wasps); Locks: M Botha (Saracens), L Deacon (Leicester Tigers), C Lawes (Northampton Saints), T Palmer (Stade Francais). Back-rows: C Clark (Northampton Saints), T Croft (Leicester Tigers), P Dowson (Northampton Saints), B Morgan (Scarlets), C Robshaw (Harlequins), T Wood (Northampton Saints). Backs:Full-backs: M Brown (Harlequins), B Foden (Northampton Saints), Wings: C Ashton (Northampton Saints), C Sharples (Gloucester Rugby), D Strettle (Saracens); Centres: B Barritt (Saracens), O Farrell (Saracens), M Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), J Turner-Hall (Harlequins); Fly-halves: T Flood (Leicester Tigers), C Hodgson (Saracens); Scrum-halves: L Dickson (Northampton Saints), J Simpson (London Wasps), B Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

we would like to wish all of our customers and visitors a very happy and prosperous 2012. After a weekend of ironic results which showed once again what a funny old game football really is the current premier league title holders Manchester United find themselves neck and neck at the top of the league with their closest rivals Manchester City. Both clubs will feel that the weekend was one of missed opportunities as they failed to win matches that they would have expected to win. Sir Alex Ferguson may be considering kicking himself after he once again rested key players and went on to lose what should have been a relatively easy match. By contrast if some players memoirs are anything to go by Wayne Rooney may well be feeling quietly delighted that United were unable to beat bottom of the league side Blackburn Rovers yesterday without him?

after the huge disappointment of Manchester United's exit from the UEFA Champions League last night today's ruling by UEFA may have brought a crumb of consolation for striker Wayne Rooney. United's 2-1 defeat by Basel last night meant their Champions League campaign for this season was at an end before the second stage. During the match the young United team were unable to convert any of the countless chances they had and the 2010/11 finalists were unceremoniously dumped out of the competition.

This morning, with the loss still very much on his mind, Wayne Rooney had another fight on his hands. He sought to lessen the severity of the international ban he was recently given during the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. His sending off last October for kicking out at Montenegro's Miodrag Dzudovic had earned him a 3 match international ban. This would have omitted him from the group stage of next summer's Euro 2012 finals in Poland and the Ukraine. However the FA's appeal against the ban was a partial success and the ban has been reduced to 2 matches. This means Rooney would now be out for only the first two group matches against Sweden and France but would be available for what could be a critical deciding third match against co-hosts Ukraine.

the new look England football team showed a great deal of resilience this evening in fending off the superb attacking ability of a rampant Spanish international team. The European and World champions did not take the international friendly lightly and were determined to win, however the tactical nouse of the England team led by captain Frank Lampard was too good for the visitors. England ran out 1-0 winners thanks to a goal from Lampard in his 90th international appearance. Although England performed very well as a team it was Tottenham's Scott Parker who was rightfully awarded the man of the match acolade.

Liverpool talisman Steven Gerrard is having further injury problems which could once again see him ruled out of action for some time, Gerrard has only just recently returned from a six month layoff due to a groin injury. Liverpool's captin travelled with the club on Saturday to the West Midlands with the intention of playing in the Premier League tie against West Brom, however, on Saturday morning it became apparent he had an infection on his ankle and he ended up on crutches, the club are optimistic that it will be something that can be dealt with quickly. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish said: "He was in our minds for the game, it just flared up. It's nothing to do with any injuries before, it's an infection" adding "I suppose it's like having an abscess on your mouth. We can be more accurate next week than we can be just now."

Liverpool also learned this weekend that the quarter-final draw for the Carling Cup has pitched them against Chelsea, the tie will take place during the week commencing 28th November. The remaining quarter final match-ups are Arsenal v Manchester City, Manchester United v Crystal Palace and Cardiff City v Blackburn Rovers.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said yesterday's 6-1 hammering by derby rivals Manchester City was his "worst ever day" at the club. He went further by saying "it's the worst result in my history" stressing that he had never suffered a defeat by such a scoreline ever either as a manager or player. When asked about the teams ability to reaction he said "the impact will come from the embarrassment of the defeat." He recognised that the sending off of Jonny Evans for pulling Mario Balotelli down outside the penalty area was a key factor in the defeat.  Despite Balotelli being in a great position to score and Evans being United's last man Ferguson said he would always advise players to refrain from committing a foul in such a position because the striker still has to beat the keeper and a foul would mean a certain red card.

this weekend's derby between Manchester United and Manchester City looks set to be one of the most important clashes between the two sides for many years. Two points and two goals are all that separate the teams with Manchester City currently sitting in the driving seat, a win for them on Sunday would see their lead stretched to five points and would take Manchester United's chances of winning the league out of their hands.

England Rugby team manager Martin Johnson looks likely to announce a largely unchanged team for their crucial World Cup quarter final clash with France this Saturday (kick off 08.30 UK time). Jonny Wilkinson has recovered from an injury to his arm and Mike Tindall has also shaken off a knock he picked up in last week's final pool match against Scotland. The only change is expected to be the return of wing Mark Cueto who will replace the suspended Delon Armitage.

Prior to the England Rugby match on Saturday morning the England football team will take to the field on Friday evening for the last of their Euro 2012 qualifiers against Montenegro. England need a point from the match to secure their qualification, England manager Fabio Capello has named his 24 man squad which is as follows:

Goalkeepers
Scott Carson, Joe Hart, David Stockdale
Defenders
Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Phil Jagielka, Phil Jones, Micah Richards, John Terry, Kyle Walker
Midfielders
Gareth Barry, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Scott Parker, Theo Walcott, Ashley Young
Forwards
Darren Bent, Andy Carroll, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Bobby Zamora.

This weekend's Rugby World Cup results have set up an exciting final crunch match for England and Scotland. The old foes face off in a classic Calcutta Cup match that could see the losers exit from the competition before the quarter-final stages. The expetency was that the final match of Pool B between the two British sides would be a case of deciding who tops the group and who comes second but Argentina's defeat of Scotland on Sunday has thrown up a completely different set of possible conslusions. The possible outcomes are numerous but basically an England win would see them go through to the next stage and Scotland's fate would depend on Argentina's result against Georgia and whether they achieve a bonus point by losing by no more than 7 points to England. A Scotland win would not necessarily mean they qualify but would depend on Argentina's performance against Georgia and on England achieving a bonus point.

The points system for the 2011 Rugby World Cup awards 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss and 1 bonus point is awarded for either a team scoring 4 tries or more (win or lose) and another bonus point is awarded to a team that loses by 7 points or less.

England v Scotland takes place on Saturday 1st October at 8.30am UK time.   

m gaining a bonus point loss could mean either side eliminated from the competition

England manager Martin Johnson has recalled captain Mike Tindall to his squad for this Satrurday's third World Cup Pool B match, this time against Romania. Tindall was rested for England's previous match, the second Pool B fixture with Georgia where England make hard work of a 41-10 victory.

Jonny Wilkinson is also recalled, he will replace Toby Flood as fly-half, flood had a poor game against Georgia, while Mark Cueto is set to make his first appearance of the tournament having been sidelined so far with an injury to his back.  The remaining four changes Johnson has made are to bring in Steve Thompson, Alex Corbisiero Tom Croft and Louis Deacon. Lock Courtney Walsh is unavailable due to suspension and prop Matt Stevens is out with an ankle injury. The match kicks off in New Zealand at 7am UK time, the full squad is as follows:

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard's return to first team football looks to be looming ever closer. Having spent 6 months on the sidelines there is much talk of the midfielder returning to action this evening in the Carling Cup clash against Championship high flyers Brighton. After an initial fairly bright start to the Premier League season Liverpool appear to have stalled more recently suffering disappointing losses to Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur and the return of their inspirational Captain will hopefully be coming at just the right time to stem the receeding tide and put the club's title challenge back on track.

Manchester United's latest rising star Danny Welbeck had mixed fortunes today.  The talented young England international opened the scoring for United in their 8-2 hammering of Premier League rivals Arsenal, his second premier league goal so far this season.  Later in the first half his fortunes changed dramatically as he pulled up with a hamstring injury which now looks like sidelining him for the next month or so.

Manchester United have been drawn against Leeds United in the next round of the Carling Cup.  The match will take place during the week beginning 19^th September and will give United the chance to avenge their last meeting in January 2010 when they were beaten 1-0 by the Yorkshire club in the F.A. Cup.

It is being reported that Liverpool FC are considering a move to bring Craig Bellamy back to Anfield to support their two front-men Carroll and Suarez.  Bellamy has been out of favour and surplus to requirements with his club Manchester City for a while and was last season loaned out to Championship side Cardiff City.  Discussions with City are at an early stage and the move reportedly depends upon Bellamy being given a free transfer.

Today’s UEFA Champions League draw placed Manchester United in Group C along with Portugal’s Benfica, Swiss club Basel and Romanian side Otelul Galati.  On paper the draw looks to have been kind to Manchester United and on their form so far this season you would have to believe that they will qualify for the second stage fairly comfortably.

Manchester United showed they are raring to go and more than ready to defend their Premier League title starting from next weekend. After an impressive pre-season tour of the U.S. Manchester United stepped out on to the turf of Wembley stadium on Sunday to defend their Community Shield title against their arch rivals and neighbours Manchester City. The Community Shield is supposed to be a friendly and acts as a curtain raiser to the imminent Premier League season, however, this match was anything but friendly with strong tackles and a huge feeling of competitiveness in what was a hard fought battle. United found themselves 2-0 down at half-time thanks to two goals scored by City in the last 10 minutes of the half, and this despite United looking the stronger team. The second half was all classic Manchester United when their never say die attitude was as evident as ever.  United were level within 15 minutes of the second half thanks to a fabulously worked goal that ended in Nani converting for the equaliser, then, in the 94th minute with the match looking like going to penalties Nani chased a clearance by Rooney, made short work of City defender Kompany, touched the ball passed goalkeeper Joe Hart and converted to win the match for Manchester United 3-2.

On the international front, England manager Fabio Capello has named his 25 man squad to face World Cup semi-finalists The Netherlands in a friendly on Wednesday at Wembley. The squad includes Manchester United's Danny Welbeck and is as follows:

Robert Green, Joe Hart, David Stockdale, Leighton Baines, Gary Cahill, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Micah Richards, John Terry, Kyle Walker, Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Stewart Downing, Adam Johnson, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Scott Parker, Jack Wilshere, Ashley Young, Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck

Liverpool FC kicked off their pre-season tour of Asia with the news that they have agreed a fee with Aston Villa for their international winger Stewart Downing. The 26 year old now just needs to discuss personal terms and then subject to a medical he will become Liverpool's third major signing of the summer following in the footsteps of Sunderland's Jordan Henderson and Blackpool's Charlie Adam who have both made their way across to Anfield since the end of last season. The trio will change the face of Liverpool's midfield for the coming Premier League campaign, in a season that looks to hold much promise for the merseyside club.

The news of Downing's immenent arrival somewhat overshadowed the start of Liverpool's pre-season in Asia. Their first match of the pre-season saw them beat China's Sunray Cave Guangdong 4-3. The Reds lead 2-0 at half-time and were 4-1 up going into the 90th minute! Liverpool's goals came from Poulson, Ngog, Coady and Carroll in a match that saw manager Kenny Dalglish use all 23 players in his squad.

Manchester United also kicked off their pre-season in the United States with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution, in the spirit of pre-season friendlies it was by no means a classic match! The first half was best forgotten with a 0-0 scoreline and no real chances being made, however, things came to life after the break when Michael Owen opened the scoring, 2 goals from Macheda and another from Obertan saw Manchester United run out 4-1 winners. Their next match is next Thursday 21st July against Seattle.

Other news over the past week includes England's women sticking to tradition and losing a world cup quarter final on penalties after leading the match 1-0 going into the last few minutes of normal time. Better news for Engalnd's cricketers who clinched the one day international series against Sri Lanka with a win in the fifth match, having gone into the last match drawing two games each.

Liverpool fans have got to be feeling quite optimistic about the forthcoming Premier League season after a recent run of disappointing campaigns. Things are looking decidely bright at Anfield these days, the club seems to have found a very honest, sympathetic and likeable owner who has in turn appointed a former Liverpool legend as their manager. At the start of the year, on the pitch, they effectively swapped a sulky, underperforming Spaniard for two rising young international 'stars' and fought their way up from the lower half of the table to end their season in a very respectable position all things considered. Now during the closed season they are slowly strengthening the squad with one or two excellent acquisitions including the very promising Charlie Adam this week from Blackpool and with more new blood in the coaching staff in the form of Kevin Keen there is much to be happy about for fans of the Reds! It was also announced this week that Steven Gerrard will stay behind when the club travel to Asia for their pre-season tour in order to give himself the best possible chance to be fit for the start of the 2011/12 season.

Meanwhile acroos the way at Manchester United things are looking exciting too, so far this summer Sir Alex Ferguson has signed Phil Jones, David de Gea and Ashley Young while its reported that there is also and offer on the table for Arsenal's Samir Nasri which amounts to almost £20 million. The north London club have said however that there is no actual bid for the player at the moment, but merely an 'expression of interest', for his part it is reported that Nasri has failed to sign a new contract to this point and with only 12 months to run on his existing agreement Arsenal will surely be keen to sell him before his current deal expires.

On the international front the England ladies earned an impressive 2-0 win over Japan in the World Cup in Germany. The win means they top their group and avoid a clash with Germany in the quarter-finals, instead they will meet France on 09 July (kick-off 17.00 BST) in the first match of the knockout stages.

Also tomorrow England's cricketers will play the final match of their one day international series against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford, it will be all to play for with the series perfectly poised at two matches each.

In the wake of the retirement of veteran Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar Manchester United look to be close to signing a replacement half his age. twenty year old Spanish international goalkeeper David de Gea is believed to be on the verge of signing for the Premier League champions following a post he made on his Twitter account that read "I have been invited by Man U to see the club and the city and to be given an offer."

Meanwhile the England ladies football team got their World Cup campaign off to a slow start yesterday afternoon with a 1-1 draw against Mexico. England took the lead in the match during the first half but the lead was short lived after a forty yard effort from the central American team found the top corner of the England net. The score remained the same in a match which saw few moments of excitement. In the other match in England's group Japan beat New Zealand 2-1 to top the group, England will now look to learn from the mistakes made in their first round match in preparation for their next game against New Zealand on Friday.

Confirmation today that Aston Villa and England winger Ashley Young has signed for Premier League champions Manchester United.  Speculation was rife yesterday of the move after Young was reported to have been in Manchester undergoing a medical with United and today confirmation that a five year deal had been finalised with the fee believed to be in the region of £17 million. When compared to more recent high level transfers this would appear to be excellent value for a player with such potential, yet another shrewd piece of business by Sir Alex Ferguson!

It seems as though Manchester United are on the verge of signing Aston Villa winger Ashley Young for a reported £17 million. New Villa boss Alex McLeish said the move was not yet confirmed but was looking very likely. England international Young has just one year left on his five year contract at Villa and the midlands club will do well to sell him now rather than wait another season afterwhich he will be able to leave on a free transfer without any monetary gain for the club.

In the meantime England's under 21 squad followed in the footsteps of the senior team after giving a set of lacklustre performances in their recent Euro Championship group matches in Denmark. The calibre of the team on paper stood for nothing when it came to the actual competition, after two disappointing draws against Spain and Ukraine England fans were put out of their misery on Saturday when the team crashed out of the tournament with a 2-1 loss to the Czech Republic.

The England Under-21 football team have opened their UEFA Euro Championship finals campaign with a 1-1 draw against Spain. Herrera Ander opened the scoring for Spain with a 14th minute goal but although the Spanish team enjoyed the lions share of the possesion during the match they never really threatened to build on their lead and with just 2 minutes of normal time remaining Manchester United's ice cool Danny Wellbeck slotted home an equaliser for England. The late goal translated to a good solid start for England and will give them confidence in their ability to keep going heading into their next group match against the Ukraine on Wednesday 15th June.

In the meantime at club level both Liverpool and Manchester United have opened up their summer transfer account with acquisitions from the England under-21 squad over the past week. Liverpool signed midfielder Jordan Henderson from Premier League side Sunderland in a deal worth a reported £20m, while Premier League champions Manchester United have signed Blackburn defender Phil Jones for a deal believed to be in the region of £17m.

the England team's final match of the 2010/11 season turned out to be a disappointing affair with them only managing a draw against Switzerland at Wembley. With all the excitement of the end of the Premier League season and the expectation of the Champions League final this international seemed to creep up on us a bit. The match itself was low on entertainment and a difficult watch, England went behind as a result of two set plays, the first was an awkward sucker punch of a free kick that should have been defended better. The way the second goal was conceded even worse, it came from another free kick and went in because the two man wall consisting of Theo Walcott and James Milner seperated allowing the ball to pass through and into the net. It looked to be the fault of Milner who stepped to his left leaving a gaping hole as the free kick was taken. England managed to redeem themselves tyo some extent but they never should have found themselves two goals down in the first place. Lampard pulled the first goal back from the penalty spot before half time after Jack Wilshire's determination had forced a foul in the box and earned England a penalty. The equaliser came from second half substitute Ashley Young and was definitely the goal of the match, it came at the end of well construscted move involving Milner and Leighton Baines. The match ended 2-2 and led manager Fabio Capello to comment on the tiredness of the team. England looked likely to lose their top spot in their group with joint leaders Montenegro playing Bulgaria later on in the evening but they were only able to achieve a 1-1 draw so the group table postions remain as they were. Click here for details of England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign and group table

the disappointment of Manchester United's Champions League defeat was a distant memory yesterday as the team celebrated winning the Premier League with an open top bus victory parade through the city.  Amid the scenes of joy were the inevitable questions about the future of some of the squad members, Michael Owen will be out of contract this summer, he has expressed his desire to remain with the club but there is no indication yet about whether this will be the case.  Following his omission from Saturday's team that faced Barcelona, top scorer Dimitar Berbatov is rumoured to be on his way out of Old Trafford and after 676 appearances dating back to 1994, 36 year old Paul Scholes has today announced his retirement after what has been a fabulous career with the club.

Attention now turns to international football and the final match of the 2010/11 season which sees England host Switzerland at Wembley in the next of their Euro 2012 qualifying matches.  The match kicks off at 16.45 this Saturday 4th June 2011.

Meanwhile England's cricketers pulled off a stunning victory over Sri Lanka yesterday in their test match series in Cardiff.  England looked destined for a certain draw as they entered the 5th day of the first test with a first innings score of 496-5 against Sri Lanka's 400 all out, on top of which rain delayed the final day's start of play until 15.00.  However a buoyant England team bowled the visitors out for just 82 runs securing an amazing win by an innings and 14 runs!

Sir Alex Ferguson has guided his latest Manchester United team to a record 19th league title with yesterday's 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers. Some may argue that this was not one of the greatest United teams and the record books and history of the season bear witness to this however you can't argue with the facts which show the club sealing the title win in their penultimate game. The team can now concentrate on the Champions League final against Barcelona on the 28th May at Wembley and with this in mind Ferguson will surely rest his first string players and field an unrecognisable team for the final Premier League match of the season on Saturday against Blackpool.

Meanwhile Liverpool lost their hold on the 2011/2012 Europa League qualification spot with a 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur today. 5th place and Europa League qualification is now out of their hands and will go down to the last match of the season on Sunday when Liverpool face Aston Villa away and Tottenham Hotspur welcome Birmingham City to White Hart Lane. Tottenham are currently 1 point ahead of Liverpool but a win by the reds and anything but a win for Spurs would see Kenny Dalgish's side back in European football again next season.

Manchester United are exactly where they want to be at this moment in the English football season. They are just one point away from sealing a record number of English league titles and are one game away from winning the Champions League. Whatever you may think of Sir Alex Ferguson you can't deny he is the master of football management and has achieved incredible things during his long tenure at Manchester United.  Another master of the management game has to be Kenny Dalglish, his ability to reverse the fortunes of Liverpool football club, the miserable days of the first half of the season when the team looked nothing without Gerrard and Torres are very distant almost forgotten memories. Dalglish has managed to galvanise the side, give them confidence in their ability, get them performing and achieve some great results that Liverpool fans could have only dreamed about just prior to his appointment as manager. Qualifuication for next seasons Europa League is now very much in Liverpool's to lose following Manchester City's defeat of Tottenham Hotspur this week. The team are performing so well now that you almost forget that they still have Steven Gerrard to come back into the team, the future looks very exciting for Liverpool fans.

a group of 13 Westminster MPs have signed a commons motion which calls for the Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish to be knighted which would mean goodbye King Kenny, hello Sir Kenny! The motion was tabled on the basis of Dalglish's contribution to British football over his lifetime, it also coincides with the 22nd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death at the ill-fated FA Cup semi-final.

In other matters Manchester United went marching on in Europe this week with an impressive 2-0 away win against German side Schalke 04 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final. United really dominated the Bundesliga club and could have easily scored 6 or 8 goals, as it was Giggs and Rooney put the ball in the back of the net to give their side a strong lead to take back to Old Trafford for next Wednesday's second leg.

Marvellous Maxi Rodriguez scored a hat-trick to help Liverpool dish out a veritable hammering to freefalling Birmingham City today in their Premier League clash. Dirk Kuyt added to the midlands pain as did 84th minute substitute Joe Cole to seal the five nil drubbing. Out of form ex-Chelsea chap Cole replaced Raul Meireles in the dying minutes and within minutes put himself on the score sheet with his first double deflected shot of the match. Since returning to management at Anfield earlier this season fan's favourite HRH 'King' Kenny Dalglish has not only distanced the club from an unprecedented relegation battle but guided them to Europa League contention. The turnaround has been phenomenal proving the decision to bring the Scot back in to be a masterstroke by the club's new owners and it is now just a matter of time before Dalglish will be offered a permanent mangement contract with the club.

Previous manager Roy Hodgson endured a sad, short, sulky-Spaniard filled time with the club but happily he has since proved what a quality manager he is by taking West Brom from certain Premier League danger to mid table quasi safeness.

there were dramatic scenes at the Emirates stadium earlier as both Liverpool and Arsenal scored last gasp penalties in an incredible few minutes of time added on.  After a hard fought match it wouild be fair to say that overall Arsenal had been the most threatening of the two sides but after 90 minutes the score still remained 0-0. The referee signalled 8 minutes of time added on after a long stoppage for a head injury to Jamie Carragher who was knocked out following a clash of heads with team-mate Flanagan. 6 minutes into extra time Jay Spearing fouled Cesc Fabregas in the box and Van Persie would have thought he had won the game when he converted the resulting penalty. A minute later Eboue was adjudged to have fouled Lucas and Dirk Kuyt stepped up to bring the game level with the last kick of the match. Arsene Wenger was clearly unhappy about the penalty decision against his side and remonstrated with Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish on the touchline at the end of the match, needless to say they chose not to shake hands at the final whistle!

After effectively dropping two points Arsenal now look unlikely to pose anymore of a threat to Manchester United in the Premier League title race this season. United had an off weekend too having been knocked out of the FA Cup on Saturday in their semi-final clash with fierce rivals Manchester City.

Manchester United may be without defender Rafael for this Tuesday evening's European Champions League quarter final 2nd leg. The Brazilian is still nursing the knee injury that he picked up in the 1st leg victory against Chelsea last Wednesday and only took part in running during training.

Liverpool will be without Daniel Agger, Glenn Johnson and Steven Gerrard who are all out through injury for their Premier League clash against Manchester City this evening. Fabio Aurelio and Jonjo Shelvey are doubtful, although both are back in training after returning from injury they lack fitness.

Colchester United earned a good home win on Saturday, grounding out a 1-0 victory over play-off contenders Rochdale. The U's won with an 87th minute goal from Ian Dent, manager John Ward said he enjoyed the tactical work that led to the late winner. 

this weekend has been a mixed bag in the sporting arena, on an international level England had a cracking sporting weekend.  The England rugby team put up an impressive performance against France in the Six Nations, as expected it wasn't a classic match but it was hard fought and well won by the England team and keeps them on course for the grand slam.  In this Rugby World Cup year the results and form of this England side are uncannily reminiscent of the 2003 World Cup winning side, so let's hope its a good omen for this years tournament in New Zealand.  The England Cricket team came through a thrilling match against India in their second match in the group stages of the Cricket World Cup in India.  After India managed an emphatic 338 runs in their 50 overs England's task looked a hefty one but it came down to the very last ball of the match with England on 337 for 8 and needing 2 runs off the last ball.  They managed just one and tied an incredible match.

In the Premeir League Manchester United managed an impressive 4-0 away win against Wigan on Saturday, strengthening their clutch on this years Premier League title while Liverpool's recent unbeaten run came to a temporary halt at West Ham where the home side earned themselves a rare 3-1 victory.

In League one Colchester United's fluctuating form continued with a disappointing 2-1 away defeat to struggling bottom side Plymouth. 

the England rugby team are gearing up for what promises to be an exciting RBS Six Nations match against France tomorrow.  Both England and France have a one hundred percent winning record in the tournament so far so this match could prove to be crucial in deciding which nation will win this years championship.   France as current Six Nations champions won the grand slam last year but will go into the match as slight underdogs based on current form and with England having the home advantage, however, it's likely to be a tight match that may end up appealing more to the purist.  England have impressed in their first two matches of this years tournament while France have struggled more in their two victories in which they have conceded six tries.  The match kicks off at 17.00 GMT.

the England football team got back to winning ways on Wednesday when they secured their first international win for five months, and although the match was officially a friendly it was played with all the vigor of a championship qualifying match.  It was immediately clear from the kick-off that both teams had placed a lot of importance on winning the match, and in England's case it was a long awaited victory having lost to France in their previous friendly in November and drawn with Montenegro prior to that in their October Euro 2012 qualifier.

The English Premier League also had their most exciting Saturday ever with 41 goals being scored across 8 matches.  The games included one of the league's greatest comebacks as Newcastle United ground out a 4-4 draw at home against Arsenal having been 4-0 down after just 30 minutes and at half time.  The 8 matches also included some fantastic last minute winning goals.  The following day Liverpool continued their winning run with a 1-0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.  This match had particular interest as it saw the debut for Chelsea of former Liverpool striker Fernando Torres.  The Spaniard had a mediocre game and was substituted after 60 minutes to the delight of Liverpool fans.  Torres had made some unfortunate comments prior to the match, suggesting that it was his destiny to score against Liverpool in his debut.

The England rugby team got their RBS Six Nations campaign off to a great start with a win over Wales in Cardiff last Friday evening.  Two tries by wing Chris Ashton helped Martin Johnson's team to a 26 points to 19 win.  England will next face Italy at Twickenham on Saturday 12th February, kick-off at 2pm.

the last day of the January transfer window was an exciting affair that threw up one or two last minute surprises.  After much speculation the inevitable departure of striker Fernando Torres from Liverpool was finally confirmed yesterday evening, the 26 year old joined Chelsea for a British transfer record amount of £50 million.  Liverpool fans may be disappointed to lose the Spanish striker, however, the huge transfer fee aloud them to make an unexpected move for Newcastle United's exciting young striker Andy Carroll.  The North East club initially rejected a £30 million bid from Liverpool, this was then upped to £35 million which was accepted and the deal for Carroll was done.  The transfer fee for Torres also allowed Liverpool to buy a second striker, Uruguayan Luis Suarez, who they bought from Dutch club Ajax for £22.7 million, fans will now be looking forward to Liverpool's match this weekend more than ever as they travel to Chelsea. 

if Kenny Dalglish the new Liverpool manager was under any illusion that turning the club's season round would be a walk in the park then last night's performance by the Anfield club would have put those thoughts well and truly to bed.  Premier League newcomers Blackpool completed the double on the reds with a 2-1 win at home despite Fernando Torres giving Liverpool the lead inside five minutes.  Dalglish's side were unable to capitalise on their early lead and having conceded two goals were actually lucky not to lose by a greater margin in the end.  After the match the manager conceded that he had a big task ahead of him although he seemed to suggest his players self belief was at the heart of the problem.  On the back of another poor, unacceptable performance, short of avoiding relegation it will be a massive achievement for Dalglish if he is able to salvage anything from this Liverpool Premier League campaign.  Perhaps the board and owners will come to realise that replacing Roy Hodgson, the current Premier League manager of the season, was a superficial move, like laying a rug over a hole in the floor, and the problem lies in a woefully sub-standard squad of players handed down to the former Fulham boss.  Being a professional footballer must be one of the very few vocations where you continue to be employed and paid regardless of how dreadfully you perform your job! 

Like the foreman of a motor vehicle factory who has three or four competent employees out of a thirty strong workforce will never be able to produce a respectable amount of roadworthy cars Kenny Dalglish is going to struggle to produce any respectable results with the workforce he has inherited.

as widely expected Roy Hodgson sadly lost his job as Liverpool FC manager over the weekend but the silver lining for Liverpool FC fans was the announcement that their self proclaimed King, Kenny Dalglish will take over at the helm in a 'caretaker' roll until the end of the season.  Liverpool FC fans are amongst the most loyal and vocal in English football and this season they have proved the power of their collective voice having first been the driving force behind the selling of the club to new American owners and now being instrumental in the replacing of Roy Hodgson with Anfield hero Kenny Dalglish.  You have to feel some sorrow for Hodgson who is a genuinely nice fella who has effectively gone from hero to zero in the space of less than a year.  As manager of Fulham he transformed what was a mediocre club from almost certain relegation from the Premier League to UEFA Cup finalists in a couple of seasons, a feat which saw him voted Premier League Manager of the Year for the previous season 2009/2010, now, just a few months later he has been sacked by Liverpool FC less than 7 months into his tenure as their manager.  A victim of his success with Fulham he could not turn down the offer to manager a huge club like Liverpool however the team he inherited was undoubtedly barely a shadow of the Liverpool teams that have made the club such an iconic name in the world of football and from the moment he stepped foot into Anfield he was on a hiding to nothing, let's hope he is not out of work for too long as football needs the talents of such a man.

On the flipside Hodgson's loss appears to be Kenny Dalglish's gain, and the Scotsman cut a very excited, energetic figure in his pre-match interview today prior to Liverpool's FA Cup showdwon with Manchester United at Old Trafford.  Despite losing 1-0 it felt as though the team raised their game and with achievements at an all time low Dalglish must feel he has been handed the reins of the club at the best possible time as surely the only way for them is up which will only serve to endear Kenny to the fans forever.

The England cricket team have retained the Ashes from Australia for the first time in more than 20 years following an emphatic win over Australia in the fourth test of five.  England won the test with a match to spare and now lead the series two to one with one test drawn.  The best that Australia could now do is to win the final test and draw the series which would see the trophy retained by the existing holders, England. 

Manchester United may be without veteran stalwart Paul Scholes for their crucial Premier League tie against Arsenal on Monday.  The 36 year old midfielder has been absent from the first team since picking up a groin injury during United's Champions League match against Rangers last month.  His rehabilitation was on track until a setback in training not only left him out of the 1-1 draw against Valencia on Tuesday but also threatens his chances of playing in the top of the table clash with Arsenal this Monday.  The tie at Old Trafford pits managers and old foes Ferguson and Wenger against one another and will be seen as a '6 pointer' with Arsenal currently leading United by 1 point at the top of the Premier League.

Across the way Liverpool go into their Saturday evening match against Newcastle United on the back of an excellent 3-0 defeat of Aston Villa.  Liverpool will face Newcastle at St James' Park at a time when the north east club find themselves in a bit of turmoil following the sacking of manager Chris Hughton earlier this week and the announcement today that Alan Pardew will be his successor.  The Geordie fans generally seem to be in disbelief at Hughton's sacking considering he guided them to promotion from the Championship last season and has amanged to secure a mid table spot for them (12th currently) going into the important Christmas period of the season. 

the FA Cup third round draw threw up a particularly mouth-watering tie which will see Liverpool travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United over the weekend of the 8th and 9th January 2011.  The clubs who would have no doubt preferred to meet later in the competition experienced mixed fortunes in the Premier League over the weekend.  Manchester United enjoyed a record breaking 7-1 win over Blackburn Rovers with Dimitar Berbatov scoring 5 times, Wayne Rooney played the full 90 minutes and although he failed to get on the score sheet he was typically instrumental in the victory.  Liverpool on the otherhand took the lead against Tottenham Hotspur in a cracking match which saw Spurs miss a penalty and then seal the 2-1 result deep into second half stoppage time.  The result was not the only bad news for Liverpool with Jamie Carragher being forced to leave the game early with a dislocated shoulder which looks likely to keep him sidelined until the New Year.  The injury to Carragher comes on the heels of Steven Gerrard's torn hamstring, picked up during England's recent friendly against France, which could keep him out of action for a couple more weeks.

Colchester United qualified for the third round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win over Swindon Supermarine which earns them an away tie against Swansea.

If France's performance last night was anything to go by it would appear that they have put their disgraceful showing during the summer World Cup finals behind them. Their summer showing in the finals was full of poor results and militant attitudes but yesterday evening that all seemed a distant memory. England were disappointing and mostly outplayed by their European neighbours however it's important to remember that although the match was competitive in playing terms, it was only a friendly match. Fabio Capello felt the experience was important for his debutants Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Jay Boothroyd but however you look at it there is no denying that France are much further down the road of recovery than England after their dreadful World Cup campaigns. The match also saw Steven Gerrard pick up an injury which will be assessed by Liverpool's medical team today, it transpired after the match that Liverpool had asked Capello to give Gerrard an hour in the friendly but with injuries to other senior players the Italian kept him on until he was forced to limp off in the 85th minute.

injuries to England team regulars has forced Fabio Capello to make some welcome changes to the usual predictable England squad. Experimentation with new faces is like a breath of fresh air to many England fans who still harbour albeit faded memories of this summer's desperately poor World Cup campaign. Many supporters will be hoping some of the latest additions to the England squad will have the opportunity to show what they are capable of on Wednesday evening in England's international match against France at Wembley. Bolton's Gary Cahill, Aston Villa's Stephen Warnock and West Ham United's Carlton Cole are amongst those called upon to join the squad while John Terry, Ashley Cole and Gabriel Agbonlahor are left out due to injury. Newcastle United's in-form striker Andy Carroll also joined the England squad however a groin injury picked up in Saturday's goalless draw against Fulham has left some doubt about his inclusion. The most interesting addition to the squad is Cardiff's Jay Bothroyd who could become the first Championship based player to feature in the England team since Preston's David Nugent in 2007.

The full squad is: Foster (Birmingham), Hart (Man City), Green (West Ham); Cahill (Bolton), Gibbs (Arsenal), Jagielka (Everton), Lescott (Man City), Richards (Man City), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Smalling (Man Utd) Warnock (Aston Villa); Walcott (Arsenal), Wilshere (Arsenal), Young (Aston Villa), Gerrard (Liverpool), Barry (Man City), Johnson (Man City), Milner (Man City), Henderson (Sunderland); Bothroyd (Cardiff), Carroll (Newcastle), Crouch (Tottenham), Cole (West Ham)

It's amazing the difference that two back to back Premier League wins can make, so tight are margins in points in the top division at the moment, as Liverpool FC begin the month of November in a much healthier place following their hard fought win over Bolton Wanderers yesterday. Roy Hodgson's team leapfrogged seven places to twelth position as a result of the win and from a psycological standpoint it was particularly importantly as it took them from second from bottom to mid table and crucially out of the relegation zone. Hodgson has commended the team for the grit and determination they have shown to achieve wins over Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers over the past week which has catapulted them into a more appropriate spot in England's top league.

Colchester United have also moved back up into a more convincing position in League One as a result of back to back wins. The Essex side are now in third place on equal points with Huddersfield and eight points behind the league leaders Brighton and Hove Albion.

Liverpool FC slump to second from bottom after one of the worsed week's in their history. After a week of claim and counter claim from the previous Liverpool owners Hicks and Gillett the club was finally sold to the John W Henry and the New England Sports Venture. However the final settlement of what had become something of an unsavoury soap opera whipped into a frenzy by the media was not enough to kick-start the club's season as they slumped to second from bottom after yesterday's loss in the Premier League. The loss on Sunday which saw Liverpool FC hit an all-time low was all the more painfull as it came against bitter local rivals Everton. Manager Roy Hodgson who is suffering at the hands of a team built by his predecessor Rafael Benitez has revealed that he is starting to feel the pressure. You have to feel for Hodgson who must be feeling exasperrated dealing with a team that would appear to have some quality on paper but in reality are constantly letting him and the supporters down with their performances on the pitch.

Sir Alex Ferguson is also making the headlines at the moment thanks to another under-performing player, this time Wayne Rooney appears to be unwilling to tow the company line by denying Sir Alex's claims that he has had an injured ankle. Relations between the two are reportedly quite strained at the moment with Rooney alledgedly refusing to sign a new contract with the club, if this is the case Manchester United would need to offload Rooney as soon as possible in order to maximise his value, this could see him transferred during the January transfer window. Sir Alex Ferguson does not suffer fools and has shown in the past that he is in no doubt that no player is bigger than the club with the unexpected transfers of the likes of David Beckham and Japp Stam after dressing room fall-outs.

England prepare for what could turn out to be a crucial Euro 2012 qualifying match this evening at Wembley their home ground in London. England face Montenegro a team that has won all three of it's Euro 2012 matches so far and who currently hold the top spot in the group table. England have played one match less but a win against the Balkan side tonight would see them move up a place and top the group themselves by virtue of their superior goal difference. Fabio Capello has lost four of his squad members John Terry, Aaron Lennon, Phil Jagielka and most recently Darren Bent to injury, the Italian also took the bold decision to take the captaincy away from Steven Gerrard with the return from injury of Rio Ferdinand. The Manchester United midfielder will play his first match for England this evening since sustaining an injury in training during the World Cup 2010 campaign. Gerrard has successfully led his country to two decisive wins in the Euro 2012 qualifiers so far in the absence of Ferdinand and will revert to his position of vice-captain now Rio is fit again.

At club level Gerrard will be pleased to see things are now moving towards a resolution of Liverpool's ownership issues. Today the case to decide future ownership of the club will be heard in the high court with the issue of whether chairman Martin Broughton has the authority to sell the club to the American business NESV (New England Sports Ventures) being decided.

Current owners American's Tom Hicks and George Gillett have brought the case to try to block the sale to NESV that has been arranged by the board. The American's claim the offer on the table of £300 million undervalues the club and would leave them with a £140 million loss. However the owners owe RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) £240 million and it has been reported that should today's ruling go in favour of Hicks and Gillett RBS will put the club in to administration and complete the deal with NESV anyway. Should the club be placed in to administration they would be docked 9 points and on current form would find themselves quite deep in a relegation battle, the knock on effect from this could be that NESV would retract their offer fearing that the club could be relegated and consequently depreciate in value.

England manager Fabio Capello has named his squad for the country's next Euro 2012 qualifying match against Montenegro on 12th October and Bolton's Kevin Davies is the latest new name to be included.  The 33 year old, who will join fellow strikers Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch and Darren Bent in the squad, received the phone call from the Football Association to say he had been included and initially thought it was a wind-up.  Capello has recalled more of his failed World Cup squad members now the dust has settled, the full squad is as follows: Ben Foster (Birmingham City), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)

The fast moving rollercoaster that has begun transporting Liverpool's football fans into the 2010/11 football season is continuing to speed it's way on into October. Seemingly not content with being in their worst league position at this stage in the season for 26 years the underperforming players of Liverpool fc continued to send the club into self-destruction this weekend with another woefull performance. In a match against Blackpool that should have perhaps been points in the bag for the merseysiders, individual players struggled to reach their potential and the club ended up on the wrong end of a 2-1 home defeat. The result leaves Liverpool third from bottom with just 6 points from 7 matches. Although it's still early days, and in reality Liverpool are only 5 points off of 4th place and a Champions League qualification spot, poor Roy Hodgson will need to muster up all his managerial skills and expertise if he is to get anything from the players he inherited from Rafael Benitez and salvage any measurable success from this season!

Manchester United also slipped up with a 0-0 draw against Sunderland which has left them 5 points behind Chelsea in top spot, to add a little salt into United's wounds they also now find themselves pushed back into 3rd place by their fierce local rivals Manchester City.

In League One Colchester United achieved a 1-1 draw away at MK Dons which sees them in joint 4th place in terms of points but in 6th place on goal difference. The Essex club will be back in action tomorrow evening in a cup tie for the Johnson's Paint Trophy at home to Wycombe Wanderers.

the Manchester United team have left for Spain today ahead of their Champions League first round group match against Valencia but both Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes did not travel. Scholes is being rested while Rooney has not shaken off the ankle injury he picked-up during Saturday's 2-2 draw with Bolton Wanderers. Rooney has had an indifferent start to the season which it has been suggested is due to the intense recent media interest in him as a result of the allegations of his poor decision making in his private life. Kevin Keegan echoed many people's thoughts in comments he made on ESPN television the other day.  The former Liverpool legend said "you can't have all the contracts, sell your wedding to magazines and things like this, and suddenly say, 'That's the tap I want to turn on but we want to turn the other one off'.  It's just one tap and I know from when I played that if you are advertising boots and all these things, you have to go and make appearances. You are going to appear in the paper.  But the one thing I would say is keep your home and your family out of it and just take your endorsements if that's what you want to do. One minute you are courting it, the next minute you're saying 'I don't want this'."

Meanwhile Liverpool are gearing up for their next Europa League group match which will be away against Dutch side F C Utrecht this Thursday 30 September.

The true extent of the lack of quality of Rafael Benitez's legacy of expensive player signings became evident last night as Liverpool FC crashed out of the Carling Cup at the hands of lowly Northampton Town. Supporters of the League two side were just enjoying the moment, their team had drawn a Premier League giant in the Carling Cup and four thousand of them grabbed the chance of seeing their local team play at Anfield. Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined what the evening had in store for them! Roy Hodgson duly named a changed squad from the team that lost 3-2 to Manchester United at the weekend, the squad lacked the star names (Gerrard, Torres, Cole, Reina etc) however with the likes of Agger, Kyrgiakos, Lucas, Babel and Ngog it was still a side peppered with expensive signings that should have had no problem seeing off the Northants side. As it was Liverpool started well scoring at around the 9 minute mark and looked as though they would be treating their fans to a goalfest but Northampton struck back before half time and held their own until full time. The League Two side then took the lead in the first half of extra time which Liverpool wiped out shortly before the end of the second half of extra time. Then with Liverpool facing penalties at the favourable Kop end of Anfield they failed to deliver, missed 3 penalties and handed an historic win to Northampton Town! Poor Roy Hodgson had given some of his second string players the chance to impress while completing what was undoubtably an easy task on paper but he was badly let down by a group of footballers who should frankly hang their heads in shame for being part of such an unacceptable result.

Meanwhile at an international level the England Cricket Ashes squad to tour Australia were named this afternoon and the full list of players travelling out to defend their Ashes title is as follows: Andrew Strauss (captain, Middlesex), Alastair Cook (vice-captain, Essex), James Anderson (Lancashire), Ian Bell (Warwickshire), Tim Bresnan (Yorkshire), Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), Paul Collingwood (Durham), Steven Davies (wk, Surrey), Steven Finn (Middlesex), Eoin Morgan (Middlesex), Monty Panesar (Sussex), Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire), Matt Prior (wk, Sussex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Chris Tremlett (Surrey), Jonathan Trott (Warwickshire).

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson employed shrewd tactics this week which paid dividends. He choose to rest some of his key players for Liverpool's Europa League tie against Romanian side Steaua Bucharest. Amongst the absent stars were arguably two of the club's best players, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, however the the weakened side rose to the challenge and achieved an impressive 4-1 win. Joe Cole opened the scoring after just 27 seconds and put himself in the record books at the same time for the quickest European goal in Liverpool's history! Hodgson was understandably delighted with the result which justified his team selection tactics, a decision he made with Liverpool's Premier League clash with Manchester United on Sunday in mind.  Ironically United manager Sir Alex Ferguson made a similar decision on Tuesday evening which backfired somewhat, Ferguson changed 10 of his players for their Champions League tie against Rangers but only managed a 0-0 draw in a home match they were expected to win.

On the downside you Liverpool fans out there will probably not be too pleased with today's news that one of the club's American co-owners, Tom Hicks, is considering buying out his partner and compatriot George Gillette and taking full ownership of the club.  According to the BBC website the majority of the board will not support his attempt to take sole ownership of the club but despite this it could still succeed.

Sir Alex Ferguson appeared to take the opening Champions League challenge of Glasgow Rangers a little lightly last night and paid the price with a goalless draw in a home match that on paper they would have been expected to win.  Ferguson made 10 changes to the team he fielded on Saturday against Everton which included Wayne Rooney and the return from injury of Rio Ferdinand.  Glasgow Rangers defended defiantly and came away with a good result for them, however, the draw wasn't the only disappointment for Manchester United as in the 62nd minute a tame looking tackle by Kirk Broadfoot on Antonio Valencia resulted in an horrific injury to the ankle of the Ecuadorian, the break/dislocation looks like keeping him out of action for the rest of the season.  United's next Champions League tie will be away at Valencia in 2 weeks time on 29th September.

Meanwhile Manchester United's next Premier League opponents Liverpool will be back in Europa League action tomorrow in a home tie against Steaua Bucharest.  Liverpool's manager Roy Hodgson has defended his star striker Fernando Torres who has been off-form so far this season.  The Spaniard is still returning to full fitness following last season's knee injury and a groin problem he picked up during the World Cup finals, on the other hand his lack of form could just be the Samson-effect whereby his special powers have been lost following a severe hair cut!

Tonight the England team step out for their second qualifying match of the Euro 2012 Championships and on paper it looks like being their toughest match of the campaign. England are in Basle, Switzerland to face the national team in a difficult tie. The media will be focusing on Wayne Rooney's performance after two English Sunday newspapers carried stories about his alledged infidelity. The English tabloid (or gutter) press are notorious for printing scandalous stories about people in the spotlight whom they previously built up! These newspapers also always seem to time the printing of these 'sensatyional' stories to coincide with important events for example in this case they have chosen to release a story about England's most influential player between the national team's first two important Euro 2012 qualifying games, they profess to be staunch supporters of the England team and encourage nationalism in their readers while printing scandalous stories that are timed to have the most detrimental effect on the team? It's a shame people continue to support this behaviour and buy these newspapers.

Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt has suffered an injury during training with the Netherlands for their match against Finland today, reports suggest he has sustained a shoulder injury and may have even torn ligaments.

Meanwhile Owen Hargreaves seems to be no nearer to returning to action, despite being named in Manchester United's 25 man Premier League squad last week he has been omitted from their Champions League squad which would suggest he will not be fully fit until at least December. Hargreaves has been suffering with tendonitis and has only appeared once for Manchester United as a substitute in the past 2 years.

This week will see the England manager Fabio Capello begin to rebuild his tarnished reputation as a credible international manager.  The Italian led the international team through a glorious qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, however, when it came to the crunch, and the World Cup finals themselves, the team were left wanting and produced a dismal display over the four matches they were involved in during the tournament.  So, this Friday the long trudge that should end in qualification for an international tournament begins again and Capello and his team must be feeling they are right back where they started when the Italian first arrived to take charge.  To his credit Capello has made some sweeping changes to the squad, however, this should be no more than we would expect and perhaps disappointingly (injuries aside) many of the 'same old first team names' are still in the squad and are likely to start as usual!  The full squad for Friday's first match of the 2012 European Championship Qualifying campaign against Bulgaria is as follows:

 Goalkeepers: Scott Carson (West Brom), Ben Foster (Birmingham), Joe Hart (Manchester City).

Defenders: Gary Cahill (Bolton), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Kieran Gibbs (Arsenal), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), Matthew Upson (West Ham)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), James Milner (Manchester City), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)

Forwards: Darren Bent (Sunderland), Carlton Cole (West Ham), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United).

Roy Hodgson has left both Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres out of his squad to face Trabzonspor this evening in Liverpool's second leg Europa League tie.  Liverpool go into the game with a one goal lead from last week's first leg at Anfield, however, Steven Gerrard has been ruled out with a back injury and Roy Hodgson has omitted Fernando Torres because he felt he was unable to complete three matches in a row at this time.  Joe Cole will be back after missing Monday's Premier League match against Manchester City, the midfielder was serving a suspension as a result of the red card he was shown in the open match of the season against Arsenal.  Cole had a bad week last week after being red carded, found guilty of excessive speeding and missing a penalty against Trabzonspor and he will be hoping to redeem himself this evening in a difficult away tie against the Turkish side.

Javier Mascherano is another player who has not travelled to Turkey for tonight's match, it is still unclear whether the Argentine player will leave Liverpool or not.  It has been much publicised that Barcelona are interested in Mascherano and he in playing for them but it seems that the amount they are offering for the player is not even close to the £25 million price tag that Liverpool have put on him.  Some reports are suggesting that the Spanish side have offered only £12 million for Mascherano whi9ch is £6 million less than Liverpool paid for him, however, Roy Hodgson said the matter should be resolved one way or the other by Sunday when Liverpool will face West Brom in the Premier League.

Joe Cole will be one person who will be glad to see the end of the first week of the new Premier League season, Liverpool's latest signing had a hat-trick of bad moments over the past 7 days.  His woeful week began on Sunday with Liverpool's opening match of the 2010/11 Premier League season against Arsenal where he was sent off on the stroke of half time for a wreckless tackle on Laurent Koscielny.  Cole's second bad experience of the week came on Wednesday when he was found guilty of a speeding offence committed last November in Surrey where he was clocked doing 106 mph in a 70 mph speed limit, to compound the problem he already has 6 points on his licence and was warned by the court that he could now face disqualification from driving, sentencing was adjourned until 27th August.  The third and final blow for Joe Cole came last night in Liverpool's Europa Cup qualifying match against Turkish side Trabzonspor, after Liverpool were awarded a penalty in the second half Cole claimed the ball and proceeded to spot the ball despite the usual penalty taker, Fernando Torres, being on the pitch.  Cole appeared to want to round off what had so far been a bit of a woeful week with his first competitive goal, but, his penalty was tame and consequently was saved by the keeper. 

Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand looks unlikely to return to playing for his club anytime soon, initial estimates suggested he would be back in action in time for the start of this Premier League season however those estimates have been revised and latest reports are state that he won't be back before the end of September.

The England football team's first match since their disappointing world cup campaign was a bit of a no-win situation for Fabio Capello and his players.  If they had lost it would have been a doom and gloom field day for the media and in the event the 2-1 win over Hungary will have a lot of fans wishing they could have been a little more convincing over the summer when it mattered in the World Cup finals?  The last qualifying campaign England undertook, for the 2010 World Cup finals, was decisive and convincing but during the final themselves when it really mattered many of the players were left wanting, however, the win last night was encouraging and in particular the captain's performance was excellent (Steven Gerrard's goal celebrations spoke volumes about his own passion, attitude and desire and were worthy of much more than an international friendly match) and it's time to move on from the painful memories of the summer of football discontent!  

Ironically the event and subsequent performance have been completely overshadowed by Fabio Capello's comments regarding David Beckham's England future, Capello appeared to all but retire Beckham from international duty in a pre-match interview.  In his post-match interview the Italian then suggested Beckham may have one more outing in a friendly to bow out of international football, however, let's see what the next few months brings, Beckham has a knack of making himself a natural choice and has forced both Capello (Real Madrid) and Steve McLaren (England) to re-assess their decisions to exclude him in the past.

In the Premier League Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has added one of his former players, Christian Poulsen, to the list of new signings he has made this summer.  The Danish midfielder has signed a 3 year deal to join Liverpool from Italian side Juventus.

Liverpool FC's reward for seeing off their Macedonian opponents last night in the Europa League is a potentially difficult play off draw against Turkish side Trabzonspor.  The draw for the next two leg round of the Europa League competition took place today in Switzerland and it saw Liverpool drawn at home for the first leg of their tie against Turkey's Tranzonspor due to take place on 16th August.  The tie is a potential banana skin for Liverpool particularly as they will be playing the second leg on 26th August away from home.

Meanwhile Manchester United will be back in competitive action on Sunday in the FA Community Shield which will see them up against arch rivals and 2009/10 League and FA Cup winners Chelsea.  The FA Community Shield traditionally pits the previous season's Premier League Champions against the current holders of the FA Cup, however, when a team holds both titles as Chelsea currently do, the team who finished second place in the Premier League (in this case Manchester United) take on the FA Cup holders.

Manchester United will be without midfielder Michael Carrick on Sunday, he injured his ankle during a pre-season friendly on Wednesday, Carrick joins a growing list of United players who will miss the start of the season for one reason or another, they include Rio Ferdinand, Gabriel Obertan, Anderson, Owen Hargreaves and the Brazilian twins Rafael and Fabio da Silva.

Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has said he will field his strongest side possible this evening for the club's second leg Europa League third qualifying round match against Rabotnicki Skopje of Macedonia.  This looks likely to mean that along with stalwarts Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher new signing Joe Cole will make his competitive debut.  So far the former Chelsea and England midfielder has played just once for the Anfield side in a friendly against Borussia Munchengladbach however with Liverpool taking a 2-0 lead into this second leg the time is perfect for Hodgson to bring out his big guns for their first competitive match of the season.  Spain and Holland internationsl, Torre, Reina and Kuyt will not feature as they have only just returned to training following this summer's World Cup campaigns which saw Spain and The Netherland progress through to the final.

with our mini summer break now passed we look forward to some bigger and better blogging over the coming months and to begin with well what can you say?  After a four year wait and the best qualifying campaign ever the 2010 World Cup Finals were more than a little disappointing for England fans the world over and fans of football in general as some of the world's best players, Messi, Ronaldo, Torres and Drogba failed to reach their potential! So now we look forward instead to another more reliable and exciting season of English football. 

The signing of the League Managers Association manager of the year Roy Hodgson by Liverpool has steadied the club and led to them retaining their most prized assets namely Steven Gerrard and fernando Torres.  The pre-season has also seen Liverpool sign the former Chelsea and England international Joe Cole who looks set to make his debut for the club this Sunday 1st August in their friendly against Borussia Monchengladbach.  Roy Hodgson has also signed two new defenders, Scottish young player of the year Danny Wilson from Rangers and Luke Young from Aston Villa.  Albert Riera has left the club to join Greek side Olympiakos and Yossi Benayoun has moved to Chelsea in what seems like a straight swap in player quality terms for Joe Cole.

As for the 2009-10 Premier League runners-up Manachester United, well there is not much to tell, no major signings or departures from the club as Sir Alex Ferguson seems confident so far that his existing squad will be capable of recapturing the title this season without any tweaking, however, fans may be forgiven for worrying a little about the fragilty of some of the club's star players, in particular Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, while Owen Hargreaves looks to be no closer to a return to action at this moment.

Meanwhile League One side Colchester United have strengthened their squad over the summer so far with manager John Ward signing two defenders, Brian Wilson from Bristol City and Ben Coker from Histon and two midfielders Andy Bond from Barrow and Lloyd James formerly with Southampton.  Ward has been quoted as saying he is unlikely to make any more signings unless he is forced to do so as a result of injuries.

On Friday the English Football Association confirmed that Fabio Capello would remain in his position as England manager for the duration of his contract which will take him upto the 2012 European Championships.  The decision would seem to be the obvious one for a numebr of reasons, not least because Capello would have climbed a steep learning curve after his first tournament in charge of England and will have now gained some invaluable experience to take forward.  Renewing the manager would have also been very costly for the FA who would have had to pay-off Capello and his backroom staff while offering more riduculous sums of money to try and entice another managerial lamb to the English media slaughter!  Encouragingly Capello has said that he will bring new energy into the squad which should see a clearout of the deadwood and the introduction of some fresh new names who will hopefully have more pride in playing for their country.  We can only hope that this will see an end to the inclusion of certain players on the strength of their big name and past performance rather than their current form and fitness.  

Meanwhile the FA may have scored an own goal themselves by holding off the renewal of the Nationwide Building Society's sposorship deal in the hope that England would have a successful World Cup Finals in South Africa.  The building society have now said that they are unlikely to renew their current deal once to expires at the end of this month. 

well most people won't be too surprised at the Engalnd team's exit from the 2010 World Cup finals, this time round it felt like the usual blind optimisim going into a major competition was finally tempered with a healthy chunk of realism. The team have now returned home and the recriminations are in full swing, Fabio has been told his future will be discussed in two weeks but let's hope somebody may finally have the intelligence to suggest it might just have been the players at fault!  The tiredness card is being played however it doesn't wash when you see foreign Premier League players like Carlos Tevez excelling and looking more livelier than ever.  Maybe heart, hunger and self-confidence should be more of a consideration/  Fifa have apologised today for the match officials who failed to recognise Frank Lampard's perfectly good equaliser which would have given the game a different dynamic, however, despite this the poor England defending combined with the decisive breaking and finishing of the German attack would have meant the final outcome of a Germany win would have remained the same.

Back to Premier League matters and it is looking increasingly likely that Roy Hodgson will be unveiled as the new Liverpool manager in the next 48 hours.  Hodgson is very experienced and performed footballing miracles with Fulham last season, taking them to the Europa League final and earning himself the League Manager's Association Manager of the Year award.  It will be great to see an Englsh manager back in charge of one of the big four English Premier League clubs again and should his appointment be confirmed we wish him all the very best.

The word this morning is that David James is likely to start tonight's second group match for England against Algeria.  Fabio Capello never actually names his squad until 2 hours before a match so their is no official confirmation yet that Robert Green will be left out of the team following his howler against the USA last Saturday, however, the BBC and many newspapers are reporting the fact that James will very likely start the match tonight.

Football certainly is a 'funny old game', by my reckoning Rafael Benitez was a manager who led one of England's best loved Premier League clubs to European glory in his first season in charge with a team predominantly built by his predecessor.  He then spent the next five years ridng on the coattails of that success bringing in more players of his own choice and rebuilding a team that then achieved less and less in terms of trophies won as the seasons went on?  At the height of his under-achievement he leads the team to a trophyless season, to seventh position in the Premier League and to exclusion from the 2010/11 Champions League and not surprisingly finds himself out of work.  After such a performance what would you put your money on happening next?, would he be

a) out of management for a while, join Spain's tv/radio punditry team for the 2010 World Cup, wait a while until the dust on his Liverpool career settles and then work his way back up the management ladder over the next few years into another prestigous position?

b) back in top flight management within a fortnight with the treble winning Champions of Europe?

Certainly is a funny old game!

Meanwhile Fabio Capello is itching to get the England team's 2010 World Cup underway, he took out some of his frustrations on cameramen accusing them of trying photograph the players through the windows of their training facility.  It's good to see a passionate England manager at last!  It's doubtful Sven would have ever got quite so upset?  England captain Steven Gerard also echoed Capello's sentiments at a press conference today when he spoke about the importance of the England players to keep their discipline during the campaign and to refrain from swearing on the pitch, this comes after Wayne Rooney managed to get himself booked in their final 'friendly' warm-up match.  It all bodes well for what will hopefully be a positive, no-nonsense, prima-donna-free campaign.

The classic comment of the week came yesterday from Joe Cole who said during his press conference that he thought one or two of the players would have liked to see some of the members of the press eaten by lions during the team's recent safari.  Watch the interview here  http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/8730702.stm

the England team took part in their final, hastily arranged, World Cup warm-up match in Rustenburg against local first division side Platinum Stars.  The match, which was only confirmed last Friday, was all ticket however tickets were free.  By all accounts England's performance was fairly uninspiring however the match was seen as a warm up with players keen to avoid any injuries so close to the start of the 2010 World Cup finals tournament, that said Wayne Rooney played with his usual passion and even managed to get himself booked for dissent!  The goals came from Jermaine Defoe, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney in a match that saw England manager Fabio Capello make wholesale changes in the second half, Jope Cole was the only player to stay on for the full 90 minutes.  Not much could really be drawn from the game although the linking up of rooney and Heskey by Capello may give an indication of his preferred starting strike partnership for Saturdays first group match against the USA.

England captain Rio Ferdinand suffered an injury to his left knee today and is currently undergoing a scan in hospital in South Africa.  The 31 year old Manchester United defender sustained the injury towards the end of England's first training session in Rustenburg.  England manager Fabio Capello has placed Tottenham Hotspur defender Michael dawson on standby in the event that Ferdinand is unable to continue.  On a seperate issue reports are coming out of South africa that Didier Drogba is out of the tournament having suffered a fractured elbow during a friendly warm-up match.

Back in the U.K. Rafael benitez's departure from Liverpool FC has been confirmed and now Kenny Dalglish will help in the process of appointing a new manager for the club.

Fabio Capello has pledged his future to the England football team until the end of the Euro 2012 finals.  The deal eases concerns the football association may have had over rumours of an approach for Fabio Capello by Italian champions Inter Milan.  The England team left Heathrow airport yesterday evening on a Virgin Airlines flight to South Africa which touched down this morning.  After a 2 hour coach transfer the squad arrived at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus at Rustenburg where they will stay for the start of their 2010 World Cup finals campaign.  The England team shirt numbers have also been announced today and although there is no guarantee they may provide some clues as to Fabio capello's first team squad.  The full squad numbers are as follows, 1. David James 2. Glen Johnson 3. Ashley Cole 4. Steven Gerrard 5. Rio Ferdinand 6. John Terry 7. Aaron Lennon 8. Frank Lampard 9. Peter Crouch 10. Wayne Rooney 11. Joe Cole 12. Robert Green 13. Stephen Warnock 14. Gareth Barry 15. Matthew Upson 16. James Milner 17. Shaun Wright-Phillips 18. Jamie Carragher 19. Jermain Defoe 20. Ledley King 21. Emile Heskey 22. Michael Carrick 23. Joe Hart.

In other news it appears as though Rafael Benitez is on the verge of leaving Liverpool FC and could be relieved of the position of manager as soon as the weekend.  According to the BBC 'Benitez will be offered a multi-million pound severance deal to quit Anfield', the financial figure being quoted as possible payment to Benitez is between £3 million and £16 million.  inevitably talk of possible replacements has already started with the names of Roy Hodgson and Martin O'Neill being mentioned, however, it's more likely the club will install former manager Kenny Dalglish in an interim position until a permanent replacement is found.

After much waiting and delay Fabio Capello's final 23-man England squad to travel to the 2010 World Cup finals was finally released at 4pm (UK time) this afternoon.  The delay in naming the squad caused consternation amongst some journalists and broadcasters as they speculated about who the seven players to be left out of the original squad would be.  The FA decided to announce the squad via their official website however this led to the website crashing as a huge amount of users logged on to to find out the final 23-man squad.  Rumours were rife that Shaun Wright-Phillips had made the squad at the expense of Theo Walcott and finally at around 4pm (UK time) those rumours were confirmed, the other players to missout were Darren Bent, Adam Johnson, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson, Leighton Baines and Tom Huddlestone.  The full squad who will be going to South Africa tomorrow are 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).

Having just confirmed the signing of Charlton and England under 17 international Jonjo Shelvey, the Liverpool FC manager Rafael Benitez has spoken of the desire to sign more home grown players.  The Spaniard said "we are trying to bring in British players with passion, players who you can feel what playing for Liverpool means to them. Shelvey is one of these and we have two or three names ready so we will try to do the best for the club".  Benitez also added "I was trying to sign Gareth Barry before and Glen Johnson was the same idea - we have this long-term plan in place and we will try to follow the plan".

The Professional Footballer's Association have voted Wayne Rooney 2010 Player of the year, the 24 year old Manchester United and England striker won the acolade ahead of the likes of Didier Drogba, Carlos Tevez and Cesc Fabregas.  Rooney who has scored 34 goals for United this season said "It's a great feeling to win because it's voted for by the players. It's a great honour and I'm really proud".

Liverpool and Spain striker Fernando Torres has undergone knee surgery which will see him miss the rest of the Premier League season.  Torres has been troubled by torn cartilage in his right knee for some time and underwent the operation to repair it on Sunday evening.  The rehabilitation period is expected to be around six weeks which may effect his chances of appearing for Spain in the World Cup finals this summer.  It was also confirmed today that Liverpool FC's Europa Cup semi-final against Atletico Madrid will go ahead as planned on Thursday despite the disruption to air travel to and from the UK caused by dust particles from the active volcanic in Iceland. 

Liverpool football club has been put up for sale by it's American owners, George Gillette and Tom Hicks.  British Airways boss Martin Broughton has been tasked with selling the debt-ridden club which has had "numerous expressions of interest" according to Hicks and Gillette, the pair had initially instructed chief executive Christian Purslow to find £100m of outside investment to reduce the club's £237m debt, however, they now feel their best option is to sell.  In a statement, the owners said: "Owning Liverpool Football Club over these past three years has been a rewarding and exciting experience for us and our families.  Having grown the club this far we have now decided together to look to sell the club to owners committed to take the club through its next level of growth and development.  We are delighted that Martin Broughton has agreed to take the position of chairman, working alongside the club's excellent senior management team.  Martin is a distinguished business leader of excellent judgment and with a great reputation. He is a genuine football supporter and will seek to oversee the sales process in the best interests of the club and its supporters".

Ryan Giggs caused a stir when a newspaper interview with him suggested that he would return to international football should Welsh manager John Toshack call upon his services.  However as the reports began to gain momentum Giggs stepped in to play down his comments telling BBC Radio Manchester: "I've got no immediate plans on coming back and playing regularly", adding "I just said I wouldn't rule it out. If there was ever an emergency or a game that they needed me I would obviously think about it".  Manchester United's Portuguese winger Nani has been rewarded for his current form with a new four year contract, this despite still having two years to run on his existing contract.  Manager Sir Alex Ferguson told the club's website the 23 year old is "an emerging talent and has developed tremendously since joining the club".  Meanwhile it has been reported that Liverpool are keen to see the back of their outspoken winger Albert Riera, the 27 year old launched a stinging attack on manager Rafael Benitez last week and as a consequence now finds hmself an unwanted commodity.  It's likely that Riera will be loaned out to a Russian club before their transfer window closes next month.  Benitez simply said "We are working with different clubs to find a solution".

England and AC Milan midfielder David Beckham has undergone an operation in Finland on the ruptured achilles tendon that he suffered during AC Milan's Serie A league match against Chievo on Sunday.  Professor Sakari Orava, the surgeon who carried out the operation, said the procedure had been "a success", however he added that the severity of the injury means Beckham could be out for up to six months, which would end his hopes of being selected for England's 2010 World Cup squad.  Many England fans will be saddened by the news as they hoped to see him feature in his fourth World Cup finals with the possibilty of a romantic World Cup winning end to David Beckham's international career!

Our winter sale will finish at the end of this month (31 January). So, if you haven't already done so, you have a couple of weeks only left to take advantage of our excellent discounts of up to 50% off our range of Full-Zip Sweat Tops. Whether you are looking for a unique Birthday, Valentines Day or Fathers Day present for someone special in your life or just want to get yourself an exclusive England Sweat Top in preparation for this year's World Cup then simply click here and place your order today.

October may have marked the end of a pretty good summer but it also saw the start of an excellent 'Mid-Season Sale' here at klever kloggs. The Sale gives us the chance to offer some fantastic savings on our full range of unique sweat tops and, dare we say it, a chance for you to snap up some bargain presents for your nearest and dearest this Xmas! Okay so you don't want to think about Xmas yet but with the airing of Xmas ads on tv already we can't deny that it will soon be upon us!  The success of Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Colchester United and the England football team continued this month and our sales reflect this success particularly in the case of Colchester United who are riding high in the English football League 1 at this time. Our social networking presence continues to increase and our viral marketing campaign will soon be finalized and ready for release.

August has been particularly busy thanks to our two week sale followed by the start of the 2009/10 English football season, both events led to a significant increase in sales. Our summer sale was publicised via various channels, by newsletter to our site subscribers, through alerts on Twitter and our social networking pages and via press release. We continue to add relevant content to the site too with the latest Liverpool, Manchester United and Colchester United results and transfer news and player profiles on some of Liverpool and Manchester United's summer signings including Michael Owen and Glen Johnson.

our short, sharp, summer sale begins today and runs for 2 weeks until 14 August 2009. We timed the sale to start as most others were finishing and to coincide with the lead up to the 2009/10 Premier League football season.

as we have stated previously one of the key ways to gain visitors to your website is to continuously add interesting and useful content to it. To this end we have added a number of new pages to the site since we last spoke, as well as generic pages about our clothing we have also added a page detailing 35 ways to increase traffic to� your website (click to read). This appears as part of our endeavour to pass on information we have found useful to anyone else starting out in business at the moment, we have also added player profiles on Manchester United defenders, and twins, Rafael da Silva (click name for details) and Fabio da Silva (click name for details). The social networking side of klever kloggs continues with our number of Twitter followers now reaching three figures! You can follow us too at twitter.com/klever_kloggs and find us on facebook by searching klever kloggs-clothing.

it's mid-April, spring is in swing and the year seems to be flying by. Since the previous blog post more relevant content linked to the places featured on our sweat tops has been added to the site. This content includes player profiles of Liverpool FC footballers Lucas Leiva, David Ngog, Emiliano Insua and Andrea Dossena and Manchester United's Ben Foster and their latest sensation Federico Macheda, for a quick link to any of these profiles just click on the player name. We have also now included a page of customer comments and feedback which you can read by clicking here. April has also seen the launch of a special offer for our 'facebook' friends and offline marketing in Colchester.

although klever kloggs clothing can be worn all year round, the fast approaching Springtime marks the beginning of the ideal time for them to be used as outerwear and a 25% increase in sales so far this month bears this out. The site hits are also up month on month as are entries to the clothing competition, more content has been loaded onto the site too, including profiles of Liverpool FC players Fabio Aurelio, Alvaro Arbeloa and Martin Skrtel along with details of the Colchester United first team. Social networking sites have also been an important focus over the past couple of months.