Of course I’d take Joe Cole – I’d put him in the starting 11 – but I don’t think Capello likes him. Bonkers. Anyhow:

GK: James, Hart, Green
DF: Terry, Ferdinand, Cole, Johnson, Carragher, King, Baines, Dawson
MF: Lampard, Gerrard, Barry (/Huddlestone), Parker, Lennon, Cole, Milner, Walcott
ST: Rooney, Crouch, Defoe, Bent

And I’d play as a starting 11: Green/Johnson, Terry, Ferdinand, Cole/ Barry, Lampard/ Lennon, Gerrard, Cole/ Rooney (ie both Rooney and Gerrard in the roles that they play for their clubs).

If Capello sticks with Rooney as a support striker, England to exit at the QF. If he lets Gerrard and Rooney play in their best positions, with fast wingers, then we might make the final… (but we’d lose to either Brazil or Spain).

Hmm. Didn’t do too badly…

Called the top two and bottom three exactly 🙂
Biggest wrong calls: Liverpool’s collapse into mediocrity; WestHam’s flirtation with relegation; and on the other side, Birmingham being really quite competent. Spurs did better than I expected, and I’m glad for them (definitely in Chelsea’s long term interest for Man City to be kept out of the top four for a bit longer – I think they made a mistake sacking Hughes).

Now. Can Chelsea do the double? I wonder what the record score in a Cup Final is?

Hmm. Didn’t do too badly…

Called the top two and bottom three exactly 🙂
Biggest wrong calls: Liverpool’s collapse into mediocrity; WestHam’s flirtation with relegation; and on the other side, Birmingham being really quite competent. Spurs did better than I expected, and I’m glad for them (definitely in Chelsea’s long term interest for Man City to be kept out of the top four for a bit longer – I think they made a mistake sacking Hughes).

Now. Can Chelsea do the double? I wonder what the record score in a Cup Final is?

In the form of a table (and some bits I’m more confident of than others):

Chelsea
ManU [1]
Liverpool
ManCity [2]
Arsenal [3]
Everton
Villa
Spurs
WHam [4]
Fulham
Sunderland [5]
Blackburn
Bolton
Wigan
Stoke
Birmingham
Wolves
Burnley
Hull
Portsmouth

[1] I think the title will be fought out between ManU and Chelsea, I don’t think Liverpool will get as many points off those two this coming season. I think ManU are a weaker side than last year (lost some Portugeezer, Tevez, plus injuries to Hargreaves etc, although I think Owen will be a good signing, and Valencia) whereas Chelsea will be significantly stronger (return of Carvalho, Joe Cole and Michael Essien, plus Zhirkov looks very useful). All depends on whether Ancelotti can flourish in the Premiership of course, but if he does then I think Chelsea will win it by the end of April.
[2] Man City now have the squad (especially if they get another good centreback), they have no European distractions, I rate Mark Hughes as a manager – all they need is a little luck.
[3] Flip side of [2] and involving a lot of luck. Could be that Arsenal and Liverpool swap places.
[4] Held up by an excellent coaching staff, who I’m sure will one day return to take over at Chelsea.
[5] Sunderland is the last of the upwardly mobile on the list. Below them there isn’t much to choose between the teams, although I’m fairly confident that my bottom two will be relegated, barring something dramatic happening on the South Coast.

Well, it happened sooner than I thought it would – and I take that as a positive. If Abramovich was only concerned with penny-pinching he’d have let Scolari die off quietly rather than paying several millions up front.

So: Hiddink or Rijkaard? I can’t see Zola and Clarke making the shift this quickly – although it is Clarke’s absence that has really told.

Fascinating.