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For some performing at the World Cup proved to be too big of an ask. Here are the top five players who failed to impress in South Africa:

5. Claudio Marchisio

Italy manager Marcello Lippi said before the tournament that the Juventus midfielder would be Italy’s playmaker. A lot was expected of him given Andrea Pirlo’s injury that kept sidelined for the Azzurri’s first two games, it was believed that he could be a key player for his side and really make a name for himself in the tournament. However this didn’t prove to be the case, he started Italy’s opening games against Paraguay and New Zealand, firstly playing behind the strikers in the first game and then out on the left hand side in the second, however he just could not get a foothold in either game and was substitued in the second half of both matches. As a result of his two awful performances he didn’t start Italy’s final World Cup match against Slovakia and with the form that he was showing wouldn’t have made the slightest difference.

4. Kaka

The Brazilian midfielder is regarded as one of the best players in the world yet found it hard to breathe any life into the Brazil side. Robinho and Elano turned out to be the Selecao’s most creative outlets, and although Kaka did show some glimpses of his quality it just wasn’t enough from a player of his standards. He didn’t have a great season for Real Madrid and found himself in and out of the side, although hit may seem unconceivable from such a player her may have lost some confidence due to his poor first season. But that still isn’t an excuse for him not to play to his best for his country; and a player who should be lighting up a tournament with his skill and great goals is going to be best remembered in the tournament for getting harshly sent off against the Ivory Coast.

3. Fernando Torres

Liverpool’s number 9 has found the World Cup very tough, he hasn’t a scored a single goal in the tournament and has looked like he couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo in front of goal. Had it not been for David Villa shouldering the team’s attacking responsibilities then Spain could well have crashed out by now. Apart from Spain’s opening group game Torres has started every single one of their games, and you would have thought that a great striker like him would have hit the back of the net at least once by now. Torres was injured at the end of Liverpool’s season last year so it could be that he was rushed back too quickly to play for Spain, whatever his condition though El Nino has definitely disappointed at this World Cup.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

The most expensive player in the world failed to live up to his reputation in the World Cup and was very lacklustre, scoring only one goal in the tournament in Portugal’s 7-0 mauling of North Korea. Ronaldo had a great debut season for Real Madrid scoring 33 goals in 35 games for the club and for the past few season has been a fantastic player both at Madrid and for Manchester United. However he wasn’t able to take that form to South Africa, and with his ability really should have been one of the players of the tournament. What makes his underperformance worse is that manager Carlos Queiroz entrusted him with the captain’s armband, yet a no point during the tournament did he ever look like a leader out on the pitch. Love him or hate him, everybody surely wanted to see him have a good World Cup as he is fantastic to watch and Ronaldo really disappointed with his performances.

1. Wayne Rooney

The man who was to shoulder England’s World Cup responsibilities was the biggest flop at the World Cup by far. Sir Alex Ferguson has claimed that the pressure got to Rooney, but he should know as well as anybody that a great player like him should thrive under the pressure and not become overwhelmed by it. Also it’s not as though he was unlucky in the tournament or simply didn’t play well but he looked like he couldn’t be bothered and wasn’t trying. Whether or not that’s a case of burnout from playing too many games in the season is unknown, but you would think that he would give that bit extra for his country and at least try.

Who do you think flopped at the World Cup?

Message me on Twitter with your thoughts

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Click on image below to see the Argentinean babes at the World Cup

New Liverpool signing Joe Cole claims he has joined the biggest club in the country purely for footballing reasons.

Cole, 28, chose the Reds ahead of Arsenal, Tottenham and West Ham United when he officially put pen to paper on a four-year contract on Wednesday.

The England international was a free agent after being released by Chelsea at the end of the last Premier League campaign.

"I set myself a deadline to make a decision and when I made it I sent a text to (managing director) Christian Purslow and Steven Gerrard and then turned my phone off," he told the club's official website.

"I know I have made the right decision and I am looking forward to the challenge.

"This is a challenge for me. I have played in London all my life. I could have stayed at Chelsea because the fans loved me and I won things, but I wanted to challenge myself and when I knew Liverpool were interested it was a no-brainer because they are the biggest club in the country.

"This is a massive club. I tried to take everything out of the equation, take the financial and location side out and just thought in football terms."

Meanwhile, Cole also admitted the prospect of playing at Anfield helped sway his decision.

He continued:"I thought about the semi-final of the Champions League in 2005 when I ran onto the field and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I was thinking about playing in that atmosphere every week and that swung it for me.

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"That's the thing I am looking forward to. You talk to Liverpool players and talk about the European nights. I experienced it as an opponent and it was immense.

"To go out there and play in that atmosphere every week will be phenomenal."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has not ruled out the possibility of England international goalkeeper David James arriving at the Stadium of Light this summer.

First-choice shot-stopper Craig Gordon will spend the first three months of the season on the sidelines after breaking his arm in training while Marlon Fulop looks set to be heading out of the club.

James, who is also been linked with Celtic, could be handed a short-term deal on Wearside after Portsmouth withdrew their offer of a new contract to the 39-year-old.

"He's still England's number one goalkeeper. He'd be a good short-term signing for us," Bruce told the Daily Mirror.

"But what we have to decide now is to whether make a signing or whether the two young keepers that we have are ready for the Premier League.

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"The Premier League is a very tough place and we'll have to take some time to think about whether they're ready for that."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Having spent the last decade yo-yoing between The Championship and the Premier League, West Brom have returned to English football’s top flight once again following a successful campaign headed by young and exciting coach Roberto Di Matteo last term. The last time the club were in the Premier League they finished bottom of the table with just eight wins all season and former Chelsea player Di Matteo certainly has his work cut out if his side are to avoid the same fate this time around.

With four of the club’s five Premier League campaigns ending in relegation, The Baggies need to learn from their past mistakes if they are to avoid the drop this season. Their 2008-09 campaign saw them concede the most amount of goals in the division while managing to muster, on average, less than a goal per game. With Di Matteo admitting he is growing anxious over the club’s failure to attract new players to the club over the summer, West Brom could set to struggle again this season.

“We’ve been very busy for the last three months, not just lately,” admitted Di Matteo.

“It’s just frustrating that we haven’t been able to attract the players that we want. I think we do need another striker, but we need to strengthen in every department still – it’s not a matter of numbers, it’s a matter of quality.”

The Italian has added competition for the goalkeeper’s jersey with the £1.5m signing of Hull’s Boaz Myhill, who will contend against captain Scott Carson for a starting place. The signing of experienced Spain international Pablo Ibanez on a free transfer also looks an intelligent piece of business by Di Matteo. The club are also expected to complete the signing of Villa’s Nicky Shorey in the next 48 hours to help bolster the club’s defence. Albion’s frailty at the back two years ago, especially at corners and set-pieces, played a major part in the club’s undoing and is being addressed this time around. Di Matteo knows the importance of building a solid base for his team at the back and his side already look a lot stronger now the experienced names of Shorey and Ibanez have been added to the notoriously leaky defence.

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However the club still lack firepower up front and face going into the season with the unproven top flight trio of Ishmael Miller, Roman Bednar and Simon Cox. Midfielder Graham Dorrans will be a key player for Albion following his 13 goals and 19 assists in the league last term and Di Matteo will need him firing on all cylinders if his side are to make an impact. A £2.5m deal to land the explosive Cameroon winger Somen Tchoyi from Red Bull Salzburg also looks on the cards, while the club are also monitoring the situation with former striker Jason Roberts of Blackburn.

Players such as Steven Reid and Shorey will add the right blend of top-flight experience to a side that are relatively lacking in knowledge of the ins and outs of Premier League football. Under Di Matteo West Brom will continue to play the attractive style of football they are typically renowned for but which was ultimately their undoing under Tony Mowbray last time around. At times Di Matteo may find he has to shelve his attacking philosophy and be prepared for a scrap if he wants to survive this season. The Italian will also have to adjust quickly to life as a Premier League manager and the spotlight which will be on his every move. Should he do so, and with the help of a striker, then Di Matteo may yet be able to give West Brom fans something to cheer about this season.

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With the PL season nearly upon us, let’s see the WAGS that will be keeping the players on their toes. Click on image to VIEW gallery

Aston Villa chairman Randy Lerner looks set for a radical boardroom overhaul at Villa Park by installing a continental club hierarchy at the Midlands club. Reports have suggested that Lerner is keen to appoint former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier as Director of Football at the club with Kevin MacDonald as first-team coach and former Villa favourite Steve Staunton as his assistant. On paper, this managerial trio looks like it could be a huge success for Villa but on closer inspection, it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Firstly, there is question of whether Houllier, MacDonald and Staunton would be happy in their roles at the club. All three have had experience of being the number-one man in charge so there is a great possibility that they might harbour ambitions on each other’s jobs. For example, in his role as Director of Football, there is a great chance that Houllier would have little or no day-to-day contact with the players on the training ground. Rather, the role would be more primarily focused on scouting potential players for the club and ensuring that the club stays within its financial boundaries. As a manager who is used to doing this as well as training the players, Houllier may feel he is being restricted as a Director of Football and become increasingly involved with first-team matters which would undermine the authority of first-team coach Kevin MacDonald.

Similarly, Steve Staunton could risk jeopardising the harmony at the club should he decide that being a deputy simply isn’t good enough for him. MacDonald was Staunton’s assistant when he was manager of Ireland and now it would be the other way round; MacDonald would be his boss and Staunton would be his assistant. The two have a good relationship but it would be interesting to see if it remained that way if Staunton expressed a desire to replace MacDonald if Villa were to go on a run of bad results.

Lerner’s decision to adopt a European style of club management is something that hasn’t been done often in the Premier League-and with good reason. It just hasn’t been successful. The Villa chairman need only to look to Tottenham and Newcastle to see how such a system can go horribly wrong.

Tottenham appointed Frank Arnesen from PSV as their new Director of Football along with Jacques Santini as head coach. The experiment quickly turned sour for Spurs as Santini resigned after only a few games in charge while Arnesen left the club the following year in acrimonious fashion amidst allegations that Chelsea made an illegal approach for the Dane to be their new Director of Football.

Arnesen was replaced by Damien Comolli whose tenure at the club was unpopular to say the least. Comolli was accused of paying over the odds for frankly rather average players. He paid Hertha Berlin £1.8 million for Brazilian full-back Gilberto whose contract was about to expire in six months time. He also offered Hertha £5 million for midfielder Kevin Prince-Boateng which was twice as much as the next highest offer from Sevilla.

Eventually, Comolli was given the sack after Tottenham got off to a rotten start in the 2008-2009 season and the club decided to return to a more traditional way of club management with Harry Redknapp appointed as the sole person in charge of team and transfer matters.

Like Tottenham, Newcastle United have attempted the Director of Football experiment and have found it to be an unmitigated disaster. Newcastle chairman Mike Ashley chose to appoint Dennis Wise as an ‘executive director’. Wise was tasked with looking after the club’s academy as well as scouting players that would be suitable for the club to sign. Wise decided that the best way for him to do this was to use youtube. So he presented Kevin Keegan with two videos of players he thought that the manager should sign. Keegan took a look at the videos of Xisco and Ignacio Gonzalez and decided against making a bid for the players due to the fact that he couldn’t possibly entertain the idea of bidding for players off the back of a grainy internet video. In spite of Keegan’s request, Wise went ahead and signed the pair behind Keegan’s back.

This, along with the unsanctioned sale of James Milner caused Keegan to resign from his post and sue the Tyneside club for unfair dismissal. The case was heard by the Premier League Arbitration Panel and they ruled in favour of Keegan who was awarded £2 million in damages.

The reaction by Villa chairman Randy Lerner to move to a continental style of club management is no doubt an attempt to avoid the perilous overspending on wages and transfers under previous manager Martin O’Neill. But Lerner has to be careful if he chooses to take Aston Villa down this route. He needs to make sure that the people he chooses to run the club have the club’s best interests at heart and not their own or else Villa could end up with huge problems.

For more football chat, follow me on Twitter

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A welcome addition to the Premier League’s Wag arena – Click on image below to view gallery

Manchester City winger Adam Johnson has been warned by manager Roberto Mancini not to relax now that he has broken into the England international set-up.

The 23-year-old has featured in all three of England internationals since the World Cup finals in South Africa, but Mancini is concerned that Johnson's head could be turned by such recognition.

The Italian commented:"Adam has to understand that sometimes it is important for a player to play for a team.

"He can have a top career if he understands that he must work and think about football every day, not about other things.

"I am very happy that he played for England, but he needs to keep his feet on the ground. That is important, not just for Adam, but for all young players.

"It is easy for a player like Adam, with a good attitude and good quality, to arrive at the top. But you must always stay there. You can never go back.

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"Sometimes when players arrive at the top they think they have finished. Actually, you must work better than before."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway hailed his side's 2-1 win at Liverpool as one of the best days of his footballing career.

The Seasiders stunned Anfield with first-half goals from Charlie Adam and Luke Varney and held on for a famous victory after the Reds pulled a goal back through Sotirios Kyrgiakos eight minutes after the restart.

Holloway commented:"It is one of the dreams I've had for years.

"When the fans were singing You'll Never Walk Alone – it's my dad's favourite song but he's no longer with me – I was singing myself and it was a bit emotional.

"This is not far off the home of football – these supporters have seen some of the best football over the years and in my era as a player there was no better team in the world.

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"The boys made me so proud and for that set of supporters to clap us off that is all I wanted – that was what my dream was last night. This is a fantastic moment for Blackpool."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on Russia playmaker Andrey Arshavin following a number of fine performances this term.

The former Zenit St Petersburg man has proved to be one of the Gunners' stars so far, scoring five goals and laying on several others in the process.

Now, with one-and-a-half-years remaining on his existing terms, the Frenchman would like to extend his stay at the Emirates Stadium.

"If you look at the stats, he is the player who has created more chances than everybody else in the Premier League this season, so his numbers are quite surprising to people who think he has not done so well," Wenger said.

"I believe that since the start of the season in the Premier League, he has been better at creating chances than anyone else.

"He has a long future at the club – as long as his contract lasts at least, or until we extend his contract, and that is for I think 18 months.

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"We are always in negotiations now because when you sign a player for four years, after two years you have to renegotiate so we keep it as quiet as possible."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Boss Alex McLeish praised the mental approach of his players after Birmingham City secured a first win in seven league games with a 2-0 victory at home to Blackpool.

Goals from Liam Ridgewell and Nikola Zigic eased the pressure on the Blues, who had slid uncomfortably close to the relegation zone and McLeish was pleased to see his side do the business.

He commented:"We are always looking for perfection and players are aware I'm ranting and raving on the sidelines, kicking every ball with them.

"We tried to make sure there was no anxiety through the team, because when you've been on the kind of run we've been on recently and you don't get a break, people start to get a little bit uptight and anxious.

"To be fair to the players, they were very cool. They played some good football, they defended stoutly and we got the breaks that perhaps we haven't had recently.

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"I think we deserved it."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

They say that it’s unfair to judge the league until the new season is at least 10 games old, well with this weekend’s fixtures signalling it’s 13th fixture, I think it’s fair to say some patterns have emerged over the last couple of months, but the one that has caught my eye has been Arsenal’s Alex Song transformation from destructive anchor man into a liberated creative force.

Song started his Arsenal career in that most inevitable of places for an aspiring Arsenal youngster – the Carling Cup. He has switched between holding man and centre half, a versatility which while to his undoubted benefit to get noticed early on in his career, may have come at an overall cost to his development up until now.

The feeling has always persisted with Song, that Wenger one day harbours ambitions to play him at centre half. But, much has been the case with Jack Rodwell at Everton, another player earmarked to be the ball playing centre half in the Rio Ferdinand mould, while he’s fully capable of playing to a reasonably high standard given time to develop at the back, the energy you lose from him in the middle of the park is simply too big an asset to ignore and that is where both Song and in my opinion, Rodwell’s future career lies.

Thankfully, after emerging as a player of real promise and potential last season playing for Arsenal in the midfield anchor role, Song’s performances in midfield appear to have put any plans to shift him backwards very much on the back burner for the foreseeable future and he’s now sure to be one of the first names pencilled in on the team sheet come Saturday morning.

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What has been different this season to last though with Song’s play, has been his willingness to get forward more and join his team-mates in instigating and creating attacks further up the pitch. This can be best evidenced by his run of three goals in three games earlier one in the campaign against Shaktar Donestk, Man City and West Ham and his sumptuous cross for Marouane Chamkh’s first in the vital win against Wolves.

But has this shift in position come at a cost? With the deployment of Jack Wilshere as a ball-playing shield in front of the back four a la Xabi Alonso, we have seen, dare I say it, a more creative Arsenal than we have for some time, but a more fragile one when put on the back foot.

A lot of people place too much stock on the supposed mental fragility of this Arsenal side, but to me, their resilience is without question, and while I would add a word of caution against Song permanently taking up space a full 10-15 yards further up the pitch as it could leave the backline exposed, to my knowledge at least, we are seeing the next stage in development in Song, from midfield hatchet man to all-round bustling brute more in the Michael Essien mould.

People often, rather incorrectly in my opinion, label Michael Essien’s best position as a holding midfielder, but in the absence of Frank Lampard, Essien has been afforded a freedom and space he’s not often accustomed to and at times to devastating results. He has offered a consistent and potent attacking outlet for Chelsea this season while chipping in with a few goals himself too.

Much like Song, both Essien’s gift and his curse throughout his career to date has been his versatility. Essien’s technical gifts are often overlooked in favour of his at times, simply overwhelming physicality. But make no mistake about it, when given the opportunity to display the full array of his talents, you’d be hard pressed midfielder, if not player, in the entire Premiership.

It may be some way off yet, but I see Essien as the example with which Song should look to follow. The basis of a potentially great holding man was very much in evidence last season with Song, his positional discipline and tenacity a joy to behold for the purists among us.

If all else fails with this new experiment, and the freedom that Song has been granted starts to come to the detriment to the whole team, then he at least has that to revert back to, which is no small thing in itself it has to be said, but there’s a feeling that Song simply has a lot more to offer than just breaking up play and playing a square five-yard pass to a team-mate.

For the time being at least, Song appears to be revelling in his new found freedom. With the space on the pitch between attack and defence squeezed year on year, the fact that Song is playing 15 yards further forward make a huge difference to his role in the team. This season is a pivotal one in terms of the evolution of Alex Song’s career, if he takes the chance he’s been offered and continues to exude the authority and power going forward, something which resembles a young Michael Essien, Arsenal could be getting a whole lot more than just a hatchet man.

Written By James McManus

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