I have just seen the Italian World Cup squad and I am amazed. In this blessed time of huge continental football exposure and coverage, I am unable to recognise more than a handful of names. Those I do recognise, such as Gattuso, Zambrotta and Cannavaro, could easily be classed as past their prime. Whether this is an indictment on my lack of Italian football knowledge or the standard of the Azzurri’s squad remains to be seen. If it is the latter, then I feel Italy will be in good company in South Africa.

The recent demise of Paul Gascoigne has once again highlighted the pertinence of the cliche “flawed genius”. Not the first and certainly not the last footballer to self-destruct, Matt Quinn takes a look at England’s most talented footballer of our generation and the struggles he faces surrounding the influences around his daily life.

Aston Villa 1 (Platt) Bradford City 0. Old Second Division. 1988. This was the first football match I ever watched and I instantly fell in love with Villa’s goal scoring hero, a fish shaped man called David Platt. I later came to realise he wasn’t that good but the point is that, at the time, I thought he was a footballing god. Since this halcyon day in 1988, I have had man-football-crushes on many players; players who could do no wrong in my eyes. Dean Saunders, Hristo Stoichkov, Juan Pablo Angel, Gheorge Hagi, Juan Carlos Valeron, Tomas Rosicky, Rui Costa, Lionel Messi have all held my affections for various periods of time and if I ever caught anyone bad mouthing these players I would instantly write that person off as a footballing moron, incapable of understanding the beautiful game and not worthy of having an opinion.

After confidently predicting that Man City will win the league this year, it is with great delight and a degree of smugness that I’ve watched Mark Hughes’ men confidently open their campaign with a 100% record and zero goals conceded. That’s right all you naysayers…. Zero goals conceded! Oh, how the so called experts carped on about City’s vulnerabilities at the back, about how they will win or lose each game 4-3. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. City have looked solid, polished and more than a little like their city neighbours in the way they’ve conducted themselves on the pitch so far. Adebayor has been a revelation and is showing all those fickle Arsenal fans what a quality centre forward he really is. When on form, I would go as far as saying that he is the best centre forward in the league. He offers more power and all round attributes than Torres, while being ahead of Drogba in the skill department.

Last season I made the inspired prediction that Spurs would crack the top 4 and qualify for the Champions League. After watching them take around 23 matches to get their first point, I realised that my ability to forsee in football was still pretty bloody ropey. Previous failures included tipping Craig Bellamy to win European Footballer of the Year while at Liverpool and Colombia to win the World Cup in ‘94.

Over the weekend, Cristiano Ronaldo, confidently stated that Spain’s top flight, La Liga, was a better league than the English Premier League. He specifically cited the current influx of top class stars to La Liga as his evidence. (Given Ronaldo’s ego he was probably referring to himself….. and, at a push, Kaka) However, does Real Madrid’s single handed recruitment drive improve the quality of La Liga or, simply, Madrid themselves?

Carloz Tevez

What is the difference between Carlos Tevez and Dirk Kuyt? The only answer I can see is public ridicule. It certainly isn’t talent or ability. While Liverpool’s Dutchman is widely ridiculed for being nothing more than a willing worker who lacks any sort of co-ordination or natural ability, Tevez is lauded as a world class talent who should be starting every game for United. Yet the statistics do not make such distinctions. This season, Tevez has played 42 games and scored 13 times. Kuyt has played 48 games and scored 14 times, and from a more withdrawn position. Their career stats show that Tevez scores a goal every 2.5 games. Kuyt hits the back of the net every 2.3 games. While I don’t particularly rate Kuyt, I fail to see why Tevez is held in such high acclaim by football fans. It is impossible to deny that he works hard and has moments of instinctive brilliance, but as an overall footballer I find the Argentine lacking. His first touch is often poor, his vision wayward and having been sent off for Argentina on a number of occasions, he can be something of a liability. Indeed, both his club and national managers no longer see him as first choice and this is where the disparity of Tevez the player lies. Fans love him; Managers are less keen. I think he is a good player but nothing more. He is a cracking squad player for United but is not worthy of a regular starting berth that many proclaim him to be.

Total football is back

On a sub-zero Sunday evening in Spain, runaway league leaders, Barcelona, showed they could ally battling qualities to their undoubted flair and panache. Trailing 2-1 in some terrible playing conditions, Barca had to dig deep to secure an incredible 3-2 victory. Late goals from the influential Xavi and Lionel Messi simply added more integrity to the claim that this team is the finest of its generation.

Fight bland and back Brand

Saturday mornings used to be so enjoyable. Turn the TV on. Switch over to Sky Sports and tune in for the best dose of hangover TV known to man. Soccer AM.

One half of Sky’s luxurious flagship Saturday schedule. The other half being the most spectacular example of visual simplicity possible. Gillette Soccer Saturday, hosted by the brilliant Jeff Stelling, featuring 4 blokes sitting around a desk talking about football, while watching games that the viewer can’t see.

Championship not Champions league

Just before the season began, I wrote an article predicting Spurs would be the ones to break the “Sky 4” stranglehold at the top of the table. I thought their signings were interesting and progressive, their strength in depth impressive and thought their manager had pedigree. To be fair to me, they hadn’t sold Berbatov and Man City had yet to be taken over but still it is turning out to be a pretty rubbish prediction all in all.