The "resurgence" of Italian football (or whatever you call it) has been fairly meek in the Champions League in the last two years. Granted, AC Milan won it last year, but they were struggling horribly in the league and this year they surrendered quite easily to an Arsenal side not at their best. Inter fizzled out without much of a spark over two legs with Liverpool, although they were punished in both games by harsh, early red cards.

The only remaining Italian side this year is Roma. The giallorossi are paired up in the quarter-finals against Manchester United, whom they lost to at this exact stage last year - 8-3 on aggregate.

They've also already played United twice in the group stage, drawing 1-1 and losing 1-0, so Alex Ferguson's boys will present tried and tested opposition.

The pride at stake will be tremendous, and considering that it's a bigger issue for Romans than most, Roma will be really fired up for next week's ties. The added spice in this tie is that Roma are the only Italian club remaining, and that means that for once they will have the media behind them, as well as the more "neutral" supporters.

As ever, Francesco Totti will be key, but the most important aspect to combating Man United will be the defence, and the addition of Brazil international Juan last summer was very shrewd. Calm and collecte, Juan is easily one of the world's best and most underrated centre-halves. Along with Mexes and assistance from Panucci and De Rossi, he will have to mark and harry Cristiano Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney out of the game.

Unfortunately 'keeper Doni remains as suspect as ever - clearly capable of brilliant shot-stopping, he amazes time and time again with his ability for pure, unbridled sloppiness. 

I encourage people to read Pete Gill's piece on F365 (which is normally a bit anti-Arsenal):

He's really got a grasp of the issues at hand here.

OK, it's unfortunate that Eduardo got injured, and it's unfortunate that it was Martin Taylor, because I do believe he's a nice chap, and there's idiots like Roy Keane, Robbie Savage, Joey Barton, Steven Gerrard and so on that have gotten away with worse, more intentional tackles, but only because the other players avoided injury.

The issue here isn't about the individual making the tackle, it's about this ridiculous mentality in British football about "getting in their faces", and "letting 'em know we're there". It's about a coaching staff telling a non-aggressive guy like Martin Taylor to go and start kicking people as soon as they get the ball, and the idea of the tackle not being to "win the ball", but to "stop the man". And then injuries like this happen.

It's ridiculous to hear people defend the tackle. It's one thing to say "OK, he doesn't deserve more than a 5 or 7 match ban", it's another to say things like "the tackle was harmless, he was just unlucky", or "it looks worse than it is because he got injured". That logic is pathetic, and it's ridiculous, and as Gill says in his article - just how lawless is English football becoming, that people think it's OK to get away with this kind of thing? You have people like Stephen Kelly and Garth Crooks saying it shouldn't have been a booking, and Alex McLeish coming out and basically lying outright to the media (probably because he was the one who instructed his players to "get stuck in"), it is absolutely disgusting.

There was a time when the physical defensive play of English football was highly respected around the world - when guys like Adams, Keane, O'Leary, Vieira, Parker, Woodgate, Campbell... even Des Walker - they could slide into thumping challenges from 5 feet away and perfectly get the ball. Why did Rio Ferdinand cost 30 million pounds and why does he play for one of the world's top clubs? Not because he kicks people or injures them, it's because he is good at what he does.

Why have Everton and Aston Villa improved so much and become European contenders in recent years? It's because their midfields have become focussed on playing football with players like Petrov, Arteta, Young, Pienaar, Barry and so on, and their defences have players that can win the ball and use it properly - Laursen, Lescott, Yobo, Mellberg - their game isn't about just kicking opposition players up into the air, it's about playing football the right way. Teams might still be over-physical at times, but they aspire to be more than that.

The next time someone complains about foreigners ruining the English game, and how England doesn't produce any decent players... think twice about it. It's not because skilful English youngsters aren't getting a chance, it's because the manager's first reaction to a player or team of skill that they're facing is to try and kick or foul them, and this style of play becomes a blueprint for football. Even now in the lower leagues, some of the most sought after players are ones that are just big lumps who kick the opposition. There is an absolute paranoia against people that try to play football the right way, and managers respond not by trying to outplay them, but by trying to kick the sh*t out of them.

Joe Cole twice broke his leg as a youngster, but managed to survive to the top level, probably because of being in a good football environment at West Ham. Others haven't been so lucky. Former Arsenal youngster Ryan Smith was one of the club's and England's best youth prospects - a dazzling left winger. One day against an Ipswich reserve team, after another dazzling display of skill, he was taken out by a 16 year old Ipswich player who made no attempt to win the ball, and just wanted to stop the player. Smith's knee ligaments were destroyed, and his career was never the same. He came back scared, without confidence, and his progress was ruined.

So the next time someone asks why England doesn't produce any skilful or creative players, tell them it's because of the sh*t mentality of the game at the moment. Unless they're at a big club like Everton, Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool (where they're well protected), they are either going to suffer many injuries at a young age, or stop trying to play the way they can to avoid getting kicked. Of course some might get through, but the fact is that is very rarely happening.

You can appreciate the English mentality of wanting to always win, but this has to be done the right way. The problem is right now that the administrators of the game seem to think it's OK to tackle and foul people just for the sake of it, and so managers are pushing this to the extreme. They send their players out to kick the opposition first, and play football second, and the FA just seems to allow this. I'm not suggesting that we become like Italy, with the game stopping every 5 minutes, but that bad tackles and bad behaviour are properly punished. Managers should not think that it is an acceptable tactic to try and unfairly stop the opposition, and that violence is acceptable as long as it doesn't do any serious damage. This is what needs to change.

Behold this ridiculous quote from Real Madrid chief Ramon Calderon that accompanied the news of Iker Casillas and Raul signing contract extensions to stay for life.

"Iker Casillas and Raul have both agreed to stay with the club for the rest of their sporting lives.

On this day, which is Valentine's day, Iker, Raul and Real can say they love each other, they need each other, and complement each other and will commit for life." 

Well, fantastic stuff really. You don't hear things that candid anymore from official sources, nevermind unofficial ones.

And I lied a bit in the title, Guti hasn't yet signed, but is scheduled to do so soon. Calderon said - "Next week, it will be the same with Guti, another symbolic player for the club. We haven't signed yet because he is a little lazier, but it will be with the same conditions."

Well how nice.

26 year old Casillas has signed a massive extension until the summer of 2017.

30 year old Raul has signed a 1 year extension to his deal, until the summer of 2011.

31 year old Guti has done the same, and his deal now goes until 2011 too. I am also shocked that Guti is 31... seems like he got very old very fast. 

Champions Egypt retained the African Cup of Nations, defeating Cameroon 1-0 in the final. It was a match of two heavyweights, and they had emerged from a final four that had the tournament favourites Ivory Coast (despatched 4-1 by Egypt) and hosts Ghana (beaten 1-0 by Cameroon).

It was a sad day for two players in particular, Alexandre Song, and his uncle Rigobert Song. 19 year old Arsenal midfielder/defender Alex Song had been Cameroon's (and arguably the tournament's) best player since being substituted into their first game with half an hour to go. He had been injured during the semi-final, and was touch-and-go to play the final. However, he did start the game, wearing a massive knee brace, but sadly could not play for very long, and midway through the first half Cameroon lost Alex Song, and their creative inspiration.

Uncle Rigobert however will feel bad for different reasons. One of the most experienced and rugged defenders ever to come out of Africa, he had, according to Coach Otto Pfister, restored his status as "the best defender in Africa" at this tournament. Indeed he had been immense in Cameroon's March to the final, rarely putting a foot wrong, and dominating his area of the pitch.

However, late in the second half, he made a complete hash of a clearance, which ended up going behind him. He then recovered the ball, but dallied on it with Egyptian striker Mohamed Zidan in hot pursuit. The two tangled, and Zidan manage to scrap for the ball while on the ground, and recovered his poise to square a pass to the onrushing Mohamed Abou Tarika, who drilled it past Carlos Kameni, scoring the only goal of the game.

So 1-0 it was to Egypt, and they probably did deserve it. It was a very tight affair, and the tournament's two best keepers were on show here. Carlos Idriss Kameni had debut shakily for Cameroon at the age of 16, and played his first ACN at 19, and now at 23 he has bags of experiences to ally to his tremendous talent. He was a key figure in Cameroon's solidity, and their defensive prowess.

As for Egypt, Essam El-Hadary is a bit of an elder statesman at 35. Deceptively baby-faced, he rolled back the years at this tournament, pulling off some fantastic point blank saves, especially against the Ivory Coast. Although not the most commanding presence, his shot-stopping was probably the difference in many of Egypt's games, and he fully deserved his celebrations and trademark dance at the end of the game.

Mohamed Abou Tarika, the goalscorer, and chief playmaker, was possibly the man of the match. This is in addition to him being the man whose name is never spelt the same way twice - I say Abou Tarika, as I first saw it when watching him at the Club World Cup in 2006, but i've also seen Aboutrika, Abou Tarika, Abootreika, and countless other variants. He's almost 30 now, but one hopes that he will get a chance to showcase his talent at a higher level. A silky attacker/playmaker, blessed with "proper" technique, vision and touch, his lack of physicality and fight meant that he wouldn't really get a chance in Europe and "modern football". However, he's changed over the years, become less of a striker, dropping deep and pulling the strings. A few years in Spain would be nice.

Overall, well done to Egypt, especially for scoring so many goals, and giving us so many zany celebrations. 

In a ridiculous moment, Cameroon and Reading defender Andre Bikey went running towards the medical staff that were attending to his stricken teammate Rigobert Song, and pushed one of them over.

It was a moment of madness, and he rightfully saw red for it, but one has to wonder what was going through his head, and why he got so angry at that particular member of the medical staff.

Any ideas what happened? Tell us in the comments below. 

The English Premier League has finally agree to increase the allowed number of substitutes by 2, to 7, brining the Premiership in line with the Champions League, Serie A, La Liga and almost all other major European leagues. Note that the number of substitutions will remain the same of course - 3.

For the longest time the top tier of English football allowed only 5 substitutes to be named (previously it was only 3), and although many managers and clubs had been lobbying for change, the league had stubbornly resisted. It was seen as the continental/foreign influence trying to infect the British game, and of course the holy "virtues" had to be upheld.

In any case, people have now seen sense. Especially at a time when the FA is complaining about the lack of opportunities for youngsters, those two extra spots on the bench are invaluable for them. The backing for the proposal was quite overwhelming from all the clubs in the league, and unlike 3 or 4 years ago, even the mid-table clubs now have fairly large squads, and all players need playing time.

We can now look forward to a (slightly) improved, perhaps more competitive and tactical Premier League from next season onwards. I'm sure Rafa Benitez will be delighted. 

Fabio Capello has gone with a mostly "on-form" starting XI for this England team. Bentley has been the best English attacking midfielder this season, and Jenas has been excellent in the new year under Ramos, playing box-to-box and timing his runs perfectly. James is the best English 'keeper at the moment (fortunate or unfortunate as it may be) in terms of performance and experience, and Matthew Upson offers an all-important, balancing left-foot in defence.

Whilst the exact formation hasn't been revealed, it will probably be something similar to what he used at Roma, when he was short of attacking talent.

I'd guess that it's a 4-1-2-2-1 formation:

James

Brown Ferdinand Upson A. Cole

Barry

Gerrard Jenas

Bentley J. Cole

Rooney

Barry will sit deep and mop up, playing short, simple passes. Gerrard will probably stick a bit more in the centre, controlling the game, getting stuck in, and going on his forward bursts. The thing with Gerrard is that he isn't versatile - play him deep, and his game suffers, and play him too high up the pitch, and his game suffers, so it's best to allow him to do as he pleases in the centre. Barry complements him will.

Jenas' role will be a bit trickier. Off the ball, I think he will assist Gerrard and the fullbacks with ball-winning, but when in possession, he will probably be making forward runs to support the front 3, and will be the one providing runs beyond the striker form the centre.

Bentley will be allowed to do what he does best in his roving right-sided role, and Joe Cole has been playing for long-enough on the left to do so without any bother. Expect him and Bentley to switch flanks often, and if the players are reading each other well enough, Cole, Jenas, Rooney and to a lesser extent Bentley, should all be interchanging positions.

Enjoy the game everyone, and I'd love to hear your comments throughout the match, should make for a fun bit of discussion! 

Obviously the mini-media-buzz that surrounded Fabio Capello's omission of David Beckham from the England squad was reasonably warranted, but it makes us wonder about Beckham's future, as well as the intentions of Capello.

It's understandable that he's well short of match fitness, and one can't hold that against Capello - sentimentality would have been a silly reason to call him up, and I'm sure that both the coach and player would want the 100th cap to be merited, and the call-up to be necessary.

However, on the issue of match fitness - it is a tricky situation. The MLS doesn't start until late March, and it's possible that by then Capello will have become more familiar with the English game and players, and a bit more rigid in his team selection. Capello has in any case not been a big one for rotating players, and if he finds his side working by the time Beckham gets match fit in April, it might be tough.

Granted, there aren't too many international ties between now and then, but International management often involves a lot of behind-the-scenes work and premeditated decisions; because you don't have the players together very often, team selections and tactics are made ready so that when training sessions begin, everything is in place for match preparation.

As for the actual issue of match fitness, the low standard of the MLS will prove to be an obstacle. It's quite possible that the month of training at London Colney with Arsenal has got Beckham in better shape than what a couple (or more) of months in  the MLS would. Arsenal are well known for their intensive training sessions, and the excellent fitness of their players. Beckham spent two weeks on intensive fitness training, and by the end of his stint was fully involved with the players.

The poverty of the opposition (and to some extent his own teammates) in the MLS means that Beckham is going to take a while to find his feet. Physically he might be fit, but match sharpness, especially the level required for the England squad, might be hard to come by. And even if Becks is sharp, and playing well, it's entirely possible that Capello would rather pick someone who is performing well in the Premier League. All the other England squaddies are domestically based, and Capello is not going to travel all the way to the States to watch Beckham play. He will have to rely on the word of his scouts, and TV coverage (assuming he doesn't destroy the TV after 5 minutes of having to put up with the MLS commentary); it's always hard to tell how prepared a player is from so far.

And lastly, there is of course the possibility that Capello is just testing out the other players, before making an eventual decision. He is well aware of Beckham's abilities after he broke back into Capello's Real Madrid side last season, and helped inspire them to the title. He knows exactly what Beckham can bring to his team, and he knows exactly how Beckham operates under his tactics, so he might just be using this time (they are friendlies) to see how the other England candidates do.

What do you think about Beckham's chances for his 100th cap, and his England future? Leave your comments below!

The Draw:

Bristol Rovers v Southampton

Cardiff v Wolves

Sheff Utd v Middlesbrough*

Liverpool v Barnsley

Manchester United v Arsenal*

Preston v Portsmouth*

Coventry v West Brom

Chelsea v Huddersfield

(Ties to be played on February 16th and 17th)

With just 6 Premier League sides left in the 16 teams in the 5th round, it promises to be a very interesting cup.

The choice fixture of course is Manchester United hosting Arsenal at home. The FA Cup has thrown up some crackers between these two teams over the years, and none more so than the semi-final replay in 1999 - Beckham opened the scoring with a great long-range goal, Bergkamp equalised with a neat one himself, Roy Keane got sent off, Schmeichel saved Bergkamp's penalty, and then Ryan Giggs scored THAT wonder goal, and United went on to win the treble. Then in 2003, Arsenal sent a second-stringish side to Old Trafford and won 2-0, with goals from Edu and Wiltord, and Franny Jeffers putting in a memorable hard-working performance up-front. The next meeting was the semi-final in 2004, Arsenal were unbeaten and top of the league, and a few players were rested for this fixture. United ended up winning 2-0, some might say unjustly, after Arsenal had had the post twice and wasted several chances to take the lead early on in the game. And finally, in 2005, the teams met in the final of the FA Cup. Arsenal were negative and lucky (but decimated by injuries), and nervously saw out the 90 minutes goalless, before Jens Lehmann made an excellent save from Scholes' spot-kick to seal the penalty shootout and cup for Arsenal.

You can expect another very entertaining fixture, although both teams will be resting players because of the Champions League, and Man United are likely to have the better side out, since they have a larger, stronger squad.

The other matchup of interest is Sheff Utd vs Middlesborough. The Blades have an excellent cup record, and have engineered many upsets over the years. Even though Neil Warnock is gone, they still have a strong setup, and Bryan Robson keeps his troops spirited. Middlesborough had some difficulty seeing off lowly Mansfield Town in the previous round, and are ripe for an upset given their indifferent form over the season. The arrival of Afonso Alves might just give them a big boost though.

Chelsea won't have much trouble with Huddersfield, although Liverpool might with Barnsley, especially given the proximity of these fixtures to the Champions League ties. The Blues' young striker Scott Sinclair started out at Huddersfield, and may just get a long run-out in this fixture.

Portsmouth should be able to beat Preston, although it will be a very tricky fixture for them. Pompey benchwarmer Dave Nugent will be coming up against his former club, where he did so well and earned his first England cap. 

Cardiff and Wolves will be a tight all-Championship fixture, as will Coventry v West Brom (in addition to being a Midlands derby), and Southampton should dispatch Bristol Rovers without much trouble

There were a few upsets in this round of the cup, although 11 of the 20 Premiership sides had already been eliminated in the previous round.

Two Premierleague sides went out this time, although only one of them was really an upset.

Derby lost 1-4 away to Preston, and it's been a tradition over the years for teams at the foot of the Premier league table to lose clubs that are doing well in the Championship. This was one such case, and I think Paul Jewell will already be looking at how best to mount a challenge in the Championship next season.

The other upset, which was significantly more shocking, not just for the result, but the events of the match as well, was Sheffield United beating Man City 2-1 at Bramall Lane. City have an awful record there, having not won in 6 games, but no one could have expected to see what happen.

The incident, in case you haven't seen/heard about it yet, was caused by several balloons thrown onto the pitch by the travelling Man City fans. Joe Hart dealt with whatever crosses and shots came his way, but unfortunately failed to deal with the balloons, and they just lay around in the home penalty area. The eventual irony was of course majestic - a cross coming in from the left hit two sets of balloons in the area, the path of the ball went wonky, and it ballooned (haha) away to evade the foot of Michael Ball(oon), sitting up nicely for Luton Shelton to pop home. Jonathan Stead scored a neat second, and City were in trouble. Elano came close, hitting the post with a free-kick, but it was his second-half replacement, youngster Daniel Sturridge, who scored City's consolation with an excellent strike.

The unfortunate Man City squad had more misery heaped on them after it was found that the dressing room had been robbed, with money being stolen from the players and staff. 

Arsenal and Emmanuel Adebayor recovered from the Spurs' debacle, beating Newcastle 3-0. Keegan's men started quite promisingly, but were outplayed by the end of the encounter with two top quality goals from Adebayor, and and own goal from Nicky Butt.

Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile continued his amazing form, scoring a brace to give Man United a 3-1 win over Tottenham, and giving him 25 goals for the season. Robbie Keane had scored first for Spurs, but Carlos Tevez equalised, before Ronaldo scored a penalty and then the winner.

Chelsea had a few hiccups against a decent Wigan side, but easily prevailed as 2-1 winners, with Nicolas Anelka scoring his first for Chelsea. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored their second, and Atoine Sibierski scored a consolation. 

In other news (apologies for not going into detail, but I can't be bothered), Cardiff just edged out Hereford in a 2-1 win, Wolves absolutely hammered Championship title challengers Watford 4-1 away, and in Saturday's "fairytale" fixture of non-league Havant & Waterlooville vs Liverpool at Anfield, the Hawks actually took the lead twice before being put down 5-1.

The full list of Round 4 results is listed below. The amazing thing about this round is that all the matches were conclusive (wins), meaning no 4th round replays for the first time in 57 years.

Southend 0-1 Barnsley
Mansfield 0-2 Middlesborough
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Barnet 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Derby 1-4 Preston
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & Waterlooville
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield
Peterborough 0-3 West Brom
Portsmouth 2-1 Plymouth
Southampton 2-0 Bury
Watford 1-4 Wolves
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
Hereford 1-2 Cardiff
Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham
Sheff Utd 2-1 Man City