Spindlers list April 27th

Okay So I am definitely going to make this a sure fire thing, making sure It is a weekly supplement sort of deal. 

Goalkeeper -  Ben Foster

Ben gets the go ahead for me between the sticks, I feel this season has been a roller-coaster for West Brom fans, and really probably believed that they should have built on the success they had last season. I disagreed with the decision to sack Steve Clarke and don't really like Pepe Mel, because for every Pochettino there is a Mel. However, Foster was a stand out performer this weekend for West Brom. West Ham had more possession and Foster kept the 3 points for his side, he dominated his box and kept the back line in place with his great goalkeeping ability. It could have gone to Schwarzer for his performance against Liverpool, but I feel that some of Liverpool's efforts were way to easy for the keeper, especially multiple of Gerrard's efforts. 

Right Back -  Caesar Azpilicueta
Easy choice for me this weekend, last time I did this feature I found it easy to give Seamus Coleman the nod two times in a row, but his performance against Southampton was, let's say, less than convincing for me to even consider really giving him the hat trick of appearances in my team of the week. I nearly thought about giving it to his Southampton counter part Nathaniel Clyne, and I was adamant it was going to be him... Until I sat down watched those casual 90 minutes at Anfield this weekend. Azpilicueta, or Dave as he is affectionately by Chelsea fans, had a star performance in the full back position. José moved Ivanovic into the Centre Back role against Liverpool and put the young Spaniard out onto his more comfortable natural position of right back, and boy did it pay off helping Chelsea to a 2-0 win and blowing this title race sky high.

Centre Back -  Branislav "The wall" Ivanovic  
This guy was an absolute monster against Liverpool, he stopped anything or anyone that came towards him, Mourinho was supposedly forced to play a weaker side against Liverpool and moved Branislav back into his natural position in the centre of the defence and no one got a look in for Liverpool, they may have had the complete control of the possession game, but they were not on control of the game, Chelsea did the controlling and stop Liverpool, and Ivanovic had Suarez and Sterling in his pocket for the game. Whilst watching the game my brother, a Liverpool supporter, called Ivanovic the Wall, so that's where that came from.

Centre Back -  Younes Kaboul
Well then, if Kaboul had performed like this more often this season, then they may have been much higher up in the table. A good defence is just as important as a good attack and Tottenham didn't really have either for a team that is in that part of the table, but if Kaboul had put in more shifts like that they most likely will have been able to grind out a few more wins. Against Stoke he handled anything that they were able to throw at him, and probably to me looked like one of the best defenders in the Premier league with a performance like that. Kabouls season has been marred by injuries and fitness struggles so it is kind of understandable why he hasn't been able to get to his top gear this season but if he can finish this season on form like this, whoever is Spurs' manager next season will definitely have to look at Kaboul with some serious intent.

Left Back -  Luke Shaw
This was actually such a hard decision for me, I was going to go with Ashley Cole originally but then read an article about Luke Shaw after the Chelsea game and it threw my decision right out the window. It took me so long to decide who I was going to put here, I personally love Cole and feel that he is still England's first choice left back but Luke Shaw is definitely the man to replace him when that time comes for Cole to leave the England scene, and maybe the Chelsea side too. It took me picking down every single statistic that both players added to the game and it went down to the wire. Eventually I picked Shaw, his defensive statistics were not as high as Ashley's but he was able to help Southampton get forward to and whilst I realise Chelsea played a counter attacking game at Anfield, Cole still didn't really help the team move forward, Shaw was up there and was crossing balls in like he was a winger himself.

Right Mid -  Steven Davis
Another Southampton Lad but this time on the right side. Steven Davis against Everton was immense, he played fantastically well. He was up and down the pitch and was a true midfielder, he was putting in the shift of his Career and I bet Pochettino couldn't of been happier with him to put that performance in against a team fighting for fourth. Whilst he did miss a glorious chance to kill off the game, he was still awesome when getting forward, showing that not only can he cross the ball but he is just as capable when he cuts in and has to use his weak foot, if he can put in consistent performances like that every other week, I am sure he might move up a level in the Premier league elite sooner or later.

Centre Mid -  Yaya Toure
Case closed.
Yaya Toure is easily the best African player playing Football at this moment and he is hitting some serious form right at the best time for Man City. His game against Crystal Palace was amazing, he dominated the Palace midfielders and his goal was something I could only dream of my team doing, ever. The ball to Dzeko was just as good as his goal too, the ball was perfectly timed to the Bosnian striker who got his head on it. Yaya could be in contention to be my captain in this side and if he puts up another performance like this against Everton next week, then I am sure the title is theirs.

Centre Mid -  Nemanja Matic
Yaya Toure is my attacking talent in the centre of the field and I was planning to have a less powerful attacking midfielder in there with him in the form of fellow Welshman Aaron Ramsey, but maybe it is best in terms of tactics to have a defensive outlet in my midfield and this is where Serbian Matic comes in. The defence for Chelsea was a key factor in their win against the Kop, but amazingly enough on multiple occasion the ball didn't even reach the back four because of one man. Nemanja Matic was not only able to stop the opposing team attacking the Chelsea goal, he was a black hole too, sucking in any loose balls and sending his team onto the counter. He easily walks into my side.

Left Mid -  Ashkan Dejagah 
The midfielder came off the bench and helped Fulham to what was supposedly going to be another 3 points in their relegation battle, but Hull really pulled their fingers out and managed to get a share of the points. This was in no fault Dejagah's, this lad has been on fine form and he looked really menacing to Hull as soon as he got onto the pitch, and maybe if Fulhams heads hadn't dropped after Hull's first had gone in they may have pushed on to get another to close the game out, but Dejagah was awesome for the Cottagers and has managed to carry on his rich goal scoring form under former boss Felix Magath.

Centre Forward - Wayne Rooney
Rooney was pivotal in them beating Norwich, this game meant a lot to both sides. Norwich needed something to stay up, and Manchester United needed it to finish on a high and maybe if they can carry on like this Manchester United fans will be full of hope for the season to come. Rooney played amazingly in creating goals for the side and was unplayable, especially with his goal, it was a wonderful strike. In this role he is awesome and not only scores but creates the goals for whatever side he plays in, and for this weekend he definitely fits into my side. 

Striker - Connor Wickham
Well where did this come from? I felt that Poyet bringing him back from loan was a desperate move to find a goal or two, instead he has been given five goals and they look like they just might carry on coming. It pains me to say, and trust me this really hurts, that his performance against Cardiff was unstoppable, his goal was great and he was a menace to the Welsh Sides defence. I don't believe he now merits a place on the plane to Brazil like some Idiots are saying, but he definitely merits a place in this side and might even be cementing himself a starting spot next season for the black cats, Premier League or not.

Finally I have decided I am going to add a Captain and a manager to the side for each feature from now on, my Captain for this week is going to be Branislav Ivanovic. Like I said I would have given it to Yaya but I feel Ivanovic was just as good as Yaya this week and if he had been given the freedom too might even have been able to get a goal knowing his ability.

My Manager is the Special one himself, some bitter Liverpool fans are saying that what he did wasn't tactics, but the fact he has the ability to force his team to close down the opposition and make his defence tighter than a... well you know what I mean, shows he not only can play pure Counter attacking football but can also play that disgusting ugly tight defence football which he showed against Liverpool.

World cup, who can win it?

So there is about 53 days until the world cup kicks off with hosts Brazil taking on Croatia in Sao Paulo, and whilst the hosts are big favourites in the competition, who else has a shout at taking home the most illustrious prize in International football, now I am only going to put in the teams who I think will progress through their groups, otherwise I would have to analyse teams who I believe have no chance. I'm going through the groups so Group A to Group H.

Brazil
The Hosts are not only historically one of the best in the world but the side is one of the strongest Brazil have had for quite some years, their performance in the Confederation cup was magnificent, not only did they absolutely toyed with their group in the cup, only conceding two goals and scoring 9. Whilst they then had a hard fought game against current CONMEBOL champions Uruguay, they fought on to the final and not only won against Spain, the team who were arguably the best side in the world at the time, but destroyed them. The way the Brazilians play is everything Spain did, but faster and better and because of this it wouldn't surprise me if they walked the World Cup, however saying that, it would be just as unsurprising if they didn't. The team is very much a team of stars and not a team of players, and whilst if they all perform they are unstoppable, if one of them isn't performing, the whole side then wants to do it without that player and will waste their possession. Whilst they can afford this against sides like Cameroon, if they mess about against Croatia, a side which is not to be messed with, they could be in for a shock. However I believe that Brazil are still the strong favourites and will most likely get to the final at least anything less will have to go down as a failure for the Selecao.

Spain

La Roja, the best team in the world... on paper. With a squad like theirs they are always big favourites for anything they are involved in. To say because they didn't win the Confed cup, which no offence is a friendly tournament, would be a stupid reason to say they can't win the world cup again. However they need to freshen up their game, everyone knows what they play now and teams are starting to know how to play against it. Teams like Italy are managing to frustrate them and forcing them into mistakes, but Del bosque is a man who can pull that trick out of his sleeve, and whilst he isn't one for having to grind out a win, if it he has to he will. Spain can still go to Brazil learning from the mistakes they made last year and say 'Well, we spent some time on working on how to play and how to beat those other big sides, so lets show everyone we are still the best' a team like Spain will not be devastated after losing 3-0 to the hosts, they are to professional and efficient and instead of licking their wounds will have worked Psychotically on their game. I still think that they will be in the tournament until the final or thereabouts, a side as successful and tricky as Espana will have some fun.

Netherlands

What has happened to the Dutch these past few years? Going from World cup finalists to flopping in the Euro 2012 group stage, improvement has been made but for a team who took Spain to the death and full of the names they have like RVP, Sneijder, Robben and Huntelaar. You look to those stars who are all either consistent enough to play well for their domestic club or are just world class stars like RVP and Robben, but yet it never connects when they play since the last World cup. Is it their year though? well in short, no. I don't want to rule them out completely because a team of stars like the Netherlands that also has some young stars coming through will always have a chance of clicking at just the right time, however look at it, Injuries are plaguing the squad. Strootman will be a definite miss for the World cup, the Roma midfielder is not an easy player to replace, his tenacious play and powerful tackles are something that the Dutch needed in their playmaking midfield, however not only is he injured but his supposed replacement Leroy Fer is struggling with fitness in being in and out of the Norwich squad with Hamstring problems, and then Marco Van Ginkel whom is another bright Dutch star is definitely out, weakening the Dutch Midfield significantly. Vorm is similar to fer and has been in and out of the Swansea squad, not so bad as Krul deserves the start with his performances in the league. Their big stars aren't exactly young either, RVP seems to always be carrying some niggle or injured, De jong is 29 as well as Sneijder, Robben being 30, they are missing a few of their young stars as well as potentially some of their older ones, I can't see Netherlands winning it, or making it to the final, but they will be out to prove that the Euro slip up, was simply a blip and nothing more.

Uruguay

So does Uruguay have what it takes to make it to the final, well they definitely have a better team than us in terms of playing with each other and knowing how to play off each other, that is more than what England can say. It is one thing being a good team though, if you can't match the teamwork with the ability all around the park you have no serious chance against teams like Spain, because they will find your weakness and utilize it. Uruguay play with a similar squad for most matches, with the one or two exceptions but you can see how they will line up quite easily, and they lack serious quality all over the park, a mix of world class and average players, a squad like Brazil has a mix of world class and great players. Of course you have to look at form. Suarez is arguably the most in form striker in the world at the moment taking his game to new heights and could easily play for a squad like Bayern or Real, but internationally you can't just look at one player and say 'Do what you do for Liverpool and run the game' because that doesn't work, as a Wales fan I know. Cavani is playing well, not as well as I think he should be but he is doing enough and in Europe he has 4 goals in five games, which is fantastic, but compared to Suarez he is playing fairly well. Ramirez is playing poorly, 14 games in the league, one goal and one assist, pretty poor in my opinion and if he is replacing Forlan in the Attacking midfielder role he needs to much better. They'll do well but won't go as far as some would believe, their 2011 CONMEBOL copa America is a great achievement, but not enough to win a world cup with.

Italy
Forza Italia, or not. I love the Italians and I especially love their national team, I have always enjoyed watching them play and I have no actual clue why. I mean their football does not impress me and it does not wow me. I like them though, they are a side who perform at tournaments even if everyone thinks they will falter, take Euro 2012 for example. They were the exact opposite of the Dutch, they went out with no one actually expecting much from them and then got to the final. However that was two years ago and a lot can happen in two years, especially in football. They are seriously lacking in a striking partnership, Balotelli is assured to be on their plan to Brazil, but who will line up alongside him? Rossi? Cerci? I mean none of them are exactly consistent international goalscorers, do you revert back to the aged Gilardino? Other than that it is an aged squad, and it is a choice for Italy, do you drop you old squad and look to replace key positions with youngsters who may be poor, or do you stick with the comfortable known squad and settle for what could be nowhere near second best. I reckon Italy will make it past the group stage, but won't get further than the quarters, never deny the Azzuri though.

England

Let's get this straight here, I have no belief that England will even get out of the group stage, however I have had a lot of people saying you have to give them a shout... Why? I guess because I live here and it will be a fight between them and Uruguay for second in my opinion. So might as well use this as a chance to point a hole in all of their squad. They give no chances to the players who don't play for the big sides, except from some of the Southampton lads, it is crazy how some of the great players who don't play for top six teams won't even be given a shout for the World cup side. Why don't players like Curtis Davies, Mark Noble (5th best penalty taker in Europe) and Fabian Delph get a shot in the England side? Because the side they play for is not good enough in the league! It's insanity, the FA acts as if they have little resources to sort it out and that we don't have enough depth in the national pool. Lies, all of it. They have the biggest funding out of the rest of the English sports associations from the government and their national pool is massive, but they only look at the lads who are playing for the top sides, I don't see Italy doing that... I don't see Brazil doing that, if the player is in form is that not enough. Obviously not.

France

I have to be honest, I have no clue what to think about France and I am not going to lie and pretend that I have watched them any chance I can, I have very little interest in their squad, so all of my beliefs are based on summaries of matches and recent results. On paper France have a nice mix of experienced International players and youngsters with either a single cap or a small handful, however France haven't performed against big sides in recent fixtures with losses against Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and Germany, all potential opponents in Brazil if they, and most likely will, make it past the group stage. Also drawing against a very strong Belgium side has not filled the squad with confidence and definitely shows they aren't the most of clinical sides, looking into some of their games they don't exactly have a killer instinct you would expect from a team which has players like Benzema, Remy, Ribery and Valbuena playing in their attack. Will they win it? Most likely not, Deschamps has improved the side clearly but hasn't built a world class one, but just like Italy, les Bleus are not a team to be taken lightly.

Argentina

So Argentina, do not cry for me Argentina. I think a squad like theirs should have won more in all honesty. I believe they have a squad which is given so much praise and pressure and yet looking at it, it's not full of World stars like Brazil. Their strike force is second to none, however a team is not made out of Strikers, you need to be able to back up your goals with a good defence too and that is one thing Argentina are struggling to have. To be fair the defensive side of Argentina is improving but by the time the World cup starts it still won't be as strong as the other favourites and the defensive players that they rely on are either old and injury prone or Young and full of potential but not so much ability. Their Strikers get on with a decent midfield but if they come up against a team like Spain in the round of 16, Argentina could be gone straight after the group stage.

Germany

Die Adler, Deutschland Uber Alles, Arguably the best national side in the world and oddly enough, they don't have silverware to show for it. However Brazil could be a sign of what Die Mannschaft is intending for upcoming competitions. I don't see any outstanding issues with the Germany squad, the first eleven play with each other if not in the Bayern squad but in the Dortmund side, the second eleven might not play with each other, but they still aren't strangers to each other like the England side appear to be. The national team lost only one game in 2013, which was against the US national team, with a side which is arguably somewhere between there third and fourth team. The rest were all convincing performances against sides like France, Sweden and England. They started out 2014 strong with 1-0 win over Chile and friendlies upcoming against Poland and Cameroon will help to see how far they may go in Brazil. I feel looking at the squad and how strong they are in depth and with their key players appearing to be in form at the right time of the year, I could see Germany going far but of course like the rest of the European teams they have to be careful of the atmosphere over in Brazil, but if they play like we all know they can play then I could see them reaching the semi finals with ease, going all the way is a different matter, still believing that the Hosts are favourites. 

Portugal

The urge to simply call this team Ronaldo was hard to resist but I am a firm believer that teams are never one man teams. Portugal is a funny team though, they have some great players in there other than the man himself Christiano Ronaldo. Fabio Coentrao, Raul Meireles, Pepe and Rui Patrico are just a few of these world class players that should be winning more, but something stops them from actually getting there. They remind me of Everton in the way that they are up there and have some great players but never actually seem to really be in contention for some sort of Silverware. I mean they go to international tournaments are slight favourites to maybe get themselves something from the event but don't actually seem to take it further than the Quarters or the Semi's and whilst that's no mean feat to consistently do well at tournaments, it not like winning it. I see them getting far enough in Brazil to appease Portuguese fans, something like the Quarter finals but are still going to miss out on that illusive silverware.

Belgium

Belgium are my personal darkhorses of the World cup, when their key players (Who are hard to decide because they have so many stars) are on form they could probably hold their own alongside the likes of Germany and Brazil, but that word is key, form. Some of their best players are definitely not on form at the moment, Fellaini hasn't been great this season, De Bruyne is known to give much more and Chadli has disappointed most. As well as this some of the even better players are not even able to go this summer. Benteke has ruptured his Achilles which is a sure fire ticket for missing the World Cup, Kompany hasn't been fit in recent weeks, carrying a injury to his knee, Dembele is struggling to regain fitness after an ankle injury. However with stars like Hazard hitting top gear and the rest of the back line still looking strong, Alderweireld, Pocognoli and Lombaerts all getting into some form means they should be sturdy at the back, as well as if Courtois and Mignolet carry on with their current form they shouldn't worry about who to stick in goal. I still see Belgium doing a Croatia on us and going far, I believe the Quarter finals but don't expect anything to miraculous, winning a World cup is still out of their reach.

That is a list of who I believe can win the World cup, maybe some of them are a bit far fetched, and I added where I believe they will come, but everyone of these teams can reach the World Cup final but some of them will need to be on the form of their lives, that's why I added a personal view on where they probably will end up. I think I would also have added Russia and the USA into this piece if I was only going for teams I felt could get out of their group stage, but I only added England because if they manage to go into it on form they may get some sort of Miracle, but I do believe that the USA have a chance, just not a chance of winning the World Cup, same with Russia.