CARRAGHER'S INCLUSION COULD BE A STEP BACKWARDS FOR ENGLAND

WHEN Fabio Capello names his provisional 30-man squad for this summer's World Cup finals on Tuesday, there will be one name on everybody's lips - Jamie Carragher.

The Liverpool defender has endured a torrid time this season with the Merseysiders early exit from the Champions League and failure to qualify for re-entry next season. Despite a terrible start for the 32-year old, who retired from international football at the age of 29, Carragher's form picked up in the second half of the season and this appears to have earned himself a phone call from the England boss.

With injuries to Wes Brown, and doubts over the form of both Glen Johnson and Gary Neville, speculation mounts that his inclusion might be to fill in the right-back slot. There are also injury concerns over the centre-back position with England captain Rio Ferdinand an injury worry and former skipper John Terry is currently suffering from a bad run of form ever since his personal life was pulled into the spotlight. Other potential inclusions Joleon Lescott and Ledley King are both struggling with injury - the latter having been unable to train for two years due to his debilitating knee condition. All this means that the inclusion of Carragher might seem to be a completely reasonable solution.

However, since he retired in 2007, the Liverpool vice-captain has rejected all emergency calls from England managers to try to bring him back into the team. The reasons he gave for retirement were that he was not being played in his favoured position of centre back and therefore decided that retirement was a better option than a tantrum which may have seen him excluded anyway.

In my opinion, if you receive a call up to play for your country, you play wherever you are told and you give 100% without question. Someone who doesn't want to do this and has whinged about selection issues before is likely to do it again and most definitely doesn't deserve another chance. Talksport host Adrian Durham said that the time of his retirement that he had "bottled it" and I have to say - I agree.

Aside from this, Jamie Carragher has endured one of the worst seasons of his career, and even if he was going to give 100% for the cause, I am still not sure this is enough.

England are in danger of going backwards with his selection. I would even go so far as to say that Steven Gerrard does not deserve a starting place at the World Cup. After such a terrible season with Liverpool, who's to say he is going to turn it on for England?

I say, forget about Carragher, bring in Michael Dawson, a player who has made an outstanding contribution to Tottenham's push for a Champions League place, and drop Gerrard in Favour of a proper left winger like Stewart Downing or even Joe Cole. Then again, I'm not the manager.

ARSENAL SANDWICHED BETWEEN GREATNESS AND A FIGHT FOR FOURTH PLACE

FOR the past five years Arsenal have been a team in transition. The team Arsene Wenger had built up by the turn of the century was nothing short of outstanding. He had the skill and trickery of Robert Pires, the guile of Patrick Vieira and the flair of Thierry Henry.

All have since left the club along with Ashley Cole, Kolo Toure, Gilberto Silva and the retirements of Dennis Bergkamp and Ray Parlour. Wenger has spent these last few years building the team back up to a standard which he believes can bring the glory days back to the club.

They have struggled to find the funds for him to go out and buy ready made quality and so has been forced to bring in younger talent and rear them - something which is not unfamiliar to the Frenchman.
Newer first team players such as Abou Diaby, Samir Nasri and Nicklas Bendtner all clearly have the talent to play in an Arsenal team but consistency is a key issue with all three. Nasri, compared recently to Pires by Arsene Wenger, undoubtedly needs to score more goals to complete his all round game (Nasri has netted five times in 32 games this season).

This season, in many ways, has been a disaster for the Gunners. They failed to win any silverware for the fifth year running, have been comprehensively beaten (in terms of score line) by both of their main rivals, lost to North-London rivals Tottenham who at this stage of the season can still mathematically finish ahead of Arsenal, and finish the season with a whimper and an injury table full of what might have been.
Now, Arsenal are sandwiched between having that little bit extra and winning the league title, or dropping in standard and having to fight for fourth place. Who knows, that little bit extra could have been and probably would have been a fully fit Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas all season. Football fans are terrible for dwelling on the past and what could have been - none more so than the long suffering fans of Arsenal Football Club.

Those who see a team on the edge of greatness, but who fall at the second to last hurdle, losing many brave men along the way. Those who become frustrated with their managers lack of activity in the transfer market - but know they could never stay mad at him for too long. Those who feel like tearing their hair out when the team insist on their one dimensional "pass it into the net" style of play - but not one fan would have it any other way.

Arsenal play beautiful football - everybody knows that, but the two games against Barcelona were - to use an old cliché - like watching men against boys. They were taught a lesson in how to play free-flowing attacking football over those two legs, and it hurt. Winning just one game (a last ditch 1-0 against Wolves) in their last six including the two against Barca, Arsenal's season has come to a damp end like a whoopee cushion running out of air. After the first big loud noise, there’s only enough air left to make a small hissing sound at the end.

If Arsenal are to push on next season and reach that much anticipated trophy which has eluded them for so long, Wenger must delve into those deep pockets and find the funds to bring in two or three top quality additions to his squad - and hope that next season brings a little more luck with injuries.