Fulham’s amazing transformation under Roy Hodgson just keeps reaching new heights and sending their fans in to raptures. I know I’ve written about Roy Hodgson and the fact that the British press have virtually ignored his career until he took over at Fulham, but no-one could have expected this level of improvement from the Cottagers.

2 years ago they were all but relegated from the Premiership and when they went 2-0 down in a league game against Manchester City, they were technically down. Amazingly though they recovered and won that game 3-2, going on a run that saw them survive on the last day of the season. Now here we are in April 2010 and they have a Europa Cup Final to look forward to in 13 days time.

I’ve been sick and tired of people doing the Europa League down, for Fulham and their fans it is a monumental achievement and they deserve to celebrate long in to the night. The achievements of Roy Hodgson can no longer be ignored by the British media who will no doubt be jumping on the bandwagon as we speak, propelling the Fulham manager to demi-god status. They’re about 10 years behind but they’ll never let on just how much they’ve underestimated the like-able Londoner.

As much as Fulham’s European success has been a revelation for the club, it has cemented the managerial abilities of Hodgson. He has taken London’s smallest Premier League club to their first ever continental final and achieved something that some more celebrated English managers have not achieved. I’m truly delighted for them, for him and the Fulham fans.

After the game, Hodgson said “After going a goal down against the run of play I think we made a major piece of history here tonight in a very special atmosphere. We have beaten a very good team and I’m drained after the emotional roller-coaster. I think lots of teams would have lost their discipline and shape, but we stayed strong.”

They’ve seen off more famous and illustrious opponents throughout this cup run and just when you thought they’d come a cropper, they found hidden reserves of mental strength and fortitude to fight back in every knock out tie. Shaktar Donetsk, Roma, Juventus, Wolfsburg and now Hamburg have fallen when all common sense told you that Fulham couldn’t or wouldn’t beat them. They did and with such lovely football too.

Of course, they’ll now face Athletico Madrid who have put Liverpool out tonight, which I’m delighted with. Not disrespecting Liverpool, but now all the build up in the UK will focus on Fulham, which is what they deserve. If Liverpool had made it, we would have had constant coverage of Benitez’s miserable and moronic press conferences which I’ve seen more than I deserve to over the last 5 years. Now Fulham and their fans can bask in the next two weeks as the excitement builds towards Hamburg.

They must be in shock, stunned as they’ve seen the transformation of their team in such a short space of time. Enjoy it Fulham fans and I truly, really want you to win the cup. Congratulations to all of you. Now get drunk!

So, the last two days Michael Owen was all over the British press making bold statements about his fitness, his England chances and the possibility of starting more games for Manchester United. 20 minutes in to the clash against Wolfsburg, Berbatov replaced him and it was a case of back to square one for Owen and I’m left scratching my head as to why he even started tonight’s match.

He didn’t train yesterday because of a groin injury, so as soon as I saw the interview with The Times today, I felt that perhaps Owen was tempting fate. I’m not pleased to say that he had indeed pushed his luck with cosmic karma. He wanted the opportunity to start a game for Manchester United and he got it. He wanted Fabio Capello to watch him play and he was at Old Trafford tonight. He wanted an opportunity to impress him but 15 minutes in, the groin went and with it, the chance to push for a place in the last two competitive match squads before the World Cup next Summer.

The interview with Owen intrigued me, mostly because he’s scored 2 goals as a substitute so for Manchester United this season. In the games he’s started he hasn’t scored, or played particularly well. 7 English strikers have scored more and are playing regularly, whilst Theo Walcott is just returning and Emile Heskey is not a goalscorer. Whilst no-one can argue that between 1998 and 2004, Owen was a class apart as a striker, since that point, he has endured an injury nightmare.

Regardless what his ridiculous brochure stated in the summer, Owen hasn’t played more than 30 games in a season for 5 years. He hasn’t hit more than 20 league goals since the 2002-03 season. Since Euro 2004, he’s scored 7 England goals in competitive games and 7 in friendlies, and regardless of what he was, it is clear that he is not the striker he was before Euro 2004.

Now, I’m a fan of Michael Owen, the footballer. Well I was a fan, but regardless of what Owen says, I am not convinced he will ever get back to the level of performance that he showed up until the European Championships of 2004. It is a case of people wearing rose tinted glasses and I do not understand why people are still falling for the hype in regards to recalling him to the England team. People will always recall the goal against Argentina in St Etienne but that was 11 years ago. 11 years!

This is the England team that put 9 goals past Croatia. This is the England team that has qualified for the World Cup winning 8 consecutive games. This is the England team that have scored 48 goals in the 18 matches under Fabio Capello. Can someone explain to me what the strikers aren’t currently doing that means England need Michael Owen? Having an average of 2.7 goals per game is a phenomenal record at international level, does it require an injury prone striker to add to it.

England do not need Michael Owen, Michael Owen needs England. If Owen was anywhere near the level of 2004, I’d have him in the squad in a heartbeat, but he isn’t. Owen is living on past glories and media buddies. England can win the World Cup without him and as he sits on the sidelines once again, people need to have more faith in Fabio Capello. The clamour for Owen’s inclusion does Capello a disservice and it’s about time we drew a line under Michael Owen’s England career and looked to the future.

Group A

Bayern Munchen
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B

Manchester United
CSKA Moskow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL

Group E

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen

Group F

Barcelona
Internazionale
Dynamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan

Group G

Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Reaction

Manchester United along with Arsenal have fairly straightforward groups and both should be looking to come out on top.

Chelsea have a couple of tough away trips to Porto and Madrid, while APOEL will prove to be Group D’s whipping boys.

Liverpool have a very tricky draw, Lyon spent big in the summer and thrashed Anderlecht in the qualifiers, plus Fiorentina are always a tough team, though I would expect Liverpool to progress as winners.

Other highlights include Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to Inter and Kaka facing his beloved Milan. While Scottish representatives Rangers will be looking to progress and have a real chance of doing so.

Your thoughts on the draw please.

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Portsmouth are out of the UEFA Cup after losing tonight against Wolfsburg 3-2. The match had plenty of incidents, but the highlight (or lowlight if you’re a Portsmouth or England national team fan) was David James’s idiotic mistake (see video above). Instead of booting the ball out, he telegraphs his intentions to the Wolfsburg striker and passes it directly to him.

David James has had a history of awful mistakes in big matches. While he can be brilliant at times, he can then make one stupid mistake that destroys all confidence in him.

Even in the loss against Wolfsburg, David James saved a penalty, but it’ll be this horrible pass that everyone will remember.