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/li> 65 comments My friend said to me the other day that Mario Balotelli reminded him of a mixture of Eric Cantona's swagger and Cristiano Ronaldo's power and skill. He went as far as to air the point on the social networking site Twitter. If I were on Twitter too (and I'm not), I would have used my 140 characters to offer a one-word response. Nonsense. Balotelli is like a volcano waiting to erupt, a bubbling cauldron of trouble with a giant risk of letting you down. Looking for a fight: Balotelli is a talent, but also trouble   In the stampede to salute his dazzling performance for Italy against Germany, we are forgetting that 83 days ago he was sent off for Manchester City at Arsenal and betrayed his team-mates with an outrageous act of petulance. If Manchester United had gone about their business in their normal professional manner, that would have been the single most significant moment that cost Manchester City the title. Instead, he is

/li> 29 comments I don't know if Arsene Wenger is suffering from sitting in the pundits’ chair. It does happen. Working for Eurosport, Wenger said that Spain had ‘betrayed their philosophy and turned into something more negative’.  Has he been watching the same team as the rest of us?  When you watch Spain play football of such beauty and control, you have to admire their mastery of the ball. I thought Wenger would understand that better than anyone with the way his Arsenal team try to play. Main man: Andres Iniesta was influential in Spain's Euro 2012 success We can rave about Spain’s passing but it is the touch to set up a pass. You can press them, get after them, try to close them down and it seems the opponent almost gets there. Then the next opponent almost gets there and then, before you know it, they are into your back four. It reminds me of what it was like to play against Paul Scholes, who, I am convinced, would not have looked out of place in this

/li> 0 shares 4 comments Running with the best: Usain Bolt seeking a top doctor There's not much I have in common with Usain Bolt. He's certainly a little quicker than I was at my peak. But we shared the same doctor when it came to turning to someone in need of urgent repair. When I was a Liverpool player, I regularly used the tricks and skills of Doctor Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt to rescue me from another injury. Now Bolt, the greatest sprinter of all time, is visiting his Munich clinic to try and be fit for the London Olympics, which start in 18 days. I've read in these pages about Muller-Wolhfahrt's methods being described by a senior figure within the US Anti-Doping Agency as 'Frankensteintype experiments'. I'm not sure what that means, although with me he would use fluid taken from the comb on the head of a hen to lubricate a knee joint that had been eroded by a succession of injuries. He would tell me that it was like 

/li> 17 comments Andy Carroll has a lot to offer. He's 23 and reminded us when he played for England against Sweden what he can do when he is on top of his game. Get the quality into the box and he will score. So why does it seem that Liverpool want to sell him now, just when it looked as if he had turned the corner? The problem for Carroll is that the new manager, Brendan Rodgers, plays with one up and that one player will be Luis Suarez. Glimpses: Andy Carroll showed his class in the FA Cup final and at Euro 2012 So Carroll has a choice: does he accept his role as the understudy and stay and fight for his place, or does he accept he is surplus to requirements and move away? If Liverpool want to move him on, he’s a fantastic loan. He’s a good player. No wonder West Ham are interested in that temporary deal.  West Ham were very direct at times last season in their promotion campaign and Carroll is a serious threat in the air. He can lead the line, play up

/li> 12 comments In 2004, when the  pre-match handshake ritual was introduced in England, Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said: ‘It’s not a handshake that says everybody loves everybody else. 'It’s a handshake that says, “Whatever c**p’s gone on before now and whatever c**p will go on after this game is over, for the next 90 minutes, let’s just play a game of football”.’ I’ve never understood it. What does it achieve? Spat: Luis Suarez and Patrice Evra almost came to blows before a Premier League match at Old Trafford after the latter accused the former of racism Recently, we’ve had clubs given permission not to shake hands because of bad feeling and players refusing to do it. TV advertising breaks are scheduled around the handshake, in case there is a story not to be missed. How did it get to this? Handshakes should be reserved for the captains and officials before the toss and as a spontaneous gesture when the contest is over. The rest of it i

/li> 0 shares 7 comments Robin van Persie joining Manchester United is great for Sir Alex Ferguson and great for the title race. If he had signed for Manchester City it would have felt like game over before the season had even started. Instead, Sir Alex has made a statement that he wants his title back and he now has the strike force to make that possible. New boy: Van Persie was incredible last season Here he is: Robin van Persie arrives for his medical When United won the treble in 1999, they had four excellent strikers in Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Sir Alex thinks they are getting close to that quality again with Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck but I’d argue they offer more variety. Only time will tell if they are better. Most importantly, signing Van Persie is a statement that United are still a force to be reckoned with. We were all expecting City to improve their squad this

/li> 0 shares 5 comments Every season I pick my 10 to follow. They are not all new signings, but they are all players I am looking forward to seeing when the season gets underway this weekend. And these are my picks for this campaign... keep an eye out for how they perform. 1 Joe Allen, Liverpool A modern midfielder who doesn’t go to ground in the tackle but stays on his feet. He is a superb reader of the play, intercepts the ball and has the annoying habit of passing to a team-mate. The obvious question is: can he cope with moving to Liverpool from Swansea? Joe has so much in his favour, with a manager who obviously loves him and the chance to play alongside Steven Gerrard. That midfield three of Gerrard, Lucas Leiva and Allen looks to be dripping with quality. Getting his man: Brendan Rodgers brought Joe Allen (right) to Anfield 2 Eden Hazard, Chelsea I sat with Joe Cole last season and asked him about Hazard. ‘Jamie, this boy is so good, he can become the