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Whatever your feelings are about the situation Shay Given finds himself in at Manchester City, there can be no doubt the quality of the Irishman. In the case of Joe Hart, he has been given the jersey and hasn’t looked back. Shay Given under any other circumstances would be Manchester City’s number one, it shows the quality of Joe Hart rather than any faults in Shay Given. However, has Shay Given been put in an impossible situation by his employers.

It has been accepted that Shay Given will be allowed to leave Manchester City but where will he be allowed to go to? Roberto Mancini and Manchester City know the quality of their second choice goalkeeper and would be crazy to allow him to go to one of their rivals. For example. Arsenal should be in the market for a goalkeeper come January, but there is no way that Manchester City would sell to Arsene Wenger. It wouldn’t make sense, and would only come back to hurt them.

If we accept that as a fair argument, we start to question Manchester City a little bit. It is clear that Shay Given is not needed at Eastlands – having only started three Europa League games and zero Premier League games. He is surplus to requirements. They haven’t tried to keep him happy and he will be allowed to leave. But at what cost to his future? Why should Manchester City care where he was to go? If they truly believe that Joe Hart is their best keeper then it wouldn’t matter where he the Irish keeper goes. Shay Given will want to get back to the top – where he was last season. Manchester City, out of gratitude for his services should allow him to do this.

Even another route out for Shay Given seems to have been closed. It was expected that in January, Mark Schwarzer would be allowed to join Arsenal and Shay Given would be reunited with his old City boss Mark Hughes. However, Schwarzer has recently signed a new deal with Fulham, and will stay until at least the summer. Even though Fulham, with all due respect, would not be seen as a top team, Given would welcome the opportunity to work under Hughes again. Given reportedly led a player rebellion to the board room at City when Hughes was fired. The routes out of Manchester City seem to narrowing for Given, and it seems he will be penalised for being a top quality goalkeeper.

Manchester City have shown their hand in regards to their feelings on the keeper. Shay Given is not needed. It is clear to everyone. Roberto Mancini should respect the goalkeeper for what he has achieved in his career. Shay Given had a great couple of season at City and now it is time to move on. It would be sad to see Given drop down the leagues, just because he is seen as a threat. When the club has valued a player as a reserve, they should be allowed to leave to whoever they want. This transfer window is a big opportunity for Given to play out his final years at the top. He deserves that and is still good enough. For his sake lets hope if a big club come in to buy Shay Given, Manchester City have the respect for their goalkeeper and allow him to leave.

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Like what you read? Comment below on where Given should go this January. Also, Follow me on twitter

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Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp is set to meet with the north London club in the next 48 hours to seek assurances that he still has the board’s backing according to Mirror Football.

The White Hart Lane trainer is entering the final year of his contract with the Premier League side, with an extension yet to be signed due to the continued rumours over him taking the England job.

However, with Roy Hodgson getting the nod over Redknapp, the Spurs man is keen to sort out his future.

It is thought that Redknapp is eager to see whether the club still will back him despite the fact that Champions League football was not delivered in 2011-12, and under whispers that Daniel Levy could be interested in bringing in a new manager to instil a breath of fresh air at the club.

It is also believed that a Middle-East consortium are preparing to mount a financially lucrative offer for Redknapp to take over a coaching role in Qatar.

As yet there has been no official statement or comment from Redknapp, Levy or the club in terms of the manager’s future, but it is thought that there may well be news in the coming week.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Mexico’s tactics were to blame for their 2-1 loss to Chile in the Copa America, according to striker Giovani dos Santos.The under-strength Mexican side had gone ahead against the run of play thanks to Nestor Araujo’s first-half strike, but goals from Esteban Parades and Arturo Vidal after the break ensured Claudio Borghi’s team began the tournament with a win.

Dos Santos scored a brilliant goal in Mexico’s CONCACAF Gold Cup final win over the USA last month, but he was a peripheral figure on Monday as his side was deservedly beaten.

“I think the way we planned out our game tactically (was to blame). We had to play the ball along the ground more with more people up front,” dos Santos said.

“I think that’s the reason why (we lost). We knew Chile would be tough.”

Mexico are now bottom of the group and will need to vastly improve ahead of their next match, against Peru on Friday.

“It’ll be a different match, and we hope to do better in order to obtain the victory,” he said.

Chile forward Alexis Sanchez said his side were always confident they could recover from the deficit, and would take plenty of confidence into their next match against Uruguay.

“We talked about staying calm, that the goal would eventually come. It did, and then we had a chance to make it 2-1,” Sanchez said.

“(We will play) the same way we played against Mexico. All of our rivals are difficult (to play against).”

David Moyes has admitted that John Heitinga could leave Everton in the January transfer window.

The Dutch defender has been linked with a switch to Bayern Munich after slipping out of the first-team picture at Goodison Park.

Moyes said:"I don't know if Heitinga will go in January, I really don't. There has been no official contact from anybody regarding Heitinga, and I don't know if Everton will cash in come January.

"His character and type is one who will battle, and I have no reason to think it's anything other than just speculation.

"I haven't heard from Johnny or any clubs. He has to get on with it. There is competition for places and he is involved in that."

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Heitinga has failed to find the net in 46 appearances for the Toffees since his transfer from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2008.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Luka Modric, arguably Tottenham’s best player was put on the spot by FATV to name his Fantasy 5 A Side football team.

His choices were interesting, especially when you take into consideration he didn’t actually nominate a goal keeper.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=iNHPHKFmaic%3Fversion%3D3%26hl%3Den_US

Five-a-side rules

1. Five players only

2. You must have played with or managed

While our Friday Fives series is a bit of fun with fans, current or ex-professionals, The FA Umbro Fives competition allows every five-a-side player in the country the chance to replicate the feats of these greats, with the overall winners being crowned the official five-a-side champions of England at Wembley Stadium.

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The competition offers the best teams in the country the chance to play in the national final at the national stadium and follow in the footsteps of some football legends.

The deadline to enter a team is the 29th of July and the first round of heats will get underway in the new season.

Jean Fernandez has stepped down from his role as Auxerre manager after five years at the helm of the Ligue 1 outfit.The 56-year-old took the club to ninth place in the league last season – a disappointment after finishing third the campaign before.

Fernandez’s contract ran out at the end of the 2010/11 season and he has decided against seeking reappointment.

Fernandez won the award for France’s best coach in 2009/10, and he told French newspaper l’Yonne Republicaine he was sad to be leaving a club where he had many happy memories.

“I made my decision on Wednesday night. I decided to leave and turn the page at AJ Auxerre,” he said.

“This choice was difficult. I was reluctant, because I cannot erase five years of my life like that.”

“Deciding whether to stay or go was a dilemma, but I chose to leave.”

Fernandez has previously managed Marseille, Lille, Metz, and Sochaux. French media has linked him with a possible move to Nancy or a return to Sochaux, where he was in charge from 1999 until 2002.

But Fernandez was non-committal about his future plans.

“I have not decided,” he said. “I give myself two or three days of reflection.”

I recently read that football shouldn’t be a game of ‘what ifs.’ The sentiment is an excuse, and can be refuted with old adages such as ‘you make your own luck’ or ‘decisions even themselves out over the course of the season.’ This is mostly true. But after Nani’s goal against Tottenham sparked a debate like no other, I started to think; what if?

Everybody has an opinion on what happened at Old Trafford on Saturday. Aggrieved Spurs fans are bemoaning the officials and Manchester United fans have the convenience of another age-old saying; play to the whistle.

Many have used the incident as a catalyst to re-explore the introduction of technology being used in football. The general consensus after Saturdays bizarre goal was if they used technology, Nani’s handball would have been spotted and Gomes could have restarted from a free kick. True. My argument would be if that was the case, though, what would we spend the rest of the week talking about?

Football is a fascinating sport which can be turned on it’s head with any number of variables, one of which being human error. But was Mark Clattenburg’s decision even an error? Did he merely interpret the rules differently to some people? Using technology to determine the ‘correct’ outcome of situations like these would go a long way to cancelling out any kind of debate many of us sub-consciously love to have. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could get quite so passionate whilst declaring Wagner should never have gotten so far in X Factor.

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But if technology does find its way into football, where do we draw the line? Many believe that it should just be used in the goal-mouth to determine whether the ball does cross the line or not. This would give us transparency on decisive moments, but what happens when managers start moaning about other pivotal decisions, like penalty claims which have been wrongfully given? FIFA will be under immense pressure to use the technology readily available and there will be no telling where it would end: free kicks, throw-ins, yellow cards. The game which puts us through a whole host of differing emotions could turn into a three hour replay which leaves nothing to chance.

This discussion instantly brings to mind Frank Lampard’s goal-that-never-was against Germany in the world cup. But even the most biased of England fans surely can recognise how inferior we were that day and the most probable outcome would have been a defeat even if the ball was deemed over the line.

Football has survived without the use of technology for so long and I don’t see the need to change that now. If the game did adopt the use of such facilities we would be left with no ‘bad’ decisions to hide behind, no entertaining post match interviews and very little to debate on a Saturday evening. Apart from X Factor, that is.

Football shouldn’t be a game of ‘what ifs’ but as long as this debate carries on, there will always be one ‘what if’ that worries me the most: What if football was boring?

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From holding a commanding lead in third spot, Tottenham Hotspur have endured a recent poor run of results, slipping behind North London rivals Arsenal into fourth place. Now, the White Hart Lane side hold just a five point gap over Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification, casting a shadow of doubt over their ability to hold onto the current position, and book a spot at Europe’s top table for next season.

For the men in white, missing out on top level European football could be a real set-back in the bid to become one of the Premier League’s powerhouses, with much hinging on their ability to re-establish Champions League status.

Having managed to keep hold of Luka Modric after a summer of uncertainty, the Croatian’s future may be plunged into doubt once more, if the club cannot show an ability to match his growing ambitions. The former Dinamo Zagreb midfielder is instrumental to the way in which Tottenham play, pulling the strings from midfield, with his superb range of passing aiding the side with their fluid attacking approach. He made it clear last summer that a move to London rivals Chelsea or Champions Manchester United was his aim, yet Daniel Levy stood firm keeping the playmaker at the club in a bid to re-join UEFA’s top club competition. However, such exploits may be impossible this term, with the 26-year-old entering the peak of his career and keen to secure major honours and a larger pay packet, both of which will be more achievable at a new club.

As well as Modric, Gareth Bale may decide to call time on his spell with the club. Although the Welsh wizard is more likely to stay than some of his team-mates, given his young age and guaranteed first team football, the level of displays he has produced over the past few seasons have attracted many of Europe’s top-sides. Names such as Barcelona and Real Madrid have been banded as potential suitors for the 22-year-old, and if the chance to join one of the world’s finest sides on large wages arose, it would be almost impossible to reject. Losing such players will undoubtedly damage the club in the long run, as to challenge, they will need to cement the club as an attractive prospect, and top players leaving regularly will not allow that.

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The financial repercussions of missing out on Champions League football may also halt Spurs ambitious transfer plans. The retaining of Emmanuel Adebayor would prove to be difficult without the guaranteed increase in income, with the Togo striker likely to demand wages in the region of £100,000-per-week, to complete a move from Manchester City. Also the acquisition of talents such as Eden Hazard and Loic Remy would become increasingly difficult, without the lure of demonstrating their abilities on biggest stage.

Perhaps more important than playing staff is the ability to keep hold of Harry Redknapp, who has been linked with the vacant England managers role since the departure of Fabio Capello. Although ‘Arry may swap Spurs for England regardless of where his side finish this term, another crack at the Champions League, allied with the increase in spending power, could be enough to convince the manager to stay with his employers. But, if they were to miss out, the appeal of leading his nation would increase, casting doubt over the long-term future of the club, which he has galvanised since arriving in 2008.

Both Tottenham and their closest rivals, Chelsea, find themselves at a crossroads ahead of the run-in for different reasons. Tottenham have, perhaps, their most promising generation for quite some time, and to lose key components, or be unable to build upon what they have will see the club move backwards. If the likes of Modric, Bale or Rafael van der Vaart decide to leave the club, which is a possibility, the message that conveys to future players and current stars is extremely negative, hinting at a lack of ambition. It’s been a long, physically enduring season for Spurs, but if they can just hold on, and limp across the line, they have the makings of a team that could challenge for the title in years to come. Keeping Modric remains the key, as his exit could open the floodgates, but if Champions League football is secured, he may be convinced to stay in North London, where he has become a crowd favourite.

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Chelsea however, are not likely to give up without a fight, as they look to lay the groundwork for, what could be, a busy summer. The lure of top-level European football and the financial benefits it brings are key in their pursuit of high quality, young talent to begin a new era at the club. Without this they could struggle to attract the players needed, making the final eight games massively important.

It’s going to be a tough run-in for Tottenham, who must focus on securing at least fourth spot, if they are going to build upon their impressive foundations. Champions League football is a must for the club, who have more riding on their European status next term than any other side in England.

What are your thoughts? Comment or follow @Alex_Hams and have your say

The Championship playoffs produced a second goalless draw in two days as Reading were held 0-0 at home to Cardiff on Friday.Swansea City had already come away from Nottingham Forest’s City Ground with honours even from Thursday’s semi-final first leg, despite the visitors going down to 10 men inside the first two minutes after the sending off of Neil Taylor.

Swansea’s Welsh rivals Cardiff were not disadvantaged in quite the same manner on their visit to the Madejski Stadium.

But they did have to contend without the services of key forward Craig Bellamy, who was forced off by a hamstring injury after just 17 minutes.

It was Bellamy – on loan from FA Cup finalists Manchester City – who enjoyed one of the few clear-cut chances of an edgy contest.

His 11th-minute strike across the face of goal looked to be heading for the far corner and it took a quick reaction save from Australia international goalkeeper Adam Federici to preserve the deadlock.

Michael Chopra, himself lacking match-fitness, replaced Bellamy and with the departing Cardiff captain went much of the visitors’ sense of adventure.

The hosts slowly worked their way into the game, with Hal Robson-Kanu and Jobi McAnuff enjoying half-chances shortly before the break.

Matthew Mills went close to scoring early in the second half when Cardiff goalkeeper Stephen Bywater let a cross slip from his grasp, but the error surprised the Reading centre-back and he failed to seize on the gift.

An injury saw Robson-Kanu replaced by Mathieu Manset, who picked up where his predecessor left off, combining well with central midfielder Jem Karacan but still failing to create a genuine chance for the hosts.

Peter Whittingham might have given Cardiff a spectacular lead against the run of play when he fizzed a long-range effort narrowly wide of goal on 65 minutes.

Four minutes later, Cardiff full-back Dekel Keinan forced Federici into another save from Whittingham’s corner.

Down the other end, Bywater had to work to keep out an effort from French forward Manset in the 70th minute, but it proved to be last real chance of note.

The draw leaves both teams with everything to play for heading into the second leg at the Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday.

Football is a global game and right across the world people of all ages are participating in the beautiful game. In an attempt to document this Vice, in partnership with EA Sports and in conjunction with the release of FIFA 11, travelled the world to film 11 football stories. On his journey Santiago Stelley, the producer of the We Are 11 series, found how the passion for football was expressed in different ways around the globe. Below is an interview with Santiago who simply felt there were many great football stories to tell…

What made you decide to embark on this extraordinary journey in the first place?

We’ve been wanting to create a soccer series for at least 3 or 4 years now. A lot of us here at Vice are big soccer fans and we always felt that there were so many great soccer stories to tell, and more importantly, we felt that soccer itself was such a great medium through which we could tell bigger stories about the world. Then, a few months ago, we were speaking with our friends of over at EA and he mentioned their upcoming game – FIFA 11 – and it all just clicked. We immediately knew that this was the perfect opportunity for all of us to finally translate that passion we shared for the game into a series of short docs. We were all eager to make this happen, we had the right partners, and we had the right stories, so we went for it.

What made you choose these specific 11 people / places?

Many of these were stories we wanted to shoot forever, others were pitched to us by our international offices. We were looking to document how the passion for football was expressed in different ways around the globe. Although the sport may be more deeply rooted somewhere like Brazil than somewhere like Japan, we felt that it was important to show how the Japanese had taken to the sport and expressed their passion for the game through an art form as Japanese as manga.

Could you highlight any of the individual experiences being particularly memorable?

For me one of the most memorable experiences was attending the Corinthian’s game with Gavioes da Fiel in Sao Paulo. I grew up in Madrid, Spain, a few blocks from Real Madrid’s stadium, I’ve been to many matches and my entire life I’ve watched the fans come and go from the stadium twice a week. In Spain we like to think of ourselves as very passionate football fans but what I saw in Sao Paulo was full on insanity. The Gavioes celebrated for hours before and after the match, and it wasn’t a particularly important match. And even when they lost, they just kept singing. I was very impressed.

Another highlight for me was meeting the creators of Captain Tsubasa. I’m not sure how familiar American audiences will be with this cartoon, but growing up in Europe in the 80s and 90s this was the show that everyone ran home from school to watch. This includes me.

As 2010 comes to an end, what do you think the year will be remembered for football-wise?

Well, as I mentioned, I’m Spanish, so I will always remember 2010 as the year that we finally won a World Cup.

Were there many other things you wanted to feature? If so have you thought about incorporating them into another series?

Yes, there were so many stories that we wanted to include in the series but simply couldn’t get to this time. We have an extremely long list of great stories we’re hoping to eventually, including stories in Mexico, Angola, Uzbekistan, Germany, etc. If you think about it we barely covered any ground at all, the world is big place and most everyone living has some sort of great soccer anecdote. The truth is we could keep shooting this series forever and never get bored.

To see the first episode of the We Are Eleven series continue to PAGE TWO…

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Football in 2010 will ultimately be remembered for the World Cup, but it isn’t one that many football fans will look back on with fondness. Manchester City’s Nigel de Jong stole the headlines in the final for his karate kick on former Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, while big players like Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney failed to come to the party and the infamous Jubalani ball took much of the flack. However the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be remembered for one thing: The Vuvuzela.

EA SPORTS FIFA SOCCER 11 and VBS.TV bring you to Johannesburg, South Africa to get the real story on the man who claims to have invented the vuvuzela. In this first episode of the eleven-part “We Are 11” series, you’re introduced to a local Johannesburg legend, Saddam Maake. Wearing giant neon yellow sunglasses, he’ll take you on a tour of his house, his shrine to all things Bafana Bafana & Kaiser Chiefs FC.

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