Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has questioned the wisdom of stripping Steven Gerrard of the England captaincy.

Gerrard, who assumed the international armband when Rio Ferdinand picked up a knee ligament injury on the eve of the World Cup, saw the captaincy return to the fit-again Manchester United defender for Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro.

Hodgson was surprised by the decision of England coach Fabio Capello, which he hopes doesn't have an impact on Gerrard's role as Reds skipper.

"I was disappointed to see that he had the England captaincy taken away from him," he told the club's official website ahead of Sunday's Merseyside derby against Everton.

"I've got to be honest and say I don't really understand that decision.

"As much as Rio is a great player as well, I think if you have been out for a long time through injury and you're making your first England appearance for a long, long time, someone who actually had the captaincy for three games and had done brilliantly deserves to keep it.

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"I haven't spoken to Steven about the subject but I just hope he is not too disappointed about it because at the moment, in his form and with his ability and desire to take responsibility, he plays a true captain's innings for us and I think he did it for England in the three games before."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Josh McEachran is the first player born after the UEFA Champions League began in 1992 to play in the tournament but that’s not all the young player is known for. At just 17 McEachran has also been involved in the Premier League and the Carling Cup and only seems to get praise from those that know him.

Having been spotted by Chelsea at the age of eight, McEachran has worked his way through the ranks and into the first team. McEachran could be the next player to come through the youth team and then sustain a first team spot, like John Terry did. Former Chelsea player Jason Cundy watched McEachran progress through the Chelsea Academy. In the London Evening Standard he said: “I coached Josh for two years at Under 11 and Under12’s at Chelsea and he always stood out for his ability.”

It’s not just for his club that he’s been performing well; McEachran notched up 11 appearances for the England Under 17’s, scoring once and has since been called up several times for the Under 19’s. Josh’s parents are both Scottish and there were rumours in the press earlier this year that Scotland Under 21 coach Billy Stark had tried to lure McEachran to play for Scotland. Stark denied the claims but it shows how ‘in demand’ the young player is.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti insisted that the player stayed at Chelsea rather than going out on loan because he was someone they needed in reserve. He told The Daily Telegraph: “He can play in the first team right no without problem. He is very young but he showed fantastic ability and quality. We won’t be sending him on loan. He will stay here and play here. We now have one more player.”

Being a young talented player with so much expectation can be daunting but John Terry has taken McEachran under his wing. In the London Evening Standard he said: “I think Josh could be very good. He was with us in pre-season and I am quite close to him. He is a quiet lad but really wants to learn.” With someone like John Terry as a guide, McEachran is likely to have a good base to move forward.

With all this attention McEachran’s ego could have ballooned out of control but the young lad seems to have kept his feet firmly on the ground, he said “Last year was good for me. I didn’t perform well in early stages of Youth Cup but in the semi- final and final I picked up my game and played well.” (Official Site)

With the constant talk of Chelsea’s ageing side the hype surrounding a young talent can only prove that Chelsea do have promising talents. With experience will come confidence and McEachran may be lucky enough to make a name for himself on the Premier League scene.

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Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has failed to recover from a hamstring injury and will miss Wednesday's Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk.

The influential Spanish midfielder will not travel with the rest of the squad to Ukraine after picking up the problem during Saturday's 1-0 victory against West Ham United.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger confirmed:"He has a good chance to play on Sunday (against Newcastle United) but Wednesday night is too risky.

"He has no real strain, just a bit of pain. I don't know what it's down to but we cannot take a gamble as he has had injuries before. There's still a bit of reluctance to push it 100 per cent.

"Alex Song has a problem with his calf which we will assess today and he may not to travel.

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"Arshavin has a problem and we might leave him at home and Denilson has a groin problem. The one that is definitely out is Fabregas, the three others will be assessed later."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Everton’s recent points total is so slim they should probably considering attending an Anorexics Anonymous meeting, but scratch the surface of some scratchy results and performances haven’t been all that bad. They outclassed what turns out to be a decent Bolton team and deserved more than a last gasp equaliser to claim a point. They created enough chances against Arsenal to at least merit a point and gave another good account of themselves at the Stadium of Light against an in-form Sunderland.

In contrast, West Brom’s recent performances have been every bit as bad as the results suggests. Roberto di Matteo won plaudits for getting his expected relegation battlers to play a nice brand of football, but a run of 1 point from a possible 15 has seem him get labelled more naïve than a working class schoolkid hoping to go to university under a Tory government. They’ve lost valuable points to teams likely to be joining them in the frantic scramble to avoid the drop and the enjoyment of the early season has been replaced by the more familiar feeling of trying to keep the head above water.

A win for the Toffees looks likely at 8/13, but that nagging feeling at the back of your mind may be the memories of the Baggies going to the Emirates and winning as well as other fond recollections such as Edwin van der Sar handing them a point at Old Trafford. They’re certainly a capable side, but the confidence to persist with the lovely football may have been drained thanks to defeats to Blackpool, Stoke and Wigan. If you reckon they can get their mojo back, the 11/4 for a draw doesn’t look like the worst option.

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Part of the Toffees’ problems is down to the lack of a contribution from the strikers. It’s nice that Tim Cahill is popping up with so many goals, but a little more from Yakubu, Saha and Beckford if he gets a run out, would have the points tally looking healthier than it is at present. Similar to the West Brom team, we all remember a time when they used to be able to perform, so there’s no reason why they won’t be able to do it again. That said, on recent form Cahill to be 1st goalscorer at 5/1 looks like the shrewdest move. Likewise the Wincast of Cahill to score and Everton to win @ 11/5 immediately strikes you as something that’s entirely plausible.

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***Click HERE for a FREE £20 Bet for New Customers***

Have a bet on the Football FanCast specials, including Liverpool and Everton to merge stadiums by the end of 2011 at 2/1!

The week in the run up to Christmas started with a interesting Premier League fixture at Eastlands, which Everton won 2-1 against Manchester City thanks to goals from Tim Cahill and Leighton Baines. So Everton got one over Manchester City on the pitch, and City were also second best off it. Away from football Mario Balotelli was seen wearing the most ridiculous headgear I’ve ever set my eyes on (check it out at the FootballFanCast.com Facebook Fan Page if you haven’t seen it already). Everton fans weren’t to be outdone though and in the spirit of Christmas trumped Balotelli with their turkey hats. Can you come up with a funny caption for this photo?

Leave your suggestions below…

This week you can win a copy of FIFA 11!

FIFA 11 reinvents player authenticity – on and off the ball – for every player and at every position on the pitch with Personality+, an all-new feature that sees individual abilities reflected in game, enabling clear differentiation for every player.

For the FootballFanCast.com Caption Competition Terms and Conditions click here

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Check out our Caption Competition Gallery for some inspiration and to see the winners so far.

Last week’s winner: Grave – click here to see all entries

As my story on Friday explained, Jose Mourinho is in desperate need of a striker. It now appears he might have found one, in NFL Wide-Receiver, Chad OchoCinco.

The 33-year old may well be the biggest ‘soccer’ fan in the League and played a lot of the sport as a youngster and is currently in Madrid and has spent the weekend at Real’s training complex as part of a post-season holiday.

It appears that Jose Mourinho is interested in the free-agent to boot. The twitter fanatic, OchoCinco tweeted;

“Mourinho says he needs a striker, I’m coming here to play.”

Then went on to later announce;

“I’ve a trial with Real Madrid after my surgery,” despite this, the American was unable to train with the Madrid squad as of yet due to his own sponsorship with Reebok being at odds with Real’s adidas deal.

However, Real may well face a battle to sign him from their greatest rivals Barcelona. After tweeting Gerard Pique that he was coming to Madrid, the Barca defender tweeted back that it would be ‘better for u to come to Barcelona’.

Chad OchoCinco (born Johnson), would certainly add spice to the Galacticos goal celebrations if not their line-up. He once was voted the ‘number 1 showboat in professional sports’ and actual admits he puts part of his salary aside each year to pay league fines for ‘excessive celebration’. (see below)

This includes one occasion when he held up a sign saying;

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“Dear NFL, Please do not fine me again.” For which, he was fined.

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However, last year was an interesting one for the Cincinnati star, who has his own brand of cereal in Ohio. He added a charity phone-line for ‘Feed the Children’ to the cereal packets. However, due to a misprint, the number on the box actually sent you to a phone-sex line!

Liverpool will be hoping the return of captain Steven Gerrard can inspire them to victory against Fulham on Wednesday.

Gerrard will come straight back into the Liverpool first team for Wednesday’s Premier League encounter at Anfield after serving a three-game suspension for his straight red card against Manchester United in the FA Cup.

The Reds enter the match against Mark Hughes’ side on a high after a resounding 3-0 win at Wolves on Saturday, which snapped a four-game winless run and moved them up to 11th on the Premier League table.

And manager Kenny Dalglish believes Gerrard’s return could inspire the Reds to another surge up the table.

“Your captain being available after missing three games will be a fantastic lift for everybody,” Dalglish said.

“We had a great result and performance at Molineux on Saturday and we’ve got a very difficult game coming up against Fulham on Wednesday, so for us to have Steven back on the back of the performance and result we got at the weekend is a great boost for everybody.”

Liverpool’s form this season has been patchy at best, with encouraging wins too often followed by disappointing losses against lower-ranked sides.

A leaky defence will be a major concern for Dalglish, with Liverpool keeping just seven clean sheets in 23 league matches this season.

On the other hand, they come up against one of the worst attacks in the Premier League on Wednesday, with only four sides having scored less goals than Mark Hughes’ men this season.

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With Bobby Zamora out with a broken leg, much of the goal-scoring responsibility has fallen to American midfielder Clint Dempsey, who has eight goals for the season, including a double in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Stoke.

Worryingly for Hughes, none of his recognised strikers have scored more than two goals for the campaign.

Wednesday’s match will be the first time the two sides have met this season, with the corresponding fixture lat year ending in a 0-0 draw.

Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel says he will decide on his playing future at the end of the season.

Friedel, 39, will become the oldest player to ever play for Villa if he lines up against Manchester United on Tuesday at Old Trafford, surpassing the record set by Ernie Callaghan in 1947.

Speculation about the American’s future is constant, but Friedel is not concerned about turning 40 and says if he stays fit, he will keep playing.

“I don’t know if it will be a good thing or a bad thing to be the oldest player ever to play for the club,” Friedel said.

“I will continue to just keep myself as fit as possible and hopefully be chosen to play football matches.”

“Age is a number. I don’t think about it. I just go by how I feel. If I feel good and able to play – that makes me happy.”

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Friedel is likely to be involved in Sunday’s fourth-round FA Cup tie at Villa Park against former club Blackburn. He made nearly 300 appearances during a nine-year stint at Ewood Park.

After Liverpool’s loss at Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd round, I wrote an article suggesting that it was time Fernando Torres left the Anfield club. During the game he offered nothing and looked like he would have rather of been anywhere else. Understandably, Liverpool fans jumped to his defence. But in hindsight, was it a good move for the club and the player?

To put it into context, the game I mentioned above saw Torres marked out of the game by Jonny Evans. We are talking about a striker who has on several occasions made fellow Manchester United centre-back, Nemanja Vidic, look stupid. I’m used to seeing the Spaniard chase lost causes, harass defenders and scoring wonder-goals, not trying to find his way out of a pretty ordinary defender’s pocket. What’s more, his reaction to being subbed was almost non-existent. His team were 1-0 down to their biggest rivals and faced being dumped out of the cup – the only chance left of any silverware this season – at the first hurdle. Was he bothered?

To put it bluntly, he didn’t want to be there and probably hasn’t done for a while. The problem is Liverpool have spent the last 12 months trying to accommodate a player who wasn’t willing to put the work in for them. That’s not to say that has always been the case. But in fairness to Torres, Liverpool haven’t exactly been operating at the top level recently. He moved to Anfield to win trophies and in that respect, nothing has changed.

I don’t agree with his timing, or the way he has set about rubbing it in his former club’s nose that he is now a Chelsea player, and ‘finally playing for a top club’, after all, Liverpool have much more history than the London side. But Torres had to move. Why stay with a team you no longer have any desire to do well for, especially if you are as good as he is? Liverpool merely served to pay him a ridiculous amount every week for very little in return.

Phil Thompson was questioned about Torres’ move before the Tuesday night fixtures and his reaction was one of pure anger towards the forward. As a Liverpool fan, Thompson is another who blindly defended Torres despite what the rest of us could see. This week, in between all the exasperation and emotion, he attempted to point out that Liverpool are bigger than Torres and his move was disrespectful to everyone at the club. He was clearly wound up, but why? It wouldn’t be the first time a world-class player stops performing because he wants out. If he wanted to go, then Liverpool made the right decision in trying to get as much as they could for him.

£50 million is a lot of money, and to be fair to the club, they have used it to reinvest. Luis Suarez has real pedigree and it’s a shame we don’t get to see him alongside Torres. Andy Carroll is a gamble at £35 million but at least the club are showing some ambition. For far too long they have been playing a way to suit Torres because they haven’t had another option, but now they do.

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As far as Torres is concerned, instead of doing his best to talk himself into trouble, he needs to concentrate on playing for Chelsea. He moved to win trophies and he has as good a chance as he will ever get.

Chelsea spent £50 million to turn their season around. Torres moved to win trophies and Liverpool sold to get rid of a disruption. The move has been a long time coming and seems the best solution for all concerned. The Kop now have a new number 9 to worship, and whatever you may think about Carroll, he will certainly give his all. Fernando who?

Shakhtar Donetsk will be looking to continue their record-breaking run in the Champions League when they take on Roma in the last 16.

This season marks the first time that Donetsk have made it to the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition, just 18 months after they won the 2009 UEFA Cup.

Former Inter Milan manager Mircea Lucescu has transformed the club since taking over in 2004, and now he intends to send a message by guiding Shakhtar into the quarter-finals for the first time.

“We wanted to get to the knockout stage for the first time and, after missing out before, we finally managed it this season – and deservedly so,” Lucescu said.

The Ukrainians finished on top of Group H with five wins from their six games, including a 2-1 victory over English Premier League side Arsenal.

Last time the two sides met in 2006, Shakhtar was on the end of a 4-0 drubbing, but Lucescu is convinced his side will give a better account of themselves when they go head to head on Wednesday.

“The fans (in Rome) create a certain pressure on opponents, but also on their own team,” Lucescu said.

“Certainly, what we learned from that last game will help us this time. I am convinced about that.”

“Also the difference in class between football in eastern and western Europe is narrowing. Many talented players have come to the east.”

“The UEFA Cup wins by Galatasaray, CSKA Moskva, Zenit and Shakhtar mean these countries have greater hope for Champions League success.”

Roma qualified for the knockout stages after finishing second behind Bayern Munich in Group E.

But their form on the domestic front has been less impressive, with Claudio Ranieri’s side slipping to eighth in the Serie A after taking just two wins from their last six matches.

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Ranieri has been under pressure to keep his job with rumours Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was in line to make a shock move to the club.

A run to the Champions League final, which they achieved for the first and only time in 1984, would certainly help Ranieri’s prospects, but he admitted getting past Shakhtar would be tough.

“Lucescu’s teams always play very good football,” Ranieri said. “Shakhtar are a quality team and they have some very strong players. On top of that, Lucescu knows Italian football very well. This is going to be a good tie to watch.”