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For almost two years, English fans trembled in fear and bowed their heads in shame. For over a decade, the glorious tandem of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard had bravely led the Three Lions to countless second rounds. Sadly, it appeared that Don Fabio Capello had forever axed the dynamic duo following World Cup 2010.

Roy Hodgson has hinted at his intention to give Andy Carroll a starring role in Euro 2012 by handing the Liverpool man England's No.9 jersey.

The squad numbers for this summer's tournament in Poland and Ukraine were announced by the FA today.

Skipper Steven Gerrard will wear his traditional international No.

Has Liverpool hired a new manager yet? No? Right, moving on...

* Moneyball moneyball moneyball moneyball. Or maybe not. Over on the Anfield Wrap, Gareth Roberts drops a weighty article that moves beyond the oft-used term in an attempt to plot just where Fenway Sports Group may try to take Liverpool in the coming years, with a focus on Soccernomics, the recruitment of 20-22 year olds, success through the purchase of troubled talent, and Lyon:

So while they have had six managers since 2000—Jacques Santini, Paul Le Guen, Gerard Houllier, Alain Perrin, Claude Puel and current boss Remi Garde—the president and Bernard Lacombe—who has been technical manager, trainer, manager and now special advisor to the president—have remained.

If I cast my mind back almost two years to mid-summer of 2010, I can recall it being one of the lowest points in my life as an England fan. Germany had just thrashed us 4-1 at the first knockout stage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It wasn't that we lost that was so agonizing, but the manner in which it happened.

It's a busy weekend from a Liverpool perspective, and that's not even counting any potential action from FSG about the managerial or director roles. One international friendly is already down, and there's plenty more on the horizon to bridge the gap from one week to the next until action in Poland and the Ukraine gets up and running in full.

Well, Newcastle United have finally managed to finish in the top half of the Premiership under current owner, Mike Ashley. This is our first top ten finish, and qualification for European competition, since Glenn Roeder's Intertoto "Dream Team" managed seventh, and Europe, after a storming finish in the 2005-06 season.

In yesterday's London Evening Standard, Newcastle United's Silver Supremo gave a fairly lengthy and candid interview to the Standard's Mihir Bose. In it, he spoke of his ambition to replace Roy Hodgson as the next England manager, and also how he intends to "educate" Newcastle United fans that we cannot expect to compete in Europe [.

Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson have all come under heavy criticism having struggled to find their feet after moving to the Merseyside with expensive price tags .However Liverpool vice captain Jamie Carragher insists that the club's new signings should not take the blame for the side's poor performances this season.

The Carling Cup win was the highlight...It was a very mixed season for Liverpool that ended in the departure of Kenny Dalglish. It started well but as the league campaign continued, things began to get difficult for the Reds. Two cup finals and one cup win gave the lads some glory but an 8th place finish in the league provided a dark shadow over the season.

NUFC Season Review Part One. Following on from part one of Newcastle United's 2011 / 2012 season review, we begin at the start of the new year with a home tie against Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United... January Man Utd humbled / A Nightmare at the Cottage / The new number nine... A [...]

The end of the season is finally upon us. A season in which defied all expectations. A season where even the most optimistic of Toon fans would have struggled to predict what would be. Newcastle United gate-crashed the top six, and also knocked on the door of the Premier League's top four. As it turned [.

Poor Peter Crouch. It was no secret that he and Capello never always saw eye to eye so the Stoke striker must have been jumping for joy when the Italian resigned with months to go until Euro 2012.

The journeyman forward soon stepped up his form, netting a goal of the season contender against eventual Premier League champions Manchester City at Britannia Stadium, volleying in from 25 yards.

Andy Carroll tries a trick...We all hoped that the last game of the season would bring us some joy, but, as predicted, it didn't. A slightly changed Liverpool XI couldn't muster much of a performance for the final game and it was only Andy Carroll that really threatened the Swansea keeper.

When word first leaked that Warrior and not adidas would be making Liverpool's kit in coming seasons, some reacted with skepticism. After all, adidas have a long history in football—and just as importantly, a long history of supplying Liverpool kits. Warrior, on the other hand, is an offshoot of New Balance known for lacrosse and hockey equipment, and their deal with Liverpool represents their first foray into the world's most popular game.

Former Liverpool Director of Football Strategy,Damien Comolli says Liverpool have made Andy Carroll a stronger player and is confident there is more to come from the £35 million Striker.

Carroll has endured a difficult time at Anfield since moving from Newcastle for a British record £35 million last January but there are signs Andy Carroll may be starting to come into his own.

Gerrard models Tuesday night's shirt...Chelsea travel up to Anfield on Tuesday night after their victory over the Reds in the FA Cup Final at Wembley. It's a tough pill to swallow for the Liverpool after an Andy Carroll header nearly put them back into the match but it wasn't to be.
Liverpool have no new injury worries for this one and Chelsea are also still without defenders Luiz and Cahill.

Liverpool suffered FA Cup final heartache as goals from Ramires and Didier...

Carroll celebrates...Well, it's the day after the FA Cup final, the beer has been washed out of my hair and I'm pretty sure I've pulled my side after celebrating a none existent Andy Carroll goal but you can't win them all can you? A poor start from Liverpool allowed Chelsea to take advantage and it was far too easy for Di Matteo's side to score.

Given that it was one of the few positives to emerge from yesterday's loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, we've already done most of the discussion needed about Andy Carroll's performance. After coming on to replace a badly out of sorts Jay Spearing, Carroll gave Liverpool a tremendous lift. He lashed home their only goal of the game after some neat footwork to free himself from John Terry in the Chelsea box, and missed out on an equalizer by the slimmest of margins, denied by a matter of inches (or, depending on your opinion, an incorrect call).

Up for grabs...As if you didn't know there's an FA Cup Final on Saturday and Liverpool are only bloody well in it! After successfully knocking out Everton in the semi finals the Reds are ready to square up against Di Matteo's Chelsea at Wembley.
Liverpool's league form this season has been pretty terrible and so for most fans the past few weeks have just consisted of Wembley dreams.

One of the arguments trotted out to defend the high transfer fees paid for some players last summer—right after the one about how British players with Premier League experience would take less time to settle and because of this pay back the higher fees with a better chance of returning to the Champions League—was that the players coming in would be on lower wages than the men they were replacing.

Newcastle United's Managing Director, Derek Llambias, has been speaking to David Conn for yesterday's Guardian. In the interview he spoke on how he has received so much abuse from Geordie ingrates that he doesn't hear it any more, how Mike Ashley told him that he would have "a horrible job" in May 2008, just before [.

Liverpool 0
Fulham 1 Skrtel 5′ (og)

With Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard not even included on the bench and the focus clearly already on Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley, the tone for Liverpool was set early: This wasn't a game that especially mattered. Clearly it was an outlook reflected by the largely indifferent performances of the men on the pitch, as a side filled with players for the most part unlikely to play a role on the weekend shambled half-heartedly through ninety minutes against a Fulham side that seemed nearly as uninspired.

Andy Carroll, whose goal against Everton earned the Reds a Wembley date with Chelsea on Saturday, was not even named on the bench for Saturday's 3-0 triumph at Carrow Road.

He will be hoping to impress Kenny Dalglish against the Cottagers as the manager hones his team selection for Cup final day.

Following Sunday's disappointing result against West Bromwich Albion, there were two competing narratives. On one hand there was a desire to integrate the match and result into one of the main stories of the 2011-12 season—namely the one where Liverpool can't score even though they dominate possession.

Roy was all smiles on Sunday...Liverpool fell to yet another defeat in the league on Sunday as Roy Hodgson's side got the better of the Reds. Liverpool had chances aplenty and maintained pressure throughout the 90 minutes but they just couldn't find the back of the net.
Liverpool started without captain Steven Gerrard who was left out as a precaution according to manager Kenny Dalglish.

Carroll celebrates his FA Cup winning goal with Skrtel...Liverpool will welcome West Brom to Anfield on Sunday after they've got rid of those giant puppets wondering around the Kop End! And West Brom coming to Anfield means nothing less than the return of the face rubber himself; Roy Hodgson.

It is certainly fitting of Newcastle's unexpectedly successful season that, on the night of the 12th March, after a 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates, they trailed the 4th placed Gunners by eight points. It looked like the wheels had come off the North East bandwagon and they would slip into the mid-table mediocrity [.

Andy Carroll started the last two Liverpool games, and they were important games in some respect. Liverpool ended a four game win-less streak with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Blackburn Rovers. The Reds followed that up with a come-from-behind FA Cup victory over Everton, thus maintaining their hoodoo spell over the blue of Merseyside.

Liverpool striker Andy Carroll insists he has spent too much of the season watching his team-mates from the substitutes' bench.

The England international, has so far failed to live up to his £35 million price tag following a frustrating start to his Reds career

However, Carroll went some way towards repaying his fee in the past week when he produced late winner against the goal that sent Liverpool through to the FA Cup final at the expense of closest rivals Everton at the weekend.

In today's news and notes, Luis Suarez wants to stay at Liverpool next year—but only after spending the summer in sunny London. Plus Andy Carroll wants more minutes and a four letter word that rhymes with duck, stuck, and monster truck...

* We've got a bit of a run on Luis Suarez today, with the biggest news having been floating around since Sunday but nonetheless well worth a mention, as word has leaked out that the club and his agent are working on extending his contract while Suarez has confirmed his intention to stick around despite the at times troubled season both for himself and the club as a whole.

Andy Carroll headed the winner in the 87th minute to clinch a 2-1 comeback victory over Everton to secure a place in the FA Cup final and labelled the moment as 'the best feeling ever'.

"It's the best feeling ever," said Carroll. "We worked hard and getting a goal at the end there was great.

Jamie Carragher has claimed that Andy Carroll would be 'remembered forever' for sending the Reds to the FA Cup final at the expense of Everton and said that his winner was worth £35 million on its own.

Carroll has come in for criticism following his £35m transfer from Newcastle but the England striker was the toast of Liverpool's traveling fans on Saturday after a brilliant Winner on the 87th-minute to clinch a 2-1 Victory for the Reds.

Andy Carroll headed a dramatic late winner to send Liverpool into the FA Cup...

The Don't Buy The Sun posters were out in full force as the team and fans paid their respects for the minutes silence...After an afternoon at Wembley that began with both the Red and Blue sides observing a minutes silence for the 96 Liverpool fans who lost their lives at Hillsborough it was the Reds who could boast about their ticket to the final.

TweetAndy Carroll headed the winning goal as Liverpool beat Everton 2-1 to book a place in the FA Cup final. But it was the reaction of an amazingly beautiful Everton fan which stood out! As Carroll soared high to nod home the winner three minutes from time, the elation amongst Liverpool fans was inpalpable.

Having been consistently attacked with plenty critics in the past few months due to his minimum contribution for his club, Liverpool's Andy Carroll, simply turned into a new hero for the Anfield fans in this last two matches.

After deciding his team's victory over Blackburn Rovers, in midweek, Carroll did the same heroic effort his Saturday as he headed in Kenny Dalglish' squad into FA Cup final after beating their city rival, Everton.

Liverpool 2 Suarez 62′, Carroll 87′
Everton 1 Jelavic 24′

A match that ends in the joy of victory over their city rivals and a chance at capturing a second domestic cup shouldn't leave quite so many doubts, but no reflection on how well the day ended for Liverpool can ignore quite how poorly it started.

Back to Wembley for Liverpool after a compelling week on and off the pitch, this time to face Everton in the first semi-final of the FA Cup. Liverpool's won both meetings this season, with a 2-0 win at Goodison and a 3-0 victory at Anfield, but Everton are the side on form, managing to surge past Liverpool in the table with yet another strong late season showing.

Liverpool: Did buying British cost Comolli his job? is a post from: Just Football

Since taking over at Liverpool Kenny Dalglish has spent almost £100 million on buying the 'best' of British players within the Premier League in a bid to instigate an overhaul of Liverpool and return them to their former glory.