I like the Ryder Cup a lot. It's three days of
genuinely gripping action - as tense, thrilling and nerve-racking as golf gets.
It's also one in the eye for tedious Euro-scepticism, as the Special
Relationship gets ditched in favour of unlikely blue-and-gold solidarity.

It doesn't need hyping. But as it's on a popular
satellite broadcaster that will remain nameless (in this sentence at least), it
has been hyped to within an inch of its life.

And the desire to give it equal billing to the
Premier League is shown in the bizarre red-button option to watch both the
Ryder Cup and Chelsea-Arsenal

A day after
Nigel De Jong made a tackle deemed fair by referee Martin Atkinson, but which
left Hatem Ben Arfa with a broken leg, he was dropped by his country.

The Manchester City's midfielder's challenge apparently
left Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk with "no alternative" but to
axe him.

This from a
man who defended his side after all but two of his outfield players were booked
in the World Cup final (Johnny Heitinga twice).

That match
included an outrageous De Jong kung-fu kick to Xabi Alonso's sternum that Howard
Webb did not deem worthy of a red card or FIFA of additional punishment.

Join Armchair Pundit Alex Chick to pick over the aftermath of the England v Montenegro Euro 2012 qualifier.

There are bound to be plenty of talking points, so leave your comments and questions below and we'll conduct a post-match inquest.

A disappointing result and an even worse performance - what did you make of that?

Neutrals have always loved the Dutch because of their swagger, their flair and their self-destructive tendencies.

There was something unbearably romantic about a team of lavishly-skilled but fatally-flawed mavericks breezing to the latter stages before falling victim to those twin foes: in-fighting and penalties.

Now Bert van Marwijk has taken a well-organised and effective team to the final, everyone seems to have gone off them.

Barely a minute passed during their 3-2 win over Uruguay without Clive Tyldesley mentioning their new-found pragmatism. 

The fact five goals were scored seemed to be

Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed every Manchester United fan's worst fears: Wayne Rooney wants to leave the club.

In a frank and emotional statement, Ferguson said Rooney's agent informed United of his decision in August, and the club have no idea why he wants out.

So what now? Is there any way back? Where will he go? How much will he cost? What does it mean for United?

Join the Armchair Pundit to ask questions and have your say on the big issue.

England
have already qualified for Euro 2012. Put it in the books. Two games in, and
it's job done.

Wins against our two biggest rivals, including the toughest
match of the whole shebang in Switzerland,
and we are surely on our way to Poland
and/or Ukraine
in two summers' time. Where we will obviously suffer an early exit at the hands
of technically superior opposition.

A win on Tuesday against Montenegro (the only other team in
the group with any points) and it really will be a done deal.

With a couple of honourable exceptions, England are usually very efficient
qualifiers. Unlike in Euro

Here are five changes I would make to improve the World Cup. Three of them are alterations to the laws of the game, two are World Cup-specific.

Challenge system

Following Frank Lampard's non-goal against Germany, FIFA will look into goalline technology again, and this time it has every chance of being introduced.

Good, but it will only cover a small percentage of the errors made by officials. Instead, I would introduce a challenge system similar to that used in the NFL.

Each coach has two challenges, which he can use to review any call during the game. A goal, an offside, a handball, it

Time for part two of the Armchair Pundit Premier League prediction extravaganza. (Read Part One here)

Getting the mid-table clubs in order proved a very tough ask. There is a large group of sides who have little to choose between them - the difference between ninth and 16th could be fairly tiny.

And last season, everyone from ninth (Birmingham) down lost more games than they won. You could call it a vast sea of mediocrity, if you were particularly grumpy.

Anyway, with that flimsy excuse out of the way, here we go with some startlingly inaccurate forecasts for places 13 to 16.

Note: Predicted