England suffered their first defeat of the World Championship Qualifying stage over the weekend, losing 1-0 to Ukraine. A bad mistake from Manchester United defender, Rio Ferdinand, saw Robert Green left in a compromising position and the West Ham United goalkeeper was subsequently sent off.

It was one of the poorer performances from Fabio Capello’s new England side and they were found wanting in a number of key areas. The side will have to drastically improve the way they play in these sort of matches if they want to entertain any ideas of success by the time South Africa arrives next year.

The defence will be that this sort of game is meaningless for England as they have already officially qualified. However, Capello is said to have been furious over the performance and has demanded better from his team in the immediate future.

He said: “Rio made just one mistake. The ball bounced and he didn’t judge the direction of the ball well, but afterwards he played a good game like the other players. Rio has made some mistakes, but you can’t question his value.”

England captain, John Terry, added: “There’s been the odd game when defending has been a problem and individual mistakes as well, but that’s something we’ll have to work on.”

“We wanted to walk away with ten wins [in World Cup qualifying group six], but haven’t managed to do that. We weren’t at it and they were better than us from the start.”

“We really need to use these games as learning curves now. It will be nice to get a win at home on Wednesday to give the fans that good feeling again. I don’t feel for Rio. I don’t have to look out for him. He’s a world-class player. He’s suffered from a couple of injuries of late, but when he’s in and around the team he’s great to have around the place.”

It may be the first signs that Ferdinand is not as good as he once was because he gifted Manchester City a goal in the recent Manchester derby. Furthermore, Sir Alex Ferguson is said to have been frustrated during practice at the way Ferdinand is making a few too many basic errors.

If England are going to succeed in South Africa then Ferdinand and Terry need to be solid and there is no room for any errors at all. One slip up and that’s it, you are out of the World Cup. The stakes are high, higher maybe than they have ever been before.

Sheffield United goalkeeper, Paddy Kenny, has let a lot of people down including himself with the news that he has recently failed a drugs test. The keeper apparently bought some cough mixture that contained a substance that was banned by the Football Association.

It is no surprise that he has subsequently been suspended by his club and now faces the prospect of a massive two-year ban from the game that is likely to dent the immediate future of any career ambitions he may have had.

The point is that Kenny is not a young player, he is one of the more experienced in the Sheffield United side and he should have known better. He obviously knew what he was taking and the risks it involved and he should have gotten every thing checked out before he made any decisions. Fair enough this was only a medicine but the point is that in the modern game you have to be so careful about what is going into your body.

It will not look good to a number of the younger professionals at Sheffield United that would have looked up to him. Kenny has been a corner stone of the Sheffield United team for longer than many would care to remember and he would probably be the last person that a number would name to be involved in such an incident. He had a good club and a bright future and he has thrown all of this away in a moment of madness.

Kenny would be lucky if United kept him on because they would be well within their rights to just sack him completely and let him go to another club. For a side that is trying to break into the Premier League they do not need this type of publicity being attached with the club.

Had Sheffield United won the play-off final and been promoted to the Premier League then you can predict that the club that lost out would have been calling for the FA to intervene as United’s goalkeeper quite obviously cheated. It is irrelevant whether he knew what he was doing, the point is that there are strict codes and conventions and it could well have ended up in some sort of court case, let’s just be grateful that United didn’t actually get promoted.

This is not the first time that a high calibre player has been involved in a drugs scandal. It must not be forgotten that not too long ago Rio Ferdinand was banned for 18 months after he failed to carry out a drugs test. On that occasion it was not actually proven that Ferdinand had taken any thing and yet he was still banned for an enormous length of time.

So the risks for any player who are toying with the idea of taking a medical substance or something similar are massive and now they will quite clearly know that it is probably too much of a risk to do. It’s quite simple to get around, if you have a cough and you are unsure over whether you can take something then just go and see the physio who will tell you yes or no. It is not rocket science.

There have also been cases where players have been pulled up over taking a number of recreational drugs in their own time. In these instances the players in question have all been sacked from their sides and it is doubtful that they will ever be able to get a contract playing football again.

Sheffield United now face the long and hard task of trying to find a high profile replacement to come in and take Kenny’s place. This will be difficult because every week he probably would have been the first name to go down on the team sheet. When you get into such a routine of being able to pick a player without thinking about the decision, this makes the task to bring someone in to replace him even more difficult.

United will just want the matter dealt with. They have been in the news a lot over the last one or two seasons for all of the wrong reasons. Firstly, there was the saga involving Carlos Tevez who was playing for West Ham United and scored the goal that relegated the club. A court case followed over Tevez’s ownership and that resulted in West Ham paying United a large sum earlier this year.

The point is that although the club got a bit of money out of this they probably just want to focus on the football as opposed to having to deal with such negative press all of the time. They have done well to deal with the Kenny incident so quickly as it will allow them to move forward with a new keeper who can help them progress.

For Kenny the options are quite simple. He now has a very long time out of the game to think about what he has done and whether he wants to continue his career in football. Once the two years are up he will probably find a slightly lower profile team that will give him a contract but he needs to decide whether he loves the game enough in order to make this sacrifice.

He only has himself to blame and should be ashamed the next time he goes out onto the streets of Sheffield and quite likely the fans will heckle him. As a top level professional you have a responsibility to your club, your fans but more importantly yourself. You cannot toy with medical issues and in this case it has grossly come back to slap the player square in the face.

There will be a number of keepers who will be chomping at the bit to get a game for United and the list of candidates to replace Kenny is probably already being worked on. However, the point is that it is an issue that need not have come up and has only come up due to the stupidity of one person. I’m sure a lot of people now feel sorry for United and their fans.

Manchester City have made another move in the summer transfer market with the news that they have approached Portsmouth with a view to signing Glen Johnson. Johnson has come on leaps and bounds over the past season and his regular first team performances even earned him a place in Fabio Capello’s England side.

He is also a traditional full back that likes to get forward and can get in a few decent crosses but at the same time he also has the ability to track back and fill in for other defenders. His early big move to Chelsea did not pay off and now could be about the right time for Johnson to have another stab at playing for a growing club.

The Manchester City revolution seems to be developing on a daily basis and if Johnson signs then it will mean that Mark Hughes is slowly building an impressive team. They could well go for a lot more high calibre full backs in the game but City won’t be able to attract these players until they start getting more success on the pitch.

Johnson would fit in nicely to the City side and would certainly help them to become a lot more balanced. Furthermore the fact that Fabio Capello clearly sees enough in him to warrant a first team slot in the England side says a lot about the nature he is showing as a player.

Johnson was often criticised in the early part of his career at West Ham United for never actually making good of all the talent he had. It seemed as though football was not the first thing on his mind and when you are a professional player at a club with the history that West Ham has, it should be. This could have been why his move to Chelsea did not go as many anticipated it would. He could not get into the first team there and he was subsequently told to move on.

However, he has developed into quite a mature young man and looks comfortable playing at the highest level. What a move to City would subject him to would suit him as opposed to if it was a season or two back. The wealth and fortune won’t faze him one bit nor will the fact that he will be playing with some of the best players in Europe.

You have to questions the theory of the move though. Pompey have just been taken over by the same person that led the bid for Manchester City. Therefore you would scratch your head and wonder why the new owners would let one of the best players go. Although it is highly doubtful there is any thing dodgy in the move, it does make you feel rather confused.

If Johnson moves to City or whether he stays put at Pompey, he is slowly starting to build himself a reputation, one of which he can be proud. He has to maintain all of the consistency he has developed, whichever club he is at, if he wants to keep his England chances high and have a chance at becoming a great player.