Football Podcast

England's issues, Cristiano Ronaldo's brilliance and the Premier League stars of the season are discussed.

Sky Sports News Radio presenter Ben Ransom is joined in the studio this week by TEAMtalk.com's Mark Holmes and SkySports.com's Adam Bate to discuss England's friendly defeats to Chile and Germany, the battle for the Ballon d'Or and the return of the Premier League. England issues pile up Ben, Mark and Adam consider what, if anything, England have learnt from the past week, looking at which players have boosted their chances of a place in the World Cup squad - and which players have hindered theirs. The trio also consider Wayne Rooney's best role, the effectiveness of 4-4-2 at international level, and whether any players not currently in the fold could earn themselves a place on the plane to Brazil. Ronaldo boosts Ballon d'Or hopes After scoring a hat-trick in Portugal's World Cup play-off qualifer against Sweden, our trip debate whether Cristiano Ronaldo is now the man to beat to the FIFA Ballon d'Or for 2013 and whether Franck Ribery really deserves to be one of the front-runners for the award alongside the Portugal star and Lionel Messi. Premier League makes welcome return WhoScored have named their Premier League Team of the Season based on Opta statistics - our men offer up their alternative suggestions and debate whether Liverpool's Luis Suarez deserves a place despite his relative lack of action. Attention then turns to what is predicted to be a fascinating tactical battle between Everton and Liverpool, the crucial clash between Manchester City and Tottenham, and the pressure building on Sam Allardyce ahead of West Ham's home game against Chelsea. If you want to get a mention on the next Football Podcast, send a tweet to @TEAMtalk with the hashtag #ilovethepodcast - and you may be one of the lucky ones selected. You can download the Football Podcast on iTunes