When England failed to qualify for this summer's European Championships in Austria and Switzerland there was an almighty outcry about how the influx of foreign players has had a negative impact on the national team.

However in the very same season three Premier League clubs have reached the last-four of the Champions League and two - Chelsea and Manchester United - have gone on to set up a first-ever All-English European Cup final in Moscow on May 21.

The initial argument would be that, despite being English clubs in name, these top teams are littered with top foreign talent who are responsible for their success on the field!

On the face of it you could argue that United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez have been integral in their side's progress, while Chelsea have the likes of Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Michael Ballack to name but a few.

However take another look at the team line-ups and if respective managers Avram Grant and Sir Alex Ferguson get to name their first-choice starting line-ups almost half of the 22 players on the field of play in Moscow later this month will be from England.

United will have Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, semi-final hero Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick on show, while Chelsea will almost certainly have John Terry, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole lining up at the start of the game.

Chelsea will also have Shaun Wright-Phillips and Wayne Bridge to call on with United boasting veteran full-back Gary Neville in their ranks.

If Liverpool had gone through instead of Chelsea there would still have been Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher starting with Jermaine Pennant and Peter Crouch on the periphery of the team.

This begs the question what exactly is wrong with the England team?

It is blatantly not a lack of quality because as has been proved this season and in the past, the cream of English football are all plying their trade in the top Premier League teams.

It also scotches the notion that foreigners are stunting the development of young English talent because if the youngsters coming through the ranks are good enough they will get a chance to prove it.

It simply boils down to the man at the helm of the national team being able to get the raw ingredients and blend them into a winning formula.

Steve McClaren had the players at his disposal but could not throw them together as a team so the Football Association went for the more experienced and revered Italian task-master Fabio Capello to ensure the Three Lions do not miss out on the 2010 World Cup.

If Capello is as good as everyone makes out then England might actually start winning again and people might stop looking for scapegoats and focus on the good that there is in English football.

Following a traumatic two years in the life of golfer Darren Clarke what a great boost it would be if he can force his way into Nick Faldo's Ryder Cup squad to face America at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, September 16-21.

In August 2006 the Northern Irishman lost his wife Heather to breast cancer at the age of just 39. And following a break from the game he bravely made himself available as a wildcard selection to Europe's Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam for the tournament the following month.

 He went on to pick up a creditable three points on the way to a European victory against the Americans at the K Club.

However since that emotional event, Clarke admits he lost some love for the game as he failed to light up the European Tour and slipped down the order of Merit standings as a result.

Clarke looked a million miles away from being considered for this year's Ryder Cup - which would be his sixth successive appearance - as current captain Faldo will pick the top five players from the world rankings and the top five from the European Tour rankings with two wildcards to make up the 12.

However, with players such as Colin Montgomerie probably requiring wildcard selection, Clarke has taken up the challenge with some hard work on the course and was rewarded with victory in the BMW Asian Open in Shanghai, China, to move him up to 14^th in the current European rankings.

Clarke's last win on the European Tour was five years ago at the WGC-NEC Invitational and he is hoping this latest title success will put him in the running for this year's Ryder Cup, although he accepts he still has a lot to do.

He said: "If I qualify for the Ryder Cup team that would be fantastic. That is back as a realistic goal now.

"I have given myself a bit of a boost but there is still a long way to qualify for the team.

"There is nothing that helps your confidence like wining, whatever way you do it, and it feels good.

"My focus is to keep playing as good a golf as I can and I do desperately want to be at Valhalla, but we will see."

That well-known phrase 'luck of the Irish' appears to have manifested itself into a real-life phenomenon on the banks of the River Wear in Sunderland these days.

For ever since the Drumaville Consortium, made up of Irish businessmen, took control of affairs at Sunderland FC with Irishman Niall Quinn at the helm and fellow Irishman Roy Keane appointed as manager you could argue there has been an element of luck at the Stadium of Light which the club has not witnessed for years.

Before the new regime came in Sunderland had been a typical 'yo-yo' side as they bounced between the Championship and Premier League. Too good for the second tier of English football, but they were woefully short in quality when it came to coping with the top flight and have the worst-ever Premier League points tally of 15 as a millstone around their necks as a result.

However since the new consortium from Ireland arrived in summer 2006 things have picked up dramatically. They quickly appointed former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland skipper, Keane, as manager and he wasted no time in guiding the club back to the Premier League as champions at the first time of asking last season.

No luck involved there as they comfortably brushed many Championship teams aside on their way to the top, despite losing the first four games of the season before Keane's arrival.

However it was always going to be tricky keeping Sunderland in the Premier League, despite Keane being handed around £40million to bolster his squad in preparation, as many in the football betting world tipped them for another quick-return to the Championship.

The opening match against a Tottenham side that fancied its chances of breaking into the elite 'top-four' clubs this season summed up Sunderland's season down to an absolute tee.

Backed by a vociferous home following and willing to battle and scrap for every ball the Sunderland players ensured the Spurs players - who undeniably had more quality - could not live with the opposition's will not to lose the game. They were rewarded with an injury-time winner from Michael Chopra and that set the tone for the campaign.

Keane, his players and fans at the Stadium of Light will rightly argue they have adopted a never-say-die attitude and will battle 'til the bitter end in their quest to get something from a game, but the number of late or last-minute goals they have scored is astonishing.

Ten goals have been scored with under eight minutes remaining which have helped the club yield an extra 13 points on their current tally of 39 with two matches remaining. Without them the Black Cats would be on 26 points and virtually doomed to the drop.

Personally I have been kicked in the teeth twice this season as I witnessed them pinch three points of my Middlesbrough side with a late equaliser at the Riverside and a last-gasp winner in the Wear-Tees derby at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

Keane claims his side have witnessed more bad luck than any other Premier League side this season with regards to things going against his team such as injuries to key players and poor refereeing decisions.

Personally I think he just needs to take a look 25 miles down the A19 at Middlesbrough if he wants to see a side where Lady Luck appears to have deserted town as several late goals have cost them eight extra points this season, not to mention injury problems and some horrific decisions from match officials.

Credit where it's due, though, Keane has done very well to get Sunderland up and keep them in the Premier League, while even Derby look like taking their worst-ever Premier League side crown too! True they are a determined bunch, but whether they are lucky or I'm just envious I don't know?

What I can say is Murphy scored their winner against Boro on Saturday. And I'm not bitter!

With 36 games of this latest Premier League campaign now gone, the big question is not who will win the title....but how Middlesbrough still find themselves in danger of relegation?

Boss Gareth Southgate must have bruises all over his forehead by now as I imagine he has probably banged it against the wall on numerous occasions even before a ball was kicked this season.

Mark Viduka's defection to Newcastle for a big juicy pay packet was quickly followed by his strike partner Yakubu being offloaded to Everton after doing an impression of a cardboard cut-out on the pitch in the first two games of the season. That was 30 goals from the previous campaign already missing from the line-up.

That left Boro relying on summer signings Tuncay Sanli - who had never played in England until August - an unproven Jeremie Aliadiere and a very suspect Dong-Gook Lee. A £6million swoop for Mido from Tottenham helped swell the striker options but he was not even fit following a summer of virtual inactivity.

In defence star man Jonathan Woodgate and his trusty partner Emanuel Pogatetz were both missing due to injury and Southgate was relying on youngster David Wheater to keep out the Premier League's marksmen.

It was no surprise that Boro struggled for the first half of the season and were set to be embroiled in a battle to beat the drop as the sat in 18^th position following an encouraging 1-1 draw at Reading on December 1.

That was the match that showed the signs things could turn around and the birth of Jekyll and Hyde Boro came about!

In December with Pogatetz back and Wheater showing England form a brilliant Boro inflicted top-of-the-table Arsenal's first defeat of the season on them with a stunning display in a 2-1 victory at the Riverside, secured a comfortable 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Derby, and won 1-0 at Portsmouth, who have aspirations of European qualification.

Sandwiched between those wins there were a Riverside defeat against a mid-table West Ham and a Boxing Day 3-0 battering at fellow strugglers Birmingham.

December basically summed up the second-half of the season as Boro turned on the style against the big clubs and either struggled to beat the lesser sides or actually lost to them.

Attractive, flowing, passing football was witnessed one week as Boro ground out a home draw against the likes of Liverpool, while relegation candidates Reading turned up and stole the three points against a nervous and toothless-looking outfit.

Even home wins against doomed Derby, Fulham and Wigan were far from convincing as Boro clung on to pick up the vital three points, before they went to high-flying Aston Villa and picked up another draw but should have won.

Another draw at Arsenal - where Boro again should have won - was secured while Tuncay, Aliadiere and record January signing Afonso Alves were starting to settle in and show what they could do in attack.

Moving into April and again four matches that have highlighted everything that is wrong at Boro. A fantastic performance against title favourites Manchester United at the Riverside with two goals from Afonso Alves guiding them to a 2-2 draw was then followed by a creditable 1-1 draw at Tottenham as Boro wrecked a fair few football betting coupons.

A home win against Bolton would guarantee Premier League football for another season. But again Boro slipped into their bad old ways and crashed to a frustrating 1-0 defeat.

Another chance for safety came at Sunderland in the Wear-Tees derby and, despite scoring an early goal; Boro capitulated and eventually lost out to a last-gasp effort in a 3-2 defeat.

There we have it then just four points clear of danger with two home games - against Portsmouth and Manchester City to come - and six points left to play for when safety should have been assured weeks ago!

The big question worried fans are wondering is which side will turn up for those games?

The side Sky Sports pundit Alan McInally described recently as one of the best footballing outfits outside of the top four? Or as fellow pundit Charlie Nicholas described, the 'fakers' who get rolled over by the Premier League lesser lights?

Fortunately both Pompey and City are higher up the table so hopefully the players will adopt their 'underdog' heads and turn on the style as they have done on numerous occasions this season.

However the frustration for the fans is why does it take better opposition to get Boro's players to do the business on the pitch? Is it complacency against the lesser teams, or are they just lazy and can only get motivated for playing against the big guns?

Is Southgate and his coaching staff to blame? Surely a manager should be able to motivate his players for every game and not have to wait for them to be totally written off before they pull their fingers out?

Whatever the answer to his great mystery let us hope we do not have to spend a few seasons in the Championship before we put our fingers on it.