SOCCER

Centre backs the likes of Vincent Kompany, John Terry and Mats Hummels are increasingly difficult to find in modern football.

As the final minutes of transfer deadline day ticked by last month, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger and Manchester United chief Louis van Gaal found themselves in a race against time to sign yet more attacking stars.

Radamel Falcao's move to Old Trafford triggered their sale of Danny Welbeck to Arsenal, yet the reality for both managers must have been that their high profile deadline day swoops were not the players that were top of their most wanted list in what was a lavish summer of transfer spending for the Premier League's top clubs.

Indeed, the days since those late night deals for Falcao and Welbeck were concluded have served to confirm that both Wenger and Van Gaal have left themselves dangerous short of cover at the other end of their team. While both have come under fire for their failure to bolster the centre of the defence, the reality may be that this apparent negligence was, in fact, unavoidable.

Injuries have conspired to ensure that United have been forced to dip into their junior ranks to plug holes in their defensive line, with their 5-3 defeat at Leicester offering galling evidence that Van Gaal's plans are being derailed by back line woes.

Louis van Gaal's back line has already been gashed on a few occasions this season, including a forgettable five goals allowed at newly promoted Leicester City.

Meanwhile, Wenger has been nursing a less than fully fit Per Mertesacker through games in the knowledge that his defensive options are desperately thin after the German powerhouse, or that his regular centre-back partner Laurent Koscielny will break down any time soon.

Yet when I suggested to the Arsenal manager that the only reason he did not sign a central defender to replace the departed Thomas Vermaelen was due to a lack of suitable talent, the response from the Frenchman was as honest as it was thought provoking.

"You sum up the situation we faced in the summer very well," he said with a smile. "People say we should buy defenders, but there is not a lot on the market and if you look at the other clubs, they had exactly the same problem as we did. Everybody is looking for defenders and everybody couldn't find any.

"I feel that we made a very good buy with Calum Chambers [from Southampton] and we are a bit unlucky to lose [Mathieu] Debuchy and [Nacho] Monreal at the same time. No matter how many players you buy, you cannot have three players in every position because it is impossible to manage."

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been forced to rush back his defenders from injury in the early stages of the season.

Wenger's reluctance to splash the cash in the transfer market has long been used as a stick to beat him with, but he has proved that his prudence is now being cast aside with the lavish signings of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil in the last couple of seasons.

Likewise, United showed their spending power with more than 150 million pound investment in players in recent months, yet neither club found players to build their teams around. That is no coincidence as this point in time appears destined to go down in the history of the game as the generation that lacked true defensive leaders.

Amid all the transfer activity of 2014, one deal that highlighted a recurring trend in the game was Paris Saint-Germain's decision to spend an unprecedented 50 million pounds to sign David Luiz from Chelsea.

Here was the single transfer that offered up conclusive confirmation that football has taken a turn of direction in the last decade, with applications to the school for producing top quality defenders woefully down in numbers amid a worldwide void of talent.

PSG spent 50 million pounds on centre back David Luiz, a player infamous for his defensive liabilities.

Spain and Barcelona's success in passing their way to glory on the international and domestic stages changed the landscape of modern football, with defensive responsibility replaced by a daring and somewhat reckless plan to outscore your opponents with avalanches of goals.

For us neutrals looking on, it has been a delight to be thrilled by attack-minded teams who replaced defensive tactics with garish attacking ambition, yet those tactics have encouraged the demise of the traditional centre-back and replaced them with ball playing flair players/liabilities of Luiz's ilk.

Long gone are the days when Arsenal built their success around the likes of Tony Adams and Martin Keown, when Irish great Paul McGrath was strutting his stuff at Manchester United and Aston Villa or when Gary Pallister and Steve Bruce put United manager Sir Alex Ferguson on the map as a Premier League winning manager.

In their place stands a clutch of expensively assembled teams whose tactics are thrillingly simple, yet notching more goals than your opponents in high scoring matches on a consistent basis is a plan laced with peril.

Any team scoring 101 times in the Premier League could have expected to be hosting a title-winning party in their back yard in the second weekend of May, yet Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool team did just that last season and were still left to reflect on what might have been after allowing 50 goals to slip through at the other end of the pitch.

When push and shove collided and they dared to believe they were closing in on improbable title glory, a reminder of the less glorious era of the game came to haunt Rodgers and his players, with Chelsea perfectly executing a carefully-planned operation to win at Anfield and hand the title to Manchester City on a plate.

The Special One has a knack for being able to limit the most high-powered attacks in football.

Defending may be a dying art, but Blues boss Jose Mourinho is one of the few tacticians in the modern game who has highlighted that there is still a place in the game for teams to thrive playing meticulously thought out counter-attacking football. It provides the perfect antidote to teams that need goals to fuel their confidence.

However, the overriding evidence confirms that every kid bursting through the ranks in 2014 wants to be the next Lionel Messi, the next Cristiano Ronaldo. Very few want to be the next Franz Beckenbauer or the new Nemanja Vidic.

So while Wenger and Van Gaal are being questioned for their lack attention to their defensive line, both may end up ruing the reality that their extended careers continued into the era when top quality defending became a dying art.

Football's best central defenders

John Terry [Chelsea] - At the age of 33, Chelsea skipper Terry is a blast from the game's past, with his rugged attitude, fine reading of the game and never-say-die spirit carrying him to glories aplenty at Stamford Bridge.

Vincent Kompany [Manchester City] - Like Terry at Chelsea, Kompany has led the City charge towards title glory in recent years and his presence is most evident when he is absent. Warriors like this Belgian appear to be a dying breed.

Mats Hummels [Borussia Dortmund] - This German World Cup winner is not a flawless centre-back and is prone to mistakes, but his demeanor and refusal to give in to a challenge makes him one of the best in the world right now.

Gerard Pique [Barcelona] - It is fair to assume Pique would not have made a top ten list of defenders in the days when tackling power and leadership abilities were high on the agenda, but this is an example of the 2014 version of a centre-half. He starts as many attacks as he halts.

Raphael Varane [Real Madrid] - One of the rising stars of defending in the world game, Varane is a polished performer at the age of 21. There is more to come from him and he looks set to be a star for many years to come.

Thiago Silva [Paris Saint-Germain] - Evidence of Silva's brilliance was provided at the World Cup last summer as he was absent for the semifinal against Germany and David Luiz's shambolic display helped to ensure a 7-1 defeat for hosts Brazil. Silva is not perfect defensively, but he is fine a leader.

Who Wenger and Van Gaal could have bought

Eliaquim Mangala - This French international moved from Porto to Manchester City and his 32 million pound price tag was further evidence of the lack of defensive quality available in the transfer market.

Kostas Manolas - This Greek centre back was on Wenger's radar at Arsenal, but he opted to make the move to Roma instead. He is hardly a world-beater, but was the best of an average bunch that were available.

Ezequiel Garay - Long linked with a move to Manchester United, this defender moved to Zenit St Petersburg after ending his stay at Benfica. He could have been a decent option for any Premier League manager.

Mehdi Benatia - Bayern Munich moved quickly to snap up this Moroccan international in a deal with in excess of 20 million pounds. Again, his price tag was inflated by the lack of options in the transfer market.

Diego Godin - A star of the Atletico Madrid success story, they would have been very reluctant to sell this reliable Uruguayan. Yet a hefty offer from United may have persuaded the Spanish champions to do business.

SOCCER

In football, nothing settles arguments quite like results. When it comes to deciding the quality of managers, though, it can be more complex. Results can distort, not least for the fact coaches are working with different resources and from different starting points.

So, in order to try to work out the greatest manager in the game right now, ESPN FC opted to go back to the fundamentals. The key is in the job title: "managing" the resources available, and that was a fundamental factor as we looked at the past five years to determine this list.

These results, hopefully, are telling ...

1. Pep Guardiola

The real brilliance of Guardiola is that he didn't just change Barcelona. He changed football itself. You could sense something so different when his terrific team really began to find their stride, around September 2008. They blew so many opposition sides away, and thereby blew the game open.

His appointment marked one of those key junctures in football history, on exactly the same line as the rise of Johan Cruyff and Rinus Michels at Ajax in the late 1960s and Arrigo Sacchi's two European Cups with a magnificent AC Milan at the end of the 80s. Sacchi insisted as much himself. "Like my Milan," the Italian enthused at the very high point of Barcelona's spell of success between 2008 and 2012, "this team mark a 'before' and 'after' in world football."

It says even more than Sacchi that, from that point on, everyone had to adjust to Barca's approach. His possession-pressing game -- labelled "tiki-taka", a title Guardiola himself doesn't like -- rippled through the game more than anything since Sacchi's own abrasive approach. Either teams tried to replicate it or they had to adjust to it. It had an effect on everyone, but few could affect his Barca.

Unlike so many other innovators -- not least Sacchi himself -- Guardiola wasn't a manager who designed a tactic only to see someone else take it to new heights. He took it to its peaks, most notably the 2009 and 2011 Champions League final victories over Manchester United. Barca were as oppressively dominant in terms of silverware as they were on the pitch.

Since 2009, Pep Guardiola has won four league titles in two countries as well as two Champions Leagues and three domestic cups.

Yet, out of the nine major trophies he has won in five seasons, one question has persisted: how would he have done with a side that wasn't ready-made for success?

That is to almost miss the point. Guardiola hasn't just come into squads and facilitated victory. He's come in and taken teams to the most extreme levels possible, while displaying a defined influence. His one major career failure so far, in fact, was the consequence of those extremes. Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga ludicrously early last season, sapping the intensity and drive Guardiola so demands. It meant they were well off their best by the team Real Madrid levelled them 5-0 on aggregate in last season's Champions League semifinals.

That defeat illustrates how Guardiola is far from perfect. His purism often gets the better of him, as does his micromanagement. The true brilliance is that has brought him closer to perfection than anyone else.

2. Jose Mourinho

For all the controversy, all the theatrics and all the debate he creates, one thing about Jose Mourinho has always been clear: if he is in charge of a team, they will be genuinely challenging for trophies. It has been a constant of his career.

The Portuguese introduces a certain intensity, and that in turn ensures a baseline of ultra-competitiveness. Mourinho turns teams into proper contenders and, even after two years without a trophy right now, his Chelsea side are on the charge again. Like Guardiola, those who argue he has become little more than a chequebook manager almost miss the point. It is not that Mourinho needs money to win. It is that he has not yet had to drop down to the type of job at which money is an issue.

Since the supreme Champions League win with Porto in 2004, he has just kept going, through the 2010 treble with Internazionale to breaking Barcelona's dominance in Spain. Mourinho's high-end pragmatism makes him possibly the closest thing in the modern game to a guarantee since Sir Alex Ferguson. Those guarantees don't all involve controversy.

3. Diego Simeone

On the eve of the 2014 Champions League final, Atletico Madrid midfielder Tiago attempted to put Simeone's management into words. One stood out. "I think for us, for all the club," Tiago enthused, "he's like a god."

Simeone went extremely close to a modern football miracle, as Real Madrid equalised in the last minute of that final to go on and win 4-1 in extra time, but he still produced a feat of alchemy. The Argentine's Atletico side have defied the current economics of the sport, making a mockery of the resources available to Real and Barca with last season's title win. Simeone derives a remarkable devotion from his players, and that has produced astounding achievements. It has also produced teams who relentlessly reflect his tenacious personality. That is often said to be a hallmark of greats. Few display it better.

4. Jurgen Klopp

For all the great lines that Klopp has come out with, from those about liking "heavy metal" to how his side are "monsters of mentality," there's one that stands out. "The important thing is new ideas, not money," Klopp once said. "You always want to be the team that can beat the one with more money."

This is something that the German had made a habit of. He set the trend for the likes of Simeone and Brendan Rodgers in managing feats that were supposed to be way beyond their finances. Dortmund's successive titles between 2010 and 2012 were among the greatest achievements in the modern European game, as they levelled Bayern and so many other sides.

Mastermind or mad scientist? Jurgen Klopp seems to get the best out of his players when it really matters, but can go missing on games he should be winning.

But that is not all that sets Klopp apart. The common quality among such coaches is a leader's charisma, but Klopp has always offered something truly distinctive: a style of rampaging football somewhere between the purism of Guardiola and pragmatism of Mourinho. That has lately led his Dortmund to become stretched with so many injuries, but few should bet against Klopp again stretching expectations.

5. Louis van Gaal

It's remarkable to think that when it was first announced that Van Gaal would become Manchester United manager, there were considerable doubts over whether he was still at the forefront of the game. The 63-year-old then launched a moderate Dutch side to the World Cup semifinals, relaunched his legacy and reminded everyone he was still the coach who brought Ajax to the 1995 Champions League trophy and Bayern Munich to the 2010 final. Van Gaal remains one of the most astute tactical minds in the game, and a force of personality. He has pushed his way back to the top.

6. Manuel Pellegrini

Seemingly the calm at the eye of the storm, Manuel Pellegrini has been a steadying influence at Manchester City and a major reason they won last season's 2013-14 Premier League title.

The Chilean may have just won the first trophies of his career in Europe with the 2014 Premier League and League Cup, but they are far from his first feats. Pellegrini defied finance to produce brilliant football with Villarreal and then an asset-stripped Malaga, before then using cash superbly to produce some of the most sensational football ever seen in England at Manchester City. He may not seem to have the hard edge of other managers, but he still facilitates fantastic play.

7. Brendan Rodgers

A man at the forefront of a new breed of manager, defined by their positivity and technical excellence. These have also been the hallmarks of Rodgers' teams. They can rise to near unplayable levels through sheer technique. Consider, then, Rodgers' own rise. He got Swansea promoted and took them to a midtable finish their finances should have mitigated against before taking Liverpool to a title challenge that should have also been beyond them. The next step will be a challenge, but Rodgers has already risen to a few.

8. Antonio Conte

With three straight titles, Antonio Conte returned Juventus to Serie A glory, and that's almost all that needs to be said about him.

He's the coach who returned Juventus to glory by commonly reshaping their tactics and setting records along the way. His standout achievement was probably the 2011-12 unbeaten season, but there were so many it's hard to pick the best.

9. Rudi Garcia

The football dazzles, but the achievements should be considered in the same light. Garcia took Lille to a supreme Ligue 1 win that was almost France's equivalent of Borussia Dortmund, and already threatened to do the same with Roma. That side certainly look threatening in attack, as they have offered blistering football.

10. Roberto Martinez

It sums up much of the debate about the Spaniard that in the same week he sensationally won the 2013 FA Cup with Wigan Athletic, his club were finally relegated. However, that is the wrong way to look at it. It wasn't that Martinez sent Wigan down. It was that he had produced heroics to keep up for so long one of the least resourced clubs in the Premier League. Maximising resources led to Everton's best-ever points return in the Premier League, and indicates a bright future.

11. Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti has won European Cups with AC Milan (2003 and 2007) and Real Madrid (2014).

In 19 years of management, Ancelotti has won as many domestic titles as he has European titles. One of those stats is historic, the other is much more questionable. Overall, there is a clear contradiction to the Italian's career. He is better at navigating the nuances of fortune in knockout football rather than the deeper, more thorough nature of a league campaign. That means his career has peaks, but he himself has never quite been at the level of Guardiola or Mourinho.

12. Unai Emery

In winning the 2014 Europa League, Emery finally had the piece of silverware to prove his pedigree. The 42-year-old oversaw Valencia during one of the most difficult periods in the club's history, as they suffered from a raft of financial problems, but still competed against Spain's biggest sides with some technically excellent football. He is a manager to get excited about.

13. Joachim Low

As with Spain's Vicente del Bosque, Low illustrates one of the problems in judging coaches who are with teams so obviously better than the majority of their opposition: it's even more difficult to separate the squad's quality from managerial input. Low has made Germany so imposingly difficult to play against. In six years, there's barely been a slip or an error. Indeed, given that Spain were so clearly the best team in the world when defeating them in the 2010 World Cup semifinals, it could even be said that Low's only mistake in all that time was the Euro 2012 last-four defeat to Italy. 

MAGNIFICENT MANAGERS

- Delaney: Manager Power Rankings
- Rank 'em: Pick your order of managers
- FC TV's rankings reaction
- Delaney: Guardiola's greatest moments
- Okwonga: What makes a great manager?
- Smith: Manager familiarity is a problem

14. Marcelo Bielsa

One of the most influential coaches in the game, but it's not all theory with Bielsa, even if practice rarely makes perfect with him. The Argentine restored both Chile and Athletic Bilbao to prominence and showed that virtually any squad can play a vigorously attractive style. In guiding Marseille to the top of Ligue 1 this season, his legend has only grown.

15. Frank de Boer

Having starred for the club as a player, Frank de Boer has guided Ajax to four consecutive Dutch titles as manager.

The only surprise about De Boer's managerial career so far is that he hasn't yet followed so many of his former key players out of Ajax. It illustrates the promise of his management, however, that he still produces victories not just in the Eredivisie, but the Champions League too.

16. Vicente del Bosque

He was key to Spain becoming the first side to hold three major international trophies (2010 World Cup and European championships of 2008 and 2012), setting a certain tempo and regularly fine-tuning the team so they stayed at the top. He couldn't quite keep that up during the misery of the 2014 World Cup but there is an argument that the erosion of time made that inevitable. Del Bosque had been part of an achievement for the ages.

17. Cesare Prandelli

One of the keenest tactical minds in the game, he offered a keynote achievement in beating Germany with Italy to unexpectedly reach the final of Euro 2012. That tournament saw Prandelli repeatedly reshape his team, and it said much that it took a side as historically brilliant as Spain to stop their charge in the final..

18. Mauricio Pochettino

The Argentine hasn't yet lifted a trophy, but he has now lifted two separate teams -- Espanyol and Southampton -- to league positions and levels of football beyond their status. Having achieved with lower expectations, he must now guide Tottenham to the level they expect -- the Premier League top four -- based on the money that has been invested in the squad.

19. Arsene Wenger

After winning seven major trophies in his first nine years at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger has since collected just one.

In annually reaching the Champions League, the veteran continues to produce the minimum expected, which is something that so many others fail with and not to be scoffed at. The only issue is that he used to be about so much more. He used to strive to finish first. Arsenal now finish exactly where they are expected to. Financial gaps don't completely cover it. The great manager has entered an extended period of stagnation, but that has still meant standing strong.

20. Rafa Benitez

The Spaniard has almost been one of the greatest victims of Pep Guardiola's victories, given how the Catalan's tactical approach ensured Benitez became a little out of step with the game's most sophisticated football. That did not render him irrelevant, though; far from it. Few are better at setting up a solid team, as was emphasised by his 2012 Europa League win with Chelsea and the Italian Cup success last season at Napoli.

9 out of the 10 best selling sneakers from the month of September were created in Beaverton, Oregon at NikeHeadquarters. The other, was a low-top Converse All-Star.

According to sneaker analyst Matt Powell, the Air Jordan XIV 'Black Toe' was the best selling sneaker of the month, followed by the Nike Free 5.0, and the classic white on white Air Force 1 low. The quintessential 'dad shoe,' the Nike Air Monach IV, also ranked inside the top-5 which is absolutely stunning. 

Check out the full gallery of kicks from #10 down to #1 in the slides to find out if any of the kicks you picked up were one of the best sellers of September.

10.) Nike Roshe Run- Avg. Price: $73.05

9.) Jordan True Flight- Avg. Price: $136.29

8.) Nike Flex Run 2014- Avg. Price: $67.93

7.) Converse All Star Oxford- Avg Price: $43.18

6.) Air Jordan XIV 'Ferrari'- Avg. Price: $199.42

5.) Nike Air Max 2014- Avg. Price: $153.72

4.) Nike Air Monarch IV- Avg. Price: $50.98

3.) Nike Air Force 1 Low- Avg. Price: $88.75

2.) Nike Free 5.0+ 2014- Avg Price: $92.31

1.) Air Jordan XIV 'Black Toe'- Avg. Price: $163.01

KEISHA

It's a close race between Tinashe's "Aquarius" and Keyshia Cole's "Point of No Return."

Tinashe released her debut album, Aquarius, this past week, while Keyshia Cole, on the other hand, released her sixth studio album Point of No Returnon the same day. So who will outsell who? The newcomer or the veteran singer?

According to first week sales projections from Hits Daily Double, it's looking like (surprisingly enough?) Keyshia Cole is on track to outsell Tinashe. Point of No Return, released via Geffen, is expected to sell between 22,000-25,000 copies opening week. Aquarius will likely move just under that, with 17,000-20,000 copies projected. Neither will debut at the top of the Billboard 200 if these projections follow through, but they'll have a healthy position on the charts nonetheless.

Which album have you purchased, if any? Let us know what you think of either singer in the comments below, and stay tuned next week for the official first week sales.

T.I. has been through jail and back during his 18-year rap career. From Kanye beats to southern posse cuts, let's revisit some deep cuts from classic TIP for this week's #TBT.

T.I. is a legend at this point. For nearly 20 years he has been blessing the mic with verses of the hustle, the struggle, roads to success and pimpin'. He's a rapper, actor, convicted felon and one of the south's most heralded artists.

His road to success started with I'm Serious, his 2001 Arista Records album that featured production from The Neptunes, Lil Jon, Jazze Pha and a slew of lesser known dirty south producers. Since then he's released a total of nine albums, unwilling to let tiny obstacles like prison time effect his output. He is the true definition of a hustler.

Having collaborated with the likes of UGK, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West andPharrell, TIP has churned out quite the selection of hits over his career, but we're all suckers for the older ones, right? Today, we bump T.I.'s throw-back jams with a few deep cuts.

JUCY J

Juicy J is being sued for copyright infringement over his music video for "Bandz A Make Her Dance."

The higher up you get, the more lawsuits are filed against you, so it seems. At least, this rings true for celebrity status. Juicy J found a second spurt with solo fame ever since his "Bandz A Make Dance" single became a smash hit, but now he's being sued over the music video for the record, for copyright infringement. Apparently he doesn't own the rights to the music video.

As HipHopDX reports, a photographer by the name of Mahad Dar and Creative Dream Productions (CDP) have filed the latest suit against Juicy J and his label Columbia. They are the duo that shot the music video, and they allege it was later released without their permission.

The duo were called upon by Juicy J to film the visuals in August 2012, and so they went ahead and secured extras for the shoot, trailers for the artists featured, craft services etc. However, things didn't run smoothly. They claim that Lil Wayne was expected to show up at the shoot, but cancelled on them. The company assumed the entire shoot was cancelled, and informed the venue. However Weezy F still showed up an hour later (with the demand of a TV so he could watch the Olympics, which they provided). This forced them to find a new venue as well.

Dar, who was reportedly the main photographer for the video, says in the lawsuit that he was the sole owner of the footage, and he says that they never made a deal with Columbia Records for the video's release, but the video was released by them anyways.

Dar and CDP are asking the judge for an injunction against Juicy J from continuing to sell "Bandz A Make Her Dance," and they are asking to receive all profits from the song and the music video. 

If you need a refresher on the visuals, hit play below.

LUDA

Ludacris has finally announced an official release date for his long-anticipated album, "Ludaversal".

Ludacris hasn't released an album since 2010's Battle Of The Sexes, and for a while it seemed like his proposed follow up, Ludaversal was never going to see the light of day. While there have been plenty of false starts in rolling out (pun intended) the album, it appears that this time its for real, with Luda announcing a brand new release date via his "Tuesday" freestyle today.

"Finally, that Ludaversal is dropping March 31st" he raps, but only after he's announced yet another project to precede the record; "EP Comin' in December". 

Luda also confirmed the news on Twitter, but still has not provided a specific fate for the EP. Stay tuned for more news on that front, and listen to the rapper's "Tuesday" remix below.

OZIL

Over the course of Arsene Wenger's 18-year reign, Arsenal have become accustomed to World Cup winners.

In 1998, Patrick Vieira teed up Emmanuel Petit for the clinching goal in France's 3-0 final victory over Brazil, prompting the Daily Mirror to famously lead with "Arsenal win the World Cup" on their front page. Four years later, Wenger signed Gilberto Silva on the strength of his World Cup-winning displays for Brazil, while in 2010 Cesc Fabregas assisted Andres Iniesta's winning goal against the Netherlands.

This time around, three Arsenal players won the World Cup with Germany: Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil. For Germany's qualifiers against Poland and Ireland this week, however, none will start -- for three very different reasons.

For Mertesacker, the situation is simple. He announced his international retirement after Germany's World Cup triumph, an understandable decision considering he was dropped midway through the tournament, although he was a late substitute in the final.

"It felt like the right time to retire, so another generation could step up," the Arsenal vice-captain said recently. "I think it's better for me to retire now and refresh myself during these international breaks ... [the World Cup] went absolutely perfectly and with that title in my arms, it felt even better to retire.

None of Arsenal's trio of Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Ozil will find a spot in the German starting XI this week.

Even before his latest injury Mesut Ozil was not performing at his best.

Not a naturally athletic player, periods of rest are crucial for Mertesacker. At the start of this campaign, the centre-back looked exhausted -- away at Everton, for example, he could barely run in the final ten minutes.

Ozil, however, has been sidelined through injury, with initial reports suggesting he'll be unavailable for the rest of the year. It might sound stupid, considering Ozil won the World Cup (and the FA Cup), but from a personal perspective, Ozil might not remember 2014 particularly fondly.

While the German started his Arsenal career in excellent form, he suffered a dip in the second half of his debut Premier League campaign, something also experienced by David Silva, Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla -- similarly inventive, sparky playmakers -- following their move to English football from La Liga. When you're accustomed to a winter break, Premier League football can be extremely demanding.

Ozil's Christmas schedule wasn't particularly busy, however. He injured his shoulder on Boxing Day at West Ham, missed two matches at the turn of the year, then played 15 minutes as a substitute in the FA Cup third round against Tottenham. Essentially, he played one complete game when others played four.

Having recorded four goals and seven Premier League assists in the first half of last season, Ozil managed just one and two respectively in the second half, partly because of a thigh injury, then a more serious hamstring injury, and then because of poor form -- which may, of course, be related to the injuries.

Ozil performed well during Germany's World Cup victory, but he wasn't one of Joachim Low's outstanding players. Had Marco Reus not missed the tournament through injury, his place might have come under threat.

Ozil isn't a physical player -- his critics often highlight his tendency to be shoved off the ball -- but he depends heavily upon a burst of acceleration, particularly with his clever sprints towards the flanks. He's comparable to Sergio Aguero: devastating when at full fitness, but somewhat tentative when working towards that level.

At Real Madrid, Ozil rarely lasted 90 minutes. It became something of a running joke: in his first season, he started 30 league games and was withdrawn 22 times. In his second season, it was 30 starts and 21 withdrawals. In his third, 23 starts and 13 times he was removed. It wasn't because Ozil was underperforming -- Jose Mourinho considered him a vital part of the Real Madrid side -- but to ensure Ozil could continue playing at full capacity.

Ozil hasn't been afforded this luxury at Arsenal -- perhaps, in part, because Arsenal don't have matches sealed as early as Mourinho's Real. Whereas Ozil completed 34 percent of Liga and Champions League matches at Real, at Arsenal it's been 65 percent. When considering the extra physicality of the Premier League, it's a big difference.

Some have suggested Ozil's injury is a blessing in disguise, but considering Arsenal's other injury worries, that's hard to justify. Arsenal will hope, however, that a rest will allow Ozil to return fresher, and closer to his best.

Therefore, the sole Arsenal player representing Germany this week is Lukas Podolski -- and he probably won't even start. Indeed, it's slightly surprising that Podolski hasn't yet retired from international football -- he, like Mertesacker, has effectively been replaced by younger, better footballers who will lead the country for the next decade.

Podolski played little football at the World Cup -- eight minutes against ten-man Portugal, and the first half of a 1-0 victory over the United States. He didn't play in the knockout stage and is presumably still involved because he's both highly experienced and a popular dressing room character -- the Pepe Reina role. Amazingly, Podolski has twice as many caps as the second-most experienced player in the current German squad, Thomas Muller. Equally amazingly, Podolski is still only 29.

The forward finds himself in a strange situation, considering he's far from a first-choice at club level, making just one start so far this season in the Capital One Cup defeat to Southampton. He appeared ready to leave Arsenal this summer, and there's increasingly a feeling that Podolski might leave next summer -- perhaps to Italy, where the gentler pace suits older players, or perhaps another return to Cologne, his boyhood club.

Podolski will be desperate to play for Germany this weekend, however -- as the game is away in Poland. Podolski was born in Gliwice, in the south of the country, while his dad played football in Poland professionally and his mum represented the country internationally at handball. Many of Podolski's family still live in Poland.

Podolski has faced Poland three times before, including at Euro 2008, where he scored two goals for Germany in a 2-0 win, inevitably refusing to celebrate the goals, and giving an emotional post-match interview to Polish television.

Realistically, Podolski's international career doesn't have much longer to run. He hasn't scored in a competitive game for Germany since Euro 2012, and it's difficult to justify selecting Podolski rather than exciting youngster Karim Bellarabi, for example.

Clearly, Podolski didn't consider a World Cup triumph at the Maracana a fitting finale to his international career, but a goal in Poland would surely be the perfect farewell.