CARLO Ancelotti woke up in west London yesterday morning and peered under his bed for the black cat he’d trodden on.

HE didn’t notice himself breaking into a fast, ungainly walk towards Daniel Goulding. Along the sideline with the Hogan Stand suppressing, suffocating. Simple message. Kick it dead and this will be all over. He thought the message was simple. No ambivalence. Kick the ball dead.

IT has to be rare for a team of such depth and experience to produce such error-ridden fare for so long and remaining standing in the Championship.

THE Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2012 draw may not have a Hollywood hue to it, nor is it box office, but it has the most important element of all about it.

LIKE him or scoff at his, shall we say idiosyncrasies (Caribbean cocktail of hair colours, for starters), no-one can ever describe David James as your typical Premier League half-wit.

PAUL MERSON is a chirpy type but when he shook and bowed his head in the Sky Sports studio on Saturday, you sensed a Eureka moment in the air.

IT’S been a spectacular week on the field for Wayne Rooney, inset, and Man Utd, but perhaps the most important development was not Rooney’s devastating breakaway goal at the Emirates yesterday, but rather his pledge to remain a Red for the remainder of his career.

ONLY by close of business this evening will we get a clearer picture of Robbie Keane’s future, but the rampant weekend speculation surrounding his future at Tottenham does not augur well.

WHEN the paymasters of the Premier League promised us twists and turns aplenty going into the New Year, I’m not sure they had John Terry’s (further) descent into the moral undergrowth in the script.

WHEN the microphones are off and the cameras have stopped rolling, Kerry will reflect on this decade of five All-Ireland titles and eight finals and possibly conclude that yesterday was the sweetest of all.