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It was late July and the atmosphere inside the Newcastle dressing-room was funereal after their .

Shell-shocked players stared at their boots, their thoughts hidden and unspoken but nearly all the same - how had that happened and what can we do about it?

Fast forward to Sunday evening and Newcastle midfielder Kevin Nolan was named the .

As the 27-year-old reflected on the first major award to come his way since he scooped an Academy Scholar of the Year gong a decade ago, his thoughts drifted back to that balmy if disastrous afternoon at Brisbane Road.

"That result played a big part in our season," said Nolan. "We were hurting and a lot of stuff rose to the surface. After that you were either in or you were not."

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I am sitting in the passenger seat of a left-hand drive Audi on a sunny if blustery Friday lunchtime in late February.

It is parked in the potholed car park of Brentford's training ground in west London. Off in the distance I can see trainees chasing after footballs that seem to be dancing across the lush turf of their own volition. Inside the vehicle, the 19-year-old Pole sat next to me is demonstrating the extraordinary power of his stereo.

Wojciech Szczesny is tall, self-confident, outspoken and engaging. It is also possible he is the long-term solution to what is widely perceived to be Arsenal's goalkeeping problem.

At present, Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski are taking turns between the sticks for the Gunners, but neither man has looked assured. , for example, was at fault for both goals as Arsenal were beaten 2-1 by Porto in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie. Almunia will get the chance to keep the Portuguese side at bay on Wednesday as Arsenal target a place in the quarter-finals.

So where does Szczesny fit in? Well, he is currently until the end of the season after joining the Gunners as a 16-year-old in 2006. The former Legia Warsaw player has been earning rave reviews for his performances in League One and is showing the kind of promise that convinced Arsene Wenger to bring him to England.

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At Loftus Road

Question - what do Dunga, Carlo Ancelotti, Roy Hodgson, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Brian Kidd and Mick McCarthy all have in common?

Answer - they all spent Wednesday afternoon surrounded by incredibly excitable South Korea supporters with a tendency to scream at the merest hint of an opening for their team.

The event was a pre-World Cup friendly between the Taeguk Warriors and Ivory Coast at located, appropriately enough, on South Africa Road in west London.

The logic behind the match, which kicked off at 1430 GMT for the convenience of Korean television, was that it gave both teams the opportunity to size up the sort of opponent they are likely to face this summer.

Ivory Coast have been , while South Korea .

The theme was repeated across Europe on Wednesday, with a whole series of games between teams looking to familiarise themselves with playing styles they will encounter in South Africa.

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At St Mary's Stadium, Southampton

Until the sun descended and the temperature sharply dropped, there was the unmistakable feel of spring in the air at Southampton on Tuesday.

It was a sure sign that after a long and biting winter, the most engaging and competitive League One season in many years is moving into the home straight.

Saints were superb as - strong in defence, tigerish in midfield and clinical in attack. I have rarely, if ever, seen a performance of such quality from a third-tier team.

There was a mood of optimism about the place as the boisterous home support celebrated a win that was in the bag by the half-hour mark, leaving them an hour to sing about their forthcoming trip to Wembley for the JP Trophy final.

The question now is whether Southampton, , can pull off something truly sensational and snatch a play-off spot.

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