No comment. I have no idea how it'll go.

John

Even the site of Phil 'Dream-wrecker" Neville couldn't stop us last night. Hurrah!

Just a couple of small complaints:

(1) Why is everyone getting on Owen's back about not scoring? He passed the ball like I've never seen him do and his movement was really impressive. Clearly his confidence is low and when he's one-on-one with the keeper he is apprehensive about shooting. But his weighted pass to Rooney for England's third was sublime. Leave him alone!

(2) Has it escaped everybody's notice that we can not defend set pieces? I appreciate that at an average height of 6'2" the Croats are tall but leaving people un-marked and failing to clear the ball are simple tasks that do not require tall players. Unless we smarten up on this front we won't be getting much further.

Still, great exciting game with plenty of opportunities and we did look good at times. Without wishing to sound like I'm on the Rooney band-wagon, I do have to confess that there are few players I have ever seen who can perfom like he can. He can hit the target from almost anywhere amd he uses both feet and his head to score goals. He tackles back and passes with an assurance well beyond the average, international, midfield play-maker. Let's just hope the hype doesn't become too grand, eh?

Can't wait 'til Thursday. Come on England!

All I can say to that is: what complete bollocks. Sure, Rooney has some talent but he's not even close to The Master...

John

John,

Agree with you on this one completely. Sven made the comment that he could not recall a young player making the same sort of impact on a major tournament since Pele in '58.

It was only the 'quality' red top news papers that then took it upon themselves to state he was being labelled as "Pele II". He has a long, long, long way to go before he can be regarded in the same league as players like Platini, Eusabio, Maradonna, Cruyff or indeed Edson Arantes do Nascimento.

That said, he is easily the best player within the tournament thus far, and by some margin.

I noticed you missed the legendary Gianfranco Zola off your list of all time greats, not only a great footballer but a true gent.

Rooney, to be fair to the lad I had always believed he was over rated (more cards than goals for Everton)but from last nights performance if he can keep these performances up on the big stage he could well become an all time great.

Did we say Owen, Shearer & Lineker would be the next Pele, certainly Lineker was in my opinion an all time great

The sign of a great player is that they have the ability to drag an average team through competitions to greatness Maradonna, World cup against England & Germany, dare I say it Beckham, maybe not over a whole tournament but certainly in games like the Greece game where he dragged a very poor England team to the Cup Finals of the world cup.

Rooney maybe worth £50,000,000 but I would say a sensible price would be £25,000,000.

The only worry I have is that he could end up like Francis Jeffers, destroyed by the hype of the media.

Ps, Willow thats 2-2 with Henry's two goals last night!

The most obvious example of a Rooney gone wrong would be Gazza.

When Rooney gets back to the UK great care will need to be taken to shield him, lets hope he hasn't got a mate called Acko 5 bellys and doesn't release a version of 'Ferry across the Mersey' with some Scouse folk group.

Seriously, Gazza had the potential for greatness, the problem was that very few managers could or took the time to curtail his off field activities.

I think a lot was learnt from the Gazza experience and Moyes does appear to have protected Rooney so far, I doubt that he would get such attention at Chelsea, all they want is success at any cost.

It would really be a pity if this ended up Rooney's best championship when this should be his first steps to greatness.

So if Everton do sell it should be to the Reds down the M62, best chance of club and country success. Maybe a swap for Mr Forlan!!

Julian you are aving a Giraffe.

I can understand that people veiw Chelsea as a success at any cost club, but they are building a team of world superstars. Lampard, Duff, Robben, Parker, Cole, Terry, Ferreria, Cech, are all young quality players with the abliltiy to be world class and Rooney falls into that brackett. Players such as Makelele & Crespo are there for the short term and will be able to pass on the skills to people like Rooney and Parker. In the same way the Maradonna passed his skills onto Zola. If he were to move to Chelsea it would be for development and the ability to win things.

As Robben said he moved to Chelsea over ManU because Chelsea are the kings of the future and ManU are the kings of the past.

..to add my tuppence .. I cannot see past Pavel Nedved as the player of the tournament so far!!

Man U, Arsenal are both long term success stories, consistency and development have got them where they are.

Chelsea (or more so Abramovich) are in it for the short term,what happens when he sells up and moves his money in America.

This appears to be the only trouble with a new investor like Abramovish, you can never be certain of there intentions, but it is safe to say we are very very securer for the next couple of years.


Jason

Hi all

Just want to wish England good luck for tonight against Portugal and hope they manage to hold their nerves long enough to win

Loud & Proud

John

...all's quiet on the England front ;-)

...other than to paraphrase the Three Lions...

"They're coming home,
They're coming home...
England's coming home...

They failed again,
They failed again...
England failed again"

...etc.

Of course, I wouldn't dream of posting that in my role as impartial observer and erstwhile pundit. Allegedly. But I'll be glad to hear the end of Moyles' continual buffoonish banter in the mornings*.

John

* Mrs John being, of course, a listener to the delightful Radio Number One. Despite Mr John's protestations...

Hi All

My final word on this one is we were robbed by the swiss banker but yes we do seem to have a problem with getting any where near the final we will just have to invent a game that we can actually win


Loud & Proud

John

The better team won on the night but the actual result was massively unfair.

We've outplayed a lot of teams and still lost, it's who puts the ball in the back of the net more often that really counts and that's what we did in 90 minutes. I still can't believe that the ref stands by his decision! Unreal.

Any-hoo, for those who may claim Anglo-whinging I do conceed that something similar happend in Euro '96 when Germany scored a legitimate golden goal that was disallowed for a fictional "off-side". (Only difference is that in '96 it didn't affect the overall outcome of the match!).

Still, my prediction for Milan Baros seems to be going well as does the Czech Republic. Wish I'd placed a bet now. (Just don't mention the other predictions which seem to have gone wildly amiss!).

My last thoughts on the matter of England's premature exit from Euro 2004; as Shakespeare once wrote;

"'Tis better to have loved and lost,
than to never have loved at all".

...something Scotland can't relate to since France '98. ;o)

Sorry to be boring, but to link back to the original post - what did everyone do to balance resource/demand during the matches, how did it work out, what would you do differently next time, how did it go down with the staff....

Z