Florist Cinema Pond Goal

Yes. And by yes I actually mean no.

Problem with 4th choice central midfielders is that they have to be happy to be just that, a 4th choice midfielder. Zenden knows he is a 'fill in' player and will play it better than most other alternatives.

Anyone else concerned about an injury to Alonso? Zenden although a talented player hasn't much experience as a defensive midfielder. Would feel way more comfortable if Didi were still at the club.

Surely with Fabregas v Alonso, although both Spanish and great passers of the ball, it is like comparing Didi and Gerrard - one plays withdrawn and one advanced.

Don't believe it myself but... http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,27-2292866,00.html The club [spurs] are believed to be ready to increase their bid for Stewart Downing after losing out on Damien Duff. Middlesbrough turned down two previous offers for Downing, who is also wanted by Liverpool if they can sell Harry Kewell. But Kewell?s £70,000-a-week wages are proving problematic. ?Duff was a good opportunity,? Jol said. ?It wasn?t a fortune, we tried our luck but he for reasons had a preference for another club. Sometimes you have to wait until August 30 for players but Duff was one of the best and we don?t want players who are seventh on the list.?

Anyone else feel as if they're playing Championship Manager? Great commentary!

Internet rumours turn out to be true shocker!

Ashton, Davies and Crouch had all had shown potential in Premiership games before their big money moves unlike Bent or Lennon.

I can report Salif is currently sitting in his mansion stroking his beard not actually believing his luck.

To be fair Carrick's using of the ball would have benefitted England's play but not at the expense of Hargreaves. A central midfield 3 of Hargreaves, Carrick and either Lampard with Gerrard on the right or Gerrard with Lennon on the right would have been interesting. Gerrard and Lampard together in central midfield whether as a 2 or a 3 (Wales, N Ireland) has not worked for the last 3 years and yet we still persevered with it. The sad thing is that will probably be my lasting memory of this World Cup.

http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/....html?gusrc=rss System in place means England must shine without Lamps England's goals so far: Midfield 3, Strikers 1, Own Goals 1. An unusual way to progress in a World Cup, and one that may have to continue if England are going to ask Wayne Rooney to play on his own up front, yet given that Joe Cole and Steven Gerrard have scored two of the best goals of the tournament there is no reason for despondency yet. Not with Ecuador awaiting this afternoon. Yes, Sven-Goran Eriksson's striker-light squad selection is likely to cost England at some stage, unless Rooney reproduces his one-man-team act sometime soon. And no, some of England's defending at set pieces and crosses against Sweden would not even have impressed today's opponents, let alone anyone with serious designs on the World Cup. But the bottom line is that England topped their group to get to play Ecuador in the second round, with Portugal or Holland to follow, and anyone in the world would happily settle for that. Clearly, if Ecuador in Stuttgart turns out to be a calamity on the scale of West Germany in Leon in 1970 or Brazil in Shizuoka four years ago, this bullishness will look silly. I am prepared to take a risk on that, however. It will not look as silly as seriously suggesting that England were one of the leading World Cup contenders two months ago, then getting frightened over a couple of inept performances and an injury to a striker who was struggling to make a contribution to the cause in any case. England are flying a paper-and-string boxplane in this World Cup, and might ultimately be no match for stealth bombers like Argentina and Brazil, but better teams than Ecuador have already gone home. Ivory Coast and the Czechs Republic to name a couple. England can consider themselves tremendously fortunate to be facing a team ranked thirty-ninth in the world this afternoon, one place above Norway, and though their group performances have been patchy the confidence a win brings will allow them to approach their quarter-final next weekend with real enthusiasm. It will be just like Japan four years ago, in other words, only this time England cannot meet Brazil in the quarter-final. England are capable of beating Portugal or Holland, and after that anything is possible. This is not sticking my neck out or being wildly optimistic, this is simply being consistent. England have been presented with a viable route to the last four, one they would have grabbed with both hands had it been offered two months ago. If they hold their nerve and stay in the tournament they should find their form arrives somewhere along the way. That is not only the classic German recipe for World Cup success, it is also how Liverpool won the European Cup last year. I heard someone remark the other day that he had the same funny feeling about England in this competition that he had about Liverpool in that one and, while I would not go as far as to suggest England's name is written in the stars, I do think luck might be on Eriksson's side after all. Mainly, I must confess, because Gerrard is common to both campaigns. He was Liverpool's main man in Europe and even when Rooney rediscovers his fitness and form he will find Gerrard has subtly slipped into that role for England. He was on the field for only 20 minutes against Sweden, yet he cleared off the line at one end and scored what should have been the winner at the other. No wonder Rooney was chucking the toys out of the pram on the bench. Somehow I don't think Gerrard is destined to have a quiet, unfulfilled World Cup. His best is yet to come - maybe today, maybe next week, maybe next month. And what we have seen already has been pretty good. All Eriksson has to do is believe the evidence of his own eyes and stop pretending he and Frank Lampard can play in the same midfield. They can, but not very well. The midfield against Sweden was a million times better, with Owen Hargreaves staying back and playing short balls to allow Lampard more freedom to play his normal game. Hargreaves can perform exactly the same service for Gerrard and should have been given the chance today in the same 4-4-2 formation. Lampard has not been playing so badly that he deserves to be dropped, not when David Beckham is staying in the team through status alone, but England's midfield is key in this World Cup and the Chelsea player will get chances from the bench, just as Gerrard did on Tuesday. I know elsewhere on these pages Claudio Ranieri is agreeing with Eriksson that Gerrard and Lampard should both play, with a holding player behind them and just Rooney in front, but I think England found their best shape on Tuesday. You don't see the best of Rooney if you play him on his own up front, he doesn't like to play with his back to the goal, and he doesn't look fit enough yet to take on such a responsibility anyway. The 4-1-4-1 formation Eriksson is proposing is similar to the one Bolton use, but Michael Carrick is no Ivan Campo and Rooney is certainly not Kevin Davies. The best way to nullify Rooney is to stick him further up the pitch than anyone else with his back to goal, and one can only hope that Eriksson's latest formation resembles Chelsea's 4-3-3, with Gerrard and Cole pushed up beside Rooney, more than 4-5-1, 4-1-4-1 or anything else with a one at the sharp end. As England are effectively down to to two strikers they might as well play both. With Peter Crouch in the team Rooney gets to play his natural game and Eriksson his preferred 4-4-2. Hargreaves is a better tackler than Carrick, that's why he played against Sweden. Switching him to right back is a cop out. It's only a month since Eriksson thought Jamie Carragher was a midfielder, now he no longer even rates him as a defender. Eriksson should be man enough to stick with what he tried the other night. The short game suits England better. With Gerrard, Lampard and Beckham in the same midfield there is not enough movement and too many players who want to make a goal with a single pass.

Agree with that - he's had a problem with long range efforts especially with England.