I'm not saying THEY don't have good players, it just seems that this is the 3rd or 4th time he's made some remark that suggests we are not big enough for Lucas Neill. I've gone from rooting for Australia to do well, to hoping he gets torn to shreds in the tourney...maybe then he'll have to walk back with his tail between his legs to play in Europe for the 6th best club in England. Poor boy.

Lucas on playing central defence for Australia in the LET today...

"I'm surrounded by fantastic players - no disrespect to Blackburn - so I've got five or six options every time I play the ball.

What the flerk, does that mean? Why was it even necessary to make that little aside in that comment? Did that help his explanation along?

I may be overreacting but it just seems like everytime he opens his mouth these days, something negative about Blackburn comes out. I think he's a useful player, but growing a little tired of him. Seems the guy bought from Millwall, gave a chance to, and made a better player, is suddenly too big for lil' ole Blackburn. Don't see how he's staying. Unless of course he breaks his leg in the WC and then wants to use his Blackburn contract to "fall back on."

I think you're being overly harsh there on Arsenal's tactics. If that is true then I have to say Barcelona's lack of a a cutting edge up until the 75th minute was quite shocking, while their inability to handle the Arsenal attacks also quite poor.

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Well, it's pretty hard to look good when there are 21 men in one half the field. Arsenal's only attacks were Henry running at defenders by himself, granted, they didn't deal all that well, but he's Thierry Henry.

Incidentally, aren't you an admitted Barcelona hater, Eddie? I thought I read that in one of your posts. I mean

That is fine, but would they really have done that in the Champions League final?

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I think they would have. Like I said, I don't think they would have poured forward recklessly with a 1-0 lead, but they certainly would have got the ball down and passed it around. That's just THEIR game. Arsenal were just trying to spring Henry for a counter-second goal.

apart from the free kick that Arsenal scored from I doubt you can show me any decision that went there way. I could name countless bookings that should have been for Barcelona players which could well have changed the way in which they were able to defend.

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1) Play the advantage...1-0 Barca....If Arsenal have to attack, it only gets worse...

2) Eboue's tackle from behind in the second half on the edge of the box against (??? can't remeber) and should have been sent off, as he was already booked.

Think those 2 would have changed the game...

71% to Barcelona actually and as for not trying to win the game they played a very good game for being down to 10 men for such a long period of time and actually had better chances to score than Barcelona did up until the 75th minute. I'm not an Arsenal fan, never have been, so it isn't as if you are discussing this with horribly biased people. Would Barcelona have also gone more defensive had they been down to 10 men? Yes, of course, no team goes down to 10 men and continues to play in exactly the same style, that is called stupidity. The calls didn't go both ways, apart from the free kick that Arsenal scored from I doubt you can show me any decision that went there way. I could name countless bookings that should have been for Barcelona players which could well have changed the way in which they were able to defend.

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Eddie,

We'll agree to disagree, but I'll just say this. Your analysis of Barca is wrong. There were at least two occasions this season in La Liga (I forget the opponents), when Barca went down to ten men and continued to attack. I work with a Barca fan who has seen nearly every game this season, and, as he sits next to me at this very moment is scoffing at the notion that they would have retreated into a defensive shell like Arsenal did. They go 3 at the back drop Edmilson/Motta/Iniesta or Xavi a little deeper and continue to play their game. They play with the philosophy that having the ball is the best defense. I'm not necessarily saying they would have poured forward in wave after attacking wave, but you would never seem them camping 9 men behind the ball for the 75 minutes. I challenge you to ask any informed Barca fan, and I guarantee you they will tell you the same, this team does not know how to play any other way. You can call it stupidity if you wish, but it's just a fact.

At any rate, I respect your opinion...cheers.

Show me a good loser in football. The officials didn't do a good job and it is difficult to take a defeat when you feel as if things might have been different had there been some different decisions made.

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Yeah, you're absolutely right, he blew the call on the Lehmann red card (should have been a goal on advantage) and his phantom foul for Arsenal's goal were brutal. As I said before, the calls went both ways, had "different decisions" been made it might have been 3-0 Barcelona.

From my eye, the best team won. If Arsenal feel they were they best team, they should have TRIED to win the game, instead of waiting for a set piece and trying to defend for 75 minutes. (the possesion was over 78% to Barcelona). Does anyone on here really think Barcelona would have done that? Hell no, they know one way to play, and that's attack. How anyone can say that Arsenal were the better term or deserved to win that game on merit is beyond comprehension. Complaining about referee's when the balance of decisions was not tipped in either side's favor, is just WEAK. I expect more of Henry, I understand his disappointment, but I hope he just stops whining.

Hmmm, would rather have seen him leave, with Arsenal possibly losing him, Pires and Bergkamp, they would have been hard pressed to finish in the top 4. Might have increased our chances for a CL spot.

As for the "class act" stuff, I generally agree, but apparently he's been in close contact with Arsene Wenger and has been stricken by the same sore loser disease this past week. You lost in a fair game of football, where calls went both ways. Let it go.

If Arsenal had managed to hang on for a 1-0 win, then Barca would have been cheated, but I doubt that we would have the hysterical over-reaction on here. As I said, whenever English teams lose it's never because they deserve to - we, as a nation, are incredibly sore losers!

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Amen to that...

As a post-script...

I was watching the game with a couple Barca supporters and one of them has heard various rumors circulating in Barcelona that Rijkaard may actually step down and take a break from management for a year or so.

I thought it very outlandish at first, but when you think about how abrubtly he left the Dutch national team after losing in the semi's of Euro 2000, it may not be. He was only there for that one tournament.

They both said they would be surprised but added that Rijkaard is, well, Dutch....

Interesting.

LA Rover;

USA, Australia, New Zealand, Georgia, England, Australia, Turkey, Wales, Norway, Finland, Wales.

Who would want to cheer a team on filled with that many foreigners? Think about who supports the teams and where the team is from, not who plays for them.

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Yes, but I never said I would rather blindly root for the "home grown" team, now did I?

Personally, I don't care if Arsenal have 11 players from Thailand in their squad. I just can't get my head around nationalism for the sake of nationalism, when such a thin tie to to your country of origin exists. The World Cup is next month.

Like the whole non-sense about Arsenal being the first British team to win at the Bernebeau, when they had not a single British player in their lineup. Who bloody cares? That accomplishment has NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING BRITISH, and everything to do with the players and manger who did it. They just happened to be assembled and work in London.

When I'm a neutral, I applaud attractive attacking football, and the best team won. Barcelona were the best team in Europe this season from day one and they got their just reward.

I don't begrudge anyone who roots for Arsenal based on your criteria, it's just not for me. If Blackburn aren't involved, I'm happy to enjoy the game as is.

I'd rather support a home grown team any day against foreign opposition.

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Yes, all those "home grown" Englishmen in the Arsenal team should be proud of the way they played against those foreigners....Er?

However, I will certainly sympathize with your Tommy "Onion Bag" Smith. Clueless, useless.

Well done...thought we lost a grip of the game when chelsea went with 5 in midfield...but Zura was the best player on the pitch tonight. Reid did really well too before his injury. That's the first time I've seen him look comfortable playing in defence, which says a lot about how his game has matured.

Did you see the way Hughes and the staff celebrated, they know what a job they've done turning this club around.

I heard that Fabregas was taken off with an injury in the 15th minute? Anyone know if it was serious? Or was Wenger being cautious with CL looming mid-week? With the games they've got coming it could be a big blow for them if it's anything longer than a week.

BTW...is anybody else becoming increasingly worried about the trip to Pompey with the form they have hit at the moment? I am......nevermind....focus on Monday, first.....focus....focus....focus.

i'd like to think milan and/or barca will stand between them, the european cup and us having literally zero chance of chamions league qualification due to there only being three spots. hopefully theyll face one of those teams and they should run them ragged over two legs.

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Unfortunately, the semi-final has already been drawn...if Arsenal go through they will play the Inter-Villareal winner, which is definitely the weaker half of the draw, with Barca & Milan in the other half.

4th is looking increasingly out of reach, L'Arse are on fire!

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Yes, but remember after they thumped Boro 7-0 they promptly went out and lost to Everton and 3 of 4 overall. If we hold serve on Monday, their schedule gets a bit tougher. United away, City away and Spurs at home in their next 4 games.

Keep the faith.

Results have really fallen our way today...we MUST take advantage on monday if we are to have any hope of 4th.

C'mon!!!!!!

I find myself getting really stressed thinking about 4th place from week-to-week, then I get a grip and realize that I'm just happy that we're having this discussion with 7 games to go in the season. Who would have thought? Like I've said before, I would be disappointed if we didn't get 4th, but it's only because we're so close, with everything to play for. I'd like to join the fray who are saying any European competition would be great, but I'm a greedy @#/?. I want to see Rovers playing in the San Siro next season.

Another scenario then -

Middlesbrough win the UEFA Cup and lose in the cup final. Surely then 7th place would get a UEFA place?

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Aaaahhh....very interesting point...but didn't UEFA do away with defending champs getting automatic qualification? Isn't that why Liverpool were in the situation they were in last year? Surely the rule for Champs League applies to all UEFA competitions?

Can anyone confirm?

Nowhere in any match reports or in Mark Hughes' comments does it say anything about the injury, so I think we dodged a bullet there.

3 more points in the bank. With Wigan losing to West Ham we can kick them out of the Europe equation by beating them next week.

hope the result isn't clouded by losing Bellamy for any length of time....did anyone see it? did it look bad or was it a niggle and maybe Hughes was being cautious? can only hope now...

Crap, Bellamy is injured.

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dear god...tell me it's not serious or we're done...

Put it another way, as a neutral looking at Rovers' fixture list, you'd say 69 is doable and the other three must know that.

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Being realistic, I don't think we can get 69 points....just to get 65 means we can't drop points in more than 2 or 3 matches. To get 69 points would probably mean beating both Liverpool AND Chelsea at home (not impossible, but not realistic either), because I just have a feeling we will slip up somewhere in our away fixtures. Remember, we've won 4 away games all year (lost our last 5).

Oh well...let's just make sure we get all 3 at Sunderland and keep the dream alive.

I disagree. There are four very good squads all in good form in a race over eight games (ten in Bolton's case). One or two will drop away but would three or four?

4th place needs 69 points this season, maybe even more.

However, 65 points should assure 6th at worst and no way would 7th get more than 65.

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69 is a lot of points for 4th, for the simple reason that all the other teams have to play one another.

Spurs still have to play Bolton and Arsenal which means someone is going to drop points in those games. Bolton obviously have the inside track because of their games in hand, but they still have to play Spurs, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man U. If they take 6 points from those fixtures I think they would be happy...which also means they've dropped 6 points.

It's Arsenal's spot to lose. Their toughest tests come away at Old Trafford and a derby match with Spurs. Maybe away to Pompey this weekend could be a bit of a banana skin with the way Pompey has played the last two weeks. A draw would be great.

At any rate, I still think we'll go close if we get 65.

I was talking to my Barca supporting mate at work, who has taken a passing interest in our Champions League chase, and I basically outlined it to him like this: Factoring in other teams predicted results (always a sketchy proposition) I think 65 points would get us 4th. Going into last weeks game with Boro that meant we needed to take 20 of 27 remaining points. Now it's 17 of 24...get 3 points Saturday and it becomes 14 of 21. Then suddenly it seems really attainable.

That means we can lose 2 games, or lose 1 and draw 2. It sounds daunting, but if we can just put some away form together I don't think it's impossible (oh to have those WBA and Everton games back). If we beat either Liverpool or Chelsea and not slip up against the bottom teams, I think we can do it.

At any rate, just the fact that we're in a position to be disappointed by NOT qualifying for the Champions League is a great thing and credit to MH and the squad.