Thought the Italians looked quite classy and very dangerous when they went forward. As good a team as I've seen yet (but I missed the Argie game). Ghana were OK but their attacks seemed to break down at crucial times in silly ways. They were also by far the dirtiest team yet. Good job the ref from the England game wasnt in charge of their game tonight. They'd have been down to 8 or 9 men.

The only bright thing I can say from that is that there's now a decent chance we get to play Ecuador in the 2nd round.

Ecuador apparantly only qualify for the World Cup because they win every home game in their group as they play many many moons above sea level. However the only competitive game they won away from home since the last world cup was against Bolivia who are even higher above sea level than they are. Their recent friendly results are defeats to Holland, Japan, Macedonia (!) and Uganda (!!) with a draw against Columbia and a win over Honduras (yipee). Poland on the other hand chased England home in the qualifyers and made us sweat a bit. They scored 10 more goals than England in our group and won every other game apart from the two against the Three Lions. They played Ecuador in a friendly on neutral ground at the back end of last year, won 3-0, yet are 11/10 to win this game. As it's the first day of the World cup and it's an otherwise dull game I'm sticking my neck out and sticking £30 on the Poles. (I've also backed 0-0 just incase Ecuador pack defence!) Poland will stroll it - wont they ????

Won't be Djibril Cisse as he's just been very unlucky and seems to have broken his leg in a friendly. Luca Toni scored 31 goals in Serie A this year which is the first time thats happened since the 50's. However I think Spain have a very easy group and could rattle in a few goals. A lot of people are tipping Villa to be their main man but in qualifying it was Fernando Torres. He's tipped to move this summer from Athletico Madrid (I think) and I find that players in that situation tend to thrive. Although he's struggled in the friendlies, I've backed him to come good at 33/1. Best Odds for Top Goalscorer

Prem league final tonight although I do feel the competition has lost the gloss it had in the early weeks. Problem tonight is that the hype surrounding Taylor V Barney has been done twice before (even though there was only pride at stake). Also, having Scholton and Lloyd as the other two players lacks the hpye of say Mardle or Manley. To increase interest I've had a bet on the highest checkout in the Taylor V Lloyd game being under 145 at Evs.

That's this years car insurance paid.

Henrys interview was very bitter. However I dont think the ref favoured Barca, he was just plain bad. For all the mistakes against Arsenal, he also disallowed a Barca goal, give Arsenal the freekick they scored from for a dive, failed to book Ebouie a second time and booked their full back for nowt. Very very poor. We'll have to get used to it for the UEFA next year. With regard to the sending off, it did run the game. Also, the foul didn't prevent a clear scoring chance as the ball rolled to a guy who knocked it into an open goal.

Bit of info on the New Zealand game here.

Give or take a few mill, if we add Grabbi's wages onto his transfer fee, probably about 3 years ago.

Any chance of turning into a poll like the Hughes thread using the same choices. Yes - He was my first choice Yes Undecided No Angry I wanted Grooby

I had a bit of a rant at him after the Brum game but to be fair he also looks knackered. Also teams may be finding him out more by analysing his game, picking up his runs into the box etc... It's like when strikers (kevin phillips and Marcus Stewart sprint got mind) get second season-itis in the Prem. I large bid £5mill upwards would be tempting but anything less would be silly. However I don't know what joey_big_nose has been taking if he thinkgs MGP tackles better than Reid.

Misplaced frustration due to the circumstaqnces of the game, returining to the first team and getting injured. He didnt throw it down with veno, just tossed it away. Edit - just read blueboys slightly incamparable comparisons. )

Having watched the game in the pub all I can say was MGP was for the god knows how many games in a row awful. Peter did more in 10 mins than Morten did in the first half. Hughes has a tough decision to make in the summer as to whether he overpeformed earlier or is underperforming now. I felt sorry for Reid as he carried the midfield all on his own.

It would have to be Newcastle that come out of the pack wouldnt it. On current form I thought we had no worries as no-one was playing consistently well enough to catch us. However they have shot up that quickly I hadnt noticed. I reckon they are gonna get 7 points which leaves us with work to do. However Birmingham , Charlton and City should be enough to see us get what we require - shouldnt it?

Dunn manages only 15 minutes of todays Birmingham derby before limping off. I doubt anyone will touch Dunny with a bargepole should they go down. I'd only even consider it on a pay as you play deal if he had managed 3 or 4 months solid for Burm at Champ level.

You can get 11/10 that we DONT finish in the top 6 on Betfair , if you had the money.

The ones I disagree with are:- 6) Because kavanah for all his advancing years and lack of pace has more pure footballing ability that Reid and Savage. I'm not saying he's better, but his touch and passing is superior and today it showed. I thought that when Tugay eventually got on he started to get more control in midfield. 7) In their position (beginning to fade) I doubt we would have took that many to Wigan on a Monday night Sky game. All the rest I agree with either partly or fully. I'm disappointed but I've said for the last 4 weeks that Arsenal will finish 4th. We really need to buckle down and get top 6 if we want Europe. Even though everyone felt flat, keeping a 3 point cushion between us and Wigan may well be a lifesaver come the end of the season. That rather under-celebrated goal could prove to be more valuable than we think.

John Motson and Lawro when they're together. Absolute drivel. I end up sticking Radio 5 on.

I may be seeing things differently but I watched the full Benfica Barca game as I stand to win a wad of cash if barca win the Chamions League. Benfica had chances in the 2nd half and put pressure on the last 15 minutes but Barcelona should really have been out of sight after 60 minutes. As far as the penalty appeals, the first one when Van Bronkhurst (sp) stopped the shot with the keeper out of position was a brilliant block and no way handball. The second one though should have been given. Even though Benfica didnt concede an away goal tonight I'm still pretty sure that Barcelona will win the 2nd leg outright. As far as Mr Bennet goes Oklahoma, I can assure you he had no hidden agenda. IMO he is just the worst ref in the premier league. He lets people off when they should be carded but then has games where he books someone early for nothing, ends up setting a precedent for the rest of the game and inevitable someone is sent off for two very inoccuous incidents. He sent Elliot off in the SWP diving incident. Danny Murphy for absolutely nothing against Arsenal and 9 others this season. He also gave cheating Diouf that dive of a penalty at Ewood last year (Note- I also see he sent a Udinese player off against Barce in the Champ Leage so maybe you have a point!) Arsenal seemed to play well from what I saw in the moments I flicked over. Fabregas has taken a while to start to fulfil last years potential but is begining to look the part.

I've used a couple of all in ones and as Paul says there not any better than average at either printing or scanning. I work in a graphics department at work and have always found Epsons to be of a superior quality to HP. However I've not used many HP's and the ones I have were over 2 years ago. All our Epsons are £200 and upwards though so can't really comment on their cheaper models.

Martin Taylor was absolutely awful. Souey once said he was the kind of lad you'd be happy if your daughter brought home. I bet the Brum fans are wishing he'd becoma a househusband somewhere.

If the attendance is to be believed then even the official site's match report ends with the lines "So once again Rovers have underlined their great potential with another impressive home performance, the only disappointment on the day was that there wasn't more home fans to witness the victory."

I've had a better couple of days down there than I did Tuesday / Wednesday. Andreas was disapponting though has had that won I'd have been well up. Had it kept on it's feet I'm sure it wouldn't have been beat off Greenhope but jumpings the name of the game. I'm going to have to follow it now cos normally they go in next time when I'm not looking. Fondmort was my only winner on Thursday but had Powerstation (2ND) each-way and Whyso Mayo (WON) each way (31/1 win and 7.9/1 place on the tote) on Friday. Great days but I'm very concerned about how many people they let in now on Gold Cup day. Way too busy. Makes Aintree on National day look spacious.

Stinker of a day. Never mind. Set off at 6am tommorow for two days down there. Revenge on the bookies will be sweet. Andreas in the Grand Annual on Friday. Still thought of as a possible champion chase horse by it's yard.