Its not so much the threat of Portugal that I think will win it for them, its England stuffing it up some how. The only real threat i have noticed from Portugal is Ronaldo, otherwise they have shown very little so far. Cole was left exposed far too often against Switzerland, and while this was slightly rectified in the Croatia game, a player of Mornars ability was able to give him problems. I know its not going to happen but this would be the perfect chance to test a Bridge/Cole left pairing. Overall England have shown far more then Portugal but i just know its going to end in heart break.

What an excellent performance. Just hitting form when it counts with all the midfield finally coming together. We still looked dodgy from set pieces mind you. I'm not worried about Portugal, im worried about England screwing it up.

Went to post this on a new thread but was beaten to it. Heres what i was going to post. A very good result but certainly one that flattered us. Quite a ddisappointingdisplay, especially from the midfield. The first 20 minutes were like that of a side not accustomed to playing in top international tournaments and we let a mmediocreswiss team run the game, conceding too many free kicks in dangerous positions, although we did seem to rectify this in the second half. What was striking in the first half was our exposure on the left side. Cole was clearly an attacking threat, but his runs up the wing constantly let us exposed. In my opinion Scholes offered little going foward and as an attacking player offered no protection to Cole. If this was Gerrards role then he certainly wwasn'tdoing it. This really has to be rectified if we are to face Greece or Spain who both have pace on their wings. The options? Bringing Bridge in for Cole and playing Dyer down the left for pace and attack would be effective but Coles performances ddefinitelywarrant an inclusion. Perhaps Hargreaves or Neville for Scholes? Lampard really showed little but Beckham and Gerrard looked very impressive, in particular in our 15 minute period of exquisite football midway through the first half. Excellent run by Gerrard and supreme ball by Beckham followed by good link up between Owen and Rooney. The second half really was a ddisappointment boring even. We are going to get punished playing this defensively. 1-0 up and Sven makes defensive changes - has he not learned from the France game or Germany vs Holland? Even after the sending off we looked uninspired, no voice, no star performances, just when we needed them. Only when we took Scholes off did we have some pace and exhuberance and we got lucky with a second goal from a long ball. Not taking anything away from Rooney and Vassell mind you who were excellent in the build up. Finally in the last ten minutes did we look to expose the 10 men of Switzerland, thanks largely to Hargreaves, Dyer and Vassell - all subs. The third goal was a great overlap between Neville and Beckham which resulted in Gerrard getting the goal. Overall a very pleasing result and despite my negative view on the game there is something there that can make us progress. If we can repeat our great spell in the first half we have every chance in this tournament, but sadly that looks unlikely. My player ratings... James - still looks a liability at times, made one nnotablemistake in the first half - 6 Neville - played well with Beckham, offered the overlap and didn't let the Swiss get through on goal much in the game. Excellent overlap for the second goal - 6 Campbell - rarely tested, but solid and reliable - 6 Terry - again, rarely tested but reliable all the same after conceding some dangerous free kicks early on - 6 Cole - offered an attacking edge but constantly left the defense exposed - 6 Beckham - played well throughout and played some excellent balls, especially in the build up for the first goal - 8 Lampard - almost invisible, offered little and created little - 5 Gerrard - some promising runs and some good passing. Great run for the first goal but nothing amazing. - 6 Scholes - a few nice passes and spread the play well but after the first half especially offered little going forward and nothing defensively - 5 Rooney - a good gamer all round and an excellent strike for the second goal. Chased everything - 8 Owen - chased well and worked well in the first goal but again nothing exceptional - 6 Hargreaves - offered some pace, but seemed to like the long ball a little too much - 6 Dyer - offered some pace but only played 10 minutes - 6 Vassell - excellent work rate and pesky to the Swiss defense. Great work for the second goal - 7

Well that's hardly a ringing endorsement from the bloke who a couple of months ago was citing the lack of a left footed player (any left footed player, Souness should have found one!) as one of the principal reasons for Rovers poor showing. Now we've got one, he gets grief because he's Spanish!! Why didn't you say two months ago you only wanted a left midfielder from anywhere else but Spain !?? We discussed at that time about our (London Branch) Q and A session with John Williams, I tried to explain - without saying what we'd been asked not to say - how Rovers had made left midfield the number one priority in the transfer window but would not sign players at the wrong price. De Pedro was a major target in January. At the time De Pedro was a £2 million pound player according to his club. Wrong price. Today he was a free transfer. Right price. Once again, Williams and Souness have got this absolutely spot on. The critical element on here should take a step back and actually look at how well our club is being managed, on the tightest of budgets. 5 Premiership clubs would have loved to have taken De Pedro on - rumoured off-field problems or not. We know 9 Premiership clubs would have loved Dickov on their books. We've now got both, to add to an already fantastic array of talent in midfield and up front. Look forward to the addition of a centre half, the return of Ferguson and co, and roll on August. What an excellent signing. I would have to agree with Tris 100% and say that this was an excellent piece of business on the part of Souness and Williams, signing at the right valuation and at the right time. I am sure several other english clubs would have wanted his signature but we were the first. The fact that Souness persued Pedersen shows he had a variety of targets and that left midfield is very much his priority and overall i am delighted at our progression so far. The question remains - will he be able to adapt? But with similar questions over Pedersens progression/adaptability i think we have to take that risk with most available players. At 30 he is probably past his best but on a free transfer he isnt going to cost the club. Overall i am delighted at the progress made so far this summer. Providing we purchase a central defender, for the first team or for backup, I will be a very happy fan come August. Well done Souness and JW

He comes off as the arrogant barsteward he is in that article not sure if you were being sarcastic with the winking smiley, but if you wernt then i personally think souness came out of that well. he isnt a push over and he isnt going to take crap from players that walk out on the team. what i take from this is that souness is going to sort this under achieving team out, get rid of the dead wood and bring in better players to replace them. todd may have put in some good performances this season but he immediatly slipped down the ranks and would he even be played next season? good move to let him go i think.

feeder are brilliant. i like a lot of dance - the annual 2004 from ministry of sound had some great stuff on it. and u gotta love some of the classics - a bitta the old chesney and the one and only, mc hammer - cant touch this etc etc at the moment its cry little sister - the lost brothers and just another day - john secada. and oh my god has anybody heard of rubber biscuit by the blues brothers??!! great stuff! hillbily rock, hillbilly roll and doo doo brown are also great comical songs. not to mention a bit of ghostbusters - bloody awesome track!

Nonsense. How many black people do you know who are offended by being called black? Actually, you've answered the question with your misguided 'im (sic) not racist in any respect but...' rant. You don't know any black people, do you? If you did you would know that both negro and coloured are offensive. FYI so is 'half-caste'. And, as you and Blue Phil seem to fail to understand, calling a black person a 'nigger' live on TV IS a sackable / resigning offence. Big Ron knows that and is big enough to hold his hands up to it. I don't think he's really a racist but at that moment he used racist language and he understands that it's wrong. one of my friends is black and we often complain about this very thing. as you appear to be such an expert on the subject then can you explain why when i enter the word "negro," into a search engine i find sites such as the "negro college fund," the "negro baseball leagues," and the "journal of negro history." if it is so offensive then why do black people,who presumably run/found these organisations, name them the way they do? are you sure you actually know any black people? in addition to your first point, yes, i have seen on MANY occasions black people become angered by people refering to them as a "black person," as if it is an attempt to racially abuse them. the reason i "ranted," about not being racist is that i expected people to start calling me racist. obviously calling somebody a "nigger," on national tv is a sackable offense, but thats not what i questioned in my original post. what i did complain about is the sensitivityy of racism in the country. and in answer to ur second post, what i should have mentioned is that this person that was being yelled at had a severe attitude problem and was useless at his job. he simply "pulled the racist card," and thus, aided to make people think this was common practice with all black people, which it is not. besides, i hated ron atkinson - i thought he was useless. im glad hes gone.

Yes but Ice T would probably be awarded a fortune at a tribunal for unfair dismissal. the point i was trying to make is that it is ok for black rap artists(amongst others) to refer to black people as "niggers," and people dont seem to turn their heads because its ok. but if another influential white male does says it, then immediately he is sacked and all over the papers. even in films, when a white person is calling a black person a "nigger," thewn the audience is horrified, yet a black person in a film will call himself it all too often. now rap artists will have their work censored on radio channels and will be given an 18 certificate on cd's, with black racist comments being shown after the watershed - so if ron had said this at 11 oclock, after the watershed, or had it censored then would it have been ok? what i am trying to get at is that the black community should be angry at these people who publicise the racist issue, make it more common and encourage people to use the terms. and also, as you mention that scenario, no i dont think ice t would be sacked at all. hed simply be given a slap on the wrist and not asked to do it again. because for him its ok to say it! then if he were to be sacked then at the resultant court case, itv would be publically slammed as being racist and ice t would have his job back. it happens all too often. just in work a few months ago, my manager yelled at a black employee, which i was witness to, who then complained she was being racist. he got 3 months paid leave in the time he didnt come into work. that simply would not thave happened if the roles were reversed. i do want to emphasise that i am friends with black people and dont consider myself racist.

while i definately dont condone ron's comments, i hate the whole racism debate. i dont understand why it has to be such a sensitive issue - people call each other fat and they dont get fired over it. without meaning to cause any offence, i hate how i have to be so careful when refering to a black person. im not racist in any respect but a large part of the black community take offence to being called "coloured," or "black," or "negro." sometimes i dont know how to refer to a black person without being accused of being racist. whats worse is that influential black people such as rappers refer to themselves in the same way that ron atkinson, an influential white man, did. so why is it ok for them to do it and not ron? i think i also speak for the majority who say that when a black person is racist towards the white population, not nearly enough focus is paid to it and in many cases a black person can be just as rasist as a white person.

I wouldn't be too sure. The prospect of Jonathan Douglas signing another contract is sure to have major sponsors and TV companies beating a path to Ewood.

i may be relatively young in years but i have to agree with you fully there. great goalkeeper, one of the best ive ever seen. better then these foreigners with their diving punches and dodgy parries. flowers had some of the safest hands in the premiership and i firmly believe he should have been given more international starts. a great guy and clearly cared for the team.

while that is indeed true, what i meant to emphasise was peoples recognition of souness' love and passion for the club, as opposed to his comitment as manager, which is evident within his antics and thus also in context with the comments made pre match.

a thoroughly pleasing post there alan and largely summarised my thoughts on souness, despite not being present at the leicester game. the one question, without meaning to cause any offence what-so-ever, is - is it only after the leicester match that you have noted/recognized souness' involvement in the game? for me he has shown all season that he is thoroughly engrossed, giving 100% to the cause and showing his shear frustration and love for the club when things dont go in the way of the team. what il add is - have any members seen the dejected look, after dejected look that follow his teams dire performances. souness heart for the team and the game has never been in any kind of question in my eyes. people who say he has lost his passion and that he is not the same man are lost. furthermore, while souness' comfrontations have been publically exercised by the media, i dont believe he ever lost the support of the dressing room, call it blind faith. now i think that is evident after the last two perfromances. while i agree a season of horrors cannot be forgotten, i also believe that souness will pull it around next season and deserves all our support. have trust in the man, before now he has never failed us.

as much as i like souness and think he should stay, you cannot just forget a season of horrors for two wins on the trot. But some would believe you can forget three years of progress just as easily... indeed, myself not included. wait until next season and im sure he will make huge progress from this season. many would criticise souness for sticking to the same line up that faced fulham if we had have lost, but few have praised his persistancy on this occasion.

as much as i like souness and think he should stay, you cannot just forget a season of horrors for two wins on the trot.

what?! with respect, shut up! did we all think souness was more important then dunn and duff to the club? in my opinion souness came out the better in the dunn/souness clash. dunn did live an extravagant lifestyle. now hes moved to the big city of birmingham, plays nothing more then average much of the season and gets injured.duff?.... please explain how we thought souness was more important to the club then duff? so did souness mistreat duff? did they have arguements of any importance/severity? duff is offered 17 million for - unrefusable to a club of our size, simultaneously triggering his release clause and all the long rovers supporters were dreading his exit. "how does it feel to be SO wrong?".... well that depends on what you are referring to as what you are saying is too stupid to admit defeat to. also interesti g to note that all you ever seem to post on is anti-souness threads or to criticise him. now onto my opinions of souness... i was probably his biggest fan at the start of the season and had huge belief and respect for his managerial ability and credentials. but what are credentials and where is the ability in his tactical ineptitude? i was shocked but at the same time expectant of reid being on the bench. SURELY what we need is balance and width?! neill - ok if he was substitute because of his indifferent form this season then ok. but because it was liverpool?! NONSENSE graeme, have you lost ALL your bottle?! i think neill would have relished the chance to play and perform against liverpool. souness very much OUT this summer! not now. give him the chance to save us and warrant his contract next season. parkes is in part to blame for this crisis and he isnt the man to take over. he will not improve and the squad will only be unsettled more.

well frankly with souness in charge hel prolly be stuck at left wing! gotta agree with you though - personally i think hes better as a creative player that can hold the ball up and spread the play. but with players like tugay and andresen surrounding him there isnt going to be much attacking edge. if leicester win against leeds we may as well count ourelves relegated

on the issue oif ferguson - i agree with you 100%. he is one of the best centre midfielders in the premiership. i rate him over the likes of parker and cole at chelsea and think he could well be good enough for one of the top teams. his performances next season will justify souness' faith in him

does anybody reckon this thread needs a poll? or would that be a mistake as the thread will most likely continue atleast to the end of this season and if souness stays throughout next season as well.

what about doing something similar to leeds - selling season tickets for forthcoming years at once at a cut price. there would be a loss in the long term but if relegation were to come we would garuntee a great deal of season tickets and raise a lump sum of cash, which would be useful in the first division and in the premiership.

i would opt more for the term "reshuffle;" not necessarily rebuilding or buying new expensive players but getting rid of the negative influences on the squad. cole, yorke, tugay and short OUT. short might be the biggest surprise of the four but his constant injury problems continuously upset the team and his inconsistance on occasion is unqcceptable. cole is a great player WHEN HE WANTS TO BE. similarly yorke can play well when his position is in jeopardy but what we have to remember is that cole and yroke and their inability to give 100% and get on with their manager affects morale and we cannot keep paying these players to do what they are doing. tugay can have moments of genious but he is too much of a liability and a player of his age needs regular football and consistentcy which he will not get with a fully fit thompson and ferguson. flitcroft cannot be captain any longer - when the goign gets tough , flitcroft gets soft. not in terms of battleing but obviously in gal\vanising the team and inspiring them. oh and jansen is not the player he was - he will be more at home in division one. we dont need a new cb - bring nissa and mceverly back into the squad and i think they will be more then enough cover, especially with amouruso fit and healthy. a new centre mid is not needed - we have more then enough players to fill these positions, including a few youngsters that are still unproven. a natural left sided player that can beat a player with pace and deliver a good ball accross is what we need. we should spend every penny we have on a left sided player and look for a backup striker on a free or on a cheap deal. perhaps swap deals are what we should look at? jansen would be welcome in the first division as would tugay i should think. next season is not the potential crisis many are making it out to be.

i have been a fierce defender of souness all season and have supported him throughout his career at rovers. but... i know where people are coming from about injuries, i for one attribute injuries as the main reason for why we are in this situation, but one has to question the tactical decisions souness has made in recent weeks/months. this weekends subsititutions completely confuzzled me, gray carrying an injury or not. and then theres the various questions that have been raised over the problem of our left wing... while i have my criticsms of souness of late i have every confidence that he can pull things around and still have confidence in his ability. to sack him now would be insanity, nothing good could come of it. a change in management at this stage of the season would only upset the team more then it has been allready it could take months for things to be sorted. people may say it is the job of the manager to motivate the team but it is not his soul responsibility - we need somebody that will inspire the team and let them bloody know when theyv missed a sitter, or woosed out of a challange. many have discussed the benefits of crowd pleaser, a player that can attract fans to come watch the team even in their darkest hours. previously i have laughed this off but with a team as incredibly uninspired as rovers and with particularly low attendances, the benefits could be huge. you only have to look at arsenal when they celebrate a goal; the entire team huddles together, you can see what it means to them to be winning and thats something you rarely see from some of our players. next season needs a complete reshuffle of playing staff whatever division we find ourselves playing in. if we stay up, souness should be given the oppertunity to turn things around, only too often have managers been sacked after one bad season following 3 previous good ones (i use that as an example). if we are still in the premiership then we will have quality players such as ferguson, thompson, stead, freidal etc and they will be a very large factor of the season. if we are not in the premiership then we will not have this quality to fall back on and souness must go. first out: yorke and cole - i dont care how well this pair play! they are a disruption on the team, cant get on with any manager they play for and are at times a disgrace. nothing can be substituted for the harmony of the team and these two take every bit of spirit we have away. tugay - yes, his heart is still in the game and at times he can work magic but he is old, he doesnt have the same talent he used to and he has been a liability. andresen - has provided nothing of any quality or enough to convince us of keeping him on jansen - i loved this guy an i feel for him but his career has nose dived and he will never be there player he was. at present he gives 110% but he is a division one player. short - he is a great player and last season was our rock but at his age hes going through injuries like he does pants and we dont have the players to replace him. then you have to think about the fact that hes as good as sold anyway. flitcroft should be kept but not as captain - that responsibility should fall to ferguson, somebody that has the ability to inspire the team through pure talent if nothing else. next season will hinge on the success of stead and gallagher and the bucking up of neills and greskos game. ferguson and thompsons return will be immence no question about it and we still need a left winger. well heres to next season, this ones a pile of ######. oops - kinda posted this in the post portsmouth thread as well by accident sorry.

ah good point. ranieri would be a very good option IF souness were to be sacked. but to sack souness would be a disgrace and, if i were a top manager, id be very much put off ever joining rovers if they were to treat their manager like that. but agreed, if souness wernt about, ranieri would be a great alternative.

in my eyes ferguson is regarded as world class. but back to topic. clive put it best, sacking souness would be crazy! first off, there is nobody with the credentials, experience or talent of souness available - we could spend another 5-10 years trying to find an equal, in which time we could be in a far worse position. then theres the fact that he has built this squad himself and hasnt done a bad job! all to often managers are sacked for very little; indeed this season hasnt been at all good, but one bad season following 3 very good seasons is not reason to sack our manager. AT LEAST souness shoulkd have next season to turn things around. as for next season... people are allready condemming us to a poor season! what is your basis? souness has the entire summer to strengthen or shift things around and he'll have his best players back from injury. people saying that our only saving grace is the clubs being promoted not having the finances of premiership clubs are crazy! firstly, weve seen newly promoted clubs having successful seasons - we didnt do too bad in our first season up. then theres the fact that we easily have a top 8 team, newly promoted clubs are hardly our "only" cushion from relegation! essentially we have a better squad then last season and have been painfully unlucky. other then the newly promoted clubs being our cushion from relegation we also have about half the league whom which we are better than. if we dont finish in the top 12 next season, then feel free to quote me here and il accept that i was wrong but i cannot see us in another relegation scrap. 6-8th place is easily within our grasp.

ok, i apologise for the mannerism of my question, no doubt all fans are entitled to criticise their teams manager and your support is exemplorary. i myself am a lot younger and perhaps subsequently less considerate/rational when i post (either that or im an arrogant @#/?) but never the less i cannot agree with what you are saying; first off there are many clubs in an "unnecessary" relegation fight, its never wanted and very rarely expected. the only clubs that could really expect to be in an innevitable fight would be those newly promoted and perhaps leads. everton are in a similar situation to us as well. "making a balls up" isnt a convincing arguement. are we forgetting that there are 11 players on the pitch? and then theres our numerous injuries... etc etc clearly souness is a vastly experienced player and manager and obviously would have ways of fixing the defense but there have been so many individual errors that the blame cannot possibly be placed upon the manager alone. then every partnership is interupted through fitness and injuries. yesterdays first half may not have displayed a great deal of motivation but what about the second half? surely that shows souness fighting spirit and his effective tactics? clearly souness was able to motivate the team in the half time break. then the way cole celebrated his goal shows how motivated he was to settle his own inadequacies this season. souness is a stubborn man and arrogant is another way to describe his personality. but i love his "arrogant" nature; it helps compile a never say die and never give up persona and he is 100% committed to the club, you only have to look at his body language and facial expressions from yesterday to see that. what appears more likely to me is that souness' fighting spirit and talents are being exploited and frustrated by the teams lacking this season. finally i love his post match interviews - without them he isnt the same man. he has to keep his integrity and managerial figure infront of the squad and this compliments his strict managerial style. he has to be the boss.