speeeeeeedie

Good post. To point 1. Mowbray brought in Markanday(sp?) from Spurs who promptly did his knee. How would he have done?

Thanks to ESPN+ I've had the pleasure, if that's what you can call it, of watching pretty much every Rovers game since January. The Hull loss started it, but I think the real kicker was the loss at Bramall Lane. That one seemed to damage the team and at the same time give them a boost. Khadra should never have taken the penalty either. Rovers are playing for an unlikely 6th place finish, which is a real shame considering that all talk over Christmas was Premier League here we come.

The quarter final first legs are over. Liverpool and Real Madrid both won 3-1 away. Liverpool could have been 5 up at half time yet were lucky not to be pegged back to 2-2 before scoring late, and then missing another sitter. Chelsea carried on where they left off against Brentford. They weren't at the races. Benzema scored 2 class headers, and was given a gift for his 3rd. Lukaku needs to leave Chelsea quickly. His game is not suited to Chelsea's style. Villareal and City both won 1-0 at home. De Bruyne managed to nick one meaning that Simeone's men have to attack next week. Bayern should win but Villareal are a well drilled crew.

Said poster dug himself into a hole by parroting lazy media narratives regarding Lampard. The rest of us could see that he wasn't good enough, and we are being proven right. Everton players continue to make schoolboy mistakes - Godfrey last night. To me this falls on Lampard and his inability to mentally prepare players. As to Burnley; they've won 4 games all season yet are in with a fighting chance of staying up. It's barmy.

Man U continue to drift along aimlessly. Only the ref changing his mind (correctly, if you ask me) after looking at VAR saved them from another loss. I watched a bit of West Ham-Everton. In some ways Everton were unlucky. They played pretty well and could have been up at half time. However, an awful pass from Iwobi led to a Wet Ham goal, and a stupid tackle by Keane leading to his second booking cost them. I still think that they will stay up, and I still think that Lampard is the wrong man for the job.

Fair enough, but your "child's play" line intimated that the old days were better because there was more violence. You've said that you followed England far and wide, and I'm sure it was superb, but you can't compare your experiences to what occurs today. We all look at life through our own lens. Times change. Good memories will always be there. Lads watching England today will be saying the same thing as you in 2050. I remember the old Blackburn End toilets. They were a disgrace. Nobody can say with a clear mind that they were better than what Ewood offers now, even in a rapidly deteriorating stadium. Yet, people reminisce about them and the absolute state of them is diminished.

Times have indeed moved on. Harking back to the bad old days shouldn't be looked upon with misty eyes. Hooliganism was a blight on English football. It put the game back years. As far as stadiums go there is no comparison. Old Wembley was awful. The stands were too far away from the pitch, and there were awkward views all over the ground. New Wembley is, as I said the other day, a waste of money. But it is a tremendous venue.

I agree with you on that point. Games over here usually end by 5pm therefore I am losing out on a lot of lovely summer afternoon drinking. It will be odd watching it in November/December but I'll still be ready for it. If the USA qualify, which I hope they do (they drew 0-0 at the Azteca last night; should have won too) it adds to the atmosphere of it all. It will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the NFL. I don't support them either, but I'd rather a home nation make it than not.

I'm sure that Italians countrywide are saying that today..... A World Cup is a World Cup. Italy will now miss 2 in a row. England missed USA 1994 and it was miserable. I favour a Wales v. Scotland shootout. Ukraine will get a lot of sympathy but I'd rather have another home nation qualify.

Both Man City, Liverpool, and their respective mayors have asked the FA to move the cup semi final away from Wembley. ESPN - cup semi final chaos It's Easter weekend, and due to rail works there are no direct rains to London from either city. Will the FA move it, or make fans drive down in order to keep the revenue flowing to Wembley stadium? It seems absolutely daft not to move it, but this is the FA. They could play the game at any number of grounds; Old Trafford, Elland Road, Villa Park, Goodison, Ewood(!) to name some stadiums close by. I don't think that Wembley should have ever been rebuilt. They should have used the money to make decent grass roots facilities all over the country and make England game travelling roadshow whereby people from all over would not have to travel far to see a game.

I had no idea what Gallagher was thinking either. It was harder to do what he did than to score. Kaminski has potential to be a premier league keeper. What will hold him back is his erratic distribution. Too many times he kicks it away. It was his dodgy ball out of play that gave Reading possession when they scored.

Good shout. They are top so he's doing something right. They are pointless because England have qualified for the World Cup. I'd much rather be in this position than Scotland, Wales, Italy, and Portugal to name a few who have play off matches to attend to. Southgate is able get his squad together, bring in a new face or two, and do some preparation for Qatar.

The quarter final draw took place earlier which also dictates the semi final pairings. We have; Side 1 Chelsea v. Real Madrid Man City v. Atletico Madrid Side 2 Villareal v. Bayern Munich Benfica v. Liverpool

I'll have to take your word for it on Tomori. I don't watch Serie A. He looked like he had potential in his limited time at Chelsea. The Italian league will make him a better defender too. The lad from Palace, Guedi, got a call up too. Sancho and Rashford didn't make it. Quite right too. Sancho has gone backwards. Rashford needs a new club. Alexander-Arnold is out with an injury now. Will Southgate bring in Kyle Walker, or go with a youngster?

Toothless Man U are out of Europe. They were undone by a typical Simeone Atletico performance; nick a goal then defend, feign injuries, and waste time to disrupt the game. The press aren't being kind to them today. BBC's McNulty - Man U fail again Benfica beat Ajax too.

I'm glad that Rovers won, but it sounds like it was a farce of a first half. That comment from Johnson posted by Dan is telling. I'll not lambast Mowbray if as is being reported the players laid into him at halftime Mowbray listened and changed it up. It's not the first time that players have told a manager that what they are doing is not working. If the teams around win their games in hand Rovers fall to 9th. However, I doubt that the drop will be that far due to teams playing each other.

Lampard's undoing at Chelsea was his inability put out a team that kept clean sheets, so what does he do at Everton? Plays a right footer at left back. Michael Keane every week (until yesterday), and a past it Seamus Coleman.

I'm not arguing against that. We all know that the Premier League has no scruples and we've had plenty of debate on here regarding the Saudi's taking over Newcastle but they are a separate case to Chelsea. I'm not going to feel sorry for Chelsea supporters. They now dine at the top table courtesy of a Russian billionaire who's investment towered Jack Walker's at Rovers. Without him they'd not have 2 Champs league titles so all this poor Chelsea sentiment doesn't tug at my heartstrings.

Absolutely. Abramovich's mate is bombing hospitals. Chelsea are part of the fallout in trying to stop it. Not having a few fans watch a match is hardly something to feel sorry for them over.

I was a bit vague. My business as usual comment referred to the club as a whole. This season will end as it began in that they'll have the same squad and will fulfill all fixtures, but I don't know what Chelsea will look like after this.

Although Rovers could drop out of the playoff spots if each of the 3 below win their game in hand I find it remarkable that after scoring 3 goals in 12 games Rovers aren't mid table. I can't see goals coming any time soon either though, but teams can't score against Rovers either. More draws on the way. That Sheffield Utd loss is looking worse by the week.

City and Bayern cruised through to the quarters. City did their job in the first leg. Bayern had to wait until their home leg before overwhelming Salzburg. Liverpool are through but they were lucky. They were in the driver's seat after a 2 goal away win but Milan had the momentum at Anfield and were harshly punished by a questionable sending off. However, Salah hit both posts separately when it seemed easier to score either time.

I agree with the thoughts regarding PSG and last night's game. They will always struggle against the top echelon teams in the Champs League. They don't have the level of competition needed week in week out and aren't used to being pressured. A run to the final 2 years ago was aided by playing 1 legged games in the quarters and semi's. As to the game PSG kept the ball for about 2 minutes straight not too long before Benzema scored his first. They were showing off, and wasting time. Messi was a passenger in both legs. Apparently Leanardo (PSG director) tried to confront the ref after the game as he was adamant that Donnarumma was fouled by Benzema. Although from what I saw the keeper kicked the floor.

I'll put this here as it's primarily football related; ESPN - Abramovich sanctioned, Chelsea can't sell match tickets I assume that it will be business as usual for Chelsea in the short term but will they be the same force over the next few years? Even if they are bought out by another billionaire I doubt that they'd have same need to spend as much as Abramovich has done.

I'll preface this by saying that I'm a bit biased as I think Rashford is a tremendous player but I think there's more to his situation than him championing free school meals. He played half of last season with an injured shoulder as he was desperate to play in the Euros. At it he fluffed his golden opportunity with an awful penalty, then goes straight for an op to fix his shoulder. He had no preseason, had to sit on the sidelines and watch Ronaldo take his place, then Solskjaer left and now is having to try and impress a new boss who looks like he hasn't much clue. He has lost his confidence, and if current reports are true Southgate won't name him in the next England squad therefore he's open to leaving.