RoyRover

It's because Hansen is Scottish that you'd think that he'd be immune to the usual hysterical hype that goes with England. Maybe he's been living there so long, that he's actually starting to believe it. O'Neill has been good, saying the thing which everyone knows to be true, that England have a decent chance at the World Cup, without getting carried away and ridiculing other teams in comparison to England. Hansen criticised the Germans, who played quite well and scored four goals, but then sees England who scored one goal (an own goal) and played reasonably well in the first half and dire in the second, as being more impressive so far. Now even the most hardened England fan must wonder what he's going on about. But as you say Eddie, it's not the your fault.

Last night again, we had to listen to Alan Hansen and Ian Wright banging on about England. Granted that they were asked what teams had impressed them so far, Leonardo talked about the Argentines, the Czechs and the Italians, who have played by far the best football of the tournament. Then you have Wright and Hansen rabbiting on about England and how impressive they were in the first half! Then you have Hansen finishing off by saying that "it's all good for the English." What does that mean and on what basis does he think that the first half performance of England come close to the displays of the teams that Leonardo mentioned. God, he must be getting a bit more added to the payslip to be saying things like this.

A very poor game indeed. It was certainly down there with the England match. Henry was totallt isolated up front, but still there were occasions when he got away and should have done better and this only adds to the idea that he is unable to perfrom for France like he does for Arsenal. There's no doubt that Henry is France's best player and this is because he plays so well for Arsenal, so you'd think that the French would want to play more like Arsenal in some respects, so they can get the best out of Henry. Then they'd be in business. This performance is same one that we have seen on numerous occasions under Domenech. As such, I think you have to put much of the way France are playing down to him. I'm not of the opinion that France are a team that are over the hill. Yes, they aren't as good as they were, and some players are coming the end of the careers, but they can still play at the highest level. I thought Zidane had a good game, Makelele, Thuram, Sagnol and Gallas all did well. They are capable of so much more. I will say however, that Vieria looks a shadow of the player that he once was and the decision to leave Guily out of the team is looking even more ridiculous when you saw how poor Wiltord was. Dhorasso always impresses me and today was no different when he came on. I hope to see Trezeguet or Saha up front with Henry in the next match and France can only improve and I still think that they'll qualify for the next round at the top of the group.

This is a game that I'm really looking forward to. Both teams are strong and I expect France to have a good World Cup. Both games were draws in qualifing as far as I remember and I expect it to be tight again. I'm looking forward to see what Henry can do at this World Cup, because he has failed to live up to expectations at the last one and at the European Championships. Zidane isn't the player he was, but he is still better than most and I think he'll want to go out with a bang. Franck Ribery is a star in the making and is set to start today. This guy can shread teams and could be a star at the World Cup. Switzerland have improved hugely over the last couple of years and will be confident about qualifing from the group. They have a strong defence lead by Senderos and Muller, the midfield is run by AC Milan's Johan Vogel and upfront they have one of the best finishers in Europe in Alexander Frei. I gone to see Rennes play a couple of teams and have seen this guy up close and he is a different class. If he has a chance then he'll score. This will be tight, but I think France have something to prove, they want to show that they are still a side capable of winning the World Cup and going forward they have more options. 2-1 to France.

I thought the Italians looked pretty good as well. Yet again though, we had to listen to Alan Hansen criticising a team that would be more than a match for England. They looked very good going forward and if they had finished better and not been selfish on occasions, then they could have scored four or five. Ghana also looked pretty good, played some good stuff, but couldn't finish their chances. They were unlucky not to get a penalty. If Reid were to leave, I wouldn't mind Stephen Appiah in our midfield!

They were better than England.

I think he was also trying to back up his bizarre claim from the day before that England had the best European squad at the World Cup.

England played well enough in the first half, but I wouldn't agree with Alan Hansen's assessment that they were 'outstanding' and that Steven Gerrard was 'awesome'. Gerrard was awesome in the F.A Cup final. Joe Cole looked good, Crouch linked up well and the defence looked very solid, even against an attack that didn't offer much. The second half was what people have come to expect from England, sitting back, going into their shell, with Sven's tactics and substiutons up the left. They got the three points, which the BBC and England team were keen to stress in a seemingly frantic display of back-tracking, after another overly hyped build up. England can and will improve and the game against the Swedes should decide who wins the group.

It's ridiculous to think that such a thing could be classified as a foul, but in this day and age, you can't touch a goalie, so in that respect it was a 'foul'. On the flip side, if it had been Carvalho who had challenged Robinson and the goal was awarded, England fans would have gone ballistic. It comes down to what team you support and that will affect how you interpret the incident.

If it had been the other way round, then it would have been a foul for a lot of English fans. England have a very good team, with their midfield being their real strong point. Gerard, Lampard and Beckham are all world class players. They are certainly one of the challengers and I rank them along with the likes of Portugal, Holland and the Czech Republic, who all have fine sides. But I still see them some distance behind the likes of Brazil, Spain and Argentina. England look a bit light up front though and this could be the problem. Losing Rooney is the biggest blow for English hopes. The guy is a genius and would get in any side. They should qualify out of their group, but in what position? This will determine how far they go. I think that they will make it to the quarter finals.

Apart from the favourites, like Brazil and Aregntina, there are a number of dark horses that I think could do well. They include the likes of Croatia, Holland, England, Ukraine and the Ivory Coast. I'm looking forward to seeing Croatia play, they always play good football and with the likes of Niko Kranjcar, Dario Srna and the lethal Ivan Klasnic, they could do well. When Ukraine play, I'll be very happy as well, because finally Andriy Shevchenko can play at the highest level. I remember watching an interview with him and he said that his career, for all its titles, trophies and goals would be a failure if he never achieved anything with his country.

It was a blatant dive and if the shoe had been on the other foot, then Wrighty and co would have gone billistic. The way I saw it, the Hungarian dived in, Gerrard avoided him and fell forwarded, flicking his foot out to catch the defender. Wrighty's argument was that other teams do, so it doesn't matter. Lineiker or Hansen totally passed it by, even though they have spent huge portions of MOTD talking about Drogba and his diving.

I wouldn't have England or Germany as joint second favourites either. Brazil are obviously head-and-shoulders above the rest, then I'd have Argentina, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, England, France.

Even if Rooney could play in the World Cup, he will still be recovering from the injury, he won't be fully fit and as such, wouldn't have the same devastating effect that he would normally have. However, I don't think anyone really knows if he will be fit or not, apart from the doctors, but not the newspapers, because the on Skysports News last night, they were looking at today's papers and one of the headlines was that Rooney has no chance.

The absence of Philipe Mexes and Ludovic Giuly are certainly the two biggest talking points about the French squad. Boumsong is a dreadful defender, while Mexes has really matured this season for Roma and should be in the squad. Guily is another player that should be going to Germany. The only player's that I would say he should be there ahead of are Florent Malouida or Alou Diarra, but they are top players. I'm glad to see Franck Ribery in the squad, because this guy is brilliant and could be a real star. Sebastian Frey is definately should be in the team, but as people have pointed out, he has been overlooked for years. I wouldn't have Barthez in the team, but Coupet as the number 1, Landreau and Frey. I still think that France have a quality team, but I'm not convinced by the manager. As for Zanetti being ommited, I can't believe that he's been left out. He's been one of the world's best right backs over the last 10 years and this is still the case. What puzzles me more, is that Lionel Scaloni has been named ahead of him.

With Rooney in the team, England had as good a chance of winning the World Cup as the likes of Italy, Czech Republic and Holland. It will be very difficult for them to do it without him in the team. I think things have been made more difficult with Sven's team selection. Michael Owen's fitness is also a concern, as his lack of football. England have a good team for this World Cup, but they have been dealt a major blow in the striking department.

Well it's pretty respectable considering that it was his first season in the Premiership and he had no support from the players around him at Charlton. He's the top English goalscorer in the Premiership and he doesn't make it onto the standby list, while Andy Johnson who has scored 14 goals in the Championship does. And as someone has already said, if Walcott wasn't playing for Arsenal, then he wouldn't have been picked.

I totally, most of them were just good saves. I'd have to say that Shay Given's or Tomas Kuszack's would win it for me. Those were two fine saves. I didn't watch all of MOTD last night, just up to Blackburn highlights. I was furious when they didn't mention what a good season we had had. Did they say anything after the last set of highlights? If not, then that's an absolute disgrace. They big up Newcastle for getting into the Intertoto Cup ffs.

I bet he's banging them for Genoa.

Some very strange choices by Sven, but then again you wouldn't expect anything else. Like most people have said, the fact that he has only put four strikers in his provisional squad seems very strange. Two aren't fit and Rooney has little or no chance of playing at all, Peter Crouch isn't great and Theo Walcott hasn't even played for Arsenal yet, let alone England. I can see where Sven is coming from with Theo, he's young, confident, very quick and could make an impact. But you have to wonder if he is ready for international football, not that you'd know, because he hasn't played. I find it hugely disrespectful that Darren Bent, the leading English goal scorer hasn't even made it onto the stand-by list, while Defoe and Johnson have, after pretty mediocre seasons. There's no need for Carrick, Jenas and Hargreaves all to be in the squad, at the expense of a striker. No wonder people will be happy when he leaves.

I'm delighted that we have finished the league off with a win. Kuqi ended the season with 7 league goals, which isn't bad for the big oaf. I was glad to hear that Gallagher got a game and sounded like he played well. I'd like to see how he does under Hughes next season and I hope that he is given more games over Kuqi or Dickov. Did McEveley get a game? Well done Rovers, this has been one of our best seasons in a long while. Mark Hughes, his staff, the people at the club and all the players have turned Blackburn's fortunes around and have made us into a top club again. We'll have to add to the squad and work just as hard next season, to make sure that this season wasn't a one off. (Also, Spurs didn't make the Champions League, yesss! )

A win is a must in our last game of the season. I know the tam has qualified for Europe, but hopefully we can finish the season in style. We still have the chance of finishing in 5th, which would mean more prize money. Finishing above Arsenal would also look good to any potential transfer targets. I'm going for a 3-0 victory for us, with Bellamy getting two and Pongolle scoring the other.

I'd like to hold onto him, because he offers us another option on the right or left and with European football next season, we will need all our players. However, if his wages are huge, then there's no point having him as a squad player, because we won't be getting value for money. If some team offered £1.5 million + for him, then I could see him leaving. I still hope that he can improve under Hughes, like so many of our players have. He looks the part, but all too often he fails to deliver.

That was another brilliant result from our team last night. We have now beaten three of the top four at home. We played brilliantly in the first half and in the second, we showed commitment and character to hold off Chelsea. People will say that Chelsea had a weak team out, but that team could usually beat any team in the Premiership. I thought our defence was superb, especially as we were missing Nelsen and Neill had to fill in there. Reid had another fine game before going off, scoring another goal and making it obvious that we need to sign him to a new contract. Bellamy caused problems with his pace all night and I thought that Pongolle had a decent game, although he gave the ball away sometimes, his movement was fantastic and he and Bellamy linked up well at times. Needless to say that I'm delighted to say that we have qualified for the Uefa Cup. It shows how Mark Hughes and all the coaching staff have turned things around here. I was glad to hear Hughes saying afterwards, how playing in the Uefa Cup can have an effect on your league performances and how he was going to make sure that didn't happen. The obvious answer to this would be buy more players, to strengthen the squad. It was a nice touch also, to gie the Chelsea players a guard of honour onto the pitch. Great season lads, lets finish it off with a win against Man City.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but apparently Mourinho will help Sven out by rapping Terry, Cole and Lampard in cotton wool for the rest of the season. So I presume this means that they won't be playing tomorrow night, especially Terry who's injured. Not that this will make much difference to the team, because they'll just play Huth, Maniche and Robben instead! There's a nice problem to have. Rovers need to win this game, because they don't want to leave it to the last day to secure European football. We are at home, where we have been playing well and hopefully Chelsea have a hang over for this game, which we take full advantage of. Rovers: 2 - Bellamy & Pongolle Chelsea:1 - Crespo