Yes I do think they are a better team though I'm not surprised you disagree. It is many years since England have played as the Croatians did or indeed played at the level befitting their alleged station.

Eddie, even a blind man can see how utterly inferior the English were. With the players they have, England should have had Croatia dead and buried considering what was at stake. The fact remains however that it was the players, not McClaren (a very easy excuse for those still clinging to their particular delusions), who were unable to control possession and the ball against a side that really should be dispatched at Wembley when a single point is all that is needed. In any event Croatia, were so poor in qualifying that only Greece gained more points than them...

Not sure what the Irish have to do with anything, but yes I suppose we should keep it shut also. In spite of being a clearly inferior team to much of the opposition, the Irish lads never stop going on about how they're going to walk the qualifiers and win the whole thing.

So was your last one. Croatia are clearly a superior side and I'm absolutely amazed that people still hold such blinkered attitudes not even a week after English football was so roundly embarrassed in spite of two undeserved lifelines. There are worse seeded teams that England could have drawn though and they should easily reach the playoffs at the very least. The games against Croatia have 'revenge' written all over them to be honest. The English condition is perfectly outlined in this searing piece from the Observer.

Saw Beowulf on Friday night. It's. The visuals are amazing and the story quite sinister and dark in places but overall it lacked anything to truly excite.

Keane is from Cork, arguably the most Republican place in Ireland. There's no way he'd take the England job.

Italy have won the World Cup four times: 1934, 1938, 1982 & 2006.

England should have been dead and buried on Saturday but somehow survived to be given a second chance in the form of a home tie against an already qualified team. How the players failed to raise themselves for this I still cannot fathom. They looked petrified from the off and even as their deserved equaliser went in they immediately reverted to playing as if they couldn't believe their luck was continuing. In the end, the Croatians deserved their victory. They were superb, streets ahead of England's medieval tactics and the winner was a superbly crafted strike. Bilic's post-game interview was stark but very accurate: 'We are a better team'. One positive of this is that we can now enjoy a summer tournament subject to a decent degree of objectivity from those broadcasting it. And that includes Mark 'Irish International' Lawrenson who finally let his slip show and referred to the boys in white as 'us'. Nice one. By the way, how good was that Modric bloke in midfield for Croatia?! What a player!

Kane & Lynch is supposed to be crap though.

I'm fascinated that after all the hype and all the bloody time Ubisoft has had to make this that it appears to have fallen woefully short on the some of the most basic tenets of quality gaming - variation and intelligence. Bad, bad form. However is it surprising? Ubisoft Montreal have failed to iron out the same annoying kinks that have plagued Splinter Cell since its debut, most recently with the backing of a next generation console.

This is the first written, reputable review I've seen of Assassin's Creed and I have to say my heart is sinking.

The game that turned me into a Rover. Heaven.

The reviews are saying that Call of Duty 4 is too short. So yet another developer drops the ball in that respect. It's maddening when some titles such as Bioshock and even Halo 3 provide vast, immersive, value for money experiences while others are simply sharp graphics with a couple of hours worth of gameplay. This now slips into my 'buy it pre-owned' list.

Zane Lowe... The man is an arse-kissing hype machine. The Strokes and The Arctic Monkeys being mentioned in the same breath as Zeppelin and Nirvana: what a load of sh*t.

I harvested the majority of them simply because you gain more ADAM that way. Doing so ensures the darker ending.

My mate just started a new job in Game. He gets a 25% discount so I'll be tapping him up for the new COD game on Friday. Incidentally, I just finished Bioshock. It's arguably the best game I've ever played.

Agreed, the book is awesome. I'm very much looking forward to the film though.

Just back from seeing 30 Days of Night. It's fantastic, one of the best films you'll see this year.

I've been listening to a lot of Matisyahu recently. Anyone who likes chassidic reggae hip-hop rock should really check him out. He's awesome. He's one of the few positive things in my brother's iTunes after his year in the States.

Yes indeed.

No I don't think it is...

I'm getting laced into Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire. It's absolutely fantastic.

Why are they only encountering this problem now?

I saw Superbad last night. It's super funny.

Nice demo video of Assassin's Creed gameplay. They seem to have ironed out the nasty looking visual bugs from previous teasers and what's more this isn't even the finished product. I simply cannot wait.