Those of you who are still banging on about the Norwegian ref ought to ge out a bit more. And if a bit agrophobic, then at least watch that game again. Whoever had lost could have blamed the ref - he was rubbish not biased. Chelsea were at home in the semi final of the Champions against 10 men and they bew it. THAT wasn't the ref's fault, it was theirs.

one of the best left sided players in the premiership. Which just about says all that need to be said. He can run (quite) fast. But only in a straight line. And he can't cross. And he is considered (see above).

The expression "one trick pony" could have been invented for Downing. To call him crap flatters him.

Somo of you lot are completely maaaayde. Or blind. Spain struggled to get to the World Cup, only qualifyng via the play-offs. and they had a p1ss easy group. Ukraine had a much harder group and walked it. So what does that tell us about their respective chances? Nowt. Yesterday Ukraine were the worst team I have seen in years. I'm not surprised the manager did his nut afterwards, those players clearly have no shame. Spain yesterday played brilliant attacking footy and were lucky. OK, you make your own luck and all that, but in major tournaments, Spain have rarely been a lucky team. (THE game that made FIFA completely change the refereeing system at the World Cup was the shambles that was S.Korea v Spain in the last world cup. If that had happened SK v England, we'd have invaded!). But I suspect the truth is that Spain won't play as well again (or won't be alllowed etc) and Ukraine won't play as badly. In fact, the Saudis are probably in for a 9 -0 type hammering. What has all this got to do with England? This afternoon they have to be "brave"and, if they get the breaks, ruthless. We are playing T&T for crying out loud! Beenhakker is playing mind-games because he knows the reality about this match. Any result less than a win by at least four (yes, FOUR) goals and England don't (and won't) get anywhere near the semis, let alone win the thing.

What is a Gazsimm? A bleedin' clairvoyant, that's what! Not even Villa and Torres' mums would have predicted that one. Mind you, Ukraine were dreadful. My 0 - 2 was just wishful thinking. Now I'll have Marca, AS, the whole world and his perro telling me that Spain will make history and win the world cup by playing beautiful footy and winning every game a trillion - nil.

The bench is the best place for Joaquin, yet another over-rated Spaniard. Ukraine to win 2 - 0.

Does anybody seriously think that Spain will do owt? They won't, in spite of one or two good payers, few of whom will arrive in Germany on the back of a good season. Some will (Villa, the Barcelona lads, maybe the Liverpool lads at a push). Even assuming they get as far as the quarter finals, who will they face? Oh, that would be Brazil then. Is anyone seriously suggesting...? Nah, I didn't think you were.

You are not wrong about Casillas. Can you think of 3 better keepers (without including the other two Spanish keepers, either of whom would be first choice for England). Having said that, Spain will still do nowt.

All teams can afford one or two over-rated players, but Spain has waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many. Joaquin is useless, take it from me. One half decent dribble per game is not positively frightening. Fernando Torres....don't believe everything you read. First up, I doubt he will start as they won't start with three strikers and Raul and David Villa, for different reasons (captain and the in-form Spanish striker) are ahead of him. The defence is suspect, the great Carles Puyol aside, and there is a real lack of bottle in the midfield. My scars are never wrong and they say quarter finals at best.

Is it my imagination or is there actually a fair degree of consensus here? By and large, it seems we all accept that Rovers have been out of sorts lately, but that sixth place is still better than evens and we all know that we have one class player (sometimes), a few better than OK and one or two fricken donkeys. Or three. Or four. Do people really only like Todd "cos is 'ard"? And @#/? and a total liabilty. And Gray? He isn't even 'ard, just @#/?. Has he ever actually passed to a Rovers player??? Hughes isn't blind and he isn't stupid. We should just trust him to sort it out over the summer. Which, of course, begs the perennial question about funds. Also we'll have to put up with all those misguided fools, members of the Benni McCarthy fan club. So, taking for granted that loads of posts will be about Benni, what else is on our summer wish list. And, btw, last night was a defaet waiting to happen, as we all seem to agree. We've got it out of our system now.

Benni McCarthy who all the anti-Bellamy brigade wanted during the summer is seriously not very good. Don't believe anyone who says otherwise.

I agree with realbluesman's match analysis. Rovers could have played all night and still not scored. That said, 'twas still sth of a mystery the way Hughes seemed to be satisfied with 0-1 and no points rather than just going for it with 20 minutes to go. It must be part of his psychological preparation for the Burnley game (or sth). And it has to be said that any Mirror reading Rovers fans simply HAVE to stop being one or the other. "Pack of mad dogs...savage assaults...90 minutes of ugliness...last night's savagery", etbloodycetera. Ollie Holt is clearly a corrupt tosser, who has taken the Abramovich shilling, but above and beyond that, his "report" was about a footy match, not genocide in Darfur. In a profession that should, as a rule, be ashamed of itself, Ollie puts the whole damn lo ot them to shame. Scum.

But is it really the case that just because a bloke, one bloke, says such and such is good, the club then start negotiations to spend 7 (or in Drogba's case 24 million quid). There must be some kind of second (or preferably, tenth or eleventh) opinion to stop managers just bringing in their mates or "easy" players??I'm not suggesting it should be all down to the chairman, as tends to happen in Spain, for instance, but surely the club should demand that the manager present a water tight (OK, OK football is football, etc) case for a new signing???

I realise that it's no longer the done thing (was it ever?) for anyone to take responsibility for owt at Premiership clubs, but between de Pedro (how much have we paid him in wages in the past 8 months or so) and Ferguson, someone has screwed up big time and lost the club shed-loads of money. So the chairman bleats/brags about having the biggest squad in the premiership. So stop throwing good money after bad, dimbo!! How many of the good folks who read this website could lose so much money (for sod all, don't forget) at work and expect to stay in their job? Oh yes, and a promise that that that anchorman Bellamy will never darken the doors of Ewood Park would also be most welcome.

Sorry Bob. I must have been out of Blackburn for too long. Went over my head. But, to get back to the point, amongst all you ear to the ground finger on the trigger types, absolutely no one has any idea what the situation re- de Pedro really is. Seems like another truiumph for the Rovers' highly oiled (and even more highly paid) PR machine. I think they should be obliged to post a weekly up-date on the official website of the current situation of every single squad member. I mean, what with the Parkes fiasco and mystery non-players, they are just taking the ######, aren't they?

Look, everyone, the lardy arsed guzzler was OUT OF CONTRACT. That means that, when he came to Blackburn (to learn English and go round to Ivan Campo's house to rustle up some top Spanish nosh) he was no longer a Real Sociedad player. Talk about the beer talking. You want to change where you drink. he was almost certainly a Burnley 5th columnist.

Anyone got any news on Javi de Pedro? Why is he not even on the bench? Is he injured or has the penny dropped that signing a fat bloke who has hardly kicked a football since the 2002/03 season was not a very bright idea. Came on a Bosman did someone say? And how much are we paying him? Free? I should coco. What is the official situation with him?