Lennon has been very impressive in his short bursts so far, and Sven should try and find room for him in our next weird and wonderful formation (especially as Portugal looked uncomfortable against Robben's pace). I would be tempted to leave out Lampard; looks tired after a long season and has wasted good ball time and again by shooting from distance.

Seemed fit enough to be on the field. Should be good for a half against Sweden.

Mexico 1 0 Angola Can't wait for the Portugal vs Mexico game, should be a cracker in the style stakes.

The midfield four is not working and Sven needs to sort this out before Sweden. Neither Lampard or Gerrard are providing any defensive cover and they also seem tread on each others toes going forward. Carrick might be the answer. I agree that Lennon was MOTM and he may be worth a start in the next game. The fact that we have no Plan B tactics-wise though shows how many friendlies have been wasted over the last year. Michael Owen should be given another chance to prove his fitness seeing as qualification is assured and Rooney isn't likely to play the full match anyway.

Croatia. Drawn in a fair group, they have an excellent defence and they qualified for the tournament comfortably.

Graeme Souness and Simon Jordan!? Wow that could be spectacular as I doubt there are two more stubborn men in football.

Comparing Dickov to Cole is fairly pointless seeing as we paid millions for Andy and only £150,000 on the highly-charged Scot. Dickov has been excellent value for money and his attitude and work-rate have been second to none. Good luck to him wherever he ends up.

From the provisional squad, assuming Rooney and Owen not fit Robinson Neville Terry Ferdinand A. Cole Beckham Lampard Carrick J. Cole Gerrard (free attacking role) Defoe

Walcott being chosen is unbelievable. I feel like Sven has lost it somewhat, but my biggest criticism of him has been his unadventurous tactics and selections so I can't feel too aggrieved at him finally trying something different. It does show how he's wasted so many friendlies as several players in this group have little or no England experience.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...sea/4916092.stm An interesting analysis of Chelsea's tactics this season

Villa's away form has been very good this season, so unfortunately I can see a couple of dropped points.

Having not been at the game, and not watched it on Sky the highlights on MOTD2 were the only thing I have seen. I was still left under the impression that we were well worth a draw so the highlights cannot have been as biased as suggested. Unfortunately it is very difficult to represent the action exactly in such a topsy-turvy match with a short highlights slot. That said it is strange that the handball at 3-2 wasn't shown if all of the Sky commentators felt it was a good shout.

I think this would be a bad deal. We got lucky to receive so much cash for him considering his fragile physical condition, and buying him back now would spoil this. If Dunny can play a whole season injury free maybe it should be considered though, as he's Rovers through-and-through and we all know what he can do on his day.

That's good news. A reliable Premiership standard player and one less position that we would need worry about filling over summer. We wouldn't be likely to get a better player than Mickey for less than £1.5 (or huge wages on a Bosman) so if cash is tight we should save it for a goalscorer.

It's always good to see a young player doing well on loan as it suggests a good attitude and allows their talent to develop. Is Derbyshire a local lad? I remember that he signed from Great Harwood but not sure if he's from the Blackburn area.

I have to admit to being rather happy at Boro's performances this season, as at least it has put McClaren out of the running for the England job. I have no problem with the guy but I think England need a big personality as manager again, and a face from outside the current set-up. I doubt that Boro will go down as they have more match winners than the side around them, especially as their injury problems seem to be clearing up too.

I very much agree with this

I think you're on about Premier Manager, which was the first management sim I remember, but where you could only start with a Conference club. It was very very hard! That definitely covered the 94-5 season but it wouldn't be possible to pick Rovers straight away.

A score draw. Everton are much improved but they're even shorter of options than us up-front.

Of our current squad only Bentley has enough vision and passing ability to fill the creative midfield spot in place of Tugay. Here's hoping for another Hughes transfer bargain like Ryan Nelsen if there's not enough cash to buy a proven replacement. Tugay is worthy of another year but he's become too inconsistent with age to rely on him to produce regularly.

I doubt they will be keen to alter their logo, even in the interests of good taste. The away shirt looks far too much like our favourite near (distance not quality) rivals for my liking!

Souness continues his run of good job, bad job. Will probably do OK at his next club now everyone's expectations of him have dropped again.

How he can make a comment about fouls when they committed more than us I don't know. A classic Fergie dummy spit. Getting Ferguson riled makes this victory all the sweeter for me.

Not only did Jeff Winter think that everyone had paid to watch him blow his whistle all afternoon, now he expects football fans to pay to read about it.

Steven Reid is clearly a vital member of Hughes' set-up. He's one of the best athletes in the Premiership and gives maximum effort every game, which is a symbol of what Hughes wants from the team. His passing is far short of what Tugay can produce, but our current tactic of physical competition sees Reid as a key member of the first eleven. Maybe he is a little too similar to Savage in the centre of the park for when we are trying to open sides up, but our creativity is expected to come from the wide players (Pederson, Emerton, Bentley) in the set-up we're playing. Reidy has improved a great deal since Mark Hughes took over, and his wayward shooting is a small price to pay for what he brings in his all round game.