We've looked comfortable till that point but lacked inspiration going forward. Beckham has looked competent but you do think Bents could do a much better job out there.

Real shame aswell to see another over officious ref. Yes taking your shirt off is a yellow but he was revealing a tribute to someone who had just died, and it's a friendly match. Was that really necessary?

I've got a feeling that Moko will get the axe if it's serious.

Even if it's not, the principle of it all, I am utterly livid right now.

Capello is just letting Beckham have his day when it doesn't matter. Let him start and have his ovation as he's subbed after 60 minutes. The Beckham circus will then have officially left town.

England can get on with winning games rather than hype. I think Capello knows where the future lies. I hope so, anyway!

It does matter though, bring him on as a substitute and let him have his ovation then. How many times are we going to play real top bracket opposition before the next World Cup? Maybe one, maximum two more friendlies? We need to look to the future, bit miffed at this.

The climate would have to get extreme to the point where every other 'defensive midfielder' on the planet would have to become extinct for Mokoena to be worth even one militenth of £2m.

Remember how much we got for Kuqi...I think we're being a little harsh here. As i said he could do a great job in the Championship.

I'd say £2m could be fair, he's still 27 and could do a great job for one of the Championship sides and there's a few in that division who could and would easily cough up that much. Even for a promoted side he could do a good job, hes just not good enough for a side with European ambitions.

i'm noticing a recurrent trend in AESF's posts, can't quite put my finger on what it is...

i am starting to worry he'll never really be good enough for the top level. he's quick and instinctive but just isnt capable of putting fear into opposing defenders like top strikers can. maybe if he bulks up more and adds some strength to his game he could be effective but right now he just doesnt offer enough.

British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

I brilliant album from one of my favourite bands.

definitely. seeing them in a couple of weeks, always put on a great show.

new british sea power and los campesinos! albums are setting a standard for 2008 already.

also, from last year, but really been getting into untrue by burial. might not be everyone's cup of tea but worth a listen for sure.

football365:

Jose Mourinho is ready and willing to talk to the Football Association about the vacant England manager's role.

The former Chelsea boss has emerged as the fans' favourite to take over the reins from Steve McClaren, who was dismissed last week after his failure to lead England to the Euro 2008 finals.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick is set to begin his hunt for England's new boss within the next week - and contrary to an apparent consensus that he would not be tempted by the job, Mourinho admits he would welcome an approach.

"You will have to speak to the FA to see if they are interested in offering me the job," he told The Sun.

"I cannot say what I think until they say they are interested. Tell the FA to come and get me.

"We will have to wait and see, but I rule nothing out."

bbc sport is reporting that the sun claim jose has invited fa to talk about manager's job. could be claptrap, theyre in the process of writing the story up right now...

see if we can get some money for him in january. you can say all you like about there not being enough left sided midfielders around, but im sure we can find someone as good as him and have money to spare. he's been abysmal for far too long.

saw arcade fire for the 5th time at MEN arena last saturday and got to meet the band afterwards. best band in the world right now by a country mile. seeing the verve on tuesday...

going to see the arcade fire for the 5th time this saturday, really excited as with every time i see them. such a brilliant band.

comparing him to sven is an insult to sven. sven did an average job as england manager, no better, no worse, and has achieved much more at club level. mclaren has been pretty awful at both, save for that uefa cup run.

the new radiohead album is fantastic. not a weak track on it. dont get me wrong theyre one of my top 3 or 4 bands but i can recognise half of the last album was dirge and amnesiac was pretty patchy. this is ace though, gets better with each listen.

anyone going to any gigs in the coming months? i'm seeing the following..

go! team at the manchester ritz

lcd soundsystem at the manchester apollo

arcade fire at the MEN arena

the verve at blackpool empress ballroom

interpol at blackpool empress ballroom

Tony, (I seem to be replying to you alot today)

30 or so years ago, a mate of mine like to indulge in a a "smoke" over lunch. Remember hash was of a lesser "quality" then.

Bill enjoyed it carried on and now. Tony, you should see him. To put it mildly, he's a mess. Never married, heart attack material, and has had medical attention for that; a life totally wasted, he was a top bloke.

Now, he can't do the things his mate can.

So before you go down the track that there's no problems, think about what will happen in 10/20/30 years.

As for acid, well the two recent deaths of teenagers (in Sydney) suggests that there is more of a problem than previously thought.

ah, i only do these things occasionally. i smoke hash maybe once or twice in a month do pills a similar amount. regular use of any of these drugs will probably do you more harm than having a pint every evening, i'm fully aware of that...but isolated deaths shouldnt always be used because there can be a number of factors. for example in the case of leah betts, there was a huge tabloid explosion about how ecstasy had killed her, but afterwards it had emerged her actual cause of death was drinking too much water. legalising certain drugs (not all though) means that better education can be given about them and the toxic elements removed from the drugs.

i think a distinction does need to be made between drugs. some drugs such as ecstasy and acid arent actually chemically addictive like heroin, cocaine or even alcohol can be...users can become habitual but its not nearly the same. also in their pure form theyre not toxic either, although E can be due to the substances its cut with. personally i'm an occasional E user and have done a few psychedelics, smoke marijuana occasionally and have tried coke once (whilst in sao paulo last summer, probably not the wisest move really). wouldnt want to do coke again, as enjoyable as it was i wouldnt want to get in those circles, cokes a pretty nasty drug all told. E is good fun though. however, i need to be very careful as i'm going to be a doctor in two years so cant really afford to get caught...

Put a bet on at the start of the season for McCarthy for finsh in the top 4 Prem League goalscorers.

Will rake in £500 if it comes off!!

Drogba Chelsea 18

Ronaldo Man Utd 16

McCarthy Blackburn 12

Yakubu Middlesbrough 12

ARE YOU SURE?

WENT TO SEE THE VIEW LAST WEEK AT MANCHESTER ACCADEMY AND AGAIN THEY WERE FANATASTIC, BUT MUST SAY THE AUTOMATIC WERE VERY POOR INDEED.

DEBS GOING TO WATCH JARVIS AT THE SAME VENUE MONDAY 19TH FEB, WAS DISCO 2000 REALLY WRITTEN BY JARVIS ABOUT DEBS.......YOU DECIDE.......

the view aren't even in the same world as the arcade fire. i saw them support primal scream back in november and have heard their stuff. theyre pretty tight live and theyre not bad...but theyre not doing anything the libs didnt do better really.

went to a couple of gigs lately..

Friday before last I saw The Arcade Fire at Porchester Hall in London. Unquestionably the best band in the world at the moment, tickets for this set of shows were going for £250 a pair on ebay. I picked them up for face value and got on the megabus down to London for the gig. I'd seen them before at the Leadmill in 2005 when no one had really heard about them, and it was in my top 2 gigs I'd ever been to. This time round they played mostly stuff off their new album Neon Bible but it all sounded really good. They also played Rebellion (Lies), Haiti and Power Out off the first album during the gig itself, then at the end of the gig came out into the crowd and played an acoustic version of Wake Up. Amazing band, amazing gig and I felt very lucky to see them so close up in a venue like that, yet still not quite as good as the first time I saw them. 9/10

Last Wednesday I went to see the NME Indie Rave Tour at Leeds Metropolitan University. Bottom of the bill were the New Young Pony Club. Sounded okay but nothing special, extra point as they had three hot women in their band. 6/10. Next up were The Sunshine Underground, a Leeds band with, appropriately, a large underground following. It was from this point on that the crowd started going pretty insane, and this carried on till the end of the gig, meaning that the whole gig was pretty tiring, although I'd sooner have a lively crowd than a boring one. They put on a good show, the lead singer's vocals can grate at times but Commercial Breakdown and Borders sounded pretty superb. 7/10. Second on the bill were Cansei de Ser Sexy (or CSS as they are commonly known) hailing from Sao Paulo. I'd seen them once before and it was a brilliant gig which was more like a party. This time round they were again very good and their lead singer Lovefoxxx is pretty much my ideal woman. 'Lets Make Love and Listen to Death from Above' and 'Off the Hook' were probably the highlights. 8.5/10. Headlining were The Klaxons. A bit overrated on record with a few killer songs, they were more impressive live. Atlantis to Interzone provided maybe the highlight of the night, and their cover of 'It's Not Over Yet' took us back to 1992. 8/10

Take note Ewood Spark. Yes, we can do without the bigotry but we can also do without the snobbery.

if you think there's anything wrong with complaining about the things he complained about then you're just as bad as the people he described. if you even come close to equating what you may call 'snobbery' with the hateful behaviour of that set of rovers fans then you're just as bad as them. and quite frankly, theyre ignorant vile individuals who deserve some form of painful terminal illness.

1-1 i reckon