gumboots

He's injured!

Is it any coincidence that many of the journalists who write this stuff are reputed to be Spurs fans?

Have watched Owen at St James's the other week, at Turf Moor last week and on tv last night and I have to agree with Fife. The commentators keep saying that he's getting there, looks strong and sharp etc but I can't see it myself. He may need time on the pitch but if we had to bring Beckham back because"we need wins now" then we surely have to leave Owen out because we need wins now and with him up front we probably can't get them. Anyone hear the guy from the People on the radio this morning. Mike Parry doing his usual OTT on Beckham and saying we need him because there's nobdy else who can play there and expecting People guy to agree with him but guy says he can't see why Bentley, who was outstanding last week, wasn't given time on the pitch. Shut Parry up very quickly and guy cut off even quicker! What really worries me is that Brazil weren't ever at full stretch there. Estonia are poor but, judging by the Albania performance last week, will really come at us. The England team last night played a very slow game and I couldn't see where a change of pace was going to come from with Gerrard holding back so far and Lampard unable to pass a ball forward. It's one of those stupid games that we ought to win easily but could find ourselves not winning or just scraping through.

Hasta agree with everything you say. I find myself wanting England to lose or at least not win most games nowadays just because the quality of the performances is so poor. And then Motson and co go on about Terry scoring the first competitive goal at the New Wembley. What was the under 21 game then? A not trying game? The first goal was scored by that good Italian and the first Englishman to score was that guy you've all forgotten was on the bench tonight - David Bentley

Guy I knew had his father's cap, England amateur from about 1904.

Thimk if you look at some of the really okd football team pictures you'll see the guys with caps on, velvet ones with tassels

Could be but why should it be? the lad's enjoying what he's doing where he is. He'll go eventually if we can't get any further than we are now but he's come from a big club where he couldn't get a game. don't see him wanting to go back there. Man U have Ronaldo and won't currently want him. Chelsea might just because they want everybody to stop other teams having them but they don't need him and Roman isn't for spending big this season. Liverpool could want him but hopefully he's got the sense to see that it's not necessarily a forward step to go to Liverpool in view of Warnock and Bellamy's experiences. For a lad who wants to play week in, week out, Rafa's rotation would drive you nuts. Like all our best players he'll probably go sometime but I can't see what advantage he'd get from going just yet. He's said himself, he's enjoying himself here and when you see the smile on his face most of the time, why worry?

Daily Express reckoned that the travelling to games would be too much for him to do it on a regular basis. I think McClaren has got it wrong and I still will even if Beckham plays well. It's a backwards step, taken as much at the behest of the media as anything else. He's scared of not qualifying but how much worse will it look if he's brought back and we still don't qualify? Must have been nice for the England players last night to know what it feels like to be cheered and applauded not booed last night.

Not just Jenas, but Dyer who always lives down to his name. Neither looked anything special last night. Good to see alan Smith back to playing like he used to. He might be a pain but he's whole hearted and totally overshadowed Owen The press obsession with Owen, who is nowhere near match fit, bordered on the ridiculous. Nice to see the Daily Mail has really pushed the boat out on Bentley and nice to see David saying that he's found his place at Rovers. Following on from Warnock's good words about the club the other week, all we now need is for Morten to ask why he needs to move because he's at the right club and we'll really look good to any potential new signings.

No, he's going in the hopes of winning something too, but the thing is that while players feel the need to move to certain clubs in order to win anything the others don't stand a chance and that was the point of Samuel's article - that if more players stayed put then the league could become more competitive again and we'd stand more chance of getting cup finals worth watching rather than the dross that was served up yesterday. A bit hypocritical from someone who's probably done as much to keep trying to move players on as any other writer, but perhaps yesterday's appalling match has finally made them wake up and realise that the product they're all so keen to profit from relies on competition for its appeal.

Interesting article in the NOTW by Martin Samuel about why Berbatov should stay at Spurs. Goes on to say that the league is becoming increasingly non-competitive and if players like McCarthy leave us and Owen leaves Newcastle etc. then there's something wrong, because Newcastle, Blackburn and several other clubs he names are good places to be at the moment.

If it gets to a week before the transfer deadline then I don't think he'd be allowed to go. That's what happened with Lucas Neill last year. we held on till the Jan transfer window just because we had no time to buy a replacement. We have all the more reason to hold on to McCarthy because he's got plenty of time to run on his contract. Mark Hughes was open and honest with Neill about his reasons for not letting him go at that stage and I think he'd be equally so with McCarrthy.

The thread asks "What does everyone think of him?" Well, unfortunately what I currently think of him is unprintable and, if it appeared here would get me banned permanently. Enough said.

Fife you are a very crafty gentleman. I think Mark Hughes will handle the situation in his usual apparently mild manner whilst letting Benni know in no uncertain terms what he thinks of him if it turns out he did say what he's been reported as saying. Our players all say in interview that Mark Hughes doesn't need to say much - you know when he's not pleased with you.

Was in tonights LET too so I suspect the intention at least is true, whether or not Hughes is able to hold on to him.

What's medium priced for Chelsea anyway? Surely they wouldn't want to admit they couldn't match Spurs price for Berbatov or pay what Liverpool paid for the strikers they bought last season. Even if we bumped McCarthy's price up a bit from what we paid for him we couldn't ask much and I doubt Chelsea would like it to be thought they needed to buy players on the cheap even if they've proved to be rather good in the prem.

If you read the article in the LET he also says that's he's really excited about the squad he's got at Rovers now and is looking forward to next season. What's the guy to do? He can't say I don't want to be United manager and the prospect fills me with horror if he wants the job at some time in the future. I think he's perfectly content to learn his trade here, to build up respect and credit for being good at his job and then, at some future date he'll go. Can you honestly see United or Chelsea taking him at the moment? He's good but still relatively unproven and both the United and Chelsea managers had achieved before they moved to those jobs. Ambitious Mark Hughes certainly is but unrealistic, no.

Wasn't meaning to talk about attitude but about how hard it is to progress if you come through too early. I agree that Rooney does still work very hard but nobody could say that he is still hitting the heights he did earlier in his career.

The problem with lads who are "world class" at an early age is that all too many of them never, for whatever reason, get any better. Think of the hype around Rooney 3 years ago and then look at his performances recently for England and even for United. He's good but he hasn't gone on to greater things. Look at Jeffers, worth a fortune a few years back and now unable to get a game with us. I'd rather have a player like Derbyshire who won't think he's got it made, who'll be prepared to work for what he gets and not take things for granted but who'll develop into a good premiership striker with the right help and advice. I'd like a few stars at Rovers, of course I would, but they cost big money we don't have and so we have to look realistically at what is available. I was delighted for Matt, scoring for U21s and absolutely delighted for the club too. Think what a boost it must be to the youngsters at Brockhall to see a guy they were playing with not so long ago doing so well.

For the U 21s Bentley played inside Routledge anyway and so could be accommodated for England even if you persisted with Lennon. Personally, although pace matters it is not the be all and end all and being able to hit a decent cross is as important if not more so and so I'd choose Bentley any day

Couldn't believe the very guarded criticism of England yesterday by all the pundits I heard. Apologies if any of them said what the fans were really thinking but I didn't hear it. What's the point of being a pundit if you're scared of saying that was rubbish, especially on a night when if you'd dared to be really harsh 99% of the country would be behind you.

Appropriate too for a club with our history that our players make their mark today. Kept waiting for the commentators to use the word fairytale about Matt Derbyshire but somehow they resisted it. Much more exciting watching international games when your players are playing, and probably a far better game than we'll see form the full squad later today.

Amazing how seasons can turn round when you get a bit of confidence and score a few goals isn't it? You look back at games like Middlesbrough and Liverpool at home and think that if they hadn't gone our way we could be the ones crying now.

The point surely in the Arsenal Wigan game was how could neither the ref nor the linesman see anything when on the first shot we saw, not the millionth replay, everyone in our house shouted penalty as by all accounts did all the sky pundits, in line with, but further away than the linesman. Were the officials too close? I have no axe to grind with officials in general as my cousin is married to a premiership linesman, but that was a penalty however anyone tries to explain the decision away and if they couldn't see it, with clear sightlines such as they had, then they shouldn't be doing the job. It wasn't an honest error. It was, at the least, gross incompetence, and at worst, something far more sinister.