My reacton to Jeffers is the same as to Bellamy's signing - shrug of the shoulders. Lets sit back and see what happens. Mark Hughes is no fool and if he thinks Jeffers is a chance worth taking that's good enough for me. He'll have more imcentive to play tham some we've seen at Ewood in recent years.

Sorry! If Rovers lose it hurts a damn site more than Englamd losing..........for me anyway.

This is what I find so hard to understand, England have been pretty poor all tournament, yet so few seem prepared to say so. Yesterday's performance looked good between the 20th and 30th minutes, then we went back in our shell. Once Rooney went off the team played very well. To play a quarter-final, in heat, for an hour and restrict the Portugese to nothing was superb, though I would seriously question the opposition's ambition. England however have shown no real ambition throughout the tournament, they haven't performed. I've posted before if Rovers did this and reached a final we'd be happy but i wonder how we would reflect on such stuttering performances after the event. I feel SGE is very much to blame, I can recall posting on here five years back that his appointment would end in tears, it has. All we knew was he'd shafted Blackburn Rovers once and for me that was enough; he's shafted England for five years now. If he works again it will be too soon. I've been thinking for a while Germany would win this competition and I hope they do. The whole team, players, coaches and staff give off all the right signals. It isn't manufactured, this is a team in every sense of the word and it must be down to Klinsman. Much as I'd love to watch the great Zidane leave with a winner's medal I feel Germany truely deserve to win and will be cheering them all the way. Klinsman is a real football manager, or so it appears. England, ultimately, are just a collection of highly paid individuals who, with one or two exceptions, don't really look like a team of footballers. When they tell us how gutted they are it won't sound very convincing, you made the bed guys and now you have to lay in it.

People are disappointed, people have had a beer or two.............take it easy please guys. Name calling, etc are not needed.

Unlikely

May I be the first to congratulate Sven-Goren Eriksson. His magnificent achievements with the golden generation have come to nothing. £25 million down the toilet England haven't played at all in the WC Defeat in the quarter-finals of three major tournaments Five years wasted Progress = zero Goodbye, good riddance, with luck he'll get a banning order.

Agreed Alan. Can't see any hope except penalties right now.

Rooney stood on the Portugese player's crotch with the ref just feet away. What did he expect to happen?

Truely excellent header from Ayala

............thousands of highly paid support techies out of work at a stroke, I shall try that next time I'm in trouble.

Not to watch cricket. I did once go to either The Oval or Lords to see The Who, as it happens. I suspect it was The Oval, many years ago. Is there something I should know about Lords?

Yes we are, providing the tickets come through. I'll have a great day but I can't ever recall missing a home game before. On the other hand I can't disappoint my youngest and I've known Tom Smith since he was 3 days old! What a sacrafice though

I'm one of those who has been disappointed in the England performances, I predicted they would go out in the second round and I'm pleased to be wrong. I'm not an England fan in particular, if they do well and play well I shall enjoy it but I won't be gutted if they lose. I think this is possibly where the criticism is coming from, people who are not really committed in the way we are to our clubs. If Rovers had just put in four iffy performances to be two matches away from the FA Cup Final I'd be delighted. I wouldn't give a hoot about the performance. If we had a season of boring wins and finished champions life would just be too good to contemplate. Winning is what matters first and foremost, provided it's fair. It's the WC and milions of armchair England supporters are looking for stirring performances from the team. We haven't seen this which creates the feeling of they're doing OK but it should be much better. SGE has a tremendous pool of talent available, he's failed to use it for five years, he isn't using it in the WC and this, I feel, leaves many casual fans frustrated at the standard of play. If this were Rovers I'd be very happy, because it's England I'm sitting back thinking "Come on, entertain me" and I suspect millions who criticise the performances feel the same, but may not realise it.

When are the Sky fixtures announced? I desperately need the Chelsea game moved Any views on the chances of this happening? Will the UEFA have any effect? Dates of the potential ties?

1. Yes 2. There isn't one, but you obviously miss out if you wai till the season has begun

Me too. I dearly hope the reporter is right when he says that without the hooligan leaders the mindless few are lost. It may not be Stuttgart tonight but if we come home from the WC without a major riot it will be a very positive and significant achievement. Who should take the praise is an interesting question.

Really enjoyed the preview philip. Thanks. My prediction was for England to go out at this stage. Based on their play to date they will lose, based on the luck factor, for want of a better word, they will squeeze through with another unimaginative, boring display. We have players who can win games and against Ecuador it's likely one or two of them will produce a couple of magical moments to get us through. Exciting isn't it? Revidge suggests SGE is starting to look lucky, I agree. With the talent available he should get lucky. I shall be watching The Zutons and then The Who ~ they may not be around again, England probably will.

You're not married Flopsy

'cos that meant banishing the whole family, except me, to our bedroom and the chaos that would have ensued.........

Overall I'm now bored with the World Cup, too much exposure, too many idiot commentators and too much garbage on BBC radio. It's wall to wall overkill. Watching England has been the best cure for insomnia I've come across, so far I haven't managed to get through a whole match with them. Enjoyed the Germany-Poland game, all of the Argentina matches I've seen - just have to watch them for when they really begin to play - Brazil have been fun in patches. I badly wanted to watch Croatia - Australia last night but everyone else wanted Brazil so I ended up watching The Bill!!! (we only have one TV with digital) I've enjoyed Holland in parts and love Klinsman as Germany's manager - passionate! Flicking backwards and forwards at HT and FT last night you have to ask "Why, oh why is Martin O'Neil not the next England manager?" Intelligent, articulate, good insight, likeable, the man for the job. Instead we've had the blandest product ever to come out of Sweden for five years and now are faced with Steve "Boring Underachiever" McClaren for I don't know how long. McClaren out! It's no wonder England underperform and underachieve when the FA consistently ignore the best candidates for the job. Overall I agree with dave, the WC has been pretty ordinary so far.

Optimism, love it. The league is sorted so how about the double!

I've been listening out since around 4.00pm. The announcement was scheduled for 16.30 and then put back to 18.30 or later. Probably why a lot of people haven't caught it yet.

Don't see why not.

I'm not sure a 6-0 friendly against Jamaica really counts but I'll let you have it. So we have five memorable matches in five years at a cost of £25 million. We had more under Souness, and a hell of a lot more under Hughes. Now I know the comparison isn't fair so lets not go there. I don't care what nationality our manager is, though watching Klinsman's reaction against Poland tells you a lot, I just don't feel SGE has/is doing the job. This squad should be up there with Brazil in terms of the fear factor. Some of the finest players in current world football are playing long ball kick and hope. Where are the ideas, the creativity? I think England have players who might win the world cup but on form to date I still see them going out in round 2. We desperately need a perfromance against Sweden and then again versus Ecuador/Germany. Lets pray it's not Germany in their own backyard, if it is the team really have to lift themselves. If England progress to the final stages of this competition it will be despite, not because of, SGE. I really hope this team realises the problem and simply goes out and plays to its potential

Both England performances have been so dull I've managed to fall asleep during the second half, only being woken by Crouch's goal. I did manage to take in the first half. I've always believed SGE to be a complete waster and won't even try to hide my dislike and distrust of this odious man. I think it's now clear for the world to see he has no coaching or managerial ability whatsoever. Most people agree we have the finest collection of players for generations, they don't seem able to play for SGE. When was the last time we put together am exciting performance to remember? Knowing nothing about Ecuador I'm hoping we get them in the next stage, there's no doubt Germany will beat us. The one thing I cannot get to grips with is the performance and attitude of the team. In theory we have a real chance, once on the pitch the manager can do little to influence team play, why don't the team simply stick to fingers up to SGE and play to their strengths? These are professionals with a chance to win the WC and they are throwing it away. Perhaps they simply don't care.