Whatever indeed. He didn't "stamp" on his balls, he put his foot there as he was falling. Doesn't matter though because I suggest we may have seen the last of Ronaldo the cheating little sh*te in England, which can only be a good thing as far as I am concerned

Not true. Rooney was fouled 3 times before the "incident" and because he didn't go down holding his face like a fairy boy he ended up getting sent off. It is entirely possible he didn't put his studs on Carvalho intentionally as he was struggling for balance and falling backwards under the attention of the two Portugese. What is crystal clear is that Ronaldo was in the ref's face even though it was nothing to do with him, and winked at the bench after Rooney had gone. You appear to be from the Lawrenson school of match watching

And as for Mark Lawrenson...

Hated him before. Hate him now. Until club managers start sorting out their own players, cheating little s__ts like him are here to stay. And as for Rooney, clearly the lesson for him is that instead of trying to stay on your feet after the first foul by Carvalho, or the second, or the third, you should go down. Preferably holding your head and rolling around a bit.

Doesn't matter if it's his fault or not - it's true. The results have all gone our way but name a match where England have played well with Crouch in from the start. There isn't one. And against the decent teams we'll get taken apart unless we play our absolute best

To a certain extent it doesn't matter whether you rate Crouch or not (and I don't). The fact is that when he plays England are sh*te and the reason is that we change our game to suit him (a la Everton with a certain Mr Ferguson). I don't know if it is pyschological or deliberate but whenever he plays we don't bother with that passing malarkey, we just lump it and look for knock-downs.

It can be quite amazing this place! I think Lucas is doing what any right-minded individual would do and that is waiting until after the World Cup to see if he can increase his bargaining position. He's obviously confident because the risk is that he could get seriously injured and weaken his position. However, the number of people slating him for his disloyalty appears to be about the same as the number of people on here who accused Garry Flitcroft (with 9 years loyalty) of taking the mickey out of the club by taking his money when he wasn't in the first team and demanding that he be offloaded. You can't have it both ways

Nah and normally I'm a cynical old bugger. I don't know what came over me

We were talking about this at work today and someone mentioned that his weekly tax alone will pay for a nurse for a year. So in effect, Michael Ballack's signing will fund 52 nurses for 3 years! All in all, the tax paid by the Chelsea team probably pays for a full hospital! Looking at it that way I'm glad Abramovich wants to waste his cash in this country and not in Spain or Italy...

Call me cynical but naming and shaming them will only knock ££££'s off their value. That said, the grapevine in football is usch that probably most managers know who it is by now anyway

I think the irony of it is that in their attempts to ensure the "consumer" does not get ripped off by breaking up a monopoly, the EU have probably just pushed prices up...

Well frankly those of us who reckon he's sh*te would have to hold our hands up and admit we were wrong. I hope I have to do that - nothing would give me more pleasure than to see Engerland win a major tournament. It won't be happening. Look at his league record as Boro manager - it's average at best, and p*ss-poor if you factor in the money spent. Look at how his teams play - dull, dull, dull, dull Look at his record as England coach - as many people have pointed out on here, at the key moments England have failed and he is tainted by that already It isn't enough for England to qualify. At the VERY least, with the world-class players we've got and regardless of the manager, England should be reaching quarter finals - a world-class manager will take us those two steps further. The people on here who reckon we are being negative and hysterical in criticising McClaren answer this honestly. Do you really think we've now got a world-class manager to take us those two steps further?

My comparisons with Graham Taylor are not about his managerial ability - simply about the scenario where we had the buzz about the England team after Italia 90 which was virtually extinguished by the appointment of Taylor, and totally very soon after! Same thing here IMHO - best group of players ever etc, real chance of winning something, and now everyone is downcast about the future.

Exactly what happened after Italia 90 when they made the wrong appointment then...

Oh dear. The reason people don't like this appointment is because McClaren isn't good enough. His track record is poor. His team have finished something like 12th, 11th, 11th, 7th and depending upon results this weekend 12th to 15th. He's won the WC (against Bolton). You ask what Big Sam has done - well he's finished 16th, 17th, 8th, 6th and probably 8th. Not much better until you factor in the £50m + spent (and I don't like Big Sam either). Yakubu, Hasselbaink and Viduka are 3 exciting strikers, coupled with Downing, Mendieta and until last season Zenden, and still they are deadly dull. As for varying tactics, they appear to be remarkably consistent in the UEFA cup - play so badly you go 3 goals down until professional pride and a nothing-to-lose attitude takes over and then release the attacking potential your side undoubtedly possess by throwing everything forward. That's not tactics - that's desperation. Frankly it's "Turnip" time all over again...

Superb game - glad I escaped work and got there. Best atmosphere since VE day - even better than when we were 4-1 up against the scum! When did Mickey Gray decide he was a left winger!?! And did he tell anyone else. Absolute great evening

Don't agree at all. The man has not played many games, is lacking match sharpness and has been thrown back into a team that was collectively under massive pressure and short of confidence. You should judge him on his record not on one chance. He's an excellent player and clever too - an ideal combination with Bellamy. As for Dunny, I would love to see him back and taking over from Tugay over the next couple of years

About 10-12 years ago I got a game for my state-of-the art 486-DX266 PC that was, I think, one of the early versions of football manager, or championship manager. Anyway, I played it for ages taking lowly Halifax (the worst team in the game) from the bottom of the old 4th division up the leagues. I played for hours on that game, constantly analysing cheap players abilities and wondering whether they'd add to my team and could I afford the wages, should I increase the ground capacity or buy a new left-back etc etc. And then, somebody gave me a cheat for it that gave me infinite money. Basically, I just built up the stadium until I'd reached the limits of the software and I took Halifax to a number of titles in a very short space of time. I even won the European Cup with them. However, it didn't take long before I tired of it - it was boring just buying the best players whenever I felt like it and after ages playing the game, within a week or so of getting the cheat I'd ruined it and didn't want to play anymore. Basically, it just devalued all the achievements. Anyway, enough of the nostalgia. Hopefully I'll get away from work in time to see us just pip this one. My guess is that Chelsea without Terry will be a little less resilient and we know Bellers can cause them problems. 2-1 to us in front of 27,000

Don't think I agree with that. Pedersen yes - pathetic dive and embarrassing frankly. Savage and Bellamy (from the Sky shots anyway) seemed to be chatting to the referee - it was hardly Roy Keane and Man U style. I blame Rob Styles - I think he over-reacted. Compare it with the earlier game when Frank Lampard quite clearly (you didn't need to be a master lip-reader) told the ref to eff off twice and he got a talking to.

Does that mean that Plan B (Crouch) becomes Plan A. Sh*t, there goes the World Cup...

Football "writer" must be the least results driven job in the country. They constantly spout meaningless, irrelevant and often downright untrue opinions and there is little or no effect in being wrong. The sales of newspapers are very rarely related to the quality of their work so it is, frankly, money for old rope. So I agree - let's have a round-robin approach to the England job - they can take a couple of games each and see how they get on. But of course they wouldn't, because it would mean actually being judged on results... I'm resigned to Mr McClaren now

Fantastic. The bloody press again - especially after last night we'll be lumbered with McClaren. I hope nobody on this site buys any of the tabloids - it only encourages them

You're right of course when you factor in the amount he's spent which must be nearing big 4 levels. But we agree on the main point which is he ain't good enough for England and it certainly takes me back to Taylor's appointment...

There is no doubt that Peter is talented but it took MGP the best part of a season to find his feet in the premiership (and he was/is an international) and it will take Peter that long too. During which time we would be missing MGP's goals and assists. I think you're right that Peter should get more game time and MGP rested and I'm sure that is what Sparky will be thinking too. We shouldn't sell MGP thinking we have a ready-made replacement because we haven't. Yet. Only one thing in the premiership is sure - clubs that regularly cash in on their best players (selling clubs) do not progress and frequently go backwards. We of all fans should be well aware of that.

The people on here who reckon we should flog him because he doesn't contribute won't let simple things like facts get in the way of their opinions. MGP has scored 10 goals this season and is credited with 7 assists, which is the highest number by any Rovers player. Contrast that with Tugay (1g and 0a), Reid (2 and 1), Bentley (3 and 1), Savage (1 and 2) and Emerton (1 and 2) and you will see how important he is to our midfield creativity. Bellamy has 13 goals and 2 assists, albeit from fewer games, and yet nobody is suggesting he doesn't contribute. So, if we do cash in, then we need somebody equivalent to contribute towards 17 goals, just over a third of our total...