Two own goals now.

Gamst scores from a free kick with the aid of a deflection of Trevor Sinclair, 1-0 to us in the 17th minute.

CSKA Soffia Round 1 before Celtic last time...

I'm fairly sure that was a 1-1 draw... we drew 3-3 away and went through on away goals.

We've won one European game, which was a Champions League game.

5Live said the second penalty was awarded for a Lucas Neil 'handball', which the TV replay showed struck him firmly in the chest.

I wonder what it says about the current state of Blackburn Rovers if Lucas Neil can go from looking like a world-class defender playing in back three for Australia against Japan, Croatia, Brazil and Italy*...

..to looking like a complete numpty against Portsmouth.

Bear in mind that for Australia his fellow defenders included Craig Moore, Tony Popovic, Scott Chipperfield and occasionally Brett Emerton.

Regarding good old Brett, interestingly, Guus has never played Emerton as a right-sided midfielder/winger. He has either played as a central midfielder, as a right-sided defender, or not at all.

*except for sitting on his arse in the 94th minute and allowing Matterazi to fall over him.

Bottom of the league and we're having an.. erm...

Bently sounds like he is having a good game.

anyone else surprised that Cahill wasn't playing?

You were saying?

Oh well.. if we were to suffer a last-minute equalise, it couldn't have been scored by a nicer chap.

Hilarious.. its going to be great to watch.

All the fuss about how well Neill did at centre half in the world cup bemuses me. The truth is Australia had nobody else to play in that position (Popovic doesn't count he's useless) after Vidmar had to withdraw...

Neil was always first choice centre-back along with Moore. Vidmar would have been the third centre back.

We enjoyed walking through the gardens of Blehiem Palace..

..although the little monster slept through the whole thing anyway.

I'll drag this thread up in the depths of a cold, harsh winter and we'll see how you feel then

Phhht... it's not that bad you old softie Jim

It's great weather for a quick bike ride at lunch time... oh and for summer fruits!

Guinness and Black!?! Never heard of that one.

I'm very partial to a Guinness or three. I used to be mad on it in my younger days (i.e. mid 20's). Guiness on tap will vary widely from pub to pub. How often they clean the lines (and how old the keg is) will very much affect your Guinness experience.

I'm back into the black stuff after a bit of a lay-off.

If you are ever down-under, I heartily recommend Coopers Extra Vintage Stout. A very full rich stout which has a strong licorice taste. It makes Guinness feel a bit like Stella!

You will only find it from a bottle shop though, I've never found it on tap.

Also, it's about 7-8% alcohol so it is perfect for a quiet night in

I'm confused.

Years ago I heard tremendous tales regarding the quality of Thwaites beer.. hand pumped from a wooden cask... a 'living' beer as opposed to all the modern beers that are carbonated from steel kegs.

When I first visited Blackburn in '99 I even took pictures of the Thwaites factory

I presume from this thread that Thwaites is now some huge conglomerate selling a few varieties of dodgy foreign 'flashy' beers that make Stella look like a rich and nourishing meal.

Can someone please explain the difference between the Thwaites that I used to know (which some people are referring to here) and the modern Thwaites?!?

i aint bothered who we get or where it is, but what i would like is to progress through to the group phase, and then fingers crossed, the knockout phase.

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I echo this sentiment. All this pie-in-the-sky planning of ultimate footballing vacation spots seems somewhat at odds with our record in the UEFA cup

Let's win a few games first... I don't care where or when. Then I can start worrying about taking some days of annual leave and bringing the family for a 'footballing holiday' to Italy or Spain.

Oh what might have been.

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Agreed. I still like to imagine an alternate universe where his goals against Barthez were allowed to stand and think about what 'could have been'...

Just saw the replay and IMO there was no way that Kuqi's goal should have been allowed.

Then again, I'm a keeper... and we always stick up for our own

But there real question that needs to be answered is how did Rog go with Amanda?!?!

Didn't we score from 11 corners the year that Emerton took them?

Got this from the Rovers email list.

>Despite living in LA I have managed to turn my son into a Rovers fan and

> organized for us to accompany his grandad to the Sunderland game during our 3

> day spell in England. Even though we paid close attention to Radio Blackburn

> we didn't hear of the postponement until we arrived at the ground and to make

> matters worse the club shop was closed so he couldn't buy a MGP shirt. So the

> next day we returned to the ground from St. Annes where my dad lives, while

> he was checking out the shop and getting the shirt I went into reception to

> see if he could at least see the pitch given the distance we'd travelled. The

> lady on reception said that there were no Ground tours that day, but she'd

> call Garry.

>

> Garry said he'd be happy to show us around, and even suggested we bought a

> disposable camera to record the event. What followed was a wonderful hour, we

> walked up to the half way line, took photos where the players come out , saw

> the post match interview room, changing rooms, premiership replica, Boardroom

> and finished off by having our photos taken together under the Jack Walker

> statue.

>

> It more than made up for missing the game and 13 year old Nick is a fan for

> life.

>

> Thanks Rovers - and especially Garry.

>

> Peter

>

Owen is a superb player, no doubt about that. But if he was truly 'world-class' he would have cemented a place at Real Madrid.

I think the current England team lacks the 'flair' and 'spark' that several players in the '90 squad could deliver.

Only Rooney IMO is able to have that ability to make 'something from nothing'. Gerrard and Lampard are class...but their strengths lie in other areas.

To make it all the way in a World Cup (or very close to it), you need a player, who on his day, can win the game off his own boot. Think back to USA '94, and the efforts of Baggio in the knockout games. And Stoitckov's efforts for Bulgaria. Likewise, Zidane's efforts for France four years later.

Rooney showed glimpes of that 'extra' ability in Euro 2004.. but we also know he's a spoilt immature numpty who is almost as likely to get a straight red card as he is to score a goal of pure genius.

This is a better England side than the one that got to the semis of 1990, indeed it is, in terms of individal talent, the best I have ever seen.

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Lineker-Beardlsey-Platt-Barnes-Waddle-Gascoigne?!?!

versus Owen-Rooney-Beckham-Lampard-Gerrard??

Your team in 1990 had wingers. Your current team doesn't. The 1990 team had a truly world-class finisher... your current team doesn't.

England will do fine in the upcoming world cup becaue they have a decent squad. In addition, a lot of the European teams (e.g. Holland, Germany, Italy) are playing no-where near there best.. or a moving through a transition phase.. arguments with the coach... whatever. Sven still doesn't know what his best formation is but there is enough talent in the team to get to the quarters at least.

England will probably lose to Sweden but win the rest of their qualifying matches.

Actually.. Brazil aside... it is probably one of the most open World Cups in years.

I'd personally have taken a team off Africa and given one more to South America but I don't want another European Championships because we get to watch one of those every four years as well.

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With Australia moving to Asia from Oceania next season, you'll essentially have one more South American team anyway at the expense of 'Oceania'.

I thought that Australia's worst possible draw would be Brazil, Holland, Japan and Australia.

We will really struggle in that group. Last time we made it to the world cup we didn't score a goal. Let's try and improve on that benchmark.. and take it from there.