A lot of tactical naivety in these pages. Had we defended further up the field we would have been turned over long before the 92nd minute. France have pace to burn. Give them space by defending too far forwards and they will create chance after chance. As it was, they had perhaps two half chances from open play all game? The English failure was not holding the ball in the second half when we got possession. Had France been defending a 1-0 lead in the second half, you would have seen far more keep ball and players running into space (not going forwards neccessarilly). The criticism of Scholes and Beckham in that regard is correct. Both were very poor on the "out" ball. Fortunately Hargreaves looked very good as a Scholes replacement,

You're joking aren't you? Beckham's penalty was going in exactly the same position as Zidane's. If James had dived that way he may well have saved it. 1) Get video of game 2) Watch both penalties in real time and slowmo. 3) Come back and say you are mistaken. We forgive you.

Owen was at least putting a lot of pressure on the French defence and creating space which Rooney and others could use. The Beckham penalty was even worse watching it again. He put it exactly where goalkeeprs want it. Right height, pace and position to be saved.

mea culpa! I actually used DEFENSE to try to exculpate myself from having typed MIDFIELD in error in an earlier post.... not realising I was inadvertently setting up a spelling competition! I will revert to edit mode in future

Beckham was totally off the pace all evening. He seems to have forgotten how to run and pressurise in his year of loos women in Madrid. Perhaps all the ink is slowing him down- what a tart! Lets face it, he was very lucky to score with that penalty against Argentina and his effort tonight was woeful. However, Lampard's goal came from a magnificent Beckham free kick which was against the run of play at the time. Heskey has found his level playing alongside tinkerbell Taylor at Brum. What a stupid tackle to give away the freekick. With ZZ taking it, I would have stuck a man on the post and blow the offside confusion. Positives- Campbell and Rooney were awesome. The Italian commentators were besides themselves in admiration. Negatives- we are going out. The morale will be rock bottom and the Swiss and Croats only need draws against us. They will defend like their lives depend on it.

In my central DEFENSE, yes I have- its lovely apart from all the klaxons and air horns of the celebrating Labour supporters. (84% turnout- even Euro Elections really matter here)

Matteo will be a very poor signing.. A very big mistake to sign him.. Given that Matteo, if he comes, would be a direct replacement for Todd, I reckon he would be a massive improvement in every respect. I would have had more time for your carping if Rovers dod not already have four (Short, Nissa, Amo, McEveley) top level contenders for central midfield. Matteo's ability to play at full back gives us more options in positions we are more exposed if Neill/Gray are injured, suspended or loose form.

Karayaka came on as a second half sub. He won't want to remember his first involvement but looked pretty good on the ball. Didn't like the way he slowly jogged around though when Russia were chasing the game in the last 20 minutes.

Al, Fascinated to see Ferguson in such hallowed company. I hope you are right!

According to the LET, Rovers are negotiating on the basis of a wage cut for Matteo.

Exiled, to be honest I was unfortunate in not seeing much of Waggy- quite a few games I went to he was out through injury or suspension and he was not at Ewood that long. That was the reason for unashamedly picking Garner over Tony Field- so many wonderful memories of the great man over the dozen years he was playing for the Rovers. However, I do remember Waggie's stopping backspun passes. Another amazing passer was Duncan McKenzie- a 60 yard driven diagonal which picked Brotherston with about a yard of space between two Forest players but an angle to run onto in that League Cup Game at Ewood in 1980 is still one of the greatest passes I have ever seen. As for bringing in Big John McNamee- why not pair him with Killer? They would have to mark the Ewood goal area with cremation ashes and tombstones if those two had ever played together! What a thought.

Probably going no further tha Portugal= all the other teams are there as well. Any further west and they'll get wet.

Great show lofty, you are in my team! Anyway, I'm going to hijack the thread. Forget about best ever Rovers team, these are the players who gave me the most pleasure- the ones I always really looked forwards to watching play for the Rovers: Arnold Hird Bailey Keeley Hendry Tugay McKenzie Duff Douglas (how I wish I'd seen him in his prime) Garner Shearer Subs Brotherston Kendall Ripley Jones Sutton

It is hotter in Blackburn than it is in Malta if I read the weather reports correctly and it is sure hot as hell in Arizona. Not much happening on the transfer front, the Euro Championships haven't started yet and deep down we all expect that Zidane and Henry will continue where Puskas left off... Welcome to the Rovers (we really do support the same team honest..) chatboard.

The calculatons are probably something like this. Leeds- get rid of Matteo as SOON and with as little financial damage possible. Any transfer fee would be a bonus but that would only happen in an all out bidding war between several Prem sides. Part of their tactics will be quiet disclosure to Matteo that they are in very deep financial trouble- still/again. He has probably been told that leaving the club will be a noble sacrifice which will help it to survive. Matteo- staying at Leeds means drinking lots of Coca Cola and burping instead of playing decent competitive football. Scottish caps are at risk at a time when for the first time in his career there are signs the Scots might be putting a decent side together. He has just gone through a period in which his salary was only part paid and he has no confidence he will see the £6m over the next three years if he stays at Leeds. Besides the club have made it very clear they want rid. Rovers- get Matteo but not at any cost. Therefore publicly announce that Matteo is in talks as soon as they start and rely on JW/GS track record of getting their targets to put other clubs off enterng the race. GS sayng no fee but we take the contract is a way of avoiding unwelcome pressure coming onto the Leeds board to find other buyers. So far Rovers are in the driving seat. The club has the cash and Prem league position to offer Matteo an elegant way forwards. Likely deal: Free transfer, smallish goodbye payment from Leeds to get rid of the contract (by saying they want to get rid they effectively have to buy him out), Matteo comes to Ewood on a contract of 35 to 50% less than he was on at Leeds, glad that he can look forwards to receiving a still very handsome wage with certainty and delighted to be back in the Prem with the prospect of regular appearances.

My gut feel is that a new reality is settling on the Prem. The English G14 and G14 wannabes are financially in a league of their own- not just here but internationally. Only Real, Barca, and AC can really live with them. Debt and lack of sugar daddies are catching up with the other Serie A giants. The same goes for the middle tier Prem clubs of which we are one. English Prem wages are now far ahead of comparable wages paid by middle tier clubs in other leagues. That means that unless a never-expect-to-see-it-again £100m plus is injected for a club to have a go at competing with Chelsarse Utd, the rest of the Prem clubs are scrapping amongst themselves. It also means they DO not have to compete on wages- there are more than enough Prem quality players coming onto the market so for the first time in a long time, it is a buyers' market for the clubs. How many £1m+ transfer deals this summer have been struck by clubs which are not Champs League qualifiers? I now expect a gentle decline in players' wages, particularly as the clubs get the wages to income ratio down and prepare for a probable 30% drop in TV income when the current deal expires (more if the G14/EU negotiate for individual club bargaining rights). Therefore, the Rovers are probably doing the very best thing financially for long term Prem existence by taking older players on short term contracts.

Viduka and Milner by any chance?

Great news if the Mirror have got it right. Tugay to sign a one year extension.

All a bit academic now. The LET are reporting the Rovers will NOT increase their offer for MGP. Time to look elsewhere.

Too many of the posts on this thread are missing the point. I argued last summer that Souness' track record with the Rovers in different circumstances placed him at least the equal of Kenny Dalglish- I stand by that retrospective assessment. But football, and espacially a club like Blackburn Rovers, is about the present and the future, We spent most of the twentieth century living the glories of our achievements in a glorious decade in the nineteenth century. Are we similarly going to spend the twentyfirst century living on the remarkable achievement and transformation of the Jack Walker decade? More to the here and now, has Souness got what it takes to move Blackburn Rovers forwards again? Last season suggested not- dumb tactics, bad player management and repeated failure to motivate the team to beat lowly opposition (for the third season running!). A very interesting article here on the changing demands of English Premier League Management. On last season's performance, Souness does not measure up well to the new demands of achieving in the Premiership. Let's face it, Rovers are defying gravity. Blackburn is not a Premier League town and the Council does not understand that Blackburn Rovers is the biggest asset the town has by far. In fact Blackburn Rovers IS Blackburn so far as 99% of the world is concerned. That means the club has to be continually moving forwards, having a vision of how it is going to be ahead of the game- in financial and footballing strategies. We have the good fortune of being able to live off the fantastic Academy and other football infrastructure Jack built. But in footballing terms, that is all I see we are doing- living off the past. Perhaps the Lonsdale deal is a ground breaker- well done to JW and the team for doing that. But is Souness the man to keep the Rovers ahead of the pack in a footballing sense? I doubt it.

Absolutely delighted. Tugay is one of the best footballers to have graced Ewood Park in my lifetime. Hopefully, the backroom shifts means the Rovers can go back to playing the sort of football in which Tugay can keep the ball whizzing around the park to colleagues with spatial awareness. It is true he has slowed down but he's still good enough to find a blue and white shirt making themselves available. Last season was the hide and don't take responsibility season. Symptomatic when the boss is ruling by terror.

Liverpool Thai deal about to collapse Good

I'd love for none of our players ever to get injured, booked or sent off... Welcome to Paul Dickov, you are needed.

£100K

Ranieri says NO to Spuds.The man has gone up in my estimation as much as his bank balance will go up with his Chelsea pay out.