Couto on the bench ? he may be the only defender that can do a one on one marking job on Rooney, the other defenders IMo do not have the experience to cope with a dedicated 1 on 1/man to man marking. Portugal will play one up front and that is likely to be nunes, Pauletta is out suspended so for them to make surefire progress it means figo having to do a lot of work up the middle and down the flanks as well as helping out the defence. i honestly think that figo will be the weakest link and it will be payback for 2000

t4e and od yawn yawn yawn and by the way no offence taken

2-0 England

to the portugal fans on here Yes You have had a good team, you have a decent manager but your observations on how England might perform are misjudged. We have not played the best football yet, we are improving and on a steady roll. Portugal have no defender to cope with the power and pace of Rooney, not even Couto can cope with him. I forsee dirty tactics employed as really the only threat I see is ruud van nistlenoses diing partner cloonaldo. England will have done the homework and will be fully prepared. I expect total revenge for euro 2000 when the Portuguese ruined my first week in Corfu ! 2-0 England it is

pillock its not a source but simply conversation between myself and two leeds united followers, one a fan and the other staff at the shop ! I dont claim it to be true, nor do i class it as wholly reliable, I simply pointed out what had been said today ! numper

I have just got back from Leeds and paid a flying visit to the ground, its in a desolate state. The shop is full of bargains, yet there was NOONE there. Only spoke to staff and the one fan paying homage to BB, both stated they have already been informed by the club that Dom Matteo is going to Rovers next week. Leeds are today heavily linked with class acts and free signings - namely Brian deane and Nathan Blake ! What a sorry state

lets answer the neville conundrum shall we ? philippa neville cost England dear in euro 2000, he is a disgrace to the shirt and deprives another player of making it cause he somehow is rfw's little favourite. garry neville is a plump little monkey who is directly out of the rfw mould ie never ever give an opponent credit even when they turn you over. tonite England were impressive as well as poor, going forward fantastic, defensively inadequate. Campbell and terry played as far apart as possible and could cut out the threat of the croatian forwards. beckham still looks a yard short, Gerrard did play well but was clearly tired towards the end, Owen flattered to deceive and as for ROONEY ? well the youngster is a marvel and can only get better and better. English football has a pure jewel, a diamond that we have not had in 30 yrs of football. I just wish we could have 5 more like him. James is a prat, okay two good saves but calamatous again in the air. ***** now all those numpers who said England would not make the q'final, well you took one hell of a kicking - you were ALL SO WRONG Now its the Portuguese on Thursday, cue again v sore head friday ! I dont think that the old and ageing Portuguese can cope with an England team that is gathering momentum at a very quick pace. granted they have quality up front but at the back they are wide open. I cant wait till Thursday ps its a nice thing when 2 Rovers fans get on SKY

OFF TO THE CLUB now FOR PLENTY OF XXXX cue sore bonce tomorrow

still dont think they would beat England

now the whole footballing world has seen what we see week in week out Mike Riley really is a to$$er

oh I like that !!

leeds financial status is well known to all. they are unable to pay off players and HAVE to agree to subsidise wages in they move on. Looks like Viduka is on around £65k a week and boro are looking at leeds paying a quarter before they move in with a £4 million pound transfer fee. They still have Barmby on a massive contract for another 2 yrs and have offered him a free transfer but he is refusing to move due to the payments he will be due for NOT asking for a move. Imagine staying there for the whole contract and picking up serious money for doign NOWT? Oh to be a leeds player ching ching

jim having been to Old trafford recently I cant see any hope for Lancashire at the moment as they seem to have found a seriously sticky wicket !!

well the italians certainly looked world beaters didnt they ? 10 men behind the ball and still they cant defend properly !

so there we are girls and boys it just shows we all have differing views of our "opponents" in this championship tournament. I wholeheartedly agree that man for man Spain have some real class acts, the same for Italy, Holland and Portugal. The thing that spurs my positive thoughts for England is that we have more supporters out there than anyone else, we have a squad of players that can mould to any style of play be it pretty or damn awful, we have the capability to beat anyone in the world yet retain the type of team that can struggle against the poorer relations. Can anyone imagine that the dutch or germans would fancy playing England ? I dont think so that even stretches as far as the spaniards. the type of football we play - on a good day - out footballs most teams and we have the armour up front in ROONEY that scares the living sh**e out of defenders something that vnd, raul and co do not do ! so there we have it differing views et al !! still think england will win it

le c that was in no way a criticism I agree whole heartedlyabout ZZ but tonight he may have the class but didnt produce as for TH he is only as good as Owen at the moment !

latest round up of money mad abramovich's footie club they have reportedly (and rumours are rife around S bridge) that the club have in principle agreed a 16 million pound transfer of Deco and have set in place a deal for steve Gerrard for a mighty £54 million, this includes an annual salary of 5.5 million a year for him ! Outward bound rumours are that joe cole is available for a year loan, melchiot is off, jfh,mutu,gallas,cudicini are all offski. the hotel is being pulled down and they are hoping to get planning permission to rebuild a triple tiered stand in 150 days ! This would take the cpapcity to around 62k Money no object eh ?

No trenny thats funny

le c u watching the frogs on tv at the mo ? nothing short of a basic side and certainly not playing any better or more fluently than against England. They dont worry me if England can navigate the quarter finals. There has not been one team that England shold be concerned about. the italians will miss totti big style the germans have no flow about them and the defence is dodgy the dutch hate each other the spaniards have not enough quality if England are on top form the czech republic may struggle greece can be a handful but are more than beatble portugal will be lucky to be in the tournament now then have I missed anyone ?

jim NEWS is the fact that 30 plus innocents were slaughtered in Iraq by COWARDS the fact that a few English clowns had a sunshine brawl with the local old bill is NOT ! Cant believe the TV news sensationalising the idiots giving them high profiles and martyrdom whilst those poor Iraqi families mourn lost ones. yep thats news alright

This game was always going to be difficult for the following a draining last minute defeat against le frogs the heat a not too glamourous opposition I cant argue with the result or performance, it was a must win game, they did the business and now its all to play for agaisnt the Croats and from what I am watching they dont really look much better than the swiss. Monday night is going to be a great occasion I am sure. My wishes for that evening are as follows : The cooler at the pub dont break down Phil Neville does not get onto the pitch Heskey remains on the bench Micheal Owen realises that he has to get 90 minutes or face the bench in the quarter finals Rooney does not get over excited and gets a yellow card Sven realises that to mess around with the formation may just lead to England conceding stupid goals Beckham plays a blinder, finds the net with a free kick/penalty and that by then we know we have to face the Greeks. Keep smiling

leeds reports in yorkieshire indicating that Matteo is looking to join Rovers and is considering their latest offer.

it wont even make the small print cause he aint ENGLISH Anyhow back to the topic 10 of the fans facing deportation have been in Portugal for 2 weeks and have NO tickets for football matches. further to this one of them has been arrested and is one of the idiots who caused mayhem in Ireland when that game had to be abandoned and has been wanted ever since. Serves him right, jail them NOW. leave them to rot whilst the true fans enjoy themselves

jim the season is about 8 weeks away and you have already made an arse of it ! nice attempt at humour but failing as usual We dont know how he will fit in, not many spaniards have come to the PL in recent years so lets give him the benefit of the doubt, lets welcome him with a good old Lancashire greeting, lets get behind him and wish him well. i mean jim seriously your past it, I respect your ageing views but now it truly appears you have senile dementia of the highest order. Please can one of the mods take control of him

some people never get the idea of misdirection or idle misquoting to put off the mockers and slaters of the critics. of course there is money for transfers of course there is money for wages it strongly appears to me that like a good solid business they will NOT ever broadcast it