Thought I'd start a football blog, we might keep this going until 2010.....England doing well....did not see the match or even the goals....I'd like Michael owen back in the squad though....and I think Peter Crouch would make a very good substitute...remember against Argentina in Geneva a few years ago....with Michael Owen and some very good movements on and off the ball...they caused havoc.....did see Scotland's missed chance....that could be very costly losing those 2 points !.

Its all park football up there RF.Trig likes a good day outplenty of boozesinging Rod/Andy Stewart songsplenty of funny momentsfinished off with a good old-fashioned punch-up.bingo!

My mistake, went through all the groups in the uefa cup stages and I can't see Glasgow Rangers anywhere....knocked out presumably, missed that.....very bad year for Scotland !, must say that they were very unlucky not to have made the European finals last summer !.

tabby....away and get yer missus to work some overtime behind the tills.

requiredfield...scottish football in the doldrums at the moment...the national under 21 team is a disgrace also so the future is not looking bright

ps rangers got beaten in a qualifier fr the champions league and that knocked them out of europe totally

Good results all round, Man city ,Spurs and Villa will all go through but I have my doubts about Pompey....they have to beat Wolfsburg, tricky !.

Well congratulations to Ronaldo.....to win a France Football "ballon d'or" takes some doing, last person from these shores to win was Michael Owen (I think in 2001), let's hope the reds can win the World Club Championship (new format) in a few weeks time !. Beside the soccer the England Rugby Union team in my opinion have a difficult task with Scotland and Argentina !, "boy" they will have to improve....luckily this is 3 years away : 2011 !. Why have the draws 3 years before the games are going to be played ? crazy !, in football the draws are made 6 months or so before : that gives plenty of time to prepare !.

Portsmouth blew it !, as I thought they would, really can't see them getting back into Europe next season, I don't like singling out players, but what do people see in Defoe ?, out of 10 goal chances : he might score once !.

Apart from being a great Hollywood actor ?, (not the same person possibly) ?!.

There was definitively a penalty at the end of "Platoon", the "ref" from the helicopter blew the whistle but too late !.

Further to my previous posts ; I've just thought of a joke : What's the difference between an actor and a footballer ?, answer = An actor can have a couple of great performances and a hundred duds and be remembered as a great performer !, a footballer can have just a few important bad games and loads of good not so crucial ones and go down in history as a failure !.

2nd possible answer = there isn't any !, they've both been arrested !.........going a bit off track from the soccer here !, anyway Liverpool seem to be doing quite well this year, another 3 points yesterday !, might be their year at long last !.

RF.I don't like singling out players, but what do people see in Defoe

I must disagree 100% with that viewI have followed Defoe for many years and believe he is the best goal scorer England have gotI include Rooney Walcott and Owenif you watch him play off the ball his movement wrong footing last defenders is unbelievable he turns quicker than anybodyand needs the minimum back lift to produce power and accuracy with his striking of the ballArguably Englands best ever under 21 strikerand working around players like Kanoute and Di Canio helped him to learn the mechanics of being a top strikerI can remember the impact he had at Bourmouth on loan at a very young ageand believe me West Ham new what they owned but could not keep himwhen he joined Spurs his first season produced 22goals.2006/07 he scored 18 times from 29 starts
Personally I believe the two best Managers in English football that understand a players ability in their role is Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp in that orderand as a West Ham supporter it hurts to admit thatboth managers along with Ferguson and Mourinho made approaches to sign Defoewith Redknapp succeeding
I will make a prediction.Redknapp will try and sign him once again.and only him from Portsmouthwe will see.
RF watch him for 90 minutesIMHO there is none better up front!!!

Well....!, I shall keep an eye on him !,....from what I've seen he keeps on missing goal scoring chances, England need some new forwards because if Rooney or Owen gets injured just before the next world cup, who are we going to depend on ?, we are sadly missing a Lineker nowadays.

RF.I think you have mentioned two valuable pointsfrom what I've seen he keeps on missing goal scoring chances.
The top strikers in the World miss goal scoring chances including Ronaldo open goal the other week from a few yards outIMHO two attributes make a great striker1st Defoe gets a lot of chancesfar more than most because of his movement and speed reaction in any given circumstance.this is down to him alone!!!.2nd percentage of executionDefoes is almost as good as the very bestbut if we refer back to the first point he creates a lot more chances than most
If you were to put him in a Liverpool team instead of Robbie Keanewho does miss chances [wont last long at Anfield] .he would be an England regular first choicehe has played in the Spurs team that condensed their play into small units and he never received early ballsat Portsmouth under Redknapp he was released far more earlier and you could see the differencePortsmouth have since slowed their style up and opposition defenders are having more time to get into position.far more difficult for a forward there is only one way Pompey are going to go Im afraid.

He has to improve..... !, and Pompey look like they will be fighting for survival soon, hope not for them !, they do have Crouch who seems to keep on getting on the score sheet now and again !.

On Defoe missing loads of chances reminds me of Luther Blisset of Watford, he could have missed chances for England..and Of course he did -):

Bottom line was that he scored lots of goals which is what really counts in the end.

What I don't like is the "overcelebrating" that occurs after a goal is scored at times, example : when Beckham scored on penalty against Argentina in the world cup 2002 (he nearly missed it by the way); you would have thought that they had won the world cup never mind just a goal in the first round; the England players and come to that all the premiership must keep their feet on the ground with clear heads and keep concentration a priority, a pat on the back and back in defence ready for the opposition not : waves to the crowd (I hate that) and jumping over fences like deer on the loose !.

Good results last night in Europe, but Chelsea look like a misfiring 12 cylinder engined car, brilliant at times but flawed.....I would not want to bump into Liverpool in the draws, and there are some big boys in the second row !.

MU and Liverpool top of their groups, Chelsea and the Gunners second !, MU : 3 times winners, Liverpool : 5 times winners !, southern clubs lacking something ?.

Yes - luck in the final.