Dr Gloom

another dull cagey game so far like

i'm not gay, in fact i've never come over a little queer

i'm not saying he's finished by the way but i do know a bit about fitness and judging on rooney's appearances in this world cup combined with the weight he's carrying, i'd day he's far from 100 per cent fitness. fit footballers usually look like this:

he's got an average bloke on the street physique. EDIT - premiership footballers are usually about 6% body fat. when you're that fit, abs and pecs pop and nothing wobbles. there's no way rooney is near that at the moment, looking at those pics

that's defintiely not a premier league footballer's build like

he's sporting a classic builder's tan on a couple of those snaps from after the german game too. that pic of the rooney family emerging from the sea all hunched over and pasty always made me laugh. can't find it on google though

i've got big hopes for spain v portugal tonight. should be a good game, though i thought brazil portugal would too so you never know. i'd like to see a genuine contest. there haven't been too many end to end ding dongs so far in this tournament.

i dunno if you can blame his natural shape for what looks like a lack of fitness. does he not normally look more lean? and doesn't he usually have better energy on the field? looking at those pics in the indy, he doesn't have that cut, athletic look that most other premier league footballers do, no sign of abs showing for instance. his build looked like an average bloke rather than a premier league footballer with insane fitness levels. border line moobs even this is the pic i'm on about

an interesting final challenge for hodgson. i'm not surprised o'neill didn't fancy it - not much of a step up from villa at the moment are they?

you've changed your tune. Shut up you nob.

one thing i would say is looking at the pictures of him with his top off after the germany match in the indy today, rooney doesn't look in the best shape. there were rumours of him carrying extra weight and they look to be true. he hasn't got the build of a permier league footballer at the moment.

you've changed your tune.

i saw mesrine part 1 recently. bit disappointed really after all the hype. didn't really show a human side of the lead at all. not really much to like about him. just typical gangster fare. i've got part 2 on blue ray topo but not sure i'll bother now. the mrs fell asleep during it. 5/10 on the flip side, i saw shutter island and i love you philip morris on the plane to the states recently and loved them both. i'd give them both solid 8/10s. and invictus, which was good and had me on the verge of tears until the final scene, which dragged - 6/10

i've got a sunburst fender telecaster, a fender electric acoustic and an alhambra spanish classical guitar.

serioulsy, what advice do you need to get a job at maccy ds? if you can't find work there, you may as well give up on life.

great goal from robinho. can brazil and the argies meet in the final? two teams of the competition so far for me along with the dutch. a south american derby as a final would be class though.

he's had two crap world cups but it's a bit premature to be writing his obituary, especially after the season he just had. i wouldn't bet against him being man u's top scorer again next season.

the only grey area is where you stop and restart the game and how often these kind of decisions can be made. i think the tennis thing of 3 appeals per set could apply equally well to football. say three a match, but you keep those in hand that you argue correctly. then play goes back whereever the appeal was made from -whether it's an offside or a goal line clearance, hand ball decision etc. i suppose the skipper or manager would have to decide on when and how to appeal. it seems mad though that almost every other major sport - tennis, cricket, rugby - has this kind of technology but football doesn't. blatter is living in the past tbf

interesting guardian blog on this today http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/20...-players-future

Who should've played at centre-back then? his options were limited in defence this time because of injuries but in future, who knows? rio plus one other? i suppose dawson and richards are the two that came through the under 21s but neither play every week for their clubs. the chances are that terry and rio will carry on whoever the next manager is but i wouldn't be sorry to have seen the last of terry if someone else can step up their game. That's my point really. it's a fair point. doesn't excuse some of capello's other mistakes though.

Who should've played at centre-back then? his options were limited in defence this time because of injuries but in future, who knows? rio plus one other? i suppose dawson and richards are the two that came through the under 21s but neither play every week for their clubs. the chances are that terry and rio will carry on whoever the next manager is but i wouldn't be sorry to have seen the last of terry if someone else can step up their game.

i was pretty gutted last night like. it's easy to get caught up in it and still believe we have a chance even when all the evidence points to the contrary. it's also nice as a geordie based in london to go to the pub and watch a match where everyone is shouting for the same team.

if we do make wholesale changes, who goes and who stays? Would a team liek this below do better than the current crop? ----------------------------Hart Johnson------Rio------------------Dawson or Richards?-----A Cole --------------------------Rodwell -------------Gerrard------------------------Milner ------Lennon----------------------------------------Walcott -------------------------Rooney

i don't think we need to completely start again but the end of the line must have come for the likes of heskey, carragher and lampard. perhaps even terry too. i think we should never again play two typically british centre backs that can win the ball in the air but can't run. you need at least one centre back that can run and pass his way out of defence. capello was very conservative with the players he picked. he probably should have gambled more on youth. look at the germans - their team was built on young, mobile players.

What do you reckon Capello did wrong though? He had very limited options in too many areas. Getting rid of the manager is just papering over the cracks imo. I think he might walk anyway like. i blame the players for being gutless but capello did get a lot wrong in this tournament. he was very disappointing after a good qualifying campaign. playing players out of position, playing players that were half fit, not having the balls to drop or sub under-performing big name players. this is something i thought he would be good at - he wasn't afraid to drop beckham at real madrid but seemed to adopt the sven problem of being afraid to drop or sub the likes of lampard and rooney. his faith in hesky was bonkers. bringing a guy on who doesn't score when you're chasing two goals left me speechless, especially when crouch, a guy with a good international scoring record, was hardly used. i think we also saw a fairly stubborn coach at this world cup. his refusal to adjust his rigid 4-4-2 when it was clear that it wasn't working and the whole nation was crying out for 4-5-1 with gerrard just behind rooney. again, very sven-like. too rigid. i don't think flat banks of four work at the highest level anymore, especially when our holding palyer is unfit and the two centre halfs are slow and defend like amauters. What would you have differently and who would you have played instead though? I think there are different options he could have used but not ones that would have made much different. That's my point really, he was pretty restricted. I don't think we can do much better either. he was restricted by the players being gutless and playing with fear but he didn't do himself any favours. i don't think capello has enhanced his reputation in anyway after this tournament. in fact, i think he should hang his head as low as the players. he got a lot wrong. obviously we can all talk a good game as armchair pundits but i think some of what he got wrong was basics. he was just too stubborn as a manager, too rigid and didn't seem to have a plan b. in terms of what i'd do differently , there's a list as long as my arm: i probably would have played a 4-5-1 after it became clear 4-4-2 wasn't working. i wouldn't have played gerrard and lampard in the middle togethe rlike he did for the usa game. the sven era proved all they do is get in each other's way. i wouldn't have played gerrard out wide. it was a waste of our best central midfielder. he should have played instead of lampard in the middle, or just behind rooney at the expense of heskey. i probably wouldn't have played heskey at all. this whole "he's a great team player" argument doesn't stack up at international level when you look at his lack of goals. i wouldn't have taken half fit players like barry or perma crocks like king. i would have used players like lennon and instructed them to stick to the wing and attack their fullback instead of cutting inside, like he does week in week out for spurs. lennon must be blamed for his poor performances - like most of them he played with fear - but it's the manager's job to tell him where he's going wrong and how to put it right. i was disappointed that capello droped our only player with genuine pace and he wasn't able to get the best out of him. i would have brought wallcott too or adam johnson ahead of swp too. johnson did enough to be a wild card pick and probably would have got a game or two to be fair.