The Fish

Is it feasible to expect someone to take the armband from Beckham and assume control, knowing that Beckham gave it up? I know what I'm trying to say, but can't arrange words in the right order. basically.. isn't there going to be some kind of confusion as to who is the boss on the pitch?

ok, own up, who voted for Portugal.... I'll wager it was either one of them bitter scots, or an Aussie

two things, I lost any respect for Starbucks when I discovered they've ruined the sanctity of the Forbidden palace by having a store inside.... it'd be like having a drive through Macdonalds in the middle of Stonge Henge and secondly... delectable? that's a pretty gay word right there miladdio!

with Alexander, did you not feel that they rammed the fact that he was gay down your throat (no pun intended) at every opportunity? I also thought Alexander was supposed to be a charismatic leader... Farrel was anything but.

Bellamy> every striker on our books yes including Owen, simply on the basis of fitness and value to the team.

it's a fair point AF, but wasn't the remit of the FIFA appointed referees to clamp down on wind-ups and diving. I did see far more bookings for diving (and far more false penalty claims waved away) but to be honest, it's the card-waving by the players and the blatant calls for a referee to take action against a player whichthrooughly riles me. I know it's "Part of the game" but I think that simply accepting it is totally out of the question. I hope that in the Premier League and the European games we'll see a huge clamp down on this activity. If the challenge deserves a card then a card should be received, but trying to goad the referee into booking a player is abhorrent

Walcott gets my vote

I blame over-excited Mods J69 I'll happily admit that I was wrong about Hargreaves, I thought that he was a journeyman, but he seems to be quite sharp, his passing isn't great, but that's forgivable. I wouldn't sign him simply because I don't think we need a midfielder, we need a striker a couple of center halves and a set of full backs.

is it just me or is picking between France and Germany like picking whether you'd rather impotence or paraplegia? I went for the Germans because they've played better football, Paris is in France (and I Fucking HATE Parisians) and finally.. I think I've forgiven their country's behaviour in the war.. I haven't forgiven France....

Yer joking........aren't ye? D'ye think his tactics/decisions were to have Rooney sent off and Lampard, Gerrard, and Carrager, to miss penalties. Despite Rooney's sending off the game was there to be won on the penalty shoot-out, d'ye think Sven had anything to do with 3 missed penalties? 155409[/snapback] So a shit world cup squad selection, shit team selections, shit tactics, shit formation, shit substitutions, had nothing to to do with Sven Goran Eriksson ? Yeah right. 155419[/snapback] C'mon man, everything you say had everything to do with stupid Sven but when the final whistle blew and the score was nowts each the final result lay with the penalty takers, not Sven or Scolari. They missed 2, ...........we missed 3, .......end of a dream, ......end of of a story. 155423[/snapback] Noelie, you're missing the point. If we'd had a good manager who had played the best team available, the best system available and motivated the players as a top class manager should we wouldn't have needed to scrape past a footballing side who I consider lesser to our own. Sven picked the wrong players, the wrong system and couldn't motivate the team. Our World cup debacle lays squarely at his feet. Gerrard and Lampard under produced, but I say that's more to do with the system Sven employed than anything else. We probably would have stumbled before the final because we would have met a fotball side better than our own, but we should not have played so poorly and that's Sven's fault.

well we know that's not possible, Bellamy is going to be the worlds greatest player

got to be the Jormans. they've played good football (in the whole), they're not the worst diving cheating bastrards out there.

Germans for me. Best team in the Semi's by far, also home advantage and ... Jurgen.. I think I actually like the guy now.

I couldn't disagree more. Why is it that as soon as David Beckham was moved off the wing (either off the pitch entirely or shifted inside), the team looks infinitely more adventurous. I get that his passing and dead ball ability is good enough to get him into most teams, but with Gerrard, Lampard able to do those things plus tackle, run and shoot from open play.. I can't see what Beckham does to justify a place in the team any more. You play the best TEAM, not neccesarily the best players, Beckham makes this England side less effective. Fact-alacka-ding-dong.

.... transformers... seriously. don't talk about Hard Candy, Bring it On, Saw, Godfather... it's all about those robots in disguise.

:D on the bright side I think we've seen the last of Beckham in a major tournament. and anyway, The world cup is a Mickey Mouse competition... I mean the winner doesn't even get a european space!

gotta be "Bring it on" I sat in the cinema with my girlfriend of the time whispering "The horror, the horror" in a Brando stylie until she told me to "fuck right off you condescending bastard" half an hour after the film she did admit that it was a bag of shit

I know a lot of fingers are pointing at Lampard and Gerrard, but for me the blame lies squarely at the feet of one man. Sven Goran Eriksson. This isn't sour grapes, or "Fuck, quick we need a scapegoat" knee jerk, I really think that this group of players certainly have the talent and potential to have progressed beyond the teams we've faced. I'm not saying we'd have won the cup as I feel there were much sterner tests to come, but Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Sweden, Equador and Portgual are all nations whom we should be able to beat without putting in the performance of our lives. The team has been lop sided, stuttering and unsure throughout the competition and I don't think it's right to point the finger at the players. Lampard has had one of his best season up until the world cup, same for gerrard, why is it that two of the worlds best in their positions were so god-awful when the time came? surely it's the tactics and formations employed by their manager. Why did we fail to produce in the second half of the matches, surely it's down to the manager? I know it's easy to blame the guy whose got two feet out the door, but I honestly believe that it's down to him that we failed so spectacularly.

Jesus Brock... watch some good films for the love of all that is holy! I'm not saying my taste in films is great or that my favourite films are anything more than what they are... but christ on a bike mate, to say that Saw has a good script is painful! a good script has to seem comfortable for the actors, it has to be realistic, it has to be inspiring and clever. In the Instant, the hero should say exactly what you'd want to say after having considered the situation for hours. Saw's dialog is labored and laughable at times man.

1-0 to portugal I reckon we'll play shite football withno invention and Gemmils bum buddy Beckham will have yet another anonymous performance in the England shirt.

Seminal? 155236[/snapback] ... yeah seminal maybe have been over egging the pudding a bit.... I just got aq little excited..

You cannot possibly put Bell's performance in the same league as Hopkins! FFS Brock, it's your favourite film, ace biscuits.. but sweet lordy dear don't try and make out that it's good scripted, well acted fare!

P.S.

ok Brock, you need to watch a real thriller/suspense movie. Anything by Hitchcock, the Hannibal Lector films, The French Connection, Pelican Brief etc. etc. etc. Saw is a movie which became succesful because it played into the curent fads of reality tv and a desire to be shocked. Final Destination drew crowds for the same reason, that shock.. the "Jesus.. they can't show that" Horror/Slasher/Gore films have all been more daring and more visceral in their depiction of violence. Saw and it's sequel are just extensions of that. The more convoluted the death scene the better, just as in Final Destination. It's not a supsense film nor a thirller because in my eyes the point of a suspense film is to keep you guesing at the motives and or identity of the criminal, the thriller is will our hero survive. The Saw plot seems to be.. how will the gruesome scene better the last? I don't mind that it's Popcorn munch-tastic, but it's not a cult film, it's not well scripted and the acting is average at best. at no point do you empathise with either the villain OR the Hero, at no point did I believe that a) the bad guy was anything but an abstract created for the film (and as such I couldn't find him threatening or terrifying) b ) the good guy felt real love for his family beyond gnashing and wailing of teeth there was no real emotion there. c) there were too many plot holes, too many flaws in the "masterminds" scheme... I watched it, I winced at the sanguinius parts, I honestly laughed at some of the lines which were not intentionally funny and I at no point gave two dollops of bottom chocolate about any character on the screen. Now compare that to Silence of the Lambs and that is a suspenseful, disturbing film. Hopkins delivers a master class in how to make the villain not only horrible, deranged and psychotic, but also charming, witty and erudite. You were concurrently repulsed by him and lured to him. See Lecter was a true mastermind, just lke Spacey's Keyser Soze and John Doe... despite the horrors performed in their name you still found yourself empathising with the characters. Saw is as disposable as the creators intended. if it's your favourite film then thet's cool and fine and fair enough, but don't build it up to be more than it is, you'll only be shot down by people with even more pretentious film preferences to me. Hell my favourite Movie is either Jerry Ma-fucking-Guire or Sin City... hardly Oscar winners!

but doesn't the rhythmic cello tone raise the hackles on the back of your neck? I'd admit Ennio is remarkable, but I don't think he shows the same variety.