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I'll just stick to European ones. Bergkamp, Davids, Hagi, Petit, Desailly, Suker, Mijatovic, Laudrup (both), Hierro. And that's before you look at players such as Owen, Thuram, Del Piero, Seedorf, Shevchenko and Nedved who were coming into their prime.

Do you mean any team, or the teams that qualified for both that World Cup and this European Championship?

What was the question?

Well at least the tournament is livening up a bit now. Germany will probably still reach the final, but they'll have to get their finger out somewhat. Having had a bit of first-hand experience, I can assure you that Croatians en masse are not a nice bunch of people, hence it was difficult to know who to support today. One thing is certain - the player of the tournament has yet to make his mark.

Still only one game in which both teams have scored! At least it's opening up a bit now, although Greece v Sweden was nowhere near as bad as the commentators were making it out to be. Still Germany to win, though.

You cannot argue with the facts! There aren't enough good players in football at the moment, and that means the teams aren't as good. Look at France - no Zidane, no Henry, no imagination. Romania have no Hagi, no playmaker. It's no wonder that central midfielders, or playmakers in the centre of midfield, are worth a bloody fortune. Just as well we have a few good ones.

I'd now settle for a game in which ANY team scored.

With really bad hair.

Nope, I'll be hoping for a game in which both teams score!

I think we all know the final is Germany v someone. We can rule out Russia, Greece, Sweden and Romania. So that leaves Germany v Holland/Italy/France/Spain, and one of those won't even reach the quarter-finals. They may as well give it to Germany now!

Well, surely that proves how easy this half of the draw is for Germany then?

Even before the tournament started, the ridiculous draw has essentially meant it has been a case of who will play Germany in the final, and nothing has changed. But there is such an absolute dearth in quality in these teams it does give hope that England perhaps aren't anywhere near as bad as some people seem to think they are and can actually do well with a decent coach.

The main emotion from the dirties I know is one of relief rather than anything else.

I've heard this player might well be 1.84m and born on February 15...

"Dalglish no Johnston YES! 2-1!" "HUGHES!" "Is Rush going to score a fourth... it looks as though he has.... 5-0!" "Or a Conti miss... AND THEY'VE GOT A CONTI MISS! HEAD IN HIS HANDS, AND NOW WE'RE AT 1-1!" "Where is this leading us? It's leading us to the hospital, Brian!" "LIVERPOOL ARE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!" "Michael Owen has won the FA Cup all by himself!" "Sinama Pon-GOAL!" "Beardsley! Oh that's a lovely goal! THAT'S A LOVELY GOAL!" "Barnes... and Barnes again... Three!" "... and it came to MOLBY!" "Kennedy... and he goes on... AND HE'S SCORED! (Get in there!)" "Oh I say! At the same end he's got one back!" I could go on forever... As for whoever was asking about Lineker uses him by not using him, it was the cup semi between Spurs and Arsenal in 1991.

The problem with football is that too many people who don't know enough about football started liking football and pretending they knew something about it. We all know how this all started, of course...

So, essentially the newspapers were right all along... Who'd have thunk it?

The most heartening thing about last night was the manner in which the loyal Liverpool crowd got right behind the team from first minute to last in the traditional manner for which they are famed. We've played 20 games in the league this season and lost twice, one of which was against the champions. No-one has lost less games than us. Look at the statistics that way, and you'd be surprised that people on here suggest the manager should be sacked. We drew at home to Wigan. Deal with it. As against City, no matter how poorly we played, if we'd taken at least a quarter of some decent chances then Bramble's goal would just be a consolation. The problem is, too many players we have been reliant on in past season are either injured, only just back from injury or chronically out of form. Torres and Gerrard can't carry the team on their own. No sane person - or anyone that has watched football for more than 15 and a half years - thought we would win the league this season, but at least we can all see where the improvements need to be made. Next season would have been the proper test. Unfortunately, thanks to the fickle nature of too many supporters on here and the truly horrific advice to naive owners of a chief executive who wants the manager removed, Benitez will not have that chance - and whoever comes in will have the infamous 'five-year plan' and the wait for the title will go on and on as the other leading clubs get bigger and richer. Anyone looking for an example of the benefits of consistency and keeping faith in the manager through tricky times or spells without silverware or the effects of building a new stadium need only look at three other teams in the top six - Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton.

He's off...

I'm sure tomorrow's newspapers will be interesting. Because if he's said all that to Sky...

I remember there was a game on the Spanish footy on a Sunday night when Zidane was playing for Madrid. I could swear it was at Villarreal... anyway, right near the end he did this ridiculous piece of skill where inside the area he did a 360 turn around one of the defenders and then blasted a shot that just went over. If it had gone in it would have been the best goal ever. Does anyone remember this or am I going even more mad than normal?

Someone said to me the other day that Carra is losing it because it looks like he is always having to pull off last minute challenges, blocks and interventions and just getting in the way a lot. Isn't that how he has always defended though? Sami is one game in three guy now. Riise is finished. Even Finnan is on the wrong side of the hill. Arbeloa has a future, Aurelio is he's ever fit, but we need a centre-back and a right-back. Like now.

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I'm not going to hate someone because they work for The Sun. In the same way, I'm not going to hate people who work at McDonalds even though I disagree with what the company are doing to people's health. The only person I will hate is Kelvin Mackenzie as it was his decision and he's been allowed to get away with it time and time again.