Oli

I noticed that too. I guess everyone is feeling the pressure.

Now that was funny. I'm not even sure I detected much sarcasm from either of them when Tyler made the suggestion.

A stronger team than I was expecting. Good to see.

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Pleasantly surprised by the strength of that team. Looks good.

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I thought we looked pretty good for an hour and was feeling very optimistic at half time that we could get something, then it all fell apart in the space of a couple of minutes and the rest was very disappointing. I thought there were some encouraging performances however, Lucas looked good again though he definitely tired quickly in the second half. Hobbs did ok and it's great to have Alonso back. Disappointed but not too down.

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Disappointing news. I wonder why it's taking so long to heal properly.

(I'm easily amused)

I think that was the case with a lot of the players today, offensively at least. Often we'd find ourselves in a promising position only for a seemingly bizarre choice of pass to be made which then surrendered possession, though I guess that's nothing new really. It was also particularly frustrating how many times we got hustled out of possession in the centre of midfield. The result was horribly predictable once they took the lead.

About halfway down

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I don't know whether it's being lazy to see things going dowhill since his rib injury but I do agree that he hasn't been playing to usual high standards this season on the whole

Very disappointing I thought, especially due to the manner of our defeat. I was slightly surprised to hear Rafa so openly admit that he had effectively given up on the game after we went 3-1 down. Right from the start it looked like being one of those games to me where we'd probably have to really scrap for the win but after we equalised I felt confident we could go on and win it. Nevermind, onwards.

Nice run by Adebayor.

I know that confidence plays a big part in football for all teams but it seems to me that it affects us more than most. When we go ahead we often look capable of passing through any team yet go behind or concede likewe did tonight and we suddenly lose the ability to even control the ball properly. I know there's many other factors at play but it's just something I've thought about.

Rafa's little look and wave towards the camera at the end there. Quality.

Before winning on Sunday presumably?

I thought Lucas was excellent, very reminiscent of Alonso when he plays well. Babel has looked impressive more often than not and I'd imagine how he's being used at the moment (as an impact sub with the occasional start) is how he'll be used for the rest of the season and it makes sense. Good to see Kewell starting and encouraging to see how commanding Sami was throughout considering how tired he must surely be by now, this season.

A 'Beckham territory' comment and Greece mentioned together. Nice.

Motson after Croatia's last attack nearly cost England and SWP regains possession, bringing the ball forward: "And England have drawn them out, there's a chance here now" Yeah, that's exactly what they were doing Pity they 'drew them out' twice so early on in the game

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Something completely random about Babel - I've noticed on a few ocassions and it was very clear at one point during the Fulham game yesterday when he ran down the left and beat a couple of players in the process, that he has a very distinct running style. It's very similar to the way Michael Johnson runs/ran. For those who run it looks to me that whether intentionally or not he runs in a very 'POSE' like fashion (basically the most efficient way of running). I wonder if this was something that Chris Kronshorst worked on him with whilst at Ajax, as his technique trainer. I just thought it was interesting because whilst you hear about the POSE method amongst competitive runners, it's not often something that is taught with regards to other sports. Then again it might just be one big coincidence.