Q&A with Johnny Mercyside: Part 8

Hey there, welcome to my newest Q&A session. Before I get to that I want to plug once again the fact that I was on TV last week, you can see my appearance in the top right of this page if you haven't already. Also at the top right of this page is a link to my epic 31,000 word article on my amazing journey to appearing on TV to do Winter Wipeout. If you didn't know that already and are interested, definitely check it out. My article has been well received universally, although people have said it was too long and they're not wrong!

In other news, I've hit a new site record this month, it's possible I could hit 6000 pageviews by the end of the month tomorrow, which will be a first. Thank you all so much for all the support you give me, I love doing this and the more support I get the more likely it is I could actually do this as a job one day. We can all dream.

Back to the actual topic at hand, Q&A Part 8. I do these every month and as always, these questions are all taken off my Formspring account, which you can find here. These were answered a while ago, and I've changed the answers if the situation has changed since then. Enjoy!

Q: What is your favorite cartoon character?

A: Difficult, I'd probably go with Captain Caveman, or Dick Dastardly. Both very old school, retro cartoon characters.

Q: How much TV do you usually watch in a day?

A: Not that much anymore, if video games count then maybe three or four hours. If we're talking watching television then it's extremely rare now. I spend more time on the computer than watching TV.

Q: Do you believe in ghosts? Why or why not?

A: I don't believe in ghosts, it's difficult to explain why, I just think very scientifically, and don't think it has a place in science. I know that people say "science can't explain everything" but I disagree, I just think we don't understand certain things yet.

Q: If you could live in any house you wanted to, what would it look like?

A: Difficult question, the possibilities are endless! I've always wanted a big gaming room, and a pool. I've wanted to collect fantasy swords too so probably a room for that. There's probably more but I can't think of them at the moment.

Q: What's more important - who you know or what you know?

A: It depends, if it's work related, who you know. Anything else I'd say what you know.

Q: If you had a day to volunteer, where would you volunteer?

A: I'd volunteer as creative writer for WWE, and hope that my day volunteering got me a permanent job there with my "amazing" ideas.

Q: What things do you do to stay healthy?

A: I don't try that hard, it's not as important to me as it is to other people. I try to eat fruit every day.

Q: Best wrestling match whose story wasn't told inside the ring?

A: The CM Punk/John Cena storyline, otherwise known as "The Summer of Punk" was a great one recently. I'm also really enjoying Daniel Bryan's slow heel turn, which is a better story out of the ring than in it.

Q: When you're lost, are you more likely to ask for directions or find your way without help?

A: It depends on the scenario, I usually try to find a place on my own but if I'm really stuck, I'm not afraid to ask.

Q: Olof Mellberg is what would result if Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Chuck Norris had a love child. Agree?

A: Odd question but definitely. Although the image of Olof Mellberg even though he hasn't been in the Premier League for a few years now still scares me.

Q: Would you rather watch a movie in the theatre or at home?

A: At home as I can get comfortable easily, but watching a movie in the cinema is a great experience as well.

Q: What are you most excited about today?

A: I'm about to put on the Royal Rumble, my favourite PPV of the year. Excited!

Q: What's your favorite kind of snack to eat?

A: Chocolate.

Q: What do you think the world will be like in 50 years?

A: I think the world won't change much in terms of advancements in technology in 50 years time, as time moves on less impact is happening. Same applies to science. England probably still not winning the World Cup is still a high possibility.

Q: What movie are you most looking forward to seeing?

A: The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, although I might not be able to afford to see it.

Q: What's your favorite clothing brand?

A: Primark? I really, REALLY don't care for brands of clothing.

Q: What's the biggest risk you've ever taken? Are you glad you took it or do you regret it?

A: Meeting my wife. I travelled as a sixteen year old over 300 miles down the country on the train, on a nine hour ride. And fuck yes it was worth it.

Q: What qualities do you look for when you're dating someone?

A: Honesty and to be able to tolerate me and my extremely set ways. I will do the same in return.

Q: What's the first thing you check when you turn on your computer?

A: Like most people, Facebook

Q: What would you do if you won the lottery?

A: So many things. Most importantly, make every person I love unconditionally financially secure and have something that they love.

And that's my latest Formspring update. Once again if you want to follow me on Formspring you can do so here. I'll be back on Wednesday for my 1993 in Music review. Have a good night.

For the latest updates on my work, 'like' me on Facebook here!

Live Thoughts: England vs Sweden (Friendly)

I covered this match live. Here are my unedited thoughts on the match between England and Sweden.

Good evening, welcome to another Live Thoughts post. After the very defensive yet ultimately successful victory over world champions Spain, it's time for England to break more ground. We haven't beaten Sweden in 43 years. That's an incredible statistic. I never knew about it. We've had many many draws against Sweden and they've beaten us a few times, but we haven't beaten Sweden in nearly half a century. Let's break that duck tonight. We have the players and hopefully the confidence, and we're at Wembley. Let's do it!

Here are the teams:

England: Hart, Walker, Cahill, Terry, Baines, Jones, Barry, Rodwell, Walcott, Zamora, Downing. Subs: Carson, Glen Johnson, Cole, Lescott, Parker, Lampard, Milner, Adam Johnson, Sturridge, Bent, Stockdale.


Quite an inexperienced side today, with Terry, Barry and Downing having the most experience. There's a few younger guys that get a nice start, Kyle Walker is someone that has impressed me a lot this season, him and Rodwell from the starting 11. This team is enough to beat Sweden on paper.


Sweden: Isaksson, Lustig, Majstorovic, Mellberg, M. Olsson, Elm, Kallstrom, Larsson, Wernbloom, Elmander, Ibrahimovic. Subs: Wiland, Bajrami, Svensson, Granqvist, Safari, Gerndt, Almeback, Holmen, Jonas Olsson, Toivonen, Wilhelmsson.


It's as strong as Sweden can be, they still have some talent in this team, Elm and Larsson in the midfield and Elmander and Ibrahimovic on their day can score against anyone. They woin't be easy but we should be winning today.

3' - England are on the front foot, completely different to when we took on Spain. 

6' - If you're wondering, John Terry is getting booed, but not as much as people expected. It doesn't matter anyway, let the police and the FA deal with that.

9' - Not much to report at the moment, it's mainly England trying to break down Sweden and failing. 

12' - Free kick in a very dangerous area for Sweden. It hits the wall and is dealt with.

14' - A nice little run from Walcott ends in a corner, one that we can't take advantage of. 

17' - Finally some activity. A nice run from Walcott feeds in Zamora who mistimes his first attempt, and tries to slide in a second and it hits the side netting. 

18' - Haha, only 12 goals have been scored from the 11 players on the England pitch, 6 of them goals have come from John Terry. At least it proves we're fielding a weakened side. 

20' - Wow another good statistic, Joe Hart has played 15 times for England and he's never lost a match, 10 wins, 5 draws. He is a brilliant keeper, I'm so happy we've resolved our keeper crisis.

21' - GOAL! England's 2000th goal (another statistic) goes to Gareth Barry, a lovely cross from Liverpool's own Stewart Downing lands perfectly on Barry's head and it goes into the bottom right corner! 

24' - Replays show that the ball actually hit Daniel Majstorovic last, so it could be an own goal.

27' - They just brought up the phenomenal goal Liverpool's Joe Cole scored against Sweden five years ago. Haven't seen it? Here it is.

30' - We had a decent spell after the goal for a few minutes, it seems to be dying down at the moment, let's hope not and we can hopefully build up for a 2 goal lead before half time. 

32' - A corner from Rasmus Elm almost goes in! A lovely curl on the ball, Joe Hart palms it wide. 

34' - After a pinch perfect cross for the goal, Stewart Downing takes a free kick way over the entire penalty area. Hey ho. 

36' - Kim Kallstrom puts in a potentially dangerous tackle on Kyle Walker and the whistle blows. Johan Elmander protests and goes in the book. A little harsh for a friendly.


37' - RODWELL! Close. It goes for a corner, and that corner is dealt with.

40' - Phil Jones is free of the defence and running towards goal! He tries to tap it past the keeper and it goes wide. Should have done better. 

41' - A difficult corner ends in a Swedish player hitting the post, but it was offside anyway.

43' - RODWELL! My god how did he miss! Downing takes on a defender on the left wing and whips in a lovely cross for an empty net, and Rodwell heads it wide to the right. Awful miss. Gutted. 

45' - Half time, no added minutes.


A decent first half display for England, we got the goal and tries a few more times. The game and the performance isn't anything spectacular, but it's been good enough. We deserve our lead. Let's hope we can build on it in the second half, as Sweden have barely been in it for long periods.

45' - Sweden Subsitutions: Ola Toivonen and Jonas Olsson come on for Olaf Mellberg and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.


45' - England Substitution: Scott Carson gets his first cap in three years while Joe Hart comes off.

45' - Downing had a good run down the left wing and Zamora almost made it to his decent square ball. Close.

48' - Downing has put a few good balls down the left wing early in this second half, he's had a good game for the most part so far. 

51' - You know something, we criticise Fabio Capello a lot but he has the best win ratio of all the England managers in history. He's had 42 games so far, and he's won 26. That's pretty damn good. 

55' - Sweden start to gain confidence all of a sudden, and get a little move going that ends with Toivonen hitting it over the bar.

56' - A Swedish corner is dealt with nicely by Walcott who claims the ball, cuts the ball away from three Swedish players and clears it. Any right back would be proud of that. 

57' - England Substitutions: James Milner and Daniel Sturridge come on for Jack Rodwell and Theo Walcott.

58' - Daniel Sturridge has the ball outside of the penalty area on the right and tries to get into the box and three Swedish players top him, he eventually falls to the floor. He gets the points for effort. 

61' - The game has slowed down slightly for the moment, nothing much to report. 

63' - Leighton Baines passes the ball to Downing down the left flank and Downing squares a half volley to the path of Zamora who's shot is deflected for a corner. Nice move. The corner dissolves quickly however. 

65' - Stewart Downing storms down the pitch like a striker and his shot while decent, goes wide. He's definitely been the best player on the pitch today. 

68' - The game suddenly has become more exciting, both teams going for it at the moment. 

69' - England Substitution - Darren Bent comes on for Bobby Zamora, who had an okay game, didn't do anything great but tries hard.

69' - Sweden Substitution: Anders Svensson comes on for Kim Kallstrom. 

72' - As I said the game's quite open now, not that there's been any major chances for a while. 

74' - The ball gets passed back to Isaksson, the Swedish keeper, and Downing closes him down nicely and makes him kick the ball badly for a throw in. Good work from Downing again.

77' - They're still going on about the Barry goal possibly being put down as an own goal. It's because it was the 2000th goal. It's a little silly to complain about it I think, just because it's a landmark number. 

77' - Larsson takes a curling shot at goal and Carson thumps it awkwardly away from goal. It was a difficult shot to deal with and Carson did just enough. 

81' - A deep cross from Milner connects to Bent's head, but it goes over his head and over the other side of the penalty area. Not the right connection unfortunately. 

82' - Confirmation, Ireland have made it to the Euros! Very happy for our Irish brothers. Just in case you didn't know, I support all the UK and Irish sides, unless we face each other. Great stuff for the green men. 

85' - The game is slowing down, Sweden aren't really taking it to us and we're comfortable. Let's hope it stays this way.

86' - Swedish Substitution: Emir Bajrami comes on for Rasmus Elm.

87' - Kyle Walker wins the man of the match award, no problems with that from me. I think Downing has been the best player personally, but Walker has had a great game too, he's been a bit of a menace down the right wing and has defended well too. 

90' - Two minutes of stoppage time. 

90+1' - Wilhelmsson! Over the bar! It was a great cross and Wilhelmsson almost made it count.

90+2' - Full time.

We've ended our 43 year winless streak against Sweden! Woohoo! It was a satisfactory performance, Sweden barely turned up today and we dealt with them comfortably and professionally. We didn't give them many chances and we had a decent few ourselves. The one goal was enough. We end 2011 undefeated actually, that's pretty remarkable. We did a lot of poor draws in that time but to say we never lost a single match this year is cool. I think our confidence heading closer to the Euros has risen which is great. As I said, the problem with England is when we start turning that into cockiness. We need to be humble, respectful and confident, a hard thing to balance. Anyway, that's another night of football finished, enjoy the rest of it, whatever you're doing.

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Live Thoughts: England vs Spain (Friendly)

I covered this match live. Here are my thoughts on the match between England and Spain

Hey everyone, welcome to another live thoughts post. Today England are going to try and take on the best team in world football at the moment, Spain. I love how the usual over-optimistic press are crapping in their pants over the thought of us going against Spain today. No one expects us to win. I don't expect us to win either. But it's so funny and nice to see the press actually be realistic for once. I don't think England are anywhere near Spain in terms of current national squad or development of youth. But so what, it's a one off match at Wembley! Let's go for it! I hope we win today, it's a win we really need in terms of boosting our confidence for the Euros. I don't think we'll win the Euros but let's give it a go, we can still compete with any team out there on our day, just not consistently, especially on paper, we're not on the same level. But throw it all out of the window today and let's go for it!

Here are the teams...

England: Hart, G Johnson, Jagielka, Lescott, Cole, Walcott, Jones, Parker, Lampard, Milner, Bent. Subs: Carson, Stockdale, Johnson, Cahill, Walker, Baines, Barry, A Johnson, Downing, Rodwell, Sturridge, Zamora.

A very interesting line up, it looks like we might be playing 4-3-3 today which is a nice, refreshing attacking line up. That being said it opens up wide gaps for Spain to attack if they have possession. Intriguing.

Spain: Casillas, Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Alonso, Villa, Silva... Subs: Reina, Valdes, Puyol, Albiol, Monreal, Cazorla, Fabregas, Mata, Navas, Torres, Llorente.

Welcome back Arbeloa and Alonso! Nice to see our old Reds back and better than ever. This is such a strong team. I don't see a weakness anywhere really, we need to be on form today and not let them have possession otherwise we're going to really struggle today.

3' - A teasing game at the moment, both sides testing the other's mettle. We're not looking that bad at the moment but it's very very early.

5' - Spain starting to gain some more possession now, trying and failing so far to break the defence.

8' - Loads of possession for Spain, the way you'd expect them to be. Apart from one small moment earlier where Phil Jones was in a good area, we haven't done anything.

11' - David Villa takes the ball into the penalty are and shoots with his left foot, it's deflected by Phil Jagielka for a corner.

14' - Not much to report at the moment, just loads of Spain possession with no penetration of our defence. We're counter attacking when possible, which isn't often.

15' - A small spell on the cusp of the Spanish box for England dissolves but we're getting forward once in a while. And every time we do the crowd gets excited, it's quite funny being the underdogs for a change, we're giggling like little girls when we get the ball. Really funny!

18' - In all honesty, the game really hasn't opened up at the moment, it's quite boring, seeing Spain with the possession and getting nowhere. Naturally the second half will be a better spectacle but I was hoping for a little more from both sides than this.

21' - The commentators just said that England for the last two years have had 15 different central defence partnerships. That's an amazing statistic.

23' - A great Spanish move ends with Silva miscuing a shot. David Villa passes to Jordi Alba I think, who cuts the ball to Silva who just mistimed his shot. Very close.

26' - We're definitely defending well. We're not giving Spain much space in the final third although the levels of possession are concerning.

29' - We keep biting at Spain once in a while, we're like guard dogs at the moment, it's quite cool to see us being this rock in defence and a niggle going forward.

32' - Very little to report in this friendly for long spurts, we've just got a free kick about 40 yards out, Xabi Alonso on Darren Bent. A little harsh but nothing comes of the free kick anyway.

35' - Iniesta takes a shot and it deflects off Joleon Lescott. Silva set Iniesta up for that shot. Corner, and it comes to nothing.

38' - The game is slowly starting to open up on both sides. Not too much, but you can feel a change in the air.

40' - Walcott finds some space and takes on a few Spanish players! He takes on Sergio Ramos who blocks his path intentionally. If it wasn't a friendly that would be an instant ytellow card.

41' - James Milner gets a yellow card for a dirty tackle on Ramos. He clips his foot with both his legs. Ramos should have been booked earlier too, but this was also deserving of a yellow.

43' - The referee is booed as Theo Walcott once again attempts to take on Ramos only for him to get knocked to the floor, the ref deemed the ball was kicked too far forward for it to affect play. It's debatable.

44' - Glen Johnson also gets forward and it takes Ramos and Jordi Alba to deal with him, he almost wins a corner but got the last touch and it goes for a goal kick. There's some problems for Spain down the England right wing, it's good news for the second half.

45' - One minute of added time.

45+1' - Half time.

It's been a boring match to watch in honesty. Spain have been quietly dominant of possession, but have failed to break England down in long periods. England have been little bull terriers for the most part, chomping at Spain's feet and stopping their obvious technical threat. We've made the most of the little possession we have had, and only for the last five minutes did we start to find a weakness in Spain, the Spanish left wing. Let's hope Walcott and Glen Johnson, who are both pacey on that right flank, can take advantage of this, but can also defend well enough for it not to be a problem for counter attacking.

45' - England Substition: Theo Walcott is off and Stewart Downing is on. I think that means that we're putting Milner on the right.

45' - Three Spain Substitutions: Liverpool legend Pepe Reina is on for Iker Casillas, David Silva and Xavi are off for Cesc Fabregas and Juan Mata. Straight swaps I'd say.

48' - GOAL! Frank Lampard! A James Milner free kick is headed by Darren Bent, Reina tries to save and it hits the post, Lampard, onside, heads the ball into an empty net before Reina can recover! Against the run of play!

50' - Poor Pepe Reina, on the pitch for less than four minutes and concedes. There's not much he could have done about that, although he wouldn't have got to Bent's header in the first place.

53' - Scott Parker gets called for a fowl on Juan Mata. He got the ball and the player, it was aggressive mind. Free leads to nothing.

55' - David Villa is free and past all the defenders, he turns past Joe Hart and shoots. Side netting. Relief. His run behind the England defence was world class.

56' - Two England Substitutions: Jack Rodwell comes on for his debut, replacing Phil Jones. Frank Lampard is replaced by Gareth Barry, who takes the captains armband.

57' - Both teams have used three substitutions, but there's a total of six in friendlies. I'm sure you knew that but just in case.

58' - Jack Rodwell makes an immediate impact by being released down the right wing, he tries to cross but it's too deep and goes for a goal kick.

59' - Sergio Ramos is yellow carded for a double footed challenge. That was woeful. He's so lucky, his block on Walcott was yellow card worthy and he gets nothing, that double footed challenge is red card worthy and he gets a yellow. Bad refereeing if you ask me.

61' - Danny Welbeck is about to come on, Bent is limping slightly.

62' - David Villa takes a dangerous free kick and it hits the England wall.

63' - England Substitution: Darren Bent's night is over and Danny Welbeck is on.

63' - Spain Substitution: Sergio Busquets is off for Fernando Torres.

65' - Rodwell is free and is pacing at Reina! His shot was tame and there was a whistle against England for a free kick anyway. Some good movement from Rodwell and Welbeck almost got a second then!

68' - They're advertising Brazil vs Egypt on ITV4. Wow. What a bizarre match to have on an English channel.

71' - England playing some good football for once. It looks like this game has been a tactical master-stroke for us. That being said we have twenty minutes left.

72' - VILLA! Hit the post! A lovely technique to chest the ball and volley, it beat Hart! So close! England counter attack and Welbeck storms forward but the pressure rises and the move dissolves.

75' - England Substitution: Adam Johnson comes on for James Milner. A direct swap I'd say.

77' - A few corners for Spain lead to nothing, although Torres had a sniff at one point.

80' - 10 minutes left. You know, if we win, I'd be really happy but you know what I'm not looking forward to? All the gloating and bragging and optimism from the press tomorrow. All the "Woo! we're one of the best teams in the world! We're amazing" crap.

81' - A scramble ensues in the England box and Fabregas tries to get the ball to Gerard Pique but Scott Parker slides to intercept. Great defending!

82' - Fabregas looks for a penalty on the cusp of the penalty box. Debatable, it did look like he was brought down but he was looking for it too.

83' - Scott Parker stops another Spain attack, the man is an industrial powerhorse when he's on form.

84' - England Substitution: A huge standing ovation for Scott Parker who goes off for Kyle Walker, who is also making his debut tonight. He's had a great season for Spurs, Walker.

87' - Another Spain attack is broken down, this time by Ashley Cole who storms forward and links with Adam Johnson, the move eventually stops for a Spain goal kick.

88' - Scott Parker wins the man of the match award. Well deserved.

88' - Torres 1-1 against his team mate Ashley Cole, he lays the ball off to Fabregas who shoots past all the defence and Hart sees it late, but saves last minute!

88' - FABREGAS! So close! He's free from the defence and takes a shot that goes to the left of Hart's post! Should have done better!

90' - Three minutes of added time. So close now.

90+2' - England are celebrating. Calm down calm down, it's not over yet!

90+3' - Full time!

This was a great win for England today. Absolutely amazing win. Yes it was a friendly. No, we didn't play very well. But we defended, brilliantly. I can't fault the defenders, Joe Hart, and in parts, Phil Jones and Scott Parker, who were all working like little bulldogs for anything upto 90 minutes today. We got the lucky goal, and it was just that, a lucky goal, and defended so so well. Does it matter? Who knows? We beat Spain, the best team in the world. It gives us confidence, the one major ingredient we have been lacking for so many years. We need confidence and not cockiness, and you know something, you never know, we could put a dent in this Euro competition! Let's remain optimistic but with our feet on the ground, and learn from our old mistakes! Come on you three lions! That's it from me today, have a good night.

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Bitesize: #7

Hey there, welcome to another edition of Bitesize. Just in case you're not too familiar, my bitesize posts are there to talk about a group of things in one go, either because a lot has happened or I haven't the time to touch on all of it in great detail. I also use Bitesize to announce site news.

Let’s start with site news. I’ve done a few Mixtapes here, paying homage to the soundtracks of two of my favourite game series, GuitarHero and Final Fantasy. Video game music is important and it was good to pay attention to the detail in which video game developers have put into their content. I don’t know how many video game related Mixtapes I’m going to do, I can’t see any happening for a while now, but it was good to do two in the last few weeks.

I haven’t been writing as much this week for two reasons, firstly as I have my sister down for the whole week, and secondly it was my daughter’s third birthday. My daughter is named Vivi by the way, after the video game character. Call me a nerd, I don’t care, I think it’s a lovely name and she suits it very well But that’s why I haven’t been writing much. I’ll be covering Liverpool vs Manchester United this weekend, so at least that’s one big piece. I also have plans to review Resident Evil 4 HD. Why? Because it’s one of my favourite games of all time, and the fact that they have ported it to the Xbox 360 in HD gives me a reason to review it.

Speaking of reviews, I am going to review older games and albums in the future. Since I’ve made this site over a year ago I’ve been trying to avoid going down that route of reviewing old material. But why not? Some of my favourite games and albums are over ten years old. And in the end, I want to draw attention to these games and these albums, just in case you haven’t played them. I hope to encourage people to give a chance on these things if they haven’t already. And if you have played them, then hopefully you’ll like the homage I pay to these great pieces of entertainment.

Wrestling now. I’ve heard overwhelmingly negative things about Monday Night Raw. I understand exactly where people are coming from. Only last week I was praising the booking team. Now it makes me look like a fool as they fucked everything up bad this week. There were plot holes everywhere, from the fact that Triple H is still COO of the company yet he has no power on Raw or from what we can tell, Smackdown!. John Laurinaitis is now running Raw while Teddy Long is still the GM of Smackdown!. But Triple H is the COO that can’t make any decisions on either show? Backwards. Also the question of who raised the cage to let The Miz and R-Truth in and then lowered it so no one else could at Hell in a Cell remains a mystery, a mystery that doesn’t look like it’s even attempted at being solved at all. In terms of matches, Raw’s main event is John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio but they barely got on TV this week. Yes I’m complaining over a lack of John Cena. But only because he’s the champ and he’s supposed to be on. Cena/Del Rio should be the main focus but it isn’t. The writing team is shoving the Triple H angle down our throats and in the end, who runs the show shouldn’t matter as much as it apparently does. What should matter is Cena vs Del Rio. It’s stupid.

That being said, I’m not going to be as critical as some people are. There is hope in this believe it or not. Yes there are plot holes, but let’s give the creative writing team the chance to fill in those holes for next week. Apparently the WWE are preparing long term now more than ever before. They are planning feuds and storylines for the future more now than before. So with that being said, let’s see what happens next week, before slamming them down to the ground completely. The Raw rating drop from the start to finish of the show is a big slap in the face of the WWE and they’ll definitely attempt to redeem themselves next week.

In music I have a few albums still lined up ready to review. I need to listen to these albums a bit more before getting to the nitty gritty. First is “Alpocalypse” by Weird Al Yankovic, and that should be up in the next fortnight I hope. After that is “Gold Cobra” by Limp Bizkit. So that’s just a taster of what albums I’ll be reviewing on the site in the next few weeks, but there won’t be anything for the moment. Also long term I will be doing my pretty big homage to Marilyn Manson that should hopefully ready before Christmas. That’s my plan anyway, but if it has to be delayed yet again that’s not a problem, the idea was for it to fit around the release of his new album, but with his plans to release the album in early 2012 the delay of that homage might be a good idea afterall.

Football now, and England qualified for Euro 2012 and Ireland made the playoffs. It was announced yesterday that Ireland will go against Estonia in the playoff finals, which is the best they could have hoped for. I’m English and support England but I want all the British Isles and Ireland to do well. I love Ireland, it’s a fantastic country and it’s one I have minor connections with in my family, and I have good friends there. So to hope that Ireland go through and join England in the Euros would be fantastic, and it would be sweet justice for their cruel exit to the World Cup two years ago when they controversially got kicked out in a similar fashion against France.

As for England, I have a poll to your right asking how far they’ll go in the Euros. My opinion? I reckon we’ll get through our group stage but advance no further. We’re not as good some fans think we are, and I don’t think we’re good enough to take on the likes of Spain, Germany and Holland. But you never know, if we beat one of the elite European sides we might gain a lot of confidence and become a big threat that way. I do believe that England’s main confidence is confidence on the pitch. We’re too afraid to lose so end up screwing up. The media influence is responsible for this, they just can’t let England play their game of football. Everything is under scrutiny, and the players don’t want to lose the match because they hate the bad press. So they screw up due to nerves. But if we work that round, and get a good result against a great team, that should hopefully put the creative spark into our play, and make us dangerous. Let’s hope so, as I would like to see England as a national football team put back on the map as one of the best sides in the world.

Well that’s me done for today. I’ll be covering the Liverpool/Manchester United match tomorrow and then I’ll be back on Monday or Tuesday with something else. Thanks for your time.

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Live Thoughts: Montenegro vs England (Euro Qualifier)

I covered this game live, here are my thoughts as England took on Montenegro.

Hey there, and welcome to my thoughts on England's final match in the Euro qualifying period, where we take on Montenegro on their home ground. Anything but a loss tonight will take us through to the Euros officially, but Fabio Capellos has said we'll be attacking tonight, so let's hope we win.

That being said, Montenegro aren't pushovers, they held us to a draw at Wembley, and they're a threat, especially on their home surface. But, we do have the quality to beat them, we are definitely the better side and let's hope we can wrap up the qualifying tournament in style.

Here are the teams: 

Montenegro: Mladen Bozovic, Zverotic, Djudovic, Savic, Kascelan, Vukcevic, Pekovic, Vladimir Bozovic, Beciraj, Jovetic, Vucinic. Subs: Blazic, Jovanovic, Batak, Djalovic, Damjanovic, Cetkovic, Delibasic.

On paper it might not sound like much but they have some strength here. Vucinic is a good goalscorer for Juventus, previously of Roma and will be a threat tonight. Keep an eye on Manchester City's defender Savic, who has made a decent start for the Sky Blues despite being only 20. 

England: Hart, Jones, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Parker, Barry, Walcott, Rooney, Young, Bent. Subs: Carson, Jagielka, Baines, Lampard, Downing, Welbeck, Zamora.

News is that we'll play 4-5-1 today and in fairness, I think that's a good tactic. Montenegro will want to go for the win today and will be dangerous, so having Rooney play a deeper role will help us when required. That being said, when we have the ball I expect him to go further afield. It's a good move. As for Lampard on the bench, well, it's a difficult one after his hat-trick for Chelsea. We had balance in the previous two matches where Lampard wasn't starting, and we don't want to disrupt that. He'll play an important part in the match later on I'm sure.

2' - Positive start by England so far, Montenegro haven't settled at all, despite being the home side. 

4' - Ashley Young takes a shot outside the box after a corner is taken, it wasn't too far considering the box was crowded. 

5' - WALCOTT! Saved. The Montenegro box was surprisingly empty and it lands well for Walcott to take a shot and its low and straight at the keeper. That being said Bozovic didn't get his body over it fully and it could have crept in.

7' - The Montenegro players start dancing around our players, using lovely skill to pass our players like butter. Finally some confidence. They could have scored but we do enough to clear it uncomfortably. 

10' - GOAL! Ashley Young! That was just so easy, Rooney has the ball just outside the penalty box in the centre and passes to Walcott on the right flank who crosses inch perfect to the head of Young! The defence was placid at best!

13' - This is a very strange Montenegro side, they look so uninterested and incapable, but that moment of pure football around the seventh minute is completely contrasting of that. Are they in this match or not? It doesn't look like it at the moment. 

16' - Not a single shot at goal for Montenegro so far.

19' - The commentators are saying that Walcott is due a goal. Maybe. But he's so inconsistent. 

22' - A high ball enters our third and is bouncing awkwardly. Brad Jones heads it back to Joe Cole before it becomes even more dangerous. 

25' - The match is quite dead at the moment. Montenegro don't look bothered and England don't need to apply much pressure as they're ahead. 

27' - Haha, there was a replay of Capello being a bit animated and nearly tripping over some Lucozade bottles. Stuart Pearce moves them out of the way. 

29' - Montenegro are finally starting to look alive. Around a minute ago they had a tame effort over the bar from a free kick, and now they're attacking on the left flank more. 

30' - GOAL! 2-0! I should eat my words! A counter attacking move ends in Rooney cutting to the left of the penalty box and Darren Bent makes the perfect run on the right side, Rooney cuts the entire defence out and Bent taps it in! He's barely been involved in the play until now! 

32' - I didn't expect Montenegro to be this much of a pushover. I gave them a lot of respect before the match started, because they are on their day a good side. But I think that result against Wales has made them lose a lot of confidence. 

35' - Well that's England pretty much through to the Euros. We have been discretely impressive in this tournament, not that we had the most difficult group in the world, I mean, erm Europe. 

37' - How far will England get in the Euros? I'm definitely intrigued. Like every tournament, I desperately want us to go far but have my doubts.

41' - There's not much to report at the moment that's why I'm talking on about the Euros. The ball has for the most part been in the middle of the pitch. 

43' - Kascelan takes a shot from far out and it's well wide.

44' - GOAL! Zverotic! The ball is crossed square to him from the right, he's just inside the penalty box and he chests it down and shoots low into the right corner, squirming under Joe Hart!

45' - Half time. No added time.

Well that came out of nowhere. Apart from the rare glimpse, Montenegro havebeen absolutely atrocious today. We've floored them without looking good at all. But that goal at the end of the match now means game on. The home crowd will roar them on, their manage will fire them on. I reckon the second half will be a completely different animal now. England need to stay strong otherwise my words earlier in this post are meaningless about them pretty much being in the Euros.

Half time change for Montenegro: Milan Jovanovic replaces Mladen Kascelan.

49' - Young crosses deep into their box but it's dealt with nicely.

51' - That should have been a penalty for Montenegro then! Brad Jones tries
to take the ball from Jovetic and sticks a leg out to the side of the player, attempting and failing to get the ball. 

54' - Beciraj does fantastically well, taking on around three defenders who just can't take possession of the ball! Eventually his shot is well over because he didn't have full control of the ball but the warning signs are definitely there.

55' - As I predicted earlier, the game is alive now. Montenegro want something from this game and they could get something in honesty as our defence haven't really looked solid at all today. 

59' - England Sub: Stewart Downing comes on for Ashley Young, who had a very good game today. 

62' - Another potential moment of danger when England who are playing a high up defensive line almost get taken out completely as the ball is chipped over. Joe Hart rushes quickly enough to collect. 

62' - Montenegro Sub: Dejan Damjanovic replaces Fatos Beciraj

63' - England Sub: Frank Lampard comes on for Darren Bent, who the goal aside, has been missing a lot today.

64' - I think that sub is a good move. Bent was barely involved, and Lampard can play as a second striker, a role he doesn't do often but has the qualities to play well with. Rooney playing off Lampard should be interesting. 

66' - A wild effort from Vladimir Bozovic wasn't far off even though it was a sky shot. Joe Hart jumped onto his crossbar just to be sure it wasn't creeping in!

69' - Both teams are trying to score now, with a lot of counter attacking play on both ends. It's a much more entertaining game now, not that it's been through the roof at all. 

72' - RED CARD! Rooney is off. What a dickhead. An absolute dickhead. Miodrag Dzudovic successfully shields the ball from Rooney, who just kicks the defender in the shin because he can't get the ball. He didn't even help him up or anything. Stupid. 

72' - England Sub: Theo Walcott comes off and Danny Welbeck comes on instead. All three England subs have now been used.

74' - Rooney had a decent game up until then. He assisted both our goals and was doing well in his role in the first half as the 'in the hole' player behind Bent. But that was just idiotic. All the focus will now be on him and the betting scandal his dad was involved in, in the papers tomorrow. How pathetic.

76' - So we have fourteen minutes now to defend our lead. It's not going to be that big a deal if they equalise, we'll still go through. Unless they score two of course haha. Let's hope we can defend our lead with ten men and win with some dignity. 

79' - Montenegro Sub: Vladimir Bozovic goes off and Andrija Delibasic takes his place. That's all six subs for both sides now.

80' - Downing! Over the bar. He still hasn't scored for England yet by the way, which is a shame.

84' - Andrija Delibasic! Offside. It went over the bar anyway, but that was another glimpse of danger.

86' - Milorad Pekovic skims a shot and it beats everyone and thankfully the keeper too! Actually on another glace it was a great save by Hart!

87' - Controversy as a Montenegro player goes down in the box! The player is ruled to have dived. Jovetic gets a yellow card for diving.

90' - GOAL! Delibasic! They finally get their goal. A lovely cross from the right is headed into the top left corner by the striker! It's his second goal for the national side in four appearances.

90' - Three minutes of added time. Let's hope we can hold on for a draw then. 

90+3' - Full time.


Well we did it, we're through to the Euros. The Montenegrins are celebrating too as their point from this match confirms they'll be in the playoffs. We all win. The fans have stormed onto the pitch to celebrate. A great moment for their country, as they're only 5 years old, in football years anyway.

To wrap up, England took advantage of an abysmal Montenegro side in the first 44 minutes and scored twice. Their goal on the edge of half time motivated them forward for the second half. They were dangerous, although so were we. Wayne Rooney should be ashamed of himself. That was the type of kick out he'd do when he was eighteen. He didn't even look sorry. What an idiot. It put more pressure onto the England team, and after a lot of near chances, they got their second goal.

We weren't great today. Not by any stretch. But we were good enough. The next few friendlies in the next 9 months are pivotal to making sure we have ANY chance of even thinking of winning the tournament. On this performance we're not good enough. But let's hope we improve. Until next time, take care.

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Live Thoughts: England vs Wales (Euro Qualifier)

Hey everyone, here are my live thoughts from England's second game in four days as we take on our British companions, Wales.

For the record on a personal note, if you didn't know already, I lived in Wales for 13 years and used to speak Welsh fluently, but for football I've always supported England. In Rugby, not that I'm really into it, I follow Wales. Am I a hypocrite? Maybe. But it's because the Welsh are passionate for their rugby and not so much for footie. So that's where the allegiance lies. Anyway, I like all the British teams and Ireland, and unless England face one, I want us all to win.

Here are the teams:

England - Hart, Smalling, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Barry, Lampard, Milner, Downing, Rooney, Young. Subs: Stockdale, Jagielka, Lescott, Parker, Carroll, Johnson, Defoe.

So after Lampard's shock drop to the bench and the media's reaction to it, Lampard starts and Parker drops to the bench. That being said it can be seen from a tactical perspective as Lampard is better equipped to attack than Parker, and we are at home. Plus, Parker has a few yellow cards now. Walcott is out with a potential injury and Milner takes his place. Another decent tactical decision as Milner is a powerhouse and should hopefully keep Bale at bay. 

Wales - Hennessey, Gunter, Blake, Williams, Taylor, Crofts, Collison, Ledley, Ramsey, Bale, Morison. Subs: Myhill, D Collins, J Collins, Ring, Allen, Robson-Kanu, Earnshaw.

It's a decent Wales side with Bale being the main threat as expected. I think we can take them though, we need to keep possession and play well going forward.

2' - Quiet start, we've taken possession nicely.

4' - Gareth Bale should have had a foul against Ashley Cole but nothing given.

7' - John Terry had almost a free header from a corner but was tugged by a Welsh shirt. It was going wide anyway. 

9' - They just mentioned Wales' really low FIFA ranking, it's a shame really, they're better than that. 

10' - Free kick for Wales, a free header that gets nowhere. 

11' - Decent little bit of pressure by Wales and we didn't defend that well really. We need to do better than that. Jack Collison was at the heart of that.

18' - Rooney has a shot at goal but kicks it over.

19' - Goal saved by the Welsh keeper, Hennessey.

20' - Yellow card shown to James Milner after a dodgy tackle on Bale. 

23' - Hennessey bats away a shot on goal.

24' - Pushing and shoving in the box while the Welsh prepare for a corner kick from Gareth Bale  

27' - Downing! Over the bar.  He tried to bicycle kick a volley from a corner. Decent effort.

29' - Wales were 2-0 down in Cardiff last year at this stage when we faced them. They're passing the ball nicely around the Wembley turf, they've really improved their game.

32' - Chris Gunter tackles Ashley Cole and bursts forward and takes a shot from around 15 years. Well wide but it was a good run forward.

34' - GOAL! Ashley Young! A decent bit of pressure from England ends in Stewart Downing going down the right flank and cuts the ball back into the penalty box where Young clinically hits the ball in! 1-0!

36' - Stewart Downing looks like such a different player recently, or even the past year. He's enjoying the form of his life for both England and Liverpool.

37' - A good bit of pressure all of a sudden for England. It's great what a goal can do.

38' - A lovely curling pass by Downing goes just a little too far for Rooney.

39' - Ashley Young whips in a cross from the left that just misses Rooney's head. Unlucky!

42' - The class difference between England and Wales is finally showing now after half an hour of a hard working Wales side matching an England side failing to show the class against Bulgaria. It's a different game now and Wales don't look in it.

45' - Half time. A half time assessment is quite well done above at 42 minutes. A game of 30 minutes of hard work from Wales against a below par England. After the goal England were just dominant and Wales looked jaded. I can't see them getting back into this unless they change their tactics to go against England's dominant play.

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45' - Immense pressure from England already! It ended with Barry shooting over the goal.

48' - We're in full control now. You wouldn't have thought there was 15 minutes between the end of the first and the start of the second half. We've continued to be aggressive and make chances.

49' - Aaron Ramsey curled the ball over the England defence and it gets to Gareth Bale with a mass of space but he was offside. That was some great vision from the Welsh pair.

51' - Rooney crosses the ball into the Wales box where Ashley Young is waiting but it just bounces in front of him and over. What a shame.

53' - The commentators are going on about the vibrant young Welsh side. It's frustrating. Wales always develop potentially decent young players but then they get on the pitch and lose often. The potential is never focused into results for them and it's a damn shame. I hope I'm wrong and Gary Speed can get more out of this group than John Toshack got out of the previous younger groups.

56' - Ramsey! Blocked. Bale gives Ramsey some room into the England box and it's just blocked off. They have another go and it's clumsily put to a corner by Joe Hart. That wasn't very good by England on that second effort.

59' - Gareth Bale just takes a wild shot at goal from distance that went nowhere. Before that he tried and failed to take on around 5 England players working around them without penetration. His shot definitely was the result of his frustrations for failing to break us down. Bless him.

60' - Lampard! Just over. There was some great movement from Gareth Barry who gets into the Wales box and passes it square to Lampard who had enough space to do better.

62' - Milner... wide. There was some good football by England then, with Rooney and Young at the heart of it, Young passes it to Milner who was free on the outside of the box and he hits it with little accuracy unfortunately. We just can't quite get that second goal.

64' - A deep cross from Downing from the free kick catches Hennessey out who fails to catch it and Gary Cahill shoots just over the bar.

65' - Corner to Wales. Chris Gunter bombs forward and tries to cross the ball and it hits Ashley Cole. Very little happens from the corner.

66' - Wales Sub: Steve Morison off and Robert Earnshaw comes on. Earnshaw is a decent Championship striker, but he's not on the level of England. I don't think he'll cause much of a problem.

69' - Wales try to break England but fail to ever get into our box. Free kick to England.

72' - England Sub: Frank Lampard off and Scott Parker on. Lampard didn't really produce the goods today, he was quiet for most of the game. Put it this way Parker did better against Bulgaria than Lampard has done today against Wales.

74' - Free kick for Wales in the central position. Bale curls it over the England wall and just over the bar. Decent effort.

75' - Earnshaw for Wales! Awful really as he had a great chance. The ball is square to him from about 3 yards and he hits it over. He looks devastated.

77' - My thoughts on Lampard for England if anyone cares? I don't think he should start anymore. I think there are younger and better options than a 32 year old Lampard who starting to look past it. Do I want him at Euro 2012 when/if we qualify. Most certainly. He has the experience and ability for a full tournament squad. It's silly to think not really.

78' - England Sub: Stewart Downing for Adam Johnson. Excellent performance from Downing today and he's pretty much England's first choice left winger now and rightfully so. Adam Johnson needs to get back into form to be able to challenge him for his shirt, but he more than has the ability long term to do so.

80' - Gunter! The whistle blew before he took his shot for a shoulder barge against Ashley Cole. But Joe Cole got to that shot excellently and saved, regardless of the foul. Brilliant reactions from the young English keeper!

81' - It's been over eighty minutes now and it's still 1-0 to England. Wales have done well to be fair and handled us for decent spells whilst creating some good chances when they can. I hope they don't give us the sucker punch at the end now.

82' - Earnshaw... wide. Counter attacking football from Wales and Earnshaw tries to curl it into the bottom right corner but it was wide by a decent margin.

84' - Wales Sub: Jack Collison off for Andy King.. He was influential today Collison and should be happy with his contribution.

86' - Wales are starting to find confidence. It's not good at the moment if we keep letting them play.

88' - Ashley Young for a brace! Just wide.

88' - England Sub: Wayne Rooney off for Andy Carroll. They're talking about the criticism for Carroll on commentary. My opinion? He does seem to lack fitness despite having a full pre-season behind him. If it's drinking or a diet thing, I don't know, but if so, he needs to seriously look at it as it's now the time to be professional and be as fit as possible. If not, we have more than enough talent in both England and Liverpool for other players who are willing to put in the effort on the pitch and off.

90' - Man of the Match is given to Aaron Ramsey. Understandable, he's been very good for Wales today and while he's not as flashy as Bale, he's a force in the middle of that pitch. Definitely a good player for the future for both Arsenal and Wales.

92' - Full time. We did enough for the win today and played some good football from around the 30 minute mark to the 60 minute mark. Between those times Wales did well and created chances. They should be happy with the way they handled England for long spells and made life difficult for us at times. For England, it's almost a certain qualification for us which is good, and we won and looked impressive at times. A win win situation for both sides today, bar naturally, a loss for Wales. Fingers crossed my Welsh compatriots can start climbing up the FIFA rankings and with a display like that, I reckon they might just do that. I'll root for them whenever England aren't playing that's for sure. That's all from me, have a good night.

Live Thoughts: Bulgaria vs England (Euro Qualifier)

Hey everyone, join me in my first ever feed of an England match. Refresh this page once in a while when the match is on to see my live thoughts as we go along! We need the three points today as Montenegro, who we're on equal points with at the top, go against a Wales team that shouldn't pose much threat. That being said, being associated with Wales as I lived there for 13 years I'm rooting for them too!

England: Hart, Smalling, Cahill, Terry, Cole, Walcott, Parker, Barry, Downing, Young, Rooney; Subs: Stockdale, Jagielka, Baines, Milner, Lampard, Johnson, Defoe.
Bulgaria: Mihailov, Zanev, Bodurov, Milanov, Bandalovski, Ivanov, Georgiev, Martin Petrov, Stiliyan Petrov, Popov, Genkov; Subs: Vladislav Stoyanov, Iliev, Marquinhos, Sarmov, Raykov, Kostadin Stoyanov, Kostadin Stoyanov.


We have a decent side out that should be able to get the 3 points today. Let's hope they don't cause too many problems as they do have some quality in there.

1' - Bulgaria are passing the ball quite nicely just outside of our third. Free kick to us.

3' - It's only been three minutes but we haven't really penetrated at all yet. We shouldn't be pinned back like this against Bulgaria. 

4' - Martin Petrov takes a shot from about 30 yards out and it goes way over the bar. 

7' - They were showing Berbatov in the stands. He retired from international football.

8' - You wouldn't think it would be Bulgaria with most of the possession so far. But they're dealing with us really easily at the moment. 

9' - Finally, a moment of pressure. A nice little bit of movement between Walcott and Christ Smalling, who whips in a cross that dissolves into the Bulgaria defence. At least it was something. 

10' - The Bulgaria fans are very loud. As an unbiased fan I fucking love noisy crowds. I love passionate crowds and this crowd is a decent one. Of course in a biased way I want them to shiut up as they're possibly intimidating the England players. 

12' - GOAL! Gary Cahill! We had a corner that didn't do anything really, but the ball got back into a crowded box and Gary Cahill skims a shot that goes under the keeper and into the corner of the net! 

13' - We got our goal, so far it was completely undeserved though. But hopefully we can start playing better. 

14' - Rooney dinks a cross over the defence to Ashley Cole on the left of the box but he can't reach it. Lovely bit of skill by Rooney.

16' - A nice bit of play by us leads to a counter attack by Bulgaria that fizzles out because of a hard Scott Parker tackle. 

18' - Bulgaria almost scored. We gave it away and they crossed the ball from the left and thankfully Martin Petrov wasn't there to score. 

20' - We're starting to put some consistent pressure on the Bulgarians. About time too I say. 

20' - GOAL! Wayne Rooney! Simple. A corner that Stewart Downing takes goes in the middle where three England players could have easily scored and Rooney gets to it with a simple header in the box. 2-0! 

23' - Interesting statistic from the commentators, while we've had Joe Hart in goal we've never lost. He's had 12 caps now.

25' - I've been critical of England today despite the goals but it's just because they've not had much possession. One thing I will say however is that we've for the most part dealt with Bulgaria comfortably, apart form the hash up around 7 minutes ago.

27' - They just replayed a nasty tackle on Ashley Cole by Ivan Bandalovski. Should have been booked really.

29' - The commentators are commending the England performance. To be fair it's been a concentrated mature performance so far. We're picking our moments wisely and not being rash. 

31' - A nice bit of movement just outside the box between Martin Petrov and Popov,ends when Ashley Cole gets the ball back. Good defending.


34' - Scott Parker does another potentially dangerous tackle and gets a talking to from the referee.

35' - Scott Parker got a booking in the end.

36' - Martin Petrov takes another long distance shot that Joe Hart deals with comfortably. At least he's trying. 

39' - Strong bit of pressure by Bulgaria. We're dealing with it quite well so far again. 

41' - Rooney is now amongst the Top 10 England strikers in terms of goal scoring. 

43' - The games slower in pace at the moment. Both sides probably want to get to half time for tactics. 

44' - One added minute at the end of the half. 

45+1' - GOAL! 3-0! Rooney scores a second! A potential hand ball just outside the England box leads to a lovely counter attack where Theo Walcott blisters his pace down the right wing, cuts into the middle and passes to the right where Ashley Cole crosses to an on-running Wayne Rooney! Absolutely gorgeous counter attacking goal there! 

HALF TIME - A great scoreline and a very professional performance. I've been a little too critical of England in the start of this live feed. They've been mature and deadly when the time is right. Three goals. Excellent stuff.

Yay! Wales are beating Montenegro! Awesome. Let's hope the underdogs win that match! Go Wales! 

46' - Bulgaria sub at half time: Bandalovski for Sarmov.

47' - Bulgaria get themselves into our box but John Terry clears.

50' - A couple of free kicks in succession. This second on is in a more dangerous area on the left of the box. 

53' - Some good penetration from Bulgaria. Corner to them. 

53' - Great save from Joe Hart! First major test for him and he passed. Not sure who took the shot. Bulgaria are starting to play quite well all of a sudden. 

54' - Downing! So close. He hits the post. A lovely cross from Walcott gets to Downing who is unmarked. Free header at goal goes over the keeper and clips the side of the post. Unlucky.


55' - Scott Parker! Nice save from Mihailov. There's some great football from both sides at the moment.

57' - Free kick in a dangerous area for Bulgaria. Leads to nothing. Disappointing from Petrov. 

58' - Yellow card for Georgi Sarmov.

60' - Bulgaria Sub - Genkov for Bozhilov. England Sub - Ashley Young for James Milner.


63' - Theo Walcott has had a very good game. His pace and crossing ability has been great.

66' - We're just passing it outside of the Bulgaria box at the moment. Comfortable. 

68' - Decent spell of possession for Bulgaria with no penetration. 

70' - A good little bit of movement lets Downing in the box but he was offside. 

73' - Walcott! That was quite bad. Rooney put it on a plate for him with no defenders in his path and he shoots well wide.

75' - Second half possession is still in Bulgaria's favour. They've dominated possession today but done jack shit with it.


77' - Frank Lampard is about to come on. I wonder why he didn't start? I don't mind, I just forgot he was available for selection.

79' - England Sub: Gareth Barry comes off for Frank Lampard.

80' - Bulgaria Sub: Popov comes off for Marquinhos.

81' - Wales have scored a second against Montenegro! Awesome stuff. A great result for both England and Wales tonight it seems, unless things change. 

82' - England Sub - Adam Johnson comes on for Theo Walcott. Johnson hasn't really done much for Man City or England recently. It's a shame as he's a quality player.

83' - That's all six subs for both teams made now by the way.

85' - There's pictures of Fabio Capello just relaxing in the stands. It's really weird but it shows you how good this performance has been on the whole. 

87' - Rooney! Close. A snap cross from James Milner was just too quick for Rooney to clip it into the net. 

89' - Joe Cole is keeping away from the goal as there's some trouble in the crowd behind him. I hope all the England supporters and players are okay in Sofia tonight. 

90' - Two minutes of added time. 

90+1' - Marquinhos finds his way into our box but is dealt with relatively company.


FULL TIME - 3-0 to England and it was a very good performance. We weren't at all times playing the best football and we didn't always have the ball, but when we did we were on song and made an impact. The fact that we had three shots on target in the first half and all three were goals says it all. Clinical and professional. One of the best England performances in a long time in terms of how strong we were. Thanks for reading.

Bitesize: #1

Hey everyone, I'm not doing a big post today, I've decided once in a while to do a Bitesize piece, where I just talk about a few things that are on my mind, on a personal or media related level.

First off the biggest news in football at the moment, Russia and Qatar hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups respectively. I, like most Englishmen, am disappointed we didn't get the bid. Is it corruption? Who knows. Innocent until proven guilty is the saying. So with that out of the way, congratulations to Russia and Qatar. In a certain way, I find it quite admirable that FIFA want to host the World Cup in places not well associated with the Western world. We get all the glamour, all the great things. We have to accept that not only have Russia or Qatar never hosted a World Cup and we have, but that we have the London Olympics. We will have many festivities here. USA will too, Australia also. We can't have everything. Did we have the best bid? Probably. It doesn't matter. What annoys me the most is that FIFA should have said right from the beginning, around 3 years ago, "Hey England, don't bother bidding for the World Cup. We want to try new places that have never been hosts before." Instead of waste what's been estimated as £50 million on something that never came close to going in our favour. All we can do now is hope that we can win the World Cup to spite FIFA!

Liverpool played yesterday, not too shabbily, bar Reina's unusual error. Nay'mind as they say. Our youngsters did us proud, and Jovanovic scored, two major plus points. The main plus point is obviously that we qualified with a game in hand as well. Let's hope we can do well in this competition, it's a promising fact, being unbeaten with rarely playing our strongest side. Hopefully we can go to Villa on the weekend and get three points, to continue to go from strength to strength. It will be difficult though. It'll be nice seeing Houllier again as well, he's still well received in Liverpool.

Biggest news in wrestling is the release of MVP. Apparently he requested his leave and it got granted. Good for him. He was very good on the mic, he drew good heat, he was decent in the ring too. I can't say it will be WWE's loss, but I can't say it's their gain either. He is a good wrestler and deserved a potential push for the title, maybe even winning it. If they want to make new stars, then it is their loss, he could have been a big star in the future, he had the potential. Hopefully TNA will snap him up, he's good enough for them to show interest.

Well that's it for my first Bitesize post. I'll do these once in a while. I hope you all have a good weekend, I'll post my 3000+ word music article tomorrow.

 

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