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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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: 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.

Live Thoughts: Arsenal vs Liverpool (Premier League)

Hey everyone, here's my first ever live feed of what happened in the football game between Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League. This was done live. I've not touched the feed below as it represented my feelings as I did it live.

0' - Suarez on the bench is intriguing. It's difficult as we need Kuyt on the pitch, he's imperative to the team. But I'd rather put Henderson on the bench if I had to choose one or the other. At least he'll make a decent impact later on if he comes on as a sub.

3' - Corner for Arsenal, we dealt with it well enough, no problems thus far

4' - Another Arsenal corner, Arshavin should have hit the target there. Luck was on our side.

7' - They're putting the pressure on us but it's still open. Let's hope for a spell of pressure soon

8' - Yellow card for Fimpong for a tackle on Kuyt. Unnecessary really.

9' - Free kick for us not too far from the corner flag. They dealt with well.

10' - Walcott had a decent amount of space on the right wing. Thankfully the ball ends up back in Reina's safe hands.

11' - A bad decision by the referee gets shown a great amount of disappointment by Walcott, who starts eye balling Martin Atkinson. He might need to be a bit more careful.

15' - Laurent Koscielny has gone down injured. It doesn't look good.

16' - Arsenal Sub - Miquel replaces Laurent Koscielny. He's only played two FA Cup matches. How come Arsenal don't have more cover on the bench? It doesn't look good long term for them, I do feel for Arsenal fans.

19' - Carroll! Nice save. It's a shame as he hit that header really well.

20' -  The commentators are not wrong when they say we can't face Arsenal away at a better time, they have only only top quality centre back and their squad has been stripped to the bare bone. It's a shame, I like Arsenal and want them to do well in an unbiased way.

22' - Nice little run from Jose Enrique, chips the ball to Kuyt who crosses to Henderson. He didn't head the ball that cleanly but it was a nice move nonetheless.

24' - Free kick in a decent central position about 30 yards out. Charlie Adam doesn't do much with it though unfortunately.

25' - Another Liverpool corner that dissolves, but a nice cross by Stewart Downing was headed away by the Arsenal defence. It was a lovely cross though.

26' - A nice little move from defence to attack by Liverpool leads to nothing as Carroll is offside. I love the guy but he is offside quite often.

28' - Arsenal attack and Arshavin whips a low cross that scrapes across the face of goal but thankfully for us, no one was there.

29' - Emmanuel Frimpong has a decent effort from long range, it was just off target. I don't think Reina had that covered.

31' - Yet another Liverpool corner does nothing again and Arsenal clear.

33' - Downing tries to whip a cross to Carroll but Arsenal clear for a throw in.

35' - Nasri had a great chance then, it's the first time he's really threatened us.

38' - Downing has a great shot at goal, just wide of the top right of the goal.

40' - Two small chances for us, Downing whips in another good cross that's defended well. Carroll then shoots a deflected shot that's easily saved by Wojciech Szczesny.

41' - A nice Arsenal move between Van Persie, Walcott and Nasri. Nothing comes of it thankfully.

43' - Free kick in a great position for Arsenal. A yellow card for Lucas who pulls down Frimpong. Possibly a little harsh but he shouldn't have pulled him down, it's as simple as that.

44' - Van Persie hits the wall and the ball goes out for a corner. 3 minutes of added time announced.

45+1' - Nasri has a good run in the centre of the pitch but Agger puts his shot off and it goes well wide

HALF TIME - It was an okay half, both sides have had okay chances, nothing too groundbreaking. It does have draw written all over it, but hopefully we can penetrate their edgy defence.

Who had the best first half? For me it was Stewart Downing, he kept whipping in decent crosses and had a great shot at goal. For Arsenal I'd say it was probably Thomas Vermaelen, who was dealing with those crosses and Andy Carroll's threat quite well.

46' - 56%/44% possession in our favour for the first half, that's pretty good.

49' - Sorry for not updating much, it's mainly passing and moving from both sides at present.

51' - Arshavin tries to outrun about three Liverpool players, it comes to nothing and the ball ends up in Reina's hands.

53' - Kelly almost scores! The ball ends up with Carroll at the side of the final third and cuts back to Martin Kelly, who smacks it and it clips the post! Great chance!

55' - Some nice Arsenal movement from the second to the final third of the pitch although we deal with it well. No shots were taken at goal and a there was a foul.

58' - Small spell of pressure for Liverpool that simmers away. Not much to report so far in this second half apart from Kelly's fine strike.

61' - Liverpool corner, our fourth of the game (Arsenal have had 7). Once again it comes to nothing, Adam attempts a short at goal from the far left but it was an easy save for Szczesny.

63' - Counter attacking football by both sides without any strong pressure either way. The pace has been picked up a little though and that's good.

65' - Charlie Adam is praised by the commentators for his Gerrard/Alonso-esque crosses of the ball. They are great to watch and I'm happy Adam has filled that void Alonso left two seasons ago in that respect.

67' - Van Persie! Reina makes a fine low safe to make the ball hit the outside of the right post and out. Arsenal's best chance so far.

69' - Frimpong is off! He runs into Lucas straight on and after having a yellow in the first half, he's gone. Bad news for Arsenal!

70' - Double Sub for Liverpool - Raul Meireles and Luis Suarez replace Dirk Kuyt and Andy Carroll. Arsenal Sub - Henri Lansbury replaces Samir Nasri.

73' - Suarez half chance - a quick little pass into the box from Enrique to Suarez who can't move quick enough to take a real effort on goal.

77' - OWN GOAL! GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL! Meireles and Suarez have some nice movement going into the box and a deflection from Aaron Ramsey knocks the ball in the net! 1-0!

78' - Even as I'm happy for Liverpool, I do feel sorry for Arsenal and their bad luck in this game, an injury, a red card and then an own goal. Gutted. 

79' - Arsenal Sub - Nicklas Bendtner comes on for Theo Walcott, who hasn't been very good today.

82' - Things have calmed down a bit for the moment, neither side are penetrating forward much. 

85' - Still not much to report. Carl Jenkinson went down injured but came back okay. The commentators suggested Liverpool to give the ball to Downing so he can take advantage. 

88' - I just love watching Suarez. He's definitely my favourite player at the moment. He just tries to go forward at all times when he has the ball. There's too much of this back peddling or square ball business nowadays.

90' - LIVERPOOL GOAL! SUAREZ! Lucas plays a ball in the middle of the pitch gets to Meireles, who is offside, who then passes square to Suarez to hit it in the net! Great stuff!

90+1' - 4 minutes added time. 

90+3' - "You'll Never Walk Alone" is being echoed through the Emirates. Lovely sound. 

90+4' - Full time whistles and there are boos around the stadium, obviously directed at Arsene Wenger.

It was a decent display by Liverpool, although the result is better than the performance. Full time 0-2 to Liverpool, our first win at Arsenal in 11 and a half years. Good times. Thanks for reading.

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