I wonder who the people that want Rooney dropped want to replace him with, because I honestly cannot see anyone in that England side with Rooney's level of ability and natural talent.

No, I said he does what the FA tells him to.

When was Rooney's last 'good patch', exactly?

Don't know, I don't watch the Premier League.

So how do you know he's going through a rough patch?

Just because I don't watch it doesn't mean I don't follow what's going on.

So you don't actually know his regular form but proclaim to 'know' he's going through a rough patch?

Italy do look better without Mario. There's absolutely no way they would've beaten Azerbaijan if he was playing.

I've seen a few games from United this season, and like I told you, I follow what's going on in the league. Everyone knows Rooney has been poor since last season, and he was a disappointment at the WC, too.

Lay off, now. Nitpicking and sh*t.

Albania 1-1 Denmark

So close to the 3 points...

Some very interesting results. Teams like Romania, Montenegro, Denmark, Turkey etc. with a lot of surprisingly bad results. I'd say Albania are doing very well, 4 points against stronger teams.

Also on top level some surprises. First Spain, and now Germany losing as well.

To answer your question: no, it's an entirely different situation. Prandelli took a serious risk when he tampered with his team during the tournament. And I don't mean it is cowardly to step down.

But for Hodgson especially, who gets constantly bullied by medias and is usually found his his back against the wall, I find it quite brave to have the courage, vision and willpower to maintain his position.

We played like sh*t (as always), pure catenaccio by De Biasi, but before they equalized we had two very good chances to score and take the game home. Pity.

Denmark were pretty bad, though, just like Portugal. They barely created any serious opportunities.

Btw I noted that for you catenaccio football is a synonym for bad football. For me it's boring maybe and a bit passe, but certainly not bad.

Well, for a team like us, it's totally appropriate, because we don't have the talent and quality to compete with the likes of Portugal and Denmark, so it's the only we can hope to achieve a positive result. But at high levels, I cannot accept it. It's one thing being compact and defending well, and another parking the bus like we did against Juventus.

You know for a team who 'parked the bus' v Juve our shots of 10 to their 14 and on target 3 to 4 doesn't really sound that bad.

It is bad football, it is boring and dull, but it's what made the Italian sides of the late 80s and 90s the best in the world.

Italy was damn good at it, and it was incredibly effective.

So I both agree and disagree with you at the same time.

This for me sums up why Hodgson is a total wimp, coward and pathetic manager for England.

Any strong manager would have frankly lied about it - he'd have covered the player while privately expressing his displeasure at a teenager needing 'a rest'. But to go public shows the man in his true form - does what the FA tells him, grasses up his players, takes no responsibility for anything ever going wrong.

Not unlike Rangers manager Ally McCoist. Despise managers who can't admit their own failings and can't protect their players. His total blame upon the England players for the poor showing at the world cup is further proof of it.



Ah, so you WERE good enough, the players just failed you?

He's awful.

I wouldn't take much notice of what is/isn't said in the media.

I think it's disgraceful from Sterling though. I wonder if I phone in work and tell them I'm a bit tired and can't be bothered if they'll tell me not to worry and not come in.

I agree on Sterling, pathetic. A 19 year old kid saying he's tired is truly embarrassing. But my point is Hodgson really shouldn't have grassed him up - that was equally if not more so.

I must admit I don't know how it came out, I just heard it during the game. If Roy just came out with it, I agree with you.

Surprised Han hasn't lept on praising his Maltese for pushing Italy very close indeed.

I went out to watch it so I couldn't be regaling you guys on here.

I'm actually more ashamed of how Italy played than what Malta did. And the last 10 minutes or so of passing it around back and forth between the defenders was just embarrassing.

What an odd International break. Holland were AWFUL against Kazakhstan and then lost. Germany lose in Poland. Spain lose then were awful against Lux. England were not convincing against Estonia.

and it continues. Germany have 1 win in 3 and to be honest they didn't even deserve to beat Scotland.

in less surprising news, Serbia-Albania abandoned.

Serbia-Albania officially suspended.

No Albanian supporters allowed in the stadium, very intimidating atmosphere and throwing of objects at our players until when in the 40' a drone flew over the stadium carrying a unified Albania flag. One of the Serbian players managed to catch and pull down the flag, a couple of our players didn't appreciate the gesture and it was hell from then onwards. Fans entered he stadium and started abusing our players. UEFA had to suspend the game.

Hopefully we get the 0-3 win.

I doubt you'll get the win. Not sure what idiot thought it would be a good idea to do that though. But of course, who cares about football in a football match when you can use it as a stage for politics.

Albania's #2 unnecessarily kicked all that off. A drone flying that low could potentially be dangerous to players and the Serbian player was removing it and didn't do anything offensive to the flag, so not sure what offence was taken to it?

As much as I find it hard to support Scotland these days, 4 points from 9 is more than I'd have expected from Germany, Georgia then Poland. Have to say they have a real chance of making France.

What's the background to this?

It's a very good return, yep. Disappointing to see Hutton have a total nightmare tonight though.


I think Kosovo's population is pretty much Albanian and they weren't treated very well by the Serbians when Kosovo was part of Serbia. Not totally sure why Serbia hate Albania though, I'm not aware of Albanians doing any wrong doing towards them.

What's this United Albania stuff about, X-Off?

Yes, I agree. His reaction was unnecessary, obviously stirred by the general situation. But I'm sure things would have spiraled out of control sooner or later. Their fans were already throwing things around the field, and they were so close to entering the pitch. The drone simply became the catalyst of an otherwise unavoidable outcome.

This game should have never been played with supporters. Either a closed doors game, or on neutral grounds.

Kurt is right, Kosovo is comprised 92% of Albanians. Before the Treaty of London in 1913, Kosovo was part of Albania, along with territories nowadays belonging to Montenegro, Macedonia and Greece. In that treaty, Albania was divided by the European powers, and Kosovo was handed over to Serbia. But it's always been inhabited by Albanians, even to this day. You're probably all aware of the Balkan wars, and the absolute genocide Kosovo had to suffer at the hands of Milosevic.

To put it simply, Serbia hate us, and they consider Kosovo a part of their own. And that's something we've never accepted. It's a very hot matter, something which UEFA should have taken into consideration.

Looks like they're still hung over from all the celebrating

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yozItK5mWZY#t=128

Disgraceful.

He didn't really, just one mistake which led to a goal. Otherwise he was fine.

I only saw the highlights, but I felt like he was at fault for the 2nd too and the late Lewandowski chance.

Glad you felt otherwise though!

I think Serbia-Albania should be played without any fans in the stadium. Giving Albania a win would set a very dangerous precedent.

Let's just start flying Nazi flag drones over Germany home games. When they rightfully get offended and flip their ****, they get a loss.

I don't think it's that simple. Like I said, the drone was the catalyst of an otherwise unavoidable outcome. The tension was palpable before and during the match. Even though no Albanian supporters were allowed, there was an atmosphere of hostility. The whole stadium was constantly chanting phrases of absolute hatred that would be inappropriate for me to write here. I'm fairly certain that the simplest of instances, like a goal from our side would have stirred the situation in the chaos that eventually ensued.

Should we get the 3 points? I think so. It's only fair. The drone had nothing to do with us. Reports say that it was orchestrated by some Albanian kid from Macedonia. Our players and staff were heavily abused by hooligans and stadium security. The Serbian FA has to take responsibility for everything that happened. Even if they don't give us the 3 points, I would be very disappointed if UEFA take punishments in our regards as well.

I wouldn't trust UEFA to make the right decision. After all, it's them idiots that allowed you to be in the same group. Madness.

Seven things you need to know about the Serbia-Albania match violence in Belgrade

The matter has become strictly political now. Serbian heads of state are accusing our government, saying that the drone was their doing in an attempt of provocation.

Now, I'm obviously going to sound completely biased here, but I think this is madness. In other words, instead of distancing themselves and condemning the violence of their people last night, they are doing the complete opposite, and creating absurd alibis to frame the opposition.

I'm sorry, but everybody knows that Serbia is not new to such shenanigans. Just two recent events that spring to mind:

England victory over Serbia marred by racism and violence

Italy v Serbia called off after seven minutes due to crowd trouble

And you're saying, that after all the photographic and filmed evidence from last night, we are at fault? We did absolutely nothing! The only thing our players did was react to the flag being pulled down and to their teammates being abused by fans and hooligans, which is only a natural reaction when you're surrounded by 20,000 people yelling that they want to kill you.

If Albania aren't punished for what their supporters (present or not) have done it sets a dangerous precedent.

Look at Inter and the flare - their supporters, their punishments. It's the way it works.

I agree though that both sides have caused the mayhem here and the flag was just the straw that broke the camel's back.

You mean the drone? Yeah, that was a d*ck move from whoever did it. But does it constitute the grounds for punishment? I'm not so sure. We don't know who commanded the damn thing. For all we know, it could have been someone completely unrelated that just wanted to stir the Serbs up. And you certainly can't compare it to 20,000 people loudly booing your anthem, throwing hard objects on the pitch, using derogatory terms and chanting in chorus that they want to kill you. How would you feel playing under such circumstances?

Not biased, just talking sense. It's a crazy accusation to make.

As X-O said, it's not that simple. A Nazi flag isn't exactly the equivalent of a "Great Albania" flag, is it?

The thing with modern Serbia is, everything in their society and politics (on a higher level) is based on lies and deceptions. If the two don't work, then a third instance is used: aggression. I remember the first (football) meeting between Croatia and Yugoslavia (then) in 1999/2000. In Belgrade the atmosphere seemed unbearable, insults, chants, attacks - and then in the middle of the game the lights went out! For a full 10 or 15 minutes the whole stadium was in dark.

The saddest part of them all is that I don't see any space for rehabilitation or peaceful coexistence. The Serbian politicians chose a path of denial and aggression which will now repeat itself over and over again: first it was Croatia and Bosnia, then Slovenia, then Montenegro, then Kosovo and Albania. It's a never ending cycle of violence and - more dangerous - resentment.

Exactly! What I really cannot stand in all of this is the reaction of the Serbian authorities following the incident, implying that the drone was a premeditated act from our government whose objective is to destabilize the region and enforce the notion of the Great Albania.

Not only are such accusations unfounded and absolutely ludicrous, but they are actually using them as an alibi and cover-up for what in reality happened before the drone incident even took place. Instead of distancing themselves and condemning such acts, they choose to take a path of false accusations, deception and nationalistic propaganda. It's no wonder that to this day and age the majority of the Serbian population is fueled by an extremist and aggressive concept of nationalism, when they are led and governed by people who continue to advocate Milosevic-ian ideals of hatred and violence.

And to make matters worse, that absolute genius of Platini comes out in public and says "What if there was a bomb on the drone?". Dude, do you even hear yourself? Instead of making retarded assumptions, look at and analyze the facts of what really happened. I sincerely hope UEFA don't penalize us on the same scale as Serbia. It would be downright degrading, simply because we're a small country that no-one gives two shits about.

Serbia awarded win over Albania but docked three points by Uefa

UEFA proving once again their complete uselessness. Not only it's totally unfair giving them the 3 points, but then they deduce them altogether? So, what's the point? Might as well have re-played the game with closed doors at this rate.

We're going to appeal the decision to court. Maybe they won't have their heads up their asses like Platini and his gang of idiots.

I think it mostly comes down to the fact that, regardless of the atmosphere being nasty, the beginning of the end of the game was caused by Albania. The drone, while that can't be proven to be by Albanians (as obvious as it is), was the start of it and then the comical reaction by your #2 which IMO kicked off all the violence is why you are punished. As the instigators, you were given a 3-0 forfeit.

Serbia, though, should've had better control of their fans once the trouble did kick off. They have been deducted 3 points for that and rightfully so. You can't have fans running on to the field and attacking players, it's outrageous.

Ultimately you're both being blamed for this and have both basically been given a loss. I think the right outcome would've been to replay the game behind closed doors, but I can't say as a neutral that this is a terrible decision.

You can't compare the two. Yes, the drone was obviously commanded by an Albanian, but so what? In an environment full of nationalistic symbols and racist insults, why should an Albanian flag be the cause of uproar? Because Serbia is playing at home and they can do whatever they want? That's insane! And besides, yes, our #2 reacted to the flag being pulled down, but there was no violence in his reaction. Why should it be condemned?

I think you're using two different scales of judgment here, because the circumstances have made you to believe that any gesture from us in that environment should have been avoided, but that simply demonstrates the absolute ludicrous conditions we were playing in, and that's what UEFA should have penalized.

Actually, what gave Serbia the three points was our players' unwillingness to play afterwards. But would you play in such circumstances when you're violated by everyone in the stadium, including security? Six of our players had visible injuries. It was impossible to continue.

The Guardian runs a great article about yesterday's decision, I think you should all read it: http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2...et-uefa-albania