I think you're forgetting just how bad England were in the World Cup. We drew with the US, got outplayed by Algeria and scraped past Slovenia. Granted the Lampard incident was extremely unfortunate, but apart from 10 decent minutes vs Germany, England were a complete and utter shambles.

I think this time around, England have done what was expected of them. Without being exceptional, they still did a damn sight better than 2 years ago. We got a solid draw versus the French wthout ever looking too threatened, and beat both Sweden & Ukraine, which were tough games in their own right.

Yesterday was a poor performance, but even though Plan A (get a goal from a set-piece or from the 10 minute purple patch) failed, they just about achieved Plan B (take the game to penalties).

It's not good enough, but then again, the team were never good enough.

One thing you've got to hand to England is they must be a bloody tough team to beat. 7 times in the last 9 major tournaments that they've taken a game past 120 minutes. I thought by the law of averages, we might actually win one yesterday. Sigh.

You are talking about a club that has spent £67.7m on it's top 3 strikers. That's about £15m more than Manchester United spent on their top 3.

Saying finishing in the top 8 if they don't strengthen is quite odd considering the amounts they've wasted.

Why is the amount they've spent relevant? Just because they've spent a lot of money doesn't mean that they've spent it wisely and guarantee that the player's they brought in are better than those who cost less at other clubs. You mention Man Utd, look at their strikers last year - the most expensive could barely get a game.

Also, whilst they might have spent that much on their 3 top strikers, they only have 2 of them at the club, and neither are exactly prolific. Dalglish spent a lot of money poorly and Rodgers has been hampered by that by both inheriting a poor squad and having the purse-strings tightened as a consequence, it's not at all odd to say that he will have done a good job to get them in the top 8. Do you think they have a squad good enough to do better than 7th/8th?

Gutted about going out last night, played much the better football over the 90, scored 2 great goals, but undone ultimately by 3 bad bits of defending and a goal that only just crept in. Chelsea really wanted revenge it seems what with bringing on Oscar and Hazard, turned out to be just too much for Keane and Wootten to handle

Chelsea have a new captain, leader, legend... www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... lbeck.html

Chelsea have a new captain, leader, legend... www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... lbeck.html