Engerland played crap, almost lost the plot in ET when the Albanians shoulda made it 2-2 but were robbed, and I bet all the papers go overboard on a 'great English victory'. We were bloody lucky (thank God!).

As an aside ... was I the only one to be a bit peeved when Andrew scored? Probably means he'll keep his place now.

Anyway - main point of this post... wasn't Get Carter fabulous? Haven't seen it for years, forgot how good the thing was. One of MC's greatest roles without a doubt, he really did look like a hard bastard. And how did I forget the bit with Britt? And what the hell was she doing in a movie like this anyway? Curious bit of casting...

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Answers

Now hang on. You're a big man, but you're out of shape. With me it's a full time job, now behave yourself!

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

You haven't changed a bit, Eric. Your eyes still look like pissholes in snow'

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

bit better than 'Stormy Monday' [or whatever it was called] isn't it?

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off.

Well, I just like the way he sezit.

Andy Cole done well for Scholes goal, I had been wanting him subbed till then.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I didn't think England were that bad Nick. I feel they've made good progress since SGE took over. They look much better organised, and at least appear to be playing to a game plan.

However, there is still a lot to work on and improve. At times it is like watching the Toon - sloppy defending and a midfield constantly giving the ball away to put pressure on the team defensively.

Anth Cole was an improvement on Powell at LB, looks terrific going forward but naive when defending - however, he looks a really terrific prospect. Despite what the commentators and Jack Charlton - does he have a wonderful Northumbrian accent or what - said, I thought Ferdinand was shaky again. He's a bit like Alain Goma - looks great, then goes to sleep and the opposition have scored out of nothing.

Neville and Beckham were again a good combination down the right, and Scholes looked arguably our one truly world class player again. I thought Butt was poor - he's not in the same class as Gerrard, who we missed badly.

Despite lots of possession, we didn't really exert any consistent pressure on their defence, and YMO's poor first touch again spoiled some good work. Coles and Owen don't look a natural pairing but might be worth persevering with. Cole looked well short of confidence, but his late goal might give him the boost he needs. I still feel he's our best bet to become a consistent goalscorer at this level

Good result against a decent, very hard working team, and one we badly needed. Three wins out of three for SGE, and IMO things are looking up.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Clarky, you're right. I was, I suppose, just looking at the last 10 mins where we almost threw it all away. Lost my perspective a bit.. Agree with most of your comments, especially Ferdinand. He looks so good for so long, then loses it for a few seconds. He is spectacularly unlucky too; each time he loses it someone scores!

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Totally shit,

The England game AND Get Carter, not sure which was the worse. I was gonna switch the match off after an hour as the Ch 5 advertising hordings were doing my head in , the camera direction was apauling and the match was rubbish. In the End there was a bit of action, so i did the right thing to stay tuned

As for the film afterwards, what a heap of shite. I gave it an hour but had to switch it off in the end.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

A good night's entertainment then Rik. Trouble is you're so spoiled with the level of entertainment at SJP that nothing else comes up to scratch. ;-{)

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Ooooh! Someone not a happy bunny....

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

so Rik did you only watch up till the Britt phone sex bit then ?

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

AS far as the footy cameras go the Ch5 commentator said at the start "I apologise in advance for some of the shots you'll see tonight"

I thought it was a bit off to start criticising Cole straight away ;-))

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Anybody else driven mad by the flashing and moving ads?

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I missed the flashing...

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

yep those ads were really annoying. They must have distraced the players.... how else would Cole have scored

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

I like the Italian advertising hoardings. No idea what "Smeg" make, but they raise a chuckle.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

cookers, dishwashers etc..

So you can have your dinner cooked in smeg and your dishes washed in smeg.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

And it's smegging expensive gear!

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

The hoardings were terrible - what a shame Ketsbaia (my Lord) wasn't playing. :-)

They were a serious distraction to the viewer - I just wondered if they had any effect on the players - I should have thought it was very disconcerting to look up and see a wide man moving up the wing and standing still at the same time.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

The hordings were disgracefull , it spoilt the game,

Did I really say that? They were very distracting and I don't think they would be allowed in this country. If they were to find their way onto our wonderfull Sky coverage I reckon thousands would stop subscribing.

As for the Get Carter pile of poo poo ,yes I saw Britt Ekland fondling herself and quite fancied a bit of phone sex after watching it but the voice on the speaking clock did nothing for me. As for the rest of the film, what was good about it?

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Rik - you couldn't have noted the stunning shots of Pelaw and their famous Hussars.
Also Gateshead never looked better.

-- Anonymous, March 29, 2001

Gateshead really hasn't looked so good. It's a pity Alf from Corronation street didn't open that resaurant atop of the car (bunkle) park.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001