Gerrard 2 : 0 England

Stevie G, as he so often did for the country and for the club, rose to the occasion to single-handedly spare England the biggest possible embarrassment, and Steve McClaren the door--well, at least for the immediate moment.

Am afraid he realised his mission as well. Look at the picture, didn't he miss Lennon's hand deliberately?



The most amusing part: Roger and I were watching the match in a pub in the City. When Stevie scored the first goal, the cheering roar sounded more like England scored against Brazil in the World Cup final!

There were two recent comments from two England legends that are highly interesting. Ray Wilkins was aiming at the FA as well as the clueless McClaren when he talked to the BBC: 'I think if you are going to change Sven then you have to change the situation. Steve was Sven's number two so we are not really changing it. Steve is his own man and he will do the job in his own way but we haven't really changed too much. ' Not so much an understatement by English standard. Barnesie, on the hand, was much more blunt, whose comment would serve a better wake-up call for the nation as well as those blind fans like myself. He was quoted in the Daily Mail: Expectations have to be more realistic: we're not the best team in the world and we're not the best team in Europe.

How bloody true!