Staff Directory

Anyone who watched it, player ratings? Jones - 5, the 2 goals were in some huge part down to him. Both efforts he saved were parried back into dangerous areas and arguably he should hold the first effort, it bounces right into his chest. Parnaby - 6, some good throws but largely not as involved as others, especially when we got into the game later Riggott - 9, made some excellent tackles, won the header that led to his goal,  Southgate - 5, I love him but he was only on the pitch when we played crap and he was the aspect in the middle of the 3 that looked very much out of place. Queudrue - 8, defensively much better once the system changed, alongside Riggott managed Steaua's out ball really well Taylor - 7, in some ways unlucky to come off as he was doing a decent job working the flank but the change did help in a way Rochemback - 8, some of his passing was really intelligent and he was battling well alongside George, totally forgot how close he was with his left footed effort, completely rooted the keeper with it as well Boateng - 9, what a game, especially once we changed system, he was absolutely everywhere, not just winning every ball in the air and on the ground but also winning it often in a way so as to avoid giving them a way to get up the pitch, keeping possession in our favour Downing - 10, our biggest threat and one of our most intelligent passers of the ball. He wasn't just stretching them from out wide and whipping quality crosses in, he worked the entire left flank after Taylor went off and had to come really deep sometimes to ensure they didn't have a way of playing out. 3 wonderful assists, the cross for Massimo's winner... wow. Hasselbaink - 7, I think he led the team quite well after Southgate went off. But he missed a few chances he should have done a lot better with. Taking a dive when he should have tried to get his shot off, missing from a few yards out by miscontrolling the ball, he didn't really look like scoring. Viduka - 9, he had a few quite intelligent efforts, he definitely should have put away his incredible chance in the first half, wonderful jump and header for the second and generally the ball stuck to him so long as it was chest or below when he received it Subs: Maccarone - 10, bang 2-1, bang 4-2, his first goal was the catalyst for the turnaround, the whole team started to believe after it went in and it was a sodding good finish too. He worked really hard on the right hand side for a long time with not a huge amount of possession. He put in a few decent crosses to no avail. Then a bullet of a header at the back post sent us all ballistic. Was it even real? Yakubu - 6, very hit and miss, just like him in general at this stage of the season, ever since he stopped scoring he dropped off as a whole. He was kind of a good target to help Downing get out from the back but generally he didn't provide that much of a threat or indeed any kind of significant input. Ehiogu - 8, he was on for a few minutes only but then made a block that sent us to Eindhoven. We could genuinely have lost it right at the end after all our hard work and he saved us all. RIP Ugo, never forget that day.

Our formation was bloody dreadful for the opening half hour. It's no wonder McClaren, Round and the like were sat wondering what to do about it before Goian even put in their second. George Boateng, though. What a performance. I know he's not the only one but it's the first time since the night itself I've had chance to consider individual performances and I can't imagine as a 15 year old in that game thinking anything other than 10/10 for everyone. But once we got control of the midfield again, Boateng was an absolute beast.

I know its mad that tactics just went to pot in the game. Dica the guy we seemed to be linked with every window until he retired.

Still can't believe we won it from here. Hardly had any chances

Had to turn it off at 2-0 bloody useless. Queudrue was a handsome devil mind wasnt he.