I guess with Ireland facing the mighty Estonia tomorrow in the play-offs I'll have more interest in the break than usual, but for tonight, my interest is at the usual level.

Chamberlain playing for England U21.

Also:

agilebeast James Craddock
Koscielny set for his first cap tomorrow. Delighted for him. Has been brilliant past two months.

Agreed! Well done Kos.

Good for Kos, less good for us. One more player in danger of being injured...

How I hate those useless two weeks every two/three months in every fucking season.

Happy for Kos though, he truly deserves to play for France.

Hmm wait, is that good or bad now?

Kos does deserve this call up. He's a strong character.
He's made some really high profile costly mistakes when playing for us, been on the receiving end of some ludicrous harsh criticism, and been forced to learn and adapt in extreme circumstances but he's doing it.
He's been mighty since the last International break.
I'm delighted for him.

I didn't Dula, did I? I'd remember it if I had 🙂.
I've always thought he would be fine once he got to play alongside a solid decent experienced CB (not Squillaci).
The worst I can remember thinking is that he should never be played with him especially if Al was in goal.

England U21 Iceland U21 finished 5-0, how did Chamberlain do?

He just won MOTM.
Only caught the last ten minutes but he was excellent.
Did everything but actually score himself.

Barnes and Keown just gave him MOTM.

Almost scored so many times, but didn't manage a goal. But he really came alive in the last 20 minutes.

Pearce still looks miserable even after that result.

I'm so impressed by his drive and skill.

Wenger has said that he eventually sees him as a central player(although he says that about everyone), but I love what he does from the wide position.

I understand why Wenger is hestiant to play the youngesters in a team that's still fragile, but I really want to see OX get a chance with the first team. I'd rather see him come off the bench than a half-arsed Arshavin.

I think Wenger's plan is to make him do some time in the CC team and then gradually introduce him to a more settled first team set-up?
He's being very cautious with him.

Programme about Bergkamp on ESPN now.
🙂 🙂

Cautious because of what happened to Theo re Hype and how it affected him.

I support that, although it seems to me AOC possesses a natural level of confidence similar to Sneezy, unlike Theo.

Like everyone else, I want to see more of AOC in the first team (as a substitute). We have a balanced starting XI and good players on the bench that can help protect a lead (possession players like Rosicky and Benayoun) but we don't have many 'explosive' players that can help turn a game. Arshavin is the only one and you never know which Arshavin will turn up.

The internationals...I think all gooner eyes will be on the dutch game, won't they? Screaming abuse at the screen directed at Van Marwijk for not taking Van Persie off despite being already being 8 minutes into the match.

Here's the full list of International duties:

Szczesny and Lukasz
Poland v Italy, November 11
Poland v Hungary, November 15

Gervinho
South Africa v Ivory Coast Saturday, November 12

Song
Sudan v Cameroon, November 11
Cameroon v Morocco, November 13

Alex
England Under-21s v Iceland Under-21s, November 10 Belgium Under-21s v England Under-21s, November 14

Coquelin
France Under-21s v Romania Under-21s,
November 10 France Under-21s v Slovakia Under-21s, November 14

Walcott
England v Spain, November 12
England v Sweden, November 15

Rosicky
Czech Republic v Montenegro, November 11
Montenegro v Czech Republic, November 15

Vermaelen
Belgium v Romania, November 11
France v Belgium, November 15

Ramsey
Wales v Norway Saturday, November 12

Arshavin
Greece v Russia Friday, November 11

Park
United Arab Emirates v South Korea, November 11
Lebanon v South Korea, November 15

Mertesacker
Ukraine v Germany, November 11
Germany v Netherlands, November 15

Robin
Netherlands v Switzerland, November 11
Germany v Netherlands, November 15

Koscielny
France v USA, November 11
France v Belgium, November 15

Way too many for my liking.
Only Rosicky and Park are playing in games that actually mean something.

Under 30 minutes to KO in the Ireland Estonia game and Giles, Dunphy and Brady look like they want to end it all right now.
They're not exactly talking up the game.
It is, granted, bound to be brutal but we have a chance of qualifying for the Euros.
Bill has just pointed out that they're being neurotic.