Kazakhstan game proved we are a nation of moaners!

So can Lampard and Gerrard play together? Undoubtedly they are both great players, but I don't think we should see them playing in the same side together, unless we can get the 4-3-3 system working, because England need a holding midfielder, because whether they like it or not, they are almost identical as attacking players, and so you should not look at trying to fit them in a 4-4-2 formation, as it doesn't make any sense.

There I said it, I would prefer to have Barry, Hargreaves or even Carrick patrolling just in front of the back four than two of the best attacking players in the world getting in each other's way. So which one would I go for, well I have always preferred Gerrard, having nothing against Lampard, but I feel the Liverpool player is more talismanic...............that and he exudes English passion with every breathe, and being a Scouse, he is probably a handy bloke to have around in a scrap!

So what about the game? Well I thought it was job done, and you can't ask for more than that, but the biggest controversy to emerge from the night, was not about the goals, Beckham's standing ovation or even Rooney's new haircut, but it was the section of the crowd who booed Ashley Cole after his awful mistake that led to the Kazakhstani goal. Now I have tried to come to a conclusion on whether fans should boo players or not, and it's not that simple, but having played a lot of sport, I feel I can give some guidance for future reference.

Fans pay lots of money for tickets, and if said ticket was for a West End show, then they would have every right to boo and throw vegetables (I prefer carrots, there more aerodynamic and the pointy end could have someone's eye out if thrown right), as they have stumped up the price for admittance, and like with any entertainment, if you feel it is not up to scratch, then you have the right to reply.

But sport is not entertainment; sport is sport, where people generally try their best to win, not just for their team or country, but for pride and the love of competition. Capello has been trying hard to instil a feeling of "No Fear" within the team, and I believe this is one of the key aspects England have been missing, but you cannot do this when fans jump on every mistake, as it brings back the element of failure.

Everyone makes mistakes, and I have always had the philosophy, that as long as you learn from them, and try your best, then mistakes can actually be a good thing, as they are part of the learning process. When you make a mistake in sport it can be horrible, as you feel you have let down your teammates, yourselves and your fans. It is a horrible moment, but how, as fans do you think it best we respond?

Shall we boo them and get on their backs, so that they feel even worse, and now are so paranoid about making a mistake that they can't play to their normal levels? Or do you do what all good captains would do, talk to the player, and say to put it behind him, learn from it, and focus on the future, i.e. cheer them on regardless?

I know it's easy and it sometimes feels good to boo someone, but when that someone is in a team you desperately want to win you simply have to question (this is assuming the fans that did boo have any intelligence at all) whether it is going to improve your teams on field fortunes, if it isn't, then shut the hell up! Seriously, people moan that the England players don't have the confidence they do at club level when the pull on the Three Lions, well what do you expect, if anything we should be getting behind a player who has made a mistake, helping to make his confidence grow, and let him forget about it, as I can guarantee you, he knows he did it.

It's the same in any decent sport team, you try so hard and rid each person of any negativity (if you have played any sport you would have been exposed to this) whether it is before the game e.g. "They haven't lost for three years, we are going to struggle", during the game "

You missed that tackle you idiot, you let them score!" or even after the game "What were you playing at out there, you were rubbish!" It is a hard thing to do to remain positive, especially when you are giving your all, and you witness a team mate make a mistake, it's very easy to vent your spleen, but it will only bring negativity onto the pitch, and that's something that needs to be avoided at all costs.

A great example of this, and how I learned this lesson, was when I was captain of my school rugby team at the age of 14, I played a pretty decent club standard, and no one else really at my school played at all, so I spent my days persuading the biggest and the baddest of my school that wearing lycra and getting muddy was the best way to spend a winters evening.

Obviously when we got on the pitch, at times it could be a bit of a shambles and very different to when I played with my club, and I used to scream and shout at people because I would get frustrated at the way they played. Once I remember shouting my head off at a guy, because under pressure he kicked the ball straight to the oppo, and they scored.

The guy in question was playing his first game of rugby, had no idea what the rules were, and had probably seen a guy on a TV game kick a ball, and thought it was a good idea.

I decided to let him know in no uncertain terms that he shouldn't. It was only when one of the kids parents pulled me to one side and said to me "Why did you have a go at him then Luke", I simply said that he had made a mistake, and so I vented my anger, to which he replied "Wicked, well he came down here to play and experience rugby, had no idea what he was doing, and now probably never wants to play again thanks to you! In what way do you think that would have helped him on the pitch?" and it struck me, just how much of a blinkered idiot I had been.

He went onto explain that maybe it would have been better if I had told him something along the lines of "Unlucky, nice idea, maybe try this though next time" making him realise he had made a mistake, but being positive about it so he could improve.

It seems obvious now, (and to anyone who has sat through those God awful motivational training sessions at work you have, you know where I am coming from) but when you're frustrated you don't think straight, suddenly I had my eyes opened to the power of positivity, and what it could do in sport.

It's not always straight forward though, I once played with a guy at Oxford who would be rubbish, until he had been punched or kicked, and then he became a superstar, it actually got to the point that his own players would start a fight with him during the game to get him pumped up, not me though, as he was huge!

Obviously that's a bit of an extreme example, but think about it, after Ashley Cole made that mistake, he would have been feeling awful, low on confidence and just generally like a letdown, so which would make him, as a player, respond better and therefore benefit the England team as a whole?

To be cheered on by the fans, who would be letting him know it was just a mistake and they have faith in him, or booed and ridiculed, so that he would be afraid of even getting the ball? As fans do we not want our team to do well, therefore if there is anything we can do (and trust me, having your fans behind you makes a big difference) shouldn't we be doing it??

I am a bit of a hippy now as I am getting older (no I don't light josh sticks in my hair!), and therefore I have very strong views on moaning and negativity, and my philosophy is two-fold:
* If you can do something about a problem, do it, and if you can't, don't moan about it as there is nothing you can do
* Moaning about something is admitting defeat, and extremely selfish, be a bigger person and see the positive side, plus negativity is like a disease and can spread, feeding on confidence and energy as it goes!
So that's my two pennies worth, and think about it, when was the last time moaning ever achieved anything ahead of positive action??

Just a thought, and anyway, enough about the footy, because the weekend saw the return of the Heineken Cup of rugby, and I couldn't have been happier!

Normally over the weekend I am lucky to catch highlights or maybe one game from the Premiership, but when it comes to a European week, I get to see about 742. What a weekend of games too, from Munster's last gasp winner on Friday night, to Leicester's incredibly tense, if not free scoring victory over the Ospreys, and finishing with Baths phenomenal game that they lost with the last kick of the game at Toulouse.

European rugby is amazing, as we get to see some of the best players in the world, in one of the most pressure cooker environments ever, and wow does it produce some incredible rugby. The best bit is, we get to do it all this weekend again as week 2 is upon us, and let's hope the games can live up to the excitement and impact that week 1 had!

Otherwise this week is a bit quiet for me, I am looking forward to cheering on England against Belarus on Wednesday, and hoping we can make it four wins out of four, plus I have my weekly residency at Dragon Eye on Broad Street afterwards, and on top of this I am going mad with the rugby training......................well that and lots of daytime telly, although I think I may have watched too much of this already, as last night I dreamt of a new show, based on Cash in the Attic, called Cat in the Attic, which involves going around peoples antique laden houses, and putting a cat in the attic, and then trying to coax it out again....................I didn't say I thought it through!!!

Oh and music wise this week, see if you can't get your lugs around the new Funeral For a Friend album Memories and Humanity, the fourth offering from these Welsh Screamo legends, that see's them having dumped their label after their last album, and started up their own, Join Us, which without the pressure of Label Execs prompting their every move, has allowed them to explore new sounds and write in more relaxed ways, the results of which are simply phenomenal, and I love it!!

Right you lot, have a top week, and don't forget to catch Offside on Sunday from 2-6pm; it has all your sporting goodness for a Saturday afternoon, with your five a day of rock music too!