Quote of the day

""Who is playing better than him? Nobody. Who is scoring more goals than him? Nobody. He's not the finished article, but get him in there and let's have a look at him. If you want to have a Plan B and you want to go long, then there is nobody better than him. There are not many players who can beat him in the air. But you don't have to kick and rush with him. He has got a decent touch. He will run into the corners and he will score goals. The guy in form is Carroll. He has come on in leaps and bounds over the last 18 months. I always knew he had talent, but this has come a bit quicker than I thought it would."

Alan Shearer, who knows a little about this goalscoring malarkey, on Rocky, who it's been confirmed will make his full international debut in tomorrow night's friendly against France. There had been question marks over his fitness, so fingers crossed we're not left with another Owen situation on our hands - only this time as a result of a meaningless knock-about.

Also on Fabio Capello's teamsheet for the first time is Jordan Henderson - Franco Baldini presumably having overlooked the Mackem midfielder's woeful display in the Tyne-Wear derby.

While Rocky's compensation for being repeatedly frustrated by Fulham 'keeper Mark Schwarzer on Saturday (match report to follow) was the England call-up, there was no such silver lining for Kazenga LuaLua. The on-loan midfielder was introduced by Gus Poyet to spark league leaders Brighton into life - which he duly did just four minutes after coming on, setting up Gary Dicker for an equaliser at Hartlepool. But the Monkey Hangers went on to score twice more, and LuaLua was forced off with a broken ankle that will rule him out for ten weeks.