Main difference between England and all other top teams (except maybe Italy atm) is they have loads of players playing abroad and we do not. British players just do not go abroad in numbers, partly because culturally we don't like it, and partly because English players are hugely overpriced so present very very poor value for foreign clubs to buy. There are three issues with this 1) it means English players get much less Champions League experience than other nations 2) English players also have a much narrower experience in styles of play 3) English players live too much "in the comfort zone" which I think impacts our resilience at tournaments. If he was Spanish or French Ben Foden would have buggered off abroad to a CL club by now. But instead he'll sit on the City bench. Or even if he is sold Crystal Palace for example would easily be able to outbid Sevilla or Marseille with their PL resources. And they would do it because, you know, he's a talented Englishman so a marquee signing. So instead if playing CL football he will play mid table and relegation dog fight. Sancho from City has gone to Germany now (but only as his contract ran out and he is unusually intrepid) so hopefully that is the start of more talent going overseas, but until we start have 10+ players abroad in CL clubs playing regularly we are always going to be at a serious disadvantage. Not sure that will ever happen with the huge TV deals the PL keeps signing though. If anything I expect it to get worse. I anticipate more and more top English players will get paid more by prem clubs not to play and they'll rot. Edit - I checked last squads and even Italy has four playing abroad compared to England's zero.... France have 14 of their wc squad, Germany 9, Belgium 20 (!!), Argentina 19, Brazil 20...

Steven Ireland? No way, he's a nailed on Murphy mark II.

Not only could Friedel kick but the way he used to throw the ball to start counter attacks etc, Jesus the guy could probably throw it from one goal to the other if he tried. The best goalie in Rovers history no question.

JAL will only be happy when we’re back in the Premier League and getting beat more often than not. It’s a shame he doesn’t go to a lot of matches. It’s also a shame that so many people worry about what he thinks. Same with everyone’s fascination with Chaddy. Same with the artist formally known as MGPensioner, or whatever he’s called this week, who proudly states he hasn’t been to a game in years. Everything’s great, or everything’s rubbish. When there’s no light or shade. No reasoned analysis or, in some cases, first hand objectivity. What’s the point.

Stephen Ireland, I had forgotten he existed. What a symptom of the modern game he is. He's nearly 32, has played at the top level for 13 seasons and yet has amassed less than 250 league appearances. Just over 100 games in 8 years, 4 games in the last 2 years. he's probably forgotten how to play football by now and yet he's no doubt has been trousering £40K a week while doing it. The game is broken!

The British media seems to have too much of an agenda against English footballers / managers. They’ll dig through tweets, find old girlfriends, invent bung scandals (by entrapment) and then hound them out of a job. It’s a disgrace. Bitter Scottish hacks/editors? Foreign newspaper owners - e.g. Russian? Not sure the reason but these lurid tales seem to sell papers so you have to blame those who buy them with their screaming headlines or click on the ad-approved links for creating a market. I guess we should be glad that Southgate seems to be pretty squeaky.

Jesus god help us if Mowbray was to leave anytime soon.

I have known a lot of hypocrites, but you my friend - are the most boring of the lot. Lampard will do well with no experience. Beisla will fail despite an impressive CV Heckingbottom deserved more time despite 4 wins in 16 games (form far worse than the previous manager with same squad)

I'm echoing Hoddle on the commentary here, but he's right. Our system looked great and we totally dominated until Nigeria changed their formation at half time to match us one to one. Then it was like a brick wall - we couldn't create anything at all. Other teams will look at that and use it against us... Not sure if we have a plan B to be honest. As for who played well - I thought everyone was decent enough except for Young who killed many moves by having to switch to his right foot, and was also lazy defensively. I can't see what he brings at all. Lingard and Alli looked good first half. Sterling was frustrating. We could have scored four or five in the first half if his final ball was better. All in all standard sort of England pre tournament performance. Not convincing, but when is it ever?

What hes doing is protecting the agent and player but the bottom line is....... he's crap.

All he had to do was Pickford the ball out of the net.

Not seen any bad comments from Villa and I live close to the area. They all loved him.

Jimmy Cliff - Wonderful World, Beautiful People

Ireland is not Mulgrew,. I can't imagine Mulgrew inventing his Granny has died and then having a dead rat glued to his head so it doesn't fly off when he's got the roof open on his pink 4x4. It's about character as much as ability. The current squad have it in abundance, we don't want any overpaid dollopers rocking the boat.

Mulgrew

But he on a special list dont hire at all cos he's clueless

Thats the hope I guess, our youngsters have been winning everything on the world stage in the lower age groups. Surely in the next 5-10 years we should have an excellent crop to choose from. Problem is, our youngsters dont find it easy getting into first teams due to the foreign influx.

Broad needed to be publicly criticised to get a performance out of him. He's been trading on past performances for years barring the odd miracle spell. Where is the winter tour this year? I'd be tempted to keep him at home if it's somewhere like Sri Lanka.

That last point is very true Frosty. If Biesla has a bad month or two, he'll be out and someone else will come in . The rate they're going it's only a matter of time before Coyle is hired.

My point with Jokanovic was that when he was appointed at Watford, people would have said then that it was a risk as he didn't 'know the league'. Yet straight up they went...... Wagner is another one, Stam was a penalty kick away from going up (in both of their first full seasons managing in England). Carvalhal got in the play offs a couple of times. And that's just off the top of my head in the last couple of years. I've acknowledged it could go pear shaped with Bielsa but if you're a Leeds fan then it'd be hard to say no to somebody of that stature. Especially when whoever they appoint will probably be out the door within a few months anyway.

Not for me.

Bye.

I just think it' a bit sad that 22 years after El Tel told the FA that they needed to tap into the knowledge and expertise of ex England footballers to help us improve seems to have fallen on deaf ears. They are not all managers and nor would they need to be. They have experience of heartache (1996) and failure since then. What a bloody waste

Oh look everyone! A dingle. One, sadly, without a life.

Watt was after Mowbray's time at Celtic. Surely no-one would seriously suggest we sign him now would they? We've just been promoted to the 2nd Division, not relegated to the local ale house league.

Very unfair on Heckingbottom IMO. no chance to bring his own players he wanted, working with unbalance squad, far too many foriegn players. Christiansen started well but things went bad after a couple of months They had Rosler, Christiansen and Milanic in the past 4 seasons aswell. Leeds in last few years have gone nowhere. Biesla has no experience of football in England. Will be culture shock for him. Yes they have some managers who has been successful but alot more failures. Lee Johnson and Dean Smith have both done good jobs at their clubs. I would prefer one of those than someone like Biesla. McClaren is McClaren.

John claret....

Forget about what?

Only interested in a new shirt if it's birdy unveiling it.

Tony Watt with a weight programme and off the booze, wouldn’t be bad back up on a six month contract (motivation purposes). Six months is Xmas and if we are top ten then venkys May open the purse strings for better or it gives time for Watt to make an impressive few appearances. Bar Sammy and Graham we are looking light up top.

You are quite correct. Heckingbottom had no real chance with the squad he inherited or time to build at Leeds. I thought their scatter gun approach to managers would change when they got shut of the mental Italian owner, or is he still involved? I hope Leeds go somewhere, League 1 preferably.

Strewth.......I think people need some football to talk about badly. Roll on the World Cup!

Pilkington is from Darwen, as is arbito. I imagine it was fairly easy for him to find that out, especially considering he reffed for a long time. Come on chaddy lad!

Now the dust has settled, I feel the tone and the balance of this report is right ..