With this talk of licenses for teams, it sounds like a fiddle so the FA scum can get their favourite rich teams in and change the rules to suit that.

It’s because good footballers are exciting to watch mate.

On the actual game, I thought for the first 30 minutes we did have the killer ball we usually lack. Some of the way we got players running in behind was exceptional. I think it caught Tunisia by surprise and, once they equalised, they got everyone deeper and became less adventurous. Then we struggled. Having said that, we also have seen Brazil, Argentina and Germany have similar problems but also concede goals and not be as dominant in the midfield. I don't think Tunisia had a meaningful touch in our box all of the second half. Loftus Cheek and Rashford gave us some much needed impetus back late on although their refusal to cross, to try that one extra touch or try a little flick frustrated. It's not normal to praise a former dingle but Trippier has it right. When your in a decent position get it in with quality as soon as possible. Many times, the best chance you get to put a cross in is the first chance you get to put a cross in. Sterling and Young were poor. At the moment I'd just consider swapping Young for Rose. Impressed with Maguire's determination to step out with the ball and try and force the team forward. That's got to be credit to the manager. Worrying that there is only 1 proper finisher in the side though. Kane took both simple chances well although I could see some players panicking at the end and heading it down and wide (Morten - I'm looking at you !!!). Vardy is the only other player that would probably have stuck most of the chances that came our way away but he'll be difficult to fit in that formation. Overall I'm quite pleased with how that went. Panama looked relatively harmless so a win should see us through next weekend. Final word on Southgate. I never wanted him to get the job and I expect he will fail like everyone else. However I find it hard to dislike the guy. Speaks sensibly, picks who he wants to pick rather than bowing to influences, and his goal reactions show a genuine passion.

A lot of negatively after a solid performance IMO. Kane did his job. I'm not a big Henderson fan but played some great passes. Players looked like they understood the formation, we pressed well. Their penalty decision was a joke, we should have had 2 that were more penalties than theirs. Stones and Lingard should have both had goals, on a different day they might have finished them. Thought at the back 4 (bar a few mistakes) we were sound, couple of nervy mistakes but rather they get them out of the way early doors. I actually enjoyed watching England for once in the first half, can't remember last time I enjoyed England playing. Only negatives for me were Dele Ali and Young. We carried Ali in the euros and we carried him yesterday, he looked leggy and lacked creativity, didn't look like he suited that formation at all, slowed us down on the counter, not quick enough. If Southgate is picking players based on form then Rashford should be starting instead of him. I think it's absolutely crazy that Young is playing ahead of Rose, he's clearly a better left back, he's actually a left back for a kick off.

If I was Southgate I'd be demanding an explanation over the absence of VAR last night. We've already seen at least one penalty given by VAR for wrestling in the box, so where was it last night when it blatantly happened twice? Yes we won in the end, but we were badly let down by the implementation (or lack thereof) of the VAR system. How can anybody have confidence in it if such obvious fouls are missed/ignored?

I would suggest Nixon is full of shit

I can understand there being a few teething issues, and there may never be a 100% clear view of something which is deemed an "obvious error", but even a casual football viewer would have clearly been able to see that Kane was fouled twice in the box last night. It wasn't even debatable. How supposedly professional officials can't see that is beyond me. There's no excuse for this kind of incompetence anymore, and if genuinely terrible decisions like last night are made then somebody should be held accountable. Of course Southgate and England won't rock the boat because that's not their style, but we really should. Goal Difference could still be a decider in this group, after all, and I'd say we were robbed of at least two chances to score from the spot yesterday. Should we convert one and the game goes 2-1 then it changes everything - Tunisia have no choice but to press forward a bit and chances are we slip in behind them and finish it 3 or 4-1. Instead the officials let Tunisia get away with murder the entire match, allowing them to sit deeper and deeper and drag the game quality down to the depths with fouls, play-acting and time wasting.

Sky are reporting that we are interested in Hakeeb Adelakun from Scunthorpe, along with Hull and Bristol City, who have had a compensation offer rejected, mayby one to keep an eye on.

I've never really understood the criticism of Williams. He was a standout player for us in the run of games under Mowbray in the Championship, so I don't see any reason why he would struggle all of a sudden next season. He did have a few games at the start of last season where he did look poor (at home to AFC Wimbledon springs straight to mind), but even he's admitted that he grew into the season. Across the season he was one of our more consistent performers, which has culminated in an international call up. I'm looking forward to seeing him kick on next season.

Or Nixon is full of !@$%

They should mic up the ref and the var official so we can hear exactly what is going on between them, as they do in the rugby. At least that way you can tell if the ref has asked the var official if he has seen any holding in the box etc.

Remember when Jake Kean got a move to Norwich; even worse than Steele. Backup keepers can make a career of never being good enough to have to play.

A win is a win however hard it was. Their penalty was soft, especially when England didn't get any. Decent; Kane (largely anonymous but goals win games), Trippier, Stones, Henderson. Fair; Maguire (mistake tarnished a good display), Walker, Pickford. Poor; Lingard, Sterling, Alli, Young. I'd bring in Rose for Young against Panama and stick with the rest. Young was wasteful, got caught out a few times, had poor delivery, and consistently slowed down play when he had to cut back onto his right foot. Dier, Rashford and Loftus-Cheek could easily replace the other poor performers so they need to improve. That competition should hopefully beget a reaction. England don't have a free kick specialist either.

We did what was needed in a tricky opener.Kane was being manhandled throughout the game but still came good. Slightly off topic but does this stadium remind you of somewhere famous in Lancashire folks ...

We won for fecks sake..be happy..some miserable barstewards on here..tunisia are the highest ranked team in africa

Some of the worse refereeing I’ve ever seen.

You have to laugh at the at the BBC coverage it is so anti-Russian that it is embarrassing.

But it will expose bias. The officials last night conspired to cheat. Almost certainly because it was England.

Where you watching the same game as me?Henderson played some lovely foward balls last night and Lingards finishing was poor but he didn't have a bad game always looked busy and got into good positions

It must be me then because I don't see a player at all in Williams. Technically awful and his passing is poor. The championship will find him out straight away. Can't play him in a three, he doesn't have the pace or technique on the ball.

Would take all three

I agree with what he has said too mostly but after we beat panama im not too bothered about the belgium result as we will have likely qualified by then and im not at all scared of colombia or poland

Please tell me that was meant to be a text to someone ?

If things go as tonight regarding decisions i don't think we will go that Var

I've little to no knowledge in what goes on with Rovers Women but notice that Man Utd have had no difficulties in obtaining a licence for next season having only just bowed to public pressure and formed a women's team. I've no idea what the difference is between the Women's Championship which they are trying to prevent us entering and the Women's Super League which United have gone straight into but I suppose they need to make room for their favourite clubs somewhere along the line. Wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, but expect some elaborate and confusing 'criteria' to emerge as justification for it all, when really the only criteria here is ££££.

Doesn't prove that the story is correct, the story being regurgitated around, im sure someone mentioned it on here days before he said anything. Nixon doesnt know what hes talking about.

Bah, Salah was hurt in the Champions League final; very unfairly by the Spanish team. Of course, a lot of people were curious about Salah just as in the past, they were curious about Rooney in which was it? 2010? or 2006 and then, this time, the way we are hearing a lot about Neymar limping at practise. It may be overblown to be reporting this news on the "superstars" but Salah is no exception.

Leave off. Salah playing is good for him after his bad injury and good for the tournament. England won't win it or probably even get to the last 8 and are perfectly capable of cocking it up through sheer ineptitude - with or without Salah playing

paying 2 million pounds for a player with 12 months left on his contract is far too much. Charlton based sport reporter saying asking price is 2 million now https://www.londonnewsonline.co.uk/charlton-athletic-offer-new-deals-to-joe-aribo-and-tariqe-fosu-and-price-tag-for-blackburn-target-bauer-set-to-scare-off-bidders/ Nixon says officials were in London over the weekend. I would suggest Charlton have change their asking price now. 2 million pounds for a player with 12 months left on his contract is far too much I would suggest we move on to player B now and look to agree a price with Scunthorpe for Adelakun instead

Best team in the AFC for me , despite what the Fifa rankings say. Sounds like the party has started at the overseas student share house down the road

Looks like our travelling hooligans have been well and truly spooked by the Russian Ultras and their antics in France it has to be said...never seen so few England fans!

Let' hope we ha Yes I have bought one Philipl

I believe there is a real danger here that a referee actually sees an incident but waits for the VAR to review it and advise them accordingly. The referee last nigh spoke to players pretty much before every England corner so he was aware of the potential for grappling to occur. He had a great position to see the wrestling but didn't act on it. I think VAR might put some of them in their comfort zone safe in the knowledge that their safety net of VAR will take some of the blame.

Are Sunderland paying Brighton to take him? Football is a crazy business where quite often being poor at your job is rewarded.

The Who - Behind Blue Eyes

Pickford Walker Stones Dier Trippier Henderson Rose Alli Lingard Rashford Kane That would be my starting 11 for the Panama game

Further reflections: Relieved we are are comfortably in the competition and not sweating on a likely goal difference lottery as are Messrs Sterling and Lingard no doubt... Kyle Walker never the brightest tool in the box. Maguire certainly did enough to keep his place, Young didn't. Worst ref so far (better than Prem Refs though) of what otherwise has been a superbly reffed tournament. Hugely relieved to see my first live goal after changing my plans to be able to watch it. Mind you, after 11 minutes I thought I had totally jinxed England with those early misses...

There wasn't an absence of VAR. It was reviewed by the officials in Moscow and decided it wasn't a penalty. It clearly was. VAR will stamp out the contentious decisions. Like hell it will. Throw in the Argentina penalty not given as I said before and you've got blatant decisions not being given. Once upon a time you would say the referee can't see everything and doesn't have 50 angles like the TV viewer. They've taken that excuse away now so they simply have to get the decisions correct. When they don't it's actually worse than it was before.

Williams in talks over new contract http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/16298751.Rovers_in_talks_with_Derrick_Williams_over_new_contract/

Didn’t stay up to watch the England game, but a 2-1 win even against a team like Tunisia is surely a good sign for you guys. All of the big teams have struggled and/or dropped points so far. Belgium were dominant against Panama. Some of their attacking play was very incisive and the score could have been bigger than 3-0 if they found their shooting boots before half time. It will be interesting to see how they do against a better team. They obviously look vulnerable on the counter and could get caught out by faster players, but Courtois was absolutely world class with some of his saves and they’ll be able to rely on him to bail them out at times when things go wrong. Also, thought the ref in the Belgium game was excellent. He gave out a large number of yellows, but he got all his decisions spot on.

Personally think this group of players will stand a better chance of getting to the semis than our golden generation did. Mostly because: 1- Many been managed by Gareth Southgate lower down the England setup. They know what he expects and what to expect from him. 2- Many of them are (or have been) teammates at club level, and not necessarily in teams full of egos and prima donnas. I think a dose of humility will do us good in this competition, especially as it has already lowered the pressure from our fans and media.

I’ve got to say I almost prefer the days we aren’t playing in these group stages, it’s great to relax and watch two random countries either hoping to see the big boys perform or see an upset. Love the group stages but will also love the knock outs if we are looking like doing the business. 3 more games tomorrow to enjoy, bring it on.

Walker's always got a mistake in him. I don't rate Young as a left back. Trippier was excellent, never made a mistake all night. Linguard was poor in front of goal, Alli started great but went quiet. Sterling is clueless, he dribbles when he comes to a pair of feet, too much head down. Rashford should start next time. Kane had two touches and won us the game, one a really good headed finish. At that point in the game it's easy to panic, he didn't. I couldn't believe how he got that amount of room, before that they were all over him like a cheap suit. Henderson was ok. The goalie only touched the ball once. Did the referee have his eyes painted on ? VAR is a joke. If Tunisia ever start a rugby league team there were a couple of good recruits out there. Play like we did in the first 20 minutes and we'll be a threat. Play like we did in the second half and we'll go out in the first knock out game.

Goals apart.... ???

Amazed me that we got named as one of the top 3 pitches in League 1, thought it looked very patchy after Christmas.

The pitches have been re-seeded, I don't think they've been 'dug up' more just the top layer scraped off and then re-seeded. I understand it is the bare minimum pitch renovation required at the end of the season and it is now a very long time since the pitch on Ewood was completely dug up and done properly. I also heard that we've spent less on the Ewood pitch in the last few years than Stanley have on the Crown Ground. Don't know if that's true or not but when you see Championship rivals installing Desso pitches for 7 figure amounts and we're spending similar amounts to Stanley then its not hard to see why the pitch looks worn in the winter.

Yeah right! You'd be swinging from the chandeliers of Chez Chadwick if we signed someone for 10 million!

I’d lean towards cheating but if he’s acted within the rules it’s most definitely against the spirit/etiquette and as such leaves his reputation in tatters even if the rules cover him. Hits a putt that’s heading off the green, decides it’ll take him more than 2 shots to get back so hares after it to whack it back and suck up the punishment because it was preferable to ending up where he started.

Me! Once tipped myself to become the next Shearer but women, booze, and undersized goals made from jumpers and with imaginary crossbars (that was in, that was in!) meant that my goalscoring record was a pitiful one in six pints.