I think Dack, AA, Dolan will struggle to get 50 tbh. Though maybe that number is a bit high it excludes others contributing. My guess is around. AA 20 Dack 8 Dolan 6 Gallagher 5 Brereton 1 Rothwell 4 Johnson 7 Lenihan 3 Williams 3 Ayala 3 Douglas 4 Travis 2 Holtby 2 Buckley 2 70ish goals there. We scored 66 last term. If Armstrong gets injured we are buggered.

LT reckons we are going to sign Downing as well (!!).

I'd be really surprised if Davenport starts. Mowbray has been very keen to not play him, to the point of signing Trybull. Seems like (to me anyway) the pecking order for the midfield 3 is Travis, Holtby, Johnson, Rothwell, Buckley, Trybull, Evans, Davenport.

If Rothwell is out Trybull could start?

Sounds good about Harvey Elliott. If we have Dolan, Chapman, Brereton and Elliott hopefully that will put an end to Gallagher on the wing.

Agreed. Reckon Rothwell is definitely a starter though even when Travis is back. But then who do you drop from Travis/Johnson/Holtby? I suppose there are so many games that the whole squad will get pitch time.

Don't think this is fair. Mowbray has played this very aggressive formation since the start of the season, and once Travis got injured he was happy to proceed with a Holtby, Johnson and Rothwell combo. Don't see why he will change that and become more conservative. I'll very surprised if Buckley does not start.

Agreed this is the team though Johnson has always played in the central role since the start of the season. So him and Buckley swap round.

I'd be okay with Downing coming back.

It is remarkably similar to what happened to Phil Jones. Think they hang players out to dry there.

I know but everyone would be in the same boat, and it would out us in a much better place in a few years. Would remove our dependence on Venkys which can only be a good thing.

You live and learn! Now you mention it I remember it was an issue with Mulgrew. Well we should do the same with Championship imo. It's madness everyone is spending well beyond their means. Means the league will lose talent, but I would trade that for a more level playing field and the knowledge the club can financially survive.

Surely if EFL is dying due to expense the way forward is to start looking at budget caps relative to each league? That way you keep the game competitive without the need to go begging?

I don't agree. I think Bell gets unfair abuse, but it's clear he isn't a reliable option and the system we use required incredibly fit full backs. What happens if he gets injured? We will be playing Rothwell at full back - you think I am joking but that is why will happen. A new left back is utterly crucial.

I disagree - nation's league is a decent short form competition which is far more enjoyable than qualifiers or friendlies. Long may it continue!

I think the main thing that will decide if we are playoff candidates - and same with virtually every other decent team in the league - is how injury free we stay. If some of Lenihan, Ayala, Armstrong, Holtby get knocked out for significant periods we are screwed no matter who we sign at left back. A decent left back will certainly help though!

Thinking about it actually maybe the big six have thought it through and see it as a way to drive through them leaving and forming a Euro super League? If everyone throws their toys out it opens up their ability to do that. "Well we tried to work with you but you have given us no choice" etc Sure Barca, Madrid, PSG, Inter, Juventus, Milan etc are up for it.

What makes it interesting is in England we do have a lot of very well supported clubs. It would actually be quite feasible for the likes of West Ham, Newcastle, West Brom, Aston Villa, Leeds, Leicester etc to walk away and set up their own league. And that's just in the Premier League. Could get really really ugly. I just can't see those clubs accepting second class citizen status. I can't really see what's in it for the club's outside the top six and those clubs who don't get parachute payments in the EFL.

Aren't you missing Germany out there? They were unbelievable between 2014 and 2016? Unlucky to be knocked out in 2016 semis by France.

I think you are getting a bit carried away here! We've got a fantastic crop of attackers and midfielders - but then so have France, Italy, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands. I wouldn't say there is much between any of those top countries. If you had to pick one as the strongest France is the obvious nation. We've got some obvious weaknesses we need to sort out - Goalkeeper, Centreback both look weaker than the other top nations. And we also look vulnerable to what happened with the "golden generation" where we had a lot of good attacking players - Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Joe Cole etc - but they all ultimately wanted to play in the central 10 role and ended up crowding each other out and we never looked a balanced team. That said I have to agree England looked much much better after half time. It was tactically very clever switching the full backs inside. So huge credit to Southgate. Looking forward to the game in Brussels. I thought this was a good summary of the half time tactical changes : https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11096/12102076/england-2-1-belgium-how-gareth-southgates-half-time-tactical-changes-completed-comeback

True, but even in that context England have some exceptionally narrow players at the moment. Sancho and Sterling are the only two who can go the outside of a full back if they want to, . The best "wide forwards" are those who can go inside or out like Mane, Salah, Duff, Robben etc. If the full back always knows you are going inside it makes you far less effective. Just think it will be a problem if the opposition sit deep against us.

Well fair play we won it, had a very good second half. Both our goals were fortunate but we got them and once we were ahead they had very little opportunity second half. Calvert-Lewin looks the real deal. We haven't had a proper target man like that in a long long time. I guess a concern is we are accumulating a lot of good players now but there is not a lot of natural width. A lot of quite narrow players. But anyway strong win. What I like about the nation's league is now we need to go to Belgium very soon for another competitive game.

Well we've stuck with the 343. Looks a bit better this half.

Bloody hell I've realised Winks and Gomez aren't even on the bench? WTF? Okay .... Pickford AA. Mings Maguire Trippier Mount. Henderson. Rice Sancho. Kane. Rashford.

I would have Chilwell and Sterling, but I was suggesting a team that Southgate could use his 5 subs to bring out second half now! Playing any rightback at left back is incredibly undesirable. Trippier is a quality player, really rate him. But he isn't in a million year a left back of left wing back. That we've got into a position where he is playing there is mad.