joey_big_nose

?.. They have three of the finest players in world football - Hazard, Courtois and De Brunye - plus Lukaku whose having a bit of a dip, but when in form is superb. Their team is filled with top CL regulars. I think they would be big favourites to beat us again if we played them. It's important I think to keep things in perspective. Otherwise we will get onto that old cycle of hypeing up to an unreasonable degree then blowing the whole system up when we almost certainly get beaten by a better team. I'll go into a tournament expecting England to challenge to win when we have the top bracket of players. But we just don't. There's always a chance in football that a team can win without being in the top bracket of player quality - Greece in 2004, Leicester in 2016, arguably Portugal in 2016 also - but it's rare.

I get your point, but France, Belgium, Brazil all have teams entirely made of world class guaranteed starters for their clubs. Germany and Spain are on the slide but still have tremendous established talent available. Not doing us down, but if you ask who really is world class only Kane and - at a real push - Walker and Sterling fall in that bracket. It's a young team with a lot of potential but they've got to grow. Some of the players today really should be looking for moves abroad to foreign clubs in the CL to develop. Thinking the likes of Pickford, Chilwell, Delph, Rashford. They need to get regular games at that level.

Agree with all of that. Great game, great tournament - I hope whoever at UEFA came up with it gets recognised. Southgates done a phenomenal job, especially when you consider only a handful of his players are top class and playing regularly in the Champions League. We're swapping players in and out, adapting to different formations, scoring different types of goals. The level of technique shown is a higher level than in the past. All that said when we do play a team like France, Belgium or Brazil on song I think we will still be massive underdogs - we just have nowhere near the quality of those teams - but it's fantastic to see the progression. And maybe in the future the likes of Sancho could mature to be genuine world class players. That's really what we need.

I'd say the only thing missing today was finishing. Id get another striker in January if possible. Graham looks shattered one game in two. Brereton has improved but just doesn't look a goal scorer to me.

Great performance. Somehow only ended up with one point. Created enough chances to win two games, but just couldn't put them away.

Im sure Mowbray will play Evans Bennett and Rodwell if fit, probs Smallwood and Evans in cm, Reed wide right, Bennett on the left. So Rothwell, Palmer and Armstrong all drop do the bench from that lineup imo.Quite a string squad really as all of them are very good options.

I'm surprised we brought on Rodwell rather than Williams tbh. Then we could have kept Rodwell to tighten up midfield later in the game. Either way losing Lenihan was a big blow. Also same problem of not being able to retain the ball once Graham went off. Brereton looks like he should be a target man but I see why Mowbrays plays him wide as he drops deep, likes the ball to feet, and seems terrible in the air. I'm just so confused by why we signed him when we have half a dozen people who can do a job on the wing, but only one proper striker. Anyhow for next game I don't think Mowbray will be devastated, we just need to learn from that experience. Maybe we would have been better to put Armstrong up top when Graham went off and just played the long ball over onto his pace. Hmm. Genuinely don't get what putting Dack up there does for us. You could argue that part of the reason Swansea scores those three was previously Dack was dropping in to support Evans and Smallwood, and when Graham went off he couldn't do that any longer.

Have to say we look a solid well balanced unit. Wouldn't mind seeing Rothwell get some game time second half. Not sure who will would take off though. Everyone's done their jobs.

Basically that says he's either not fit enough or is not trying enough. Fair points from Mowbray. He did look well off the pace on Saturday.

Id say it's still a bit early to say, but the signs are not great to be honest. That said most of the squad looks well stocked except for striker and winger. We've got a lot of centrebacks now - if you consider Rodwell can play there, plus Williams and Nyambe can slot in.

Realistically if any PL team comes in for him - let alone a CL club like Spurs - he's a gonner. No point deluding ourselves. Our main hope is that he does seem physically a bit off the running compared to the Premiership so maybe no one will punt the 15M+ it will take to get him. There must be a chance West Ham, Southampton etc will give it a whirl though. We may be able to hold off other Championship clubs like WBA as he does seem very happy here.

Yes - we seem to have a very strong bench now with Palmer, Rodwell and Rothwell. Plus Williams is decent and we've got Nyambe coming back too. If we can add a quality target man then top six could actually happen I think. The spine of the team (Raya, Mulgrew, Evans, Dack, Graham) is great. Probably Reed and Rodwell will cement their places as well. It's a very hard working side with some genuine talent at this level.

Even at the moment with the crazy fees, at Championship level £7M is money for a guaranteed top player. I don't think we paid/will pay that much for him. Just a hunch, but think it will be more like 3-4M with some unlikely to be triggered add ons to get it up to 7.

I'd qualify that in that we look capable in a multiple number of systems as long as Graham is fit. Whether it's 343, 4231, 442, 4411 they all depend on Danny. Without him we lack the ability for the ball to stick up front and look very vulnerable. I guess that - obviously alongside the fee - is why Bereton is going to be under the microscope. He is going to be compared to Graham constantly.

Found this at random on YouTube today. Highly enjoyable!

Want him to succeed but thought he was pretty poor today. Poor touch, slow, lost the ball, looked a bit lost. Won a couple of good free kicks and had a good run at the defence but that was it. I'm confused what the plan is for him. If it isn't to backup for Graham we need to sign someone who is. Edit - my view is Brereton was certainly signed to play central as a target man as that is the sort of player we are desperate for, and what he has the attributes for.

Great result! Everyone played well. Evans, Bennett, Armstrong, Mulgrew all had great games. Only minor downside is I just don't get Brereton at all. What's he point of him? Tall but doesn't win in the air, doesn't like to get in the box, dodgy technique, plays wide but doesn't have pace. Want him to succeed but I'm bemused at present. We need someone who can legitimately backup Graham

Brereton has drifted wide right.looks like Dack through the centre. I don't really get it.

Just checked. Rodwelli ison the bench. Alternative would be to drop Reed into dm there and bring Rothwell or Palmer on out wide.

Yellow for Smallwood. I can see him coming off. Is Rodwell on bench?

Main issue for Williams is he lacks pace so gets caught out with runners behind. Bell strikes me as a player who will improve over time like Nyambe.

Armstrong has been phenomenal down the left.

Agree with this. Basically we've been trying to shoe horn in both Lingard and Alli but last night showed better balance is key, even if you have less proven players. I think Lingard could still get a game as one of the front the three if someone is out injured. He's full of running, has great movement and scores goals. Alli on the other hand I am less clear. He's an awkward player to fit into a team - really needs to play as a proper 10. He might find himself relegated to a mini Fellani role where he is brought on late in games to win stuff in the air.

Shows what I know. I thought we were brilliant tonight. Southgates doing a phenomenal job. Really impressed that he's changed the formation, tactics and personnel around so effectively. Rashford, Kane and Sterling as a three looks like it has legs. Very impressed with Barkley. Allround midfield looked much better than at the world cup. Lingard and Alli must be feeling a bit nervous. Lost their places I think. Winks and Barkley looked a lot more composed. I like the flexibility we have to switch between 352 and 433 with basically the same team out there. Never really been able to see England do that mid game before so comfortably.

Think we will get humped. Only top players - sterling and Kane - look out of sorts. Every other player except maybe trippier (if he plays) would get nowhere near the Spain first XI. Could be brutal. Also Henderson and Stones are out.