I've watched him closely since his antics at Ewood and I don't think he's great. Very suspect on high balls. I certainly wouldn't swap Raya for him.

Wolves won the title over a 46 game season with 2 games to spare. Celtic won it over a 38 game season with 3 games to spare.

We don't need a right back but if we can upgrade efficiently anywhere then we should do. It's not about having bringing players in for cover, it's about improving the first XI. We didn't need Friedel when we had Filan. We didn't need Le Saux when we had Alan Wright etc... Whilst we've had a great season and the team have done well, practically every player with maybe the exception of Dack could be improved upon. What I don't want to see is journeymen who have played for 5 clubs in 5 years coming in because they once had a bit of a reputation (Gladwin etc..)

Every time I see Holmes at Scunthorpe this year I've been impressed. I only saw the last 20 minutes,of their play off exit tonight but he was the most direct threat again. He's had some rave reviews this season and apparently cleaned up at Scunnys player of the year awards. Presuming Chapman isn't returning, I'd be interested. His original contract was due to expire at Scunthorpe this summer and can't see any reports he signed a new deal.

The Oldham following had plenty of idiots looking for trouble. Ive never seen people break through an escort and charge at the Blackburn End since Ewood was rebuilt, even if it was only a dozen or so. I'd guess they kept the police busy most of that day,

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without a soulless performance at The Breezeblock.

Bolton on the brink in the Championship. They need to score and then hope that Burton don't score in the last 15 minutes.

It seems to me Rovers have looked at today's attendance and the away followings and gambled on the feel good factor continuing over the summer. They may not be realising that the crowd today has only increased because it is so cheap. Home games building up to this point, which we have been winning and in the top 2, have ran at much lower crowds. Ill be renewing at £349, it's still cheaper than I paid the season before JW slashed the prices completely, but it's been on a significant upward curve for years now. Had JW never slashed the cost of a BBE season ticket from £379 to under £200, you do wonder where we'd be on prices in that stand today?

I think he struggled more than anyone on that pitch. He was running faster than the ball could travel at times and it kept getting stuck in his feet.

Yep. The obvious reason being that the club don't get a guaranteed £100million + if they get promoted this season.

Another comment on the stupidity of VAR from last night. When Stones gave the ball away in the first few minutes and then got a block in on the shot, he was pulling the arm of the striker all the time. Why wasn't that given as a penalty using VAR? At what point does the referee decide to consult? For the actual penalty, it seemed like the guy who got his foot accidentally stood on when he tried to force contact with the defender complained, thus leading the ref to eventually look at the screen. You are going to start getting players appealing for even the softest touches in the box and forcing the ref to review VAR if incidents like last night are given.

Speaking of cheating, the only thing I will give the ref credit for is booking Young when he rolled back on the pitch feigning injury.

It's just simply a joke that will create as much controversy as it solves. If that referee can look at that incident and think that it a clear and obvious foul then what hope is there?

By exposed I mean we know their ability (at club level) and I don't see many that are still improving. As I said earlier, I do t see Real and Barca queuing up for most. However I agree there are a large number in the current squad who haven't been around the past failures at major tournaments and that and may relish the opportunity rather than be scared

You only named 2 of those players in your original post ! In general, it currently looks a very exposed England squad which will be going to Russia.

I was referring to the players you quoted earlier as being in your first team squad. Those likely to go to Russia. How many of those players you named were in the successful under 21's, under 20's and under 19's?

It's not a lack of depth in the English squad, it's simply a lack of talent. You look at the list of people other than Kane and possibly Sterling and you don't see the giants of the game queuing up to bring them in as first team players. There's a very good Premier League team to be built from that squad but it looks far from a side that could claim to be the best in the world. Fortunately sport doesn't work that way and, as you say, Greece can grind out major trophy wins with a group of workhorses. However England would tactically need to be set up impeccably. Not sure the coaching staff are that good unfortunately.

I dont disagree but we've got one thing killing the game, let's not introduce another.

Yep. Like golden goal. The problem is it will slow the game down, kill the excitement and yet will still lead to controversial decisions. One persons opinion differs from another. That first Tottenham goal last night wasn't ruled out because of flaws in VAR, the technology or how it is used. It was ruled out because whoever made the call was an idiot. It would be less controversial if it was a 'panel' adjudicating because surely 2 other people would have said "goal". However how long is that going to take.

Anyone want to have a go at defending that latest VAR catastrophe at Wembley tonight?

He's looked poor for a long time now. However in October people were saying Graham was lazy, didn't care and should be sold and that Samuel should start. Graham actually needed a run of games rather than a few cameos here and there to get his confidence and form back. Similar applies here. I'm not saying he is great, and if he went I wouldn't be sorry, but it's unfair to think this is a good as he is based on Twenty minutes here and there and a couple of starts on the wing, especially when he has looked quite handy earlier in the season.

As I said earlier, look at yesterday. Half of the people said Alli dived, half said he didn't. We would still be debating it whether a ref had watched a video and made a call or now. If you want to punish clear, clear dives and blatant elbows, do it retrospectively.

And yet the entire MOTD team said it was a clear penalty. So we could be having the same debate except we would have had a 2 minute delay while VAR was consulted and the penalty given.

The problem is a lot of decisions are still opinions. The goal at Anfield which was (correctly) disallowed by VAR recently should have been given as a penalty instead if you are going to use the footage to come to the decision. Yesterdays decision was a shambles in the way it was shown. Some people are still saying it was offside, most others think he was level. Differences of opinion despite seeing multiple stills and replays. Twitter is currently in meltdown as to whether Dele Alli dived or not at Rochdale. Goal-line technology is fine as its black or white, but if anyone thinks there will be no more contentious decisions with VAR they are kidding themselves.

No he wasn't. He stood his ground. The keeper pushed him forward when the ball was in flight and only then did he back back in to his position. If you are going to review the passage of play on video then you have to analyse the whole situation. It would be soft but you can't tell me the keeper putting two hands and pushing like that isn't a penalty.