frosty

Come on Chaddy that’s hardly an unrealistic prediction. When did England last beat another top nation in a knockout game at a tournament? Spain on penalties 25 years ago? This current squad I think could be good enough to change that but it’s not controversial to have doubts about Southgate. Just like a Rovers fan not rating Mowbray doesn’t mean they’re not backing ‘the club’, saying England will lose against one of those three doesn’t mean they aren’t ‘backing their country’.

I assume we've watched him in the same games, i.e. when PSG have played a big Champions League game or against an English team. As he's never played in any of the other big leagues - never even played in Serie A funnily enough - and I'm quite sure this is his first international tournament. But I've been very impressed whenever I've watched him. His passing isn't as expansive as say Pirlo (who most people in the UK didn't appreciate fully until he was aged 33 at Euro 2012.....) but it's still really good, neat and sharp. But on top of that he's combative and always in your face and I thi

Very impressed by Italy, thought they were excellent both on and off the ball. They kept it really well but completely suffocated Turkey whenever they did lose it and didn’t allow them to play at all. Add in the exceptional Verratti who fits this team perfectly in terms of being technically excellent but also industrious and in your face, and you’ve got a team that is capable of going far. Looking forward to a first look at Belgium later.

After not getting any minutes in the qualifiers, I thought maybe the manager didn’t rate him after seeing him in the flesh for the first time. Less likely to be the case though if he’s in the Copa squad. All or at least some games on BBC I think, albeit late at night for us here.

Verratti is exceptional, just injury prone. Jorginho isn't as good as Verratti but can still keep the ball all day long and has just won the CL. Any Serie A followers will know that Barella and Locatelli are really good too, Barella in particular.

Agreed, loved the 16 team Euros, the standard was always very high from start to finish (though I'd say the standard of international football in general was higher back when I'm thinking off - Euro 2000, 2004 etc). Euro 2016 on the other hand I thought wasn't great (not just because of England stinking it out). Portugal played to their strengths to win it so fair play to them but they came 3rd in the group without winning a game and still got through. Still really looking forward to this tournament though of course.

Agreed. We've had enough 30+ year old players here lately happy to play out their remaining years in mid-table of the Championship as they know they aren't good enough to play at a higher level. Avoid.

Wonder if Mowbray knew about this - or would Kante have had to learn the position from Smallwood?

Robbie Savage on commentary sounded like he’d swallowed one of those books - “Pogba is playing as a number 6 as part of a double pivot.” He’s playing as a sitting/defensive midfielder then....?

"Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tony Mowbray?"

Some absolute beauts in there. Thought he might have been older than 35 by now - surprising he went out to Mexico aged just 29, yet Florian Thauvin is about to do the same at 28 (to the same team, Tigres, as well). Both moving on the back of successful spells at Marseille in their peak years, not like they were on the decline or anything.

Zamarano and Salas, what a front two. Hope they’re not judging Brereton against that standard 😬

Surprised that’s actually happened. Wouldn’t have had him down as being ready to play in highly competitive, feisty South American WC qualifiers. There’d be a partisan crowd there too normally. Best of luck to him though, would be a great story if he could do well and help them qualify.

Can only echo what others have said, Nuttall's poor. His only half-decent trait seemed to be finding himself in the right place at the right time (granted there are far worse attributes for a striker to have) but apart from that he didn't look like much of a footballer at all to be honest.

To be honest most of our Championship seasons have been mind-numbingly dull, the only exceptions I can think of are 12/13 going through five managers and falling into the relegation zone in April, 13/14 where we still had a very small chance of the playoffs on the final day, and of course 16/17 when we went down. The rest, consisting of mid-table nothingness, just blur into one. It really has been a miserable decade with absolutely nothing to shout about apart from promotion out of a division that it was embarrassing to drop into. Just the way Mowbray likes it though, plodding along