If JDT left Hirst out of the last squad on purpose then it's really in Leicester's best interest to recall him. The LET article says that Hirst signed a new deal before coming to Ewood so if Leicester aren't going to use him (which they won't) they'll use the loan market to recoup some of the wages they are paying him. If Rovers want quality they'll have to pay for it. Without that I don't see much value in the January transfer window.

I watched this live last night; BBC: NFL player collapses after tackle It was a lot like Eriksen at the Euro's. The lad tackled a receiver, stood up, pointed, then fell down flat on his back. 10 minutes of CPR and an ambulance ride later he's now in critical condition in an ICU.

He isn't looking like it at the mo, although he is still young. He needs to add more strength, but that may come with age too. His dummy was absolutely daft and he'd done very little before that. It was no surprise that Klopp hooked him at half time.

Well beaten too. Liverpool looked all at sea when Leicester scored the other day, they were worse today. Klopp needs to fix a number of issues. Although only one counted Liverpool conceded 3 from corners. They are usually excellent at both ends. Their midfield has holes galore. Fabinho and Henderson have been at the core of Liverpool's success over the past few years. Fabinho looks lost and Henderson doesn't have the energy anymore to play every game. Nunez also misses chance after chance. I think that he will come good though.

It was a good weekend for Arsenal. Of the current chasers only Liverpool and Man U won. City laboured against Everton. Newcastle couldn't score against Leeds. Spurs stunk it up at home to Villa. If only the Spurs version of Lloris played for France. What could have been....... At the other end of the table Southampton's managerial change hasn't helped yet.

I absolutely agree. Thanks to ESPN I've seen 75% of Rovers games this season and the only constant is inconsistency. I hope that JDT's policy of recurring changes includes Dack staying on the pitch and Hirst staying off it.

An interesting point. Add in George Weah. Drogba. Eto'o. Of the current crop neither Salah or Mane made it to Qatar. It seems odd saying this when Morocco got to a World Cup semi-final but African football does seem to have hit a plateau. Certainly sub-Saharan Africa has. Ghana once had a midfield of Essien and Appiah. They were a real pair of talents. Now I think big club scouting networks now have the ability and resources to find African talent early and bring them in. The Red Bull conglomerate of clubs does a very good job of it. South Americans are also leaving for Europe earlier too, Maybe that is blocking some of the African players?

Interesting. JDT played in England, surely he knows how bad the weather is in winter. The indoor facility at Brockhall isn't up to par?

I'm not saying that defenders pretty passing the ball in and around Rovers own box is the way to play, but I don't agree with your point. Not 1 goal that Forest scored came from Rovers messing about playing it out of the back. Overall, Rovers were well beaten by a better side. Johnson and Lingard were a class above anything Rovers had. Other observations; Scott Wharton had a nightmare. Pears was excellent Hirst isn't up to it. Subs were odd. The pitch was in bad shape.

Lloris played a blinder against England and was solid throughout the final. Although when it mattered Martinez was miles better. Don't forget Pogba. He usually plays extremely for France. However, I will say that as France are so strong their quality did not drop and I doubt those missing would have made much of a difference. They brought on Coman and Camavinga yesterday. They were both excellent.

What a fantastic game of football. Argentina were as good as France were bad for 75 minutes, then all hell broke loose. Superb entertainment. I really enjoyed this World Cup. Plenty of good games, and although England didn't win it I felt they were the better team in the game they lost. Onward and upward. Brazil, Italy, and Germany are the cream of world football. After today, Argentina are close to joining them. Brazil and Argentina won their cups with stars. The other two rely on overall quality and great organisation. France look like they could join too. They certainly are based on the last 25 years. England's strong domestic league and global presence has always allowed the national team a reputation greater than results have shown. I think that until England have a true world class player it will be more misses. In my lifetime England have produced good players. Rooney, Owen, and Gascoigne came close to being good enough to join the world class club. Biased me says that Shearer could have been without injuries. Scholes, Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Ferdinand, and the like were good club players who couldn't replicate their form for England. Alex Ferguson is to blame of some of it. His club was greater than country mentality pervaded those England teams, and as the players were all competing for titles and European glory they couldn't get along. Southgate deserves credit for breaking that down and making players proud to wear an England shirt. It no longer has the weight of chainmail.

A great 3 points. Were Norwich bad? Rovers good? Probably a bit of both. Either way, quality was lacking across the board. Rovers worked hard without creating many chances. Norwich never looked like scoring. It's halfway through the season and Rovers lie 3rd in the table. I don't think anyone on here predicted that would be the case. Rovers are an odd team. They've not drawn a game and have looked worse than abject in some of their losses. Score first and they win, concede first and they lose. JDT needs to sort out what he wants and go with it. So far, for me, he is an improvement on Mowbray.

I'll be watching. It may be a bit of comedown after weeks of World Cup matches. I completely forgot about the PNE game but it surely can't be worse than the second half at Turf Moor?

England played well enough to beat France with the players on the pitch. Some iffy refereeing, and a missed penalty cost England. It wasn't down to not having James Maddison Griezmanning his way around the park.

Against England and now Morocco. I've never seen Lloris play like that for Spurs. France 1-0 up. Could be 2 or 3. Giroud hit the post hen missed when he probably could have had a touch. Morocco have to attack which hasn't been their game plan. Their right side is dangerous.

Maradona and Messi are both genius footballers. I can't pick between the two. Maradona gets vilified because he handballed England out of a World Cup. That rankles a lot of people who saw it as it was only a few years after the Falklands war, and in 1986 that type of play was something only "cheating foreigners" did. The Champions League has all but ensured a standardisation of how top level football is played globally. Players from all nations now engage in subtle and not so subtle acts of gamesmanship.

Rovers will play 46 league games this season. At current pace they'll lose 23 of them. I believe that you do feel more for Rovers, but that's a lot of defeat to absorb. Anyway, back to England. I think that Southgate will stay. Most of this team will be around for the foreseeable future. They like him. He likes them. I do think that some changes will be made behind the scenes. His substitutions are a bit odd at times, and he needs to advance his tactical nous.

Rovers have a chance to rectify that defeat next weekend. England have to wait 4 years. I know plenty on here disagree with my views on England v. Rovers but England's defeat stung. Rovers losing is unfortunately a common event which doesn't bother me. Kane missed a late penalty, it was tough to watch. Not too long ago George Hirst missed a late penalty, I barely batted an eyelid.

The better team lost. I can't fault the performance. The first French goal was a good strike, the second a superb header.

Their midfield 3 tortured England in 2018. The Croatia players manage to get so much more out of themselves playing for their country. Lovren looks like Franz Beckenbauer. Neymar is such a talent but such a pain in the neck.

I'm going to again repeat my claim that walking, shuffling, step-stepping, and duck strutting up to take a penalty is a good way to miss it.

Messi and Ronaldo have had all the plaudits over the past decade or so but I think Modric is up there with them. A completely different player, but never gives the ball away and is always available.

Quite right. Good players but all known entities. The 2002 team had Ronaldo, Cafu, Kaka, Ronaldinho, and Roberto Carlos. All also very European but much better than what they have now.

I wasn't dissing Sterling. I too think that he does well for England. My point was that I don't think even Southgate would start him tomorrow after missing training all week.

I'm going with the same team as last time out. Even if Sterling is a Southgate favourite he's been absent all week. Mbappe is special but CL teams don't change their entire gameplan when playing PSG. I don't think that England should either. Kyle Walker is a capable full back.