I've not seen anything so far in him to justify the fee paid. He was well hyped whilst in Germany, and I don't think that Man U's owners are necessarily that bothered about winning trophies so they paid the money. They like advertising deals, marketing opportunities, and lucrative sponsorships. Man U are bereft of cohesion. I would not have signed Ronaldo even with all his talent. They need a central midfield and have done for years. Maguire, the captain, plays much better for England than Man U. Varane is another shiny object who hasn't shown much. Wan-Bissaka is solid but doesn't have the attacking prowess top full backs now offer. Fernandes spends his time moping. Why they signed van de Beek is a complete mystery too. Arsenal waited too long to replace Wenger. Ferguson was going to retire once but said no and came back for a few years. I wonder if he'd have gone the first time they'd have been in a better spot. I doubt it as Ferguson was special, but they may be further down the road to recovery.

I've watched them sporadically over the last few seasons. What seems to be gone this year is their resilience. City aside, teams rarely used to score more than 2 against them. If they went 1-0 up or pulled it back to 1-1 it was very probable that Burnley would get points from those positions. They've shipped 2 and 3 on multiple occasions so far. They looked shaky yesterday even at 1-1. Cornet can play, if he stays fit he'll get them a few points.

The Prem, and EFL for that matter, should make clubs publicise what players have what. I'd name and shame but privacy laws won't allow that. Have no names but list those players who are; Injured - Covid vaxxed - Covid unvaxxed - Isolating vaxxed - Isolating unvaxxed - Injuries should not be cause to call a match off.

Arsenal-City was an excellent game. City grabbed the points at the end which was harsh on Arsenal. As is becoming the norm there was a couple of confusing refereeing/VAR decisions surrounding penalties. The officials don't give Odegaard's early on but Bernardo Silva gets one after a VAR review. VAR also seems to going back to measuring in nanometres when determining offside. I've seen at least 3 goals chalked off in the past few days because the scorer was deemed to be a whisker off.

If Venkys want a chance to redeem themselves and perhaps claw some of their money back not selling Brereton in January is of utmost importance. Him continually banging goals in has a chance of getting Rovers promoted. I have no idea what the situation is, and I am biased, but surely he'd be mad to leave halfway through his best season ever. If he keeps on scoring his value will only increase.

I think Rashford has suffered due to him being shunted out wide. I think that he is a centre forward. He looks like he is playing as an orthodox winger these days and it's not doing him any good. I've said before that if he played for Klopp's Liverpool he'd be superb. I've not seen much of Sancho but he's hardly set the world on fire when I have seen him. He should have stayed at Dortmund as he'll not get much consistency in the current Man U set up.

It absolutely baffles me. I also struggle to understand why the Premier League hasn't been stricter. The NFL has almost all players vaccinated. That league knows where its bread is buttered - TV and advertising revenue so are doing all they can to make sure that games won't get called off due to Covid case increases. Latest NFL Covid rules

23% of Prem players not fully vaccinated The above article states that only 77% of Premier League players are considered as being fully vaccinated (2 shots), with 16% not even having 1 dose. I don't think that games should be called off due to positive Covid cases. If a team has to play a few u-16's then that's what they have to do. Those unvaccinated players should be made fully aware that their livelihood, and the prospects of their team, are being damaged by their actions. I'm pretty clear on my advocacy for Covid vaccinations, I can't understand why players wouldn't get it, although it makes sense if they've been sucked into the vaccine conspiracy theory zone. Reports yesterday suggest that there are going to be rules introduced for unvaccinated players (coach travel, eating etc.) in order to minimise their contact with others. Will it work?

But I think that Hayden was faking it. He was out of position, on the ground, and thought how do I make the best of this? Watch the replays and see how quickly he goes for his head and lies down. As K-Hod said, I don't doubt his ability, it's his mental capacity to thrive that I question. Thus he's not good enough for England.

A good few on here were championing him as England's saviour before the last World Cup. He has never been good enough, and although he has ability he doesn't look like he can sustain a level of play is consistent enough. I think that the referee was quite right to let play go on for Liverpool's first. Howe was going ape as Hayden was lying down holding his head. He said that play should have been stopped. If you ask me Hayden tried to pull a fast one to get play stopped. I don't think that he banged his head.

I've seen both play, Shearer a lot more than Aguero, but I'd take Shearer. Aguero's movement was impeccable and his first few yards were lightning. Shearer wasn't as good in those departments but his aerial prowess, hold up play, strength, and crossing ability put him ahead. As Rev said; imagine if Shearer signed for Fergie's Man U in 1996? He'd have hit 40 in a season at least once with the attacking riches they had. Beckham alone would have had 15 assists just putting it on Shearer's head. Whilst I'm at it, Thierry Henry had 8 seasons at Arsenal. 254 games, 174 goals. Henry - Wikipedia. A different player than the other two but also someone with bags of talent. Anyway, back on topic. Leeds were woeful against City. I said that Mowbray should have gone after Fulham. Bielsa won't be happy after that. I don't think that Leeds will go down as they'll get Philips and Bamford back sooner rather than later.

I agree with that. He played 10 season in the Prem; 275 games, 184 goals. Aguero - Wikipedia Shearer had 19. 559 games and 283 goals. Shearer - Wikipedia He should have stayed at Rovers though - 138 games 112 goals. We were spoiled for those 4 seasons.

A superb player. He scored 427 goals. Without his annual 3 months out injured he would have bagged a lot more. For some contrast Ronaldo has over 800 goals. A frightening return.

It certainly wasn't as good as the first season, but when the star of the show is behind bars it's hard to replicate. I also think that season one came out at a surreal time, so the stupidity of it all made it more watchable. I finished it last week. Excellent TV.

Real probably aren't too thrilled. They swapped Benfica, for PSG. RB Salzburg went from Liverpool to Bayern Munich.

Farcical. They blamed computer software too, rather than some idiot messing it up. Here was the initial draw; Benfica vs. Real Madrid Villarreal vs. Manchester City Atletico Madrid vs. Bayern Munich FC Salzburg vs. Liverpool Inter Milan vs. Ajax Sporting CP vs. Juventus Chelsea vs. Lille Paris Saint-Germain vs. Manchester United Now replaced by this; FC Salzburg vs. Bayern Munich Sporting CP vs. Manchester City Benfica vs. Ajax Chelsea vs. Lille Atletico Madrid vs. Manchester United Villarreal vs. Juventus Inter Milan vs. Liverpool Paris Saint-Germain vs. Real Madrid

I watched some of the Merseyside derby. The Everton fans were quite comical. Whenever a ball went into the crowd they kept it, as if it would help. Scores also left after Liverpool's second went in. Not long after that Everton made it 2-1 and were in it for a while. I've never understood leaving a game early. Even if your team is getting hammered.

I'm with you. I'd be happy to be proven wrong but this game has a Rovers loss written all over it. Mowbray did well to stabilise the ship after the embarrassment against Fulham (I still think that he should have gone after that debacle), but winning against bottom half teams when required is par for the course. Beating top 6 sides when there's a chance to break into said top 6 is kryptonite to his teams. Rovers are currently in 7th, 12 points behind top and 13 ahead of 21st. As has been said, in this mediocre league a playoff spot is within reach for any side capable of halfway organising themselves. Brereton is scoring goals, having Ayala fit is paramount.

It's Steve Clarke. He's hardly Arrigo Sacchi. However, he has them well drilled, and you can never discount the mental aspect of playing for your country. For years it was a burden for England players.

I agree with you. The years of sweating the last game of the season because a key man may get injured are gone, hopefully forever. I remember not too long ago the fits over Kerion Dyer of all people breaking his foot. Every player available at the moment could be replaced with something similar. Maybe Kane is the exception, but even then Calvert-Lewin has been impressive, and if Solskjaer either gets the boot or sorts himself out both Greenwood and Rashford can lead the line. England have talent aplenty. Southgate has a year to improve too. He can be too cautious at times.

FIFA wouldn't go for anything on at the same time as the World Cup. They want as many eyes as possible, even from nations with 10 people. I don't think that there is a way to remove the small teams from qualification, but I think that their presence can be limited. There are 55 teams in UEFA qualifying vying for 13 spots. Next time out start with 18 groups of 3. Each team is seeded and palin one of 3 pots. Rank 54 and 55 have an elimination play in game to get the last spot. The top 2 from each group goes through to the real group stage - 6 groups of 6 with the top 2 in each group qualifying for the World Cup. I haven't thought about what to do for the 13th berth yet. Each team would play 4 games in the first phase, that's only 2 international breaks, it could even be done over 2 weeks early summer. Then the groups stage carries on as we currently see it. Teams that make it play 14 qualifiers. Similar to now including friendlies on off weeks. Or do something similar to what CONCACAF does with the top 5 FIFA ranked teams automatically qualifying for the last stage, and the rest play a round robin prelim stage plus a final knockout round to get one of 3 spots. Numbers would change but the premise would be the same.

Northern Ireland 0-0 Italy. Italy to the playoffs as the Swiss beat Bulgaria 4-0.

It is pointless but if there is a preliminary qualifying group San Marino would finish bottom of that too. How would that group fit in with the schedule? They'd have to play more matches just to get into a group then more than likely would be the whipping boys all over again. The pitch is a mess too.

The last gasp Poland equaliser means that England need 4 points from 2 games to qualify for Qatar. Albania today and San Marino last. It should be a formality.

Lampard to Norwich is a puzzler. He got the boot at Chelsea because he couldn't organise a defence. Priority number 1 at Norwich is to do exactly that. Gerrard to Villa is a gamble (aren't they all though?). I have no idea what he is like as a manager. John Terry left Villa in the summer to fine tune his skills with a view to management. I wonder what his thoughts are today?