speeeeeeedie

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?

As longsiders said in relation to the Newcastle manager search it will also weaken Burnley. A a win win. Rovers had that clown Coyle in charge. I'm sure that a few Rovers fans didn't want him because he used to manage Burnley but the vast majority didn't want him because he wasn't good enough, and so it was proven. To digress a little. I listened to the undr the cosh with Ben Marshall. His stories of Coyle loving finishing practice at training was quite funny.

It is. It's not copyrighted either so it's all yours to use as well 🙂 .

Yep. Hazard was one who did it a few years ago at Chelsea. I think that it was Mourinho's last spell. The season after he was player of the season and Chelsea won the league. As a coach once told me football is 90% physical, 10% mental, yet the 10% controls the 90%. In a manager's case it's their job to make sure that the 10% is always focused. I also agree with Chaddy that despite Ronaldo's talent and goals he was a luxury signing. It's hard to argue against playing him as he scores almost every match but makes them rather unbalanced without the ball and he won't be around for long. He along with Fernandes won't defend, Rashford and Greenwood can't which leaves holes everywhere. I've said before that Rashford should go to Liverpool. He'd be a much better player there.

Absolutely correct. Excluding Solskjaer, I will add that they also won't win anything until they get a high calibre central midfield player.

There's the hard part; knowing when a manager is past it or not. You mentioned Mourinho. A manager who was once excellent but has definitely lost his touch. Would his diminishing skills still be good enough to get Rovers promoted? Hughes too. He is a nostalgia name thrown around on here as he was superb 15 years ago.

I can't argue with any of that. You could pick apart every sentence. Sorry for those with sensitive eyes, but here's a few paragraphs with more bull than a McDonald's freezer; His time in charge was chaotic off the field, the Venky's takeover leading to controversial decisions and supporter unrest. Kean became a target, the most visible symbol of the new regime, his positivity at odds with the frustration being felt by the fans. Kean is reluctant to see himself as a victim of the situation. "It was something that made me stronger," he says. But when pressed he acknowledged the difficulty of it all. "I think back to when David Moyes came to a game at Ewood Park and just walked out. I spoke to his wife Pamela not long after and she told me she heard the door slamming and asked him why he was home so early. He said, 'I couldn't sit and listen to that'. "I can understand the media hype and the fan passion but it can spill over. You can see it now with the focus on mental health and how it can affect people. I had that 10 years ago at Blackburn, but there is more awareness now, it is just all more visual. "My family were incredibly supportive and it was tougher for them. I could immerse myself in the job at the training ground, not look at all the negativity in the media and on the forums, but my kids were at school at the time. That can be more nasty. "I know my boy got into trouble a couple of times because of it at school. You know the way that kids are with the cyberbullying. That is when it affects you. I can deal with it myself but when you see it is affecting your kids that is when it becomes really hard. "Positivity" - he was at the helm when Rovers were relegated playing some awful negative football. "A victim" - at his court case for drink driving did he not accuse "fans" of spiking his drink? His defence was that he was a victim. "Door slamming" - Sure. Moysey was still that upset when he got home that he slammed his front door. Utter tripe. Is Moyes's wife actually called Pamela? "On the forums" - did he read BRFCS? "at school" - bringing in his children is always a surefire way to get some sympathy. His kids lived down south. I doubt that there were any teenage Rovers fans at their school to give them grief. I could go on.

Thanks for posting.

I couldn't help myself. I read it. What a load of claptrap it was too. Absolutely. He marked his cards with his shenanigans at Rovers. The game has moved on thankfully without him.

I think that he would too. He can set up a back 4, which has been mind numbingly missing in the Mowbray years. Warnock should retire. McCarthy should too. Neither of them have anything to prove.

Interesting. I had no idea.

To play devil's advocate. If the likes of those mentioned are good managers and not yet over the hill would they not benefit from the Venkys approach of giving them time? If they have the necessary talent they'll work their way out of it. After all Mowbray went from a super death spiral to 7th in a few short months 😁. I also think that Warnock will take another job despite the story that he was going to retire next summer. He can't help himself.

I didn't know where to put this but as it's related to academies I'll stick it here. There was an inquest into the suicide of a young lad released from Man City; https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-59214647 The lad's dad said that City should have done more. Jason Wilcox, City's academy manager, said that they did what they could. I know countless lads who thought that they were going to be professional footballers only to fall by the wayside. They do need help and support. I also think that clubs need to do more especially around explaining the odds of lads actually making it at a Premier League club. If an academy can graduate 1 player per year that is a success, which means that 10-12-14 others don't.

Example 4; Frank Lampard at Chelsea. I'll add that caretakers should never be given the job full time. It doesn't usually end well. Rovers were lucky that they had the best in the business in Tony Parkes, but he was always happy to slip back into anonymity.

A very good result. Typical of Mowbray's Rovers. Abject one game, tremendous the next. A bit of consistency would go a long way. The BBC report said that it was Brewster's first goal for Sheff U. That is poor. He cost them a fortune. Klopp sold them on that one.

Vydra should have won it at the end too. As I said the other day I'd be worried if I was Solskjaer. His 3 games to save his job ended up win-draw-loss. They were light years behind today. At one point City had 70% possession, at Old Trafford. He looked lost making his substitutions again too. He could have sneaked on a 12th man and they'd still have got beat though. Man U are playing for 4th. If that's all the Glazer's need then he'll stay. City, Chelsea, and Liverpool are miles better.

Last night was the first Rovers game I've watched in a while, and what a shambles it was. It succinctly sums up Venkys reign; a disaster. It echoed everything that is written on here after games. No plan, no defence, no positional sense. For Mowbray to say that they were in it before the sending off is laughable. They weren't at the races, couldn't string 2 passes together, and were being pulled apart by a Fulham team with some talented players. As Sparks said; after the sending off Rovers should have gone 4-4-1 with the midfield compact to stop balls into channels. They would have still lost, but would have preserved goal difference, frustrated Fulham, and may even have managed to nick one. The LT should put up the graphic that has been on here showing Rovers results when they start the game 8th or above. It's striking on how bad it is. I would not pay an entry fee to go to Ewood to watch Mowbray's Rovers. Fair play to those who stuck it out last night, and who have done over the Venky years. Whether it's blind loyalty, masochism, hope, or habit you've got more staying power than I would have.

This baffles and intrigues me at the same time. I wonder what pleasure people got from it, or why people would want to go to a football match if this had a decent chance of occurring. I'm glad that those days are over. Watching the Netflix Yorkshire Ripper documentary gives a good idea of what life was like back then so I can see why it happened.

Ronaldo bailed out Man U again yesterday. 2 cracking goals from him salvaged a draw and left qualification in their hands. Solskjaer threw as many subs on as he could with 20 minutes to go and hoped for the best. If reports are true that he had 3 games after Liverpool to save his job I'd be a bit worried if I was him. Spurs were all at sea, They got lucky last night, next up is City.