speeeeeeedie

This Guardian article doesn't paint a pretty picture; O'Neill loses Forest dressing room Lung busting pre season runs for the players finally did him in. Football fitness has moved on from the days of long cross country runs every day. I can't see his successor doing much either.

That's my take on it too. Men and women's football although they look the same are fundamentally different. Men and women will never be able to play together. The strength and speed difference is too much. Living in the USA I've seen plenty of women's football. About 20 years ago I was a counsellor at a big university's football camp. Their women's team was, and still is, one of the best in the country. Every night we had a counsellors kick about. There were enough players for 11 a side made up from the university's men's team (18-22 year old lads - decent players - think academy level), a couple of coaches, and a few of the women's team. The women, as good as they were in their own game, were completely outmatched. It wasn't fair on them. They tried their hardest but got nowhere.

There are 3 international competitions currently in full flow (Copa America, African Nations Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup), as well as the women's World Cup. I have no interest in any of them. Coupled with Rovers bargain bin transfer antics makes this one underwhelming summer. As has already been discussed Mowbray will not have his transfer business done early. Whether Rovers bring in loans or permanent signings they won't happen until after the Prem teams get back from their money spinning pre season tours. Those Managers will use their summer to assess who they want to keep and who gets farmed out. Once they decide that the horse trading will begin.

Uruguay beat Chile 1-0 in the Copa America last night. Suarez pulled a couple of Suarez like stunts during the game. He tried to round the keeper and cross it. The keeper blocked the ball with his arm, and went out for a corner. Suarez appealed for handball. A protester ran onto the pitch. A Chile defender ran after him and tripped him up. Suarez appealed for a foul. If I can find a video I'll post it.

Fernando Torres announced his retirement today. It's strange to say this about someone who won everything but injuries robbed him of quite a few good years. I would have signed him instead of Ronaldo in 2008. I thought he was that good. He scored a belter for Liverpool against Rovers at Anfield. Both centre halves and the keeper had no idea where the ball was until it was in the back of the net.

I agree. The earlier you get players in the quicker they can adjust. I also agree with this. Players, via their agents, hold out for better deals. Getting signings done early involves work during the season - think Hazard to Madrid - it's harder to do at Rovers level.

The whole process around Qatar was crooked, but I doubt that they'll take the competition off them. The FBI were investigating the whole shambles, yet I've not seen much lately on progress. Platini, Blatter, bin Hamman, Chuck Blazer, Jack Warner, and others were knee deep in it all.

I asked the same question the other day. Nobody provided an answer. He's a 20 odd year old footballer. Glamour follows them around.

Mesut Ozil got married at the weekend to an ex Miss Turkey. Erdogan was at the service, and was apparently best man. After the controversy he caused last year over being photographed with Erdogan I don't think that this move will earn him any goodwill amongst the German populace.

This seems to be the main gripe with Dack. Where does the notion that he's George Best reincarnated come from?

The Nations League was a success. That is a rare accomplishment for UEFA. It's still friendlies but all teams tried to win. I thought that England were second best against Holland yet England only lost due to carelessness. If the current Dutch side had van Persie or van Nistelrooy they'd be world champs. I think that VAR got both decisions wrong against England. I don't think that Lingard was offside, and like Stuart I think that the Swiss defender made a meal of the contact, which occurred way before (in VAR time) the header hit the bar. VAR has good and bad, it is here to stay and will hopefully improve. Although England were poor on Thursday, and missed a hat full of chances yesterday I think that Southgate still has the team improving. Going far at next year's Euro's is a real possibility. Kyle Walker's days are numbered. He was great in Russia last year but has regressed. Alexander-Arnold may not be as quick but he is a better defender, and is wonderful going forward. Wan-Bissaka is also very promising, but not as good an attacker as Alexander-Arnold. If Stones plays every week next season he will return to his 2018 form, but Gomez looks the part. Central midfield is still a worry. Dier is limited. Henderson is all action but his style is not the Frenkie de Jong type international football needs. Winks? I've not seen enough of him to comment. Foden is talked about but will he get a game at City? Chelsea are looking for another new manager. Hopefully whoever it is will play Loftus-Cheek and Hudson-Odoi every week when they come back from their injuries.

6am? I'd be hungover for days if I did that. I agree with your summation. The early goal made it easy for Liverpool to force Spurs to play much differently that they would have liked. Liverpool's strength this year has been their defence, why not use it? Despite me usually getting predictions wrong I was right about Kane. He was as effective as a lamppost. He wasn't helped by a lack of supply from Alli and Eriksen who were worse than he was. I really enjoyed this year's tournament. There were some great games. Both semifinals were truly wonderful to watch. The big boys will be busy in the transfer market so there could be some different looking teams next year. Real will have Hazard and probably a few more. Barcelona aren't far off needing 5 or 6 new players, PSG will waste money.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game. Klopp has lost 6 finals in a row and Spurs are Spurs. It's anyone's game. Despite the usual doom, gloom, and complaining on here I'm happy that the final is being contested by 2 English teams.

It was an easy win for Chelsea at the end of it. I can't decide between did Hazard decide to start playing in the second half? Or did Arsenal manage to Arsenal it up? If Hazard does leave, as is expected, Chelsea will be much much poorer next season. Mediocre talent such as Pedro, Kovacic (if he stays), Jorginho, and Giroud aren't going to drag them through games. Arsenal need players too. Aubameyang and Lacazatte are talented strikers but their supporting cast includes the brilliant but becoming more and more anonymous Ozil, Xhaka, Elneny, and their dodgy defence.

I agree. Have him on the subs bench and bring him on if desperate. He can be anonymous in games as he is a player who needs service to do well.

Mistake. He's not match fit. It matters not how many training sessions completed he'll be off the pace. Edit; cue hat trick next week.

Last night's game was fantastic. Football doesn't get much better than that. Although Ajax are 1-0 up Spurs could still win it. They blasted City in the last round, and have Son back tonight. I'm not bothered who goes through. Ajax have been a joy to watch though.

Before any players are signed Mowbray needs to review his fitness staff. The last 15 minute goals against stat that was posted a month or so ago shows to me that the team isn't fit enough. After that bring in a central defender. Gary Cahill anyone?

Agreed. They had Barcelona on the ropes even at 1-0 down. Fabinho wasn't his usual self. He contributed to the last 2 Barcelona goals. He tackled Messi for the 2nd, but it turned into a through ball for Suarez, and he gave away the free kick for the 3rd. Dembele's miss in the last second was horrendous. He skied an easy chance before that too. There's always a chance that Liverpool can claw it back. Roma did it to Barcelona last year, but I can't see Liverpool doing it though. However, I suspect we'll see the worst of Barcelona next week. Fouls, diving, time wasting, feigning injury, anything to put Liverpool out of their rhythm. Sturridge was that extra striker but is a shadow of his former self. Injuries? Inability to fit into Klopp's style?

The Dutch league cancelled their program last weekend to give Ajax time to prepare, whilst Spurs sputtered against West Ham. Pochettino had a good moan about it. The Ajax manager's retort was along the lines of well we can't compete with your budget so have to find other ways of levelling the playing field.

They have. They started like a house on fire last night. Spurs didn't know what to do. In the end they were lucky to only lose 1-0. Spurs were a bit toothless up front, but that was unsurprising with both Kane and Son out. Pochettino will have them ready next week, but Ajax are a talented bunch. Any news on Vertongen? He was ready to go back on then his legs buckled.

That happened to me too. I didn't move either. People there said it sounded like a gunshot. I broke 2 lads legs, not compound like mine but breaks all the same. Both were without intent and innocuous challenges too. I'm still baffled how one of them happened nearly 30 years later. I am with the majority that the ball should not be put out of play for "injuries". Carry on playing. Players and refs usually know when someone is really hurt. A lack of movement, concern from those close by, players not lying on their front, and not clutching their face. If it's serious the ref will blow their whistle.

I tried to work out the results that could send Stanley down, but I gave up. I don't think that they can based on the teams below them having to play each other. A draw at home to Plymouth on Saturday is all they need to officially secure League One football.

There is no doubt that Barcelona are streets ahead of Man U, but I thought that it was a relatively even affair. Barcelona weren't their usual fluid selves but never looked like conceding. I can't see anything other than Barcelona progressing. They aren't PSG. As for the other tie, Ajax were unlucky. However, Ronaldo again makes a difference.

Here is the full quote. It's adds more colour to the situation. “Harrison needs to learn a bit of discipline about central midfield in my opinion. Normally I play Smallwood and Evans in the middle of the pitch because they stop the counter-attacks and play their position. “Harrison is naturally a bundle of energy and runs everywhere, he’s out on the wing, he’s in the box, on the left wing, and the midfield is empty. “He did his job of winning the ball, feeding the team and I thought he did all that perfectly for us. He kept winning the ball back, kept things moving and stopped counter-attacks. “If he plays like that then there’s no reason he couldn’t play central midfield for us every week.”