Also needs Gallagher to score more and be a focal point.

Where was Sam Curran this series? He was great when he first came in, but got dropped for no reason. He isn't fast but he has that knack of troubling batsmen and getting wickets.

Has John Terry joined the coaching staff?

Even a traditionalist like me enjoyed the 2nd leg of the Man City Vs Spuds game, but to dismiss other league winning teams of let's say Sweden as minor and a bunch of dollopers is arrogant to say the least. By saying that you are also saying we are irrelevant because we don't pay Neymar £400,000 p/w to do floor gymnastics at Ewood Park against some some team owned by a Russian gangster on a Wednesday night. Most CL games are pretty poor and playing the likes of Barcelona used to be something to really get excited about. Now it is just another game if you are a regular qualifier.

Unchanged squad for the last test as they have done so well before.

Pretty much Matt's list but I'll add the circle jerking fanboys of players like Messi and Ronaldo from places like India, Nigeria and Singapore who chat shit on social media. It's a team game not WWE.

Smith is still in, so I am not hopeful of an achievable target. I read there are a load of people dressed up as seagulls and a bag of chips on the BBC website.

Was it Monk who scammed a few clubs with his agent by getting a few kickbacks for signing dodgy players?

Not really interested, but if Christian Wade makes it into the Buffalo Bills team, I might have a look at how he does. It is just a crap imitation of rugby league though.

For Bolton's sake I hope the new owners have no connection with Jerome, otherwise their lack of players may mean Myles will turn up and play.

I can't help feeling that if Football Ventures does manage to buy Bolton, we'll be in a similar place in a few years time, as they run out of money and/or do a load of dodgy deals and leave the club in the lurch.

BBC saying Bolton takeover has collapsed.

I wouldn't mod any of them, as I have never been good at any technical things. I've been better at the theory than the practical. I also won't buy the new official mega drive mini as I have the atgames one, which still works. I like getting my money's worth out of anything.

It is that atgames mini one. I had lost a few of the leads for the original mega drive(s) so I bought that. Thinking about it, the mega drive 2 I have must have been PAL, as I got it when I lived in Hong Kong and that was a PAL region. We had an even older JVC TV we brought over that worked. Not that TV was much cop there. My primary school teacher had a side job presenting major sporting events like the Olympics.

That was genuinely interesting stuff. I have an 'Asian' spec mega drive 2 in my parents' attic, and possibly a mega drive 1 as well. However, at home I have one of those remade jobbies with the built in games that were sold a couple of years ago. The only games it hates are Virtua racing and the J league football game. I won't be taking the machine apart as I remember how shit I was at soldering at school and it won't have improved.

Rowett is a crook though.

The clean sheets are very welcome, but there needs to be more threat up front. It's like we can have a defence or a good attack, but not both. It's not promotion form anyway.

I'd only keep Burns, Root, Archer and Broad for the next test. Bin the 1 day sloggers living on past reputations and build for the future. And get a proper batting coach who can give them some steely resolve. The ashes have gone again unless some mad stuff happens for the rest of this game. Many need to be kicked down back to the county game to show they are not automatic choices.

It was going so well yesterday. Major surgery needed in the top order, though goodness knows who can come in. Root needs to be in at 4, as it is his natural position.

Send them Bell perhaps?

Roy falls again, and Root does badly. It's looking a bit awkward again with the bat. Burns rides his Luck a bit but he seems to be developing a knack for hanging around. Are there any top order batsmen doing the business in the county game?

Win with a clean sheet. No idea how well the team played but the result is progress.

When did they get promoted? It wasn't that long ago was it?

They also had to work 32 hours every day, and come home to their empty bean tin in the gutter and be murdered by their dad in cold blood. If they were lucky.

True, but normally Warner does a good job. I can see that the selectors have thought Roy could be a similar kind of player (1 day brilliance becoming an attacking opener), but so far it has not worked. Added to Burns being a bit hit and miss and a lack of a proper number 3 player and it looks uncertain. Australia have Smith who is almost always amazing. I do hope Roy can become a good opener, and work on his defensive problems. The Ashes is not the best series to adapt to test cricket, so I'd give him the winter tour as well. And get a decent batting coach.