benhben

Sounds like were playing well. The defence and midfield is pretty competitive. A decent winger and a striker and well be ok. Gutted I had two tickets to the game but couldn't get there because of the M6 being closed in both directions. Even tried going the back roads via clitheroe but also gridlocked. Had to give it up as a bad day.

There has been a serious accident on the M6 near Preston. A HGV has hit a bridge rendering it unsafe. M6 has been closed in both directions all day and will be overnight. Reports of very heavy traffic on all routes from Lancaster to Preston and presumably south. Debating whether to attempt the journey tonight or admit defeat and lose the £20 of tickets. Anyone else already en route?

As others have said were seriously lacking in forward areas....so much so we resorted to playing dack as a lone striker. No genuine wide players and definite lack of pace. Will be hard to solve that without spending a significant amount. Thought the midfield and defence competed well first half. Gulf in class second half was massive. Kieta and Fabinho will be great signings especially kieta.

In non rovers related kit news. Juve have released a kit made 100% from recycled ocean plastic. I would definitely buy this out of support for the cause. Hope the rest of the football world supports this. Doesn't look bad either. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44870339?ns_mchannel=social&ns_linkname=sport&ns_campaign=bbc_sport&ns_source=facebook

Who designs these kits? If someone at Rovers came up with that they should be sacked. Complete dog turd. Can't see many of them selling. Surely they can't have thought that would go down well. I'll be waiting for the away shirt...or not bothering.

Dont like that one bit! Sponsor looks horrible and doesnt go with the light blue imo. When is the away kit out?

Its a shame young english dont often seem to entertain going and playing abroad, with regular games out of the british media spotlight. Young brasilians, argentinians etc often move abroad before getting a bigger move. Probably a culture thing, also why were so bad at learning languages. Im sure theres a lad who left manchester city youth to go to Dortmund and has had a good amount of game time and is getting good reviews.

Amazing to get to a semi final. Never thought id see that for many years. I had England to go out at the first knockout game this tournament, so we far surpassed my expectations. I doubt we will ever see a draw like that again with almost all the big sides in the same side of the draw. Its been a crazy tournament. Reflecting on England my thoughts are in no particular order. 1. Trippier and McGuire were our best players. Their stock has gone up massively. McGuire would be a great signing for an Arenal or Liverpool. suspect there will be interest. 2. Not convinced by our tactics of 5-3-2 or 3-5-2. For large parts of the tournament, Panama and Sweeden aside, i didnt think we looked particularly good from open play. Midfield was overrun often with Henderson trying to cover large areas alone and a big gap to the defence and attack. We often finished games 5-1-4 3. England are desperate for some attacking quality. Lingard and Sterling run and run and commit defenders but they will never be playmakers and lack compsure. If we could unearth a quality playmaker or someone to connect midfield to attack this side would be improved massively. Dack ;)? This needs to be the focus for English player development, technique and creativity. 4. Sterling gets a lot of critisism but the team needs him. He seriously lacks composure in the final third but he was the only player looking to run behind and commit defenders. Always shows for the ball. Rashford is hyped but hardly created anything when he came on last night. 5. I am sure in the last 12 months England have won or got to the semi finals of almost every tournament form youth. Havent the Under 17s, U20s and U21s all won this year? If so the future looks bright, lets hope they get the game time they need to develop. Nice to get some pride back in the national team.

Agree..he gets a lot of stick and makes the odd mistake but every game I saw us last season he was our main attacking outlet from the back. Bombed forward at every opportunity. Far more than WIlliams ever does.

Main change I would like to see is Rose for Young. Apart from one game V Beligium, Southgate hasnt really rotated at all. He also seems reluctant to make subs, usually bringing them on post 70 minutes. Think Rose gives us much more width than young which is important in this formation. I think their midfield is better than ours but I cant see Lovren coping that well with Kanes quality or the running of lingard and sterling. Think it will be a hard fought 1-0 or 2-1 England with us dominating the final 20 minutes and nicking a late goal after they tire following 2 extra times and penaltys.

Every interview TM has done i have got the impression that he's not that keen on Chapman. Especially after two hamstring tears I can't see it. Hope I'm wrong and we give him a chance for a small fee. Like others said unlikely Boro would want a loan

Im not overly convinved by three at the back and two wing backs. We finished against colombia with 5 defenders two defensive midfielders and then a huge gap to lingard Vardy and Kane. I dont think a game agaist Sweeden requires a 5 at the back formation, although its likly they wont want to change the system mid way through a tournament. Its always important to have back up options though. I think Rashford needs a chance from the start (in a game we actually want to win) and Rose gives us much more width than Young.

Agreed with many of the comments on here. Amazing to finally win a penalty shootout but last night confirms to me there are some pretty big issues to sort out. The team that finished last night seemed completely unbalanced. We finished with 5 defenders, 2 defensive midfielders then a huge gap to lingard kane and vardy. English football has long since missed a playmaker type player..one of the reasons I would have had Wilshire or Shelvey at least in the squad. Stones also worries me that he needs 15 touches on the ball before passing, though thats likely due to lack of options. Im impressed with McGuire..think some of the big PL teams will have an eye on him. I think Colombia will turn out to be a harder game than Sweeden but to actually win against the big boys we need to link defense to attack and be more fluid.

There's some technically great players in this Spain team but they can be mind numbing to watch. Sideways pass after sideways pass. It's like watching Van Gaals Utd. Loads of possession but no excitement

It just ruins the game for me, stopping the game waiting for the referee to go and watch a TV in the stand. It must be crap for those in the stands actually at the game without the benefit of TV cameras showing whats going on. There was a game a couple of days ago where I think it was Saudi Arabia or someone scores, celebrated for 5 minutes, then it went to VAR and was disalowed. It might be the right decision but its ruining the flow of a game. Why cant they just make it like goal line tech, where the assistant VAR referee buzzes the referees watch if its a clear offense thats been missed. Game carries on unless the refs watch goes off. Or accept referees are humans and make mistakes just like players..its a human sport. Errors are often what provide the excitement and talking points.

If true thats stupid! If you think your main left back is lacking fitness then surely you keep giving them game time and sub them off when theyre tired, evenutally building to 90 mins.

I dont understand why Alli stayed on the pitch over sterling. He was anonymous after 20 minutes. At least sterling for all his issues makes himself available and commits defenders. Alli doesnt really do anything. Also thought Walker looked awkward in a back three. Think you take away so much from his game by taking him away from full back. Trippier was decent but walker has to be one of the best attacking right backs around.

The main thing that gets me is pausing the game to make a decision. Even if its the right decision stopping the game for 5 minutes just feels wrong. Part of me thinks dodgy referee decisions are part of what makes football interesting. The refs are human and make mistakes just like players. They are often amusing and talking points amongst neutrals and fans. If you add too much tech is takes away any personality from the game.

Again shows the massive gulf in quality and depth of the top squads compared to Englands. Would start every game for us. However, looking at the Germany squad it looks a strange decision. Their midfield is full of similar players who all play central and play keep ball, with not much pace in the wide or forward areas. Strange they have left Sane out as their few wide pacey player.

Interestingly the most frequent scorer of those has been Batshuayi over the last 6 months. Hes scored a lot more for Dortmund than Morata has at chesea recently.

Just looking at the players Spain, France and Belgium have omitted from their WC squads. Think it shows where we are strength and depth wise... Naingollan (belgium), Fabregas, Marcus Alonso, Morata, Bellerin (Spain).

Smalling?? We must watch different games. I agree we should have taken Shelvey. I would still have taken Wilshire too although hes paying the price for pulling out of those two friendlies. Our team has plenty of workmen like players but no one who can pick a pass through a tight defense. Our forward line has goals in it but we dont create them any chances. Was the same at the last tournament. Loads of possession but no penetration. Its a shame Milner is retired and Oxlade Chamerlin got injured. Both have had a fantastic season. Dont see how Lallana can be on the reserved list and Wilshire dropped for being too injured when hes played miles more football than Lallana this year.

You can't deny his commitment to Rovers. Love it.

Is this a joke? Raya must have saved us at least 15 points with saves that only top level prem keepers would make, yet cant think of any points dropped to dodgy kicks. This is why he was voted L1 Gk of the year. If he gets much better he wont be at Rovers for long.

Strange quote in the LET from Mowbray regarding Payne. Unless I've read it wrong, Mowbray is only interested in signing him if he accepts he will be a substitute most weeks. If he has ambitions to start and become a focal point hes not interested.....Managers usually want the latter. “My selections have shown that I haven’t seen him as a 90 minute footballer, the challenge for Jack is whether he can accept that or whether he’s a lad who wants to play, be in the team, be the main man and let him make things happen. “If that’s what he’s thinking and demanding then this is probably not the place for him but we can have that discussion and I’ll discuss that with him and see where we go.”