Tyrone Shoelaces

Hey, you can't say that. You need to get with the happy clappers or it'll be the Tower for you matey.

I agree with a lot of that. The midfield is unbalanced. The issue is all three of those 3 key players natural first movement is away from the ball. They are more comfortable running onto balls played into space than receiving the ball with their back to opponents and turning with it. Last night Henderson was taking the ball off the back three lots of times yet kept giving it them back because nobody was there to pass to and he hasn't got a Tugayesque range of passes.

It's the way we're set up to play. Both of Alli and Lingard are expected to run up with and beyond Kane yet most of the time they aren't doing. Other than that they don't contribute much to build up play. I think we can only afford one of those two playing. What we could do with is a Scholes or Gascoigne style player in there in place of one of those two. Problem is Loftus- Cheek isn't quite there yet. Lingard is too easily brushed off the ball. Alli isn't much better for a pretty big guy. We're used to Premier League referees were the slightest touch and it's a free kick, in this comp more realistic rules apply. How many times were those two left on the floor appealing for free kicks that never came last night ? Sterling is supposed to one of two strikers yet I can't remember the last time he even looked like scoring a goal. Neither of the two wing backs are a goal threat from open play. Only Danny Rose looked the part when he came, he came so close to winning the game for us in extra time That's why we won't get a lot further. The teams with creators in midfield will see us off.

It'll be more like our normal opposition. How good can they be if Ollsen can get a game ?

I can't stand divers whatever shirt they're wearing. That's the next thing that wants removing from the game.

How about commenting on tonights game.

I was pleased to see that cheats don't prosper. Colombia behaved disgracefully. The furore around the penalty was disgraceful. FIFA should do something about that but they won't. Having said that apart from a decent early spell we were very very average. The transition between the midfield and the front players disappeared for long periods of the game. It was just hit and hope. Henderson must have picked the ball up from the defence and then given it them back again more times than he passed it forwards. Lingard and Alli contributed very little and failed to give Harry Kane much support. Lingard in particular looked like a boy playing against men. Sterling was Sterling, just running down blind alleys Trippier who has been one of our best so far had one of his poorer nights. Walker made his usual horrendous clanger but we got away with it. Stones was ok, McGuire was excellent. Young doesn't do enough for me but he's obviously well in with the management team. Kane led by example as captain and bought us lots of free kick situations. His penalties were exceptional. Pickford made an awesome save in ordinary time and managed to save the all important penalty. For once our set pieces didn't look as threatening as they have been in the previous games. The delivery of the ball was just not quite there. It's a worry that we seem to lack a goal threat away from set pieces. On to Sweden then. It won't be a game like tonight thankfully and we can win this one. I just think that we could get shown up once we meet a good footballing side.

With all the stoppages in the second half I was surprised it was only five minutes.

Only ourselves to blame, dropping further and further back. Midfield has been nonexistent tonight in a creative sense.Lingard, Sterling , Alli - lightweights at this level.

Nothing happening in midfield. I only realised Alli was playing after about 40 minutes. Lingard only in it in brief touches, Sterling losing the ball every time, nothing new there. Henderson just a spear carrier in midfield. Wing backs not getting forward enough. Apart from that we're doing great.

We've already signed the " cheap 18 yr old prospect " left back in Hart, remember him ?

Somebody was saying on the radio today that if James Rodriguez plays they are slight favourites, if he doesn't play England are slight favourites.

We have, last summer.

You can call me what you like. I'm normally upset in direct relationship to the sense the poster usually comes out with. So no problem.

If I was a pessimist I'd say well if we do have to sell him at some point at least we'll get a good fee for him now. Mid table championship is where his game is at the moment but there's plenty of time for improvement.

The players aren't as good as the media keep telling us. That's why we keep blowing up at competitions.

Yeah that's great news.

In that recent TV programme about England managers one of the former players said that some of Hoddles team were put out because he could still do things in training that they couldn't. That says a lot about the players.

But would we have been able to deal with the Japanese fantastic work rate and ability to move the ball around ?

That's the thing, they did play at that level of intensity. Can we ? We'll find out tonight. If we don't we'll be going home, that's a certainty.

These pundits just tell you the obvious. In days gone by when the likes of Malcolm Allison and a sober Brian Clough, Don Revie etc were on the panel you actually learned elements of the game that had passed you by.

Not in Blackburn.

The National Team has been going backwards for years. Is there anybody who watched last night's game that thinks we could have beaten either of those teams ? I've seen most of this World Cup and we're miles behind in terms of individual ability compared to lots of the teams that competed here. We don't produce the creative play makers that the top teams do, the Hazards, James Rodriguez, Modric, Countinho, Golozin etc. We just produce stodgy runners who can occasionally run past people but can rarely beat a man with the ball at their feet or pick out a clever pass. It's all so obvious, predictable and easy to play against. I like Southgate as a bloke, if I had a daughter he'd be a great son-in-law, but I'm not convinced by him. To be honest until we come up with strategies to bring through the next Gascoigne, Bobby Charlton, Johnny Haynes we'll struggle whoever we have as manager. I live facing a huge common. In the past when I was a young guy it was thronged with kids playing football. Throughout this World Cup I haven't seen one game of coats for goals football taking place there. Not one. When my grand kids visit they never think of going for a kick about, it's computerised games all the time.

I'll give you one - Sean Dyche. Kill two birds with one stone. Weaken the Dingles and get a proper manager in charge.

Smallwood had an unconvincing second half of the season at a lower level than we are at now. Whittingham contributed very little even at a lower level. Evans has blown hot and cold for as long as I can remember, most of the time it's been cold. Rothwell we know nothing about at this level. Bennett finished the season as our first choice right back.