jim mk2

It’s now known as the “Messi World Cup” according to some in the media. Pass the sick bag France v Argentina in the final is like Burnley v Preston. You don’t want either of them to win. Is a 0-0 bore fest with all the players sent off possible please?

Bobby Robson's 1990 team would have been worthy finalists - England were unlucky. But that seems to be a theme with England - something always seems to go wrong and failure seems inevitable

Maddison wasn't fit and probably shouldn't have been there. Having said that, it's unlikely he would have played much anyway. Southgate prefers his favoured midfield plodders - you know who they are

Griezmann has played better and more influential in this World Cup than Messi. His transformation from striker to midfield playmaker has been remarkable. Argentina would not have got through to the final without dubious refereeing decisions. It gauls me to say it, but Allez Les Blues on Sunday

Same here I was lucky enough to see England win the World Cup in 1966 and I've been waiting 56 years for us to win another tournament Then you're getting older and you realise it's not going to happen in your lifetime That's why the France game was so gut wrenching. Again

Sorry, no. Messi isn't one of my favourite players. It's all about opinions and personal preferences. There's a poster on here who's very anti Harry Kane. I don't understand that as I think England are lucky to have him, but that's his view

Aren't England just copying Australian strategy from 20 plus years ago? They had a golden crop of batsmen who amassed big scores very quickly at more than 4 runs an over - which was very fast for Test cricket at that time. The idea was to put a big total on the board and then give Warne etc loads of time to work their magic and bowl teams out.

We all have our favourites. Messi doesn't excite me. Of this generation I'd rather watch C Ronaldo in his pomp. It's something in the way he moves. And neither can hold a candle to Pele The media and in particular TV adoration of Messi is sickening and the Argentinians' celebrations when they beat the Netherlands showed them to be the scumbags they are Come on Croatia

This World Cup gets worse The Messi cult is nauseating. No one should want Argentina to win Come on Croatia

Yes, credit to both. It takes 2 to make a game and Pakistan have played their full part. They could have capitulated in the face of England's assault in the first game - but they didn't. And they could easily have won the second

At any normal club, results on the pitch would decide. At any normal club, the manager would pay the price when they are no longer acceptable. If Tomasson has "lost" the dressing room, as someone reported, poor results and poor performances will follow. Some would say that has already started and at any normal club, Tomasson would soon be shown the door. But Rovers is not a normal club

Clubs fail when they're badly run. Teams fail when the manager isn't good enough. In a normal club if the players are in revolt the chairman would act. But we are not a normal club. I hope you're not suggesting Tomasson is another Ferguson in the making

A player who might have thrived with Tomasson's way of playing is Joe Rothwell (late of this parish). He was at his best running at pace with the ball from deep - and he would have had plenty of opportunities under the current set-up. This isn't a Rothwell love-in - he was very inconsistent and could go missing in games - but we don't have a player like that now.

Managers rarely survive when players decide they've no credibility and effectively go on strike

Bellingham would need time to settle down at Liverpool and rather than sit on the bench it would make sense for them to send him on loan to us in the meantime 😀

Full credit to Pakistan too for their part in this series. They put up a fight and pushed England all the way in both Tests; their 579 in response to England 657 was particularly creditable. England are playing a high-risk game but it's worked so far

Eriksson did an excellent recovery job after taking over the from the disaster that was Kevin Keegan, taking England to three quarter-finals Keegan was English English managers have a history of failure, if that's what you want

Probably with a greater deal of understanding than you’re showing

Haven’t got a clue. All I’m saying is Southgate has done well but IMO he’s taken England as far as he can go.

Many people live for their football and following their team. It defines their lives, they build their lives around it, very little else matters to them. Shankly no doubt he would have been horrified by Hillsborough but that doesn’t mean his quote wasn’t right

Leave off. You can’t take a quote from the 1960s and link it to an event in the 1980s and say he was wrong to say it

Southgate’a limitations were exposed in the Euro final. Everything was in our favour - big final in front of our own fans in our own national stadium, we took an early lead yet somehow we managed to blow it. Southgate didn’t have a clue how to counter Italy’s game plan I agree Southgate has run his course. He’s assembled a good group of players but doesn’t have the nous to take England further. They won’t sack him but if we don’t win the next Euros I wouldn’t be surprised to see him walk away.

And there you have it England beat the league one teams but still struggles to get past the Premier League teams in tournament football Yet Morocco beat 3 elite teams all with top grade footballers. How do you explain that? Therein lies the beauty of football I suppose

It’s so disappointing yet so predictable. Italia 90, Euro 96, WC 2018, Euro 2020, now this, all tournaments where England had very good teams that could or should have won with a bit of luck. I’m beginning to think England are jinxed because something always seems to go against them and they certainly did not deserve to lose last night.

We were the better team. But we lost. Again A book to read Why England Lose, By Simon Kuper https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Why-England-Lose-Audiobook/B004FTCEAQ?source_code=M2M30DFT1BkSH121515013C&source_code=M2M14DFT1BkSH082015011R&&ipRedirectOverride=true&overrideBaseCountry=true&gclid=CjwKCAiA-dCcBhBQEiwAeWidtRt1dCpUcmKgFriR1iCPVBxXaAIjD0uoPc-vsA1AsKZppGRVW01eoBoCDAkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds