Surely Alan Nixon wasnt making stuff up?

Neymar is so easy to dislike. Diving cheat who was really poor tonight. The best Brazil player by far this tournament has been Coutinho.

Brazil will disagree.

Looking into his spells at Barnsley and Coventry and he didnt get many goals or assists at either club. That said, he was very young (as he still is) and he seems highly rated at Liverpool so I would be open minded. That said, if he was our only wide addition, we would be screwed, if he was one of 2 or 3 wide additions he might well improve us. All depends on the bigger picture. One thing he certainly isnt is a presence up front. His height may fool people but hes one of the weakest forwards ive seen in a Rovers shirt and his hold up is non existent. Towards the end of his last spell he was played wide. In the phrase "scored a few," few is the operative word, 17 in 89 in the Championship surely isnt the calibre we want at the club. Yes, he played for us before so I can understand the familiarity and the popularity of the suggestion to the extent, but there has to be better out there. Im sure Mowbray wont be signing based on sentimentality.

We don't even know if Armstrong, Kent or Chapman will sign, so how is it not needed? 1 winger is not sufficient for our squad, considering we currently have none bar Conway (and players who can do a job there but arent naturals), there are 2 wings and we'd need at least 2, then cover. Maddison is an excellent suggestion, Chapman is prone to injury and Mowbray doesnt see him as a potential starter and we need players that can improve our first team anyway. We need to be looking at players that improve us, not too much in the bargain bin, and making do with players who arent naturals in their position. Kent presumably would be a loan, maybe get a loan winger as well as a permanent signing like Maddison, but Kent struggled at Bristol City last season to the extent that he was dropped from the squad, even though that caused Bristol City to pay money to Liverpool for not picking him. Nothing concrete that we want him anyway so its probably not true. No thanks. Certainly not capable as a loan striker, far too weak and not good enough at holding up the ball and bringing players into play. Im sure Mowbray will look at better.

Needs to be on an exciting winger who can give us a big threat, Maddison would be ideal. Someone who can give us pace and flair in a position where we are totally bereft of anyone. Do need a striker too to be fair but if Graham was starting the season id be moderately happy.

"Congratulations to England and Southgate. It was great to see England win a penalty shootout. Mentally, they were very, very strong. I'm very happy for them. "I think England can go very far in this tournament. They have good players and they seem to be very organised. "They have young, hungry players. You saw yesterday, they were the better team and won it." When asked if he would be supporting England if they beat Sweden on Saturday, Eriksson replied: "Yes, absolutely. I still feel a little bit English!" "England have the players individually to do something special. Kane is one of them, Sterling is another." All direct quotes from Sven. Hardly arrogance or dismissive. Compared that to England fans constantly saying its coming home (including players like Lingard, Stones and Walker who I think have all tweeted or said it I think) and planning a route to the final (its natural, people are excited, im not having a go at England for it, im doing the same) and I think this Swedish arrogance and this global hatred of England is partially a figment of your imagination.

What Swedish arrogance? I saw Sven say dont underestimate Sweden but hardly arrogance. English fans have been singing its coming home all week planning our route to the final...

Think our biggest threat tomorrow could be the fatigue/knocks from Tuesday night. Would bring in Rose for Young and maybe Loftus-Cheek and Rashford for Alli and Sterling, although id be worried that the quality is dropping with them 2 changes. Sweden are possibly as limited a team as you could get in the quarter final of a World Cup, so we are favourites, Berg and Toivonen have very little quality but they could be a threat from set pieces with the likes of Granqvist, and also Forsberg is a good player coming in from the left. Think we need to be a lot braver and a lot more progressive in attack tomorrow, didnt feel we were that threatening v Colombia so we need to step it up.

He did and id probably agree with him.

Id be a bit surprised if he starts the season in the team after Mowbray said Evans was our best player in the last month of the season.

I stand by that Chapman is far too big of a risk. I know hes a talent and hes popular but his injuries are seemingly going to be an ongoing concern. Hopefully Mowbray looks elsewhere.

I read that as maybe signing Dack, Smallwood etc on new contracts?

Because of the incompetence of the rest of the team. Strikers more than doing their job. Regarding Mowbrays quotes, theres nowhere where he states that Rothwell will actually start on the wing, I dont create my opinions by trying to second guess what Mowbray is going to do. If he chooses the midfield that you suggested, which I think is unlikely, then id be almost certain that we would be blunted, slow and laborious in attack. I love that you are basing your argument on me not giving him "a chance" even though the only thing weve heard is a meaningless and likely false transfer rumour. But that said, to be honest ive not seen enough of Edwards. I feel that so many people suggesting him is based solely on a decent performance when we beat them near the end of the season. In fact, a lot of players suggested are League 1 players, almost exclusively on the back of 1 performance against us. Edwards got 4 goals and 2 assists in 26 league games and apparently has had injury problems, looking into it. if we are signing League 1 players, which im not opposed to, we need to be signing the very best from there, the ones who have the best chance to make the significant step up. Marriott, Maddison, Jon Nolan (when we needed a centre midfielder, not now), Tariqe Fosu maybe. Its unprofessional, especially answering questions from supporters of other clubs.

Already well stocked in central midfield. No thanks.

I never said that Rhodes is a better player now, or that King hasnt developed a lot since he left us. Our strikers guaranteed us over 40 goals so your idiotic plan to drop one wouldnt have got us any more goals, both as an individual or as a team. Goalkeepers that can pick a pass are no good if they dont make saves. Defenders who bring it out from the back are no good if they cant defend. Wingers who can beat a man but then do nothing after are no good. A strikers primary job is to score goals. Yes he needs other qualities ideally but if hes scoring 20 goals he is undroppable. He hasnt said "ive signed him to play him out of position on the wing leaving us with no pace out wide" and besides I stand by my assertion that Bennett and central midfielder Rothwell both playing wide will give us little attacking threat and leave us unable to counter on teams. I think Mowbray is wiser than that anyway so its a moot point. Yeah, im unconvinced when you account for the step up in quality that he woule be good enough. Only because youre a martyr to transfer gossip. Its unprofessional and I wouldnt like to be a manager for him.

No but by that same token many of the team dont play in the same formation as they do for their clubs. The tattoo is to do with his dad I believe being shot when he was little. It has a meaning to him and to be quite frank has nothing to do with anyone else and is no reason to give him any stick. The laughing gas wasnt a recent thing was it? Did he play any worse than Alli and Lingard? I dont believe so but theres no strong continued argument about their inclusion. Hes an incredibly talented player whose posted some really impressive numbers in terms of goals and assists for City this year. I dont understand the constant hounding he gets. Take your point about him being a professional but to be fair I do think he needs a goal badly to boost his confidence.

Sterling often spends games at City inside drifting in, hes hardly the type to constantly run outside and whip crosses in. Hes a very technical and intelligent player. He was no worse than the likes of Alli and Lingard last night yet he attracts lots of attention. He isnt quite the same player for England and it might seem a lazy thing to imply but id suggest most of that is mental. Hes never been the most popular England player, he was a bit of a scapegoat in the team at Euro 2016 that was all poor, he gets loads of attention in the papers even though he hasnt done anything wrong so maybe its weighing him down. Id love him to score more than anyone else just to hopefully give him that relief to hopefully relax more.

He has to be the most unprofessioanl chairman in the football league.

Haha apologies it read like it was a sarcastic jibe.

Was that aimed at me for suggesting that Edwards' track record makes me unsure that he could improve us?

Which journalist? Not seen enough of Marriott to know what his overall game is like (how much have you seen of him?) but you seem to be discounting the importance of goals. Its not the only thing but the most important thing for a striker and anyone saying otherwise has forgotten the point of the game! Both are unobtainable financially so its irrelevant but youve gone on record saying that we should have dropped Rhodes (for King) when he was here scoring 20 goals a season which suggests that you dont fully understand the main objective of a striker and are obsessed by specific characteristics (pace and strength) even if it is not as effective statistically in terms of goals. If hes scoring 20 a season then hes more than doing his job and just bringing pace would be unlikely to match that sort of output. Im on an internet messageboard, to give my opinion, just like you should be, rather than to give the opinion that you think Mowbray has. Understand the point of the odd wide forward but central midfielders wide? No thanks, the midfield you named was really slow, had no natural wingers who would stretch teams, if we named it (im sure we wont) then wed be boring to watch and have no threat on the break or real attacking threat. We need wingers, not to sign players that are naturals in other positions that can play wide at a push. Players in the man in their natural positions. Rothwell should compete for a central role. Yes, I do want pacy wingers but not just pace, they have to be good enough to improve us. Again ive not seen that much of him, bar against us when he was ok, dont remember him even being lightning fast, but im not sure his record in League 1 of assists and goals suggests that he would massively improve us? Feeney has pace, wouldnt want him back.

Whats the source?

Some of my favourite retrospective overractions.

Dont want can play there, I want pacy wingers out wide, not central midfielders under silly umbrella terms like inverted winger. I know but I really dont want 3 at the back. You massively underestimate the importance of a striker being able to score goals which is strange. Not convinced on Edwards. Played ok for us but statistics are underwhelming in a lower league, would like us to aim a bit higher.