It was a typical Venkys window. Sell best player for big money, dont reinvest. How that can be seen as good shows where your standards are.

Like I said, if selling a striker for £8m and not having any fees to buy players using that money is one of our better winter windows in the Venkys reign, that shows how bad they have been under Venkys. And if that was a window you was happy with, it is low standard. Bell was played in the right position but again, beside the point. Couple of hundred grand and a couple of loans = a supposed strong Venkys window.

The thing is, its not me saying that your suggestion is wrong. Its me saying that in certain positions, we are weak. Left back is the main one. Hall may very well be the best option, as opposed to sticking players out of position at left back. We dont have a left back that I would have confidence in full stop.

How am I biased against England? You are getting carried away having beaten 2 sides that didnt even qualify for the Euros. Many of the players in the current squad are either average or have barely emerged into their current team. They are just making up the numbers because of a mixture of fitness concerns and the lack of importance that can be attributed to the nations league. But the thing is, the current team and squad isnt anything like the side that would be playing if the game had anything riding on it anyway so it doesnt need to be a case of loads of potential new ready made starters are now here off the back of these fairly meaningless games. Saka, Rice, Alexander Arnold Palmer, Foden, Stones, Mainoo and whoever else will all come straight back either into the starting 11 or at least come on as sub. Shaw too if he is ever fit again Even some of the more likely squad players like Konsa will leap above average joes like Harwood Bellis. If we had a fully fit squad and a tournament tomorrow I would suggest that more than half of the current squad wouldnt make it. The problem is youve made massive sweeping conclusions off these games. How can Madueke be considered anywhere near Sakas level? How can you possibly say based on 2 games that Gallagher has massively improved after about 10 games at a new club? How can you be so confident in Hall solving the left back issue after 24 club starts? I have never said anything about hating being English so that obviously isnt at me. But under age groups dont necessarily determine senior winners and weve heard all the rubbish about something special before with a golden generation that player for player was stronger. Until we actually win a tournament then it perhaps needs to be parked.

As I say, if you consider selling a player for £8m and having to loan in players as a successful window then your standards are on the floor. Bell was played at left back here, his correct position and was crap. But either way, point being a window where we spend a couple of hundred grand being a highlight across a decade says alot.

Just with everything, based on a couple of glorified friendlies against poor sides?

Even against Ireland, I dont think we had a shot on target against 11 men.

They lost 4-1. And have 2 players playing for top clubs. The problem is you struggle to approach conversations about England without it being covered in bias.

You are judging off pointless games against sides that didnt even qualify for a 24 team Euros. You also have history of bigging up players well beyond their capability due to being English. You once lauded our strength in depth a couple of years ago by saying how we had options like Harry Winks and Skipp. Take your shout of Madueke having done enough to compete with Saka. No he hasnt. A couple of promising performances where his end product was inconsistent doesnt create a dilemma when the alternative is someone who has repeatedly produced for a title challenger over a number of years. Lewis Hall is now being seen by you and chaddy as some sort of solution to our left back issues. He has made 24 league starts in his entire career, mainly for a side that played Dan Burn as a left back for most of that time. You say that Gallagher has massively improved since he joined Atletico. Has he? Is that based just on these 2 glorified friendlies against poor teams? Ultimately, many of these players would struggle to make the squad when a proper tournament comes around anyway, so its immaterial. Our best team looks nothing like the one that has played in the last couple of games. Those same issues at left back, centre back and central midfield still exist at the top level.

Greece couldnt qualify for a 24 team Euros, losing to the mighty Georgia in a play off. They arent, and some wouldnt be near the England squad if it wasnt for the fact that many of the first teamers couldnt be arsed with the nations league or play in positions of weakness.

The one under Lambert saw us sell our best player for a considerable sum and just patch the squad up with loans. The one in League 1 saw us bring in Armstrong on loan who obviously was good but also Payne on loan who was a squad filler and buy Bell who was crap. Some low standards there.

Dont know on Lewis Hall, he is just about cementing a start at Newcastle. Either way, its a problem position and one that half decent teams will fancy exploiting. Just scrap it entirely, no need for friendlies nearly 2 years before a tournament. Id have stuck to the 8 groups of 4 format. Not this 36 team league. Im not really sure that we have learnt much if at all from these 2 games. They were against 2 teams that couldnt even qualify for an expanded 24 team Euros that had the likes of Georgia and Albania there. The likes of Hall, Liveramento, Gibbs White, Solanke, Jones, Harwood Bellis and Gallagher are average Prem level players. (I know Gallagher has gone abroad where he is in and out for Atletico) They arent players that would compete against good teams, Ireland however have Championship players playing for them.

Supposedly, although like a few I suspect had it been a Premier League game rather than a non entity of a supposed competition, he would be playing.

They havent been putting money in for a long while, covering losses by raising shares is something they have to do if they for whatever reason want or need to keep the club going. We havent spent over £2m on a player in over 5 years. In which time we have sold a number of big money assets and been overreliant on promoting academy graduates. Of course the difference between the latter stages of the Walker Trust ownership was that even though it was frustrating, it was always at least the case that the club was run efficiently with good people on the ground and not a huge lag between Ewood and India as we see today.

They are bigger than the pointless nations league. I havent seen anyone suggest that they should get rid of World Cups and Euros.

But again wont it be just after the world cup so nearly 2 years before it? Pointless games that simply dont need to be in the packed calendar and ones that the players clearly arent fond of.

This defence of the nations league that it is better than friendlies is flawed. It doesnt need to be one or the other. We are over a year and a half from a tournament, we dont need to be creating mini tournaments to prepare for it. Greece like all 3 opponents in the group failed to qualify for an extended 24 team Euros, with Georgia knocking them out. They arent strong.

I dont get why anyone would ask for his opinion on articles he presumably didnt even write.

Im not sure its that competitive in that its just a made up competition that the players seem to see as a hindrance. But those friendlies didnt need replacing.

That would be a massive come down for both, Coventry replacing a good manager with a terrible one and Lampard having to work in the Championship despite chaddy calling for him to get the England job.

Even if Tuchel was in charge. The tournament is 19 months away, playing a few extra jazzed up friendlies in an already overcrowded schedule isnt going to make a difference.

The initial issue with Mcguire was that despite a record sale, the owners wouldnt authorise a buy for a couple of million. We then renegotiated a loan late in the day which obviously descended into chaos. Im not sure the recruitment this summer has been a lot better at all. But whoever is employed here has both arms tied behind their backs because we regularly sell and dont reinvest.

Doesnt really make any difference whether they succeed or fail in this case. The main barrier is and has been for a long while that they simply dont want to invest. The main thing that it proves is that they dont care about the club nor do they plan to put money into it. Waggott is their arse licking lap dog, Suhail is their sneaky snake, both are merely enabling symptoms of the real problem.

Watching Rovers often does lead to torment. Thats because it means something unlike the Nations league. 8 pull outs tells you everything you need to know. Interesting to see how many magically recover in a fortnight.

Just the 8 players pulling out for the pointless glorified friendlies.