Parky

Sterling has to come off.

We can pull this round can we?

Get in!

Croatia are capable of getting something tonight. Was looking at a cheeky bet.

The squad is big game naive. Not sure how much that matters however. Nearly every player of Beckham's generation would win European competitions and appear in multiple finals at club level then look naive for England. In this whole squad only Rooney and Joe Hart have been in CL semi finals or better. The Germans I watched the game with were saying that these have been the best overall Eng performances they have seen for ages and that I was being too critical.

Had that been Italy or Germany in the last 20 min they would have spent the whole time running at the back line at pace and diving. We still seem to be tournament naive.

The other problem with the Eng team is the amount of games this lot have played (yeah that old chestnut). They looked mentally tired the last 20min.

Portugal have looked bad imo and might even lose to Hungary. Ideally we want Iceland (already my second team after their heroics).

If they get as far as France in the QF, fair enough. That might actually be a fun open game to watch. Would prefer that to Germany or Spain. I would actually like to see England go up against a decent side at some point in this tournament. Agreed, France aren't all that. Spain,Germany and Italy could cause real pain.

We can't avoid France now. If we don't get Portugal next which is dubious penalty land with preening and fake tan thrown in. I don't know who Delle Alli thinks he is but he's do ponderous on the ball in dangerous areas that danger sends him a postcard.

Think it's arranged to be a bit easier if you win your group. I worked out something about finishing second means avoiding France but I can't remember how it went...

Who would you put on the left in that reshuffle? Think Rooney should be thrown out there if that sub is made tbh. Dier and Alli central. Kane behind Vardy. Just play the Diamond & two upfront. Alli behind Kane & Vardy, it is literally that simple. Even Sturridge/Vardy on for Sterling would improve this though. Any of these combinations are better than what we have out there. The wide men in the front three who never score...Well done Roy.

Need changes at half time not in the 78th min...Should be Kane behind Vardy.

Love the way Buffon kept rolling the ball out to def who had 2/3 forwards charging at them immediately. So casual so much class. Italy look very dangerous.

Needed a pacey forward to get hold of the clearances and keep the roaming back 4 honest. This is what teams do against Spain/Barca.

Couple of my friends over there say the Russians came very organised...Small groups all with black T shirts.

The whole build up to the tournament should have been finding a way of playing two strikers. Eng don't need to play one striker till the face a top 10 side. Kane behind Vardy should have been what was deployed against an aging and one paced Russian side. Sterling has to be dropped. They think they can't play Kane behind Vardy cause where would Alli play? It was pretty clear to me that Alli isn't quite there yet although he is clearly a huge talent. We played really well for about 60min and then the subs should have been made. Vardy for a knackered Kane and Sturridge for Sterling with Lallana coming over to the left and Sturridge cutting in from the right. The pitch would have been lengthened by the appearance of sheer pace and Eng would have seen the game out. Hodgson is too fearful.

Surprised how long Romania managed to stay in the game. On balance could have nicked a draw without too many complaints from the French who looked indecisive and one paced first half. Def isn't all that and could be there for the taking by one of the strong sides. Girroud such a drama queen.

Probably the trickiest group.

Well I expected him to be sullen and give short evasive answers. I know he's pretending to be surprised at some of the practices but he did talk a lot more than I expected.

Quite taken aback at how frank he was. Clearly he knows a lot more than he is letting on....

Scored, sent off, came back on and scored and sent off again.

Are you French, my friend? I am interested that there is a distinction between "Arabs" and others. If they grew up in France, are they not French too? I lived in Paris for a year. The French hate all Arabs and there is an undercurrent of racism in all their dealings with Arabs of any background. The South of France is even worse. Multiculturalism as we know it in the UK hasn't worked in France because the French think they are better than everyone, that they single handedly invented culture and food and anything you can think of. One one level they are contemptuous of anyone who isn't French never mind Arab....Their history of colonization was barbaric and cruel and high handed. A daft and ridiculous country always in the shadow of Germany who they are shit scared of. The average Frenchman is introverted and snobbish so they find the Arabs uppity 'too full of life', too talented....They don't even like Ribery ffs because he has a rebellious nature. They never like Catona because he was an idealist an individual with gifts. Ever play table football against French in a cafe and you soon find out their nature....Blame each other and thoroughly bad sports. The beautiful soul and spirit that is Hatem is too good for these gallic creeps.

We've never had enough scouts hence the over reliance on agencies.

Fergie will be seething.