Parsley

Good goal that to be fair.

Nice to see Swedes and the Italians mixing in in the stands.

Poland look a genuinely good side these days. Too reliant on that Dortmund trio of Lewandowski, Kuba and Piszczek back in 2012 but have a strong supporting cast in place now with Krychowiak, Milik, Glik etc.

Yeah that's fair, although you could argue the same of the whole defence with regard to nerves.

I thought Walker was excellent but I agree - England's hesitance to cross the ball first time on the whole was pretty bewildering.

Like how the BBC have got Gerry Armstrong as co-commentator. Always good on the La Liga games over on Sky.

Relight my Dier.

1-1.

Hamsik

'Milly'

Thierry Henry's done a programme on France and the Euro's - on BBC1 now

There was an epic 4-4 draw one year IIRC but yeah, the majority were shit.

Di Matteo to Villa confirmed, Steve Clarke appointed as no. 2.

Room for 1 more gents?

Their record in the PL is hardly great, yet you seem convinced they'd score loads in the championship yet for the same reason you think Mitrovic and Perez won't score because of their PL record. ( Armstrong too as the difference between League 1 and Championship isn't that big) I wonder why that is. Ings scored 20 in 40 in the Championship when Burnley came up last time. He also managed 11 goals in the PL for a side which only managed 28 all season and finished 18th. Ings is a good player; he'd doubtless be a massive success in the Championship but he's PL quality and will have a number of PL suitors to choose from I would've thought.

If Sturridge was bang in form and fully fit, I'd start him with Kane. He's a better player than Vardy. As he's not fit, hasn't played in the recent friendlies and has had a mixed season on the whole, Vardy starts. He can still be a big asset off the bench though IMO, even if not 100% fit. I like Sturridge, but as you say, he's out of form, and semi injured. You say that england are making the same mistakes again by picking a player just because he's at a big team, but I would make the point that they're making the same mistake again by picking a half-injured player who is out of form, purely because of his reputation. I want form/confidence/health in my squad, and therefore Rashford is the preferable option. Although I would've been fine with bringing neither tbh. Take your point re. Sturridge and being picked on rep/past performances. Do think he's a class act and worth the gamble though. 8 in 14 for Liverpool isn't terrible considering he's been in and out of the team and few, if any in the England squad, are capable of scoring that goal against Sevilla for my money. What annoys me re. the Rashford pick isn't that he plays for Man Utd FWIW; he's clearly a talent and has played his way into the England conversation with his performances in the second half of the season. I just can't understand how, in the space of 2 mins or however long it took him to score, he's gone from being an almost token inclusion, brought in solely for a bit of friendly experience, to being a nailed-on cert for the final squad. All because of 1 goal. Against Australia. For me, Roy's just picked him to appease the media hype and has unbalanced the squad in doing so.

If Sturridge was bang in form and fully fit, I'd start him with Kane. He's a better player than Vardy. As he's not fit, hasn't played in the recent friendlies and has had a mixed season on the whole, Vardy starts. He can still be a big asset off the bench though IMO, even if not 100% fit.

I thought Rashford looked a bit lightweight against the Aussies and was trying too hard at times and losing the ball despite the early goal pretty much guaranteeing him a place on the plane. Feel sorry for Townsend as he got little or no chance to prove himself (Drinkwater played in both games and looked lost in both of them) and did quite well when he came on. Sturridge is injury prone and out of form and will be lucky to play at all. Are they now on standby in case someone gets injured or do replacements now just have to come from within the squad? This is exactly my point. It was widely reported that Rashford was included provisionally to get some introductory experience in the friendlies and would then be cut; 1 goal in a friendly against poor opposition and suddenly he's a banker. It's pathetic. If Sturridge's injury isn't serious then he has to go IMO. Still England's best striker when fit (admittedly a big if).

Rashford is the one I can't get my head around. If anything sums up what's wrong with England, it's been the clamour in the media and among most pundits for Rashford to be rushed into the squad on the back of a single - admittedly decent - England appearance. He's a prodigious talent but his inclusion in the final 23 is ridiculous IMO. Obviously gutted for Andros but feel a bit bad for Drinkwater as well, who has surely done more than Barkley and Henderson over the course of the season and in the warm-up games.

Done alright without him like Yeah fair enough. You'd think he'd be more useful out wide than Jurado, Anya, Abdi, Guedioura et al though.

Forestieri is class. Watford really should've kept hold of him.

Pellegrini is at least on a par with Rafa IMHO.

Supposed to have held talks with De Boer and Pellegrini already, followed by Emery in the next few days. Rumour is that Koeman is still the number one target though. I'd be happy with Emery or Koeman. Not so much the other two. Imagine being an Everton fan and turning your nose up at Frank De Boer and Manuel Pellegrini. I'll have what you're having fella... From what I've read of De Boer, he had a Ronny Deila-esque European record with Ajax, he plays Van Gaal-esque s*** football and his own fans are glad to see the back of him. He also wouldn't be able to bring the only decent coaches from his backroom staff with him. No thanks. As for Pellegrini, we've just got rid of a soft touch who couldn't get the best out of his players, couldn't organise the defence and couldn't change his tactics. Why bring in a manager who had all the same faults at City? He's a big name but I think he'd do a poor job. Pellegrini got to the latter stages of the Champions League with two clubs of a similar type to Everton ffs What? Malaga and Villarreal I'm guessing? Pellegrini would be a fantastic appointment for Everton. The comparisons with Martinez are pretty ridiculous IMO, even if they may share some of the same tactical weaknesses (although Pellegrini is very capable of changing his tactics IMO). Pellegrini's CV alone blows Roberto's completely out of the water and the City/Everton jobs are completely incomparable in terms of pressure, expectation and having to manage, motivate and cater to the needs of high-end players. The suggestion that Pellegrini isn't good enough for a mid-table PL team (although with the potential to finish top six) because he had an underwhelming last couple of years at Man City really needs some perspective. It's almost akin to us turning our nose up at Rafa because he tanked at Madrid and Inter, was so-so at Napoli, only finished 7th in his last season at Liverpool, has no experience in the Championship etc etc.

Have to say that the timing of the leak is in pretty bad taste. LVG's apparently going on in his post-match presser about transfers for next season!