Lighthouse

I fully respect Les and his philosophy but I think Koeman's time here just coincided with a dry spell for the academy. Had Shaw and Chambers been coming through in the last 2 years we may not be having this debate. It's hard to see Koeman forging a clear pathway unless the talent is there.

Not sure which young players exactly Koeman was expected to play. Targett and JWP both saw a fair bit of action without ever doing anything special. Reed? (The other one) never saw anything from him which screamed, 'first name on the team sheet'.

That's not Erwin, the earlobes are the wrong shape.

Hart Clyne - Smalling - Cahill - Bertrand Wilshere - Dier - Rooney Lallana - Vardy - Sturridge I'd give Kane, Alli and Walker a rest. The latter has looked pretty good thus far and I'd want to save him for the knockouts. That team should be enough for Slovakia.

Seriously? Players, agents, even the stuff printed in the media will get them asking questions. Half of these players are represented by the same agencies, even the ones which don't will have their finger on what the going rate is. When contracts are up for renewal, you can bet your arse the player involved will be asking around the squad to see what everyone else is on. The idea that Austin is on £100k and nobody else in the dressing room has any idea is laughable.

WTF!? Why would anyone want Martinez? He took Wigan down, then turned Everton into Wigan.

I'm sorry Davis, I'm afraid I can't do that.

What? No. Lineker, Shearer, Owen, Scholes, Gascoigne and Le Tissier (not necessarily for the NT) were all better players in their prime, and that's only in the 20 odd years I've been watching. All Rooney has done is score consistently against European minnows in qualifiers.

I think if Sturridge scored in the 92nd minute of a WC Final against Germany, I'd still hate that f**king dance.

£50m for Sterling. He's just a pace merchant with no brain.

I remember one of those Ross Kemp documentaries, when he went behind the scenes of Polish hooligans. You would think they would all hate the Nazis after what happened in the past but many of the Ultras were die hard supporters. Some were insisting the Nazis weren't there long enough and didn't kill enough Jews. Lovely people.

'98 showed what a bit of home advantage can do, Brazil were heavy favourites. Never write Italy off but for me they aren't quite good enough to win. Germany or France for me.

Bump.

£15m for a complete ass-hat who scored 4 League goals last year. Everton are in for an unpleasant surprise when they find out what £100m gets in today's market.

Imagine being out dogging and getting jumped by a bunch of Russian hoolies. Wouldn't forget that in a hurry.

How? Only way Russia and Slovakia can be equal on points is if Russia beat Wales and Slovakia draw with England, to have 4 points. That leaves England needing 2 points from the Wales game, which can't happen.

2-0, absolute belter.

1-0 Slovakia. Get in!

Perhaps not motivated by it but undeniably a factor. Imagine growing up gay in a Muslim family, knowing you would be outcast if your family knew your true feelings. Believing you are some sort of crime against God, for which many countries still apply capital punishment. No wonder this guy was a weirdo and an outcast.

The inference being that you purchased the ticket to watch Ronald Koeman and that had you known we would have another manager, you wouldn't have renewed? It's more like buying a pair of said footie boots and complaining when they don't enable you to play well.

Not sure I'd go that far but would certainly like to see Everton get spanked by and finish behind Liverpool... again. Infact they're now top of the teams I don't want to win, ahead of Spurs too. Pompey to knock them out of a cup... that's a toughie.

No, most people were pretty happy with Rasiak and were a bit miffed when Burley dropped him.

No, hardly anyone does.

YYeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Pure conjecture.