Lighthouse

Happy anniversary Ron.

He's the Spanish, Irish, Latvian Michael Owen.

Would be nice to get one of our guaranteed defeats out the way early on.

I never got why the whole boxing day thing was so complicated. It's ALWAYS on the 26th December, as are the Boxing Day fixtures. It's only the bank holiday which changes if boxing day happens to be on a weekend, like this year when the BH will be on 28th. That's the one and only post I will make on this matter, it was bad enough last time.

I know, I was replying to a different post that the Dutch have under-performed because they haven't won a World Cup. I wouldn't really count that as a win, it's basically a lottery because you can't separate two teams after more than two hours of football. The teams we did beat weren't all that good either. That Dutch team played out a 0-0 draw with Scotland and Argentina scraped an ill-deserved draw (injury time penalty rebound converted from a blatant encroachment IIRC) against Sweden. I was being kind stopping at Euro 96, which was our last decent tournament. We didn't qualify for USA 94 and finished bottom of our group at Euro 92.

A man goes to the doctor and says, "I feel like a deck of cards!" The doctor replies, "yes, I'm afraid you have herpes."

Not really. That's the kind of logic the Skates use when they bang on about their trophies and stuff they won before WW2. I would rather been Dutch and know my team has a half decent chance of making it to the final of a tournament. England you can pretty much guarantee will amble through the qualifiers with unispiring performances against Montenegro or Azerbaijan then come up short against anyone remotely decent in a tournament. When was the last time we beat a properly decent team in a major tournament? 2014 - Lost to Italy and Uruguay 2012 - Drew with Italy and France 2010 - Spanked by Germany 2008 - DNQ 2006 - Drew with Portugal 2004 - Drew with Portugal, lost to France 2002 - Hey, we beat a below par Argentina side 1-0 2000 - We beat Germany but they really were sh*te back then. Lost to Portugal and Romania. 1998 - Drew with Argentina 1996 - Beat the Dutch Drew with Spain That's two decent teams we've beaten in 20 years. A trophy we won 50 years ago really isn't much comfort.

According to Townsend, "that's what the best players do." What? Miss a hat full of absolute sitters against Slovenia, then get a tap in from a lucky deflection off a third rate defender?

Is Rooney really going to go down in history as our all time top scorer?

They need to sort out their system first. Decide what suits our players best and find a manager who has had success playing a similar style. It doesn't need to be an English man or a guy who knows the Premier League. Look at Pochettino, fighting relegation with Sevilla and couldn't even speak English but he played a system that suited our players and was the right man for the job. The same with Adkins to an extent, struggling in the Championship with Scunny but he knew how to get our team playing the right way.

Surely it's well beyond the point of wonder by now?

That's the thing through, I don't think they are average and Hodgson was a decent manager at Fulham and West Brom. Everyone associated with England seems to under-perform and it's been like that for a long time. We aren't a world beating team but the likes of Rooney are far better than the performances the churn out for the national side. I don't know if it's some ingrained coaching philosophy or just the pressure and psychology of playing for the national side but something is rotten to the core with our whole set up. Our tactics and organisation just aren't their collectively. It always just seems to be bodging the biggest name players who play for the big clubs into whichever formation is fashionable.

That's actually funny.

In the half a century since England made the final of anything, the Dutch have been WC runners up three times and came third once. They've also won the Euros and been in the semis four times compared to our record of zero wins and two semis. Their record sh*ts all over England's.

If there's one incident which totally sums up England it's Calum Chambers. Didn't get a look in after a string of very good performances for Saints two years ago. Then last season he signs for Arsenal and bang, straight into the England team after two games. The team is riddled with that kind of thing. Rooney on the left side at the World Cup instead of Lallana. Utterly bizarre.

What's wrong with green? Maybe I'm biased because it's my favourite colour but I don't see what the problem with green is.

A man walks into a bar and says, "Doctor, I keep making continuity errors whenever I tell amusing anecdotes."

Arsene signed Oleg Luzhny after one decent performance against them so it wouldn't surprise me.

Looks really good to me, I like both of this season's kits. As long as it fits well and you can wash it without all the dye running out I might buy one.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na Grzegorz.... ... nope; doesn't work.

And 'The American Dream' Dusty Roads.

Has joined the ranks of the undead.

Hull's relegation had nothing to do with missing Long. They barely clung to safety last season and narrowly went down this year. There was very little difference in the quality of the two teams. If MO is better than one of our current players then of course there is a point to loaning him in. He wouldn't be taking a place away from one of our youth team players, if they were good enough they would already be in the team.

Elia is 28. JWP is 20. JWP still has plenty of developing to do. Elia is pretty much as good as he is going to get and he's not that good. He is a journeyman who never stays at a club for more than 2 years before moving on because he can't get into the team, adapt to the style etc. etc. I know we need depth but out of all the thousands of players out there why sign the one who has already proven he isn't good enough? Take a risk on someone else, not a player who has failed to deliver for the last 5 years. If you just want depth, sign me. It'll do it for £2k a week and I'm available on a free.

I saw an African looking bloke walking around Gatwick earlier, he could have been flying to Munich but his earlobes were the wrong shape so it's inconclusive.