Jekyll and Hyde performance, some lovely movement and interchange first half, albeit nowhere near ruthless enough., good to watch though. Second half ive no idea what happened, subs didnt help, an obvious downgrade bringing on Welbeck etc. Central midfield a problem, Dier is crap and we lack someone to calm it down when we go under pressure, im unconvinced that the way we played the 3 in midfield will work v better teams, may need to put the impressive Delph next to Henderson.

Because hes 33, and a winger whose played the majority of his career in Russia, apart from an underwhelming spell at Everton quite a while ago.

Bloody hope not. Doubt it.

My point is, that yes he didnt bring in any players, but with the same players that Christensen had, who was deemed to be underachieving, he was doing considerably worse thn him. Find it strange that you think Bielsa, a manager with a good CV is written off, yet you are so sure Lampard is a good appointment, a man with no managerial or coaching experience at all.

To be fair, it seems that under Heckingbottom, theyve actually gone backwards compared to under Christensen, his record albeit only over 16 games is incredibly poor, the fans seem unanimous in their response, its like with Lambert, patience is only good if you see signs of progression, and as I said and the stats prove, they have slid further under Heckingbottom. Not sure you can go down the "not another foreign manager" route either, I know you like promoting British managers but theyve given many a chance over the last few years, Redfearn, McDermott, Hockaday, Monk, Evans and now Heckingbottom and it hasnt worked for any of them. Bielsa seems to be a bit of a firecracker but hes a bit of a tactical revolutionist whose managed some big clubs and is highly respected by managers including Guardiola and Pochettino, so maybe it would be a far more exciting appointment than someone like McLaren, Lee Johnson, Dean Smith, or than a total novice like a Lampard or a Gerrard.

I know but im saying that its not that managers there arent being given enough time, its the quality of manager thats the issue. Bielsa is a hot head I think but is well thought of and experienced. Suppose Leeds could argue they went with an English manager and look how that went.

The problem is in the poor managers, not the system. Look at Chelsea and Watford, both have achieved relative success with a short term hire and fire system.

What do you base Lampards prospects on chaddy may I ask? Think hes done well to get a chance so high in the pyramid based on very little. Very much an unknown quantity.

Based on what? Not sure Pilkingtons one of the pacy wingers I had in mind either.

Cant see him coming to be back up, he starts where he is, so where would this leave Raya?

Agree on 3 at the back not working for us, and also on keeping Williams away from centre back. (he also prevents Mulgrew from being able to bring it out from the back in that formation as Mulgrew is then pushed central, but thats another issue) Disagree on the need for a blood and thunder centre back, Mulgrew and Lenihan are an excellent pairing, they didnt have a season together in the Championship, Mulgrew signed quite a few games in, both had injuries and flirted with the idea of being central midfielders. (an idea correctly abandoned for various reasons) The likes of Greer, Brown, Wharton, Hoban, Ward and a Shane Duffy insistent on a move were all unworthy stand ins, Mulgrew and Lenihan were 2 of the players that looked more than capable at that level, and hopefully will be again, fitness permitting. I wouldnt reject the idea of a centre back to cover them, but it wouldnt be a priority.

Please can you remind me of what games he played well in? Should sign our promotion team from 2001 back, Flitcroft, Duff, Dunn etc, if thats the reasoning. You need something on top of experience.

This sort of rubbish is just as bad as Mercers constant purposeful winding up. End of the day, the success of this summer will be judged by actions (signings and sales), not by words, so its irrelevant anyway. That said, to echo others, IF Graham, Lenihan, Dack and Smallwood sign new deals, thatd be good news, Conway re signing would be bad as hes not good enough any more, not sure if agreeing with 4 out of 5 aspects of that article is positive or negative but there you go. To be honest, youd have to say Armstrong has proven himself to be more effective, in that Chapman has never shown more than flashes, obviously for reasons beyond his control. From wide, Armstrong proved himself to be incredibly effective, and he did often provide width as well. That said, im a big fan of out and out wingers, I do appreciate why sometimes wide forwards are so effective and im not against having one like Armstrong, but I did feel that our weakest area last season was the lack of an out and out winger, when Armstrong had an off day, whether it was Conway or Antonsson on the other side, I never felt that we had a proper attacking threat on the other side. The way we play, 2 outside forwards can leave us too narrow. A natural winger has to be the first priority. Totally agree. It would be totally sentimental, and if he wasnt offered one, im sure chaddy would say he agrees that its time for him to go. The expiry of his contract after a season in which he didnt set up a goal and added nothing going forward, with him potentially finishing on a high, everything about it suggests that its time to go. What a strange comment. Surely that means that theres no point in the messageboard at all if we "just have to deal with" whatever happens, whether people agree or disagree with the choice of Conway getting a new deal, they have the right to share that opinion on here. Whilst I totally appreciate the importance of experience, know how etc, you have to be able to offer something aside from that. Theres plenty of experience aside from Conway in Mulgrew, Graham, Bennett, Williams, Whittingham, Evans, so its hardly as if he is our only potential leader. He didnt set up any goals at all last season, hes forever injured, and when his plays, its blatantly obvious that sadly his legs have gone to the extent that he cant get that half a yard that he needed when he was setting up goals on a regular basis. He was totally ineffective at League 1 level too, so hed actually have to cope with a big increase in quality and speed, and sadly hes proven that he cant do that at this stage of his career. For me, anyone who feels that he can is basing their view blindly on sentimentality, mirroring Mowbrays view, which to an extent I understand as hes been a good servant, but logically itd be a year too far.

Wouldnt be surprised to see Senegal qualify, Poland are seemingly well fancied along with Colombia but Senegal have Mane and Keita Balde in attack, Koulibaly and Salif Sane in defence, and well known Prem players like Idrissa Gueye and Kouyate in midfield. Spain are right up there, they have plenty of crucial experience but in Asensio, Vazquez, Isco, Saul, Thiago, Nacho, Rodrigo and Koke there is plenty in the way of youth alongside it.

In the Premier League, Raheem Sterling got 18 goals and 15 assists last season (23 and 17 in all competitions), and Dele Alli 9 goals and 11 assists (14 and 17 in all competitions). As much as you disregard statistics and admittedly they can be manipulated, for 2 young players, neither of whom are strikers, they both show a level of consistency far surpassing what you are implying.

I think it was an 8 year contract!

The problem with Pardew is not that he is not young, its that hes proven to be shit.

The guy doesnt know what hes talking about, hence his need to cover every position to cover all bases, best to ignore him. That article is a waste of time really on the official website, half of it is cryptic nothingness that can be taken as good or bad dependent on your frame of mind, and the rest is blowing smoke up the owners arse. That said, its filling the website for 3 months, and I wouldnt want him to say the budget. It wouldnt surprise me if he had nothing to spend, but I dont care for words, I always judge on actions.

Its irrelevant what he says, its what he does that matters.

For me, Belgium lead up the second group of teams at the World Cup, the quartet of Spain, Germany, Brazil and France look difficult to seperate and I think the winner is amongst them teams; they all have very little in the way of weaknesses and ridiculous depth. The squads theyve announced are all superb. Belgium, Argentina, Portugal, ourselves and maybe Uruguay, all to varying degrees can be fairly optimistic but all have weaknesses and also lack depth.

Mowbray cant afford to only look at players within a specific age range, he needs to be more open minded than that. That said, I dont think he will be so narrow minded, his first signing was Peter Whittingham, he also signed Paul Caddis and he is desperate to offer Danny Graham and Craig Conway (wrongly) new contracts. James Collins isnt a realistic signing anyway, and agreed on Mulgrew being a centre back, not a midfielder.

Surely not realistic, having played a big part in a promoted Cardiff, surely he will sign a new deal.

Hasnt he been transfer listed by Peterborough after a poor season? Need much better than that. To be fair, it was relying on experience at a crucial time, it was vindicated both in results and by the form of Bennett overlapping at right back and Evans who was probably our best player in the last month of the season.

Not sure hes once said otherwise, "lad." "Seems daft not to just go and buy a right back - or simply play Travis is the position where he played very successfully season - barring a game at Ewood (which we lost!)."

With their squad, survival.