It's a sleepy afternoon Mailbox, but includes interesting thoughts on club vs country, comparing Mourinho and Sun Tzu and discussing those that discuss missed signings...
One Mailer thinks that Rodgers keeps quiet on his scouting ability because they all get away anyway. Plus England v Scotland, Abou Diaby, and United's lengthy injury list...
Want to have your own say? Mail us at theeditor@football365.com
England v Scotland Conclusions
Did anyone else enjoy that as much as I did?
Two teams trying to beat each other just for the sheer merry hell of it. Nothing "at stake", no hyperbole, no "wider significance", no "where do we go from here". Just a game of football that a bunch of people cared about.
It was a big, hot fish and chip supper of a match. Yum.
Tom Atkins
...I'll take 90 minutes of vuvuzelas over 3 minutes of bagpipes any day of the week.
Barry, Crayford
...Milner & Wilshere in centre mid? More of this please Roy.
Neil Raines
...What I will say is this. England were positive, incisive and passed the ball well and with pace scoring 3 quality goals.
Six wins on the bounce - nice work Roy. Momentum, confidence, youth. Very positive. Cautiously optimistic of course, but very positive. Work in progress but progress indeed.
Russ
Oh Hey There Mr Misery Guts
What is all this about? It's only Scotland.
Jim J
England's New Right-Back
After his performances for Southampton this season and the two he has put in for England in the last week Nathaniel Clyne should now be the nailed on right-back.
England have a lot of ok right-backs knocking about but Clyne has clearly accelerated passed everyone now. To be honest it would be surprising if some of teams lying under Southampton in the table didn't throw big money their way this summer for him. Rafael can't stay fit for United unfortunately so I would have him.
Parmjeet Dayal, Gravesend
Sometimes Logic Is Logical
Who would have thought, the best English right back in the league for the last two years plays well at right back for England. Shock horror.
In next week's breaking news, distinctly average Henderson and Downing put in very average performances. The following week, how playing an attacking midfielder at the holding point of a diamond doesn't work against good opposition.
Sure tactics can be complicated (I still don't know what a double pivot is), but sometime the most obvious solution is also the correct one.
Dave M
Some More Info On Equatorial Guinea
Great article by Matt Stanger , a welcome foray in to the stories behind the football.
I'm at work at the minute so can't research fully, but I recall in the dim and distant past (about 3 or 4 years ago), I read something about Equatorial Guinea deciding they needed to be higher up the world rankings, recruiting a Spanish manager and essentially going on a "distant relative search" to field 11 basically Spanish/European players descended from the slave trade. Some cynics may suggest that certain leaps in world rankings may or may not have a direct impact on how much funding a country receives from, for example, a global administrator looking for new friends.
All a massive PR thing which was done to satiate the president's vanity, and I think that's where the Spain link came in - not to mention the ranking points they would have got from playing a top 10 side which meant that losing a game against 'good' opposition is worth more points than a couple of wins against dross. Can't remember the exact numbers but I'm sure they jumped something like 40 ranking places in two games on this basis and so became darlings of FIFA/CAF who conveniently overlooked the actual reality of how they achieved it and shovelled plenty of cash towards the regime for "funding projects"...
Roger Payne
...And Some More, In Slight Disagreement
As much as I'm sure Matt Stanger is a wonderful man, this line from his recent article grates:
'If you are looking for football to act as a vehicle for change, Equatorial Guinea proves it is a fanciful notion.'
No it doesn't. It proves that there are often issues in football, as in many other arenas. It proves that governing bodies make some misguided decisions. But to describe the idea that football can be a vehicle for change as a fanciful notion is insulting to a host of courageous people doing incredible things in very difficult situations all around the globe.
From MYSA's work educating kids in the slums of Nairobi to Street League's work with disenfranchised young people in the UK; from Grassroots Soccer's HIV programmes to those taking the sport into the favelas of Rio to tackle gang violence, you can reel off dozens of examples of football, at the most basic level, making people's lives significantly better than they are.
I've seen the Football365 Forum collectively pledge thousands of pounds to good causes, including GOALS Haiti's work using football to rebuild communities there following the 2010 earthquake, and I've seen the difference a single football makes to a kid in Soweto used to playing with balled-up paper.
By all means challenge things where they need challenging, but please don't ever suggest this game can't change the world. It does some remarkable things. That's why it matters so much.
Adam Fraser
Yorkshire v Scotland
After tonights big international Derby it got me thinking. How would a yorkshire 11 fair against Scotland if we finally got the independence we deserve. After a quick google I found this team:
Paddy Kenny
Michael Dawson
Frazer Richardson
Matthew Kilgallon
Aaron Lennon
James Milner
Fabian Delph
Stewart Downing
Jonny Howson
Cameron Jerome
Fraizer Campbell
We look strong in midfield with plenty of fight to match the scots. The defence and strikers are not the best mind but how do you think we would do? I'm predicting a goal fest and we would edge it 4-3
Craig (yes I drink yorkshire tea) Wheeler
(MC - We'd say the problem is that you took that entire team from one particular website. Thus missing Danny Rose and Gary Cahill, to name but two)
Oh, Danny Boy
This is why I hate the BBC's hiring policy of terrible ex-players as pundits.
From last night's game, Danny Mills says: "Really good on the break from England. Why did they not start like this at the weekend?"
This shows a complete misunderstanding of the basics of the game. England couldn't start 'on the break' at the weekend because they were playing a team that were sitting deep defensively.
Joe, LFC