buster.

Morocco look like they have a goal or two in them. I reckon Portugal will need to score again if they want the 3 points.

HT at the WC It'll be on soon........

They're watching the WC footy

Amateur hour Another delay by a further 15 minutes

UEFA have delayed the draw by 30 minutes, will be at half past. live feed http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2019/draws/round=2000986/

The Plastic Albanians ?

A sample of some of the teams who enter the second round draw and who we could provisionally be paired with Sevilla (ESP) Beşiktaş (TUR) Sparta Praha (CZE) FCSB (ROU) Genk (BEL) AZ Alkmaar (NED) RB Leipzig (GER) Burnley (ENG) Atalanta (ITA) Bordeaux (FRA) Ufa (RUS) Rio Ave (POR) Some relative sharks in there that bring home how difficult an ask reaching the group stage is.

Frankie, that's impressive off the cuff knowledge UEFA have the 2nd round draw in just under a hour, 1300 UK time.

Will this be our first ever tie against a Macedonian team ? Soccerway have their capacity at 5,000

No If Gonzo don't get points today, next to nobody will get any. Bet365 offer a fraction better than 6/4 for a Portugal, Uruguay and Spain treble. Potugal are a relatively reasonable 4/6 but they'll have to alter their counterattacking gameplan for today.

25 posters X 3 matches = 75 preds Only 2 go against the general opinion of Portugal, Uruguay and Spain wins.

From what I can see, he started 14 League and Cup games last season for Liverpool under 23s and Bolton (loan) in the Championship. The positive being he started his spell at Bolton on the bench but after a month started getting a starting place and the team avoided relegation. Bottomline, if SG (who knows the player) thinks he'll do a job, then he gets the benefit of the doubt.

I think the important issue is the management team and their ability to get the players really fit, put them together in a way that functions and get the best out of them. If that happens we may see the best side of the players. If it doesn't, we won't.

Be very careful with bringing in players with 'baggage', in recent years it has rarely worked out.

The Belguim game will give us a much better idea but both will have already qualified and there will be relatively little to play for. Finishing top of the group may or may not be an advantage. IMO the real test will come in the KO rounds. The last 16 round : As it stands Senegal and Japan are in the places that England and Belguim will be paired with although that may well change. The quarters are where England (and Belguim) are 'scheduled' to come up against either Germany or Brazil but both 'WC Giants' have their work cut-out, if they want to win their groups.

Eight goals and six points Brazil, Germany, Spain,....No The bottom ranked nation of the 32,....Russia. Good to see the hosts get through but they'll almost certainly be playing Spain or Portugal in the last 16.

Yes, there is a limited amount you can do with a relatively limited budget compared to generally recognied objectives. Trying to squeeze as much quality as possible out of a limited budget has seen us gambling (and losing) on undoubtely (once) quality players, eg. Barton, Kranjcar, Rossiter and Pena. All had different baggage of some kind and it came home to roost for them all. There has to be a different approach. ----------------- Business wise to raise funds for other transfers, it might be............ Tav out for 3M Flanagan in (no fee/relatively big wage) Losing Tav would be a blow, no idea about Flanagan.

I'd agree that our best chance of real playmaking quality would be a loan but I don't think we can depend on the one young guy. We need a very fit team and an energetic, high tempo pressing game where everyone does their bit and helps create space.

I had it in my head it was 19th Had a quick look at the UEFA page this morning and it mentioned the EL draw today but looking more closely, it's the EL 2nd qualifying round draw for teams falling out of CL qualifying.

It really depends on how Gerrard is thinking about setting his team up. If it's one up top then Cummings becomes a bit of a luxury, when our money surely has to go towards necessities.

26 hours and counting............... Tomorrow includes the draw for the second round where we would be unseeded and could provisionally be paired with teams like Sevilla, Red Bull Leipzig, Burnley and Besiktas.

Thank's for the heads-up but hopefully catch some of the two games today between those teams first.

Russia 1 v 0 Egypt Portugal 2 v 0 Morocco Uruguay 2 v 0 Saudi Arabia Iran 0 v 3 Spain Denmark 1 v 1 Australia France 2 v 0 Peru Argentina 1 v 1 Croatia Brazil 3 v 0 Costa Rica Nigeria 1 v 1 Iceland Serbia 1 v 1 Switzerland Belgium 2 v 0 Tunisia South Korea 0 v 1 Mexico Germany 2 v 1 Sweden England 4 v 0 Panama (joker) Japan 0 v 1 Senegal Poland 2 v 1 Colombia

Good points. I think he's the type who will do well at an Aberdeen, Hearts or Hibs but won't ever esablish himself at a bigger cub.

Had a glance at the the BBC serial predictions man, Mark Lawrenson. Going by our system, he'd have 10 points That includes giving him benefit of doubt re. 1 extra point for joker (most have managed at least that).