Alex

RIP. Sad news

Allardyce is 'expensive' in the sense it's a fucking disgrace he's just trousered another £9m or whatever but not in the sense that he's kept them up. I know you can argue they would've stayed up anyway (pretty sure they would have) but the board at Everton obviously didn't see it that way so it's a relatively small investment in return for (almost) guaranteed safety. Bet Moyes gets another PL job as well.

Welbeck, if his recent form is anything to go by, looks absolutely shot

Delph the back-up utility man to the back-up utility man

That rings a bell. I could imagine Everton taking Moyes back. Not sure West Ham would take Allardyce back mind

Class

I can't think of a less qualified England manager. Considering the likes of Hodgson, Allardyce and McClaren have been in situ in the recent past that says a lot.

It won't happen obviously but it would be incredible if they swapped jobs

Tom Wolfe. Might have to re-read The Right Stuff.

Maybe he has but he's not some fanny who goes whingeing to the press about it straight away

Thing is, Walker is perfect as a RWB in that system. So he plays him at centre-back in a 3, where he can do a job but is no better than about 6 or 7 other players we have in that position

You laugh but he'll probably end up in central midfield.

Everton as well. Any club giving him £9m for 18 months deserves everything that's coming to them

We were lucky to get a draw at home against Derby as well

Sorry to hear that. Best of luck and all that, mate

That squad, man

I think the issue with Root at 3 was that he clearly doesn't want to play their so hopefully he'll get over that mentally as he's the best batsman we have.

Hameed's not made any scores for Lancs in the championship. Given his age and promise you'd hope he still has a bright future but his form doesn't warrant selection

It's weird though. According to the Beeb it looks like they've already picked the side (they've only announced 12 so they pretty much have) and Bairstow moving up to 5 as wk/batsman but Buttler at 7 as a specialist seems weird to me. To be honest I don't mind a bit of experimentation and there's not as much riding on these two tests as something like an Ashes series obviously but it just seems a bit all over the place. Bess has a pretty good first class record and I think with Leach out injured he's a good option on paper. I don't see the point in picking Moeen as a part-time bowler when you have all that batting in the side anyway. Especially when he's been struggling in the test side of late. Looks like Root at 3 which I think they've decided is worth a go since no one else has looked the part there. 1,2 and 3 are still the problem positions.

Sad news. Hope the other driver's ok

Also, Ed Smith's includied Jos Buttler in the test squad

I see Pakistan beat Ireland in the end. Fantastic achievement by Kevin O'Brien becoming the first player to score a test century for Ireland and doing it in their inaugural test. He also top scored with 40 in their first innings. He's the same player who scored a match winning 100 against England in the 2011 World Cup. It looked like Pakistan were going to murder Ireland but they did pretty well and only lost by 5 wickets in the end. Any gulf in quality will tend to be revealed more in a 5 day match so it was a pretty good effort.

100% record as England boss

His off the ball work has been amazing

I think it was just that - one game