PaulC

Actually never thought i would be discussing this on a football forum but it shows there's a lot of football fans with a very broad knowledge unlike the ones on the cricket forum i run who have zero knowledge on mental health.

You may find these services helpful - most accept self referrals: http://www.iapt.nhs.uk/services/services/west-midlands-nhs-iapt-services/ Thank you

Mental health covers such a broad spectrum. There's even many different types of depression. I myself have an anxiety issue which isn't noticeable to anybody on the outside but it has an effect on my sleep because i can't sleep more than 3 or 4 hours a night which has an adverse effect on my immune system. I found gps very unhelpful and not very knowledgeable. There are all too eager to push ssri's or other anti depressants at you and if you dont accept them which i dont then they have have nothing else to offer. I have found the mental health support in this country very very poor. They have set ideas in how to help instead of looking at individual. i did goto to a counseller a few years back and he tried this tough love routine on me and said **** this this isn't going to work on me and never went back. On the other hand my only experience of a physical problem was 3 months ago when i had a problem with my right eye. The NHS were brilliant they referred me to the QE interned me, did all these tests MRI and lumbar puncture and found nothing but a course of steroids have sorted it out hopefully. From the consultant, Doctors in ward and brilliaint nurses - first class unlike the way they treat you if you have a mental health issue.

Johnson was terrific. We dont often see really hostile fast bowling like that these days. 10 mph quicker than our bowlers.

We'd be killed with only one midfield player

Lambert was called up before and lallana is there to stay. I just honestly don't think we have anyone who has done enough to justify selection. Delph is closest but there is still lack of end product to his game. You can't compare to Cleverley because he's a different type of player. You talk about end product but goals and assists aren't really part of Delph's game. Sorry but what is his role then? I know he works very hard and drives forward with the ball and takes on players and those parts of his game are very good. He's similar to wilshere but even he gets the odd goal and assist.

No he hasn't. He only got called up because Southampton are high in the table. He hasn't done a lot but he's still done more than Gabby this season and i dont think we'll see him in another squad

Lambert was called up before and lallana is there to stay. I just honestly don't think we have anyone who has done enough to justify selection. Delph is closest but there is still lack of end product to his game. You can't compare to Cleverley because he's a different type of player.

Its not really true though is it. 3 players from Southampton in the last squad proves he doesn't just pick players from the bigger clubs.

The chances are our destination will be decided on our results against the pot 2 and pot 3 teams unless we draw Switzerland.

I have a feeling Lowton will play at right back and Bacuna on the right side of midfield. I think he'll persist with Kozak up front as well being as he scored and had his best game for us against Cardiff. He won't drop him after that. Is Luna fit? Delph to replace KEA and other than that the team picks itself. Hope Weimann is fit enough to go on the bench

I've always liked Ronaldo and I think he is the best player in the world and one of the best of all time and personally I am glad Portugal are in the world cup finals because the world cup needs the best players.

Yes but he hasn't totally ruled out the possibility of any new faces. With only one friendly game before the world cup final squad is announced then there's no time anyway to try out new faces. Anyway if Delph went to Brazil and had his head turned by other players like Milner and Downing did etc, whats the point!

Yes England's day but as Dave said lets wait until England bat on it before we get carried away. Credit to Haddin and Johnson because without that partnership we'd have had them out for under 180. Now a 300 score seems likely and that keeps them in the game. Broad brilliant. Tremlett why oh why when you have two bowlers considerably quicker than him not playing.

There was one test that england won by 19 i think and another where rain save England. so it could have been 2-2 but England have more experience of winning. Australia only lost 1-0 in a 4 match home series to South Africa and we saw what they did to us so its not a foregone conclusion There was also one match where we was only minutes from winning until bad light ended it. So it could have just as easy have been 4-0. We won the last series without actually playing very well. It's going to be tight but I think England will edge a classic series 3-2 Yes but that final test was setup by Clarke's declaration so i don't think its relevant. True we didn't play great but we've been like that in a few series lately. Last few away series we have lost to Pakistan, drew with Sri Lanka, won in India and drew in New Zealand.

There was one test that england won by 19 i think and another where rain save England. so it could have been 2-2 but England have more experience of winning. Australia only lost 1-0 in a 4 match home series to South Africa and we saw what they did to us so its not a foregone conclusion

Not sure this time, there are 6 teams from South America so England are highly likely to play one of them .I'd only back them to beat Ecuador in the group stage, maybe Colombia aswell as I think England would match up well physically against them. Then you'd have another euro team which will be tough and then one from the rest of the continents, if you're lucky that probably means Iran or Algeria, less so if it's say Ghana,U.S or mexico. With the improvement the likes of Belgium have made and big names like England, Holland and France as 2nd seeds they're going to be some really tough groups in this world cup. Yes we will face one of the seeded teams Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Colombia, Belgium, Switzerland or Uruguay the possibly one of these France, Greece, Croatia, Portugal, Chile, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon or Ghana then possibly someone like the USA or Australia So we have a 1/8 chance of drawing Switzerland. Any of the other seeded teams will be very tough and we wouldn't want to draw France, Portugal or Chile would we. So we could be facing a very tough group.

Yes to me the strength should be our pace down the right with Townsend and Walker. Playing together all season for spurs should help them develop a better understanding because i think at times Townsend chooses to ignore Walker's runs.

That's not really true. If you look at the at the icc bowling rankings then both Harris and Siddle are higher than any other England seamer. Add Johnson as there third seamer, they definately have the edge in bowling. Tremlett is not the bowler he was 3 years ago. There's also a few questions about Anderson being slightly on the way down. 10 years bowling at the highest level will take its toll on the body.

I think Hodgson has tried to be more positive the last few games and that might work against Montenegro and Poland but not against the better lesser sides. I'll think he'll go back to a more defensive mindset in the world cup. We've been exposed at the centre of our defence primarily because of the lack of a holding midfield player. He has to sort out what his best side is! I honestly don't think any other manager would have done better with this crop of players. We are still talking about Gerrard, Cole and Lampard when all are slightly past there best. The only criticism I have of Hodgson is sticking with the old guard during the qualification campaign. Really Lampard, Gerrard and Cole should have been phased out by now. Cole played well yesterday but there were times when his lack of pace looked a real issue. On the other side Walker got unfair criticism because he gave the ball away too often but if he did it was because of the lack of options in midfield.

Ramsey should be in it

Surely Bacuna has a chance the way he's playing for us.

The ashes starts tonight at 12pm. Any thoughts! I think it will be a tight series. Tremlett likely to get the nod as third seamer! Still doubts about Prior playing.

Yes but they would probably have won 5 leagues and 3 european cups by then and a big buyer would have come in for them. To me there's nothing between forest and Derby. Both provincial clubs like you say. The sad thing for me is that Birmingham is the 2nd city and we are the biggest club but probably only about 8th biggest in the Country. It might help if more people from our very large city went down to support us now and again. For the cities two clubs to muster a combined 45,000ish per home game is pretty crap and doesn't help the profile of the area at all imo. Not at all. We're on a par with Everton and they are Liverpool's second biggest club. So 35/36k a week is ok for a 2nd club but not that great for this City's premiere club.

You only have to look at Chelsea too see that spotting talent is irrelevant if you don't have the infrastructure to use it, since being taken over a decade ago they have spent millions luring the best youth players to them and i cant name a single player from there academy that's made an impact at senior level because they just buy ready made senior players. £20million on lukaku who despite having a huge season at wba was deemed surpless to requirements this season, ridiculously crazy. Yes this policy of buying players and then loaning them out to help them beat the opposition seems ethically wrong to me. Something needs to be done about it but its never mentioned.