Why missing Euro spot might not be the worst thing

MAKE a liar out of me, why don’t you? “Good at home, still ropey away”, was the gist of last week’s opus. I hope you placed your bets on the next two inevitable results to make up for Cheltenham!

In the state we’ve been in there’s bound to be a certain hysteria either way; wins eulogised to within an inch of their lives and defeats sparking supermarket panics in the sackcloth and ashes aisle.

Failing to even test Braga’s defence brought out the Jeremiahs in droves. The words ‘Carroll’ and ‘35 million’ were uttered with barely-suppressed incredulity.