It won’t.

Let’s get real. It can be a real pain the ass when VAR takes forever to make a call, and then makes a decision completely inconsistent with the usual procedures.

But I haven’t met a single person who has stopped watching matches because of VAR, and if it was going to happen, it would have been when it was first introduced.

Firstly, sign a few solid players who give 100% effort even when it’s not going well, and give you 7/10 performances every week, even if they almost never have 10/10 quality matches.

That’s the reason that when it rains it pours for United in the last few seasons. In the first half of the 7-0 against Liverpool, United were completely in the game, and unlucky to be behind at all. After the second goal went in, they threw in the towel.

Secondly, break the bank to sign a proven goal machine. Mbappe is very unlikely to happen without UCL football, which is going to be a big ask of United with Liverpool, City and Arsenal all looking nailed on already for top four.

I’d make Victor Osimhen the marquee signing. He really looks like the complete package, and since he doesn’t have Mbappe’s CV, he might be a bit more realistic if United fail to make the top four.

The bones of a good team are in there (Liverpool fan).

I like the idea. I just have very little faith that it would be used fairly and consistently.

I agree the hype is a bit much for what he’s shown so far. Very good when he can stay fit, but even then not the best RB in the league, and not a contender for the best in the world at the moment.

Not to say Reece James couldn’t yet build on the talent he has. At 23 he still has time on his side. But right now I’d sooner have Walker or Trippier; put a quality no6 in front of TAA and I’d add Trent to that list too.

Winners: France

Runners Up: Turkey (overdue a tournament where Turkey suddenly find a new level for a few weeks)

Dark horse: That’s Turkey too. Honestly, there are a few good shouts. Hungary, and even Romania and Albania all looked surprisingly strong in qualifying.

Top Scorer: Mbappe

Top Playmaker: Szoboszlai

Flop: England playing a back 5 and 2 holding midfielders every match

I disagree that Gerrard dived in the 05 final. If he’d stayed on his feet, he would have had a one-on-one chance as good as, if not easier than the subsequent penalty, and if the referee didn’t give the penalty he would have thrown a great opportunity away for nothing.

Rafa also didn’t let the fouled player take the penalty, hence Xabi Alonso taking it. No way was Gerrard voluntarily handing over the opportunity to score the equaliser in that match.

Squad player when I was at school. I had a knack for being in the right place at the right time for a tap-in, and I covered a lot of yards off-the-ball, but that was the extent of my skillset.

Pretty much the entire youth/reserves set-up of the Benitez era.

I remember that Liverpool reserve team of 07/08 utterly dominating. Won all but 5 league matches, only losing once, only conceding 8 goals across the whole campaign. The golden boot winner and runner up were both Liverpool forwards (Krisztián Németh and Jordy Brouwer respectively). It was a side tipped for big things, with the next generation looking bright.

Not one of them became a first-team regular. Lucas had a decent career with Liverpool, and a couple of others like Péter Gulácsi and Emiliano Insúa had respectable careers elsewhere. But it was not Liverpool’s answer to the class of 92 that I had hoped.

I guess it comes down to who you would rather have in your team.

It’s impossible to compare a striker to a defender in terms of what they do, but you can still say if I had one free pick that’s the player I would choose.

As woeful as many of them have been, I don’t agree that the players they’ve been signing from other teams are “rejects” at all.

Manchester United have consistently spent big to bring in their first choice transfer targets in recent years. Rarely have their signings been fringe players at their previous clubs. But United have had a remarkable knack for paying hefty fees for players who then can’t make the step up, or worse still, actually end up becoming worse than when they arrived.