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Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!It may have slipped your minds amid the FA Cup’s floodlit thrills and the prospect of a three-team title race, but another international break is coming soon to disrupt a domestic season in danger of gathering steam. For the Republic of Ireland, their March fixtures at home to Belgium and Switzerland are particularly significant – marking the start of a new era after former manager Stephen Kenny signed off with a typically underwhelming 1-1 draw against New Zealand in November. The former Under-21 coach stepped in to replace Mick McCarthy in 2020, taking on the kind of rebuilding job usually reserved for especially fraught episodes of Grand Designs. After a little north of three years in charge, Kenny went on his merry way with an eye-watering win percentage of 20.7% in competitive games – including that home defeat to Luxembourg – but did deliver on bedding in a talented crop of young players.Re: the decent quiz question in yesterday’s Football Daily. Can I be one of the 1,057 to point out that it’s probably a better question if it’s not in a piece headlined ‘The 25th anniversary of the last all-English Premier League XI’?” – Rob McPheely (and 1,056 others).I’ve been enjoying all the commentary about the relative ages and values of the two teams in the Milk Cup final. Then, when I read David Squires’ mention of the Liverpool teens’ ‘wacky squad numbers’, this struck me as a great metric. If we accept the hilariously inaccurate premise that lower squad numbers equate to a club’s best squad, how did they compare? Liverpool started the game with a squad total of 276, noticeably more than Chelsea’s 202. By the end of the game, Chelsea’s total actually dropped to 189, while Liverpool’s ballooned to 367. Pointless, I know, but it still seems telling” – Tim Scanlan.To clap or not to clap. That was the debate I had with my son as Erling Haaland strolled off the pitch on Tuesday night. I have only applauded two opposing players off in my years of watching Luton – Paul Gascoigne at White Hart Lane on 22 December 1990, when he took us on, and apart, single-handedly after Spurs had two men sent off in the first half-hour (they won 2-1); and Tahith Chong, who was a wizard in orchestrating a 5-0 Birmingham win at Kenilworth Road on 21 August 2021. It’s probably why he now plays for us. On Tuesday I put my hands together once more. Haaland looked from a different planet and it was quite something to witness. But my 16-year-old told me it was embarrassing to clap the bounder (not the precise word my terrace-hardened son used) who had stuffed us. Who is right, oh big Football Daily brain?” – Neil Rose.This is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...