But that was the state of play in the Betting Spy household last Saturday when the remote button was hit as soon as the hoofing begun.

Just to clarify that’s dancing hoofing as Sam Allardyce is no longer at the nation’s helm.

The Malta game was so dire that watching Ed Balls doing a samba dressed as Jim Carey from The Mask was more enjoyable.

Now there’s a sentence I though I’d never type but these are strange times.

I was never a fan of Balls under New Labour but I’m sure he could still do a job in the current shadow cabinet – with or without the comedy outfit.

There was more turgid stuff from England on Tuesday with a 0-0 draw with Slovenia which was devoid of… well anything really.

When your goalkeeper is Man of the Match against a team ranked 67th in the world you know something is seriously wrong.

We can argue all day about what – but the basic fact is our players aren’t very good and stripped of their foreign Premier League team mates that fact becomes all too clear.

But hey-ho on with the Premier League and at least the chance of a bit of excitement.

Liverpool v Man Utd looks the pick of the games and I fancy the home side to leave Jose Mourinho looking even gloomier than usual.

Spurs are also on a bit of a roll so let’s double them up with Liverpool in a bet which pays around the 3/1 mark.

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Running total of all bets to a £10 stake for 2016/17 season:  £-45.00