Midweek football

[Reg]

It'll be a bit weird, I think, if Fabinho doesn't actually start playing regularly soon. Is this a wise plan to help settle him in, as seems to be the general opinion, or is Klopp just a melon to not be using a very good player?

[niko_cee]

Robertson didn't play until about December (and look at who he had in front of him). I think Klopp likes players to settle into the way the team plays (as he seems quite particular about a lot of things). The last expensive Monaco defensive midfielder was straight in and then straight out at Chelsea, so maybe acclimatisation is a better idea.

[Reg]

Fabinho would have had to spent the summer eating thirty bowls of Frosties a day to have a worse first season than Bakayoko. That was a peculiar case; I'm not sure him being from Monaco is a reason to be cautious, if you were suggesting that. I wonder what makes Klopp decide whether to phase a player in slowly (Salah, Alisson, Mane all straight in).

[niko_cee]

I was more thinking coming from a physically less competitive league.

I think there's a bit of him wanting players to properly learn what they are doing, midfielders in particular (Chamberlain took a while to get a proper go in the team) and also a bit that if the incumbents are playing well, then the incomer has to earn their way into the team.

Goalkeeper and forward positions are much more individualistic so you can chuck them in sooner, I guess. There's also the issue of necessity. Some players can't be eased in too much due to force of circumstance. Alisson obviously ha to play, and I'm not sure there were credible alternatives to Mané or Salah at the time. Was Coutinho sulking at the start of last season?

[Danny]

He had a “back injury” didnt he?

[phonics]

Seems that Ramsey will go to Liverpool or United. I'm not sure why Liverpool want him tbh, he's a great player but he's another off-the-ball player. He'd just get in Firmino's way. On top of that, I don't think any player has been dribbled past more than him this season so I can't see how jurgenpressing will work out for him.

United would make sense if the rest of the midfield wasn't already a mess.

[SvN]

We've got better than him on the bench. No thanks.

[SincereTheRebel]

Ramsey at this point, I don't think he will get better or reignite his old form. He will just meat the homegrown quota if he goes to any of the teams who have finished above Arsenal over the past two seasons.

[SvN]

He'll go abroad. Juventus is my guess.

[Baz]

He'll go abroad. Juventus is my guess.

Lolling at Wilshere as he goes.

[Reg]

Maybe I've just caught him at the right times, or been swayed by some brilliant goals he's scored, but is Ramsey not really, really good? Is he crap defensively (like that phonics stat might suggest) or have I missed something else? He was anonymous for much of the Chelsea game to be fair but not sure no10 is really his position.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If he was called Ramzicchio, etc etc.

[niko_cee]

What is it with Belgium being the dodgiest place on earth? Match fixing and other massive corruption, paedo-rings, Muslamics, it's chocked full of the wrongest of the wrong ostensibly, which is some going for such a seemingly bland bunch.

[SincereTheRebel]

Great idea to put Montenegro vs Serbia in the same group for the game tomorrow.

[niko_cee]

I can't believe Paco Alcacer is 25. He looks at least mid-30s.

[SvN]

It's the weak hairline. It ages people.

[John Arne]

This is turgid.

[phonics]

This England match is so bad I got to 29 minutes in and couldn't even bare holding out at the pub till half time and left.

[John Arne]

Barkley is shit. In fact, they are all shit.

[John Arne]

I see we also have the silly suspension thing, too.

How are 2 yellow cards over 180 minutes worthy of a 1 match ban?

[Pleb]

Sandro needs a haircut according to my dad.

[phonics]

I see we also have the silly suspension thing, too.

How are 2 yellow cards over 180 minutes worthy of a 1 match ban?

Because there's only 360 minutes worth of games? It's the equivalent of getting 19 bookings in the league.

[Lewis]

Seems like we're back to being shit. Or rather, still shit.

[Yevrah]

The grief I got for saying we weren't actually that good....

[Shindig]

Lads, we drew against World Cup finalists.

[Lewis]

*buys a dozen waistcoats*

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Looking back on when we first met,

I cannot escape and I cannot forget,

Southgate you’re the one,

You still turn me on,

Football’s coming home again!

[Lewis]

Looking back on when we first met
How many chat tokens will another grand get?
Can't bear to log on
Just like my step-mum
Scamming cunt Ukrainian

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:D

Dick.

[John]

Looking back on when we first met
How many chat tokens will another grand get?
Can't bear to log on
Just like my step-mum
Scamming cunt Ukrainian

:lol:

[phonics]

The grief I got for saying we weren't actually that good....

You got grief for being miserable about England getting to a semi-final for the third time in the tournaments existence.

[igor_balis]

The grief I got for saying we weren't actually that good....

Yeah you tell em Yev, we got to the semi-finals of the World Cup, but we had a turgid 0-0 draw away against a World Cup finalist in something vaguely more prestigious than a friendly. Mark it down as an e-victory pal.

[niko_cee]

We are wank though. It's a fairly inescapable fact.

At least he got away from the 5 defender shitfest yesterday.

Anyway, in other news Terry Henry is the new Monaco manager. Wasn't that Jardim chap the new doyenne of modern football? What's happened there (beyond them selling all their players)?

[Yevrah]

You got grief for being miserable about England getting to a semi-final for the third time in the tournaments existence.

FFS, I wasn't miserable about it.

[Mellberg]

We are wank though. It's a fairly inescapable fact.

At least he got away from the 5 defender shitfest yesterday.

Anyway, in other news Terry Henry is the new Monaco manager. Wasn't that Jardim chap the new doyenne of modern football? What's happened there (beyond them selling all their players)?

Haven't won in ten, I think. Bit harsh considering what's come before, but he's been there a while and all managers hit a wall at the same club eventually.

[Mellberg]

And I remember Yev turning around the Colombia game. He definitely enjoyed it, but like most of us just saw that we were taking advantage of a decent draw.

[Spikey M]

The World Cup briefly made me give a shit about International Football/England again. It was great for that reason alone.

[Mellberg]

Yeah, proved that even after over ten years of cynicism we can still get behind and properly enjoy a team that offers something.

[Giggles]

Yeah, proved that even after over ten years of cynicism we can still get behind and properly enjoy a team that offers something.

Isn't that basically singing when you're winning?

[Mellberg]

Isn't it just enjoying your team doing well? I still watched when we getting Nordiced and tanked by ze Germans.

[Spikey M]

Isn't that basically singing when you're winning?

It would be if we didn’t watch when we are shit. But we still do, just in a state of apathy.

[Giggles]

It would be if we didn’t watch when we are shit. But we still do, just in a state of apathy.

In fairness, I wouldn't know what winning is like for comparison.

[Giggles]

Speaking of of the world beaters.

Duffy is probably the best attacking threat.

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[Lewis]

It was obviously fun to be in a semi-final, but ultimately we were as crap as ever and blew the best set of circumstances possible, so it would be terrible if we come to romanticise it like we do the nineties tournaments where we at least gave the good sides as good as we got.

[Shindig]

I don't think we blew it, though. We just reached our limit. There was a bizarre efficiency to us that was fascinating to watch.

[Reg]

'Blew it' is harsh. Croatia were a very good team.

And we definitely weren't as crap as ever. Completely different, taking the most awful and apt example, to the side that crumbled against Iceland. Like those mugs would have got past Colombia and Sweden.

[Lewis]

They were knackered and couldn't defend set pieces. If we knew how to manage a game properly (and didn't start clearly injured strikers to miss sitters) we would have seen it out. 2016 was obviously a low point, but we were no better than 2012 or 2014.

[Giggles]

James McClean as a left wing back and Cyrus Christie in midfield.

Agent O'Neill.

[Yevrah]

They were knackered and couldn't defend set pieces. If we knew how to manage a game properly (and didn't start clearly injured strikers to miss sitters) we would have seen it out. 2016 was obviously a low point, but we were no better than 2012 or 2014.

We were better than 2014, which was horrific.

[Lewis]

We lost to two better teams and weren't particularly terrible (as a team at least) in either match.

[Giggles]

:D If you're going to be a twat then at least make sure you score.


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[phonics]

The Harry Winks hype among Ingerlund journos is mental.

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Didn't they get smashed against Barcelona? Hasn't he played about 120 minutes between that Madrid game and the Barcelona one?

I haven't watched much James Maddison but at least he's played football in the last year.

[SincereTheRebel]

Leon Bailey is still refusing to play for Jamaica. He may lose his place completely now, given Usain Bolt's recent form.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-6276521/Leon-Bailey-refuses-play-Jamaica-brother-not-called-up.html

[Danny]

His step dad, Craig Butler is a full on crackpot.

Reddit thread on it is good
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/9o34sd/leon_bailey_changes_his_mind_on_jamaica_nt_call/

Even better is this set of forum posts from Butler from 2013 where he forgets how to use caps lock and spellcheck.
http://www.thereggaeboyz.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=1&Number=248509#Post248509

His son is shit and he had been milking the Bailey train for years.

[-james-]

England XI vs. Spain: Pickford; Trippier, Gomez, Maguire, Chilwell; Dier, Winks, Barkley; Sterling, Kane, Rashford.

Spain XI vs. England: De Gea; J. Otto, Ramos, Nacho, Marcos Alonso; Busquets, Thiago, Saul; Aspas, Rodrigo, Asensio.

England are going to get flattened.

[phonics]

They tell you not to move to big clubs because it'll hurt your chances of playing but Ross Barkley has had 2 good games in 18 months and he's starting both matches. I assume he wouldn't be playing if Lallana wasn't Anderton 2.0 but still.

[Ian]

Barkley is fucking crap. Didn't he start the last game too?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

lol at Spain.

Cracking pass and strike.

[Giggles]

Beaut of a goal that.

[Pleb]

Classic Engloland this.

We're going to get humped.

[phonics]

Mane has broken something on Senegal duty :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

King Rashford :drool:

[phonics]

De Gea is really crap for Spain isn't he. The man is the anti-xG machine for United but he never gets near anything on international duty.

[Baz]

Mane has broken something on Senegal duty :drool:
His left thumb. :eyemouth:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

De Gea is really crap for Spain isn't he. The man is the anti-xG machine for United but he never gets near anything on international duty.

Generally, yes. Although you can hardly say that based on the two finishes tonight.

[Shindig]

This is Southgate's night in Munich.

[phonics]

England were breaking on the counter so easily it was like I was watching literally anyone play Arsenal.

[Mellberg]

Everyone knows we're gonna lose 4-3, right?

[Ian]

Everyone knows we're gonna lose 4-3, right?

We're winning the cup, you slag.

[phonics]

England were breaking on the counter so easily it was like I was watching literally anyone play Arsenal.

The rule seems to be whoever is attacking that direction is allowed to walk through the entire midfield.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Paco Alcacer is deadly this season.

[Giggles]

:D

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small letters (someone needs to fix that).

[Disco]

The League of Nations is coming home lads.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Pickford is such a mong at times.

[Shindig]

:D

1051924056990277634

small letters (someone needs to fix that).

I mean, his name is Butcher.

[phonics]

England are scared. They're all to aware how bad it would be to chuck this.

This is where you want a midfield to drop back into slow possession for 15 minutes.

[niko_cee]

That was idiotic from Pickford, but if putting your hands on the opponent is a foul then doesn't he get fouled by the striker first?

[phonics]

How many straight balls are Spain going to be allowed to play.

[phonics]

Fiver on Maguire not actually being injured, just wants to slow the game down.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That was idiotic from Pickford, but if putting your hands on the opponent is a foul then doesn't he get fouled by the striker first?

It looked a lot worse than it was. I thought it was a STONEWALL in real time but felt it was nothing on replay.

The foul on Sterling was much more of a penalty.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Does that mean we have secured our survival in the UEFA Nations League League A?

A proud day to be English.

[niko_cee]

So so far we've had Salah, Van Dijk, Mané and now Keita injured whilst on international duty. Joy.

This break is always a bitch (I'm sure Mané died on it last season).

Hopefully Alisson and Firmino don't fall foul of a Saudi hit squad

[Danny]

Arent they saying VVD was already injured? But he played anyway cause hes a beast

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

So so far we've had Salah, Van Dijk, Mané and now Keita injured whilst on international duty. Joy.

This break is always a bitch (I'm sure Mané died on it last season).

Hopefully Alisson and Firmino don't fall foul of a Saudi hit squad

It's alright, they're not Jewish, journalists or women.

[phonics]

They're no longer selling Wembley once it got revealed how massively corrupt everybody involved was.

[The Merse]

His step dad, Craig Butler is a full on crackpot.

Reddit thread on it is good
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/9o34sd/leon_bailey_changes_his_mind_on_jamaica_nt_call/

Even better is this set of forum posts from Butler from 2013 where he forgets how to use caps lock and spellcheck.
http://www.thereggaeboyz.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=1&Number=248509#Post248509

His son is shit and he had been milking the Bailey train for years.

This has kept me entertained for at least half an hour.

Fucking goldmine of batshit craziness.

[Danny]

This has kept me entertained for at least half an hour.

Fucking goldmine of batshit craziness.

Its great, isnt it? :D

[phonics]

Bayern have called a press conference to start in the next 15 minutes. Rumors are that Wenger has got the Bayern job :D

[Jimmy Floyd]

Wenger at Bayern would be genuinely sensational.

'Here, Uli, possession football...'

[Ian]

Was this press conference really called to have a tantrum about the media? :D

[John]

Yes. Hoeness demanded more respect for his players from the media, then went on a little run of shitting on his ex players, including the content of the tweet I posted in the other thread.

He's just a complete dick.

[Shindig]

Hold up. Dunston are hosting Gateshead for a place in the FA Cup? Wish I'd got a ticket for that.