July: The end of the Euros and.... friendlies?

[7om]

In all seriousness, who would you like as England manager, Lewis?

[Ian]

He'd probably want fucking Mourinho.

[-james-]

The only person who picked Italy to win was Baz (although Spoon had them as finalists and Taz 'liked' them). Well done Baz. Which is odd when you see all this 'Italy were the best/strongest side', as if they have obviously better players than us. They don't. They just don't have a berk in charge of what they do have.

Isnt this the point you were arguing against with Greece? Italy aren't the best side on paper, but they were the best side over this seven games.

[ItalAussie]

I've just realised: we're going to win the World Cup, and win it easily.

The World Cup is basically another European Championship ('the Euros' can fuck off) with South American football now on a sad decline. Italy won't be that good again (they never are) and I don't think France will either. If we learn anything from this and Croatia, we should be flying by the time we get to that.

Only slight worry is if Kane will still be walking by then.

I go the other way. I don't think France will go out easily twice. If they'd walked it here, then I'd have them going out early, but I don't see it. I don't think Germany will be nearly as bad either.

Italy should still be in the mix as well. Chiesa is only going to get better. The big question will be whether Spinazzola will be fit in time.

[Don]

Iran have got the easier draw in the AFC qualifiers so I wouldn't overlook us. Our strikeforce would fucking shit on this anti-football set of percy pigs.

[Lewis]

Isnt this the point you were arguing against with Greece? Italy aren't the best side on paper, but they were the best side over this seven games.

No. Italy were the best side, but people are making out that they are much better on paper and it was always some uphill task for us, which it wasn't and shouldn't have been.

[Lewis]

In all seriousness, who would you like as England manager, Lewis?

No idea. Maybe he is the best manager we can have (no more foreign managers). But let's not make excuses for him, because he might actually learn from this one if enough people blame him for it.

[Ian]

If he's going to learn any lesson it should be that Harry Kane isn't the chosen one. He was mostly crap in 2018 too other than all the penalties.

[Lewis]

I thought Kane was great tonight when they actually got the ball into him.

[ItalAussie]

No. Italy were the best side, but people are making out that they are much better on paper and it was always some uphill task for us, which it wasn't and shouldn't have been.

I agree with this. I think Italy were a shade better even on paper, mostly due to their midfield and defenders (with Spinazzola, at least). But England are a very good side, and could beat anyone if things go right. More dangerous near the goal than Italy, as well.

Any difference in quality was a sliver, rather than a gulf.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Next England manager market looks like this

5/1 Dean Smith
5/1 Sean Dyche (fucking lol)
7/1 Eddie Howe
12/1 Frank Lampard
12/1 Steven Gerrard
12/1 Graham Potter
16/1 Brendan Rodgers
16/1 Aidy Boothroyd

Then 20/1 and out is just things that aren't going to happen, like Arsene Wenger, Zinedine Zidane, Roy Hodgson, Michael Owen, and Sir Rafa Benitez.

I'm taking none of them over Southgate.

[Lewis]

Surely Adrian Boothroyd doesn't still go by 'Aidy' now he must be a middle aged man.

[Ian]

Hitting 40 (or whatever) and going "Sorry lads, it's Adrian now" is worse

[Lewis]

It would just happen organically if he was a man of sufficient stature, and if it hasn't then that probably means he isn't up to being England manager.

[Ian]

Wasn't he one of about 10 "mini Mounrinhos"? He was dead in the water then.

Him and Billy Reid.

[Waffdon]

1414294866704617486

The punch on the kid :D

Probably deserved for breaking in without tickets

[Ian]

Not Billy Reid. Who was the Derby one?

[ItalAussie]

It would just happen organically if he was a man of sufficient stature, and if it hasn't then that probably means he isn't up to being England manager.

Franklin Lampard.

EDIT: Turns out his birth name is Frank. I didn't even know you could do that. He should lean into "Franklin" anyway.

[phonics]

So I've been doing my scapegoat math

I've decided that its Pickfords fault because we thought we were good at penalties but actually Jordan Pickford wasn't training the boys well enough.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1414357416003702788

[Panda Bear]

I thought Kane was great tonight when they actually got the ball into him.

this.

england practically set up to isolate him.

edit: probably could've been set up twice if sterling knew how to run

[Panda Bear]

1414294866704617486

The punch on the kid :D

Probably deserved for breaking in without tickets

so many fucking cowards in that video from the guys punching to the complete inaction

[mugbull]

Football’s coming home, it’s coming, it’s coming

Football’s coming home, it’s coming, it’s coming hoooome

[mugbull]

I was undecided on who to support before today but i chose Italy because the English fans are the fucking worst people and my god I am having a good day

[Spoonsky]

I was undecided on who to support before today but i chose Italy because the English fans are the fucking worst people and my god I am having a good day

Similar experience here. (Highlight was a jumped-up little ginger cunt, who didn't even have an English accent, telling a 40-year old Italian-Canadian that he was going to eat him alive.) TTH really has the cream of the crop. :wub:

[Spoonsky]

Other thoughts:

- Donnarumma and Luke Shaw two best players of the tournament.

- In terms of 'on paper' superiority, Italy's midfield is just boss and they controlled every game through it (except Spain bc Busquets). However their forwards were pretty horrific except for Chiesa turning into Hulk. And then the center backs are proper, proper legends but the back 4 as a whole isn't significantly better than England's. They just won because they dominated the football completely.

- In general it was a great tournament for teams rather than star players. Maybe except for Harry Kane, none of the semifinalists had a single star they had build their team around (except for Eriksen lol - but it's actually a good example because I doubt they go so far with him in the team.) And the teams which tried to awkwardly pigeonhole multiple stars into the same lineup (Belgium, Portugal) tended to fail - reminiscent of England ten years ago.

- You just knew Rashford was going to miss before he stepped up. Same thing with Mbappe against Switzerland.

- It was a really great tournament and a really good final too, one of those which really felt like a final yet wasn't a shit game at the same time. The format and even the bizarre hosted-in-11-countries thing all somehow worked out. Maybe it was just coming out of COVID and actually having crowds but I can't imagine a better competition from a neutral perspective.

[Spoonsky]

Oh yeah

- The Pickford save on Jorginho is unreal. If Saka scores and England goes on to win I think it goes down as one of your best ever, legendary individual sporting moments.

[Offshore Toon]

With no stand-out candidates I'd just make Grealish player-manager as at least you ensure he starts. The rest isn't that complicated with this team.

I feel like Southgate has been on a mission to make up for that penalty miss, but amidst all that determination it clouded the fact that he's just a bit shit and should step aside.

[ItalAussie]

For what it's worth, I think it's a very different game if Spinazzola (likely our best player until he was injured) plays rather than Emerson. Obviously there's always ifs and buts, but Italy are much strong with him on the pitch.

[Giggles]

That was mostly on Southgate for being happy with 1-0 and even 1-1.

[Shindig]

Some of the players need to take responsibility though. Nobody decided to stay up top to give us someone to look for. Kane always went deep, Sterling and Mount/Saka, Grealish, Walker were always pegged back in defensive positions. Credit to the Italians for making it so but nobody really decided to chance it. And, let's be clear, the Italians are the best side in this tournament. They pressed well, controlled the midfield and really limited England's chances after a shaky first half. It still took a scramble to breach our defence.

I can't be mad at that. Especially when you saw the heads drop. They hung on til penalties and shat it at the last possible moment. That moment used to be against Iceland. It used to be two/three rounds ago or in winnable group stage. We backed up a fortnute semi-final World Cup run with a run to a major final. We haven't had that kind of sustained form since the sixties.

[Yevrah]

Kane not staying up top was surely just him following orders as he was doing it a lot against Denmark too.

As for penalties, has bringing players off the bench to take them ever worked?

[Yevrah]

Oh and Southgate is basically playing Sven ball, without Beckham. We will never win anything playing like this.

[Yevrah]

Our best chance has come and gone.

[Yevrah]

And we did just enough to lose on penalties. Again.

[Queenslander]

English fans mauling Italian fans at Wembley is pretty grim viewing.

[Baz]

The only person who picked Italy to win was Baz (although Spoon had them as finalists and Taz 'liked' them). Well done Baz. Which is odd when you see all this 'Italy were the best/strongest side', as if they have obviously better players than us. They don't. They just don't have a berk in charge of what they do have.

What can I say? Between this and successfully predicting a players death, I am undisputed football champion (if you completely ignore the rest of my predictions.)

[Gray Fox]

Best possible start for England. Aside from the goal, the formation nullified Italy, save for Chiesa. Fair few chances to counter had someone played the right pass. This is where Mancini being a better manager kicked in.

He managed to get it fixed by about 30 mins. After the break when he made changes, Italy were completely dominant on the ball but Southgate left it to long to respond with changes of his own. Italy scoring got their tails up but even so, I don't recall them ever making a decent chance in the game. What they did do though is cut out the counter attacks. Quick fouls or blatantly pulling someone down by the collar, they all work well.

The England changes did help, but once it hit extra time the Italians looked more than happy for penalties and shut up shop. Once it hit penalties it was only really going one way. Pickford did really well to did out that Jorginho penalty, but that's way too much pressure to put on a 19 year old who has never taken a professional penalty before, never mind one that big.

[Baz]

Next England manager market looks like this

5/1 Dean Smith
5/1 Sean Dyche (fucking lol)
7/1 Eddie Howe
12/1 Frank Lampard
12/1 Steven Gerrard
12/1 Graham Potter
16/1 Brendan Rodgers
16/1 Aidy Boothroyd

Then 20/1 and out is just things that aren't going to happen, like Arsene Wenger, Zinedine Zidane, Roy Hodgson, Michael Owen, and Sir Rafa Benitez.

I'm taking none of them over Southgate.

Sir Brendan.

[Yevrah]

English fans mauling Italian fans at Wembley is pretty grim viewing.

It's disgusting and it's why we can't have nice things. Absolute worst of our society was on display all day yesterday and there are thousands of them.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Oh and Southgate is basically playing Sven ball, without Beckham. We will never win anything playing like this.

We were a shit Rashford penalty from winning something playing like this.

[Yevrah]

We were a shit Rashford penalty from winning something playing like this.

Which is as close as we'll ever get. And we only got that close because we had the easiest draw in all of human history. You can't 'beat' enough good teams with good managers playing this way and we won't.

But your response is also why we'll never sack Sir Gareth now too.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I'm not sure we have the midfield stocks to play to tournament-wining level on the front foot.

[Kikó]

Told you so yev out in force.

[Yevrah]

You've seen me post before, right? No chance this is 'out in force'.

[Spikey M]

Any talk of Southgate going is mental.

[Kikó]

:D

Just enjoy it then you miserable sod. I lean more towards Jimmy's we have a chance at the world cup rather than this is the best it's ever going to be. We've got some cracking young players who will have learnt a lot from this tournament.

[Spikey M]

Southgate is also still learning and I imagine this will have taught him alot.

[Browning]

"The easiest draw in all of human history" is complete and utter bollocks too. All this talk of Germany not being that they were ignores the fact they matched France and fisted Portugal before getting to us. Ukraine looked decent in their opener against Holland but admittedly was an easy game for that stage of a tournament but then we had Denmark who had playing out of their skins before that. I suspect we could have faced France followed by Spain and then Italy to get to the final and still been told it was easy if they all bottled it.

[Kikó]

Any run England go on is by default the easiest until it isn't and we bottled it.

[Yevrah]

If we'd faced France and Spain before Italy that is NOT an easy draw.

You've run mad if you can't see w had the easiest route to win a tournament we're ever going to get.

[Yevrah]

Any talk of Southgate going is mental.

He clearly gets the World Cup, but that's two tournaments running we've been booted from having taken the lead and controlled the game before capitulating. What more does he need to learn?

[Yevrah]

Any run England go on is by default the easiest until it isn't and we bottled it.

I mean, that simply isn't true and never has been.

[Browning]

This from the man who claimed Denmark looked dangerous every time they got the ball? I’m fairly sure I’m not the mad one. We literally had an easier route in the previous tournament... it’s what happens when the so called “big boys” all bottle it.

[Spikey M]

He clearly gets the World Cup, but that's two tournaments running we've been booted from having taken the lead and controlled the game before capitulating. What more does he need to learn?

Who are you replacing him with?

[Yevrah]

This from the man who claimed Denmark looked dangerous every time they got the ball? I’m fairly sure I’m not the mad one. We literally had an easier route in the previous tournament... it’s what happens when the so called “big boys” all bottle it.

We didn't, but no matter. We'd have had to beat France to win the last one and we couldn't even beat Croatia.

[Kikó]

England beat the teams put in front of them pretty comfortably all tournament and were a penalty shoot out away from winning it all. It's been a good tournament.

[Yevrah]

Who are you replacing him with?

I'm not. I don't work for the FA.

[Spikey M]

I'm not. I don't work for the FA.

You're familiar with discussion.

[Don]

Lads, can you not spam the thread with your dogshit post-tears analysis? I don't need to be going through it all for my nightly wanks.

[Bam]

If we'd faced France and Spain before Italy that is NOT an easy draw.

You've run mad if you can't see w had the easiest route to win a tournament we're ever going to get.


Give up with football, you're a clueless armchair fan.

[Andy]

Hopefully the young talent we have kick on and improve the team ready for Qatar. Trent, Foden, Bellingham, Greenwood, Saka, Mount, Rice etc are all going to improve so much over the next few tournament cycles and the core of the team (Kane, Stones, Maguire etc) all have a couple more tournaments in them.

We are in the best position as a nation in my lifetime. This was a real golden chance and I wish Southgate had been more brave with his changes in that second half, it was total control and domination from Italy once we lost the initiative. If Southgate had the balls to really push on I think it would have given the players a lift.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Here is my set of scorching takes (ouch! be careful, run a cold tap over it)

1. England are not a great side but they ARE a team, which is a huge step up on the Lampard/Gerrard/Rooney/Beckham era, when we were just trying to crowbar said stars into an XI and it never, ever gelled. If we continue to approach tournaments in this way - which requires a degree of selectorial fortitude from the manager - we will continue to do well in tournaments and get past 'lesser' nations consistently. We were well balanced and possibly the only thing we lacked was an attacking thrust from midfield, as Kane was pretty isolated for a lot of the tournament. Mount played pretty much as he does for Chelsea, i.e. with great energy but sometimes lacking in precision on the ball. That area was where we didn't quite have the personnel to change things - we needed a more precise Mount, or a harder-working Grealish/Foden. Such a player does not exist at the moment.

2. Italy are also a team (one with a bit more technical ability throughout the side than us), as are Denmark. Spain were very well coached. France I thought were a bunch of individuals, several of whom erroneously think they are bigger than the sport - the likes of Pogba and Griezmann need to be phased out for the World Cup and replaced by the multitude of talent available to them. I enjoyed Ukraine, who played with great heart. France v Switzerland was one of my favourite ever matches. Italy v Spain was up there too. Hungary were a fantastic watch in the group stage and would have got out of the other five groups easily. Portugal were shit and need to bin Ronaldo. Belgium have had it. Wales did about as well as you could expect. Scotland badly need a goal threat who isn't some lumbering villager. Germany were bobbins but, like Italy, will come again.

3. The refereeing was good but also weird. I don't understand why you would have a directive not to punish foul play with the appropriate cards per the laws of the game. There is a big difference between that and letting the game flow.

4. I can sort of see the merit in moving around Europe, but it should be restricted to cities which would never normally be hosting a major tournament. Perhaps this could be done in the future with a 'theme' - e.g. Balkans 2032 you could hold in Sarajevo, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Tirana etc even if their respective teams don't qualify. The same with Scandi countries, or Scotland/Ireland/Wales, or wherever. I don't see the point in this format if you're going to have loads of games at Wembley, Rome, Munich etc.

5. Tournament football is the peak of football. Nothing in the club game can touch it.

6. I think it'll be hard for anything to top the nostalgia/quality combination of France 98 in my mind for 'best tournament I've seen', but this was up there. It was certainly better than the previous European Championship under this format. Euro 2020 managed this with very few star players, too, which is probably par for the course in the high pressing era.

7. England fans are a serious disgrace but this is only reflective of a society that has completely lost its mind. Any pretence of a social contract lies in ribbons, destroyed by the twin towers of New Labour gentrification and Tory destruction of social institutions over many decades. It appears that the England football team is the last institution able to command any sort of national unity. Even this seems to be a farce. One set of people, a set of people who sneered at Beckham and Rooney for years, claim to love 'this England team' (note: not England teams generally), because of them being 'diverse', apparently being nice people, and taking a knee. Another set of people boo the taking of a knee, are jacked up on cocaine, drunk out of their minds and going on social media to call people niggers. Among them there is a group who drink all day and want to break into Wembley without tickets. Why would such a thing ever occur in a country where they felt they had a stake in anything greater than their own day's intoxication? People go around thinking Brexit is the cause of this, but in fact Brexit is only a symptom: the groundwork for this has been laid down for decades and made up of many factors, some global, and some specific to us. I can only imagine we will fall deeper before we rise.

[Queenslander]

It's disgusting and it's why we can't have nice things. Absolute worst of our society was on display all day yesterday and there are thousands of them.

Closest I can think of is the Cronulla riots


https://youtu.be/kmpwQAUklnE

[Spikey M]

I knew Jeremy Vine would be gold this morning.

1414508516891631617?s=19

[Queenslander]

Play that during the Ashes.

[Yevrah]

Give up with football, you're a clueless armchair fan.

I'll do whatever I like thanks Bam.

[Yevrah]

Another thought I had last night that I may have already posted was, has bringing on players solely to take penalties ever worked?

[Spikey M]

The Dutch used to do it with their goalkeeper to good effect IIRC (albeit not to take the penalties, obviously)

[Waffdon]

It has worked but the players being Rashford and Sancho makes literally no sense whatsoever. Couldn’t have handpicked a less convincing duo to take a penalty.

Sterling is horrendous at penalties and kicking a football in general but he’s still a shitebag

[Browning]

I wouldn’t mind it if we did it so that if it goes 8 or 9 kicks deep we have a Rashford instead of Kyle Walker (sure he missed last night but he’s normally alright at them). We absolutely shouldn’t have been bringing them on to use in the first 5.

[Don]

The cunt's FA coaching folder couldn't help him in reacting to in-game situations and affecting the game tactically but he went balls-deep in making those 2 subs to the extent of playing a striker at RB and risking 2 less defenders for the last minute or two of a game because he'd had a motivational talk once about 'marginal gains'. It's the sort of management you'd expect from an 8 year-old playing FM amd truly showed how out of his depth he is.

[niko_cee]

Yikes, where to begin. Obviously so much said already, but it's always worth a few more cents.

Definitely the good and the bad on show last night, much of it attributable to Southgate.

I like that he (and I guess 'his team') have thought about things and come up with a plan/hypothesis for winning tournaments - ie defensive teams tend to prosper. England are certainly a much better side when not chasing a game, as the heads tend to go very quickly (sadly somewhat on display last night at 1-1). His pragmatism in selection and, as mentioned, focus on building a winning team is laudable, however, again there are drawbacks. Building a team to defend their way to glory makes more sense if you have good defenders (by and large we don't) and/or can handle the inevitable when you get to the logical end-game of the strategy (seems we can't). I don't necessarily buy into us having a cornucopia of attacking talent going to waste, but, at the same time, our [largely] unused attacking players are probably better than their starting defensive counterparts.

I think he was somewhat ambushed by Saka's performance against the Czechs (was it)? That he became a front line selection after playing well in that game was unfortunate, he wasn't great for much of the rest of the tournament. But he's only young, has so little experience of top level football and, whilst clearly promising, isn't some sort of generational talent to be hoicked into the highest level of football willy-nilly. I'm not sure what we could have realistically expected. I thought bringing him on when he did last night was a bit crimous, and if anyone was set for the old Grealish double hook it should probably have been him over Henderson.

Henderson was fairly useless last night (he's been better coming on in the other games) and even if he's rubbish a penalties it should have been on him, as an experienced player, to take one. He is of the age that this was his tournament to win, he should have been taking responsibility.

As also said, bringing on Sancho and Rashford in the last minute was both ridiculously unfair on them, and just plain daft all round (does it ever work etc?). They should have been on at half time in extra time (well, Sancho should obviously have been on earlier when Saka came on) at the latest. Also, Walker should not have gone off. He was colossal in the whole tournament, like Henderson is of the age where he's not getting many more chances and seems the sort of 'character' you might want on a penalty even if he's objectively wank at them.

Despite the aforementioned unfairness of the situation, Rashford's penalty as poor. He's obviously been hanging around with Pogba for too long. That was not the player who took a last minute match winner against PSG for United. He seems to have regressed so much as a player of late (and I was never that big a fan of his anyway, but at least he had the ability to hit a ball hard). Writing was on the wall after that, although how England mastermind it so someone is taking their first ever professional penalty (as pointed out) as number 5 in the final of a major competition blows my mind. I guess it probably happens more often than you necessarily realise, but ours always seem to miss. I appreciate the 'let the experienced players take them' theory has been tried and failed in the past, over and over again, but at least they don't end up being harmfully scarred by the experience. Hopefully Saka doesn't. I'm sure Rashford and Sancho will be able to lol it off.

As for the players generally. I thought Pickford was really good, particularly last night. Definitely echo the sentiment that his save from Jorginho deserved to be an all time great moment. Absolutely brilliant. Shame it will be little more than a footnote now. Maguire's penalty was superb, and pretty much an embodiment of him as a player. Yeah, he has limitations (so do the Italian centre-halves) but he's a proper colossus. Elsewhere in defence I thought Walker was very good. Stones managed to not doing anything too catastrophic, but is a bit weak as a player. Shaw obviously played out of his skin but is generally limited by being fat and not really that good. Trippier, I don't really know what he does, he can't seem to take a set piece anymore and I thought that was his thing. I think in a back 3 situation we might have been better dropping Rice into there.

Onto Rice. Not been a fan of him generally. He's pretty limited, but thought he was really excellent yesterday. Probably would have had the character to maybe take a pen as well (Eric Dier style). I like Phillips, great energy and all that, but a bit green at this level. Lots of good things but lots of not so good as well. Probably the same for Mount, but I thought he was generally better than the hammering he seems to get. He's just not experienced enough at this level. I'm not sure even the best, most dynamic play-making midfielder would be able to hold it all together in such an overwhelmingly negative set-up. I think we would have benefited from Henderson playing in that he is a more progressive player [than Rice at least], but his lack of match fitness prior to the tournament, coupled with the fact that he's not exactly an outstanding player himself and the Rice/Phillips pairing 'working' [read: sort of working] meant that was never going to happen. Who else was an option in there? Seems we are still a bit limited in the middle of the park (just as in 2018 when we hand Lingard and Alli bantering about in there chasing Croatian shadows). Ah Bellingham, yeah, just turned 18.

Attack, such that it was [not a lot in Southgateball] was what you'd expect. Kane was alright, in the end, but gets isolated or abandons ship to pick up the ball deep and then you just get left a bit stuck wondering what to do. Sterling was good, but unfortunately reverted to the mean in the final and seemed to be only interested in trying to fall over and win a penalty at all times (this ref wasn't buying and it was annoying that we didn't clock this at all). No one else really got a chance. Grealish gets rolled out with 15 minutes to go with the expectation that he's some sort of modern-day Maradona who can just come on and win you the game. He's a talented lad, but he's not that good, it's unfair to put that on him. Sancho probably should have had more minutes but he's obviously not a Southgate man.

There's probably more to be said but this feels like mad rambling already.

I know Southgate is big into his NFL, maybe he should consider bringing in an offensive coordinator?

Johnson

James
Mings
Coady
Chilwell

Bellingham
Henderson

Rashford
Grealish
Sancho

Calvert-Lewin

I'd probably back that side to beat the one we put out last night.

[randomlegend]

It has worked but the players being Rashford and Sancho makes literally no sense whatsoever. Couldn’t have handpicked a less convincing duo to take a penalty.

Sterling is horrendous at penalties and kicking a football in general but he’s still a shitebag

Rashford has a great penalty record and has scored extremely high pressure ones before, like the one in the last minute against PSG which he absolutely planted in the top corner.

Bringing them on with literally a minute to go and giving them no time to get into the game before expecting them to take a penalty is dogshit management.

Grealish has come out and said he wanted to take one and it was Southgate's choice who took them. Makes it even worse.

[niko_cee]

Yeah, I didn't like that thing Southgate said about he had decided who would take them. What is 18 year old Bukayo Saka going to say to his manager when he tells him he's on the decider? He's not going to say no, is he? That's utter madness.

But then Southgate acknowledges himself that many of his decisions are heavily on him ("if I go with this approach and we don't win I'm dead" etc) [/paraphrasing].

Well Gareth, we didn't win . . .

[randomlegend]

He's a man who's said in recent times that he's still traumatised by his penalty miss and then he dumps that same potential fate on a 19 year old taking their first ever professional penalty. Just appalling management.

Also Luke Shaw is just really good, the "fat and not really that good" stuff is nonsense. Mourinho still mindgaming you

[Kikó]

Great posts Niko.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Saka for the 5th penalty was genuine insanity, even if he had ever taken one in his life, which he hasn't. Earlier in the tournament, Spain were in a shootout (must have been vs Switzerland) and took Pedri off at 119 minutes - that's what a good manager does with a teenager. It's not fair on them. Imagine how Saka will be feeling now.

[niko_cee]

He's not 'really good'. He's a decent, competent full back. He's not fat and useless, it's just fun to chuck that at him (he's still pretty chunky). He does a job, and had a good tournament [well, had some impactful moments]. I think Chilwell is probably better, but not by a Shaw's arse, I mean large margin

[randomlegend]

1414520606939394056?s=20

STATS.

He is really good, he was excellent all last season for United after a few positional fuck ups in the first few weeks.

[Yevrah]

All the penalty business in here.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/euro-2021/2021/07/12/jack-grealish-wanted-take-penalty-order-set-england-training/

I didn't notice him (Southgate) doing that last night, but fucking hell. Pickford 6th?

[niko_cee]

He had a good tournament. Like I said, he's functional, he works hard, he runs a good overlap, but he's not some match winning dynamo. In possession his first thought often feels like it is backwards [although he did well in the build-up to the goal last night when he sneaked it up to Kane].Those stats speak more of England's [rubbish defensive] approach than his particular brilliance, I would say. He's 7/10 player, which is fine.

[Don]

The geezer doesn't know how to set up the most basic attacking moves that don't involve a cross it and inshallah percentage ball but he moves like a true innovator where bollocks meaningless decisions are needed.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If you just ordered them by total career goals you would get a better order. That's all a penalty is: kicking the ball into a goal.

[Yevrah]

Yep and 'Form in training' sounds like a horrendous way to do it.

How can a man who suffered so much at the hands of missing one fist it so hard?

[Lewis]

The people claiming to like 'this England team' don't really. They're just doing well enough to have captured the wider public mood, so they have to come up with cunty reasons for suddenly caring (in many cases to keep the shit-take industry going). Oh the diversity, as if every team for twenty years hasn't been significantly darker than the country as a whole.

[Spikey M]

Form in training is mental. There are many things I can do when it doesn't matter that I absolutely couldn't do with millions of people watching me and hanging all of their homes and dreams on.

[niko_cee]

I see Donnurumma got player of the tournament. It feels like it was a better tournament than giving that to a 'keeper, but then he was good.

Had a go at the beeb's slightly bizarre team of the tournament thing [bizarre in it's limited options - you can pick Grealish if you want, but not Verratti or Barella :cab:]

https://team-picker.files.bbci.co.uk/team-of-the-tournament-euro-2020-89908b66d4329157f86009e14fc6ff0b.html

https://team-picker.files.bbci.co.uk/team-of-the-tournament-euro-2020-89908b66d4329157f86009e14fc6ff0b.jpg

Some close calls in there. Maguire sneaks in ahead of Chiellini due to his goal and his penalty. Shaw noses Spinazolla due to the injury. Walker was superb thorughout even if one of the trendier wingbacks might have caught the eye more. Midfield is a bit of a clusterfuck but the options are mad. Pedri was impressive I thought, as was Locatelli when he played (I'd have had Barella in over him if it were allowed but felt I had to go with an Italian as their midfield was superb). Up front Chiesa has to be in, Sterling was in contention to be player of the tournament prior to the final and Schick beats out the likes of Kane and Lukaku. Fuck Ronaldo.

[Pepe]

Just catching up.


I'm creating burner accounts to racially abuse whoever misses their penalties who wants one?

:harold:

[Reg]

@Spikey And that's without mentioning that Rashford and Sancho didn't have a kick in the game, having waited for two hours with all the adrenaline building, before the most important kicks of their lives.

I understand the idea of having a plan for penalties but not to change it based on what's actually happened on the night seems way off.

Despite that, Southgate deserves massive credit for the tournament overall. There were countless decisions he got spot on, from including Maguire in the squad to starting Saka for the first time to matching Germany's shape, etc. Perhaps even more impressive is how he's led a team into shaking off the expectation and weight of pressure. Before the shootout last night, we've looked a mentally strong team for the last two tournaments.

I felt unexpectedly gutted this morning but it's far from all doom and gloom.

@Niko That's a shame, Sterling should have got player of the tournament.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Is there any rule about named subs having to sit on the bench / remain pitchside? I'm imagining some kind of bullpen situation within Wembley where they can go and warm up by slamming penalties into a net.

[Pepe]

Moaning about run-ups is retarded, loads of penalties get missed with "normal" run-ups and loads of bangers get scored with flouncy run-ups.

:harold:

[niko_cee]

:D

That should so happen.

The other thing I forgot to say about Southgate and his plans, is that good as they are in terms of pragmatism and the like, it is genuinely painful to watch as you can see it unraveling but the [his] thinking remains that it's still going alright (Italy have all the ball but they haven't scored yet, well, ok now they've scored but it's still 1-1) - felt like in both games that went to ET we were in a state of semi-paralysis in the final 10 minutes just wanting to get there [I know we were bossing Denmark - but the original plan/structure was still very much in effect].

The score too early cliché is obviously just that, and England are past masters at it, but it was the case yesterday. They wanted the Germany model. Shit it out for 75 minutes and then take the lead and cling-on. Italy having to change to be more proactive was a massive hindrance. They'd have probably not done that at 0-0.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I have a very clear memory of Klinsmann at half time saying 'Now England have to push for the second goal' and thinking yeah, we're not going to, and that's why Germany win things and we don't.

[Pepe]

We are a negative team and we would have won it that way if Marcus Rashford had kicked a ball straight.

Agreed. Defending all throughout after the goal was the right call. Need to work on being more threatening on the counter though.

[Pepe]

I've just realised: we're going to win the World Cup, and win it easily.

:harold:

[Pepe]

Neutrals "supporting" someone are fucking morons.

[Waffdon]

I forgot the next World Cup was in Qatar. I’d have fancied England to do well again if it wasn’t there

[Spikey M]

It's in the winter so it'll only be about 40c at night.

[Pepe]

Oh and I liked the refereeing. I don't like red cards on important matches.

[niko_cee]

Not that it mattered as it'd have denied us him missing his penalty [and there was no time left really anyway], but that Jorginho tackle probably was a red card. Strong orange at the very least. Studs up stamp into opponent's knee is a bit sketchy.

I didn't mind the ref, but thought he was a bit random with his giving of some stuff, but letting other stuff go. England definitely didn't get a handle on it and kept playing as if he would give any sort of contact as a foul which was far from the case, and was very annoying to watch.

[Waffdon]

It was nice seeing Harry Kane not getting all his usual fouls. Biggest snide cunt in football

[Kikó]

Forgot about that studs tackle. I'm surprised it didn't go to a var review.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I went properly ballistic at the Jorginho tackle not getting a red and my dad started going all 'It's only a game of football' on me, which made me call him a boomer twat, which in turn made him sulk through the penalties. It was a great evening.

[Manc]

The ref was bottling decisions all night under the guise of letting the game flow.

[Lofty]

There was a large group of lads in the pub I was in giving it some Ric Flair specials in the first half, annoying the covid police. Probably the highlight of the match after the early goal.

[Don]

It was nice seeing Harry Kane not getting all his usual fouls. Biggest snide cunt in football

This.

[Serj]

Ref was fine for most of the match, even though Jorginho could have seen red. Was it really studs "up", though? Grealish was on the floor and in my recollection Jorginho pulls through with his effort to kick the ball and then treads on Grealish. So more a stamp than a studs-up challenge. Still borderline and Jorginho got lucky.

Otherwise I liked Kuipers' calm approach. Didn't give serial divers like Kane, Sterling and some of the Italians (who are better at falling with flair) the time of day.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Something else that got lost in the rest of it: have you ever seen anyone make as much of a meal out of an injury as Chiesa did when he went down in the second half? Costly for his team too at the time, as the lengthy delay while he cried and wailed and thrashed around killed all the momentum they had built up during the second half. If you're injured, just get off the pitch ffs.

[Adramelch]

The whole injury delay thing was pretty ridiculous this tournament. I understand it's been a really long stretch of games and whatnot, but it was still pretty silly.

[Waffdon]

The Italians had that newspaper print out (the one Lewis posted) on the plane with the Trophy resting on top of it :lol:

[Magic]

Something else that got lost in the rest of it: have you ever seen anyone make as much of a meal out of an injury as Chiesa did when he went down in the second half? Costly for his team too at the time, as the lengthy delay while he cried and wailed and thrashed around killed all the momentum they had built up during the second half. If you're injured, just get off the pitch ffs.

In fairness it was entirely him that was driving that so fuck it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Just caught up with a colleague who went to bed during extra time, because it was a 'dull game'.

I'm telling you, heads have gone.

[Disco]

I went at the end, looked up the pens when I woke up this morning.

[7om]

Treason.

[Magic]

I went at the end, looked up the pens when I woke up this morning.

:sick:

[Lewis]

Heads will have definitely gone if Southgate still gets a knighthood.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He isn't really is he?

[Jimmy Floyd]

Heads will have definitely gone if Southgate still gets a knighthood.

He got an OBE for a World Cup semi-final, so if he has another couple such tournaments, by my calculations he's on to be Duke of Norfolk.

[Vercetti]

I was through the looking glass today, reading comments about how Southgate chose the penalty takers in order to pursue his "woke agenda," and make it so that black lads had the chance to score the decisive penalty.

I bet he's pro-mask, too, the cunt.

[niko_cee]

I enjoyed reading that whilst our plebs were tearing Leicester Square apart or rushing inadequete security cordons, in Italy:


Mon, 12 July 2021, 1:29 pm
ROME (Reuters) - One person died and several were injured during sometimes wild celebrations in Italy after its soccer team's triumph over England in Sunday's Euro 2020 final.

A 22-year-old man died in a car crash in Caltagirone, in Sicily, as he was rushing to the town centre to join victory festivities, police said.

In the financial capital Milan, 15 people were hurt, three seriously, in rowdy, post-match partying. One of them lost three fingers when a firework exploded in his hand.

In a town near the southern city of Foggia, police believe a hitman took advantage of the chaos in the streets to settle a score, shooting dead his target in the crowd before escaping on a motorbike.

The victim's six-year-old niece was also wounded in the attack and was in a "very serious" condition, media said.


Mamma mia!

[Spikey M]

I was through the looking glass today, reading comments about how Southgate chose the penalty takers in order to pursue his "woke agenda," and make it so that black lads had the chance to score the decisive penalty.

I bet he's pro-mask, too, the cunt.

He hasn't actually said that, has he? :D

[Lewis]

He said his only regret was not switching Sancho and Rashford so that it got darker as it went along.

[7om]

Fucking hell, Lewis.

[Lewis]

It sums him up really doesn't it. No plan at all for it going beyond five kicks.

[Yevrah]

Just caught up with a colleague who went to bed during extra time, because it was a 'dull game'.

I'm telling you, heads have gone.

Honestly, if my head has gone (which it has) literally millions of others will have too.

[Lewis]

I know somebody who turned Germany vs Brazil off at 2-0 because they didn't want to watch an uncompetitive game.

[Reg]

I didn't see any of that game until it was 4-0 because I was playing tennis. I think it was Jim on here who said real life > football on TV. But sometimes football on TV > most things, especially when people still often reference the game years later. Poor me. :(

[Bernanke]

Chiesa only being 1.75 really doesn't sound right. I think it's something about his running style that is so much more like how a way taller player would run.

[Don]

I was through the looking glass today, reading comments about how Southgate chose the penalty takers in order to pursue his "woke agenda," and make it so that black lads had the chance to score the decisive penalty.

I bet he's pro-mask, too, the cunt.

One of the sauna lads was suggesting it was a conspiracy to paint them as the guilty party and invite the hate. Sauna lads :cool:

[Spikey M]

I completely misread that Pards post. :face:

[Don]

Those Andrew Lawrence tweets are solid trolling. Wonder if he can get a justgiving up and invite the donations from the gammons for a gig.

[Spikey M]

He deserves to have his career cancelled for making such a poor effort of it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

7. England fans are a serious disgrace but this is only reflective of a society that has completely lost its mind. Any pretence of a social contract lies in ribbons, destroyed by the twin towers of New Labour gentrification and Tory destruction of social institutions over many decades. It appears that the England football team is the last institution able to command any sort of national unity. Even this seems to be a farce. One set of people, a set of people who sneered at Beckham and Rooney for years, claim to love 'this England team' (note: not England teams generally), because of them being 'diverse', apparently being nice people, and taking a knee. Another set of people boo the taking of a knee, are jacked up on cocaine, drunk out of their minds and going on social media to call people niggers. Among them there is a group who drink all day and want to break into Wembley without tickets. Why would such a thing ever occur in a country where they felt they had a stake in anything greater than their own day's intoxication? People go around thinking Brexit is the cause of this, but in fact Brexit is only a symptom: the groundwork for this has been laid down for decades and made up of many factors, some global, and some specific to us. I can only imagine we will fall deeper before we rise.

This expressed rather better by the best sports writer in the world: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jul/13/englands-repressed-craving-for-shared-experience-reveals-its-ugly-side


And running through all this has been a larger phenomenon, one that predates the pandemic: the wild unquenched craving for shared experience and community in a society that has essentially hunted it to extinction.

The increasing privatisation of public space, the assault on local government by successive Conservative administrations, economic polarisation, the spiteful politics of division: all this has steadily winnowed away the outlets for expressing who we are, in a place, together.

[niko_cee]

Don't do yourself down, he's basically just lifting your material off here and polishing it in the time he doesn't have to be selling gaskets to mardy Frenchmen.

[Yevrah]

:lol:

Genuine lol at that Niko.

[Jimmy Floyd]

True, he wouldn't be saying this -


I look at England in 2021 and I do not see a hateful, animalistic place.

- if he'd ever tried giving a 7 day lead time for a set of piston rings.

[Lewis]

He does what he accuses society of doing (oh for the days of shared experiences in local government) and his point about Scotland is laughable.

[Spikey M]

1414903645095796737?s=19

:D

[Spikey M]

Atleast it's not a Pizza advert.

[Manc]

That could the end of Roy Keane as we know it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

How do you even eat tacos without it collapsing everywhere? Never understood it.

[niko_cee]

Soft ones or don't overfill. The latter is almost impossible. Image obviously massively overfilled and would be all over the shop within seconds.

[Waffdon]

Yeah, tacos are utterly shit compared to the other Mexican food on offer.

[Pepe]

Hard tacos are not a thing.

[Manc]

Are you telling me Old El Paso isn't authentic?

[Pepe]

El Paso is in the US, tbf.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've never tried a hard taco.

Soft tacos are great though.

[Spikey M]

Pepe casually outing anything Mexican in America as a fraud.

[-james-]

Good tacos are absolute flavour bombs. 4 or so sparsely filled ones as a side dish ideally. They're nothing like the man vs food crap a lot of burritos and such tend to be.

Had some really good ones the other day with crispy oyster mushroom, pink pickled onion and a coriander-y sauce. Phenomenal.

[Reg]

Fajitas over tacos for me Clive.

[Spikey M]

Mexican is alright, but it suffers due to it's fascination with avocado, which is terrible.

[-james-]

Fajita is a word made up to sell those meal kits to people who can't cook.

It's all just fried stuff and paprika in a wrap.

[Spikey M]

Alright Delia.

[Pepe]

I can only imagine the monstrosities they sell as avocadoes over there.

[Pepe]

What I like about Taco Bell is that they don't even try to pretend that their food is good. They just lean on the nastiness of it. Still don't know who ever buys that shit.

[niko_cee]

I have vague recollections of getting a bean and cheese burrito in a Taco Bell somewhere deep within the American homeland for about 19c and thinking that this would probably be a reasonable (well, effective at least) way to survive homelessness/having no money.

[Don]

They've started going big on their UK presence. In similar vein I met a bunch of Delta variant cunts who seemed to think driving 45 mins from Harrow to MK is 'not too bad' for a Tim Hortons, also it gave them something to do during lockdown. May the next variant rid us of these disgusting cretins.

[Luca]

Wait, if a taco is not ludicrously overfilled with juice eating through both layers of corn tortilla, is it even a real taco?


On that note, the definitive ranking of tacos goes something like this:

Barbacoa (borrego)
al Pastor
Suadero
Lengua
Everything else

[Kikó]

Mexican is alright, but it suffers due to it's fascination with avocado, which is terrible.

wot

[Don]

To bring this back to topic; Jurgen's either gone contacts or laser and having seen the pre-season pics of VVD, Konate and Gomez, I think we might just deliver on last season's aims of going the season without dropping a single point.

[Manc]

Naby looking swole.

[SincereTheRebel]

Shawberto Carlos had a great Euros and season according to Man Utd. Cash in now to the highest bidder

[Shindig]

Might as well run down the England squad performance-wise.

Jordanp Ickford: Shit distribution but pretty solid between the sticks. Not at fault for the goals we conceded although every time he lined a wall up, he looked in crisis mode. Top lad.
A. Ron Ramsdale: Enjoyed training with a proper keeper, I'm sure.
Sam Johns Tone: Also enjoyed his nice summer of watching England play.

Kylew Alker: Turns out his pace can be an asset. Not too many wobbles and had the legs to run for days. Have a prostitute.
Lukes Haw: Linked up well with Sterling and proved a good supply line. Strangely dependable for someone who looks like a default PES squad member. He'd smash it at Inter.
Johns Tones: Looks like he's wearing somebody else's hair. No clangers. Good.
Harim Aquirre: I'm struggling to make these work. He did pretty well and proved a threat at set-pieces. Always had a look of terror on his face.
Keirant Rippier: Good assist for Shaw but wasn't as prominent and I'd liked. We're a side that needs a proper free-kick taker and nobody's really at that level. Still, can't complain.
Tyronem Ings: Seemed pretty good in the first couple of group games. I don't get the hate for him but then I don't watch him every week.
Conorc Oady: Probably taught Tyrone everything he knows.
Bench Ilwell: Okay, I like that one. Surprised he didn't get any minutes as one of our recognised left-backs.
Ben White: I've got nothing. A surprise inclusion and he'd have to go some to get into our back two/three/five.
Rhys-James: His appearance must have came and went. I'm a bit miffed both he and Chilwell got barely any time.

Dec: Land of Rice: Probably our weakest midfield link but the final lit a fire under him. Dragged the ball up the pitch and then Southgate switched him for someone who's only heard tales of the 18 yard box.
Jacques Grealish: Somewhat mythologised but the crowd but Southgate didn't fancy him enough for more minutes. Underused but he loves to receive tackles and doesn't wear shin pads. An accident waiting to happen.
Jordan Henderson: I'm just giving up on the names. Not going to change the game for you, to be honest. Took his goal well.
Kalvin Phillips: We needed a midfield radge and he seemed to fit that bill. Scraps for it and it's a shame he could do more of that against Italy. Good job, pineapple head.
Jadons Ancho: We needed to see more of him. Preferrably ahead of Saka on Sunday. It's a shame we had so much on the bench that didn't become more than bit-part players.
Mason Mount: Definitely the odd one out in that front three. He's alright for Chelsea but hasn't quite figured it out for England.
Philf Oden: Really gave us some good stuff against the Croats. If you wanted to change the dynamic of the midfield (say, drop out Rice or Kalvin for someone more forward thinking), he'd be your lad.
Bukayako Saka: Good against the Czechs but the Italians looked wise to it. I don't think his physical game's there but he's only a bairn.
Jude Bellingham: He'll be more prominent in tournaments to come but, like Sancho, he looked hungry when he came on.

Harry Kane: Slow start but he does what he does well. Tracks back a lot which, on Sunday, could've given Sterling the change to bomb on, if it wasn't all hands on deck.
Raheems Terling: Really stepped up. We joke about him not passing to Kane but, by the end of the tournament, they were looking more like a front two. His reaction to putting Muller through will stay with me until the dementia hits.
Marcus Rashford: How can I be disappointed by someone I don't quite rate? UEFA.com says he played 5 matches but I barely remember any of it.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin: 2 appearances? Were they somehow both against Scotland?

Gareth Southgate: I can't say much that hasn't been covered. Has a good rapport with the squad and sets them up well defensively. Shame he wasn't braver. Mancini was fuming in that first half. He changed it and you better believe he gave the squad the riot act. Gareth doesn't have that in him. He should find it. All that pace on the bench and it seemed squandered in the name of organisation and shape. Still, he's taken us places that were unthinkable a decade ago and he's still young. Not that he's doing much after this job.

[Spikey M]

Arsenal are doing Arsenal things against Hibs to cheer the nation up. Bless them.

[Shindig]

Update: The Times report that Newcastle have contacted Arsenal with a proposal to take Willock on another season-long loan. The 21 year-old is reportedly under contract at the Emirates until 2023.

That would be lovely. We're playing Steve Watson's York at the weekend. And Harrogate. I assume that means two separate teams but they're all based in the same camp. They're probably playing the games on adjacent pitches.

[niko_cee]

lol at Lukaku and Hojberg (wtf?) making it into the official UEFA team of the tournament.

Shaw overlooked as well.

[mo]

Swindon had to cancel their upcoming friendly against Swansea because we've only got a handful of first team players, no manager and no one at the club is getting paid. Desperately hoping to avoid dropping into non-League this season.

[Lewis]

lol at Lukaku and Hojberg (wtf?) making it into the official UEFA team of the tournament.

Shaw overlooked as well.

Harsh leaving Rashford out now he's dead as well.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Spinazzola was brilliant though and it looks like they've tried to make an actual team rather than lump the 4 best defenders in.

Omitting both of the top goalscorers was strange.

[phonics]

Saka getting accolades for England is so weird. Feels like we haven’t had a England stalwart since Seaman.

[Shindig]

Ashley Cole probably counts.

[Waffdon]

I see Arsenal were beaten by mid table Hibs. Tranmere to the premier league Baz

[phonics]

Ashley Cole probably counts.

I hated that England team and he didn't help.

[Gray Fox]

Twitter reckons Boris invited the England team to Downing Street and they’ve told him to do one, so they really are heroes.

[Shindig]

It's occurred to me we didn't even have a bus parade. I know it's hard to greenlight that with Covid but you'd think we'd have sneaked that through.

[Don]

Nation disgraced, team and country in political turmoil and Marcus Rashford passing away and mans are talking about a 'bus parade' :D Keep it for when the BLM millionaires have defeated racism.

[Lewis]

Turning down an invitation from the national government on spurious politic grounds seems a bit short-sighted (if true, but then lol at having a reception for runners up). All the questions leading into the next World Cup write themselves, and Southgate is probably drafting an open letter about 'being mindful of local sensitivities' as we speak.

[Ian]

I doubt they were going to invite them for coming second but I can appreciate why you might tell them to do one either way.

[phonics]

Turning down an invitation from the national government on spurious politic grounds seems a bit short-sighted (if true, but then lol at having a reception for runners up). All the questions leading into the next World Cup write themselves, and Southgate is probably drafting an open letter about 'being mindful of local sensitivities' as we speak.

lol.

[Lewis]

Your club threw its highest earner under the bus for criticising a genocide. But yes, lol at the notion of this being short-sighted.

[niko_cee]

Presumably any such declination (is that the word?) would be more on grounds of it being pointless and stupid to attend such a thing having lost or they'd rather be on holiday, but I guess you never know. Declining on political grounds just makes everyone look a bit daft.

[Boydy]

Your club threw its highest earner under the bus for criticising a genocide. But yes, lol at the notion of this being short-sighted.

What happened?

[Baz]

What happened?Ozil criticised Chinese concentration camps and Arsenal released a statement saying Mesut’s opinions are his own and we as a club disagree with the criticism and think the chinks deserve it.

[phonics]

Your club threw its highest earner under the bus for criticising a genocide. But yes, lol at the notion of this being short-sighted.

A year after he could barely get on the bench, did that, and then went and endorsed a genocide less than 6 months later when it was against Armenians, somewhat underminding his point.

Arsenal got into, and haven't been relegated from, Division 1 because in 1919 they were owned by a property baron Tory. I've never taken my morale leanings from the football club.

[randomlegend]

1415094556975112194?s=21

Absolutely brainless. (Screenshot is from Portsmouth u18 group chat).

[Lewis]

A year after he could barely get on the bench, did that, and then went and endorsed a genocide less than 6 months later when it was against Armenians, somewhat underminding his point.

Arsenal got into, and haven't been relegated from, Division 1 because in 1919 they were owned by a property baron Tory. I've never taken my morale leanings from the football club.

Well, yeah; but now the FA expects fans to take them from England whilst the entire roadshow relies on blood money. That is the problem. If they want to be political then they have to have standards, otherwise they're just dickheads like the actual politicians who don't.

[Don]

1415094556975112194?s=21

Absolutely brainless. (Screenshot is from Portsmouth u18 group chat).

Kids having banter in private whatsapp group chat. The horror.

[Jimmy Floyd]

String them up and feed their entrails to starving children.

[Yevrah]

My nephew and niece (11 & 9) are now on WhatsApp. I've explained to my sister that at best it's a gateway to anal fisting videos, but what can you do?

[Kikó]

Stop sending them the videos?

[Don]

:rasta:

[Spikey M]

1315037433625485312?s=19

:lol:

[Pepe]

:D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

:D

ffs.

[Jimmy Floyd]

1415071064636469255

1. Emerson
2. Seriously?

There needs to be a total moratorium on non-sport people being allowed to write about sport. What do they know of bullshit, who only bullshit know.

[Pepe]

Doesn't that send the opposite message than the one I assume they would like to make?

[Spikey M]

All their potential people of colour are floating in their coastal waters.

[Ian]

1315037433625485312?s=19

:lol:

I dunno what I thought was gonna go wrong there but "cut to the middle aged white dude" wasn't it.

[Pepe]

Maybe he has a black friend.

[Spikey M]

There was NOBODY better placed.

[Lewis]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/15595227/yob-flare-bum-strolled-into-wembley/

Good for him. The article gets better with every line.

[Shindig]

“I gave them £100, and went behind them. In total it cost me about £250.”

Isn't the whole point of sneaking in that it's free? :D

[Spikey M]

1415582305259868160?s=19

[Yevrah]

Isn't the whole point of sneaking in that it's free? :D

Official shit tickets were going for £900 so he did pretty well.

[Shindig]

1415582305259868160?s=19

Shit, I didn't know he went to St. Roberts. We fucking hated those cunts.

[Spikey M]

He'd have (miss)kicked the shit out of you.

[Shindig]

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/7123779.home-made-bombs-found-school-field/

Pickford wouldn't save his way out of that. Plus he was probably 6 at the time. Although I always heard it was the comp that had the bombs in the field. I mean, they had our head on the news, not the infants.

Washington: A land of contrast.

[phonics]

Official shit tickets were going for £900 so he did pretty well.

And he was paid about 10k for the story as well so he’s quids in.

[Lewis]

1415734712593682441

:lol:

[Lewis]

The clearest picture I saw said 'Shite in a *something* Bastard' and a picture of a cock, but I did wonder why they were making such a big deal out of covering it up so quickly. A fucking moral panic over that lmao country is finished.

[Offshore Toon]

Cock piss Rashford.

[Shindig]

"Fuck Fuck Sancho Shite in a Suck(?) 'picture of a cock' Bastard."

Cook Pass Babtridge. Damn it, Offshore. :D

[Lewis]

It was also blue paint, which struck me as a weird choice for racist abuse on a black background, so I thought City fan. Any additional Sancho references might support that.

[Yevrah]

Presumably it could have just been someone who was pissed he missed a penalty and not because he's black and missed one.

[Gray Fox]

Serie A has banned green shirts from 2022. No, I'm not kidding.

Fuck you Sassuolo I guess.

[Waffdon]

1415736660541706243

Jordan Pickford’s jaw is still at Wembley

[Jimmy Floyd]

Serie A has banned green shirts from 2022. No, I'm not kidding.

Fuck you Sassuolo I guess.

Never mind super agents and the Super League, this creeping menace is the existential threat to our game.

I'm going to start a guerrilla campaign.

[Reg]

Reportedly, the change is largely dictated by television companies amid fears that green kits are too similar in colour to the pitch and could lead to players becoming indistinguishable from the turf.
I'm not sure that fear is valid...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://theathletic.com/2709095/2021/07/16/exclusive-saudi-italy-2030-world-cup-bid-being-considered-and-its-not-as-far-fetched-as-it-might-sound/

Italy/Saudi Arabia 2030?

[Luca]

It’ll be something something AI player tracking. Or the ad boards that are superimposed with a different sponsor depending on your location (are they green screen?).

[Luke Emia]

I'm not sure that fear is valid...

I remember worrying about this when Liverpool had a green kit in the early nineties. I was however only 7 years old at the time.

[Lewis]

1416025168166674438

Not sure what's funnier out of that or Perez referring to Oezil as 'the bream'.

[Offshore Toon]

Aida Yespica btw.

[Shindig]

Our keeper situation ahead of Sunday's double-header is fun. Darlow's tested positive which means Gillesphie and Woodman have to isolate as close contacts. Dubravka is injured meaning we have to use Dan Langley against York.

Callum Wilson is now our #9, allowing Joelinton to become our new #7. Numbers!

[Waffdon]

Sigurdsson Arrested for being a nonce apparently

[Lewis]

I was worried that Rashford graffiti not being racist had knocked the NARRATIVE off course a bit, but thankfully, the very next day, but a week after the actual match, some weirdly specific (https://twitter.com/ConnorGardner/status/1416330176946966530) racist graffiti has emerged on another mural. Carry on.

[Shindig]

"Hand me that black pen. This'll show 'em. UP THE DARLO!"

[Lewis]

Facundo Pellistri scored the first of many against Championship opposition today. Up your bare hand-wiped arse Taz.

[Shindig]

We lost to York. :youpi:

[Don]

I saw that about the mercurial South American. Absolutely seething.

[Waffdon]

Sigurdsson Arrested for being a nonce apparently

1417228358069456903

Confirmed. An Icelandic being a nonce doesn’t really surprise me. Look the sort.

[Giggles]

What’s he been at? A load of pictures?

[Spikey M]

"Messaging" a 15 year old apparently.

[Shindig]

Ah, the Adam Johnson playbook.

[Spikey M]

He's followed the "half your age minus 7" rule so he should be fine.

[niko_cee]

Somebody called Ronivaldo scored against Liverpool in some bizarre 30 minute mini-game today. What a name.

[Shindig]

Second best name I've heard today. Stjohn Youngman. He doesn't play football, though.

[niko_cee]

Hopefully Ronivaldo's son (should he have one) makes it big and is known as Ronivaldinho.

[Pen]

I clocked him as well and was really hoping he’d be young enough to have a ’big’ move still in him. Hopefully his possible son will do better.

[Dquincy]

1417373646214021120?s=19

[Baz]

We didn't know we were born, with some of the footballers we grew up with.

Thierry Henry. :drool: Never went shit and playing for Burnley like Ian Wright either. Top class.

[Shindig]

Olympic football is under way. GB's lasses are 1-0 up against Chile. Brazil lead China. Annoyingly they kick off half an hour apart and there's four other games on. Including Australia v New Zealand. The men's tournament kicks off tomorrow at 8:30am.

[Manc]

Do we have an Olympics thread? Ian

[Baz]

What, the Olympics has started??

[Shindig]

The football always starts early.

[Ian]

I'll let somebody who cares more do an Olympics thread.

[Spikey M]

I'll let somebody who cares more do an Olympics thread.

Last time you did this Pleb steamed in and made the worst thread in Internet history. Think of the children.

[Ian]

Which thread was that?

[Queenslander]

We should medal in the soccer.