I'm sure it's nailed on with a squad full of Manchester benchwarmers and Saudi has-beens.
Figuring out what a Cole Palmer is and why it's worth 42.5m quid
Saudi oil money everywhere
Chelsea Boehl money everywhere
United rummaging around in the bargain bin
It being done for another few months
Something sensible like your club actually signing somebody decent
I'm sure it's nailed on with a squad full of Manchester benchwarmers and Saudi has-beens.
United's guest of honour at the weekend was a convicted paedophile.
What a club.
Lies.
It was last year apparently not the weekend.
Tbf he wasn't noncing at the time and, like Gteenwood, second chances innit [/Nigerian]
Just misunderstood and his 13 year old wife is probably really happy.
It's so small-time, it's crazy. Have they actually confronted the psychological problems head on in any way? It doesn't matter how many times you hold hands and say you're winners, deep down they're itching to bottle it.Originally Posted by -james-
That opening paragraph.
English sports teams will always be bottlers by default. We can win occasionally when we find a way of scamming the competition or manipulating resources to our advantage (jelly bean reverse swing; cheating swim/bike suits; the entire sport of rowing) but in a mano a mano battle of physical aptitude and resolve we will always tend to lose. It's just not what we're about.
That Croatia semi final in 2018 was the apex example of it.
Didn't have Mr. Britain painting this place as an island of losers down in the sweepstakes.
We're not losers. It's just that our wins come about as a result of having rigged things to our advantage long in advance, rather than out there in the heat of battle. Football it's hard to do that.
Tiger Tim Henman is the soul of our national sporting output.
That sounds like a loser mentality, mate. Had to cheat but then everybody cottoned on so now you're shit... But also still the best somehow.
That is the definition of a loser. By your definition, the country is Wile E Coyote.
France should have had about 8 here.
Our football team has done it so many times now, across 35 years of me watching them, with different players, managers and opposition and there is only one conclusion you can really draw from that. Our football team are losers.
Mostly because their managers are absolute losers, I reckon.
I'm a twit
It's not like our eleven players have been better than their eleven players for most of these exits. Iceland was obviously a joke, and Southgate has a lot to answer for; but people forget that those Portugal teams that cursed us were every bit as good as our 'Golden Generation', and the same goes for Germany, Argentina, Brazil...
Loser talk.
Imagine Mourinho in charge instead of the bulbous-lipped apologist. Most of them are too dim to understand what a weak mentality is, so it definitely largely stems from the top. Southgate is a perennial bottler and his pursuit to make amends for that missed penalty has cost England another trophy. You couldn't write it.
If we're not favourites in a big game we will lose. Pretty much guaranteed. That isn't the case with other nations.
The reason we do well is for reasons that are nothing to do with the England team or management, for instance having the world's best and deepest football culture other than maybe Brazil.
This all sounds like a load of hot air bullshit.
Fair enough, sitting around 'manifesting' winning the world cup is obviously absolute wank [although a lot in here seem to be somewhere on that spectrum]. Brazil have just gone through twenty years without winning it, so the idea of any nation being entitled to win is clearly mad. Maybe we have enough top top players around and coming through now, but, unfortunately, not everything always goes to plan. The last exit wasn't so much bottling as getting mugged and/or the continuation of the trend of safety first Southgate being both a blessing and a scourge. I'm not sure you can coach 'mentality' at international level in the same way you can at a club.
The stakes are higher and they don't have the benefit of a club dressing room. It's six weeks with the guys you tend to work with sporadically.
And yet, Southgate didn't know how to handle us leading against Italy.
Does Southgate ever have a specific plan for any given situation beyond the one the side is always sent out with?
It would appear not. I can't think of a game-changing Southgate sub.
You can't coach it, but you can address it and understand what helps and what doesn't. Walking around claiming failure is not an option when you're going to fail is their attempt at dealing with decades of shit, but it's shallow and naive. They're already attempting to fix the collective psychology, but they're doing it in a way that only a weak minded group would. If you don't understand the issue, you can't fix it, and they clearly don't understand the issue.
Isn't the best solution to breed a winning culture through the age groups, so players come in to the senior set-up with experience of having done well on the international stage? Which they sort of have been doing of late. For too many years [and to some extent it is still the case] England took the view that one senior cap at 18 forever precluded you from going back to [appropriate] age group stuff whereas countries like Spain [long time bottling losers] would be rolling out 22 year old Juan Mata and [linked to United for loads of money] Thiago in their U21 sides for the major age group events.
I just want a manager that actually makes use of the outstanding attacking players we have, rather than being so scared of conceding that scoring goals often feels like it's viewed as a bonus.
A woman at work (who is the one of the least socially aware and emotionally unintelligent people I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet, but that’s a story for another day) bangs on about her six year old son like he’s the second coming of Messi, so the 2042 World Cup is basically Englands.
I'm a twit
*I have no idea about the defence in general, you could obviously put Stones or Walker in there somewhere if you wanted to be less BANZAI. That Lewis Dunk has 1 cap [or whatever piteous amount it is] should be a national scandal.Code:Kane Grealish Saka Foden Bellingham Rice Chilwell Colwill Dunk TAA*
Obviously instead we'll get Rice/Phillips/Henderson with Mount taking one of the attacking roles and Saka being asked to play as an extra full back. And Harry Maguire, forever.
Has that ever panned out correctly? I know a couple who to this day will regale you with stories of how their lad was the best ever at all sports etc etc but it has just resulted in him being a lazy cunt at 35 who expects them to attend all of his amateur cricket matches.
Isn't it more commonly the children who have the misplaced aspirations of professional sportsmanship [who didn't plan to be a professional footballer when they were 10?] - you'd think parents would have a little more perspective.
Both my kids are going to be pro footballers. My mortgage isn't going to pay its self.
I was hoping for this but ones a girl and ones flippin' massive, so I'll have to settle for a GP and a rugby player, cos I don't fancy him bagging the big fat goalie role at school.
I'm a twit
It's bigger than that. Plus, the kids aren't going to come in and change the mentality of the first team so easily. Bellingham may be crucial moving forward but he seems more Kante than Sergio Ramos so I wouldn't bet on it.
Jimmy's thoughts are a good example of what the problem is and Southgate's tactics are a result of the nationalistic mindset. Football is a very complex game that all too often boils down to mindset and culture because all the training in the world means nothing when failure is not just an option, but expected.
The team clearly has enough about them to win but there's no self awareness about where the problems are, so you see this bravado of a fake 'winner's mindset' and it gets you nowhere. It must be hard to be at the top of the game and see yourself and your team as having huge flaws, but they're there and they won't go away until they're confronted. The FA are desperately hoping a cup win will leave this stuff in the past but they don't have to rely on that sort of luck.
It's Tyson Fury v Anthony Joshua stuff. Self-awareness is key and Southgate is the worst offender of all as he has absolutely none, and you can't expect the simple minds of the England team to have any so they're fucked.
Lavia injured
Spain are 4-0 up at half time against Georgia and I noticed that Gavi, fresh from having an Evander Holyfield style injury last weekend, is nevertheless playing in a big scrum cap. This is his 22nd cap at the age of 19 years and 1 month, and he's also played 100 times for Barcelona. That must put him on track to break a shitload of appearance records if he plays into his mid-thirties (my fifties) without major injuries.
Georgia/Norway draw on Tuesday assuming Scotland win tonight to confirm qualification during the Scotland/England game
Armstrong is in. Gonna 4-0 Netherlands and he won't see a minute, but still
And as for Afolabi,
It obviously shows how wildly out of touch with things I am now, but I had literally never heard of 'Yamal' before this afternoon and now I see he has scored whilst also being Spain's youngest ever player. Is he any good or can I expect to see him rocking up at the Amex in 4 years?
Wiki has this to say:
Place bets now.With his technical profile, he was compared to his idol Lionel Messi, like many La Masia trainees before him, but also to more recent Barça player Ansu Fati.
McTominay for Scotland this past year
Can’t believe we were wasting him at centre half. Absolute goal machine
Is the Jockland game on TV? Sort of expected to find it on Sky but no dice. Is it on one of the weird Scotch terrestrial channels?
It's on Viaplay Sports 1, so no.
STV are tight bastards so yeah, all our games (and domestic cup games) are mainly on Viaplay, whatever that is.
We’re so fucking good. Avoid a battering in Spain and we’ll win the group.
Cracking name too.
Arguably one of England's best players, Foden, misses out again, whilst Maguire and Henderson continue to start :/
It's just depressing at this point. He's completely jumped the shark.
Already Maguire keeps moving over to the left despite playing on the right side.
Has Gareth Southgate Badger really sent Jude Bellingham out to play on the left wing?
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