Debatable
Debatable
manc sean thinks I look like James Dean Bradfield, which I don't. He looks like Paul Heaton. We should put a tribute show on.
That's an amazing shout 🤣
Is the AFCON coverage on the BBC a red button/iplayer affair?
It's a shut the fuck up about this dogshit tourney affair.
No, all joking aside, keen to see Algeria today before the main course. I'm gonna unload £200 on Egypt outright to spice up the affair even though it's ill-advised with such reliance on an individual during COVID times.
Edit: https://www.live-footballontv.com/
Ya, red button/iplayer/website
Sad to see backup Wealdstone player David Sesay not starting for Sierra Leone.
Some result for Sierra Leone if they can hold on.
Caulker singlehandedly donning them senseless and they take 84 mins to throw on Benrahma, the fucking clueless Berber cunts.
Mahrez is technically on another level to everyone else, but unfortunately his teammates appear to be useless in front of goal.
Keeper has done well too.
Looks assured and had a cracking sweeper keeper tackle just before half time.
Imagine my beloved Egypt won't have any finishing shortcomings with their 2 strikers and Salah doing whatever he does for them.
The screen showing the Egyptian lineup was good. Every player had their full 4 or 5 names listed. Totally incomprehensible.
I've just looked at the England team to see who'd be coming off worst if they did that for England games.Originally Posted by CJay
The screen showing the Egyptian lineup was good. Every player had their full 4 or 5 names listed. Totally incomprehensible.
I like Saka having a middle name and the initials 'T.M.' in the middle of his name and a big fan of Foden's middle name being Walter but the big takeaway for me was that Harry Maguire's actual first name is Jacob.
I used to enjoy when they wrote a player's names the wrong way round and it ended up sticking with them for an entire career, e.g. Finidi George, or John Obi Mikel, who is named neither Obi nor Mikel.
Onyeka on the bench.
Ihenacho
Quality finish.
Egypt are fucking dogshit. I want my money back ffs.
Algeria should coast this tournament.
Is it just me or is the ball absolutely flying?
The Taz curse strikes again.
£25 million for a 30 year old Chris Wood is pretty epic tbf. I think it's important that we all channel all our positive energy towards Turf Moor for the rest of the season.
They'll only spend it on meat pies and gravy.
Keeper got the ball there.
Shouldn't be a pen.
Keeper
Sudan have 9 lives.
That second strike
Poor bloke
Shame the big oaf was about 5 yards offside for each one.
I've never seen him so mobile.
Stay out of this, Pepper Bae.The Taz curse strikes again.
One more goal from us and maybe Reading can copy Blackburn's example and make a playoff push.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comm..._sierra_leone/
That’s what it’s all about
Fuck a man crying with joy after getting a clean sheet, let's get back to watching highly paid men with Louis Vuitton washbags 'press' empty space like nephews at a rich man's wake.
We don't need goals or even passes, we just need watermelon smiles.
Is he not outside the box when he punches it at the 16 second mark in that video?
Edit: oh wait, does he head it?
I assume, without looking, that Nigeria are probably the toughest team in Egypt's group. Is there any chance of getting Salah home nice and early or have they expanded the format/made it almost impossible for any half competent nation to go out in the group stages?
Format is the same as the Euros, so they'd have to fail to beat both Sudan and Guinea-Bissau.
Khazri
What is the ref doing?
First it seems he blows the full time whistle 5 minutes early and now sends off a Malian player for a pretty nothing challenge.
Why is Yves Bissouma not getting a game for Mali?
Festival of penalty goals so far.
And now he's blown the whistle again early
A tournament for all for Africa.
Have Tunisia got a massive seethe on? Even by their standards this is early in the tournament.
For some reason Mauritania/Gambia has been pushed back by 45 minutes.
Apparently it's because of the issues in the Tunisia/Mali game
I had no idea that CAF asked for a restart and Tunisia didn't show up.
They just tried to play Mauritania's national anthem but it stopped twice and the stadium announcer has asked the players to sing it themselves
Tonnes of material for Don to play with here.
The thin veil does seem to have slipped somewhat.
Paging @Lewis
Jason Burt in The Telegraph -
There is little doubt that Marcus Rashford is suffering a crisis of confidence. It is a crisis fuelled by years of trying to drag Manchester United back to where the club wants to be, of playing through debilitating injuries and constantly taking one for the team. A crisis born out of being an academy graduate shunted from position to position to accommodate others - and of never having a manager who has actually coached him to be the best he can be since his dramatic first-team breakthrough in 2016.
It is also a crisis that came into sharp focus during United’s unconvincing 1-0 FA Cup victory over Aston Villa on Monday evening. Some fans at Old Trafford turned on Rashford, who was vilified on social media for his lacklustre performance, with television pundit Alan Shearer even declaring that the forward “doesn’t seem to be enjoying his football much”.
There may be an element of truth in what Shearer says although the accusation by Steve McClaren, the former England manager and United assistant, that Rashford has an “attitude problem” is not only ill-informed but insulting.
It would be difficult to find a player who cares as much as Rashford. It does not mean the 24-year-old is not acutely aware of his form; just that he is understandably upset by the accusations that he lacks commitment given his love for United, the club he joined aged seven and the only team he has ever wanted to play for. If anything Rashford cares too much and has, on occasions, taken on too much responsibility and sacrificed himself for United.
There is a danger here – the danger that one of the finest talents England has produced will not go on to fulfil his potential, or even may have to leave United to do so. The club has to be careful with a player who is so desperate to improve and learn that he has put himself through triple training sessions, spends up to 12 hours a day at the Carrington training ground and quizzes Cristiano Ronaldo on not just what he eats but also on what specifically his muscle mass was at Rashford’s age.
The England international welcomed Ronaldo’s signing last summer, not least because he believed that, as with Edinson Cavani, here was a player he could learn from having had to take on so much responsibility since he was thrown into the team by Louis van Gaal for a Europa League tie almost six years ago. Rashford would appear to be a player who is crying out to be coached.
But Van Gaal did not last long as manager; Jose Mourinho seemed to resent the focus on Rashford and the fact he was the poster boy of United’s academy. There had been hope that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as a former striker, would be able to school Rashford on how to improve. Instead, Solskjaer barely took a training session at United and preferred to delegate to his coaching staff. When Rashford did approach him he was not helped.
It means that Rashford has never actually been developed; he has never had a manager who has put his arm around him and said, "Right, let’s make you the best possible player we can." Maybe that coach will be Ralf Rangnick although, understandably, the German is preoccupied right now, in the fire-fighting and crisis management that has not stopped at United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
The dressing room discontent has not helped, even if it has been denied. There are players who want out, senior players, influential players. It is no secret that Paul Pogba intends to go when his contract expires this summer, as does Jesse Lingard, while Anthony Martial has reiterated his desire to quit and return to France. All are big personalities among the squad and it has been allowed to fester and have a draining effect on the team. It brings the mood down.
So has the perennial sense of failure. There have been perceptive comments about the poor body language in the team and the belief that they are playing for themselves; that a player knows that if he scores then the media scrutiny will fall elsewhere. And whatever the denials, that has not helped the togetherness.
Fitness has also been a big issue – as has the fact that Rashford has never, properly, nailed down a position. This season alone he has played as a central striker, in all three positions behind that striker and even at wing-back. It always seems that Rashford is the player who is moved to accommodate others and, understandably, it does not suggest a great deal of faith in his ability. Perhaps it also takes advantage of his willingness to do what he can for the team. He has been shoe-horned in especially when Pogba was fit and wanted to play on the left.
It is clear Rashford’s best position, for example, is on that side of the attack. Bizarrely United spent £73 million on a right-winger in Jadon Sancho last summer but have largely played him on the other flank while using Rashford on the right where he is clearly less effective. Senior players at United have found that unfathomable while it means that Rashford has never been able to grasp a role and build on it.
The injuries have been a significant problem and the question has to be asked as to whether United have managed Rashford correctly. It is no exaggeration to say that he has not played without pain for almost three years. While that is not unusual for a footballer it is for one so young and those issues can be traced back to the double stress fracture that Rashford suffered to his back during a FA Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers in January 2020. Given it was already suspected that Rashford was suffering from a single stress fracture – although this was denied by United - was it really worth the risk of further injury by continuing to play the leading goalscorer as Solskjaer, who was under severe pressure, did?
Rashford was also suffering from a piece of floating bone in his ankle and further serious problems manifested themselves such as the left shoulder injury he suffered later that year and that eventually required surgery after Euro 2020.
As ever Rashford returned more quickly than expected but was he fully fit when he played again last October? The shoulder issue meant that he could not do the cardiovascular work he needed. Even so Rashford scored three goals in his first four games but his form dipped, he lost his place and has not scored in the l1 games he has played since. At the same time his absences from the team led to penalty and free-kick duties being taken away from him which, obviously, dried up a source of goals. Solskjaer responded by setting him goal-scoring targets. He did score – with 21 goals in 57 appearances although that did not stop him being criticised for not scoring more. It would have helped had the manager come out and explained what his role in the team was.
Rashford has no doubts about his ability. It is understood he accepts he is not playing well, that he is not being dynamic enough and not fulfilling a natural talent that other senior players have described as “phenomenal”. Maybe, for such a conscientious and considerate personality, he is overthinking too much although the one thing that does get him riled is the accusation that his off-field activities, his campaigning against child poverty, has served as a distraction. That could not be further from the truth given the fierce commitment he has shown not only to get fit but get back in the United team and be focused.
There are those who argue that Rashford might even benefit from a change of club; to go somewhere where the pressure of being the United academy graduate and playing for a team that means so much to him is lifted. But Rashford just wants to be the best he can be and to be that at United. He knows he is not playing well enough but remains fully committed and is determined to work his way through it as he stated last week on social media when he wrote: “I’m not sulking, I’m not unhappy, am I disappointed in some of my recent performances? Of course I am. I’m my own biggest critic. It’s been a tough start but I am determined to prove my worth. My dedication and desire to be here should never be in question. I love this club.”
More than anything else what Rashford appears to need is that arm around the shoulder from a manager who truly believes in him and wants to help him fulfil his huge potential. Hopefully that will happen.
Did his handlers write that and just ask Jason Burt to put his name to it.
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