Wullie

Shame tbh, we could really benefit from giving someone a proper arse-kicking (not that I'm assuming we would mind, just hopeful we could).

Any chance Palmeiras are after an Isaac Hayden type?

Apart from Second Captains, my go-to weekend review podcast at the minute is Planet FPL, really good tactical analysis. I think it's worthwhile even if you're not an FPL person. Haven't bothered regularly with Guardian or Totally Football in years now.

This had passed me by until now, TV coverage of other leagues has absolutely collapsed this season. Disastrous for sad fuckers like me who like watching Monza vs Lecce. TNT/BT used to show almost every Serie A game, it's now max 2 per weekend and Ligue 1 is gone completely. Meanwhile the National League has gone to DAZN, I couldn't tell you what the fuck that is. TNT is basically the Champions League and fuck all else other than the early PL game each weekend. I'm sure they're putting the price down accordingly.

That's outrageous, you can't give a penalty for that. Brilliant thinking, referee's fault for letting play continue with a loose ball on the pitch.

Like Ashworth did? That's not how these contracts are written, they are binding on both parties. He could walk but he wouldn't be able to work for anyone else for the contract length unless it was paid up, as Man United eventually did.

More than anything, I don't see the FA paying up an expensive PL contract, especially after they've had previous recent success with promoting from within (and so have Spain). Even if they didn't do that Potter just looks an obvious choice to me - free, available and good at playing possession football.

What in particular was garbage about the 2022 World Cup? We scored 12 goals in the first 4 games and then ultimately a missed penalty cost us a quarter final in which we were the better side.

I'm not old enough to remember so I'll take your word for it. Which Euros were your favourite under Robson, Euro 84 which we failed to qualify for or Euro 88 where we finished bottom of the group?

England manager should be English imo, don't think we should go foreign again.

So who is?

Very much encourages playing for draws in the groups as well.

The irony is that peak Southgate was against Spain in that Nations League game and Kane was sensational putting balls into the channels for his runners, Sterling and Rashford. We had even less possession in that game as well, we had 29% possession in the first half and we were 3-0 up after half an hour. Very different teams but we didn't even attempt anything like that plan last night, nobody attempted to run off Kane at any point last night or any game in the tournament really, very frustrating. Lot of talk about Kane's not fit, his legs have gone etc etc. I've heard all that before about Kane. Bet you he's got 10 goals/assists for Bayern before the end of September with Sane, Musiala and Olise buzzing around him.

If they expand to a 32 team Euros they'd have to completely change qualifying imo. Make it so the teams who got through to at least the last 16 of the previous Euros don't need to qualify. Making Spain, France, England, Germany etc etc go through an entire qualifying campaign to get to a 32 team Euros would be a farce.

I think it's very hard to accuse this England team of trying to play at 100 miles an hour. I've rarely seen a more slow and ponderous team. Spain on the other hand were fast and dynamic.

And for all Kane has been rubbish, when you watch as much top level modern football as we/I do, watching Jordan Pickford whack it long to him over and over and over again, hoping for a knockdown, is almost surreal. I've said to a couple of relatives this tournament who are the type of people who only watch football at these times that basically nobody plays football like this now, it has felt sometimes like Southgate hasn't watched a Premier League game since he retired.

I thought it was the plan in the first half to isolate him against Saka, who has form for absolutely rinsing him in the past for Arsenal. We got it quickly out to Saka a couple of times then stopped bothering.

Kane has at least done it for England in the past and is always a goal threat even when he's not playing well. Foden remains a complete mystery in an England shirt.

He looks quite easy to stop to me for a really good team. It's like, yeah I've seen Wilfried Zaha play for years, this is really nothing special at all. Fair play to him, he's had a great run of form at the perfect time, but I'm not convinced he's going to have a big club career (feel free to quote this in 5 years time when he wins his third CL).

I think Spain were made to look better than they are by every other big team other than Germany trying the Deschamps/Southgate approach of keeping it tight and trying to nick a goal. I know we're biased but it really is a joke that a player like Nico Williams can look so good in a tournament where we had a better player in the same position and he played 4 minutes. Williams will get another half a dozen goals next season for Bilbao, Gordon is twice the player.

I was delighted when Spain kept bringing on Real Sociedad players, fucking mediocre load of nowt, and one of them scores the winner. Fuck off.

I thought it was a stick on pen! You see those all the time, usually a full back hacking a big clearance down the line and someone clatters him after the ball has gone. It's always a foul and it's usually a yellow card. It's a penalty.

That's one of the all time greatest ever England goals. An absolutely sensational finish, world class centre forward play.

"Amazing situation" that a referee who has been on the UEFA elite list for a decade is refereeing an England game. Yeah proper wild.