Wullie

Can't they be both?

Aye no speculation please.

Serie A are banning green kits from 2022-23 (because they blend with the grass on TV), which will outlaw the colours of Sassuolo.

Your idea of big money seems to be stuck in about 2001.

International tournaments are by far and away the football I look forward to and enjoy most these days, has been the case for a few years. It's the purity of it I think I enjoy most. Everyone is there for the football, the chance of glory, every player and spectator is fully committed to every single game. More than ever with the club game there's a grim cynicism to it, a pretence that everything matters when actually a lot of the time it doesn't. This game in the league is worth more than that game in the cup, this game in the Champions League is worth more than that one in the league. Several trophies are treated as basically worthless, a joke that nobody wants, a hindrance to participate in. Almost every club in the pyramid is now primarily a vehicle for players to get themselves a bigger move, even down the leagues which used to feel a bit more pure (I've watched with sadness as most of the Hartlepool team which got promoted in June has now fucked off). Clubs buying other clubs as a talent pool, or advertising themselves to players as stepping stones to bigger things, or teams made up almost entirely of loan players, or players being asked about their next transfer on the pitch after winning a cup, I know I almost certainly sound like a grumpy old bastard but these things all suck the joy out of the club game for me. I still watch tons of club football because I still absolutely love the game itself, once the whistle goes I'll watch anything but I increasingly hate everything that surrounds it, and that sense always feels massively heightened after I've watched a summer tournament.

I'm still absolutely gutted, proper sulking.

It was at the end of normal time.

We definitely didn't have them outnumbered on the counter.

Aye it's an account that's dressed up to look exactly like the official NUFC account.

I've not been to an away game since 2014 but from what I've read on here and heard from other people, there's been a massively increased use of drugs (particularly cocaine) being used openly in the last few years and this has contributed to a much more unpleasant atmosphere before games.

Dunno why anyone would be surprised that some players wouldn't particularly want to wear, touch, look at, a runners up medal minutes after they've lost the biggest game of their careers.

I've been fascinated listening to the accounts of the day from various journalists on podcasts, sounds like it was fucking pandemonium.

Keepers go one side or the other, like 95% of the time. One Italian put it straight down the middle (Bernadeschi I think?), it's much better than just picking a side and hitting it halfway between keeper and post, at a savable height, like Sancho and Saka. If you're not confident of burying it in a corner, just play it safe and hit it central, with enough height and power that a trailing leg won't keep it out.

There's nowhere near enough smashing it down the middle anymore for me. Hardly see anyone do it now, especially in shootouts.

I'm a bit haunted by that Foden injury. He was exactly what we needed in the late stages with his ability to pass forward and retain possession.

8 of the German starting XI has won the Champions League, and Kroos was the only one of those 8 who hasn't won it either this season or last.

You'd think Colombia who won their group in the last WC were a bunch of mugs as well. "Look at who we've played!" Croatia who took Spain to ET? The Czechs who dumped the Dutch out? It's like getting to a final is only an achievement if you played France in every single round (and simultaneously ignore that they got dumped out by a team who, if we had played them, would have been counted amongst the easy pointless no-hopers). We've failed to get this far for 55 years and some of our fans suddenly go on like we'll always easily brush aside everyone other than 3 or 4 teams. Fucking Iceland put us out last time. Short memories.

Thanks for that, interesting. Players in Saka's position of needing to score to stay in it only score 62% of the time, wow.

Purely in terms of penalties, it's a pity Trippier and Mount were off. I'd absolutely bank on Trippier.

I thought Italy were absolutely awful in the first, what, 35 minutes? England were the better side in the first half by some distance.

I don't disagree but it's not really anything to do with England (the team). It's been happening all season to black players in the PL every time they concede a throw in.

I've seen Raheem Sterling take plenty penalties and subsequently didn't want him anywhere near them, neither does Guardiola. Sancho has a good record for Dortmund.

Now England can experience it?? It's been an England trait in major tournament big games for as long as I can remember. We score very early, cede possession and eventually get done. Croatia 2018 (Trippier after 5 mins) Iceland 2016 (Rooney after 4 mins) Portugal 2004 (Owen after 3 mins) Brazil 2002 (Owen after 23 mins) Argentina 1998 (Owen put us 2-1 up after 16 mins) Germany 1996 (Shearer after 3 mins)