Wullie

Taking the risk of being made to look a mug by a friendly again but Sorescu looks really big for a card at 11/2. 10 cards in 27 games in 2021 and he's playing RB up against Sancho, Rashford and/or Grealish. The ref is an absolute card fiend as well, averages nearly 6 a game in Portugal.

Can't remember a thing about Buendia in the PL two years ago. Only scored 1 goal and played every game. Has he improved dramatically?

It's just a semantic misunderstanding going on here. Triggs means "the game" as in the particular football match that is being played, Towelie means "the game" in a wider sense as in the game of football generally.

Always enjoy this Guardian tournament player guide https://www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive/2021/jun/04/euro-2020-complete-guide-to-all-622-players-ratings

Aye what Ben said. Great for betting and it's on in the morning when I'm working from home.

I watch a lot of A League and he'd be perfect. Basically every team has a 36 year old European has-been striker who can't run and they just bang crosses at. Matt Derbyshire is a goal machine.

What a dud.

It's objectively more exciting because it's win or lose, as opposed to win, lose or play another boring period of extra time where a load of knackered players go through the motions trying not to concede. There's more at stake. You might not like it because it's "not fair" (even though it is completely fair because everyone knows the rules before they start and it's the same for both teams, that's the definition of fairness) but it simply is a more exciting way to decide a tie.

Robbie Savage has some brilliant banter, he's got my vote.

Well obviously. It would hardly have been one of the great comeback stories. "Remember that time we needed 2 goals at home against Lincoln City with more than a third of the game left, was a million to one shot I tells ya"

Eh? How is a game over when a team needs to score twice at home after the 56th minute?

365 offering card markets on 2 games tonight, Spain-Portugal and Italy-Czechs, 2 cards each double pays 71/1. Friendly or not (so was England-Austria), that's just silly pricing and well worth a quid given the teams involved, especially in the Spain game (7/1 for 2 each, 11/10 for 1 each). Pawson doing that game as well.

Completely beyond me how anyone could watch e.g. Spurs/Ajax, Roma/Barca or Barca/PSG and come to the conclusion that they'd rather have seen yet another penalty shoot out instead.

Derek Adams leaves Morecambe after getting them promoted on Monday. Looks like Bradford.

It will be, quite a common tempter for tournament signups, I remember Coral did Brazil playing in yellow for the first game of the World Cup there.

It's Crystal Palace we're talking about here!

God forbid a manager should have a fallow period of a few months having lost his two main goalscorers, after promotion, two top half finishes and a European quarter final. Good enough to manage a club like Crystal Palace? Pah! Throw him on the scrapheap with the rest.

Imagine posting criticism on a football forum of fans and players at being disappointed at losing the European Cup final.

There's no doubt that he has a habit of making strange team selections in big games. Apart from changing his midfield, Cancelo's been arguably their best player this season, a huge part of the way they've played, and didn't even get on the pitch.

1-1 I think, Ronaldo scored a header iirc.

They've given me £3 ffs. Think I might have Werner, 3 cards in his last 8, priced at 11/2. Probably with Kyle Walker if he starts.

This used to be the case in the 2000s when Mourinho and Benitez were around but when was the last time it happened? Almost every late stage European 2 legged tie now is a chaotic thriller.

But anyone who has watched the CL over the last 5-10 years knows that in practice this simply doesn't happen. In the past, yes, but as the best sides have become well oiled attacking machines, designed primarily to blow away domestic opposition every week, when they get into the late stages of European competition, it's simply become who can score the most, and the AG rule puts much more jeopardy into the situation, it's the only situation in football where 1 goal is the difference between victory and defeat.

This thread is spot on for why it's a bad idea. That 1 goal difference between defeat and victory is why the CL has been so exciting over the last few years as teams have become more attacking. I think if they do officially scrap it they'll quickly realise the mistake and reverse it.

I think this is a huge mistake. While I appreciate that the original reason the rule was introduced is largely moot, I think the really exciting European dramas we've seen over the last few years have been driven by the away goals rule. When the tie is in the balance, 1 goal between a winner and a loser, it creates urgency on one side and nerves on the other, in a way a potential draw simply doesn't. We'll see way more ties decided via penalties, and I just don't see that as any fairer as away goals, and it's substantially less dramatic on the field.