Yorkie

How?

Bah. Unlucky, Pickford.

State of that fucking ref. Pure ceremony.

There's absolutely no doubt that the load on players is too high, particularly for internationals whose schedule is literally relentless, but I think we skew the figures in a way because at least four of ours are freak incidents. Meanwhile Targett and Manquillo can hardly point to being over-burdened.

Sure.

Czech Republic vs Moldova is high stakes tomorrow night. Moldova could rob them of second place with a win. With absolutely no research behind it, possibly another team that's suddenly excelling beyond their norm since the creation of the Nations League?

Had a blast at a 'my lifetime XI' (or rather, since I started supporting, so 1997ish) using that site. Jury's out as to whether Shearer would've been as successful without orthodox wingers.

Canny teams @number37 but my immediate response is I dunno how you can chuck a modern CM in there and go for Cabaye when Bruno is just him and so much more...

@Miggys First Goal They're just from this.

York getting absolutely twatted at home to Hartlepool. I really wish they weren't quite so shit. Over 6000 in there today n'all.

Already been ruled out of Switzerland's next match according to reports.

Aye until Isak and Bruno arrived he was probably the most gifted player I'd ever seen for us in the flesh. It's a great tragedy that that player wasn't there ten years prior or later.

Good post, Branks. I feel very little schadenfreude here tbh (pointless anyway cos they'll be fine); just morose at this latest miserable episode in the story of football governance and ownership. I'll be very surprised to see any truly groundbreaking punishments dished out to anyone. The Premier League is as glossy and as desirable a brand as you can possibly get; an English calciopoli would be hugely damaging to that.

Yeah maybe; the starting line-up was miserable - particularly that double-pivot, and I find the TAA as number 10 thing unbelievably weird, even though he did areet. A fixture like that is always gonna have a semi-competitive vibe, though.

Been knocking around here for 18 years but still not found the Not Worthy of a Thread thread... It's probably thread worthy tbf.

Yeah man.

Meh, job done. The team looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there and you can't really blame them. Basically dead rubber. Surprised by how capable Malta looked, mind. Might stick a fiver on Hamrun Spartans to win the Euro Vanarama next year.

Henderson, Gallagher and TAA midfield trio. Christ on a trike.

He was answering a question specifically about the Scottish links.

Don't see any evidence of that and, besides, we've only featured in three so far. In the League Cup he made ten changes and then eight changes from the prior PL games, and we deservedly won them both. Meanwhile, in PL matches which have followed CL ones, he's tried to rotate Isak and Wilson and he's given minutes to the likes of Murphy and Anderson. In terms of relieving key players in non-cup games, the only real argument is Livramento for Trippier, but the latter has had an incredible season up until the last couple of games.

Southgate said he was "very close" to the England squad in his presser today.

Think we'd have stayed up even if we lost that game?

Yeah, should specify as a TV watcher. Less obvious in the stadium that there's a number of supposedly contentious issues to consider.

There's definitely a threat to the game's popularity as its spontaneity becomes eroded and the magnitude of incidents becomes reduced by the imposition of lengthy digital arbitration. The most concerning thing Webb said in that breakdown of the Diaz cock-up was that they "focus on efficiency but never at the expense of accuracy!" Ergo, you get your four-minute delays to green-light a correct decision that has already been made on the field. I actually missed the Arsenal game live but I've absolutely no doubt in my mind that the goal would've been added to the growing list of those which I didn't/couldn't celebrate.

I thought we were just discussing the hypothetical scenario where he comes under pressure? Obviously there's nothing about our current form that would vindicate any pressure right now, but it'll definitely happen at some point. Probably soon, tbh, given the hideous upcoming fixture list and the absolute state of our squad. I'm confident that this won't come to pass but it's plausible that, by Christmas: we're well-distanced from the top 4 race, out of the League Cup and out of Europe. That won't be his fault but the knives will definitely be getting sharpened by the press and the fanbase's idiots in that scenario.