Kaizero

Guy in charge of Norwegian ref's said something in response to one of the TV pundits ranting about what you're saying that most people forget when lost in their blind hatred against the concept of VAR, I'll paraphrase a bit since I'm translating: "Referees implement and react to the rules they are instructed to follow. The position of the arm is in direct violation of (not sure how to translate the rule, but the number was #12 at least ) of the rules of the game as they are today. Neither the EC referees or VAR is where your complaint should be directed, you can direct it to IFAB, here is the address: The International Football Association Board Münstergasse 9 8001 Zürich Switzerland"

An absolute 100% classic England performance under Southgate this.

On that note, I was deep in a wiki-bing the other day and saw that Robinho had started on a nine year prison sentence in Brazil for gang raping a 22 year old.

https://time.com/5079487/die-hard-christmas-movie/

Winner: Germany Best Loser: England Golden Boot: Florian Wirtz # of Red Cards: 8 England Eliminated: Final Matchday 1 Germany 3 - 1 Scotland Hungary 0 - 2 Switzerland Spain 3 - 2 Croatia Italy 2 - 0 Albania Poland 1 - 3 Netherlands Slovenia 0 - 2 Denmark Serbia 1 - 1 England Romania 1 - 1 Ukraine Belgium 3 - 0 Slovakia Austria 1 - 4 France Turkey 2 - 2 Georgia Portugal 3 - 1 Czech Republic

Didn't just feel like it, was it not something like 7 out of 23 Senegal players that got a transfer to a PL club following the WC?

Used to love following the transfer window after major international tournaments back in the day to see if any of the "unknown" players that shined at the tournament would get snapped up by big clubs.

I support Norway (duh) and the US (because why not) when it comes to international football. However, me doing so I swear is the sole reason both sides are stuck with Pardew-esque manager situations.

I'm all for a 64 nation WC and a 32 nation EC tbh. If EC 2024 was 32 nations, the ones that'd be there now (out of the non-qualified sides) would likely be Greece, Wales, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Montenegro, Israel and Luxembourg. None of which I'd have an issue with seeing get three matches in an EC tournament (bar Israel, of course, but for political reasons - not sporting). Out of the teams in the EC qualifiers, that'd mean only 24* (26 if we were to include Russia and Belarus) would not qualify for the final EC tournament. That means more sides would qualify for the finals than didn't, but nobody cares about the EC qualifiers - I want to see teams play at the EC itself. So even if it seems kinda dumb on paper to have more teams qualify than not, it'd make for a more fun final tournament and more nations/fans involved - as well as increasing the likelihood of a minnow nation or two managing to put together a run that'd create some upsets. As you, I hate the concept of three teams advancing from a group of four. I support any move, be it less nations at the tournament or more, that would ensure that we can get back to two out of four teams advancing from the group stage. * It's past midnight and I generally suck at counting, so don't quote me on that being the correct number

Have to admit a slight bias towards him as he's a big follower of the same philosophy Kjetil Knutsen implemented at Bodø/Glimt In essence, it's just "each player in each position know what their role to play on the pitch is so in-depth that you can swap a first team player for a back-up/youth player in the same position and you'll barely notice a difference".

2.16 PPG average, most in St. Pauli history (discounting caretakers). Going back ten seasons before Hurzeler got the gig, their managers averaged a PPG of: 1.45 | 1.12 | 1.43 | 1.42 | 1.20 | 1.33 (again not counting caretakers). Yes, guy is yet to prove he can do it at another club - but you can only find out by letting him try. I'm all for this type of manager appointment instead of any of the normal merry-go-round appointment PL clubs usually make out of fear.

Additional sidenote: I'm of the (probably quite unpopular opinion) that national teams should mainly hire foreign managers to avoid any inherent national bias regarding players, ensuring an objective look at the current crop of players in the nation they manage as well as somewhat of an emotional disconnect when it comes to selections/performance.

I put £25 on a US victory. You're welcome.

IMO the main problem with Solbakken is a problem that is often seen amongst managers of nations that doesn't have star players in every position, but coincidentially happen to have several star players that play in the same position. Instead of doing the sane and normal thing and select the best of the players for each position and fielding a starting eleven with players that play in their natural/normal position, he tends to make players like Sørloth and Strand Larsen (both 6' 4" #9s) play as wingers, forcing our naturally gifted wingers Bobb and Nusa to play as central midfielders. To add to that, he often makes Ødegaard play left wing to accomodate for all of the big name midfielders getting to play instead of having Ødegaard play as #10. I'd much rather see players like Sørloth on the bench and us playing the best players we have available in their natural positions, thus having a team that gels well together and doesn't fuck up all the time due to players playing out of position. Because, even if it's a shame for someone of Sørloth's calibre to be a bench player, Sørloth was unlucky enough to be born in the same generation as Haaland - and Haaland is the better number nine, therefore Haaland should play. There's no point having two massive strikers on the pitch at the same time when that ensures the rest of the team is so out of order the strikers don't get any service regardless. Also, our current generation of players are filled with talent from midfield and up. Our defensive players and keepers are mediocre, at best. It makes no sense to set the team up as "defence first"/"build from the back" team when the players in the positions needed for that type of style aren't up to snuff. What this generation of Norway players need in a manager is the Keegan-esque "stereotype" that's all-out attack, trying to win 4-3 instead of 1-0.

Needs to be added that Lägerback didn't even have "prime" Ødegaard and Haaland at his disposal most of his time as Norway manager, - Solbakken has had both his entire time as manager.

True enough But having had an eye and a half on St. Pauli the past few years, be that only because of their "cult" status or not (), what he's done with that club has been nothing short of incredibly impressive.

Guy's lived in Germany since he was two years old, mom is Swiss and father German... he's an American citizen since all children born in the US automatically gets a US citizenship. You really can't hold his birth citizenship against him, man - the guy is a German Also a very, very, talented manager. Brighton are genuinely getting all their managerial appointments right.

He must have dirt on the top people at the Norwegian FA, the press and all our pundits or something. Lars Lägerback got annihilated by pundits and in the press aaaages before the FA actually got their fingers out of their asses and sacked him for having Norway perform "below expectations". Solbakken has now led Norway the same amount of games and has a worse record than Lägerback

That assist from Ødegaard was honestly so fucking good it made me forget Norway are absolutely shit 90% of the time

Hooooly shit Ødegaard just hit one of the most insane passes from fucking deep midfield through the entirety of Denmark to put Haaland clean through on goal

I just did a double take as it felt like something I should be offended by... then I remembered I'm 34 fucking years old now I signed up on here when I had just turned 16, where the fuck did 18 years go?!

Can't be arsed to look through the shitload of pages since that's come since I last checked, but is the Blaydon Races variant sung in the promo out on streaming yet?