sixx

Haven't really seen much of him before but Cuadrado is absolute turd.

Harry Maguire is your most creative outlet actually quite like his surges forward.

Don't really like three at the back much. The wings being largely occupied by full backs is canny dull. Watching the three Belgian centre backs passing it between them today was beyond tame for example and very little came from Carrasco or Meunier. I'd much prefer watching natural wingers taking men on.

Yes, because many have been very successful at club level. If they can't perform as a team at international level then it's down to the management of them. Yes I'm aware they have good players at club level, as a national side they've never even lived up to half of that potential 'on paper' imo. I heard people say they were in with a shout of winning this tournament, on that showing not even close. Germany had a poor game yesterday but you could tell it was in them to move through the gears and play very well - can't see that with Belgium. They also kind of went through their qualifying group winning every game bar one which they drew, scoring 43 goals in the process and conceding only six. Not a tough group by any means but definitely an indication that they can perform well as a team.

De Bruyne might be the tidiest player I've ever seen. Iniesta's natural heir.

Ref is whistling at fucking everything.

The 2006 team was absolutely bonkers though.

By the way. What happened to that Brazilian Bernard guy? According to Wiki he just left Shakhtar on a free. Still only 25.

He couldn't score a penalty against a 34 year old semi pro

Come to think of it, the idea of Canada alone hosting a World Cup actually sounds kind of better If were going to have three countries jointly hosting the WC, something like Sweden/Denmark/Norway would make more sense or a West African WC of some type.

No matter how I look at it, a WC in three massive countries at once sounds woeful. Just really uninspiring.

Money can't really buy what Lascelles brings to the team.

Yeah both Mbemba and Clark are more than adequate covers and Clark a pretty experienced one as well. Don't get why some would want to get rid of them both. Would've come in handy to have a promising CB coming through the ranks to replace Mbemba as a backup when he leaves. But of course the academy is turboshite.

Rafa had no right to drag these two Liverpool sides to CL finals. Most of these players were bang-average and some outright minging. The Milan, Juve and Chelsea sides they defeated had proper world class in every department. You aren't supposed to take a team of Traore, Crouch, Biscan and Pennant to two CL finals. Absolute mastermind.

Rashford is the most exciting prospect Man Utd have had in years. He's not coming. Oh and yeah I bet Gibson is very excited to come here and pick up where Mbemba/Clark left off. To sit on the bench. I'm also absolutely positive Ashley (or Staveley for that matter) will be willing to spend 20 odd million on a back up centre back. This thread sometimes...

A striker that's functional and durable to the standards needed would be nice. Not sure if that suitcase would do any worse for us upfront than Gayle and Joselu.

For me, one of the biggest appeals of football is its universality. It's pretty much the only sport, just one of the generally few things, that the world can gather over and partake in on pretty much equal premises. Be it in Kinshasa, Singapore, Buenos Aires or Newcastle you can be rest assured that the game is played the same way with the same simple foundations available to pretty much everyone; pitch, ball, two goals. I'm probably over-sentimental but for me, things like VAR just feed the divide for pretty much the only thing the world can agree on. It's just so unnecessary, technical and bland. Feels like we have become so elitist, petulant and presumptuous after a couple of decades being spoiled by outrageously high-quality football and bonkers amount of money that now we demand to know and get everything, all the time. Don't even get me started on how it interrupts the flow of the game.

He's very prone to lose possession in the final third but that's entirely forgivable while he's popping up with assists and goals every game! If he can pick up a thing or two from Diamé on how to retain possession he'd be so, so good.

I would really like to see some stats on how often Ayoze loses possession in the final third.

This has to be the dullest derby in the world.

We have a decent selection of wingers all of a sudden. Gone are the days of Shola on the right or Gouffran on the left. Rafa's revolutionary idea of playing wingers in wide areas seems to be paying off - players that can actually take someone on, cross or dribble. Would like to see more of Murphy before the end of the season.

There's a clip of him doing the rounds on Twitter, right at the moment when the referee blew for full time - Rafa casually takes off his glasses and places them in his breast pocket. I don't know, it seems like a ridiculously trivial moment but it's also kinda telling. It's like he meticulously prepared for today, got the job done down to a tee and then just casually takes off his glasses after an honest day of work where everything precisely went how it was supposed to go No bells and whistles, no fistpumping, nothing left to chance. Just solid fucking professionalism and preparation. We're so lucky to have him.

Mick McCarthy is apparently leaving Ipswich at the end of the season. If there is a god, Mick becomes a pundit.

Also kinda makes you wonder if more quality can be plucked from the Championship for relatively little money...?

I think this just goes to show what a shrewd bit of business buying him was. Lascelles and Darlow arrived for a combined sum of seven million if I recall, I'm not sure who's responsible for scouting and/or signing them, especially as this was such a surprising signing at the time, but fucking kudos.