leffe186

Most of them have been, to be fair.

He's legitimately a good footballer, and the kind of player that England are a bit short on - clever, good vision, nice range of passing, comfortable on the ball. It's faintly pathetic that a player with so little experience is starting game for England, but this is where we are. Also, he has been playing for England in every age group since he was 16 IIRC.

There was a 0-0 draw against Spain when Shaun Wright Phillips was racially abused that was so dire that everyone seems to have forgotten it ever happened. I remember Bobby Robson putting out a side that got easily beat at Wembley against Russia that had a centre midfield pairing of John Gregory and Steve Hunt. Grim times. If it's the game I'm thinking of, I believe I was there. FFS. '84 , before Sir Bobby realised Glenn Hoddle was the man to build his team around. Think we lost 2-0 and were lucky to get 0. Yeah I was there . Does the statute of limitations apply to child cruelty over 30 years?

There was a 0-0 draw against Spain when Shaun Wright Phillips was racially abused that was so dire that everyone seems to have forgotten it ever happened. I remember Bobby Robson putting out a side that got easily beat at Wembley against Russia that had a centre midfield pairing of John Gregory and Steve Hunt. Grim times. If it's the game I'm thinking of, I believe I was there. FFS.

There's no fucking way I'd get on that thing.

Captain Morata . At least the draft is going ok today.

Not the worst start to the week .

I think him doing it against the English teams who regularly get the latter stages is a fair indication of what he's capable of against the non-English teams in the latter stages. What English teams regularly get to the latter stages? Here we go. All of them generally get beyond the group stages. If you're talking semi finals and the final, Spurs aren't getting there or competing enough for him to be able to prove anything. What do you mean "here we go"? Do you think the English teams over the last 5 years have been as good as Barca, Real, Atletico, Bayern, Juve? That's what I'm talking about. The English look like they'll make a bit of a comeback in Europe this season however No I don't, but nor was that what you originally said or asked tbf. FWIW, I think it's a bit of an oddity to gauge your opinion on a player based the team they face beyond a certain point, when obviously it's a team sport. It's a bit 'Messi needs to win the world cup' for me once you get to that level, because no individual is going to overcome those teams without a team that can already compete with them. It's not really that, just Kane until this season had done nothing in Europe's elite competition. It's completely fair to hold off on calling someone the best till they prove it against the best imo. Yeah, but that's part of the point. He hasn't really had the opportunities. He was injured last year but scored two goals in three games. You would see it crop up in Redcafe/Arsemania/RAWK conversations about Kane - "He can't do it in the CL". He never had the chance. This year he has five in two, and the narrative is now "he has to do it against the big teams in the latter stages". It's just amusing, really. I'm not going to say he's the best in the world, but equally he hadn't "done nothing" until this season.

There is certainly big team bias at times, but there is also home team bias, irrespective of team size. I've also seen "small-team" bias where a "smaller" team plays defensively and gets away with persistent fouling and cynicism. Leicester benefitted from this, and when I was in Scotland I would see it all the time against Celtic and Rangers. Refs would let smaller teams get away with murder at times, particularly at home.

He did that on Tuesday. Wonder how many players have two complete hat-tricks in the same week? It wouldn't surprise me if CRonaldo has at some point. Yeah, he was definitely on my list.

He did that on Tuesday. Wonder how many players have two complete hat-tricks in the same week?

You might well do. We had the youngest squad last year.

That doesn't augur well.

Tbf a few seasons ago I'd have said the Bundesliga was the best in the world, currently it's the La Liga imo. The La Liga FFS .

Up against Neesy this week. His team actually looks pretty good.

I've not been watching their game, but how come Liverpool have got 8 minutes injury time? Anything happen? Or egregious time-wasting?

Captained Morata. Which was nice. Keeping my wildcard for Christmas, like the sexual predator I am.

God I wish you could trade in this thing. Still, might just be able to cope with Sterling and Mane's suspensions unscathed.

Even worse for all the money we've spent. #taxpayers #brokenrecordleffe

It looks like somebody's put a shirt through the wrong wash cycle.

Burn the heretic!

Aye, these might just be premier league stats looking at it. Moncur got 10 and Irving Nattrass 16. Didn't Nattrass play in midfield?

*sigh* Totally forgot the game .

One of my favourite claims to fame is that as a kid I swam in the pool where Ian Dury caught polio.

Essex, innit. They're doing very well. No surprise with the money invested into the club. If just one person out there gets my obscure muso reference I'll be happy. My money's on Bimpy.