ponsaelius

Interesting. The amount of international games they play in CONCACAF is mad.

Went along to 3 games over the weekend: Szekely Land 5-0 Matabeleland Northern Cyprus 3-1 Tibet Cascadia 6-0 Tamil Eelam All were great fun (particularly the middle fixture) despite the poor standard and one sided nature of the match ups. Can imagine the latter rounds in terms of knockouts and placement games will be better as the teams become more evenly matched.

The players that have gone ahead of him are hardly scrubs. The argument that is being made is he hasn't (yet) starred while playing for Germany, which is probably justified. Looking at it from an outside perspective, he's a quicker player than any of their other options, and would offer something different to Draxler or Brandt. That seems the biggest issue in his non-selection. However if their system doesn't really fit a player of his skillset then perhaps it's not worth it.

They're a member but not at the tournament. The membership isn't really confusing. They just have no restrictions. That's kind of the point.

They'll get about £25 million for him. Probably from Leicester.

Anybody else sad enough to go to some of the CONIFA World Cup matches in London over the next couple of weeks?

If it's Bilbao who want him and he really wants to go we shouldn't sell him unless we completely claw their eyes out. He's one of only a handful of players they can actually sign.

eh? Giroud has 4 more goals Benzema hasnt played since 2015 (Giroud played 27, scored 18 in that time) 31 in 72 games is better than 27 in 81 games. Maybe not much better but Benzema has never been great for France, especially when he's played in tournaments. I dont think he's a loss considering his last 18 months of form. Good for France to go forward with Mbappe and Griezmann and have Giroud as the target man option.

Griezmann, Mbappe and Giroud provide good options. Giroud has a much better international record than Benzema.

He's hardly been very good this season.

As is Billy Jones. The only ones they'll struggle to shift without paying off are probably Cattermole and Rodwell.

Yeah the only time that becomes relevant is if they've got 6-12 months left.

Alfie Mawson.

I'd rather James Maddison than Grealish if you're looking at Championship players in that position. Better final ball and far better attitude, although Grealish is a better dribbler. Both probably cost too much for us though.

Krul was outstanding that season. There were loads of games where we just clung on for dear life. You could make a case for some others but at the time I don't think anybody questioned him winning it.

Krul was a deserving winner in 2011/12 tbh. The rest are a shambles.

What's so weird about that? That's how the coefficients work, over a 5 year basis. As good as they have been in getting to two finals (15-16, 17-18), they also missed two full seasons in Europe (13-14, 16-17). They also had a bad year in 14-15 winning only 1 CL group game and going out in the last 32 of the Europa League.

I think football has just hit rock bottom

It wasn't a red.

It must be the same one. Which I'm struggling to believe. Because I remember him being a shite defensive midfielder.

Those squads

I'm with you. He's atrocious.

Really weak appointment IMO.

De Vrij's done that on purpose I'm sure. Fucking mindless tackle.

Also happy for Handanovic. Never player in the CL in his career (apart from a couple of qualifiers), despite being a top class goalkeeper.