Mole_Toonfan

Look at you flying all high because you've been ripping the nets out of goal with your high octane front foot Euro showing you f***ing smug b******s I hate you all. Ginobli

Sounds eerily familiar

Lebron would have saved it. LeBron at keeper would've been f***ing disgusting. We'd see that block every week

Lebron would have saved it. Missed his calling in life tbh, should have been a shit keeper instead.

Not particularly convinced he's human tbh.

Christ

Didn't know Lavezzi still existed outside of him being paid a kings ransom in China anyway.

Leonardo

If we played that game another 99 times we'd win all 99, the fact Russia got anything was a massive fluke and it would never happen again.

There's aspects which is better and worse. Fullbacks are probably worse going forward but better defensively, Henderson and Wilshere as a pairing is worse than Alli and Rooney imo mainly because of the big drop off to Henderson although Wilshere is probably more suited to his role than Alli currently is. Forwards are probably better though.

If Wales can beat them so can we, if you can't beat Slovakia you might as well pack it in and go home anyway.

I think the most realistic outcome is that Vardy and Sturridge comes in though and the rest stay as they are, which is probably the right decision anyway. If 3 national newspapers (two very credible ones) are running with the Rooney not playing story I'd say that's more likely than just the two strikers coming in Meant for the KOs, because obviously Rooney is coming back for that. Basically the only changes to the team i see sticking going forward is Sturridge and Vardy for Sterling and Kane and that's assuming they perform, the rest will probably be as it was.

I wouldn't take him out for the KOs regardless, but i do think if Wilshere or Henderson ( more likely Wilshere tbh) performs then it's possible that Alli coming out as he looks uncomfortable deep anyway. I think the most realistic outcome is that Vardy and Sturridge comes in though and the rest stay as they are, which is probably the right decision anyway.

This is apparently the team. Hart Clyne - Smalling - Cahill - Bertrand Henderson - Dier - Wilshere Sturridge - Vardy - Lallana

It's Slovakia, the team he's apparently putting out should be more than good enough. Kind of hoping that Sturridge and Vardy perform well so it forces Hodgson's hand. Obviously Rooney will come back in and Alli probably will too but pace and movement in front of Rooney and Alli is a step in the right direction.

Zidane's prime was arguably at Juventus anyway, plus Ronaldo couldn't do what Zidane did for France at the Euros or the WC or what Xavi did for Spain. Replace Ronaldo on those teams with these players and they are arguably worse teams, it's a totally different argument though. The reason i agree with AY is because too many times over the years in the really massive games Ronaldo has been limited to nothing despite his obscene goal tallies. In both Real Madrid CL triumphs in the finals he was a non factor, to me when you start taking these type of things i look at moments that decided trophies and Ronaldo's biggest moment is probably the header for Man Yoo in the CL final or the run against Fulham which practically decided the league title. His career IMO is a blur of goals without many outstanding or memorable moments, when people talk about Xavi or Zidane's career they can point to a multitude of moments which made them amazing but when people talk about Ronaldo they'll likely refer to his stats. This comes back to the whole Messi "rivalry " as well, a lot of people say Messi is made people underrate Ronaldo. If anything i think it's the opposite, his "rivalry" with Messi to me has glorified his career to the point which wouldn't have happened without him. He's one of the greatest goalscorers i have ever seen but i'll never consider him to be a better player than likes of Zidane or Xavi. You'll entitled to disagree i just see it differently is all and i get the feeling a lot of people coaching and playing the game will probably see it the same way.

20 shots There's professional Basketball players in the NBA finals taking less shots than this guy.

Thus IF There's always Chile as well when you inevitably fail.

Besides it's June, hardly anyone has bought at this stage. No point even thinking about it for at least another month yet, if we get players in before then? great but tbh i'm not even thinking about this stuff yet.

Like City i genuinely believe a lot of Chelsea's issues last year were down to them being disillusioned with the manager in charge, the mental refresh will do wonders for both teams. You don't go from title contenders to complete s**** overnight, quality isn't the issue IMO. Plus they'll both obviously spend s*** loads anyway.

I'm wondering how much credit Messi will receive if Argentina win Copa America? I'm really intrigued by this. Part of me thinks not because it came a year after the last one, Euros on the same time, some teams seem from the outside looking in that some teams don't give a s***. ( aka Neymar not going ) But at the same time it's still an international tournament so it's still a significant part of his resume which is not yet fulfilled.

Probably because it's the same as usual media links manager with ex players rumor that always happens.

In fairness i doubt many of us have seen too much of him I'd give him a chance just on the basis of he scored goals in League 1 and the difference between that and the Championship isn't that huge.

Called it pre-tournament and got a load of s*** for it You got a load of s*** because you said their squad wasn't great which isn't true. Belgium were good once they made the subs Said Lukaku has 3 in 6 months, shown nowt to reiterate the hype. Was s**** today. Said Hazard was s**** this season. Was s**** today. Alderwiereld & Vertonghen are top defenders. De Bruyne is class. After that, it's a load of good to just above 'good' players, nowt special Hazard was good in the second half IMO. De Bruyne was about a million times worse. Mertens and Carrasco are very good players, Dembele is very good and should be starting. Courtois is class. The manager is the problem not the players Disagree, manager is s*** but to say the players aren't the problem is far too simplified and is taking attention away from the fact they don't have that great of a team. All their players are overrated as s*** . They don't have a single good playmaking CM or decent DM, no good fullbacks, Lukaku has like a 1 in 5 record at international level and most of their CBs are poor defenders but get hyped because they can score. ( the Spurs ones deficiencies get hidden because Pochettino is so good at protecting them) There's just zero balance or changes of pace in this team and as alluded to they lack goal threat, yet somehow they are treated as some amazing team. Not to mention Hazard has hardly had a big match great performance in his career really( only one i can think of is against City when Demichelis played in midfield ), De Bruyne is probably their best player and even he isn't of the level required. The rest are nowhere near as good as advertised and especially not good enough to make them a legitimate international threat. Come on man. Nainggolan is sought after by the biggest clubs in the world, Alderweireld is maybe the best centre back in the EPL, Dembele had an amazing season and Lukaku just wrapped up a 25 goal season with a pretty meh Everton side. And that's leaving out the likes of Courtois, de Bruyne, Hazard, Batshuayi etc. It's a great group of players no matter how you look at it - however they've clearly not moulded into a team and that's the problem. All of those things are irrelevant. Dembele had an amazing season in the PL for Spurs standards, he's not good enough to be the best or one of CM of a team looking to win a international tournament. Nainggolan sought after the biggest clubs in the world? says who he's not THAT level. Alderweireld being the best CB in the PL is also pretty irrelevant considering it's a different standard and Spurs do a great job of protecting their back 4 and Lukaku's PL record considering how bad he's been in his international career is also pretty irrelevant. When i look at a football team i look for a few things. Does it have a reliable back 4? does it have a DM who can protect said defence?, does it have pace in wide areas to open up space for the central players and give delivery to the strikers? Does it have a reliable goal threat? does it have a passer from deep who can open up chances for others? This Belgium team doesn't really have any of that, it's a poorly balanced team full of weaknesses and most people just list the names of their individuals ( who to be frank are mostly if not all overhyped anyway) without considering how it fits together as a team and you are delusional if you think changing managers will magically turn them into the team that people expect of them. They still need a CM to get them the ball in good areas, otherwise they'll constantly be coming deep to get the ball like Ben Arfa used to be forced to do for us. What i mean De Bruyne not being of the level required is he's not good enough to be the best player on the a team looking to win an international tournament and he is their best player but De Bruyne as your best player isn't cutting it. You can all disagree with me if you want, that's your prerogative but i think you'll constantly be disappointed by them if you believe they are good enough to contend for this tournament if they got rid of Wilmots. Don't get me wrong he's fucking useless, but there's a lot more issues with this team than just him being an inept fool.