ilikenewcastle

Rafa finishing top half in 2018 is probably a miracle that doesn't get enough praise. Will always love him, but couldn't be happier with Eddie right now.

I think they'll be OK. Bottom half but safe. Must say I'm a bit confused with all the praise they get about last season, they did OK and nothing more.

Whatever you think of women's football, you cannot look at these scenes right now and not feel emotional.

There's a lot of really gross away kits this year. Feel like this is a low point in kit history.

As for Nick Pope, I think he's an underappreciated keeper. There's the narrative about him being crap with his feet which people take too far in my opinion. Call me a dinosaur, but I want a keeper that's good with his hands above all else anyway.

Would never actually subscribe to the lad's channel, but I admire the way he doesn't give a flying fudge. At least he's not just another ITK loony or up-his-arse podcast bore.

I can't put into words how pathetic these fake ITKs are. It genuinely blows my mind that grown men behave this way. Seriously it's psychotic.

I'm happy for U21 managers to be promoted IF they do a good job. Southgate did not when it came to tournaments - he did worse than Stuart Pearce with a better side (at a time when our other youth teams were winning trophies). Nobody can say Southgate has not done more good than bad, but when the bad happens, people will inevitably (rightly or wrongly) question his credentials and why he got the job/if there's anyone more qualified.

By the time Allardyce got the job in 2016, Redknapp's reputation was in the toilet after managing QPR. You could argue he should have got the job instead of Hodgson in 2012, but I think the case for Hodgson over Redknapp was strong too.

That Aussie keeper is probably lovely in real life but man was he an irritating looking knob. Disappointed that Peru couldn't qualify tonight, Australia are always completely forgettable at World Cups (apart from when they had Hiddink).

Can't read too much into these end of season games, but we've been worryingly average since the Euros.

Just been reading some of the stuff about Given posted earlier this year and blimey it's way off. Twice got in the PFA team of the year (with suspect defences in front of him) and certainly saved us several points a season. Rice is class, but the fees that get mentioned are absurd.

Exactly (and this is true even without the context of how shocking we had performed prior to 2018).

Cannot agree with this at all. Our squad was superior to most of those and I think most people from Portugal, Germany, Croatia, Spain and probably even Italy would agree,

Same. CBA with another England v Wales and them lot going on about it how it means more and something about passion.

Croatia were at least as good as us on paper in 2018 and certainly far more experienced. Our squad was never capable of winning that WC.

We were disappointing, and I am as frustrated with the manner of our defeats to Croatia and Italy as anyone else. However, I simply believe you're exaggerating how bad we were in both games. Italy were never going to score a second if we played another week, their goal was scrappy as anything. I think the whole team/coaches shat themselves when we were on the brink of glory - Southgate has to avoid that this time or he should go.

I'm no Southgate apologist, but anyone who watched the Croatia and Italy games without just looking at stats cannot say we were battered (possibly towards the end of extra time v Croatia). I struggle to remember Italy having chances against us (yes I know we didn't create much either).

Just reading through the last few pages, there are a couple of things that some people class as facts that I'd like to dispute. This current England team is objectively one of the best in the world right now. Also our run to the Euro final was not especially easy (Croatia, Germany, Denmark are not bad sides and I'd say Italy's run was barely harder). My feelings on Southgate are so mixed, I feel if we have an underwhelming World Cup he should definitely go. But people need to remember how terrible we were before Southgate. We constantly froze in pretty much every tournament game against even the worst opposition. You cannot deny things have changed dramatically at the last 2 tournaments - the frustration is that things could, and should have been even better.

We aren't on TV then.

Keep Leeds up and get a top half finish

I'd agree with this. I don't even know if most of the people who hate him even know why they do.

Some of these defeats have been a blessing in disguise. Players like Burn have been amazing at getting us out of a relegation scrap, but we need the powers that be to recognise they can't be relied upon to take us to the next level.

I think we should wait until Howe gets to manage a team that's anywhere near top 4 standard before we judge. His record against top 6 teams doesn't bother me right now.

Hyperbole or not, I think it's always been obvious that Dubravka is a decent enough keeper for a bottom half side and nothing more.