rgk_lfc

City are building some squad. Will be surprised to see anyone challenge them strongly for the league in the next season or two. - Ederson, Steffen - Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Mendy, Cancelo - Gundogan, Grealish, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Foden - Sterling, Jesus, Torres, Mahrez I think their second 11 is good enough to qualify for Champions League. They are missing a top striker which I think they will address with Kane. From an England point of view, I hope Pep plays an attack of Sterling, Foden, Grealish for some games. If the three build some understanding, hopefully it will help England in the next world cup. the same way the chemistry of his Barcelona team helped Spain.

It is but I thought it was on the lower end for him. I thought Coutinho 140 million should have been the benchmark. He is more important for Villa than Coutinho was for us.

You cant rate managers by trophies alone. Yes, he has his faults but look at the managers he has inspired - Poch, Sampaoli, Martino, Pellegrino - all came from his school. Pep, Simeone, Klopp all rate him as their inspiration and speak very highly of him. There are several managers who ply their trade in the South/Central/US leagues who are from the Bielsa school or inspired by Bielsa. His impact on the game in Latin America is huge, way more than Rodgers and Martinez in Europe (and I really rate Rodgers). Look at the players talking about him. Batistuta "he taught me everything". Simeone “I have the influence of several coaches: Bielsa, Eriksson, Basile, they have all left a mark. Bielsa taught me the most.” (not reflected in his football though) Pochettino “It helped you find answers on the pitch. “All that homework – I wish all my friends could have experienced at least one per cent of what I did.” Alexis Sanchez “I learned a lot from him and it is because of him that I am who I am. " Ayala "In my case, personally speaking, he was the coach who made me perform or get to a very high level in every game." There is an element of exaggeration in the praise but it also indicates the respect important and influential players and managers in the game have towards him.

Rafa doesn't get enough recognition, forget enough any recognition outside of Newcastle, for creating a top quality premier league central defense squad which can play the ball as well as defend on ground and in air for like one tenth or one fifth of Pep Guardiola's annual central defender spending.

Sterling and Shaw deserve to be there. I know Spinazzola was more impressive before he got injured but Shaw has also been very good in terms of creating chances and assists all through the tournament. Verratti also deserves to be on the list.

I know people are disappointed but I think there is a lot of cause for optimism. I remember someone interviewing a great NFL manager, Bellicheck I think. The question was what does it take to build a team to win the NFL. His response was (I am paraphrasing) , build a team which can continue reach the conference finals (semi-finals in european context) consistently and continuously knock on the door. One day the door will open. Portugal Ronaldo generation won the Euros in 2016. Before that, reached final of Euro 2004 and lost at home to Greece (significantly worse team than Italy), semi finals of world cup 2006, lost to Germany in quarter final of euro 2008, lost to Spain in round of 16 of world cup 2010, lost to Spain in penalties in semi finals of Euro 2012, crashed out of group stages in World cup 2014, bounced back to win in 2016. Same with the Germany's current generation which started with semi-finals of world cup in 2006, lost finals of euro 2008, semi finals of world cup 2010, semi-finals of euro 2012, before winning the world cup in 2014. Cleveland Cavaliers were not the best team in the NBA when they won it but they built a team with the addition of Lebron capable of reaching the finals. I think they reached the finals 4 times and in one of them, luck fell in their side. Spain was different but they were blessed with once in 100 years level of exceptional talent between 2008 and 2012. England have a squad capable of reaching the semi-finals of every major competition for the next 4-8 years. This is a very young team. And unless France gets their act together, there really is no great international team down there. Yes, Germany will improve under Flick but as long as Timo Werner remains their main striker, England will be favorite to win against them in the next few years. England under Southgate have already reached the world cup semi-final and euro final and knocked. Keep doing that and one time the chips will fall in your favor. I am not from England before anyone accuses me of having an overly optimistic view.

Not sure you can call it luck. In the last 10-15 years, Italy almost always had great managers at the helm - Lippi, Prandelli, Conte, Ventura, Mancini. Four out of that five ( Ventura being the obvious exception) could be considered the best (if not best, atleast top 3) among the peers managing national teams during their reign. Lippi had a great team but Italy were impressive and outperformed expectations under Prandelli, Conte, and now under Mancini. Italy appear to have a conveyor belt of managerial talent, and Italian FA sure know how to pick them. Expect the Atalanta manager to step in once Mancini steps down.

Nah. Pickford was brilliant. Dragged England back with that Jorginho save. Not trying to downplay Donnarumma but he got lucky with Rashford penalty and England's head was gone after that. Pickford's made saves against good and experienced penalty takers. As a Liverpool fan, it is hard to admit, but barring any new goalkeepers developing, he has sealed the England number one spot for the next 4-6 years with his performances in this tournament.

He has not been good but he is just 19. I think the occasion has gotten to him.

Sterling has been immense throughout the tournament. Inspired move by Southgate to start him when he was out of form for City and was often on the bench. If England wins, Sterling's performances will be remembered for the ages.

He is England's Chiesa. He might not have attributes - dribbling, passing - of the level of Sancho but everything he does is with intelligence and purpose. An impressive young talent.

Denmark are not able to handle Kane, when he wanders and acts as a playmaker.

Denmark are an impressively coached team.

Italy seem like they have run out of gas midway into the quarter final. They look a little bit tired. England have a great chance. But have to get past Denmark first.

Nobody does full squad celebrations like the Italians.

They are not even testing the goalkeeper.

Southgate's calmness and temperament helps him. In the Premier league, against some of the traditional rivals, Pickford goes into this chest thumping, trash talking mode, gets caught up in the emotion of the occasion - often that is when he has these blunders. I think Southgate has asked him to calm down, focus on saving goals and his game, not get too high on emotion which has helped his game immensely.

England are effortlessly upping the performance levels as the tournament progresses. Winners of tournaments are not often the ones whom dominate from the start but the ones who peak at the right time. Southgate, every decision, every substitution seems to be the right one. He now has Grealish, Sancho, Foden fresh for the semi-finals and finals if needed.

I am saying this with the benefit of hindsight but I think Southgate's use of Grealish and Saka is smart. Saka is not at the same level as Grealish but he is a very good, tactical player in his own right. Southgate kept things compact till 60-65th minute and Saka helped with that. When the opposition defense tires a bit and space opens up, unleash Grealish. Not a bad strategy against a team like Germany. I don't think it would have worked against the great Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese, French , Spanish defenses of 2000-2010 but it is a very good strategy against current top international teams where the quality of defense is a bit on the poorer side. A bit more conservative than what I would have liked but cannot argue with the results.

I so so wish he doesn't take up the Everton job. But he wants to work and wants to stay near his family. Cant fault a man for taking up a job for those reasons. Obviously, he wont get hired at United and LFC job is not going to be open to him for a long time. He did an impressive job with you guys and it is not like premier league clubs were lining up to offer him a job after that. Cant expect him to wait for an ideal job which is not coming.

I hope UEFA takes notice and realize how much more enjoyable football is when there is some level of equity. The CL and Europa league will be absolute belters of a competition if well run clubs all over Europe have a shot of winning it rather than watching the same oil rich or traditionally big clubs reaching the semi-finals. The knock off will be huge. Players like Mahrez, Kante, Grealish, Van Dijk (yes, I know) will not have to leave their clubs in search of medals.

I know his style is not pretty but why change something which is working. No goals conceded against teams which scored 2 against Holland, 3 against Spain, 4 against Portugal. Tournament football is all about results and as of now Southgate is delivering big time.

I know my original post wasn't clear. Not trying to argue that. But I was talking in the context of this tournament only. I honestly dont watch a lot of European football. So I have no clue how he is doing otherwise. I guess he is doing great as he is linked to Real Madrid. I watched him during the World Cup where he looked like a genuine exciting and dynamic talent. Now when I watch him in the Euros he looked a bit meh. No dribbling anything. All he was trying to do was use his pace and win penalties.

I meant in this tournament he has looked like a kick and run merchant. If anyone watched Mbappe for the first time in this Euros, they would be wondering what the fuss was all about. In the next two sentences, I have said that one possibility is the lack of clarity in tactics from Deschamps. Pogba has looked good. Griezmann at times has looked good. Everyone else including the player I thought deserved the Balon d'or this year - Kante - has looked very ordinary.

Not exactly writing him off, but he seems to have regressed since the World cup. Not quite sure what happened to his dribbling ability, he looks like a kick and run merchant now. A lot of it could be due to Deschamps being clueless this tournament. With the exception of Pogba, noone seems to have displayed their true potential. Shocking how easily the swiss walked through a midfield with Kante.