Lazarus

Wasnt Aimar linked - or am i thinking of another Argie playmaker....

Further to that - I realise that there are many, many clubs whose existence is a series of relagation battles and that in one sense, Im lucky to support a PL club with players like ASM in the squad. I just want a bit of hope mixed in with the misery. A cup run, a gem of a player from the academy coming though, a club identity, the belief that everyone behind the scenes is trying their hardest etc etc Surely thats not being greedy?

'Stalled' suggests there was some inital movement

Yeah - Ive said before in here, as have others, that if it fails then I'll have to look at where I want to invest my time, my money and my sanity. Can't be arsed with worrying about a relegation battle as soon as the season starts, for what is it now, 9 or 10 seasons in a row?

Looks more like Bruce

FYP.

Put this in the OP.

In theory it would make it easy to identify terrorists/racists/protesters. Its an obvious slippery slope though isnt it

Is Lejuene back?

Its needed but social media websites don't exactly have a good reputation when it comes to securing data. Wasnt it the other month when over a billion social media profiles were for sale?

For me, theres a huge differrence between the emotional investment in England and Newcastle. A passionate manager and the sense of progress with the England team to a passionless manager and no progress at club level. Its a huge contrast.

I was thinking more of the ASM saga.....

Weve gone from the high of tournament football to focusing on our clubs again. Canny for some, but its a bit grim here.

I'm not sure I can see Rashford getting into politics. Club management maybe but politics, its a dirty, dirty world.

Any football on tonight? My routine after work has gone to shit.....

Bill Gates. Apparantly its too hot and hes gonna spray some stuff in the atmosphere.

If Ashley hasnt spent at least a million quid on his legal team hes got to be VERY close to it. Unless hes got De Marco on some sort of performance based retainer.....

England have the 2 central midfielders who can break forward but are mostly cautious and defensive minded. If Foden or A N Other was to play in place of one of them then surely that would have to be balanced by an even more cautious, defensive minded player. Firstly, this would obviously changed the shape of the team and leave more room in central midfield for the opposition to exploit when posession is lost. Secondly, the even more defensive minded player would have to be someone like Kante, which we don't have. The answer may be that Southgate keeps the same shape, players and tactics but the players operate, when neccesary, 20ft or 40ft or so further up the pitch.

I dont think anyones picked any French players. Bit of a change from the predictions thread, including my own

60k infections

Didnt Schick have 5 too? EDIT: Aaah - so it came down to assists. harsh

Who won golden boot?

Donnarumma must be on track to exceed even Buffon How hes so good, so young, I'll never know. I had had him as best young player - Hes won best player overall didnt he?

My thoughts: A few negatives and lots of positives. We obviously have a great squad and it clearly hasnt peaked yet - The 2022 world cup may even be too early for some of them even though this tournament wouldve been a huge learning experience. Southgates cautious approach got us to the final but it wasnt enough. Italy were there for taking but we didnt become more adventurous when needed. Southgate also needs to learn from this. His friendlies between now and Qatar 22 need to show that he can a bit more balanced between caution and attack, ie knowing when to make that change. Its obviously very delicate at tournament level but he needs to learn when to seize the day. He doesnt have to go all out Keegan/Entertainers, but fortune favours the brave. Maybe his playing career as a defender is influencing his mindset as a manager but he's still relatively young, especially for an international manager i think. The FA also have a problem in that, as far as i know, theres no pipeline of English managers coming through. I think someone mentioned this in passing earlier but the FA need some sort of process in place whereby managers are 'groomed' just like this generation of players has been. At any one time there should be half a dozen or so managers in the background who could be call upon if the current manager is sacked/leaves. I also fell in love with football again.