WilliamPS

Chelsea haven’t strengthened that much despite the outlay as their transfer management has been so poor - losing Christensen, Alonso and Rudiger for nothing. basically 180m to get back where they started.

It’s touch and go. Season isn’t even at halfway mark.

To get top 4 the form from the last 16 games has to last for another 22, that’s a big ask from the players and from a relatively shallow squad. It also means winning the home 6 pointers against Tottenham and Man Utd at least.
 

But it’s not impossible and winning the first two games since the World Cup has restored the momentum 

I just can’t hope West Ham win, such a bunch of miserables 

If it’s illness it’s just bad luck for Wilson - he’s got kids and right now schools and nurseries are absolutely riddled with sickness so no shock if he’s picked something up.

ASM is a top player and the grief he is getting is bizarre. Managing his fitness will be tricky given Howe will want his contribution for Leeds and Arsenal so we shall see when he

gets off the bench.

24 minutes ago, Shak said:

 

Probably be the same team as last night, tend to agree.  I'd stick with Willock over Longstaff personally but I can see the argument.

 

If we do go for a Joelinton, Bruno, Willock trio I'd be interested in seeing Joelinton on the right side of that trio. Willock seems to play much better when he's on the left side.

If ASM plays having Joelinton behind him works really well -off the ball Joelinton covers the defensive duties so well ASM can be left high up the pitch as a great outlet on the break. In possession, teams doubling up on ASM gives Joelinton space for his driving runs. I don’t think the willock/ASM combination would work as well.

14 hours ago, huss9 said:

we really need to change our mindset.

france spain germany etc etc would be pissed off at getting knocked out at the QF stage.

yet we celebrate it like a glorious failure and laud the manager. thats 3 tournaments in a row where we could have done better.

 

unfortunately no decent candidates as an alternatives to Southgate out there, unless we go foreign.

i'd even take brendon rodgers.

Spot on. England have the players, this time Southgate got the tactics and selection spot on. But the team doesn’t have the ruthlessness of winners.

Compre with the England cricket team, who now consistently over perform in the high stress high stakes scenarios as they have the winning mentality.

Now they have binned off Ronaldo, Portugal are undervalued. No way they’d be an easy semi for France or England.

If England and France have an absolute battle, say 120 mins + pens, and Portugal have an easier time against Morocco, Portugal will fancy it.

Good midfielders, good goalie and now appear to be getting goals.

Spending a month in a training camp in Qatar when you’ve no hope of playing probably isn’t for everyone - doubt there’s much more to it than that

Brazil and France have done well to get everyone some pitch time 

12 minutes ago, Rafalove said:

If this is true then it’s very sad. I would repatriate Ronaldo to England in a heartbeat.

 

 

 

 

Why is it sad?

I don’t think ordinary Brazilians are duty bound to give a retired footballer some sort of special status. if you saw England record goal scorer  Wayne Rooney on the street would you give him any special treatment?

Netherlands Argentina looks quite evenly matched, looking forward to it, but don’t think either looks like being the overall winner. Two sides with a few v good players but they’re both uneven 

Unless there are personality issues I wouldn’t listen to any offers in January - the squad just isn’t deep enough.

Tbh if you dig out the threads from the Sweden games, Croatia and Italy you’d see the same issues - England have relied on set pieces or one off moves down the flanks for goals. The midfield has always been poor, although what’s worse this time is he has options (unlike in 2018)

With Southgate I think the most they can be hoped for are minor player changes - likely Sterling out for Grealish or Foden.

I would like to see a move from the 4231 to 433 to get the midfield functioning and get players closer to Rice but this is probably too big an ask (comically small change as it is!)

Southgate has such form in refusing to change things when a game isn’t going well it just sets people off - England lost the euros final partly as he refused to adapt so not really surprising 

Sending Henderson on to save the day is pure WUM

Cos the World Cup is mid season and there was only one week between the leagues pausing and kick off a lot of the squads /starting 11 were probably nailed down 3 months ago. No matter what the form is like a lot of managers probably don’t want to fiddle with defensive partnerships, especially at CB and between CBs and GKs.

had it been in summer with a training camp and friendlies am sure things would be different.

2 hours ago, David Edgar said:

We are all Ecuador.

it is time 

28 minutes ago, LFEE said:

 

?FIFA are just the worst, see a campaign on a specific issue so attempt to drown it with meaningless platitudes #beactive 

How did a sports governing body get so fucked up

I hadn’t realised what a curse being the short sponsor is;

Newcastle Breweries - gone

Ntl - gone

Northern Rock - gone

Wonga - gone

Dont tell Saudi airlines….

I’m sure the FIFA execs had all these issues on their minds as they trousered the Qatari cash

i bet they can’t believe they got away with it 

I’ve sympathy for (and share) the view that the club and PIF are separate and people can hold that distinction so support one and not the other.

Zero sympathy with the nonsense that because “it’s Saudi culture” the Saudis can’t be criticised for their abysmal human rights approach. Not sure the people being bombed / executed see it as their culture. The regime oppresses the citizens to stay in power - that’s how dictatorships work. 

Behave

2 hours ago, Optimistic Nut said:

I'm going to say Semi-Finals, the Nations League was to Southgate what Euro 88 was for Bobby and Foden has his Gazza breakout tournament on the international scene.

The players had lost the euros at Wembley in a penalty shootout in the final - mentally brutal for them - I’m not surprised they couldn’t get up for the Nations League. World Cup should be different 

Think there’s very little case for Sancho to go, apart from his reputation from two years ago 

The two or three who start behind Kane will be from Sterling Saka Foden and Mount anyway

Yeah, Wilson really has a big opportunity as behind Kane he’s the only true striker. 
 

I think it’s a big risk by Southgate not taking Abraham. Maybe he thinks Rashford is good enough as another central striker option but have my doubts about that 

Can’t bear Chappers, have to switch the radio off when he’s presenting, he’s desperate to become some sort of celebrity character presenter and has utterly shit ‘banter’

Bit annoying so many games are 10am/1pm/3pm on a weekday.

advantage of European/Americas/African tournaments is all the games are late afternoon or evenings. Workplaces tend to be flexible for England games, but a bit harder to explain why you’ve done no work for 2 hours whilst Croatia vs Morocco is on.