TheBrownBottle

Haven't seen a lot of deserving finalists so far either, mind

We always had ‘doooooooodgy keeeeepah’

Always preferred the 'Norwich' away kit to the yellow and green stripes one, myself

Yee fukkin tell em son

I used to be a regular in the Black Bull and The Ship pubs in Benton a couple of decades ago - I can only imagine how they would cope being pretty much the only pubs next to a new stadium

Agreed with all of these sentiments Southgate absolutely deserves credit for creating what is clearly a united dressing room atmosphere, and has done for four successive tournaments - the previous couple of decades had seen non-stop shite between club-based factions. More than happy to acknowledge that this is an achievement He's also got an England team into three out of four semis - so even without winning a trophy, this is the most successful performance by an England manager other than Ramsay (who he will surpass with a Euros win on foreign soil for me) The huge proviso against that is this has all been against one of the weakest fields in international football history (certainly post-war), with Germany, Italy and Holland all pretty much at the weakest they've been in decades, and the likes of Portugal and Spain feeling very much in transition. The expanded Euros has given some very, very kind draws, and I don't think I was alone in having England reaching the semis in 2018 on the WC wallchart given the fixtures they received. This is also reaping the rewards of vastly improved youth set-ups, which has seen England win U-19 Euros in 2017 and 2022, the U-21 Euros in 2023, the U-17 World Cup in 2017, and the U-20 World Cup in 2017. This is not normal for England youth sides - there is a conveyor belt of excellent technical footballers coming into the first team (I'll happily credit Southgate for pushing the old guard out ASAP), which for all the shite talked about a 'golden generation' in the 2000s never felt like this. I had zero expectation of an England side ever doing anything at a major tournament for most of my life - certainly not during that period. But now, England has a couple of dozen - minimum - really good technical footballers, and the squad has a light dusting of genuine world class talent. You don't need several superstars to win major international tournaments - most winners don't; usually, really good sides win them rather than exceptional ones. And that is what England has - a really good side. Which is why I reject the notion that Southgate has worked wonders - and at the moment, he's riding his luck (which I don't think he did in previous tournaments, where luck was really only a factor in the draw).

I'd warrant more people remember KK's NUFC side of the early-to-mid-90s - including the one which blew the title far more than the Leeds or Blackburn sides that did pip Man Utd to the title. Football is a form of entertainment, the game itself forgets that at its peril. International football in particular for me, because I'm far less emotively connected to the national team. I just want England to be reasonably entertaining.

I know that these conversations aren’t serious, but the Indian subcontinent has English as a lingua Franca not because they really want to understand the new Tom Cruise film without subtitles Also, the US does have English as a language because of the British being there

I’d be happy to win it, and wouldn’t give a shite about Southgate’s reputation. It’s hardly a stellar list in any case.

Never bought the ‘lottery’ patter re pens. It’s true that ultimately someone has to fail to score, but this England side reminds me a lot of the Germany sides of when I was a kid - one or two genuine first-class players, and the rest are all really good technical footballers. There’s no cloggers in there

Penalties are all about technique- and it’s an extremely good England side, technically. Never doubted that they’d slot them away - none of the ‘put your laces through it’ shite so beloved of English players of that past.

‘You don’t shit on your own doorstep’ - the Pub Landlord

It’s why he wrote the Bible in English

Euro 96 semi

Undeserved but get in

Wanted a full Psycho scream from Saka

Yes you tiny armed Mackem twat

If Pickford does that ‘wave arms on the line’ thing lots of keepers do for pens, he’ll make the goal look bigger

I can remember when pelanties used to make me tense

Has he told these to sit back here?

Wonder what might happen with a mobile centre forward?

Honestly, it’s that bad that you can’t even blame the manager for the performance (though I don’t think he is remotely suited to what he’s being asked to do). You can for him still being on the pitch, though.

Foden has been unbelievably shite here

I’d happily take that tbf. Allardyce, on the other hand …

Which he used to be really good at - dropping deep, but then still being right place right time. He clearly doesn’t have the energy or movement to do that anymore - and doesn’t seem to be an intelligent enough footballer to work that out