TheBrownBottle

Agreed. It would have looked bad at normal speed from the ref’s angle.

And a switch to 4-2-3-1. Thank fuck

Kelly and James on. Champion. Howay

Yep. Need James on at HT. No quality in the middle without her. Spain have ruthlessly exposed the 3-5-2 as well - and playing England’s best goal scorer at LWB is fucking crackers for me. Still in it though.

I love that the Spanish national anthem has no lyrics

Really fancy us to win this one - feels like we owe them one.

Christ, they're not putting it on big screens? Disgraceful.

In team news, James is on the bench. Has the feel of Greaves missing the 66 final. Hopefully the result is the same

TBF here in Sydney no bugger seemed interested until the QF vs France. That game got lots of interest, though - and the SF was clearly a massive event. While I can't imagine it getting the same awareness in England at present, I've been critical of the timing of the tournament from the off. Playing when the mens leagues in Europe have kicked off is unbelievably stupid.

I had the padded burgundy one from the season before. That may still the warmest coat I’ve ever had

None of the ‘related party’ shite either. Whatever comes in the PL won’t be able to overrule.

Agreed. I’d love to see Bruno pushed much further forward. I think him playing DM is limiting to him and to the team. Howe knows far better than me, of course. But just my view.

One league goal since 6 Nov last year.

My brain had wilfully wiped our FA Cup exploits over the last few years. I’m not willing to unlock those memories.

I did Football isn’t cricket or baseball. As much as I enjoy random statistics being flung around, I’ve got eyes. The lad hasn’t played as well as he did for quite some time.

Forgot - you’re right. One goal in almost a year

He hasn’t scored in nearly a year. He didn’t seem shot shy when he joined.

Yeah, he was fitful first half. Wasn’t exactly getting much service though.

Bruno plays as an old fashioned half back these days - he’s the most likely player to receive the ball off the back four, and most passes will come in his own half. If he isn’t reasonably accurate and doesn’t have the most passes then something is going badly wrong that day Any of our midfielders playing as ‘number 6’ (still think it should be a number 4) would be likely to top some of those stats.

Isak is our best player - he’s the one player we could ask for £100m+ and get it

Bless his cottons, the lad grafts his arse off. He’s a limited footballer, but we know that. I think we all know he’ll get ‘transitioned’ out soon, probably next summer. But that industriousness will put the shits up the PL’s lesser lights.

Fair enough - game of opinions etc. I thought Tonali first half looked quality.

Quite a few poor lay off touches - under / over hit passes etc. He wasn’t poor - he was ok.

Have a look through this thread. Plenty think he’d get a start at R Madrid, Man City etc.

World class players don’t have nine month form dips. Bruno is an excellent footballer - but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that he ‘doesn’t make the journey’ if we’re to reach Man City’s level.