qwertyell

When have we had quality first teamers as back up full backs? Our best premier league season ever, we had Cuco Martina and barely out of the academy Matt Targett. Someone serviceable who isn't a total liability will suffice. We've already got our starting full backs. We're not going to build a squad of 22 starters, just to cover all bases.

Sheffield United got Jayden Bogle (who would be a very decent back up option for us) from Derby for around £3m last year. Deals are out there if you're willing to look.

What a piss take. We lose one of the most promising players in our youth set up because the manager seemingly couldn't get along with him. And I see the club are already briefing against a 19 year old kid through their mouthpiece Blackmore. How brave. Still, Swiss champions - he'll be playing European football next season while we dream of a top 18 finish, so I guess it's worked out okay.

So far so good, but we can't sit in and try and hang on - Italy look too dangerous. Nice moment for the big lad, Shaw.

Five at the back and two holding midfielders. Glad we're going for it...

Think Italy will just shade it. They couldn't have hand picked a more ideal team tactically to line up against than England. Slow and sideways careful ball retention in the defensive third by not very technically gifted defenders and midfielders is perfect for an energetic, high pressing team like Italy to exploit. Expect a lot of turnovers in dangerous positions. For a team that plays with two holding midfielders, England are weirdly susceptible to fast counters. I'd break up the Rice/Phillips axis with Henderson, who is better on the ball under pressure. Not by a lot, granted, but Italy will definitely target that pair and in particular Rice's frequently clumsy first touch. And England's attacking play is too predictable and deliberate to likely move Chiellini and Bonnuci much out of their armchairs. Get wide, wait for the overlap, cross towards one striker. Rinse and repeat. Meat and drink for quality centre backs to repel. Or even Scotland's. Hoping Italy don't score first and early, because that'd probably be the game. (apologies for the off topic post)

Fun fact: he's worth a quarter of a billion dollars after successfully investing his football money in US property. He could actually buy us.

#whateverhappenedtoLEMbitopik? #phLEgM

Fucked hell, shameless dive and a rebounded penalty - rough on the Danes. Watch us screw this up trying to defend the lead.

Michael Olise to Palace. That's a shitter - thought we were meant to be very interested.

Abraham would be £40m+ and £100k+ a week. Be realistic. We're shopping in Londis not Harrods. The only reason we haven't yet been priced out of a deal for a lower Championship striker is because his contract is running out.

No, I've been singing Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You. Because I thought Matt Bianco was Glenn Medeiros.

Bizarre that anyone could've looked at his hopeless refereeing career and conclude that he's an "expert" in his field. Then again, someone put Mike Riley in charge of developing top tier referees; failing upwards is part of refereeing culture.

For a team that have scored 10 in their last two games, Spain look very blunt and pedestrian. Italy or Belgium the finalists from this side of the draw, I reckon.

Smart thinking to renegotiate the price - Angers have just been relegated for financial violations. Wonder if they've got anyone we'd fancy at a knock down price?

Too short to defend the back post.

From memory (increasingly unreliable with the years) we tried to sign him one or two windows before he joined that "Champions League club", and he wanted to come. He talked about it in an interview while he was still at Genk.

Thought Belgium were surprisingly poor. Spent the whole second half just hoofing the ball long. No plan or patterns of play - the midfield disappeared completely. Don't see them troubling Italy too much. Yes, they were bang average against Austria, but at least they continued to play football and vaguely looked like a coherent outfit. Belgium were a rabble tonight.

Imagine having the chance to sign Maehle but fucking it up to penny pinch.

Calamity from Neco Williams. I was asking the other day what exactly people who think we should sign him rate about him - looks a poor player to me. Just because someone's not good enough for Liverpool doesn't mean they're good enough for us.

Not very controversial to imply our defence is shite. We're conceding 60+ a season regardless of who's in nets.

He's played pretty much his entire career in this formation. His body's fucked. Moves like a fridge. That's why he's been dropping deeper over the past 18 months - he can't run in behind anymore. Can't argue with his goalscoring output, but it'll be interesting to see who's prepared to stump up £100m+ for a 28 year old in the early stages of physical decline. Once the legs start going, even the best players can drop off a cliff rapidly.

Has anyone seen much of Williams? Whenever I've watched him - which hasn't been all that often - he's looked pretty unexceptional. What's notable about him other than not being remotely good enough for Liverpool?

I'd be surprised if we can find £10m down the back of the sofa to fund a back up full back.

He's a striker and completely fluffed their two best chances. Maybe that worked against him - he didn't do his job. Gilmour was their best player.