Saint Albert

I don't really get wound up by all this ITK business. Some people get info from sources inside the club. Sometimes the info they received proves correct. Sometimes it does not. They pass it on, and as long as they pass it on in good faith it's fine by me. The amount of grief some of them catch on here must be a real deterrent to posting potentially interesting info. For me, Monk winding up the scousers with VVD info he received that proved to be false and then making it to the Daily Express was one of the highlights of an otherwise interminable summer.

Yeah I was thinking that Pellegrino might want to give Tadic a break and perhaps try Boufal instead. Tadic will probably throw a strop though.

Tadic made it to the 80th minute before being subbed off.

Ireland 0-1 down to a Kolorov goal. Tadic involved in the build up.

This looks promising.

I was hoping he'd knuckle down once the window shut. If he's planning on being "not in a fit mental state to play" on an ongoing basis then he is a bigger jackass than I originally thought.

I find Wales really irritating. The other home nations are guilty of it as well of course but it really bothers me that Wales are poaching young English talent like Woodburn (born and raised in Cheshire, trained by an albeit weird English club) at such an early stage in their development, before he's tested and tried the England set up. What kind of ****ty national team are you when 40% of your tournament squad is from your neighbouring country? Hopefully someone films the England players celebrating when the Welsh fail to qualify for the WC.

Just noticed that Fonte was dropped for today's match against Hungary in favour of the even more ancient Bruno Alves. Cedric started.

Sullivan Jr. has announced on Twitter that W. Ham will be suing Sporting Lisbon's communications director over his Carvalho transfer comments.

Sweden on top of Group A after beating an abject Belarus 0-4. The aggregate over both Sweden's games against Belarus is 8-0.

Penalty to the Swedes...0-4

I'm watching the Sweden game. The Belarus back four are like pylons.

You'd hope that VVD will be chomping at the bit to be match fit for the Holland-Sweden game.

Whatever happens, VVD made this happen (with the assistance of his agency and Liverpool) so he needs to put on his big boy trousers and face up to it like a man. I don't have any sympathy for him. I personally hope there's no booing, purely because it is not in the best interests of the club. Greeting him with silence or a tepid, frosty round of applause would be OK for me.

The kerfufle between West Ham's Sullivan (a former captain of the adult entertainment industry) and Sporting Lisbon over an alleged offer made on deadline day by Sporting to sell Carvalho to the Hammers, is actually rather amusing: "David Sullivan is lying," Saraiva said. "Sporting Clube de Portugal, as its Chairman has already said, has received no offer for the player William Carvalho. "The football business is a not an adult film set on which all obscenities are allowed. This intellectual pornography is not worthy of a head of a football club." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/02/west-ham-chairman-david-sullivan-hit-liar-claims-william-carvalho/

Not bad actually. Sent the keeper the wrong way, kept it low, can't tell from the angle how close to the post it was but seems well placed. I'll give it a 6.

"Bertrand looked vexed rather than joyful after scoring." - Daily Telegraph.

Davis has apparently knocked in a penalty for N.Ireland. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being Tadic and 10 Le Tissier, how good was his penalty?

I can't watch the game. Is Southgate really playing two holding midfielders? Against Malta?

He needs a run of games and I would be a little sad if he left without getting a decent opportunity. When he has the ball he also needs to stop running into walls of defenders.

Yep. If I was him, I'd suck it up, take my medicine and go as quickly back into the first team as possible. Delaying it will make it worse and may test the supporters' already strained patience. Sort of like ripping off a Band-Aid. Perhaps try and help Holland with crucial upcoming games against Sweden and Bulgaria as well, if helping Saints is less appealing to him.

According to the Sam Wallace Telegraph article that I posted on the other VVD thread, "the consensus is that only he can decide when he is ready to feature for the club again." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/01/virgil-van-dijk-staying-put-southampton-shows-saints-sticking/

This article by Sam Wallace covers a few issues so it could be posted on a few spots on this site but one point it makes is, if VVD wants to leave, he'll have to find a suitor other than Liverpool: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/09/01/virgil-van-dijk-staying-put-southampton-shows-saints-sticking/

Hopefully this is true. I have a feeling that no matter what the club say, some of this summer's nonsense will repeat in January. Hopefully someone talks some sense into VVD and he keeps his head down until Summer.

Plus he won't sulk and refuse to play for the first team. He's a professional. He said so himself when he submitted his transfer request, so it must be true.