Holmes_and_Watson

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Sauce

Denmark vs Germany was balanced for the first 10 mins. From there, Germany kept increasing their drive. Denmark were pegged back, and like so many teams trying to pass it out, had no plan to counter Germany's pressing. The ref made it clear early on that some strong challenging was okay. That led to it being a more physical game, than the other ties. It suited Germany who were happy to drive down the middle, and make blocks when they conceded. 4 goals, hitting the wood work 4 times and a disallowed effort too. Some good passing moves from them too, which can be harder to pull off in tournaments.

I was just assuming Rendell would be #1. But this challenges her, as neither will be happy being on the bench.

Hard to tell how good Finland actually are, against a Spain team with over 30 attempts at goal. That makes it sound as though Finland were terrible, but Spain were relentless, with all of their subs creating even more chances.

Spotted Alaeddine Yahia and Bialkowski in the comments.

At 2-0, I was worried it would be a rout. Caught with an always play it out from the back philosophy against excellent pressing attackers. The penalty was easily avoidable as well. But there was a couple of moments, even in that first half when NI looked more capable, when they went more direct. Shoring up the midfield at half time made a difference, and a good reactive header for the goal. There was just an attack or two, when NI might sneak a second. But Norway are a different class and widened the lead again. England might have their work cut out for them. Some NI players grew into the game, so there are positives for them.

Right-back

We have Smallbone, instead of backbone. 🙂

Manger

Play

It made me hesitate to click all the women's football links on the beeb today. 🙂

A sad indictment on the state of our health service, where organ and limb replacements depend on what's in the nearest shop. #prayforrevolution 🙂 #borisout #ignorethelasttag

I'd like him to do well. But any speed he had, didn't translate into him having an impact on all the other things on the pitch. If we keep Mo, and if Aribo turns out not to be blistering, then having a pacey option is no bad thing. But it's a very high wage when we could be getting someone cheaper, and probably more effective, for that option. Besides, it was Ralph making the selection calls last season, and it is now. I'm not sure how the new set up changes things, unless the last lot were sabotaging Walcott's training, regressing him into what we saw. 🙂

Good business being done to strengthen.

If it was a white transit with a 7 on it, it was him. If it had a 9 on it, it was Brazilian Ronaldo. 🙂

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I did laugh that even in a group of back stabbing snakes jostling for position to replace their leader, Gove manages to outdo the others in his useless duplicitousness and get fired. Another one who will never change. I only heard snippets from tha liaison committee, but he got savaged. A bit more of that, a lot sooner would have been good.

The diet of champions! 🙂

Part of a one of the dominant teams, so they will have had players very capable of making the step up. Glad to see we're reinforcing from there.

I prefer club football to internationals, and have seen a fair number of dull internationals over the years. So, I wasn't expecting too much. England's early goal meant that game management kicked in early here. Which is as it should be, but doesn't always make for a spectacular game. A few of the players had to check themselves once or twice to pull back from a possession losing attack. There was a fair bit of pressure to get off to a winning start too, and was evident in the play. Austria forced a couple of saves fairly late on. England didn't get things their own way, and will be looking to create more. As Austria had to push up a bit, England looked to exploit the space, making for a more interesting closing spell. There was a decent shout for an Austrian penalty. The otherwise excellent Bright allowed space for a shot, and there was the chance of some late drama. It's been posted about the crowd composition. Lots of kids, but I thought there was a lot of noise and support.

Drug

Yeah, they couldn't go wrong for me with those colours. The Aquaman homage was an added bonus.🙂