The Kraken

I was looking at this earlier today, according to the bookies she looks like she could lose her seat. Labour are odds on, mad lady is evens at very best. She would absolutely be prime Portillo moment, deluded to the very last.

Archie Gray for £40M. Really? I have seen bits of him but not huge amounts, is he worth that or is it another skeptical huge PL fee? Rodon for £10M sounds about right.

I really hope we're not using that template. Distinct Under Armour vibes to it. Awful.

I don't think many would argue too much with the actual personnel Southage has picked (TAA at CM aside), I very much see our problem as a symptom of how they're being asked to play. Too ponderous, too slow, too careful, too negative all over the pitch. It's Southgate all over. As I previously said I'd definitely have TAA at full back instead of Walker, especially if we go 3 at the back and Walker will go more central. Walker had an abomination of a game yesterday defensively and going forwards has never been the strongest part of his game. There's been no dynamic between RB/Saka and LB/Foden whereby the full back supports and overlaps and it creates spaces for the "winger" and pushes the other team back. We had phases of a minute or two throughout the game where we sort of did it but not for anywhere near long enough or well enough. Marauding full backs should have had an absolute field day against some of our opposition so far yet I can't remember in this tournament before yesterday when Trippier overlapped and got a ball in from the line. Tripper especially has just been so entirely predictable, he obviously has no left foot that he's willing to trust and goes safety first each time. Walker is entirely a safety first full back, he may get forward for City but he's not exactly great at it., though he does at least provided the numbers further up the pitch when he does it.

Couldn't possibly agree less. We do not have an emphasis on ball winners. Kobbie Mainoo was our most destructive attacking player yesterday, he often got the ball to his feet and ran at defenders, he was always looking to play forwards. You want John Stones to do that job instead? Good grief. If Mainoo doesn't start next time out then Southgate's lost it even more than I thought, Mainoo was our only consistent bright spark. I see our shape as a big problem. Full backs far too risk averse, Trippier cutting back onto his right every time, Walker not a good overlapping full back, it means Saka and Foden keep coming back to look for it each time rather than breaking the lines. All very boring and predictable and easily fixable without changing the shape massively (although I'd bring in TAA and Shaw if fit to play as attacking full backs).

What's right with it? You've basically shoehorned in 5 attacking players with 5 defenders and literally no midfield cover. The centre of the pitch would be overrun against any side, let alone Switzerland who are actually pretty decent. Nothing wrong with wing backs per se, and I think it's what's will happen. But not in that formation, we'd get dicked.

Guehi is suspended so there’s the one change per game sorted already. Gareth be all 😎 with that.

They are, tbf.

Such a terrible performance. So what happens next? Guehi is out, and I don’t know if Twatgate will fancy just Konsa or Dunk with Stones. Can see it going to three at the back with Walker making up one of the three. Trent RB and Trippier LB which just sucks. Different formation, but it’ll most likely be the same old shit.

I don’t know what sort of formation we’ve got after all that. Cant be much worse than we started with though.

🤣 Bellingham shouting “who else?”. Quite.

Beyond awful. If Shaw is halfway fit he’s got to come on and give us at least a tiny bit of something down the left. Foden having a stinker but it’s all so predictable down there, Trippier is only going to cut in each time. Probably have TAA on for Walker too, get some width from the full backs. Then take your pick for the other 3 subs.

Elyounoussi got 17 in a season for Celtic. 8 from 21 games in the season before.

Sunak may be a hypocrite but I’m not about to criticise him for standing up to somebody calling him “an effing paki”. There’s a myriad of things he can rightly be shot down for, this isn’t remotely one of them.

I don’t think Tinfoil Tristan is to be taken seriously fellas.

Be fair now. “Nigel” didn’t even have enough time to do the proper vetting on all of his candidates! How on earth do you think he’s got enough time to check on the complete merry band of utter fuckwits and reprehensible cunts that follow him?

Don't mind the shirt, quite like the amount of white on the front. But judging by the design of the white down the bottom and sides you can bet your bollocks to a barn dance that it'll be an all white back to it.

I mean, it was a bit obvious wasn’t it.

As my dad sat next just said, you couldn’t fucking make this up! 0-0, could do with a win. Let’s change it up gaffer. Yeah good idea, let’s put on a different full back.

I’d genuinely make at least 3 changes at half time. Southgate would be the first one. How any manager can fail to get any sort of a tune out of this lot in two and a half games of a tournament is just criminal.

An absolute England of a start to the game. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz Bore off Gareth.

Right let’s jinx it. I don’t think Gallagher is any better than ‘Trent’ at CM. Much prefer Mainoo there, Gallagher is a passenger.

I mostly agree but 2019 was an exceptional election, the Tories polled near 50% of the popular vote, and they ran on their “get Brexit done” mantra. Even with PR I don’t think their vote share would’ve dropped off all that much for that election. I think the Labour vote may have diminished even more than it did due to the toxicity of Jezza. I’m a fan of the idea of PR but I don’t see it happening here any time. Especially after the debacle of the AV ref in 2011.

PR wouldn’t have stopped that. In 2019 Con and Lab totalled 75% of the popular vote, those two were the leaders of the two most popular parties by a heavy distance.

How do other countries do it then? Certainly in Europe we’re in a minority of countries that use FPTP, most countries have a version of proportional representation.