SaintBobby

Well, that was a predictably boring evening of football! Fuck, we might win this

Getting to the final is a real achievement. Maybe even getting to the semi...although losing to Denmark ratehr a recognised "big team" would undermine that achievement somewhat

If JWP had been playing, we would have won 8-0. The poor selection decisions by Southgate are still costing England dearly 😀

Yeah, there's a big difference between something being unpredictable and it being a lottery. One of the great joys of football is how damned unpredictable it can be. But that doesn't mean it's a game of luck.

Everything has a price. Would I sell JWP for £40m? No. For £80m? Yes. It’s not a binary “keep or sell”, it’s just about the figure. I doubt any team will offer a fee that Saints would accept.

The whole Germany “monkey on the back” thing is maybe more a neurosis than a statistical fact. In major tournaments since the Second World War, the England record is now Won 3 Drawn 3 Lost 2. Sure, two of those draws led to penalty defeats, but they’ve only ever beaten us once inside 90 minutes in a tournament match - and that defeat was the one that involved Lampard putting the ball three yards over the line but no goal being given.

We’re a pretty dull and compact team. A bit Mourinho. But that gives us a fair chance to win the tournament. It’s just possible we will grind it out with just a few more 1-0 wins. I’d rather that than see some silky skills and lose again.

Eastleigh would stand a better chance against Brazil on penalties than over a 90-120 minute match, for sure. But they'd still be a huge underdog. A single slip on a penalty shoot out can be decisive, whereas these can be recovered from in normal play (see Croatia's first goal yesterday...). I think I'd make Brazil 98%-99% to win a match v Eastleigh and about 90%+ to win an penalties.

I don’t think either was the best game ever. But both games were amazingly good and I count them both as contributing to a night of football.

Was that the best night of football ever? Went down the local bar at 5pm intending to go home for dinner at 645pm. One thing led to another and end up still there gone 1030pm after two incredible matches. Boring 1-0 win for England tmrw pls.

If they beat Slovakia, they will prob top the group. If they don't, they can't finish in the top two.

If it stays 1-0 to Spain v Poland, then the record of the three teams with Saints players will be Won 0 Drawn 1 Lost 5...For 2 Against 8 Eerily faniliar! Lol

I was at Wembley. Utterly dire.

100%. I don;t think there's been an error yet of note - nor any serious agonising delays.

Not bad from England at all. Shearer, Lampard and Rio getting a bit carried away on how “excellent” we were. Solid. Not much more. V disappointed in Croatia, they looked poor for World Cup finalists. Progression to 2nd round almost certain after that. Still don’t expect us to get much further than that though.

There's all sorts of stuff I'd watch on TV, but i don't think should be broadcast. HTH.

I agree, it was terrible that the BBC didn't switch back to the studio more quickly. The other thing I found weird - and bizarre - was that they used those flags to over the stretcher as they deparetd the pitch. To my mind, this meant for sure that he was dead. Also, there are no reports yet - are there? - about what actually happened to him? Stroke? Anyeurism? Heart attack?

If JWP played for Burnley, Turkish - for one - would be fawning all over him. Because Burnley would then have at least 7 players who could improve the Saints starting XI 😂😂😂

When does the announcement for the 26th slot get made? Tonight?

The bit that irritates me is every time they take the knee, the commentator says the players are "once again, sending a very clear message". What exactly is the message? If it's just that we abhor racism, great. If they disagree with BLM on defunding the police and replacing capitalism with Marxism, I'd like the PFA or players to make that clear. I'd like to boo those last two propositions, but it's a bit unclear to me what the players are really signalling. It seems either (a) obvious or (b) wrong. I just don't know which.

It's definitely a political gesture to take the knee. It's not neutral. The Black Lives Matter organisation supports, amongst other things, defunding the police and the overthrow of capitalism. Fair enough if you support such things. But (a) I'd rather keep politics out of football as much as possible (b) it's perfectly fine to boo if you want.

I think he looks great and is still improving. He’s probably a starting XI player for me - although some may argue that he’s only remarkable owing to the flatness of the surrounding landscape.

I think he should call up KWP rather than JWP. I'm worried England are now desperately short of right backs.

I'm not so agitated JWP misses out. Gutted for him, obviously and it must have been a marginal call. Am more worried we are taking, what is it?, just 5 midfielders to go along with 4 right-backs.

This looks pretty reasonable to me over the long-term. With the exception of the recent absurd hike for a cushion...