S-Clarke

Yeah I don't quite get this logic either. We had the easiest group in terms of team rep in my opinion. Serbia are a bit shit, Slovenia bar Sesko are utter fodder. Denmark aren't what they were in 2018 - but we've struggled so badly against all three. It's not inconceivable that we could have drawn with Serbia, lost to Denmark (based on the game) and ended up on just 2 points. (That would have been the fair outcome imo). The logic that we will somehow now turn up against Holland confuses me. We were lucky the three we've already played didn't have the quality to really punish us, once we face that quality there will only be one ending. This is flowing very similar to the 2010 world cup in South Africa. Two shitty draws against USA and Algeria I think, the final group game saw us booed up and Rooney slagging off the fans etc. The logic was similar then...facing Germany in the last 16, you'll see the best of us then etc etc. We were utterly trounced. It's going to play out the same here, and it won't even need to be a team of Germany's level.

I think it's along the lines of us needing to make a profit on player trading to provide us more flexibility, i.e. selling KWP for big bucks (we don't have many we can sell for big bucks) will provide us a little more wiggle room within FFP/PSR to improve the squad in other areas. Otherwise we keep KWP and maybe don't sign a striker or something like that. Sulemana, Onuachu, Perraud sales etc all will represent a loss for us as we wouldn't ever break even on what we originally spent. It's an entirely backwards way of doing football, but here we are.

Our fishy friends will have a nice bump back to reality on the opening day then!

Holland are a little dodgy defensively, but we won't cause them enough problems to make them worry. Not expecting anything other than a comfortable Dutch win on Sunday, putting an end to this miserable attempt. At this stage we might as well have stayed at home, although it feels like we have.

This is why Southgate should be strung up for how he's making our players look. He really isn't shit. Bellingham is top level, elite class. No one can look good in a Southgate team. We don't have a problem with the players in the final third of the team, they are all good enough without question. They are being strangled by a manager who has swallowed a book on how to defend a 0-0.

The wrong change at this stage though, we need more width on the left and someone to commit their defenders, it's only bloody Slovenia.. We didn't need another CM to pass it backwards at this stage.

Oh good, so he's done just what he shouldn't have done. CM for a CM. We have one more game to endure after this as well, couldn't get any worse.

If he brings on a CM for a CM I think i'll scream. It's calling out for someone to be direct like Eze or Gordon (or Palmer)

One less player for Southgate to mismanage tbf.

I will honestly say we're the worst team alongside Scotland in the Euro's. Lucky to have 4 points at this stage. We should be going out for crimes against football.

He had a chance of going to Celtic, no chance he turns that down to sit on the bench here.

It's absolute garbage again. Dysfunctional, dull as dishwater bollocks with the most prolific attacking players on the planet. Issues point one way.

For me, Austria are so far the pick of this tournament. I think they're a cracking outfit. Really well coached.

I'd never wish an injury on a player, it was awful what happened to him - but as a club we should have took that as a blessing, admitted our mistake on the original recruitment and used the opportunity to sign a replacement. We didn't have to upset him as he was injured anyway, just make sure the replacement was better than him (i.e can make saves) and Bazunu then becomes backup when he's fit. McCarthy is as bog standard as you can get as a GK, but the fact that he looked more reliable, our expected xg against dropped massively and we kept a clean sheet in the biggest game of the season without Bazunu should scream enormous alarm bells for everyone associated with the club. I pray it does, but I fear it won't.

I think signing McCarthy to a deal will reduce our search for a GK, I don't think it should, but McCarthy wasn't going to hang around here again for more bench time. He's been given a contract with assurances to play imo. It's as bonkers as you can get, especially given that he wasn't even our bench keeper last season. But we're way too sentimental and short-sighted when it comes to our long-term players. Sometimes we just need to say thanks for the memories and move on. The club won't want to replace Bazunu as we have a hard-on over him, so it was only ever going to be a stop gap whilst he was injured. Step up McCarthy I guess.

Our best performance of the tournament, and we didn't even play.

Upwards of £25m I'd have thought, but no much more than that. It's a shame that we have to look at ways to 'balance the books', not so much because we're skint, but just so we have the movement to add to the team - but to do that, we have to weaken it first. Absolutely bonkers rules and it needs to change. There is no 'fair' in this at all.

I find the Charly situation all a bit odd really. In the last 6 months of our ill-fated PL life, he was our standout. The one player who broke the line, carried the ball, scored a decent chunk of goals from CM in 6 months. It was a significant coup that we retained him for the Championship, I just never felt we used him right or enough. I will admit that he can be a bit frustrating with regards to retaining the ball, which is probably his death-knell as far as Martin is concerned...but he can still offer a lot more if pushed higher up and closer to the CF. His running with the ball on break aways, in space, will be a hugely valuable asset next season when our posession stats inevitably tank through the floor. (I hope the club are prepared for that) I think we'd be silly to let him go, he's shown he can operate at this level as we'll see by PL clubs wanting him - let's not cut our nose off here, we already have a goalscoring midfielder in the ranks.

Don't think that's the case. The problem in my eyes is that he has a system and he's trying to force players into said system, which is a) nullifying their creativity and b) forcing him to stick square pegs in certain roles. If he had no system and just let the players sort it out we'd probably be a delight to watch, but he's made us one of the worst teams to watch in Europe with his rigid approach. He's scared shitless of everything, probably even his own shadow. You have to take risks to win things, he will never take risks thus he will never win anything.

Are you thinking of Cuco Martina?

I'd say it's fairly likely that both will be out of a job by the 5th July.

Latest on Shaw is that there is 'no ETA' on his return to training. So he's not even training yet, he's just a body - won't play a min I'm sure. We're not blessed with LB's to be fair, so I'm not sure who else could have been called up - Tyrik Mitchell maybe? I mean that's really stretching it a bit. Our defensive options are utter shit, I'll give Gareth that as an out! But...for me that means we just go for it. Our attackers are better than what is behind them, so let them win us games. Stop trying to 'contain' and 'defend' with substandard defenders at international level. At this stage we just have to go for it, but it's not in Southgates DNA. If we sit back and worry about other teams attacking us, then we will lose any game against a top 20 side. If we just commit forward and let Saka/Gordon/Palmer pull out wide and stretch teams, i.e make them worry about us, then we'll be in with more of a chance of getting to quarters. That's as good as we'll get either way though.

Not even close, not sure where that comparison comes from. England were inept, and have been for months now. Couldn't even keep the ball, no movement up top, barley any attempts at goal. That's nothing like us from last season, you don't get 87 points by playing like England. Club managers like Arteta, Carlo, Pep, Klopp etc must be pulling their hair out when they see the horrendous misuse of genuine top level talent in Foden, Bellingham, Rice, Palmer, Saka (he hasn't even played a min yet, which is bonkers). This has been a decent Euro's in the main, I like watching the teams who take the hand break off and just go for it - and they'll get the rewards for doing that. A manager making a team like us, with the talent we have, suffocating the hell out of any attacking momentum should be a crime. These players must absolutely hate playing for England.

Yeah Spain were great, I believe we have the players in attack who can do that - if they're afforded a system to do so. The guy who has surprised me the most has been Marc Cucurella, I think he's been great in both of Spains games. And where the feck did they pull Ayoze Perez from? I had no idea he was still playing for Spain.

That comment summed him up entirely really. He seems to think we need two DM's in the side, i.e. Rice and Phillips. Such a passive manager, dull as dishwater. We have some of the best attackers in the entire world in the front 4, statistically from this season they are the best in the world. Somehow we are making them invisible, that's not down to the players.