Cizzler

On 22/05/2024 at 14:03, Genie said:

If England have a back 5 of 

Pickford

Walker, Stones, Maguire and Shaw then they ain’t winning anything imo.

Pickford: Shit

Maguire: Shit

Shaw: Shit and injured

Stones: Alright but nothing special

Walker: Good

and that’s a first choice back 5 with everyone available.

Clearly the defence is weaker than the attack, but it's little wonder they are hyped to win it with the attack:

Kane: Top goalscorer in Germany
Bellingham: Third highest scorer in La Liga (from midfield, mostly), outscored Lewandowski
Foden: Arguably City's best player this season, fourth highest scorer in the Prem (from midfield)

These are clearly three of the best attackers at the tournament. 

Supported by Rice and Saka who are both decent players.

I think you've been harsh on the defence too.

Walker is RB for one of the best teams in the world ("Good" is understating it)
Shaw isn't "shit" at all - he was one of the form players in the PL last season (as in 22/23). Yes, he's been injured this one and that's a fair challenge - but he's not "shit"
Pickford may not be elite, but again, he's not "shit" - he was the keeper with the second most amount of clean sheets in the league (in a team that came 17th - and look at the players he had in front of him).

I'll agree Maguire is awful though.

1 hour ago, The_Steve said:

What a find. Also, before they played us.

This bloke has all the clips

 

 

Deliberate handball in the last minute. It doesn't look good for him.

Bit mental, as if he'd moved to City he must've been looking at ~£150k p/w. The risks (suspension, massive fine, missing out on City move, being dropped from National team, etc) surely don't outweigh the rewards (bit more money when you're already a multimillionaire). Why do it

1 minute ago, ferguson1 said:

Can’t see it being anything but this team if anyone is fit on Matchday one:

…………..…..…..Pickford………………………..

Walker…..Stones……Maguire …..Trippier

………….Gallagher……..Rice……….

  Saka..…..Bellingham……..Foden

………………....…Kane….………………..

If all fairness, we’re very strong offensively but light in midfield if we have an injury/suspension and certainly at the back. I don’t like the fella but I would have taken Henderson just as a back up and to close out games.  Can’t honestly see us winning it and you’d have to fancy France here but we should make the Semi Finals.

It will be this XI, yeah. Small chance he goes for Shaw (if he’s fit) and Mainoo instead of Gallagher.

Still think we should be getting Trent at RB somehow. Possibly Walker should start RB vs Mbappe - but against Slovenia surely he could just play as the other CB with Stones. Would give us a lot more.

1 minute ago, Jonesy7211 said:

Predicted cut:

Trafford, Konsa, Quansah, Curtis Jones, Eze, Gordon, Maddison.

I'm not sure you need both Toney and Watkins to back-up Kane. Especially as Bowen or Bellingham 'can' play there (or have done this season, anyway).

I'd take Gordon. Not a lot of pace in the front-line, without Rashford.

Just now, ml1dch said:

There are 33 players there, so seven need to be scrapped. 

Ah ok - my bad, didn't count and read he was announcing 30.

2 minutes ago, Jonesy7211 said:

ITK's were right. 8 CB's though.

So if four get cut, would imagine it's a GK, two defenders and a MF/ST. 

Trafford, two of Dunk, Konsa and Quansah and then Wharton - probably most at risk.

Lewis Dunk and Qansah instead of Guehi or Konsa is off. Dunk was terrible in the last round of friendlies, and missing games since.

Toney over Solanke is strange too. Toney has been mediocre for half a season vs. 19 goal Solanke for Bournemouth.

I'd have taken Reece James too. Versatile and a quality player on his day.

3 minutes ago, Tayls said:

Why is Shaw in? Hasn’t played since Feb for a Man U side that has been crap all season. 

Because he's England's best left back when fit - and the first game isn't for a month.

Does anyone know if Southgate is naming 26 only or an extended squad?

1 hour ago, ml1dch said:

It would be pretty brave to take two injured left-backs and nobody else who can play that position. 

Both are forecast to be healthy (although agree match fitness / form isn’t there).

Not many other LB options, are there? Tripper at LB and Gomez are pretty uninspiring, Colwill has just come back from injury himself and is probably more of a CB.

Livramento, Mitchell, Hall? Who would you take? 

7 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

No chance he picks Ollie. I’ve become such a pessimist about it. Also rather him not go to avoid injury.

Now it's a 26 man squad (and Toney came back quite underwhelmingly), I think there's zero chance he doesn't go.

Squad predictions?

Goalkeepers: Jordan Pickford, Aaron Ramsdale, Nick Pope

Defenders: Kyle Walker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Reece James, Luke Shaw, Ben Chilwell, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Ezri Konsa (although would've been Ben White), Eric Dier

Midfielders: Declan Rice, Kobbie Mainoo, Jude Bellingham, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon

Forwards: Harry Kane, Ollie Watkins, Dominic Solanke

Additional 3: Jarrod Bowen, Marcus Rashford, Adam Wharton


EDIT: Forgot about Eze - should probably go ahead of Grealish or Rashford.

3 hours ago, The_Steve said:

I agree. He was right to take on the shot. But his back heel nonsense in the first half wasn’t on 

I genuinely don't remember this. I remember Watkins' backheeled one (but I think that was second half) wide, when I think a bit more composure and the pass to (I think it was..) Diaby was on.

Is it just me who thought he was a lot better today then?

Yes, missed a couple of chances - but from really dangerous runs in behind.

Fantastic turn and drive from midfield to set up Duran’s second. 

5 hours ago, Leeroy said:

Palace have made some very astute signings from the Championship - Eze, Olise and Wharton for a combined £40-45m is only slightly more than we paid for Buendia. I actually think they might be one of the best clubs for signing players, Guehi and Anderson were also really clever signings and Munoz their new right back looks good too. 

 

Olise for £8m compared to £50m for Diaby is ridiculous, Olise much more likely to get in that France squad for the Euros than Diaby and he's three years younger too. Given our issues in midfield right now it's such a shame we didn't go for Wharton, Blackburn fans were raving about him 2 years ago. 

Agree with most of this.

Palace have made some great signings. Olise is clearly better value than Diaby. Wharton is looking the real deal.

Championship does have lots of good players. Hopefully we're in for Archie Gray (if Leeds don't go up) - looks even better than Wharton. 

Hackney (Boro), Rowe (Norwich) and Greaves (Hull) would also be astute signings. Young, English players, having strong seasons in the Championship.

On 30/04/2024 at 08:31, chrisp65 said:

I cannot see the argument where we are better off with 32 of the 650 MP’s in Westminster, rather than taking responsibility for ourselves. 

Where do you draw the line here, though. Each constituency is only 1 vote out of 650 - would each be better off taking responsibility for themselves?

Surely there are some economies of scale that comes from collaborating together? Or is Wales' population just the optimum size of a modern nation state.

I wonder why secession/independence is a big issue in the U.K. (Scots, Welsh, N.I all have serious independent movements) but it barely registers in the USA.

Would California, Texas, New York, etc be stronger independently than in the USA? Do States have a greater degree of autonomy/power within the Federal system than our devolved assemblies? Or is there just less emotive baggage/more patriotism.

On 05/11/2023 at 16:49, VillaChris said:

Should stay up but will be a long old way off 6th place.

6 months is a long time in football!

Really only watched enough of us from early 00's to comment.

But Martinez is the best keeper I've seen at Villa. 

I think we've had better full backs than the current incumbents. Even if just that one year of Kyle Walker on loan.

Laursen would be the best CB I've watched us have - but has very different qualities to what Emery seeks in my opinion. Would he have the pace to play the high line, or the ability to pass between the lines. I'm not sure. There's definitely an argument Pau/Ezri is our strongest combination of PL post-90s CBs (I never saw McGrath play). 

Midfield, I would still pick Barry above them all. Even Milner I would say had a higher peak than Dougie, Kamara or McGinn. But it's close. I would put those three above/close to Petrov.

Ashley Young was fantastic in his first stint imo. Still a level above Bailey/Diaby - but maybe I'm being overly sentimental. To be honest, there's an argument for Grealish being the best winger we've had in the PL era. Not that I want him back at all (was excellent business in hindsight to cash in) - but he was brilliant before he went.

Striker - Ollie is definitely in the conversation now. If he gets 20 goals, will be hard to argue against him. I think Benteke was more useful in a worse team - but in this system, I wouldn't swap Watkins for anyone.

Completely pointless, as the dates I started watching Villa are arbitrary for everyone else, but:

-------------------Martinez----------------

Konsa----Laursen---Torres---Bouma

Young-------Barry------Milner------Grealish

------------Watkins-----Benteke-------------

I don't even particularly like Konsa at RB - so a bit shoe-horned.

7 hours ago, Zatman said:

Mourinho has come out and said is some players still at United that he wanted rid of 5 years ago. Am guessing Shaw is one of them, probably Martial

Shows how bad the club has been ran that them two have been at United nearly a decade

Like Shaw isn’t a bad left back at all. Most United fans would say he’s one of their better players.

Injured again this year (he is obviously injury prone) but last year he was very good in my opinion.

He’s England’s best LB - so not sure why it’s a massive issue / a reflection on how bad United have been run.

They’ve clearly been run horrendously - but it’s more their record signings, than being unable to get rid of Shaw/Martial. 

Pogba £105m, Anthony £95m, Maguire £87m, Sancho £85m, Lukaku £85m, Di Maria £75m, Casemiro £70m, Mount £65m…

Of their signings £50m+, only really Bruno (and potentially Hojlund) are worth what they paid.

Compare that to Man City or Liverpool’s ‘big’ signings. Where it is near 80%-90% hit rates.
 

39 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Mbappe, Haaland and Kane score for fun, but they're not bringing the level of all round brilliance that Watkins does. I genuinely 100% would not swap him for any of them.

This is just a mental opinion. He's having a fantastic season - but he's not better than Mbappe.

Haaland is also 5 years younger than him and clearly not recovered properly from his mid-season injury. He scored 36 in 35 games last season in his first PL season as a 22 year old.

The Kane slander (made by a few on here) is also really off. The only thing Ollie has over Kane is the ability to run in behind. Trying to paint the narrative that Kane is just a goal-scorer is bizarre, he's a fantastic passer of the ball. His first touch is a million times better than Watkins. He's scored a lot more (33 goals) and still assisted close (10) vs. Watkins this season, and is in the CL semi-finals. He's a phenomenal player.

1 minute ago, Dodgyknees said:

Cole Palmer is a generational talent 

Not quite sure about generational, but clearly an excellent young player. Must be quite close to starting for England this summer.

I remember a few posters on here claiming he was just “penalties” and crap.

7 minutes ago, Annoyman said:

I didn't see the first half yellow and it seems hard to get a unanimous answer about whether the ball was in play. If there was a case to appeal one of the yellows I wonder whether UEFA might not look on it too favourably because they were obviously trying to clamp down on penalty antics, and will just want to vengefully put down a marker. He already embarrassed FIFA in front of their Qatari blood money buddies by making the WC final all about his shithousing then making sweet love to the golden glove.

If the phantom yellow in the shootout isn't even in the books is it just moot though? Maybe ref just decided not to take his name after he realised the match ball was genuinely suspiciously missing

It was 100% a goal kick. It was only yesterday (and I wasn't drinking!). 

It was a harsh yellow - the game was tied, it was early on and I don't remember a serious previous warning. Crowd baited the ref into it big time. But it was definitely a dead ball.

49 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

This was more because there was no ball though. The delay wasn't really to do with Martinez; Watkins literally didn't have a ball. Pretty sure the crowd were holding onto it or something.

I dunno. Looked like the ref spoke to Martinez for a while, immediately after he'd just shhh'd the crowd after the first pen save.

The ref then walks away, but is clearly distracted by Martinez' shenanigans (not wholly Emi's fault here) and doesn't realise there's no ball in play. Martinez asks for a ball - the ref misjudges this as him winding up the crowd (again) and charges over to book him.

I felt at the time that Ollie's statistically a weak penalty taker - and all this can't have helped. But he nailed then pen - so fair play to him. He's definitely mentally stronger this season.