JPJCB

Is this real?

I agree with the consensus that the city performance was the better one as we completely outplayed them. But there’s a caveat that they were massively weaker than usual (I think they played a midfield of akanji and Rico Lewis) plus we had comparatively fewer players out. Today was the other way round - arsenal at full strength and us much more weakened; plus we were away from home. City was the more impressive performance but today was the more impressive result

I’m not really sure what to make of Ollie’s comments yesterday. Of course they were mostly out of frustration and he can be forgiven for that. I never think it’s a good look though for a player to criticise his teammates, even implicitly. Ollie’s had a few off games as well- he took a while to get going this season. Would we think it reasonable for a defender to come out and implicitly criticise that? It is also worth noting that Ollie’s criticism isn’t actually valid based on evidence. We have an excellent record of winning games having taken the lead. If we have a problem this season that distinguishes us from the “big clubs” it’s not mentality. It’s simply squad quality. As Liverpool will attest today, even the best clubs throw away leads every now and then

Can’t help but feel a bit sorry for him but this should be a cautionary tale for players making moves to big clubs. His career would have been undeniably better had he not moved to city

He’s banging on about having higher XG as if that means more than actual goals. This is where the stats only tell you so much. My guess is that the konsa goalwould have scored something like 0.1 (or lower) XG because barely anyone scores when trying to shoot from that angle. But we all know from watching the game that he was trying to cross- if Duran heads it in or it hits the post and comes out for a Duran tap in then that’s presumably a way higher scoring chance in XG terms so presumably we then win Gary’s precious XG battle

…”all the data*” *except points

Re Bellingham, not sure what to make of the arrogance reports but more generally I think it’s his mentality that makes him such an elite player. He’s got good footwork and is a great athlete but I don’t think his skill is necessarily ballon d’or level. I’d even argue that foden has got more natural skill. But the difference is that Bellingham has elite mentality in games to grab it by the scruff of the neck and make things happen. He craves the big stage and always steps up for England despite being only 20 years old which is pretty incredible while foden and others underperform. See this article as an insight into how he prepares mentally for each game: https://madridistanews.com/en/news/detail/jude-bellingham-reveals-his-ritual-before-each-game Maybe arrogance is a consequence of that. It need not be but if it is I’m happy to take the rough with the smooth given his performance level

Toney must have a world class PR team. For some reason the narrative over his betting scandal is framed as a plucky underdog story when it should be what it actually is: fraudulent behaviour with a just punishment. Because he’s seen as an underdog the media is now on his side when they should be challenging the England leadership at every opportunity on why such a disruptive personality is anywhere near the squad

If that’s right for why are they only linked with managers who are not categorically the best in the world?

I think this is a fair post particularly your last para- I’m not sure there’s an obviously better alternative other than someone like Potter. I always thought Deano would be a great option tbh but can’t imagine broad support for that in the country. Id caveat this bit though. He might be modestly better than his peers but the whole point of people highlighting his poor record against “top sides” is that we ARE better on paper than a lot of them. We were better than Croatia, better than Italy, better than Brazil the other night. And yet he plays into an underdog type mentality and plays unambitious cautious football every single time. People suggest we played well against France in the last WC. I remember watching that game and thinking France barely got out of second gear. When they needed to score they did so, and when they wanted to take the game by the scruff of the neck, that’s exactly what they did. Meanwhile we huffed and puffed barely creating anything and benefitting from two penalties

The media coverage has been ridiculously harsh on Watkins with lots of narrative coverage suggesting that it was practically his fault that England lost and that he’s missed his one chance to go to the Euros. The team was crap as a whole and created next to no chances. And it’s a bold move in any case to ignore the top goal scoring and assisting Englishman in the PL this year I dont mind Toney as a player- he’s a reliable scorer and has decent link up play. But he’s a piece of work who was rightly banned from the game for fraudulent behaviour and has a history of unsavoury incidents. As an England fan, I don’t want to see anyone with that sort of personality near the team. Watkins of course is almost diametrically opposite and has a very good character. It’s odd since I’d previously thought Southgate valued these sorts of things but obviously not

Worth noting we also had effectively a home advantage in basically every game of the Euros. He’s done ok but he’s also had the best possible conditions in which to be England manager: a fantastic squad, lucky tournament match ups; a tournament effectively hosted in England

I’m imagining a similar Buendia training montage but with you preparing your freshest insults. “Soon…..”

As this thread shows, changing the colours of the flag has been done countless times. So I don’t think they could have safely predicted the ridiculous shitshow that the reaction has been