KentVillan

Exactly. This is as frustrating as watching Gerrard make a decent squad of Villa players look like relegation contenders. Southgate is fine as a spokesman / figurehead, but tactically he just doesn't have it, and never has. He is going to waste a really top generation of English talent by never reading the game properly. It's not like he makes massive mistakes, but he doesn't see what's happening in each game properly. He doesn't judge when you can go for the jugular, and when you need to sit back and soak up the pressure. He just gets it wrong every time, but gets away with it because more often than not we have the quality to dig him out of the hole... until we face a decent side with a decent manager (which will happen at some point).

Even this cretin has a better read of the game than Shitgate

That's true, but we left players on the bench who could have probably caused them a lot of problems. I'm not completely anti Sterling / Saka / Rashford, but for me they're players who belong in tough fixtures where you'll need to defend as an 11 and might get counter attacking chances. When oppo is keeping it tight, surely you want players like Foden and Grealish on the pitch, who can unlock a stacked defence.

Oh I just meant in the sense of... how much better England would be, and so undermining all the Southgate hype. Obviously hope he manages us for 15 years.

Would love to see Emery managing this England side

They drew with Wales though, so really should be a very beatable side. I think we’ll go through the gears as the game wears on, but Southgate really making things hard for us. What does Sterling offer in this kind of game? Foden on the bench is a travesty.

Very predictable, safe, low charisma football. We’ll probably nick a result here, but you don’t win a World Cup playing like this. And why on earth is Foden on the bench.

I’m loving running at the moment. The weather is perfect for me now, as I really struggle in the summer with the heat and dehydration. Have stopped targeting weekly mileage or X runs per week or specific times, and now just run on feel. No guilt if I skip a day, no guilt if I do a slow run. And really noticing times creeping in the right direction week on week, with relatively little training. Big realisation has been that hills don’t need to be a hard session. Can just walk the steepest bits, or drop the pace right down, and then the benefit of doing hills regularly is starting to kick in. basically I think the reason most people dislike running or plateau is that they push themselves too hard and get disheartened (or they’re hoping to lose loads of weight quickly, where tbh running isn’t the answer). Turn it into more of a mental thing, a diversion from playing on your phone or whatever, and the progress comes naturally and sustainably

Still can’t believe he’s taken a knackered Kane, a massively injury prone Wilson, and Rashford who isn’t really a classic striker, as his only options at CF. And SIX players who can play right back. Echoes of Sven leaving Defoe at home.

He had a great reputation at Rangers. He speaks basic Portuguese. CV is okay. Alex McLeish had good references. I wish Beale all the best, but football is littered with these highly regarded assistant coaches who never make the step up (Steve McLaren!?)

just remembered this

That was class! Thought he had a solid game as well. Think he’s a naturally likeable person who will endear himself to the fans even if his Polish is terrible

I was talking about kids more generally. Yes you're probably right with the disabled kid, and Jack's proven relationship through the years with kids in similar situation to his sister.

He has a mental age of 7 so I think they can relate to him And when he plays well he is still a brilliant player to watch, very natural dribbling style... still see glimpses of it at City

Softest pen I’ve seen in a long time. Will ruin the tournament if they keep giving those

The dark side of this tournament. The real baller move if England are serious about protesting would be for Declan Rice and Mason Mount to celebrate a winning goal in the Final by engaging in live anal sex by the corner flag

I think tbf, the main *footballing* issue with where they host tournaments is weather and pitch quality. It looks like a Qatari winter evening isn’t actually too bad for playing football, even for a Northern European side. And the pitches look decent too. So yes it’s terrible atmosphere and it’s a joke that this country is hosting, but I think at least we’ll get a few decent knockout games once the minnows have been knocked out.

“Racism doesn’t exist because Maguire is called slab head”… shut up

Reinstate scantily clad ladies!

Was in Snowdonia or whatever it’s called now. There was barely anyone around, let alone police. Think you’re right though the main roads are stacked with speed cameras… you probably know a lot more than me being where you are!

It’s weird how different parts of the country treat speeding so differently. In London they’re brutal on weird traffic violations like getting stuck in a box junction, or swinging into a bus lane to let an ambulance past. But you can drive around the M25 at 100mph with no problems. North Yorkshire police love setting up speed traps and make a fortune from it. Down in Kent you barely ever see police doing that. Had similar experience in North Wales recently, could just bomb around as you wanted. It’s just all so weird and I don’t understand who sets the policies and why some places are so relaxed about it when others obviously treat it as a cash cow. And not saying it’s necessarily a bad thing, speeding is often dangerous, especially in residential areas. But the inconsistency is what catches people out.

Either way, nothing is as obnoxious as the desiccated ruins of Pompeii that come out the next day. Dublin hangovers are beaten only by Belgian hangovers for sheer brain hell

The taking 10 mins to pour a pint thing is very obnoxious

Amazing how many of them think Musk is a legal genius with the best lawyers in the known universe who can simply close the business in Europe and not pay out. The amount of collective delusion is astonishing. They really think he’s a superhero.