Euros 2024 — Day 16

Hope Hagi junior puts one over "our Ronald"

Georghe's 94 performances were some of the greatest of international football. It was quite a look when all of the Romanian side took the pitch with peroxide hair.

Extremely attacking line up from Belgium v France. Onana will be heavily tested / isolated in a very open midfield v the strength of Tchouameni, Kante and Rabiot.

Good luck Amadou, have a blinder and get that transfer fee up.

The man in the middle for Belgium against France... our man Onana. Heavy responsibility next to De Bruyne.

Dale

That was an awesome team Hagi, Popescu, Petrescu et al the match against Argentina was a classic

He already looks isolated Robert.

Yes Kieran, that side is among my all-time international favorites. Stelea was godly in goal.

Kieran and Dale, I was there for the Romania/Sweden WC game in '94. Most of the crowd was neutral, yet the noise was incredible -- the pace was relentless, never slowed. All the goals were after 80 minutes. Raducioiu almost brought the place down. I missed the late Swedish equalizer because some emotional Swede jumped sideways and bowled me over.

Dan Petrescu was my favorite from that Romania team. What a rock. But he shouldn't have been taking a pen in the shootout. Argh.

Another ref we cannot trust. He was 2 yards from the defender for that "corner" and then gives a barmy yellow, KDB as holding mid????

Why doesn't fucking VAR intervene when there's a clear and obvious error like that corner that wasn't?

VAR rules on enough stuff. We don't need it ruling on corners.

Mike

That was a great Sweden team too. Brolin before h gained 100lbs, Henrik Larson, Dahlin etc

Do you have a better reason for them not correcting a clear and obvious error, Mike? Or is that the sum of your logic?

Yeah Kieran, and Larsson barely played in that game. Came on just in time to be in the pen shootout -- and win it.

How many clear and obvious errors do you want VAR to rule on, Michael? Throw-ins? Handballs in the midfield?

I'm a big supporter of VAR, but only for things that really change the outcome of a game -- goals good or not, pen or not, red card or not. We don't need it for corner kicks with their 1 in 25 conversion rate. The game gets stopped often enough as it is.

VAR should be able to rule on managers/coaches shoes

Aoart from hopefully increasing his transfer fee, will Onana ever pass the ball forward or even get a pass from de Bruyne ?

Henke '94. Sweden played Wales in a warm up at Wrexham. Took the kids. Youngest had just turned 6.

Saw Henke in the warm up, pointed and said "There's a girl playing".
He has not been allowed to forget it, our kid that is - not Henke.

Sweden had a good team that year with Schwarz and Thern in the middle. Ended up 3rd, losing to Brazil in the Semis

France don't put pressure on when they don't have the ball. Making this a dull.game.

I really enjoy the way Fletcher and Hargreaves commentate a game. Lots of good opinions. Like sitting next to two guys in the upper stand.

Decisions on play in the penalty area would surely be a better rationale. And that would only take a moment for the referee to be corrected.

The VAR in his ear would say "Came off his head; corner." 5 seconds. Why on earth would you not want that?

In their last 4 1/2 games France have scored one goal themselves. Entertaining.

Are Belgium's shirts those wet look Castor ones or do their players just sweat and get rained on in every match more than their opponents?

If they ever come up with the system you're describing, sure. But you know perfectly well it's not 5 seconds, it's 20-30 seconds to cue up the replay, examine various angles and tell the ref. For what? A corner kick that has a 2-4% chance of producing a goal. No thanks.

Yes Mike, Darren Fletcher is miles ahead of any other Fox commentator cause he is a 5Live fella (Owen H has always been smart). But then at half-time we have to go back to the gormless gumps around the "pundits" table. Can't Fox afford something better and in the process exterminate the thick twat that is Ian Darke who is driving me mad with his pronunciations of names: Onahnah

Paul, a yellow card should be given for any manager not wearing socks.

Darren Fletcher has verbal diarrhoea. He useless.

"verbal diarrhoea. He useless". LOL

They could be wearing those little half-moon ones Dale that hide within the body of the shoe (what are your thoughts on that?)

Can see the Belgians nicking this 1-0.

I see Bellingham is being investigated by UEFA for his crude gesture

Hard to believe Darke was once a BBC legend. Memorably called Landon's goal at the World Cup and had a job for life in the US. Awful.

Mike

Whatever happened to that old Irish guy who looked like a leprechaun and used to be on US TC for soccer all the time back in the day. I don't even know if he had any football credentials but it was always him and some heavy set guy who looked like an extra from the sopranos. Then they jazzed it up with Wynalda.

Kieran you heading off to the ground later on to watch the USA get knocked out or hang out with the Uruguay fans in Westport?

They need to take one of these two centre forwards off Belgium and fill the space between KDB and our lad. France starting to look better.

Nice that are playing pre-season min Sligo.

Paul

I thought about it but didn't want to pay $100 for a nose bleed seat. That being said we are in the midst of a ferocious thunder storm with flash warnings all day so I hope the players tonight are wearing good old fashioned studs and not these silly ballet slippers they favor today.

No Paul, no boofy hand me down fashion statements from the sad 70s tennis pro shop.

Kieran @ 31, that was actually me and Derek Knox at Goodison Park.

Andy

LMAO

Finally agreed with something "Coisty" said.

Doku may be a managers nightmare. He may not be the most productive player and his body and legs may be on completely different pages, but fuck me, He's fun to watch

Kieran, you must be talking about Seamus Malin, the old Irish NASL guy from the 1980's. Not sure who the sideman was. I just remember them bringing in a necessary Yank and it was Kyle Rote Jr.

PF, I'll say this for Ian Darke. He can be dead ten years and he'll still be better than JP Dellacamera.

Crunching tackle there from Onana. Nice.

Andy, HAHAHA. You and DK are everywhere!

Kieran 29...will this have repercussions for Everton ? Especially as he also call the opposition coach a " baldies cnut "

Alan

They'll have to dock us some points because we once had a Slovak goalie

Dale 26, yellow would be no good because VAR wouldn’t be able to intervene.

Kieran 31, I can testify to Andy’s post at 35. Can see them clearly in the Bullens Road from the Top Balcony.

This is a slow, shit excuse for a football match

Need to agree a bid now for Onana, before he takes a penalty, if it goes to a shoot out

Anything like his cup penalty and it could wipe a few million off his fee.

Kieran, you going to the game tonight to watch the USA crash out?

What was it Onana said about using this tournament to let the football world see what he can do? (something like that).

I'm just wondering when he intends to start.

I would swap Saliba for Branthwaite.

Brian, tomorrow

Mike

No I am going to see an Independent movie called Thelma about an old lady. My wife's idea.

A genuine question for the sage's on this thread. Do teams really employ lip readers ? And if so, and lip reading is never 100% accurate what would they glean...coach to assistant, " get big Charlie on and tell him to twat it at the goal "

Has anyone else got an annoying thin line that keeps appearing vertically in the middle of their telly?

Lukaku - can he do anything else other than chuffing point everywhere with his arms and hands? Used to hate that when he played for us

Scrappy goal. Big deflection.

OK Kevin, get the deal signed. He will be back to sign it tomorrow.

beautiful build up Mike, scrappy aint the word mate

Maybe Lukaku can get an acrobatic last second scissor kick equalizer

Gerry!!! How are you, mate? Feeling better? Been on my mind, sir.

Kieran, the aftershock would be felt throughout Europe

PF, a mis-hit shot that hits a defender's knee is the very definition of scrappy.

35 yard worldie from Amadou coming up. £60 mill. Ker ching !

the build up was wonderful MG and is an integral part of the goal that has now been given as an og

That's the halfway line Neil. 🤣

Does this make Oggy the top scorer for France with 2?

Neil

Yeah the groundsman may struggle to level off the crater

I reckon we should put in a cheeky bid for this OG bloke. He never stops scoring

Phil, Oggy is the top scorer for the whole damn tournament.

I guess this is the final end of the fool's gold generation of Belgian football.

and two of them are for France, the other one they got was a Pen.

That's right Phil, France have not yet scored a goal in open play ogx2 pen

Well I guess that puts the end of Onana showing off his talents.

Thank christ somone scored so I don't have to watch another 30 mins of that shite

That Belgian coach should be put in the stocks in the middle of Brussels for wasting KDB for over an hour

The comments about Onana are strange.

I mean he's probably going to be signed by much bigger clubs than Everton.

James Garner does absolutely nothing and gets lauded by our fans and yet he'll never play for a bigger club than Everton, having failed to make the grade at Manchester United

What the feck is going on? France is going all Vichy again; Trump is more or less immune from prosecution for things done in office. Supreme gobshite court all political.

Ryan, I can only go off the games at Goodison I've been.

I have seen nothing from Onana that has got me out of my seat, done the odd 10-minute cameo, but I've yet to see anything from Onana.

I get he is still young and will improve, but from what I have seen so far I would happily take the money and keep hold of Branthwaite.

"Mike.

No (I'm not going the match) I'm going to see am independent movie called Thelma, about an old lady."

Cue astonishment

Spot on Brian

Ryan #72,

I was perplexed by Onana's performance, and kept wondering what a scout would report on him.

On the one hand, he was very calm, playing mostly at walking pace, collecting the ball from his defenders, retaining it, before passing it to a teammate. But the vast majority of those passes were backwards, whence the ball had come. He was instrumental in Belgium's performance. They lost.

I do think he will be sought by other clubs, but they will require much more creative players around him.

France got lucky too. Not a good game, but compared to the England game, it was a fucking classic!

Expect fireworks in the Austria vs Turkey match... probably end up with a punch-up on the pitch or between the dug-outs or both!!

Not sure you'll get off your seat watching Onana in our set up. He's a defensive midfielder, playing with Gana in a low block in a team that plays long ball and creates little.

To see the best of Onana you need to give him more ball, and play 20 yards further up the pitch.

We don't have the full-backs to utilise that, nor do I think Tarkowski can play anything than a low block. He just doesn't have the pace.

I'd like to have kept Onana. He has a far better potential than Garner. A top 6 side utilises his attributes of pace, strength, endurance and power. For Belgium he's been very good.

Interesting. Our old Wavertree sunshine boy has signed for Villa.

Didn't he stink the place out there when he was on loan?

He was really good for about three months then turned to crap.

I was surprised to see Barkley join Villa too. He was a big fish at Luton, I wish him no ill but think he may struggle at Villa and would be better at a club like Ipswich or Brentford maybe.

The last time Ross was at Villa, he got off to a great start, but faded pretty quickly and didn't feature that much from what I remember.

Good shout Neil, though I see Doug Luiz has gone to Juventus for north of 40 million. Brentford is a really good shout; also, Brighton have a habit of mixing their flash young lads with a couple of older heads.

Yep, wish him well, except against us.

Ah, Mike Gaynes, we're back with the Darke/Donovan muppet show.

PSR definitely a factor with Villa.

I hope Slovenia watched the Georgia game and knock this winker off his pedestal.

Please, can someone do something about this feigning injury crap?
I guess VAR check for potential dangerous play, so why can't they alert the ref when someone is cheating and hasn't been touched. Doing my effing head in!
Rant over

Kieran (48); Thelma is getting good write ups— a comedy about an 93 year old lady who gets scammed —played by a lady who is 103 years old.

Opens in Great Britain 19th.July —- might go and see it myself.

Congrats on being a great-great-grandad Dave; you'd be a spring chicken for those 93 year old vultures.

Dave

Yeah it is supposed to be quite funny.

To be fair to Ross Barkley, he had a few injuries at Villa, then think covid stuff disrupted the season.

Good luck to him at Villa. Emery and Monchi are usually associated with bringing in quality players and Ross is proven quality. May not have shown it much of late, but this is a good move for him.

Ronaldo making a fool of himself here with that dumb free kick on goal, desperate to score. Slovenia look decent on the break. Well coached.

Paul (89), “ Great great grandad- ah ffs how old do you think I am, great grand dad is the score. All babies are miracles and my grandson and his partner have brought another one into the world.

Tony his granddad had him kicking the little figures hanging from his crib at three days old yet doesn’t believe that kids should be coached until they are 14!

The commentators will crack one off if Ronaldo scores, love him to score then brought back and ruled out by var.

HAHAHAHA! Tony sounds so happy. The Abrahams' great Everton lineage grows and grows.

Brian, ha! He would lose it big time and get a red.

Fascinating game really, such intricate play, such determination and effort. Yet nothing to show on either side.

Still, what a contrast to the mindless strolling zombie shite a lot of the other sides have played.

Individual coaching Dave, you can’t beat it, just as long as you make it both interesting and enjoyable, but I doubt that many kids get individual coaching at these amazing academies?

Someone needs to do some individual training with Ronaldo about not taking free kicks. The tit.

Congratulations to the Abrahams for welcoming the next Evertonian.

Tony, you're totally right, you have to coach players individually. They are all different. As a youngster, I was taken aside. Then you fit into the team.

Michael @98, was really disappointed with Belgium playing walking football with the talent they've got. That match looked great on paper but was pretty dire from both sides, and especially Belgium.

Looking forward to USA v another bunch of horrible South American cheats tonight, should be a bunch of cards if nothing else. And Canada are already through! Happy Canada Day all y'all, it's the one day every year I'll grudgingly wear red. But we're all Slovenian out here in the back yard with the barbecue going.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a fucking bellend. Just thought I'd let you know!

Closely followed by that twat Fernandes.

Then Jota!!

That stat for Ronaldo's free-kick completion is really hilarious considering his reputation.

1 goal from 58 attempts… make that 60 now. C'mon, Christiano, show us yer kecks!

Rob, Portugal are Twatty United

Martinez has no structure here at all. It's like our bell-end, individuals not working with each other and wanting the ball. Oblack great stuff mate. Ronny screws up yet again and pulls his little baby I want crisps face. Slovenia on the break please or pens and Ronny misses the last one.

Ronaldo has the most punchable face of all time

Neil, they're not that good. They're just utter shite.

The majority of these so called bigger teams have been shite to be honest. Other than Spain.

Liam, I'd love to place his head on the floor and volley it between rugby posts. The man is a fucking worm.

Some classy remarks here, lads.

You’re not wrong there Liam, give anything for a 60/40 Ronaldo Tarkowski challange and put Ronaldo in the second row of the crowd, arrogant little shit.

Even rush didn’t goal hang as much as him.

Who would you like to most punch in the face Rob?

Tony (99) individual coaching? I noticed you were only using his right foot to kick those figures, he’s got two feet, start as you mean to go on!

Martin Keown is another twat. Constantly describing Slovenia's performance as 'gallant' as though they are Knights from the middle ages. Also talked shit about Myko the other day for no reason. Fucking pomegranate face.

I reckon close call between masters and Oliver for Rob, Paul

Paul @115, you didn't ask me, but...

Bruno all day long.

Martinez next England manager?

Ronaldo is definitely in charge, how Martinez doesn't substitute Ronaldo, Silva and Pepe is unbelievable, look at the players he has on the bench, no bottle.

Martinez is a weak manager. Should have dragged Ronsldo off about an hour ago when he tried to score from a free kick from almost by the corner flag.

Paul, that diving twat Jota. He's an expert at diving.

ah crap

Defender's leg goes across his man. I think it's right.

Time for C7 to step up!

OH GET IN GET IN OH YES

Oh dear never mind

Haha...Fuck off Ronaldo you shithouse.

Brilliant save!

Absolutely brilliant. Couldn't happen to a nicer fella.

Haha Ronaldo is crying... Fucking baby!! 😂😂😂😂

Haha Ronaldo is crying... Fucking baby!! 😂😂😂😂

CR7 bawling. awesome!!

He's fucking crying now the nob.

He's fucking crying now the nob.

He's fucking crying now the nob.

What a big girl's blouse!

Haha Ronaldo is crying... Fucking baby!! 😂😂😂😂

Proper weeping! I'm crying laughing here!

That was a well taken pen; world class save, what a keeper. If this goes to pens Oblack v Ronny, the rat, red shite, mind games

There is a god, Marcy arse love it

If it goes to penalties will he take another one 😢 😭 😢 😭

OK - so which one of you yanks is it?

Get Involved
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Wow. Ronaldo bursting into tears 15 minutes earlier than I expected. Funny old game...

Steve, laughing his socks off in Fort Worth

Aaaagggghhh should have scored!!

Pepe's legs look like they are going to fall off.

Got to.score

What a wally. A finish Calvert-Lewin would be proud of!

Oh Michael.

Yeah he just had to chip him, to be fair DCL is pretty poor one on one with the goalie

COME ON SLOVENIA!!!!

Another great save.

And another.

And another. Amazing performance.

Ah, too bad, would have loved to see Portugal out.

Some bottle from Ronaldo all the same

Wow

This is horrible but all credit to Costa

Sheer brilliance from Diogo Costa!

Three fantastic saves, unbelievable.

Feel for Slovenia. Horrible to finish like that

Next round Mike, they play France.

Porto Rob

Some saves, those. Who does he play for?

It's time for pens to go... always horrible to lose any game to them!

Rob, so far he has stayed home. He plays for Porto.

Bit harsh on France & Portugal having to play Monday/Friday whilst Switzerland play Saturday/Saturday
Not that I care just seems unfair?

Cheers Mike. Deffo MOTM for me.

Credit where it is due, fabulous save in extra time and inspired in the shoot out.

Billy #158, trust me, losing in sudden death is way worse. I lost one once in five overtimes. 162 effing minutes. I couldn't walk for days. Couldn't get my shoes on. The team that beat us lost 8-1 in the next round. After that they changed the rules.

Hey, hey, USA, ready to lose to Uruguay?

At least Berhalter got the lineup right in his final game in charge.

Camera position in Kansas City appears to be just lower than the International Space Station, and the ridiculously wide half-field camera angle makes the players look miniscule. If I wasn't watching on a 55" screen I would already be looking for the ant spray.

GET IN THE HOLE

Yanks doing OK here; plenty of empties in the upper tiers.

Is a draw enough for the Yanks?

No PF, maybe not even a win because of GD.

USA playing with a verve and quickness we haven't seen much before.

Wow I didn't realise that the situation was as dire as that, Well, they look good, passing the ball well, some good speed, Pulisic looking good. Has Suarez hung up huis national boots?

Arrowhead. Is that where the Chiefs play?

Panama currently going through!

You shouldn't have played all that music to stop them sleeping.

PF Suarez is on their bench.

Big loss for the USA in Balogun... Pepi can finish in the air but lacks the pace to beat anybody.

Wow is Suarez on the bench! Not a bad one to bring on late. He's good at holding the ball up. Yes I though Balogun and Reyna - he's the old manager's kid right? - were the best two US players first half. Another Yank struggling on the pitch - did I hear Scally?

GO GO BOLIVIA!

They still owe us for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

If they hold onto a draw with Panama, we'll call it even.

Surely offside?

Surprised that stood

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? OBVIOUS OFFSIDE. HOW DO THEY LET THAT GOAL STAND????

this length of time is just ridiculous: wow, that looked offside to me - well, that might spur on the Yanks; right now Orlando doesn't matter, right?

How in the actual fuck is that NOT offside????

What the fuck?

Panama 2-1

Berhalter can't survive this. He has to go tomorrow so we can prep for the World Cup.

Who's we Jamie, us or you?

USA Paul? Get in the hole people?

Ah, I thought that you were one of us now.

If we don't fire Berhalter I give up.

Bad luck lads

Feel for the players and supporters. Tactics and motivation all wrong. New coach soon.

Jay -

Issue is the US Soccer Federation. Look how long it took them to re-hire Berhalter, never mind the fact he shouldn't have been re-hired at all!

There's so much nepotism inside that crap hierarchy it's just gross.

We've lost to Panama twice in the last 11-12 months I believe? Berhalter's tactics, and especially his substitutions, are so frequently mind-boggling anyone with half a brain realizes he's not the guy to lead this team.

The team needs a cataclysmic shake-up. It reminds me a bit of the apathetic 2018 failure to qualify for the World Cup. That team was far too comfortable. This team loses and you never, ever hear any player say, "I'm sick and tired of coming up short." Instead they talk about how harmonic the locker room is.

Blow up that locker room and affect change. Berhalter will never, ever do that.

I read online this funny statement, and it's so, so true:

'Berhalter' is American for 'Southgate'.

Same shit on both sides of the pond. A talented team held back from succeeding by their managers - for different reasons to be sure - that should be doing much, much better than they are.

Fire this hired by his brother, posing charlatan tomorrow. Be swift and decisive.

Will that happen? Sadly probably not.

Moyes is available.

Jamie, both need sacking, but the comparison is false.

The USA ain't that talented. Only by comparison to previous USA teams. No way you can say Berhalter is holding them back. These guys aren't like England, club superstars who can't pull it together for the national team.

England doesn't score with a starting forward line that scored 94 goals last season, you can definitely blame Southgate. USA doesn't score with a 23-goal front line, not the same thing.

What you can definitely say is that the USA needs somebody to elevate them, a tactician/strategist who can get more out of their game and can make adjustments mid-game. And there's nobody in the USA who can do it.

Blow up the locker room?? Absolutely fucking not. Go overseas for a top manager and pay him. Job done.

MOYES FFS Moyes.

Piss off with your Moyes joke, PF. It's not remotely funny right now.

I think you're being a bit harsh Mike, but I do agree with your view.

The US do produce some very good players, but probably don't always gel as team.

I watched a few matches in the States including my good friends son's youth team. Just an opinion, but a lot of emphasis on individual skill.

I do like Weston McKennie and watched him play for Schalke. If he's surplus to requirements at Juventus, I think Evertonians would love him.

Moyes? Why are we still talking Moyes? He's done well at West Ham, but is not very popular. He crashed and burned at Manchester United when faced with title winning players, who, going off footage, they looked on, seemingly confused. I would imagine it would be similar with England if that is what is being suggested.

I know we all see games in different ways.

Credit to Slovenia, they held their own. Portugal didn't look convincing, but they're through. They will have to up their game against France, who are still my favourites.

Danny #189, I would absolutely love to see either McKennie or Tyler Adams in the Everton midfield. Unlikely, however. More likely would be a bid for Yunus Musah.

Most of all, I'd love to see the guy that Brands and Silva sold for $2 million, Antonee Robinson, on our flank where he belongs.

But the fact is that the USA has zero of the top 100 players in the world, and only four who are even regular starters in Top 5 leagues. That's a big improvement on previous years, but it still doesn't approach the talent levels of England, for example.

Also the US has lost ground badly in a previous area of strength. We have always had top keepers. Not now. Keeper is a major weakness. And our best CB is 36.

Your last paragraph Mike is very pertinent.

The US do produce a lot of good keepers.

I assume it is related to that many of the sports played are hand related, so the ball hand coordination is very good.

On a lighter note, we went to watch LA Galaxy years ago against Chicago Fires. Entertaining and very open match.

But the most entertaining thing was the party outside the hospitality box to my left. Band playing, all of them dancing and they just carried on into the second half. I don't think they where watching the football!!!

That's really quite a shocking analysis, Mike.

I remember the tremendous hype surrounding the 1994 World Cup that played out for the first time in the USA to the most incredible crowds, and the legitimacy it seemed to give to the just formed Major League Soccer.

While living nearby for many years after they were formed in 2009, I only went to see 2 or 3 games played by the Seattle Sounders and could never buy into 'rooting' for them, sorry, so perhaps it's partly my fault.

But I didn't realize MLS rejected promotion and relegation in 2017, sticking with the Yankee franchise system… hmmmm, that might have been their biggest mistake!

And now the games are only available on Apple TV? Another possible restriction. But still doesn't explain the failure to build a core of world-class talent in all that time. It seems to have gone backwards.

Interestingly, Moyes consistently underperformed the wage bill, squad value and net spend at West Ham. To put it another way, they overspent on very limited success. That's why he was sacked.

In yesterdays games there was again a lack of goals 0-0 and 1-0!

This possession football is killing excitement, I cant watch a TV game live now unless Everton or two of the very best teams in the Prem. are playing.

It's boring, why are humans like sheep the fashion now is for possession football so its now a crime to play direct. Oh, but it's not proper football, what nonesense.

Why, I thought the idea was to score goals it doesn't matter how it's done does it, it counts as a goal. Theres a lot more panic in defenses when a ball lands close or in the penalty area.

Mike, I was surprised on reading your comment about USA having zero of the top 100 players in the world. Wouldn't Pulisic feature somewhere in a top 100. Might only be one, but perhaps not all doom and gloom.

Raymond, I'm also bored of the possession football.

I was watching a few mins of the France vs Belgium game and was boring my wife with some inciteful commentary in advance of the individual moves in a passage of play actually taking place, for example, indicating that the furthest forward player on the left hand side for France would be getting the ball to the furthest forward player on the right and how the ball would get there via which players and then probably get it back a minute later. I was correct

To be fair, my wife pipes up, why don't the players try to take the ball forward, at which point France tried a slightly more direct approach and scored.

I don't watch football these days. Refuse to pay for Sky, Amazon, Netflix, BT or any of them and all too mundane.

But the laughs on ToffeeWeb. That is more than enough.
Especially PF winding up MG. Love the ant spray one Mike and as for the BC&SK one, you really are an adopted scouser.

Raymond 195

Totally agree how possession football is killing football, apart from the odd side possession starts with the back 4 and the defensive midfield player exchanges 7,8 or 9 passes before even considering a forward pass. I thought it quite ironic that Bellingham scored from a long throw in that was considered anti football when Wimbledon used it back in the day and years later when Rory Delap used the same tactic for Stoke. I posted in another thread about the lesser teams being easier on the eye as they chose to attack when in possession than the aimless passing at the back the so called top teams do. Football used to to be about entertaining the fans now some games its more of an endurance test.

Raymond I quite agree. At one point in the England game, after going 1 down, the back 4 passed the ball around in their own half for 2 minutes. Looks great when you look at the possession stats but sends you to sleep!

Phil, ever thought of getting a fire stick, what you cannot get on there with a certain app, isn’t worth watching

No Brian, might miss the humour on ToffeeWeb while watching a goal go in (and the 74 replays) before VAR says no goal.
Last live match was Leigh Women's Euros. Stina scored for Sweden. Great goal. Instant hugging of kids (in their 30s) high fiving other Swedish fans. 2 minutes later - offside by 2 inches. I called the Foden goal (around taking a neighbours dog for walk and just arrived back) as offside as soon as I saw it. Why do we even bother with linesmen these days?

And as for passing - stats for a game are like
Stones 95 passes (98% accurate);
Guehi 84 passes (99% accurate);
Foden 42 passes (70% accurate);

So who do you want in midfield? Surely Stones and Guehi. Far better passers of the ball than Foden. It is like saying I have 100% success rate of taking penalties - against my 6 year old grandson.

Mike @ 186 -

Morning m'man.

The comparison isn't false. Just because you say it is doesn't make it so, and more importantly doesn't mean there aren't parallels. There clearly are which is what I pointed out.

And yes, Mike, we do need to blow up that locker room. I think you took my meaning incorrectly, or more likely I didn't explain myself clearly as I was supremely pissed off last night. There's simply too much "cozy and comfy" shit going on in that locker room. Blow it up in this manner - no one is assured a start. No one should take their place for granted on the team. If a player plays poorly bench him.

Blow up the attitude and lack of competition for places.

Jamie #202, the lack of competition for USA places isn't about politics or coziness. It's a function of lack of depth of talent. We really do have only one good left back, one good right back (currently injured), four top midfielders, etc. The US doesn't have any Cole Palmers on their bench. Pulisic had a stinker passing the ball last night, but nobody is lobbying for Brenden Aaronson. And remember, half our starters were recruited by Berhalter from other countries.

Ian #196, there's an actual list, voted on by a couple hundred journos and former players. Pulisic isn't on the list, perhaps because this past season at Milan was his first as a full-time starter for a top club. (He did make ESPN's top 100.) It's definitely not gloom and doom for the USA, because we certainly have more genuine quality players than we ever have, but no true stars yet.

Michael #193, it's a major disappointment with MLS. Top homegrown US talent skips MLS completely (Pulisic, McKennie, Richards) or heads to Europe as soon as possible after showing promise there (Adams, Aaronson, Pepi). There are no true top USA stars playing in the league, because the quality just isn't that high.

I don't think it's about promotion/relegation, however. There is no second level in the USA comparable to the Championship. Any MLS club relegated to the USL would totally dominate and come right back up, and no USL club has the infrastructure or financial resources to compete in MLS.

Hi Mike - sorry didn't reply to your question about my health yesterday - I am in bed by the time each 8pm match 2nd half kicks off - still on the road to recovery from triple bypass surgery, so a low profile is my aim...hope you are all well

If there is one thing the Euros have shown is that reputations count for nothing. The "big" countries may have the better individual players. But the smaller countries can give them a run for their money as long as the are well drilled and disciplined. This is what Dyche is doing with Everton. We don't have the big name players so we make up for it by being strong in defence and midfield. If we can just improve the forwards and get a few more goals then we should have a decent season. We can worry about getting in the superstars once we are finally in the new stadium.

Gerry mate my old PhD supervisor from Cambridge who moved to Yale had a triple bypass in February in Newhaven. I went to see him at the end of May and after an initial few weeks of rest and fatigue he's getting stronger from one day to the next - still gets tired etc - and was in London last week looking for a pub to watch the England match.

Warmest wishes for a similar recovery for you mate.

If you would like to ask Keith anything I"d be glad to help (don't be surprised if your mental health suffers, it's very common after invasive surgery, Keith said).

Take care mate

Paul

Phil #201,

Aren't 90% of Stones's passes 5 yards to his right or his left? Not much risk involved there.

On the other hand, probably 60% of Foden's passes are to create an opening and are forward passes.

Stones should be carrying the ball into the opponent's half and then passing forwards.

Passing sideways does nothing but gives the opposition a breather and a chance to regroup.

Will do Paul if I need any advice...just glad to get out after 6 weeks in hospital and a 4kg weight loss. The NHS came through shining in all its glory, but OMG - the food in Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is the worst I have ever NOT eaten...

Gerry, I was so delighted to see you post yesterday that my own heart got years younger!

Glad your recovery is progressing... please keep us posted. (Pun intended.)

Yay Gerry! Keep it going maaan!

Romania flying in the early going.

Keeper can't get beat there.