RabbitFurCoat

Feels very McLaren to FINALLY deliver on the car's potential and get a 1-2, and the narrative of the race is still what an absolute mess they've made of it.

He took one player who was so injured he couldn't play a part in the first four games. I don't know how bad Maguire's injury was, but there's an argument that just his presence could have been more beneficial than Dunk given there were four other centre halves in the squad. I think there's always a risk that the age of ego could come around again, especially when you have so many talented attacking players, in some ways it's utterly bonkers to have a squad where none of Grealish, Rashford, Sterling or Maddison are in it and none of those omissions are exactly undeserved, but there are some big characters in there. There have certainly been French and Dutch teams in the past who have got nowhere close to what the talent in the squad was capable of due to the arguments and egos within the squad, and there was some of that in the Golden Generation era of England too. I think it's something Southgate had done so well, in cultivating a great culture within the squad where they all get on and are happy with their place, after how low it had sunk by the end of Capello and the era of club cliques that came before it. But ultimately that's easier when you're in the process of building a squad and becoming more successful. It's more difficult when you're having to make tough decisions on who to leave out.

Back out to Germany for me in the morning for my 59th, and then hopefully 60th, England game. I feel this is a game both teams will think they can win, as both teams have obvious weaknesses. I don't see there likely being much changes, it'll be cagey and tight.

Hungary - Draw Iceland - Draw Austria - Draw Croatia - Draw - win in E/T Poland - Draw - win on Pens Wales - Win Portugal's run to Euro 2016 final, bet the Portuguese must count it as a hollow win as they didn't beat anyone decent and barely played well! :lol:

In knockout football it's unfair to say any team SHOULD be winning tournaments. Martinez is labelled a fraud for not winning anything with Belgium, Southgate for not winning with England, Brazil are flops for not going past the semis in 5 world cups, I'm sure if Deschamps hadn't delivered a title for France he'd be a massive flop too given their talent, but only one team can win, it doesn't make ALL the others flops. All you can ask is that you put yourselves in contention to win and Southgate has done that each time, this time is easily the worst and most boring football but we're still there and aren't really any worse than 2 of the other 3 teams remaining. The subs missing penalties is purely outcome bias. Bringing penalty takers on towards the end of Extra Time has been a thing since I remember watching football. Argentina bought Dybala on in the 121st minute of the World Cup final and he scored, but was clearly a terrible decision.

Only one of the four remaining teams look remotely well coached, attacking-wise anyway. There may have been good teams with good managers at this tournament, but they haven't got very far. England are boring, and they don't play particularly well, but our defensive solidity is excellent. Switzerland were raved about before, how good they are and how difficult it would be for England, they had one good chance and scored it. 3 penalty shoot out wins from 4 under Southgate, after 1 win in 7 in our history before, and he still gets slated for one we didn't win :lol:

01 (01) Los Campesinos! - Feast of Tongues (01) (06) (4 weeks) 02 (07) Romy - Always Forever (02) (05) 03 (08) Los Campiesinos! - A Psychic Wound (03) (07) 04 (02) Fat Dog - Running (02) (08) 05 (06) Los Bitchos - La Bomba (05) (07) 06 (04) DEADLETTER - Mere Mortal (03) (09) 07 (10) James Blake - Thrown Around (07) (04) 08 (05) Bob Vylan - Reign (01) (11) (2 weeks) 09 (13) Soft Play - Everything and Nothing (09) (04) 10 (08) Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather (05) (05) 11 (09) Chelsea Wolfe - House of Self-Undoing (03) (11) 12 (18) Richard Hawley - People (12) (04) 13 (15) Wunderhorse - July (13) (05) 14 (12) MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira (01) (15) (2 weeks) 15 (20) The Hold Steady - The Death of the Punchline (15) (07) 16 (25) Heartworms - Jacked (16) (02) 17 (14) Les Savy Fav - Somebody Needs a Hug (14) (06) 18 (24) Las Nubes - Would Be (18) (03) 19 (11) Pip Blom - Get Back (Tom Sharkett Remix) (06) (09) 20 (30) Fat Dog - I am The King (20) (02) 21 (32) Anna Prior - Nervous (21) (02) 22 (19) How To Dress Well - Gas Station Against Blackened Hillside (17) (06) 23 (36) Los Campesinos! - 0898 Heartache (23) (02) 24 (16) Cults - Crybaby (09) (08) 25 (27) Christine and the Queens - That's Us/Wild Celebration (25) (03) 26 (17) Jake Bugg - Zombieland (13) (07) 27 (23) Abstract Crimewave feat. Lykke Li - The Gambler (23) (04) 28 (42) Villagers - Truly Alone (28) (01) 29 (22) Fontaines DC - Starburster (09) (11) 30 (31) Grum - HIGHER STATE (30) (03) 31 (**) Fontaines DC - Favourite (31) (01) 32 (21) Ruel feat. DMA's - We're A Pair of Diamonds (06) (10) 33 (33) IDLES - Pop Pop Pop (33) (03) 34 (26) Bullion feat. Charlotte Adigéry - World_train (23) (05) 35 (49) Elkka feat. Dot Major - Air Tight (35) (01) 36 (29) The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth (03) (12) 37 (35) Funk Tribu feat. CAIVA - Keep Up (30) (06) 38 (**) Honeyglaze - Don't (38) (01) 39 (28) Elbow - Good Blood Mexico City (02) (11) 40 (34) English Teacher - R&B (01) (18) (4 weeks)

Watching the Austira highlights a few days after the race, got to say I was expecting this incident to have been far worse than it was considering all the talk about it. oh... was that it?!" was my main thought.

Well if this happens then yeah it'll probably be considered poor and he'll rightly get criticised for it, but let's actually let it happen first eh? You'd think we'd been knocked out 4-0 by Scotland given some of what's been said in the last two weeks. My point was he literally can't win with anything, his critics are so vociferous in their dislike of him that they just can't praise him for anything at all. The amount of fans slating Kane and Bellingham, and Southgate for keeping them on, was huge. If something shit happens it's all down to Southgate, if something good happens it's completely lucky and nothing to do with him whatsoever. This just isn't true though, is it? Kalvin Phillips under Bielsa was better than what Wharton or Mainoo have been in their limited careers so far. People see the Phillips of the last two seasons and revise history, he's now a joke figure but he was one of the Premier League's best midfielders and deservedly had a place in the England squad, and for two years was one of their better performing players. In the tournaments leading up to Southgate we were knocked out and beaten by Iceland, Costa Rice and Russia. You talk as if beating Colombia, Sweden, Ukraine, Germany is some kind of 100% given. If you listened to fans, then there were about a dozen centre halves which he should've been picking over Maguire. I don't think anyone is trying to suggest he's some kind of tactical genius, and maybe it does need someone else to be able to take England to the next level, but some of what he's achieved is incredible and down to him, the culture around the squad under him compared to previous is chalk and cheese, his playing of the media has always been great too. In so many facets of international football management he's 9-10/10. His tactics may let him down but many better tacticians have not gone as far. Ultimately international football isn't like club football, it doesn't attract the best coaches, and tournaments are at at the end of long seasons and coaches don't get long with the players. Defensive, pragmatic football can (and often is) successful at this level, Didier Deschamps is hardly some kind of mastermind and France have rarely been great to watch despite some of their talent, but they're the most successful side of the last decade.

I think last night was Southgate's worst performance in a tournament, and by some distance. I think a boring group stage can be easily forgiven, especially in this expanded tournament where so many go through. Watching the Slovenia players celebrate with their fans at the other end of the stadium just showed how much it meant to them last week, and you don't need to be good in group stages to get to the end of, or win, a tournament - this is proven at virtually every tournament that ever takes place - so doing what's required whilst conserving energy and being solid is ultimately fine. But defensively we were awful, made far more mistakes than we had and Slovakia were able to get into great positions far easier than in the groups. I find the whole thing with Southgate is hilarious really. He is unquestionably one of the two best England managers of all time, the levels he's been able to take us to are excellent and unthought of, some of the criticism has been way OTT, particularly around WC 2018, and he has made tough decisions which are often right. Continually slagged off for picking Maguire yet he proved at every tournament he's an excellent defender deserving of his place, going for Saka over Sancho was incredibly unpopular yet was spot on, his use of Phillips did make him a key and valuable player, he said it in a daft way but ultimately he's spot on that we haven't found the person to replace him yet, neither Trent, Gallagher or Mainoo have offered what he did. Even last night, fans going spare at a lack of subs and Bellingham and Kane still being on, them both scoring, but that's lucky and nothing to do with Southgate thinking that maybe having your two best players on is worth doing. I think people forget just how awful England have been at international tournaments throughout their history, 5 times to a last 4 and three of those were in England. Even the most revered teams haven't really been that good. Fans of a certain vintage still reminisce about Italia 90 but England scraped through a terrible group with an identical record to Euro 2024s, got past two teams they should do in extra time and then essentially did what the current setup is criticised so much for, and got knocked out by the first decent team they faced.

01 (08) Los Campesinos! - Feast of Tongues (01) (03) (1 week) 02 (01) Bob Vylan - Reign (01) (08) (2 weeks) 03 (02) Fat Dog - Running (02) (05) 04 (03) DEADLETTER - Mere Mortal (03) (06) 05 (04) Chelsea Wolfe - House of Self-Undoing (03) (08) 06 (07) Pip Blom - Get Back (Tom Sharkett Remix) (06) (06) 07 (05) MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira (01) (12) (2 weeks) 08 (06) Ruel feat. DMA's - We're A Pair of Diamonds (06) (07) 09 (12) Cults - Crybaby (09) (05) 10 (09) Fontaines DC - Starburster (09) (08) 11 (16) Los Campiesinos! - A Psychic Wound (11) (04) 12 (19) Los Bitchos - La Bomba (12) (04) 13 (26) Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather (13) (02) 14 (10) Elbow - Good Blood Mexico City (02) (08) 15 (15) Jake Bugg - Zombieland (15) (04) 16 (11) The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth (03) (09) 17 (21) Les Savy Fav - Somebody Needs a Hug (17) (03) 18 (14) Bat For Lashes - Home (14) (05) 19 (23) How To Dress Well - Gas Station Against Blackened Hillside (19) (03) 20 (13) Overmono x The Streets - Turn The Page (06) (07) 21 (32) Romy - Always Forever (21) (02) 22 (30) Wunderhorse - July (22) (02) 23 (18) English Teacher - R&B (01) (15) (4 weeks) 24 (28) The Hold Steady - The Death of the Punchline (24) (04) 25 (46) James Blake - Thrown Around (25) (01) 26 (17) The Blinders - All I Need (01) (13) (3 weeks) 27 (22) St. Vincent - Flea (15) (09) 28 (39) Bullion feat. Charlotte Adigéry - World_train (28) (02) 29 (20) Benjamin Damage & Bicep - CHROMA 002 L.A.V.A (02) (13) 30 (31) Funk Tribu feat. CAIVA - Keep Up (30) (03) 31 (**) Soft Play - Everything and Nothing (31) (01) 32 (36) Say Lou Lou - Waiting For a Boy (32) (02) 33 (49) Abstract Crimewave feat. Lykke Li - The Gambler (33) (01) 34 (24) Richard Hawley - Prism In Jeans (22) (05) 35 (27) Elbow - Things I've Been Telling Myself For Years (21) (05) 36 (25) Rinse feat. Hatchie - Kiss Me (Kill Me) (15) (06) 37 (**) Richard Hawley - People (37) (01) 38 (34) MGMT feat. Christine and the Queens - Dancing In Babylon (02) (16) 39 (33) Bob Vylan - Makes Me Violent (05) (14) 40 (29) Dead Pony - IGNORE THIS (16) (08)

How I'd rank Series: Incredible, must view: 2, 3, 7, 9, 13 Great: 1, 4, 11, 14, 15 Good: 6, 12, 16, 17 Meh: 5, 8, 10 All time top 5 contestansts: 1. Mike Wozniak 2. Paul Chowdhry 3. Rhod Gilbert 4. John Kearns 5. James Acaster

01 (01) Bob Vylan - Reign (01) (07) (2 weeks) 02 (05) Fat Dog - Running (02) (04) 03 (04) DEADLETTER - Mere Mortal (03) (05) 04 (03) Chelsea Wolfe - House of Self-Undoing (03) (07) 05 (02) MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira (01) (11) (2 weeks) 06 (09) Ruel feat. DMA's - We're A Pair of Diamonds (06) (06) 07 (12) Pip Blom - Get Back (Tom Sharkett Remix) (07) (05) 08 (33) Los Campesinos! - Feast of Tongues (08) (02) 09 (10) Fontaines DC - Starburster (09) (07) 10 (06) Elbow - Good Blood Mexico City (02) (07) 11 (08) The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth (03) (08) 12 (17) Cults - Crybaby (12) (04) 13 (07) Overmono x The Streets - Turn The Page (06) (06) 14 (16) Bat For Lashes - Home (14) (04) 15 (18) Jake Bugg - Zombieland (15) (03) 16 (23) Los Campiesinos! - A Psychic Wound (16) (03) 17 (11) The Blinders - All I Need (01) (12) (3 weeks) 18 (14) English Teacher - R&B (01) (14) (4 weeks) 19 (24) Los Bitchos - La Bomba (19) (03) 20 (13) Benjamin Damage & Bicep - CHROMA 002 L.A.V.A (02) (12) 21 (27) Les Savy Fav - Somebody Needs a Hug (21) (02) 22 (20) St. Vincent - Flea (15) (08) 23 (30) How To Dress Well - Gas Station Against Blackened Hillside (23) (02) 24 (22) Richard Hawley - Prism In Jeans (22) (04) 25 (15) Rinse feat. Hatchie - Kiss Me (Kill Me) (15) (05) 26 (42) Billie Eilish - Birds of a Feather (26) (01) 27 (21) Elbow - Things I've Been Telling Myself For Years (21) (04) 28 (31) The Hold Steady - The Death of the Punchline (28) (03) 29 (19) Dead Pony - IGNORE THIS (16) (07) 30 (46) Wunderhorse - July (30) (01) 31 (36) Funk Tribu feat. CAIVA - Keep Up (31) (02) 32 (**) Romy - Always Forever (32) (01) 33 (26) Bob Vylan - Makes Me Violent (05) (13) 34 (28) MGMT feat. Christine and the Queens - Dancing In Babylon (02) (15) 35 (29) Swim School - Seeing It Now (29) (04) 36 (**) Say Lou Lou - Waiting For a Boy (36) (01) 37 (25) Anna Prior - Fall Back (03) (09) 38 (34) Maximo Park - Favourite Songs (23) (08) 39 (41) Bullion feat. Charlotte Adigéry - World_train (39) (01) 40 (32) Metronomy x Pan Amsterdam - Nice Town (04) (10)

Guehi has been his go-to more recently, and has started the last three England games he's been fit for. I think Grealish is the only one that's particularly surprising, I still think he can offer what we need, and he's perfect for bringing on when winning, and we've now got loads of left footers that like to cut in in attack, but with Gordon and Saka both struggling for fitness, probably makes Bowen more necessary to be an option to be the forward who'll run in behind. Ultimately, as ever with England squads, the debate is all about players which will play <25 minutes all tournament. Oh no, he's picked A, B & C to never get on the pitch instead of X, Y & Z, what a disgrace Southgate...

+1 Sunday Bloody Sunday must be more known than 75% of that list.

Interesting... I'm fully on board with more shake-ups in the driver market. Ocon will likely have options going forwards (Haas, Audi, Merc for a year before Kimi?) as he's still a good enough driver to be in F1, but I can see why you'd get rid - he's not so good to be worth the baggage and issues.

01 (02) Bob Vylan - Reign (01) (06) (1 week) 02 (01) MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira (01) (10) (2 weeks) 03 (04) Chelsea Wolfe - House of Self-Undoing (03) (06) 04 (08) DEADLETTER - Mere Mortal (04) (04) 05 (12) Fat Dog - Running (05) (03) 06 (03) Elbow - Good Blood Mexico City (02) (06) 07 (06) Overmono x The Streets - Turn The Page (06) (05) 08 (05) The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth (03) (07) 09 (10) Ruel feat. DMA's - We're A Pair of Diamonds (09) (05) 10 (13) Fontaines DC - Starburster (10) (06) 11 (07) The Blinders - All I Need (01) (11) (3 weeks) 12 (17) Pip Blom - Get Back (Tom Sharkett Remix) (12) (04) 13 (09) Benjamin Damage & Bicep - CHROMA 002 L.A.V.A (02) (11) 14 (11) English Teacher - R&B (01) (13) (4 weeks) 15 (19) Rinse feat. Hatchie - Kiss Me (Kill Me) (15) (04) 16 (21) Bat For Lashes - Home (16) (03) 17 (24) Cults - Crybaby (17) (03) 18 (26) Jake Bugg - Zombieland (18) (02) 19 (16) Dead Pony - IGNORE THIS (16) (06) 20 (15) St. Vincent - Flea (15) (07) 21 (23) Elbow - Things I've Been Telling Myself For Years (21) (03) 22 (25) Richard Hawley - Prism In Jeans (22) (03) 23 (37) Los Campiesinos! - A Psychic Wound (23) (02) 24 (30) Los Bitchos - La Bomba (24) (02) 25 (14) Anna Prior - Fall Back (03) (08) 26 (18) Bob Vylan - Makes Me Violent (05) (12) 27 (41) Les Savy Fav - Somebody Needs a Hug (27) (01) 28 (22) MGMT feat. Christine and the Queens - Dancing In Babylon (02) (14) 29 (33) Swim School - Seeing It Now (29) (03) 30 (46) How To Dress Well - Gas Station Against Blackened Hillside (30) (01) 31 (34) The Hold Steady - The Death of the Punchline (31) (02) 32 (20) Metronomy x Pan Amsterdam - Nice Town (04) (09) 33 (**) Los Campesinos! - Feast of Tongues (33) (01) 34 (31) Maximo Park - Favourite Songs (23) (07) 35 (29) CAIVA - Danger In Your Eyes (The Countdown) (06) (10) 36 (43) Funk Tribu feat. CAIVA - Keep Up (36) (01) 37 (27) Nia Archives - Unfinished Business (08) (10) 38 (28) Richard Hawley - Heavy Rain (12) (08) 39 (35) KETTAMA feat. Real Lies - Purple Hearts (05) (13) 40 (38) Otha - I Hate You In The Morning (28) (05)

I think Gordon played really well in those March friendlies and he's very much on the verge of being in the side. I think he'll surprise people how well he does and how much he gets used, especially without Rashford or Sterling as the default options on that side. You're right about those comparisons to previous generations. I thought as a nation we'd admitted that it was wrong to cram the best players into the same team at the expense of a functioning system, yet here we are with a bunch of exceptionally talented number 10s and loads of fans and social media accounts wondering how a team containing all of them can't win the tournament. I don't see anything other than Rice + another deeper CM in either Mainoo/Gallagher/Trent, especially for more difficult knock out fixtures, it's ultimately how you be successful in tournament football, just look Deschamps at France. Even during the run-in for the Premier League Pep and Arteta were largely partnering Rice and Rodri with Partey and Kovacic, whilst also not having particularly expansive defenders or even natural full backs.

I sort of followed this. I'm glad Eleanor Rigby won and A Day In The Life came top 10, they'd be in my top 3. I did attempt to start voting, I just don't care for anywhere near enough of their songs to have ranked 50 of them.

There is no space for Palmer in this side, especially with Kane as the striker. Too many players who like to operate in the same area. It's either Gallagher/Mainoo alongside Rice with the latter given licence to go forward more, or Bellingham/Foden as "8s", in which case it has to be Gordon on the left.

I have no problem with Monaco remaining on the calendar, even with a complete inability to make overtakes, but it's a massive shame when the rules of the sport deem the race completely pointless. At least there's some jeopardy over strategy, and drivers pushing with the possibility of mistakes in 'normal' race conditions, but there was no need for any of that in this years race due to the red lap = mandatory pit stop rule. When cars can complete 77 laps on a set of mediums it makes for an awful spectacle.

01 (01) MINTTT - Bom Dia, Mentira (01) (09) (2 weeks) 02 (06) Bob Vylan - Reign (02) (05) 03 (02) Elbow - Good Blood Mexico City (02) (05) 04 (07) Chelsea Wolfe - House of Self-Undoing (04) (05) 05 (03) The Mysterines - Sink Ya Teeth (03) (06) 06 (10) Overmono x The Streets - Turn The Page (06) (04) 07 (04) The Blinders - All I Need (01) (10) (3 weeks) 08 (17) DEADLETTER - Mere Mortal (08) (03) 09 (05) Benjamin Damage & Bicep - CHROMA 002 L.A.V.A (02) (10) 10 (12) Ruel feat. DMA's - We're A Pair of Diamonds (10) (04) 11 (09) English Teacher - R&B (01) (12) (4 weeks) 12 (22) Fat Dog - Running (12) (02) 13 (14) Fontaines DC - Starburster (13) (05) 14 (08) Anna Prior - Fall Back (03) (07) 15 (15) St. Vincent - Flea (15) (06) 16 (19) Dead Pony - IGNORE THIS (16) (05) 17 (25) Pip Blom - Get Back (Tom Sharkett Remix) (17) (03) 18 (11) Bob Vylan - Makes Me Violent (05) (11) 19 (24) Rinse feat. Hatchie - Kiss Me (Kill Me) (19) (03) 20 (13) Metronomy x Pan Amsterdam - Nice Town (04) (08) 21 (30) Bat For Lashes - Home (30) (02) 22 (16) MGMT feat. Christine and the Queens - Dancing In Babylon (02) (13) 23 (26) Elbow - Things I've Been Telling Myself For Years (23) (02) 24 (32) Cults - Crybaby (24) (02) 25 (35) Richard Hawley - Prism In Jeans (25) (02) 26 (**) Jake Bugg - Zombieland (26) (01) 27 (18) Nia Archives - Unfinished Business (08) (09) 28 (20) Richard Hawley - Heavy Rain (12) (07) 29 (23) CAIVA - Danger In Your Eyes (The Countdown) (06) (09) 30 (43) Los Bitchos - La Bomba (30) (01) 31 (29) Maximo Park - Favourite Songs (23) (06) 32 (21) Third Wife - Feel For You (21) (04) 33 (38) Swim School - Seeing It Now (33) (02) 34 (41) The Hold Steady - The Death of the Punchline (34) (01) 35 (28) KETTAMA feat. Real Lies - Purple Hearts (05) (12) 36 (27) Underworld feat. KETTAMA - fen violet (07) (09) 37 (**) Los Campiesinos! - A Psychic Wound (37) (01) 38 (31) Otha - I Hate You In The Morning (28) (04) 39 (36) Jamie Webster feat. Brooke Combe - Better Day (01) (16) (3 weeks) 40 (34) Fred Again.. feat. Lil Yachty & Overmono - Stayinit (16) (08)

The McLaren livery is nice, but I do prefer a one-off that bears some kind of resemblance to the current one so you can still tell what team it is, the Papaya has always had a presence in their last few one-offs.

No that's Razorlight's song of the same title, The Coral's is much better but I don't imagine it will last long. Scouting For Girls is so far worse than anything on this list.

Forest didn't break rules until they didn't sell early enough last summer, they'd complied financially in the Championship for years.