Rooney

People would have criticised him for dropping Kane, but not me. He's obviously not right and Kane has form for this (Carabo Cup final in 2021 and of course the Champions League final in 2019). He just doesn't look right and it affects our play imo. Not saying Watkins would have started, but if you want what Kane offers then we have Toney too who is a more natural fit to the team and the current structure.

Kane is 100% carrying an injury. He did his back in and he just doesn't look right at all, wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he's using injections to get through the games. With a squad of 26 you probably want 3 strikers, just a bit bonkers he continues to play Kane when he's not quite right.

Can't wait for Steve to prepare it was a masterclass bringing on Watkins when the reality is, Watkins did exactly what Kane has not been doing all tournament! :P

Thought that was the best we played all tournament. First half, aside from Walker having some moments of madness and Rice being a bit all over the place (and of course Trippier being nowhere on the left) we were good. Not really sure what we do though from a training and coaching angle as the players pick up some weird positions. Second half was a turgid watch though, Mainoo and Rice lost the midfield completely and again, Southgate waited so long to make a change to give the Dutch something to think about and stretch the play when they had all the momentum. Thought at that point we’d settled for pens again until the Watkins finish- the keeper messed up his positioning but what a strike! I know the Southgate lovers will be saying I told you so. I still feel you can criticise Southgate and be happy for him too.

Both teams have their flaws and both teams will feel that they can win. I’m expecting another draw as looks like the same team we’ve been putting out with Bellingham and Foden operating the same space and Kane being unable to run.

Can’t see him going to Madrid. It’s really rare players move from Barca to Madrid. Think it’s more likely Barcelona throw an obscene amount of money at him.

Creation of a National Wealth Fund now. Amazing to see the sort of stuff we can do when we’re not blighted by Brexit!

Mbappe really looked off colour outside of that first 15 minutes. Could say the same about loads of top players though. Yamal is a talent, but there's something uneasy about a 16 year old playing this much imo, no matter how good they are. I don't think it's good for their longer term career and Barca have already flogged Gavi & Pedri, so you'd imagine Yamal is going to go the same way.

The far right ideology has always been bubbling over time though, WW2 kind of set that back for a few generations, but you do kind of feel the world is at a point in time where history feels like it is on the course of repeating itself. Clearly the Reform vote is lingering and I'd suspect much like Brexit, half of their supporters don't really know what they are voting for, but you do know who a large majority of their voters will be. I think in our country it is clearly unique and being driven by Farage with parallels of Mosley. Not really sure there's anyone else who could do what he is currently doing from that extreme of the Party. But back to the point I was making about Owen Jones, most people can see Labour are picking off some easy wins, trying to build & repair relationships but Own Jones just had a full meltdown today reckoning the Greens will overturn a 15k majority in his seat next Parliment. I'm all for holding account when it is needed, but just find at the moment Labour are making sensible and good choices (which we've not had at least since 2016) not blinded to a strict idelogy. The criticism seems mostly unnecessary.

The did the same thing last season with getting a contestant back.. I genuinely thought it was a double cross and he was the Mole :lol: At this point, I can't really see past Ryan. I'd be disappointed if it is here as she's getting the same edit as the Mole in Season 1

He's completely lost it today. He was buoyed by the results in France (fair enough) and is already peddling this myth that Starmer is alreayd the reason Reform will do well in five years time, which is utterly bonkers. Far-right populism would rise anywhere in the world no matter who is in charge. To suggest if a Socialist government was in charge things woukd be very different just shows a real lack of someone whose been to many of these areas that are being targeted outside of quick sound bites on the high street. As I've always suspected, now Labour are in power they will veer off slightly more to the left when it is appropriate to do so. It was a great result for the Greens and I suspect under Labour we will adopt more Green policies (a great thing). Not sure how much we can read in to the Independents gaining votes based on a single issue they have been elected on.

Try telling that to Owen Jones whose having a meltdown on Twitter 3 days in :rofl: Already lining it up for being Starmer’s fault that Reform get votes.

He learned from his mistake from Euro 2020 by giving minutes in the legs to players, so fair play. As always my issue is Southgate just reacts, it's plane as day from the ehat maps that Bellingham, Foden and Kane all want the same space. Even yesterday, Kane was doing his drop deep, but it just left us with no outball and for all how Saka was winning his duels, Kane was barely there. Southgate just seems to not want to try anything new, which I don't really understand. No shock as soon as Shaw came on and we actually had some width, our left side looked a lot more cohseive.

You don’t need to win with sexy football. But football is also meant to be entertaining, think there’s a balance to it. My main issue is we look toothless and our tactic is to play for penalties!

You say that Steve, but there are well coached teams at the Euros. My issue is that we’ve got a lot of luck. I thought the set up today meant we were way more solid, but creatively we are toothless. We don’t have the set piece threat we used to, so the moments have to count. Just think we should be doing better and Southgate would solve problems rather than waiting for them to occur.

and anyway my other two cents is we just don't look coached at all. We're in the semis in spite of Southgate. We muddle our way through games with a lot of luck. At this point, we should just go along for the ride. Think playing the Dutch will be an interesting game.

Because we're still rubbish. Thought the formation change suited us way better today, but another example where Southgate is reactive rather than proactibe within the 90 mintutes. Now, I've had a lot of beers but still, we scored a fluke from a Saka shot, otherwise I feel we'd have been going out. I think most people's issue with Southgate is we all can see & view problems watching, but he seems reluctant to make any change until we actually concede..

Penalties this time surely..

This shape suits us better but still lacking. But both teams struggling a bit. Everything good is down our right hand side, the left looks very stodgy still.

Who knows what he’s gonna do. Still can’t believe he’s only made one change again regardless!!

They'll make mistakes, but trust them to get most things right. I'm looking forward to us having actual competent politicians in charge for once!

Looking at the results, there's quite a few close shaves across the board, the Tories have them too. Probably points to politics being way more volatile in the short-medium term and your vote really mattering even in a FPTP system. Some good appointments in the Cabinet and ministerial positions taking a quick glance. There's no way Labour are anything like the Tories, think anyone who thinks that way needs their head inspected.

People are never happy. We've a Labour government in charge and now everyone from the left want us to borrow money left right and centre and the right want us to dismantle the NHS and privatise everything to save cash. All fantasy stuff. We actually have some serious politicians in charge. These things 12-18 months to see the benefits of. We've a Labour government back in power, loads of reasons for positivity. The team behind Starmer just need to play a careful game here, as they're going to have to lurch to the right to keep the Reform/Tory vote in check, but admittedly they also need to try and lure back some Left votes too, albeit I don't think they can do both without failing spectacularly. My best guess is they will wait and see what the new Tory leader brings first.

Reform did not decide the 2024 election. It's true they ate in to the Tory vote, but they've also eaten in to Labour too seeing as they tore in to the heartlands in 2019. Yes FPTP isn't the best, but not sure PR is either. Just leads to way more coalitions and even more less qualified people to have a platform or run the country. People find it hard to accept that the United Kingdom is predominately right-wing leaning. Changing the system is just going to allow the country to lurch further to the right. I'm sure all those independent MPs hate FPTP too! I don't know what more people expected? Yeah your life won't change significantly overnight, but you this country will be in a much better place in 5 years time than we already are. Even listening to Jeremy Hunt's winning speech, he almost alludes to the fact the Tories have underfunding the NHS. Reform were tanking in the polls before Farage came along. I'm sure it's an absolute disaster when they're the party in power for the next 5 years!!!

Bet you're happier watching Blairites back in charge rather than the Tories though? :lol: How do you know if it wasn't for the Reform Party Labour wouldn't be in power? Labour have been well ahead in the polls, if anything Reform have eaten in both the Tories & Labour over the coming weeks. People have used their vote as a protest, which is worrying, but that's a challenge for the future, but one the strategists have to be wary of.