Johnnyrotten

But if we were 1-0 up at Real Madrid I'd hope that even if we brought 11 back, we'd look at where their players were, rather than stand around on the 6 yard box like school kids that hadn't played before. Next manager please. We don't pay fancy foreigners the big bucks to shrink when we finally play a big team. Rooney has got it absolutely spot on with his post-match analysis, well played Rooney.

Because the manager likes to play that way. 11 back and no marking, the perfect combination. Can we go back to having an English manager now? Tuchel can go now, we'll get to semi finals without him, even Southgate did it.

Course he has, got him mixed up with another one, Milos Lukovic from Strasbourg, loaned in Jan.

On the transfers thread there's a lot of talk of Alfie Devine going to PNE for £6mil after a successful loan. Well they won't be following it up with Dobbin who was also a successful loan. It does show the standard of striker in the championship when a relegation struggler like PNE had Jebbison, Dobbin, Devine and Osmaiic last season, all on loan. They've also signed Jesuf Erabi, a Swede on loan from Genk. BBC SportLewis Dobbin: Southampton sign Aston Villa forward for £9mSouthampton complete the signing of forward Lewis Dobbin from Aston Villa for a fee of almost £9m.

On a similar theme tickets for PNE aren't on sale yet (I need a couple), it will be interesting to to see pricing structure, presume they'll be announcing prices for all games Cat A to C or whatever. I suspect PNE fans won't be buzzing at the price, I'm expecting to pay £40 for ESL.

We probably need a definition of argument compared to discussion and chat. I just like a chat and discussion, like a few others on here, I can't recall ever wanting an argument with anyone either on here or elsewhere. We'll leave it there as folk are getting brassed off at the non-transfer talk on the transfer thread, which is fair enough, we move on.

Assuming Taylor was fit and available (he may not have been as per @Dr. Feelgood 's post), then it comes across the only writing off and "worst signing ever" viewpoint was that of the manager. As fans we hardly saw him to judge, and if he had a poor 20 minutes v Port Vale reserves we as fans put 2 and 2 together and decided he must be terrible. But "needs to be given a chance" can be turned round as being indecisive, the common theme with GJ, Tutu and Dempsey was that they were judged as not good enough for the championship, they certainly weren't given a chance to prove it, the concensus was that we decisively released them to make room for others. So why would we give a chance to Taylor in a division above the one that he hasn't proved himself? That takes up a squad place and salary that we weren't prepared to give to 3 proven, influential players. Just playing devil's advocate here, good luck to Taylor wherever he plays this season, but its not as simple as just giving everyone a chance, decisions have to be made or we're stuck with a L1 squad.

Ogbeta has left Plymouth at the end of his contract and signed for Maritimo in Portugal. Just been promoted to the top flight.

Also under performed in a big proportion of the first 46 games without him. We failed to get the number of points needed last season, but we got a 2nd chance. If we fail to get the number of points needed this season we won't get a 2nd chance, so improvement is needed on and off the pitch presumably (SS obviously thinks so).

Is there a club he hasn't managed or coached?! And plenty more than once. He worked with SS at Bury.

One compromise to that is, if he's not in Derby's plans, get him on loan late August till Christmas, its 4 months. Wouldn't cost us a transfer fee and assuming he's fit at that stage the risk isn't that much more than any player we sign and gets injured not that long after - Dalby, Forss, ACD, Kenny etc. And if he's proving his fitness it improves his chances of making it permanent or at least till end of season. All that's assuming he's not got better offers.

The talk of who teams have beaten got me checking who we've beaten in recent WCs. We've won nearly as many games in the last month (5) as we have in the preceding 16 years 😄 Previous 4 WCs, won 7 in total plus 1 on pens: 2010: Slovenia, 2014 none; 2018: Tunisia, Panama, Sweden; 2022: Iran, Wales, Senegal. 5 draws in those WCs: Algeria, USA, Costa Rica, Colombia, USA again (the 12 games we didn't lose not exactly v footballing giants). Played 19 games in 4 WCs and failed to win 63% of them, compared to 17% this year so far. Losses since 2010 (in order): v Germany, Italy, Uruguay, Belgium, Croatia, Belgium and France.

And Dalby, Taylor and Kenny too if we're counting last season. That's 7 in a year, and they are just the one's we know about. Bair looks to be a decent combo of pace, strength and finishing. Hopefully we also consider one or 2 that have never worn a kilt, played the bagpipes or eaten neeps & tatties!

Loving your positivity as ever, I know you take discussion in the spirit its intended....but the stats don't really show we edged the game, they show we edged the stats! I agree we edged E/T, it was just that on the balance of play we didn't really deserve to get to get that far IMO. We were under terrotorial pressure for long spells and its not reflected in overall stats, our chances tended to come in clusters. Eg our 3 big chances/efforts in the first half were from the 45th minute! (the goal, Kane long distance shot, Kane disallowed goal). Then in E/T there was a Kane header, Rogers shot and the goal all within 30 seconds of each other, then there were 2 shots from Saka and 1 from Spence in the 2nd half of E/T, again within 30 seconds of each other - exciting but not reflecting the flow of the match. In the 2nd half, I can only recall the Saka cross when he beat the full back? (not counted in the shots stats anyway). Norway had 2 Haaland headers saved, the 2 on 1 break when Haaland was begging to be put through, Sorloth volley just over, Odegaard shot saved, the cross Pickford tipped over, the disallowed goal, hit the bar from the corner. I don't care, we are through and that's all that counts, and Bellingham is an absolute superstar. But for me another example of the stats meaning very little, we all watched the game and know how it went. Bring on the Argies 😄

I'd pay to watch him play like he did tonight, and I can't say that about many based on that 90 minutes. Oozed control and quality on the ball, not disputing we lose a bit defensively with him on instead of the likes of Rice but he won more than his share of challenges. I'd also be surprised if Tuchel was using a player that wasn't trying enough. Nobody has accused Tuchel of bringing fancy dans to the WC at the expense of grafters.

Strange how different we see it, his every touch has been class for me, although I admit I get him and Spence mixed up! Looking disinterested is part of his game, Messi does that too. Definitely never lazy or overawed, top player and done his bit tonight. So far.

I've been to both games this week, they were chalk and cheese. Great entertainment last night, they went for it from the start, opposite of Monday when it was frankly boring with very few boundaries until the last couple of overs when they woke up to get a draw (but should have won, needed 1 from last ball). Fantastic entertainment and atmosphere last night in contrast. Great beer snake, when it started there were plastic pint cups flying through the air towards the snake that never stopped, stewards trying to stop it all added to the comedy value. "Yorkshire get battered everywhere they go" was the new song for the night. Got talking to a bloke on a tram who used to play cricket with George Johnston, related to GJ's Dad (cousin I think). GJ was a good cricketer but was forced to give up at 16 as a condition of playing at Liverpool. He still drinks with his Dad in his local in Hale Barns.

I thought they'd had a poor season by their standards. Lost 8 league games, never top till the last weekend as far as I can remember (I could be wrong), losing a cup final to St Mirren, thrashed by Stuttgart in the champions league knockout, 3 different managers leaving by the start of Jan, loads of fan unrest. I'd be surprised if they would settle for that next season even if they did ultimately win the league (what a turn up), put it this way O'Neill won't still be manager at Christmas if it goes the same way.

Not a chance and that's no disrespect to him, same as Matete going back to Sunderland last year after they got promoted, he either sits there and doesn't play, or gets a move, probably to L1 if its in England. (Matete moved to MK Dons in January, played 6 games and got injured in Feb).

Kenny won't be playing for Celtic next season (whether he leaves or not). If they rated him he wouldn't have been here last season and they need to be seen to be improving after a disappointing season, not taking a perceived step back. It doesn't matter who they sign or don't sign, Kenny will be moving if someone matches the price, assuming he's fit. If we were still in L1, as fans we'd be desperate to convince him to come to us, now we're a championship club I'd have thought he was the minimum standard we can attract.

That's upto SS. Nobody knew if Jussi or Branagan were any good with their feet. Bonham knows he's not great with his feet but he's instructed to try and it's a bit scary at times, but we're not alone with that. Birmingham/Beadle had some comedy moments last season.

And we've got 2 home friendlies starting 2 weeks before the cup match but the pitch won't be ready?

Stoke fan I used to work with says they had to play their U20 keeper for a few games after Bonham went coz the other 2 got injured, and he wasn't ready for the step up

All part of Bonham's master plan. When he was rooted to his line and we lost at Port Vale, it was a bit annoying at the time, but just another step in the right direction for him getting to play at Wembley and finish the season with cup 😀

Although we managed to sign one last year that was all of the above except he also didn't save any 😁