DCFC Kicks

If it was purely for financial reasons, I could see Lawrence, Bielik, Buchanan, Byrne and Knight getting more money if they left. The average wage for a lower end Championship club is about the same as a top end League One club, and I can't see any mid-table or above Championship clubs wanting any of our players, (apart from the above mentioned). I don't think Davies, Stearman, Morrison, Bird, Forsyth or Roos would gain financially from leaving. (if Roos is on £16k, he won't be offered that again by anyone).

Most of the top League One teams have about 3/4 players on about £8k-£11k 

2 hours ago, Leeds Ram said:

If we can keep the spine of the team such as Allsop (who I've started calling Allstop) Cashin, Davies, Bird, Knight, Ravel and Thompson then I'd be very happy with that. I imagine Bielik, Lawrence and Buchanan will all leave for championship sides 

What makes you think Knight will stay? 

Some interesting players out of contract in the summer.

3-1

FRGS Davies

CM to score

At least now I hopefully won't have to care about anything Reading do ever again.

1 hour ago, IslandExile said:

Well apart from the fact that nothing Trump says can be relied upon, why do you say it's wrong? 9 point gap now. 3 games after today.

So if Reading get a better result i.e. more points than us today, the gap will be insurmountable.

I read your post wrong, you're right ?

2 minutes ago, IslandExile said:

If Reading better our result today, we're down.

Simples.

The pitch is looking so much better. Might not have scored our first a few weeks ago.

0-4 

13 hours ago, Mick Harford said:

Still love the fact that in 1989 whilst not winning our POTY Shilts finished 5th in the Ballon d'Or

 

12 hours ago, enachops said:

Shilton had a blinder for England vs Sweden/Poland to help us qualify for Italia 90. Not a patch on Mark Wright though!

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

He was the highest ranked player in Europe outside of Milan.

But Shilton didn't even make the top 3 in the IFFHS Worlds Best GK awards. Preud'homme was 2nd but was 10th in the Ballon d'Or, and Zenga was 1st but got 0 points in the Ballon d'Or

Who was voting for Shilton? ?

26 minutes ago, Mick Harford said:

Still love the fact that in 1989 whilst not winning our POTY Shilts finished 5th in the Ballon d'Or

 

Why was he even 5th? am I missing something?

3-1 loss

FRGS Davies

2 minutes ago, Curtains said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stretford

Legal disputes, blackmail allegations and misconduct charges.

Should fit in well then.

4 minutes ago, Grumpy Git said:

Posh 1-1 Luton result (we stay 2nd bottom)

51 minutes ago, Carnero said:

14 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

 

3 minutes ago, JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta said:

Reading equalise 

 

is that good or bad?

2-1 

Knight

28 minutes ago, eccles the ram said:

our demise will be all over Sky.

Sky have done many things in the past that have sickened me, but that 'countdown to death' clock (milliseconds and all) they had when Bury faced expulsion was right up there.

I expect they'll do the same for Derby

10 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

It annoys me when southgate doesn’t get his credit and it’s dismissed as a lucky draw, 3 tournaments in a row (don’t forget we got 3rd place in the nations league, trouncing Spain along the way). He’s had some imperfect matches, and I’m not sure he’d be a very good club coach, but I think he’s a perfect international coach for this time and place. He’s doing a good job of being players through the youth teams, and he’s created a great unity amongst the squad. You get such little time with the players at international level, it’s a different job entirely to being a club coach. You don’t have so much time to spend on tactics and training, there’s a different skill set involved, and I think Southgate has that skill set. You have to give the players fairly simple tactics that they can all get on board with pretty quickly.

But I do totally agree with your point that you can get an unlucky draw. If they eventual winners are going to be Brazil, for example, and you draw them in the round of 16, you’re buggered. You may well be the second best team in the tournament, you just happened to meet the best team early on, and it seems like a total failure.

so going out to Iceland in the round of 16 is fairly unforgivable. But going out to Brazil in the quarter finals, is just unfortunate.

but at the euros, we were a damn good side that was a match for anyone we came across (apart from Scotland apparently). Italy didn’t beat us, the game was a draw. And but for a couple of penalties, we would have won that tournament. I don’t know what’s happened to Italy since that game, but in that tournament, they were clearly very good.

england are getting better and better, and I genuinely think that this is our time. Not necessarily because of Southgate. Maybe any captain could steer this ship at this point, because we have spent a good few years putting in some very good foundations (which Southgate was also a part of). There has been some very good investments in youth development to put us on a par with where Germany and Spain were a few years ago.

We will win something in the next few years. And I’m fairly convinced that this will be a catalyst to put us there or there abouts for years to come. On a level with the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Argentina (who, but for the occasional blip, or always at the business end of tournaments).

we weren’t at that level, we never have been. 66 was the exception, not the rule. There’s a reason why pretty much every other World Cup winner has won it on multiple occasions, and we’re the only team that has only won it once. But I think we’re there now. I think our kids will accept that we can mix it with Germany, Spain and Brazil, finals and semi finals will become the norm, and anything less will seem like a weird year, and this perpetual status of also ran, nearly men, losers will eventually fade away. 

Southgate is great at the diplomatic/corporate side. I know international football isn't as tactically detailed as club football but I still think he's quite poor and dated tactically. In both the Croatia and Italy games we took an early lead, the opposition manager changed things, and Southgate had no response. The players he picks are often one dimensional and he doesn't seem to know how to use more intricate players such as Grealish. 

You say we were good at the Euros, but if you look game by game, in the World Cup as well, you'd expect us to win every one we did, with Germany being to one possible exception.  

Can you honestly say your opinion of Capello would be the same if we happen to have met Italy in the final instead of the RO16 at Euro 2012, or we happen to have met Germany in the semi-finals instead of the RO16 at the 2010 WC (or goal-line technology existed)?

3 hours ago, Chris_Martin said:

 

 

On 27/03/2022 at 16:01, DCFC Kicks said:

He's good at everything other than the actual tactics on the pitch. The luckiest England manager of all time in terms of the opposition we've faced the last two tournaments. 

19 hours ago, Chris_Martin said:

hardly his fault the draw was a bit easier. 

It was a different point. you just saying its not his fault he was lucky doesn't address my point that him being lucky is why people think he's good.

8 hours ago, Chris_Martin said:

so why did you make the point then...

I didn't, you seemed to make a general point about how people can't control luck. What's that got to with whether Southgate's luck is making him appear to be a better manager than he is?

England happen to find Italy in the quarter finals at Euro 2012 and lose on penalties and it's deemed to be a bad tournament and Capello should be sacked.

England happen to find Italy in the final at Euro 2020 and lose on penalties but it's deemed a good tournament and Southgate is great.

Both managers in both tournaments won all the games they were expected to (Capello also drew to France), and lost to Italy on pens. 

the only good victory Southgate has had in two tournaments is over Germany, and they weren't even that good at the time.

2 minutes ago, Chris_Martin said:

hardly his fault the draw was a bit easier. 

that's completely irrelevant