TheGunnShow

Yep, Croy was wanted by all of East Germany's top clubs and Erich Mielke tried getting him for perpetual champions Dynamo Berlin, but he argued that as he played for a weaker team in the then East German Oberliga in Sachsenring Zwickau, he'd get far more practice and therefore stay sharper as a goalie. Pickford is not a top-drawer international-class goalie by any means, but he's rarely let England down, unlike Joe Hart or even Rob Green. And I actually think it's because he plays for a weaker PL side in Everton that keeps him sharp / near his best when he plays internationally.

To be fair, that never stopped East Germany's Jürgen Croy from being possibly the most underrated goalkeeper ever nowadays. There just aren't enough English goalies playing at the top level, that's the problem.

Exactly the problem. England have a wealth of top-drawer attacking midfielders. They've no depth up top, not much international class in defence, and none whatsoever in goal. Southgate's done very well to build a capable tournament team out of such a spectacularly imbalanced generation of players. Still think that 2006 generation was the most balanced and capable line-up England had in decades.

None for me. I tend to despise certain attitudes and certain phenomena rather than just the wrapper under which these phenomena can be observed. I don't care for plastic fans who are outraged at every decision the manager makes that doesn't pan out. Fans that constantly bang on about the "good old days" when their team was more successful then amuse me, those who think their club has a special status now due to said "good old days" make me laugh out loud. And those who always associate their club with a very specific style of playing grind my gears. More than anything, I hate the influx of money into the game and its pernicious effects. I hate the constant crowding of referees and cheating going on, I hate the intrusive effect of VAR on the spectator experience. There may be clubs at which this is more evident than others, but as we've seen, this can change with time. Who would have thought Blackburn Rovers, champions with Jack Walker's money some twenty years ago, would be struggling in the Champs now? Who would have thought Manchester United, at the end of Fergie's reign, would be so chaotic afterwards? Even if such phenomena are rooted in a club for a bit, it's rarely permanent. And that's why, for me at least, hating a whole club goes too far.

Except Mads Hermansen was the goalie of the season. Not Danny Ward.

Game time at Northampton's not looking promising. He might not necessarily be "done", but he's got a lot of ground to make up, and he's not in his teens.

Always thought if Stoke end up in trouble, Burger's one we could tuck into.

All the more reason for a "minutes played" stat then, rather than going off the number of games he was involved in.

Yep, that's an even better shout, come to think of it. They'd slowly built their way up under Osvaldo Bagnoli (who I think was in the dugout for Inter Milan against us) and had some real class in their ranks with Preben Elkjaer and Hans-Peter Briegel.

I'd actually say IFK Mariehamn in Finland may be a better comparison. They won the 2016 Finnish league, but haven't been anywhere near since.

You sure re. the bit in bold there?? I remember him being even more ineffective than Patrick Roberts, which says something.

SVH means "Shaking Vat Head", right? 😉

He's earned and deserved a crack for next season after looking on shaky ground. Moreover, it's obvious that the players are very much fighting for him. Unless Knapper has a real "rabbit out of the hat" moment, he's best advised to sit tight on the manager's seat and see how some of the youngsters are coming along, and if they are ready for Wagner to put into the squad.

Or McLean. Or even Hanley.

It said 31 starts when I clicked on it but either way, Idah's had most appearances as substitute run-outs of varying length, often short, so any scoring stat based on goals per game is skewed unless it takes the actual no. of minutes played into account.

Of those 99 games, how many were from off the bench. Might need a "minutes played" stat here.

Feasible - as would Palace, for that matter.

Leverkusen will get the plaudits as a sensation this season, but little Heidenheim deserve a big shout-out as well. No-one expected them to stay up but they're looking like they're going to finish in mid-table in their first ever season in the Bundesliga. They even beat Bayern 3-2 at home after being 0-2 down at half-time.

Didn't he actually close out a few games at centre-half in pre-season? I think he did....

Interestingly, the Preston forum I was looking at was VERY critical of their manager for throwing too many attackers on, taking their most creative player off, and one of their attackers ended up at right wing-back. Apart from set-pieces and that one moment right at the end where Gunn missed a high ball, I don't think they posed us too many issues. They were a well-organised, very workmanlike and committed outfit that deserved to be in play-off contention, but as Parma said in essence, it was clear that they weren't a side that were especially comfortable on the front foot and were mainly dangerous through moments of excellence from their creative outlet, rapid bursts down their flanks, and set-pieces with their strength and physicality. And, high balls and set-pieces aside, we kept them away very well using possession as a defence.

Yep, smashed that one so far outta the ballpark we'll need a passport to catch it. Rowe's never going to be an athlete with exceptional endurance, but those highly explosive bursts and drives that really unsettle tiring defenders are best used in short, surging cameos. Make the midfield more solid behind him, give him a free role off a wing, and tell him to cause havoc.

Exactly my first thought, as I'd said on the thread that my conclusion was that we were dealing with an absolute tuna melt. Saw an olive-skinned guy with a knife and thought "this could be anyone, Australia's incredibly mixed". And when I think of terrorist attacks in that part of the world, the first one that springs to my mind is the fundamentalist headbanger who ran amok in Christchurch.

McCallum's always more up for a dogfight than Giannoulis, has a decent long throw in his locker, and he's the younger player. If I had to pick between him and Dimi, McCallum gets the nod.

If non-doms are evading tax then aren't they basically leeches anyway?

Are you trying to say that he didn't play a considerable part in something that's potentially going to be very useful to the club?