kirku

Threw Farke and the club under a bus to try and protect his reputation, as his contract was nearly up and his dreams of going to a massive European club were rapidly diminishing. Then bugged off up a mountain when it all came home to roost.

https://www.pinkun.com/news/23208151.norwich-city-keeping-dean-smith-post/ Webber won't admit he royally screwed up his appointment Webber won't admit his transfers in summer 2020 were awful Webber won't admit his transfers in summer 2021 were awful Webber won't admit that he prioritised protecting his reputation Webber won't admit to being culpable for us probably being too skint to get rid of "Deano" I'm not a subscriber, but I hope that's the gist of the article

Thanks for your input, Chris

I miss the days when people were saying he should've played instead of Pukki

Sterling, too

Dembele was dreadful. Had a really poor tournament.

RM is make or break. It's broken many. He's not played anywhere near as much for France as he should've - because he's a massive massive ****

He was scared off by the vast talent pool available to England. He took one look at Jarrod Bowen and immediately WhatsApped Deschamps saying, "I'll take my chances with Coman!"

Similar but not the same. Kane has yet to impact top tier games in the way Benzema has. And so consistently as well. His penalty miss might be indicative of that?

Don't worry, we've got Olise waiting in the wings. Surely he's not French as well...

Good analogy - I agree. I don't think Kane is quite at the level to directly change games against other top teams in the way the truly special players do, though.

Watched his illness and injury ravaged 1.5 XI get dominated for 80mins and dragged them into ET from 2 goals down. Then scored the most pressurised penalty you can think of in ET and scores in the shootout. Phenomenal. If he'd been born in Preston instead of Paris, things might've been quite different..

Bellingham has a long way to go yet. Rooney was probably the closest we've come and he was always just a bit short of the quality required at that truly elite level. Mbappe nearly won it single-handedly for France just yesterday!

OK, so Gareth Southgate is the only blocker to Chris Smalling and Jarrod Bowen contributing to a victorious England world cup campaign? Makes perfect sense. Deschamps must be incredulous that Southgate ignores such generational talent.

Ridiculous!

I used them as an example because of the last two tournaments.

Too far away to make a call, as I said earlier, " International football is cyclical and hugely dependent on form, injuries, and truly elite players." Will Bellingham or Foden become "truly elite" in that timeframe? Will England's spine improve? What's the form and fitness of key players going into the tournament? Far too early to say

I'm sorry, but Henderson, Smalling, Ward-Prowse, Bowen, Smith-Rowe, Eze, and Toney is not "enviable" depth. Let's park that disagreement for now and pretend that it is what you say it is - how does it help us beat the likes of France and Italy?

Maguire wouldn't get in France's squad, let alone XI. Would Stones make their squad? If Kimpembe were fit? Not sure

Come on, we were having a reasonable debate. You're surely better than this. France's 1.5 XI got to the final and lost on pens. Once you accept that you'll realise that England don't have a deep squad, especially not in key positions, and even if they did, it's not particularly a strength when they lack any truly elite players.

Your overriding point of this discussion has been how England (read, Southgate) has failed to beat other major nations. How does the "key point" that you think a "left behind" XI beats those teams quoted have any impact on that goal? (BTW, Senegal were missing Mane..)

It's not disingenuous in the slightest - Giroud only played because Benzema was injured. T-meni because Pogba and Kante were injured. Nkunku was also injured which (I think) is why they called up Thuram. They also left Martial behind. The fact is that we saw French squad depth at play - they reached the final shorn of 3 truly world-class players (2 of whom are amongst the best in their position of all time). Jarrod Bowen and Chris Smalling don't get anywhere near that squad. Ever.

It was a 2nd XI - I didn't claim it was a "left behind" team. It does highlight what true depth looks like though: Varane and Upamecano (I think) are 1st choice ahead of Kounde and Kimpembe. They also have Saliba, Konate, both Hernandezs, and Pavard. All can play CB.

I'll take a stab at a Brazil 2nd string: Ederson, Lodi, Gabriel, Bremer, Emerson, Fabinho, Guimaraes, Martinelli, Antony, Firmino, Jesus

How do you think it compares to the French 2nd XI I just posted? And thanks for admitting it's far from the "brilliant" side it was claimed to be