wasn't the word 'lucky' used?

I presume one team will get a bye in the 1st round proper after Bury’s demise rather than there being some “jigging” about by the FA like having a “lucky loser” be re-instated from the 4th round qualifying. you know what, I'd not even clocked that. They are speaking to stakholders at the mo - I wou...

Villa West Ham. Desperate.

3rd QF is 40 ties 4th (and final) QF adds the conference to the 40 remaining sides, to give 32 games and then things get serious. I presume one team will get a bye in the 1st round proper after Bury’s demise rather than there being some “jigging” about by the FA like having a “lucky loser” be re-in...

3rd QF is 40 ties
4th (and final) QF adds the conference to the 40 remaining sides, to give 32 games

and then things get serious.

2nd Qualifying Round and, as far as I can see, its still quite regional. 1 Marine v Dunston or Sunderland RCA 2 Southport v Scarborough Athletic or Marske United 3 Chester v Altrincham 4 Curzon Ashton v Blyth Spartans 5 Bradford (Park Avenue) v Morpeth Town 6 Irlam v York City 7 Tadcaster Albion or ...

However, as a side point, there was a line I do agree with - "if you don't get near the ball for the first 30 mins or so (v WBA and v Huddersfield) we will be 2-0 down at half time with the game gone. I hope this happens at the moment due to the team still settling in." I have a fear that ...

Yeah, can easily cope with poor when we've been utterly diabolical within the last 18 months. Since relegation in 2013, we've had two play-off or thereabouts campaigns, one mixed bag (safely midtable until the end of the cuprun and the arse fell out of the side), and three relegation fights. The las...

It'll be players, like Sancho, who are brought up away from the English game that will get there first, imho. Germany may become a good finishing school for young English talent but for the likes of Sancho their formative years are still over here. Interestingly I think Germany have suffered a simi...

It'll be players, like Sancho, who are brought up away from the English game that will get there first, imho. Germany may become a good finishing school for young English talent but for the likes of Sancho their formative years are still over here. Interestingly I think Germany have suffered a simi...

Actually, even in the recent youth game I watched (England vs Italy), you could see a step difference in how the Italian kids approached the game. They reached the final, iirc, while England lost on penalties in the semi - at least they're getting their practise in! Bobby Duncan, now at Fiorentina, ...

I mean, we don't have a Xavi, Pirlo or Modric. But I just feel there are better options than what we choose to pick. I guess Scholes was in that class and was criminally wasted by England It's not about the individual players, but about the lack of technical ability and mental strength endemic to t...

Makes you wonder just how shite the Czech Republic are. not at their best, that's for sure. with any smaller country, your strength in depth is lacking, so while you might have one or two talents, most of the squad are going to be journeymen and your subs bench an accident waiting to happen. Take K...

I've got loads of time for Southgate, but I'm becoming uninspired by his central midfield 3. Rice is a DM, and Henderson has never been a technical player or passer. The line up doesn't have the ball retention skills to compete at the highest level. Winks should surely be playing, while in the atta...

Right.

Rather good piece on Kosovo in the Guardian today.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/20 ... 20-england

Felt like a proper changing of the guard with the Germany side vs Norn Iron. Good little game that, but rather stacks the deck vs your ulstermen.

I was confidently telling the missus that we're playing the group's weakest side on Tuesday (she was asking why the Kosovo game is being played at St. Mary's) and then I read that they are unbeaten in 15 games. They haven't really played anyone of note - their 2-2 draw with Denmark probably their b...

Pepe the Horseman Ray P (lol) is in incredible shape for a man that drinks so much.

just looked at his twitter.

lolz. is he ever sober?

Kosovo were always likely to do a Montenegro and punch well above their weight for the first few years of their existence. They're only near the bottom of the rankings due to a lack of games played. I also like this map https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/2018%E2%80%9319_UEFA_...

They do make a compelling case for the UEFA Nations League - in a league with teams of about the same level, they performed admirably and got promoted at the first attempt. Sure, they'll struggle at times, but the country is small (< 2 million people) and it's only really existed for less than a dec...