Henry in the dugout against his national team. :popcorn:
I still can't help but feel Deschamps is going to mess it up somehow.
Presumably Martinez will have the same XI as against Brazil.
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Henry in the dugout against his national team. :popcorn:
I still can't help but feel Deschamps is going to mess it up somehow.
Presumably Martinez will have the same XI as against Brazil.
Come on Belgium!
If Belgium and England get through I think there would be around 19 or 20 players from the PL playing in the final.
Some would say it's the best league in the world.
Some would be wrong, but it is exciting no doubt. No gimmes, no Bayern thumping even 2nd place teams 5-0 home and away. Not as technically entertaining as the LaLiga but miles ahead of Serie A
It sure has the worst pundits and the worst refs....and it has Letters of course.
Letters :pal:
<_<
Ive always felt that the PL should have a junior league made up of under 23s of each team. This junior league would be mandated to have at least 60% home based players and each team should have at least 6 home based players on the pitch at any time. The junior league would play the same fixtures as the senior team, only that these fixtures would be played either 24 hrs before or 24 hrs after the senior team fixture. A bit like the junior CL
The cinch would be that at the end of each season the league points of the senior team ie the EPL would be made of 90% the teams points and 10% the junior teams points to determine the final league positions. So Arsenal seniors league points would be say 90% of 85 plus 10% of 72=83.7
This would ensure that the junior teams are taken much more seriously by each club
Improve home grown teams quality ergo British players too.
Increase attendance and publicity of the junior league.
You can't really say it's the most competitive when Man City have just won the league by 19 points to be honest.
That's a bit of an outlier though. Back in the day it was Utd or us (Wenger :bow:) every year.
Since then others have bought their way in and while you still need to be in a select group to play (Leicester were an outlier in that regard, what they did was almost literally unbelievable but it's no surprise it was very much a one off), but there are 4 or 5 teams who have a credible change. In many leagues it's only really one or two and they are miles ahead of the rest. It's not quite so bad here.
The difference with City is that they are good enough to beat anyone on their day, they beat small teams and they beat the big teams. Not by huge margins but by enough to win the points. The reason why the EPL is considered competitive is because they do sometimes lose. The reason the other "big" teams were so far behind is that they lost even to teams that they shouldn't lose against on paper. City didn't do that much. They beat everyone they should beat and more than held their own against everyone else. Either through superiority of players, or manager or squad.
In Italy its a shock whenever Juve lose to anyone, same with Bayern. Thats why those leagues are horrid. la Liga is a 2 horse race, that's why Atletico deserve team of the year anytime they dont come 3rd.
France: Lloris; Pavard, Varane, Umtiti, Hernandez; Pogba, Matuidi, Kante; Griezmann, Giroud, Mbappe.
Belgium: Courtois; Alderweireld, Kompany, Vertonghen; Dembele, Fellaini, Witsel, Chadli; De Bruyne, Lukaku, Hazard.
BBC's programme is on now.
Shearer, Klinsmann and Rio are in the studio.
Asking the questions over "coffee".
Of course Rio. :lol:
Pace and the power and the guile and the technique.
Shearer is evolving!
Special feature on Bif :lol:
La Marseillaise. :bow:
Allez les bleus!
Which team do we all ant to win? I'm fairly neutral, both have good players.
I think I want Belgium to win and I still don't really know why.
Maybe it's because I'll have to do a:
Me. :haha:
If Deschamps goes on to win it.
Mbappe showing, pace, power, movement, technique, speed, motion, pace and power early on.
De bruyne cross into the box and only Fellaini was in there... :lol:
Think Belgium will be easier for England/Croatia to face in the final so them.
Chadli's corner. :haha:
Fellaini looking to play a thorough ball. :lol:
Mbappe nearly set through but Courtois clears it up.
Vertonghen. :haha:
Is Chavli really the best they could get to be on the right?
De Bruyne forgot to pass it.
Hazard shoot, drifts wide!
Poor from France.
Hazard drags one wide.