Off Topic International Break Thread

Southgate has got himself stuck in a catch-22. Like numerous idiots before him, he put his foot in it and started mouthing off about expecting a final answer within the month regarding his position. I'd have no problem with that if there was a queue of clubs waiting patiently to appoint him manager, but the fact of the matter is any self-respecting club shows as much interest in appointing Southgate as I do in Jack Wilshere's general wellbeing.

He hasn't done nearly enough to convince the ivory towers that he's their man. 3 relatively meh performances against 3 relatively meh opposition does not a saviour make. He's hedged his bets on the game tonight. A good performance and a win against one of the best teams in the world and he knows that the pathetically fickle media will more or less sign the contract for him. Even if it is only a friendly, the steady stream of tabloid support he got after Scotland will build to an avalanche. And the FA, being the hopeless buffoons that they are, will obligingly appoint him as their knight in shining armour.

His own presumptiveness has forced him to field such a strong side for 'only' a friendly.

 

Jamie Vardy creating some needle between the sides. Could do without that.

 

Why no card for Reina ?

 

Great ball to Vardy. Silly challenge by Reina.
1-0. Lallana.

 

Friendly?

 

The injured Gerard Pique has come over to London and is there in the crowd watching.......

...........Djokovic v Raonic

 

From the desk of Sammarese press officer Alan Gasperoni

Dearest Thomas Muller,

You're right. The games like that on a Friday night, they're nothing. To you. On the other hand, dear Thomas, you do not need to come to San Marino for almost nothing in a weekend in which, without the Bundesliga, you could have spent with your wife on the sofa of you luxury villa or, who knows, you could have taken part in some events organised by your sponsors to bank several thousand euros. I believe you, but allow me to give 10 good reasons for which I think the San Marino-Germany match was very useful and if only you could could think about it and let me know what you think:

1. It served to show you that not even against the teams as poor as ours you can't score a goal - and don't say you weren't pissed when Simoncini stopped you scoring...
2. It served to make it clear to your managers (and even at Beckenbauer and Rummenigge) that football is not owned by them but by of all those who love it, among which, like it or not, WE are included.
3. It served to remind hundreds of journalists from all over Europe that there are still guys who follow their dreams and not your rules.
4. It served to confirm that you Germans you will never change and that history has taught you that "bullying" is not always guarantee of victory.
5. It served to show the 200 guys in San Marino who play the game for whatever reason why their coaches ask them to always work their hardest. Who knows - maybe one day all their sacrifice will not be repaid with a game against the champions of the world.
6. It served to your Federation (and also to ours) to collect the money of image rights with which, in addition to paying you for your trouble, they can build pitches for the kids of your own country, schools, and make football stadiums safer... Our Federation, I'll let you in on a secret, is building a new football pitch in a remote village called Acquaviva. You could build it with six months of your salary, we'll do it with the rights of 90 minutes of game. Not bad right?
7. It served to a country as big as your pitch in Munich to go in the paper for a good reason, because a football match is always a good reason.
8. It served to your friend Gnabry to begin with, in the national team and scoring three goals.
9. It made some Sanmarinese people a little happy to remember that we have a real national team.
10. It's served to make me realise that even if you wear the most beautiful adidas kits, underneath you're always the ones that put white socks under their sandals.

With Love, your Alan.

 

Not the most friendly friendly, is it?

 

Kyle Walker sitting next to Wheelchair on the bench. I wonder if Rose has any radionuclide polonium-210 in his tracksuit pockets...

 

Terrible defending from Stones. 2-1.

 

He only cost £50m. Give him a break.

Rose off, England concede. Typical.

 

The Germans didn't look so cocky after San Marino got their big brother to have a word with them, did they?

The rest of your post needn't be said, to be honest...

 

Great play from Andros

 

2-2 so predictable. Spain introduce a modicum of quality after the break and we simply cannot cope.

But hey hum, let's give Southgate the job, eh? Clean as a whistle he is.

 

2-2. Southgate out!

Dier looked knackered and had cramp. Should've been subbed off ages ago.

 

We had that in the bag and then a defensive reshuffle (Rose shouldn't have started ideally but actually had a great game - he always seems to take a battering well luckily!) and a knackered midfield pair contributed to us losing the game. First was a great finish to be fair but might have been stopped had an overeager, fresh on the field LB not been pushed up the length of the pitch. and the second was the kind of defensive shambles that can happen at the end of a long match. Dier cramping was annoying to see. If you want to control a game and see it out then why not bring on Wilshire to keep hold of the ball?

At least it was less sleep-inducing that other England games I've seen recently and we played one or two reasonably good passages of play.

 

Pleased with the performance and satisfied that Southgate has a good chance of improving us in the long term. Just need to sort out the centrebacks and leave Rooney and Lingard out of things.

 

Good to see Isco practice hitting the net at Wembley ahead of next season

 

Both goals come from working down the right wing for Spain.......after Rose forced off!

 

p.s. Give Rashford a pair of boots with studs in 'em! He did a few Tonya Harding's on the grass.....