[mancunian_mike]

A belated Happy New Year to you all 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Hi Ed, I really didn’t want to get into this argument, hence the short comment earlier 😉 So I’ll just say this and then get back to talking football. It’s not sports washing, it’s jealousy. If it’s an issue with the oil money then I’m assuming the only people moral enough to comment are driving electric cars, because everyone seems happy enough to fund these terrible regimes every time they fill up at the pump. If its an issue with the humanitarian rights of the countries the respective owners come from then raise it with the UK government as they allow all forms of trade with those nations; its nothing to do with the football clubs who are legally available to buy by anyone. Is the American money in the EPL fine at Liverpool, Arsenal, Utd, Burnley (US use of the death penalty, abortion rights, Guantanamo/Geneva convention issues, the only nation to use atomic weapons, and on civilian targets, etc)? You then have Iranian money at Everton, Egyptian money at Villa, Russian money at Chelsea, Chinese money at Wolves? Are these all ok? Is it just oil money that is an issue? To look at your own club, Utd have had a monopoly and billions to spend (or more recently waste) since they decided to start the football gravy train; first club to float on the stock exchange, build a superstore, merchandise and sponsor everything and anything they could to make money off…as I said, City didn’t break football, it was this way when we got here, and it’s a bit rich to blame us now (pun very much intended) 🙂

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[mancunian_mike]

City didn’t break football Ed, it was this way when we got here 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Have to agree with Rover; I’ve never been happy with the Kane deal unless it was for a lot less money (£80M absolue max); at this age and with his injury record you cannot be paying top dollar for him. I was very pleased when City pulled out, and I’m sure Spurs fans were too; I’d like to see him stay at Spurs and remain a 1 club legend; I’m also sure that once he gets his focus back he’ll start banging in the goals as normal, it can’t have been easy for him over the summer. D1rtyH4rry, you need to remember that City never placed Grealish ahead of Kane, they were intent on buying both, but a reasonable fee couldn;t be reached with Spurs so they withdrew. I’m really hoping City have a chance of signing Haaland in January but I think we all suspect he’s as good as a Real Madrid player already.
P.S. Mak, good shout on Danny Ings. I was disapointed when we didn’t go for him as a short term solution early in the window – he’s a good player and I think would’ve suited us nicely.

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[mancunian_mike]

Agree with the points on it probably taking Newcastle a few years to get up the table but it’ll be a far better atmosphere for the Geordie fans and they’ll have far more optimism going into every season from now on. Best of luck to them. It’ll only make the league stronger and more competitive too.

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[mancunian_mike]

I wouldn’t fret just yet Brian, many of the squad have had little or no pre-season due to participation in the Euro’s. We definitely haven’t started yet, I think just like last year its going to take 4 of 5 games before we are at the races; the issue will be if the other teams get a good lead it may be too much to claw back this year. Also, I wouldn’t worry about the squad age, we have plenty of young players in the squad – remember Sterling, Grealish, Rodri, Jesus, Bernardo, Foden, Torres, Laporte, Diaz, Ederson, Zinchencko, they are all under 26; with Stones, Mendy and Cancelo only 27, so its not as bad as all that. We also have one of the best youth academy set-ups and youth scouting systems in the world so lets not be too down. We lost to Spurs, and we looked tired and leggy, its to be expected, there will be a hangover from the Euros and from losing in the CL Final; we’ll get over it in a few games, chin up 😉 On the plus side I’m really looking forward to being back in a full crowd at 3pm on a Saturday. Yesssssss.

Just hope we pull out of this stupid attempt to get Kane, walk away City, walk away.

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[mancunian_mike]

I agree with you Pagan, VAR should be amended and should concentrate on diving above everything else; a quick word in the refs ear ‘that was a dive, give him a yellow’ absolutely anywhere on the field at any time of the match; I think that would hugely reduce the amount of diving and ultimately make the refs job easier as they would have far more confidence that when a player goes down they’ve actually been fouled.
They wouldn’t even have to change the laws as
‘attempts to deceive the referee e.g. by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)’ are already punishable by a yellow card. Makes me wonder why we simply don’t see bookings for it anymore, I can’t remember one in any competition this season and yet I see this law broken clearly every single game.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Hi all. I’m a bit surprised at how long the debate about Sterling’s penalty/dive has rumbled on. We’ve seen softer and softer penalties given for a number of seasons now and usually the furore is over after a day or so. We’ve also seen clear penalties not given this season when players have tried to stay on their feet. I don’t condone diving and I think it’s the worst aspect of the game, however I’ve also seen England knocked out of tournaments many times due, in part, to what I would call underhand tactics; Maradonna’s handball, Someone’s dive and Ronaldo’s play acting and wink are the first that spring to mind; I doubt Argentina or Portugal fans spent so much time agonising over the advantage they gained in each case. And for anyone saying only the English fans are in denial over this I have no idea what you’ve been watching as literally every English pundit, fan or commentator with a soapbox has stated it was soft. From the replays there was contact, yes it was minimal, and yes Sterling made the most of it, however it’s worth noting that Denmark’s goal was from a free kick given for a far more blatant dive, so Danish fans are the last people who can moan about this; if you live by the sword you die by the sword. Until VAR starts to deal with diving these soft and dubious free kicks and penalties will remain.

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[mancunian_mike]

Yeah Sean, I think we all agree it was a soft penalty. Sadly they’ve been giving those all season but I fully agree that we would be livid if it was against us. I do think we fully deserved the win though.

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[mancunian_mike]

Another good performance. Denmark had some good spells but England came from behind and after drawing level it was mainly England trying to win it. Fantastic first half of extra time too, didn’t give Denmark a kick, and then good tactics to change to a back five and hit them on the break in the second half of extra time (conceding possession but no real chances).

England’s 2nd ever final. Southgate already the most successful England manager after Sir Alf Ramsey. We’ll done to everyone in the England camp. Here’s hoping we can go one step further on Sunday.

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[mancunian_mike]

We need to get at them from wide positions far more in the second half, Denmark look vulnerable from those positions.

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[mancunian_mike]

Hey Foxey, no worries mate we’ll just have to agree to disagree on the Southgate issue. Personally I think he’s done a fantastic job since taking over and he’s certainly won me over; I can actually see a long term strategy for the national team, something I have never seen before.

I’m sure we’ll both be equally happy with a win tomorrow too 😉

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

You’ll be fine 9’s 😉

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[mancunian_mike]

Foxey, sorry mate but I just don’t see where you’re coming from. You seem to think that managing at international level is just like managing a club side. It really isn’t. I don’t hear people making excuses for Southgate, I, like others, are trying to point out the difficulties all international managers face as there seem to be a lot of people in the media who, like you, seem to think you just pick the 11 best players and they will win comfortably, they will all immediately gel, and if you want to play more exciting football you just stick more attackers on the pitch; sorry mate but it just doesn’t work like that. International teams have to build team spirit from nothing, have to learn how each other play in very little time, save energy where possible in a congested tournament format and all whilst dealing with the pressure and expectation of an entire nation. These are not excuses, these are facts.

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[mancunian_mike]

All the best 9’s. Fingers crossed for you mate.

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[mancunian_mike]

You can’t play like that all the time or every game Foxy, the team are learning how to play international games and international tournaments, and how to manage their performance, tactics and effort through games and over several matches. Even if we don’t win the Euros this bodes well for the World Cup and future tournaments, especially with the young age of many of the squad.

And once again, don’t dismiss Ukraine, there are no easy games at this level.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by mancunian_mike.

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[mancunian_mike]

Excellent result, great performance, lots of goals, and a game in which many players were able to take it a little easier second half and able to sub players to give them a rest before the semi. Could not have asked for more. Well done England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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[mancunian_mike]

Excellent use of subs from Southgate. Rest everyone who is undropable 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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[mancunian_mike]

Good call resting Rice, needs to do the same with Philips and Sterling now. Think ahead to the semi.

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[mancunian_mike]

The cheating really does ruin games and I think players, pundits ans refs need to just call it out for what it is instead of saying ‘they used their experience’ or ‘they’re good at the dark arts’. It’s cheating, just say it.
Saying that it was still a cracking game.

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