OTF

Club very clear to distinguish that's he's unwell rather than injured.

Hope you're not referring to the kids.

If I was Eddie I'd not be super happy about it. And it needs more Bruno these days!

Merry Christmas to you all, love this place even if you lot completely forgot me in a heartbeat when the board disappeared. One day I'll come to Newcastle for a game or two and will fully expect the black and white carpet to be rolled out for me.

This is a bit scary.

I can complain - what's all this talk doing in the generic small time football thread? I know we now consider the League Cup to be small time, but we're still it in so surely this should be in the Generic NUFC chat thread?

I can't predict our game because of this, always have that feeling even more now on the back of the World Cup break. So glad we had that cup game.

Then the non-giving of the clear handball was just as bad.

Getting shit calls and still winning; who are we? The clean sheet is key IMO as it will be on our defensive fortitude that we make our push for a champion's league spot. Even though we've scored plenty of goals thus far I can see them drying up a little, particularly after the shit World Cup may have put the breaks on our offensive cohesiveness and the hot form of some of our players (Miggy, I'm looking at you here). No injuries too.

Can you imagine the strop both of them will have had with Argentina and Messi winning. This picture is probably downplaying the reality.

at the protection of time on cultural insensitivity. Also, reported.

That would be an upward spiral.

I'm often bowled over by the quality of pitches I get to play on over here. Now that I think about it, it may be due to the cricket pitches on them.

40 mill could be good value IF the following are true: 1. He's not frequently injured 2. He allows us to raise our profile in the USA in the lead up to the next World Cup 3. He's not on ridiculous wages that could upset our apple cart

Ideally we'll soon have some properly highly rated youngsters coming through our ranks who have the quality to provide the cover required. With Lascelles we know his ceiling.

Good summary, first half I gave England the best chance when Saka played in Kane. It was good agressive keeping from Lloris to save that. The Tchouameni goal as we've all mentioned should have been saved. Pickford's positioning wasn't great and he was slow to move and even then could still have got the ball. There was an earlier headed chance for Giroud but the ball was behind him so he couldn't get much on it, but it was the start of a trend of Macguire not being able to defend crosses to Giroud. There was also a deflected shot from Kane from distance thay result in an easy showboating save from Lloris. I give England a marginal advantage on the first half. Other key things to note - there was a text book foul on Saka by Upamecano when France 'won' possession in the lead up to their first goal. There was also a foul on Harry Kane that started outside the box and possibly transitioned just in it that was not given. Horrible refereeing in both cases, and extremely costly to England. Second half England came out hard, there was a cracking volley from Bellingham that forced a good save from Lloris. 5 minutes after that some great interplay a clear foul on Saka in the box wins England a penalty which 2 minutes later Kane scored. Immediately after this an errant throw in results in a shot from distance from Rabiot which Pickford easily saves. It does set the trend for a nervous England period before Harry Macguire sends a very scorable chance wide from a Henderson free-kick. Shortly after Hernandez bails out France just clearing a low driven Luke Shaw cross that Saka was ready to put away. France then wrestle the momentum back with Giroud given perhaps the best chance of the game from a floated Dembele header into the centre of the box after an Mbappe cross. With the goal at his mercy Giroud sent it almost straight at Pickford who saved well. Macguire once again failing to pick up his man. A minute later a superb Griezman cross from the sideline is well met by Giroud, beating Macguire again and at that distance and speed Pickford can't save it. Then was the absolute brain snap from Hernandez to gift England the second penalty after the VAR called the referee over, and we all know what transpired thereafter. Note that there was more than 4 minutes between the foul by Hernandez and Kane taking the penalty. After 6+ minutes alone were lost to the two penalties there were only eight minutes of time added on, which IMO was short of what was due, especially in the context of time added on throughout this tournament. The referee was poor throughout, with the vast majority of that in favour of France. Overall I do give a slight edge to England which would have potentially been realised with a win if Pickford wasn't in goal or if someone who could mark Girout was playing instead of Macguire or if there was a decent referee.

Over the years I've noticed a direct correlation between my confidence and ability in a chosen sport based off the level of associated equipment and gear purchased for said sport. That quickly metamorphises into an inverse detrimental impact once I take to the field/course/court/track through 'friends', teammates, opposition, members of the public and myself. Before: "These news boots as soft and comfortable without being worn in, really looking forward to my first game in them" Teammate/friend: "oooh new boots, do they make them for men?" After: "I shanked that shot due to these new boots". Members of the public: "a bit late in life for this guy to pick up a new sport" Opposition: *magically drawn to studding new boots*

I have access to an EU passport and no need to hang out with the French.

The tags were fine on my jacket, just not the jacket itself.

That sounds dreadful.

Yeah, you're right but I definitely had the impression that Kane was too much in his own head taking that.

Yep, with the history I think someone else should have taken it. Quite sure that Kane peripherally saw Lloris go the right way and hit it harder to try to compensate.