EURO 2024

Someone tweeted a picture of Steve Stone at Euro 96 yesterday/today and asked where all the 25-year-old footballers looking like that (bald) had gone.
I presume the answer is Turkey for Rooney-esque hair transplants.

I still say the elite, top of thier game high profile footballers of yore, up to circa late nineties, all looked like proper, grizzled, grown up blokes in their 30s.

Probably because of the vastly improved facilities young players are often immersed in from an early age atbthe top acadamies, the progression of sports science nowadays coupled with the gradual phasing out of half time fags and pre match cooking lager and stuff, but still.

Good warmup game this guys.

I’m hoping it’s because no one wants to get injured. It’s fucking terrible. No positives at all

Have england ever failed to disappoint in a pre tournament friendly. Why would you bother to watch?

I didn't even know we were playing.

Has it come home yet?

It's coming, but the track and trace isn't showing any updates

It was that or the 7 way debate….

We watched the Weird Al Yankovic film, which was vastly preferable to either.

“I know it’s hard to hear this, but your dad and I had a long talk and we agreed it would be best for all of us if you would just stop being who you are and doing the things you love.”

I strangely get depressed in the summer between football seasons. The heat can stifle exercise and generally I don’t like the air quality so before this happens a nice tournament will keep me occupied. The footballing friends will come over next week for England VS Serbia and ironically it’s have three very good Croatian friends so they will be cheering for England against the mad Slav Russian backing looneys.

As for Grealish, if fit I would have taken him. Not sure he is out of form. I got the general impression that he had a few injury problems that were hampering his progress. (See also Marcus Rashford).

I would have taken Sterling because he is still a dynamic player and he was just coming back into
Form at the tale end of Chelski’s season. And he always plays well for England.

Bowen is very very hard working and he is a good player but he doesn’t have the ex-factor like Sterling and Grealish and usually that is what is required.

The defence if walker and Stones can remain fit will still have the problem of Trippier (great at set pieces but not the player he once was) and who will be the other centre back? Guedi is very good but also injury prone.

So essentially great up front and an excellent midfield but probably creaky at the back.

So typical England. Great promise but deeply flawed. But like everyone else really. The French and the Belgy’s are very talented but temperamental and the Italians and the Germans are annoyingly efficient at grinding out results.

If people are annoyed at the warms ups then they are silly. The players are knackered from the end of their respective seasons and probably don’t want to get injured. Bit like Pre-season for Forest. You cannot judge that on anything until we kick off in anger.

Kane will annoy Tricky but he won’t be the be all and end all. He will get the penalties. It will be Foden and Bellingham who will be out leading lights and rightly so.

Chicago: Excited.

X-factor. Not ex-factor.

Yep. I think this is the crux of it. With the added problems that Southgate doesn't know how to deploy the players to maximum effect , and IMHO, I think they're lacking some team spirit and togetherness at the moment.

Have you seen the bints attached to these players? I would take Sterling’s and Grealish’s over Bowen’s any day!

Bloody spell check.

Chicago: Blaming my phone.

I very much hope you’re right although both of them, particularly Bellingham, seem to have gone off the boil in the last few weeks. Maybe they’ve just been saving themselves for the euros?