shen

Has our xG been exactly the same since half time...?

Max doesn't have beef with Lando, and it's always been reciprocated as well. I feel for Piastri a bit - with being out in the cold for two years (which still is bemusing), he's proven that he's a match for Lando and he probably should have won it. Though look which unfortunately knocked his confidence. Will be interesting how the field shapes up next year and whether it will be even more competitive. Hopefully we won't have another dominant run of seasons where one manufacturer runs away with it from the start while the others play catch up for 2 or more years.

If you know a bit about Iceland, then you realise that it's a politically and culturally driven investment into sports. Due to their geography, they are able to provide heated pitches to every school in the country and they have a very strong focus on team sports like football and handball. They're obviously a lot wealthier per capita than most countries in the world, so while their population is small, they have substantial advantages over Caribbean Nations when it comes to training, facilities and finance. It's not too dissimilar to Norway being by far the most successful (Winter) Olympic country.

I can totally see a situation where Verstappen is winning with Norris in fourth and Piastri in between them... That would certainly bring shades of '21 where the boot is on the other foot.

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66% possession, 0 Shots on target. It's hard to fathom.

Yeah, that has to be it for Marti.

Of course it's Cannon

Played a perfect assist for Daka, so he"s still productive despite his "awfulness".

Of course he did. But KDH, Vardy and Ndidi still flourished despite it not at all being a style they would normally cherish. He got a tune out of Faes and Vestergaard and had Ricardo and Winks be the driving forces in that team, while Mavididi and Fatawu were genuine threats most games. All of those players are still here, so it begs the question why he simply cannot get a single good allround performance from this squad.

It's bizarre really. He seemed tactically knowledgeable in the interview with Pipes early in the season, but now he's reduced to only talking about spirit and character, which deflects from the tactical whoopings we've been getting regularly this season. With Enzo at least you had a clear blueprint, but under Marti we're both stubborn and i effective - at both ends.

Look at the goals we scored against Stoke, which came from a good press and and an interception leading to a counter. We scored quite a few of these goals under Maresca too, despite many having you believe it was only ever tippy happy stuff. We scored these kinds of goals during our most successful period in the Prem. We still have players whose strength is pace, pressing and direct play. Why can't we lean more into this?

Imagine if Vestergaard plays a part in the worst Prem defeat ever, then joins the winning team only to lose by the same scoreline against his old club. It's still on! After last season's negative records, I'm kinda pumped about the possibility of another "they couldn't, could they?"

We could do worse than stick him up front as number 10 judging by his Bangladesh heroics

At least we were already losing badly, so it's not going to define this result. You may even argue that if Cifuentes had been bedding him in and not thrown him in at the deep end like today, there's a possibility he would not be this nervous or desperate to impress. Because it's not like he's gotten chances despite us being very short in the full backs areas. The worst part of it is the suspension which means he's likely going to wait weeks or months for another chance.

Scripted. Everyone crying for Aluko and he gets sent off after half an hour. He's been mentioned by Ramsey or what?

I don't think you can compare the two. Qualifying through UEFA is very difficult and there were even fewer European slots when Iceland qualified. The three powerhouses automatically qualifying and another three (potentially five) joining them inevitably means that Curacao's chance went from virtually non-existant to very possible. But credit where its due, it's still a great achievement and they've timed it perfectly.

Won the champo first season with Leicester, but the game is a slog, imo. I'll probably leave it for half a year until they get around to fix bugs etc. Disappointed overall - the game is just unfinished, which is inexcusable really. If anyone cares I got the following players in summer: Pjanic (free), Awoniyi (loan, buy if promoted), Joel Ward (free). Winter: Tomiyasu (free), Eliezer Mayenda (loan), Bruno Durdov (£12m), Reda Belahyane (loan).

It's probably down to World Cup performance and FIFA rankings as well as federation. Isn't that how it's usually done? Mainly to ensure that the big South American and European teams avoid eliminating eachother at the group stage. If Italy qualify, there's no chance they'll be in the same pot as e.g. Curacao.

Just needs Huth, Morgan and Simpson to join him and they will have a solid backroom lineup to surge up through the leagues

Good memories of play-offs in Dublin. I'll be jealous of North Macedonia

It's gonna be Denmark - Sweden in the playoffs. That would be poetic.

I make it four ex-Leicester keepers in the Championship currently - Johansson, Iversen, Ward and Hamer.

Interestingly, this was Denmark's first red card in 18 (!) years! Not happened since an infamous punch by Christian Poulsen in 2007 in an epic game against Sweden. That incident prompted a fan to run onto the pitch and attempt a swipe at the ref, who called off the game. Denmark subsequently lost the game 0-3 by default. Equally calamitous consequence this time around.