shen

Of course, everyone assumes this. He also assumes Germany will get past Denmark

International football is a strange beast. Management at this level is 90% about fostering relations and having clear expectations and known systems, because the time you can train together naturally puts constrains. Southgate, when he started, seemed to get a tune out of the England players and succesfully managed to reduce pressure. Big kudos there, because that was maybe the biggest hurdle for England (especially in hindsight with all the clique stuff from the late 90s and 00s). He's also renewed the squad and gone for a lot of youth which so many were crying out for. He's also not been shy of selecting players from unfancied sides although you could well argue there still is a top 6 bias. He doesn't seem to trust players much beyond his first XI though, especially in forward areas. But his results point to him actually doing a lot of things right, which shouldn't be ignored by the ever-critical fanbase and media. Compare him to previous coaches like Hoddle, Venables, Capelli, Eriksson et al, his record holds up really well despite those coaches having similar talent pools to choose from. Same goes for Hjulmand. After the Qatar debacle (I'm still not happy with the explanations given), I didn't want to pull the trigger, but the largely tepid, uninspiring qualification and the squandered opportunity in the Nations League after getting thise France wins made me doubt whether he still had it. Whisper it quietly, but even our Euro 2020 performance was obviously galvanized by the Eriksen episode, a hugely favourable draw and results going our way. The first half against Finland was so toothless lest we forget. Which leaves the outstanding qualification for the WC'22 as his standout achievement, which although commendable, is no improvement on Hareide. I might be overly harsh and I really do like the guy - he's extremely sympathetic and seems a thoroughly good human being who has his priorities straight - but like with England, if you don't entertain (which is a main goal of his) and your results are so-so, then criticism is valid. I really hope he proves me wrong against Serbia. The Slovenia draw was poor, the England draw was fine, but a defeat against Serbia should surely spell the end for Hjulmand.

He made another nearly letting in Saka early second half. A bit naïve at times and was correctly subbed.

Obviously - for PSR reasons mainly

Yet his tournament record is pretty good. You can't really gauge the value of the squad as the PL causes inflated player values. So many people assume it's easy to win a Euro/WC, but knockout tournaments are notorious in that regard. This is a great England squad with a lot of talent, but many sides of similar or higher quality have failed to win. England have had some great coaches 'fail' in the past with arguably even more standout players, but I'm not surprised England fans point the finger once more at the coach. You never learn...

https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2021/jul/07/has-it-ever-been-home-kasper-schmeichel-takes-playful-aim-at-england-video

The danger for us is that VK's had a good and enjoyable season. He might have mentally checked out at Leicester and would (understandably) hope Bologna strike a deal - they did qualify for the CL afterall. But I'd still rather we loan out surplus players and save wages/get a loan fee in the process. He and we will have done his transfer chances little harm.

I echo that pretty much. Whenever I've watched Denmark this past year, we've been very unconvincing. The squad hasn't been renewed a great deal - it's essentially the same squad as at Euro 2020 and WC 2022 (which, as you pointed out, failed miserably). Højlund is the main notable addition, which CAN make a difference, but I don't believe the quality is there. Anything beyond the first knockout round should be considered a big success

Has anyone actually seen Danny Ward the "goalkeeper"? Are we sure it's not the left winger from Huddersfield who's masquerading as a goalie and working two jobs?

He knows he won't get as good a deal elsewhere, that's why. Except for top European clubs or other PL clubs, no-one will get close. Edit: he openly refused going to the MiddleEast, so his only other realistic options will be with a much lower wage.

It's not mental. At worst it's a year longer than what most would've liked, but we don't know the actual terms of the contract, so we are speculating on very little information. I wouldn't be surprised if he is on reduced wages, with the trade-off being an extra year on his contract so the total value stays the same. We would then get to reduce our wage bill and even have secured him for longer. Maybe there is a clause allowing him to leave early for some pay off if it all goes pearshaped. Maybe there is some safety with reduced wages upon relegation or even realistic release clauses - we just don't and likely never will know.

Which means Cooper will not be our manager

Surely the deal was agreed on and will be reported on the date of the loan deal confirmation last summer?

On the surface of it, I can get behind this deal. We will be playing out from the back the next few years and he's better suited to this than any of our central defenders. He's got some confidence from last season and will be one of the leaders and experienced heads in this fragile situation the club finds itself in. It's a risk not knowing who the new manager will be and the real prospect of us having a substantially weaker team than last year or the year before - we know how awfully exposed Vestergaard can get. But as Babs has explained at length, I also believe this is a pragmatic decision by the club and represents far more sense than keeping Albrighton, Iheanacho and Praet. I can understand the backlash to a certain degree, but a lot are overreacting to this.

You make it sound like we can afford to have deadwood lying about. We still have Ward, Iversen, Soumare, Souttar et al on decent wages weighing us down. It's in no interest to have him rot here if neither club nor player is happy.

True I suppose, but at least he's showing his true colours. There are thousands upon thousands of other ball bags that don't dare put a face on their online comments.

I don't mind a bit of banter. Maupay only does it to people who are easy to wind up. Maddison is like dangling a carrot in front of his face. Kane did it too lest we forget, and he's not exactly tinpot.

It's quite a list of omissions. They'd likely all be starters for any of the other nations in the group...

"Vi er røde, vi er hvide Vi står sammen, side om side"

I thought exactly the same. Even worse, the offender was the club he ended up joining. The only interpretation I have is that he was upset that his squad was weakened. Despite saving Casadei's wages for 6 months, we were unable to get a replacement - which to be fair is understandable. So the two incidents are linked and ultimately pointed at the PSR issues which Maresca wasn't clearly briefed on.

Obviously England will be strong favourites for the group. Denmark probably slightly favoured to progress with them, but this all depends on which Denmark shows up this time. If it's the Euro 2020 version then I'm very confident. If it's the WC 22 version, forget it. From what they've shown the last two years, I'm more inclined towards the latter... I have no idea how strong the FYR countries are.

Bring back Mancini!

Cosmic Encounter looks familiar, and I know Dominion, but the rest are new to me

I looked at Heat and it looked very similar to an old Danish classic called Derby (Horse racing game) which was always a lot of fun. I would love to get back into casual board games. The family situation doesn't quite allow it, but hopefully as the kids grow older, I will have more opportunities. Right now I'm limited to online D&D with some at-the-table sessions happening monthly hopefully from September onwards.

It will go some way to offset the Rodgers dismissal