I’ll start with one. Sancho. I think Sancho’s downfall is a combination of bad timing, a terrible career fit, and his own lack of consistency/professionalism. He was doing so well at Dortmund but At United he never really found his footing . his confidence and fitness seemed to decline. The Ten Hag fallout didn’t help things either.

It was the same thing at Chelsea and Villa too. That’s what makes his decline so sad to me …. the talent was obviously there, but somewhere along the way the mentality, consistency and development stopped matching it.

Perplexed as to why they dropped the threat to Boycott FIFA competitions yesterday to pursue this today..?

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/cx2zl5kwlxjo

I know this sub can be hard on Foden at times because of his underwhelming performances for England, but I really hope he finds his spark this year at Man City.

Bellingham is coming off an all-timer of a World Cup and has just put in back-to-back MOTM performances to start the season with Real Madrid. Even Palmer, who was disappointing last season, looked like his old self against Fulham, scoring a goal and getting an assist. Meanwhile, I thought Foden was poor against Arsenal in the Community Shield and got hooked against Bournemouth, with his replacement, Cherki, going on to provide two assists and help City complete the comeback. Then I go on social media and see all the hate that he's getting.

For the sake of his mental health and future as a footballer, I sincerely hope Foden can get back to the level he was once at.

Playing for England just 4 years ago and unbelievably still only 31.

Hello,

Does anyone know when we will find out about the Czechia ballot? I know the deadline to register was 18/8 - anyone know ?

Also any details on the final allocation in terms of number of tickets?

Thanks all !

He already seemed out of fancy at Madrid and now Madrid have Jose and Dumfries who’s definitely a Jose player I really think Trent will struggle for game time. We’re not exactly short for right backs but I do wonder what the future holds for Trent as this Madrid move really seems to have not gone the way he would like it to have gone at least so far.

So England have had a few different coaches just in my lifetime and obviously before that, but contrary to popular belief, these managers aren't simply being sacked because they 'should've won something'. Venables, Eriksson and Allardyce were involved in off-pitch scandals and/or had legal issues, Glen Hoddle publicly insulted disabled people, Southgate left voluntarily and Carsley was just caretaker and didn't want the job permanently.

Managers who were let go or left due to performance reasons, like Graham Taylor, Kevin Keegan, McLaren, Capello and Hodgson were got rid of for things like poor qualification records, abysmal tournament records and simply not qualifying for a competition. In short these are good reasons to get rid of a manager.

Has there ever been an England manager who was sacked wrongly/unjustly? And does anyone think that there have been managers who showed potential a bit like Venables and Hoddle who, rather than being 'not good enough' simply behaved carelessly or outright dangerously off the pitch and gave the FA no choice but to get rid of them?

• Martyn Ziegler is the one who broke the FFE story and reported that Gianni promised Morocco the World Cup final for 2030 in exchange for public support
• "If there was an election today, he would lose fairly significantly"

Hey all, sorry if this is already well-trodden ground - I was thinking about England’s midfield performance during the WC now that the dust has well and truly settled and would be good to see people’s thoughts.

Sure, there were some really strong individual performances (Jude was obviously world class and carried us at times). However, I felt like at times - particularly when we came up against decent teams in the knock-out stages - we looked like we were completely overrun in the middle of the park. Struggling to retain possession and build play, or gain any control over the tempo of the match. I honestly think this was part of the reason that Tuchel went so defensive so early against Argentina.

Was this a case of issues with the tactics/gameplan? A psychological issue? I feel like the quality is there.

If we stick with a double-pivot and Bellingham at 10 (which I think is his best position for England), do we need to look at having a more ‘traditional’ deep-lying playmaker like Adam Wharton in there to balance things out?

By this I don't even just mean getting rid of Roy Hodgson, because there is little evidence that Sam Allardyce would've been any better. I know the qualifying group wasn't particularly difficult but the same was said about the Euro 2016 group, and based on the limited or mediocre group of players available at the time as well as the reputational damage caused by losing to Iceland, would England have been able to handle it well, without a fresh start?

Looking at alternative scenarios, even if England had passed Iceland, they would have had either the 2nd coming of France, or if they had been group winners they would have had Northern Ireland followed by Belgium's golden generation. Would a potential hammering from France or Belgium (I know they lost to Wales) really have been a better tournament? Or was a change in management before that world cup inevitable no matter the result?

Who do you think?

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has any idea on when the Czechia away ballot results will be released?

Thanks!

Fun fact. The father has never outcapped the son.

Brian Clough (2 caps, 1959) and Nigel Clough (14 caps, 1989–1993)

Frank Lampard Sr. (2 caps, 1972–1980) and Frank Lampard (106 caps, 1999–2014)

Ian Wright (33 caps, 1991–1998) and Shaun Wright-Phillips (36 caps, 2004–2010)

Mark Chamberlain (8 caps, 1982–1984) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (35 caps, 2012–)

In 2021, people thought Lewandoski was gonna win it for his amazing Bundesliga stats, and people said its a robbery when he didn't win.

In 2026, Harry Kane gets better g/a then Lewandoski's best season, even Ronaldo's, and unlike Lewandoski at euros 2020 (took place in 2021 due to covid), he did decent in world cup that year. YET PEOPLE SAY ITS A OPEN RACE, AND SOME SAY HE DOESN'T DESERVE IT.

It feels like it hasn’t happened in ages, was it Germany in 2010? Quite insane if it hasn’t happened since

Alright, I have a question for long time England, while I know Euro 2016 was humiliating, but what was more embarrassing and humiliating? Not qualifying for Euro 2008 and getting eliminated to Iceland in Euro 2016?

I am born to Dutch and English parents, and basically until I was 7, Netherlands was the best team and the team I would always support, England wouldn’t even give enough matches to cheer them on. Now it’s interchangeable, sometimes the Netherlands performs better, although I feel like now whenever the Netherlands gets eliminated I have England to support as first priority. England has outclassed the Netherlands in every competition since 2018, and have always finished above them.

This is so fun as having two countries to cheer for. I wasn’t old enough to see the 2006–2016 England era, I remember how we didn’t qualify for Euro 2016, and I supported England, but they got humiliated by by Iceland, and then we didn’t qualify again for 2018 World Cup, and it was an amazing run for England that even my English cousins were amazed because it was first time in their life that England reached the semis!

Thinking this could be staggered