Sweden looking better than I expected
International Friendlies May/June
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Ibrahimavich seems genuinely delighted when one of his teammates scores a goal. That's a part of his character he has really worked on since the Utd rumours started.
Yep. Not really been tested defensively whatsoever but going forward they've looked very dangerous.
Forsberg is a good player. Would have liked to see Lindelöf, who's been linked to a few teams, maybe United as well.
Happy for Guidetti, first international goal.
3-0 Guidetti
If Ashley Williams defends like this in the tournament Wales have very little chance.
If Ashley Williams defends like this in the tournament Wales have very little chance.
Important goal for Guidetti
Bale 
Who is going to start for Sweden in midfield? Does Ekdal have a chance or has he been out for too long?
Ah well, I guess Wales aren't going to win the whole thing after all.
One man team.
Lukaku 1-0. Awful by Svensson and Nyland.
Nyland 
Was Zlatan playing?
Bossed the first half and created the 1-0 goal. Subbed off pretty early in the second half.
Brilliant goal by Norway. King's first goal for us in a couple of years?
Couldn't have placed it any better yeah, quality finish.
Alderweireld and Vertonghen can't handle King & co.
I thought we looked like we were in for an absolute trouncing in the start, but we're looking respectable now.
Yup, we're the better side now after the scary start. Their defense looks very shaky.
So what's the deal with France's midfield? Who do we expect to start for them?
I can see Martial getting dropped to the bench for Payet which would be a shame.
(Also, on a side note, do we have a RedCafe Euro 2016 fantasy football league set up that I can join?)
I can see Martial getting dropped to the bench for Payet which would be a shame.
(Also, on a side note, do we have a RedCafe Euro 2016 fantasy football league set up that I can join?)
Wow, Berisha. Norway 2-1.
The Belgian generation is wasting away under this manager.
Are Belgium playing Denayer and Vertonghen as the CBs?
Who is the Belgium player who looks like MMA ref Herb Dean ?
Thanks
Belgium's talent level is insane, but their lack of success is criminal.
Denayer playing RB then?
It's only a friendly but another very insipid performance. I did say a third place finish wasn't out of the realms of plausibility for Belgium in their group.
Jep, just got replaced by Ciman though.
Yep - very underwhelming. I really don't rate Belgium as highly in real life as many do on paper. I think they believe their own hype. That said, Hazard equalises...........
2-2. Hazard.
Belgium are majorly underperforming. Should be doing so much better. Wilmots is holding them back.
edit: lol
edit: lol
And suddenly Belgium 3-2. Collapse.
Unsurprisingly, Belgium look pretty good without Witsel on the field. I don't rate him much at all.
How do we pronounce that? Just like it scans?
Cheers.
How did he perform there? Did Ciman do better when he came on? What back 4 do you think Wilmots will play in the opening group match?
Denayer was average, nothing bad but nothing special either and offered next to nothing offensively. Ciman is always solid defensively but doesn't offer much offensively either although he scored today obviously. I wouldn't even mind to start with Ciman at RB at this point.
Haven't got a clue how Wilmots will line up. He said he wanted Alderweireld at CB for his leadership so I guess it's Denayer at RB and Alderweireld CB. If Vermaelen is fit again, probably him next to Alderweireld en Vertonghen as LB. If not, Vertonghen as CB and Lukaku at LB. Lukaku was very good today imo but of course the opposition will be better at the Euros than today. He's got great stamina and does the overlap excellently, good cross as well but he's prone to mistakes at the back which is a concern of course.
No matter how you look at it, our defence looks suspect. We'll probably get out of our group without too much trouble but we need some serious magic from Hazard and KDB if we want to get far in the tournament.