Internationals October (Euro Qualifiers + Friendlies)

SquishyMcSquish

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Agreed it’s why selfishly I want to see him how he was 2 seasons ago.
If we played a system like England did tonight, probably with an upgrade on Lucas, the current Kane would be incredible. Like an on steroids version of Firmino.

He's the perfect centre forward, has absolutely everything in his locker .. and sadly we're wasting that completely.
 

Annihilate Now!

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Looking forward to John Barnes saying he'd be embarrassed to be Tyrone Mings or Raheem Sterling to complain about suffering a bit of racism in Bulgaria
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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If we played a system like England did tonight, probably with an upgrade on Lucas, the current Kane would be incredible. Like an on steroids version of Firmino.

He's the perfect centre forward, has absolutely everything in his locker .. and sadly we're wasting that completely.
Right now I agree.
 

SungSam7

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How about they just abandon games and give default wins to teams receiving the abuse... fans of the alleged team wouldn't be long pointing out the culprits if they had any sense of pride!
 

1966

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Kane the most unselfish player on the pitch, who would of thunk it.
I know you're being sarcastic but it feels like ages since Kane was genuinely a selfish player. Like, years. Memes about players are hard to shed unfortunately.

Son has been Spurs' most selfish player for a while now. Kane could do with some of that "shoot from anywhere" fire in his belly again frankly!

Great to see Kane putting in two excellent performances for England anyway. I hope he isn't tired next weekend now. But from my perspective, I just want to stop hearing the most asinine nonsense about Kane because Spurs as a whole are shitting the bed.
 

Sultan

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If governments won't make a statement and sort their offenders out then I propose UEFA ban international football played being played in the country. If that doesn't resolve the issue then kick consistent offending countries out of EU. That should make governments take a stand.
 

baywatchfan

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Biggest home defeat in history. Worst Bulgaria side ever. This is the result you get when you have decades of bad management of football.
 

Yagami

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Kane and Sterling both on 8 goals. Just brilliant!

I thought they'd be joint top scorers but they're actually joint 3rd behind Dzyuba of Russia (9) and Zahavi of Israel (10)

First 2 qualify automatically = 20 places
4 places up for playoffs

I started reading the rules on UEFA.com, and honestly couldn't follow along. So convoluted.
Same :lol:
 

DoomSlayer

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Sucks that some idiots ruin it for fans like you, and the players who just want to play for their country in these big tournaments.
It's a very complex problem actually. It concerns the whole country, the demise of our football as a whole is just part of the downfall of our nation. We have a lot of petty misguided people here, to put it in a non-offensive way.
 

JPRouve

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If governments won't make a statement and sort their offenders out then I propose UEFA ban international football played being played in the country. If that doesn't resolve the issue then kick consistent offending countries out of EU. That should make governments take a stand.
You can't.
 

Samid

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So who enters the Playoffs then? Third place?
All Nations League group winners are guaranteed playoffs. If a NL group winner qualifies through the regular qualifying then that spot goes to the next best non-qualified team from NL.
 

SharpshooterTom

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If governments won't make a statement and sort their offenders out then I propose UEFA ban international football played being played in the country. If that doesn't resolve the issue then kick consistent offending countries out of EU. That should make governments take a stand.
Christ don't be giving the brexiteers any ideas!
 
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Peyroteo

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Can't complain about the ref when he gives you a soft pen and sends him off on top of that.
I can't? It's a clear yellow and penalty by the rules...

After breaking the record for the amount of non-called blatant penalties in an international tournament in 2016 we wouldn't want to break it in qualification this time given we're 6 from 6 already.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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I know you're being sarcastic but it feels like ages since Kane was genuinely a selfish player. Like, years. Memes about players are hard to shed unfortunately.

Son has been Spurs' most selfish player for a while now. Kane could do with some of that "shoot from anywhere" fire in his belly again frankly!

Great to see Kane putting in two excellent performances for England anyway. I hope he isn't tired next weekend now. But from my perspective, I just want to stop hearing the most asinine nonsense about Kane because Spurs as a whole are shitting the bed.
I agree with all of what you say, I just hope we sort things out as a club and move forward.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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He does, but nowhere near as much for Spurs. You could argue we play easier opposition, but he was the same against Spain, regards the playmaking striker role. I personally dont think he suits the diamond formation and is much better up top on his own, preferably in a 433.
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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What about Maddison? Think he should be getting a go over Barkley, more technical than Mount is and in general a very creative player.

Him, Henderson and Winks is actually a very decent midfield on player. Good balance.
Maddison is someone im desperate to see in the advanced 8 role for England.
 

Peyroteo

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We (Portugal) will be pot 3 minimum at the Euros if we qualify. So will France if Turkey wins their games and Russia draws or beats Belgium.

There will be some insane groups at the Euros with their new seeding system. England in pot 1 could get Germany, France and Sweden for example.
 

1966

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He does, but nowhere near as much for Spurs. You could argue we play easier opposition, but he was the same against Spain, regards the playmaking striker role. I personally dont think he suits the diamond formation and is much better up top on his own, preferably in a 433.
The only player the diamond actually benefits is Son, who plays on the shoulder of the last defender. It's a disgusting formation for most teams, including this Spurs team, and Poch is correctly receiving difficult questions over his long-term persistence with it.

The fact that Kane still has more than twice as many goals as anyone else at Spurs this season - including Son, who should theoretically be standing out in the current situation - says a lot about the standards set by the main man. This is what a crisis of form for Kane looks like.

And, yeah, you're absolutely right to point out that he can do this stuff against elite opposition like Spain too. Until we retreated to hold the win, he took them apart in that NL game.

The paradox (or dilemma) of Kane is that, outside of the very best teams in the world, he's probably going to be your best playmaker as well as your best finisher (he is in his current squads) so ideally you want Kane creating for Kane. But since that's impossible, both Southgate and Poch sometimes seem to want to "split the difference" and try to get him doing everything. The problem is that instead of harnessing his elite talents in either area, they end up getting lesser output from him in both, and tiring the hell out of him in the process (not to mention making him look bad compared to the players around him who benefit).

It's a problem of coaching and personnel, like not having anyone else to do the other role at the same level (particularly a problem at Spurs right now). The blame rests with the people responsible for those things. It's not Kane's fault if he gets frustrated with no service and takes it upon himself to drop progressively deeper as needed to get the ball rolling (pun?). That's just doing your job as best you can.

On a sidenote, Kane and Sterling in a club team together would be outrageous. Their attributes are almost perfectly complementary and they clearly have great chemistry (arguably better than the chemistry between Kane and most of his clubmates at present).
 
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Snow

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We (Portugal) will be pot 3 minimum at the Euros if we qualify. So will France if Turkey wins their games and Russia draws or beats Belgium.

There will be some insane groups at the Euros with their new seeding system. England in pot 1 could get Germany, France and Sweden for example.
Portugal were 2nd ranked European team after the Nation's league. There's no way you'll be in pot 3. You'll be in pot 1 and none of this "if we qualify" bullshit, you've got Lithuania and Luxembourg left.
 

Peyroteo

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Portugal were 2nd ranked European team after the Nation's league. There's no way you'll be in pot 3. You'll be in pot 1 and none of this "if we qualify" bullshit, you've got Lithuania and Luxembourg left.
It’s impossible that we’ll be pot 1. You should look into how teams get seeded, it doesn’t matter that we won the Euros.
Ukraine will be pot 1
 

Ban

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So if I got it right Balakov didn't condemn the incidents and said their captain talked to the fans about how did team play.
 

Vault Dweller

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It’s clearly not an easy thing to deal with, it’s like sectarianism here in NI there is very little an FA can do to stamp out years of cultural feckwittery. I still go to games here, the quality is shite but it’s my local team but some of the abuse that is given out in the stands isn’t shocking. I guess I just feel for the real fan is circumstances like this.
Same here in Scotland mate. Does my fecking head in.
 

Ramos

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Portugal were 2nd ranked European team after the Nation's league. There's no way you'll be in pot 3. You'll be in pot 1 and none of this "if we qualify" bullshit, you've got Lithuania and Luxembourg left.
You need to win the group to be in pot 1. It's all very convoluted but this is certain, Portugal won't be seeds.

Another certainty: Italy will play all their group games at home (due to Azerbaijan not making it directly)
 

RoyH1

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If UEFA had any backbone, they'd make Bulgaria play behind closed doors for some games and then make it clear that further incidents would result of expulsion from a given competition. But that will not happen either.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Same here in Scotland mate. Does my fecking head in.
Yeah the whole "we have moved on" BS its still there just waiting to rear its ugly head. My daughter just turned 5 last month and always asks me to take her, she does show an interest and kicks the ball about with me in the back garden (shes a lefty), but there is no way I would take her to my usual seat and I would be very surprised if the family section don't hear the chants/language.
 

Buster15

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How about they just abandon games and give default wins to teams receiving the abuse... fans of the alleged team wouldn't be long pointing out the culprits if they had any sense of pride!
I actually agree with the UEFA process. It is an incremental process which takes the decision making from individuals to the officials and affected team.
I also believe that by playing on, the affect of that was far more effective than just by abandoning the game. If that had been done, the racists would have claimed a morale victory.
 

Vault Dweller

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Yeah the whole "we have moved on" BS its still there just waiting to rear its ugly head. My daughter just turned 5 last month and always asks me to take her, she does show an interest and kicks the ball about with me in the back garden (shes a lefty), but there is no way I would take her to my usual seat and I would be very surprised if the family section don't hear the chants/language.
Aye, I'm fed up of hearing that as well every time there is issues between the Old Firm and other clubs up here. Nothing is ever done properly about it. That's great she is showing an interest in the beautiful game man but I definitely understand why you wouldn't. If I have kids I'd have serious reservations about taking them too. Which team do you have a seat for?
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Aye, I'm fed up of hearing that as well every time there is issues between the Old Firm and other clubs up here. Nothing is ever done properly about it. That's great she is showing an interest in the beautiful game man but I definitely understand why you wouldn't. If I have kids I'd have serious reservations about taking them too. Which team do you have a seat for?
Ballymena, tickets aren't that hard to come by TBH and there are worse clubs to be supporting but you can still hear quite clearly sectarian comments towards players, even our own and racial comments.
 

RobinLFC

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Apparently First Minister Borissov has asked for the dismissal of Mihajlov and wants to end its financial support of the Bulgarian FA as long as this doesn't happen.
 

PepG

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Balakov is a dead man walking so his opinion is irrelevant. What's interesting is that today the prime-minister of Bulgaria publicly asked (with a post on Facebook) the president of Bulgarian football Union to resign. This and the rumours that the racist chants were organised and with purpose makes me think that what we saw last night was a plot against Mihaylov who runs the BFU since 2004 and is reelected everytime there is a voting for new president without competition.
 

Maticmaker

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The perpetrators of massed racist chanting such as was heard last night can be identified, as the authorities did and they removed the offenders. Individuals making such chants are harder to identify and hence to take action, but it shouldn't be beyond UEFA to come with a set of rules and regulations which;
a) Ban from any European Football matches/competitions for period of 5 years any country whose identified fans are proven guilty of racist chants;
b) Make it clear it is the responsibility of the home countries FA to police and enforce UEFA's rules on this matter;
c) Allow the use the evidence provided by TV coverage to confirm these matters;
d) If subsequent offences occur, the period of the ban is extended to 10 years, and an additional 5 years added for any further breaches;
e) Where possible (identified through CCTV etc) pursue individuals found guilty of such offences and give similar personal bans;
f) All costs associated with enforcing these rules to be borne by the offending countries FA;
g) Allow an appeals process to be undertaken, when and where Countries can show they have eradicated such behaviour from their stadiums.