Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Gerrard, Lampard, Carrick, Hargreaves, Beckham, Joe Cole, Owen, a young Rooney. They were all around at the same time. Neville and Beckham were a small bit older but still top level players. Goalkeeper was an obvious weakness and Pickford is much better than Paul Robinson or David James. But that group of players is far better than the current squad.

England have been in 1 semi final in my lifetime. Uncharted territory so I can understand the commentators getting excited. My issue wasn’t the commentator just that Martin Keown is a terrible co commentator.

I know it must be difficult for the Scots, Welsh an Irish fans desperate for England to lose but hang on in there cause we’re bound to be knocked out soon.

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/worl ... -colombia/

When I hear “golden generation”I just think defence for the World Cup in Japan.

Cole,Campbell and Rio Ferdinand all in their prime. Minus Danny mills thats definately world class

I fully agree that it should be close. To be honest I'm not expecting even a two goal winning margin, as we saw with England and Sweden. I just think England are a bit more likely to win 1-0 or 2-1 than Croatia. Could even go to another penalty shoot-out.

My predictions 100 percent so far. Its a puty Belgium and France were split up. Would make a very good final.

England looked very good. Sweden played a negative match and they missed Zlatan very much. I dont know the reason for his exclusiin..age..attitude..a bit of both but they could have used him as a super sub. He is capable of magic with one touch.

Sweden cant be too upset when they reflect on this world cup. Granted they were lucky in boyh the group stages and drawing Swiss.

This England team is young and confidence. It has great goal scorers in Kane and Vardy, others,..pace with Young, Sterling, others, a good quarterback in the middle with Ali...defense and the GK is confident and playing well. However I dont see them fetting past Croatia although the bookies and the forum may not agree.

I really like this England side. However, Croatia seems to rise to whatever the occasion calls for. They have beaten a very athletic and pacy Nigerian side as well as a technically sound Argentinian side.

I dont have to say how good Modric is. Not a lot of big names but they are solid.

An Englabd vs France ir Belgium final is much sexier and would be a great final for neutrals.
I just have this feeling Croatia will be Cinderella. France are too much all over the pitch. Its their world cup unless the Belgians can play a perfect match.

Maguire is a seriously decent centre half too. Only matter of time till a big side comes in for him

Scholes, Beckham and Owen were there too. A very good team. But they were knocked out by a Brazil with Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Rivaldo, Cafu and Roberto Carlos. The last truly great Brazilian side.

Agree about Maguire, much better performance. Has to watch the discipline though and if he does he'll be our number one centre back imo.

I don't think you'll be knocked out at all. I think England will beat Croatia and then lose to France in the final. That's what I'm hoping for anyway but only because I backed France before the tournament started. Hope that's ok with you.

He was very careless in the first game and has a propensity to concede soft free kicks as you say. But I'd be very happy to see us buying him.

If Liverpool were willing to pay 75 million for a CB I can't imagine us paying 80+ for a homegrown one.

You're not wrong there. The commentary on Munster hurling matches is almost parody at this stage. Every game is an absolute classic incorporating superhuman feats it seems.

Sports punditry on the whole is laughably over the top. Just been listening to how 'absolutely unbelievable' Lukaku was in the Brazil game - and here's me thinking he'd been 'quite good'.

It really is. My biggest gripe with it though is the co commentators who never shut the *%^@ up from minute 1. Gary Neville is one while the worst by far is Brian Kerr on Irish tv.

I'm on your team .
In the good old days , you had ONE commentator , he just commented on the action . Then suddenly he needed a back up , then another , then a guy down on the sidelines to talk about replacements , type of injuries , state of the pitch , from which direction the wind was blowing .... so now it is non stop dialogue talking through what did happen , what might happen , what happened in the equivalent fixture last year .

We have an idiot out here , Justin Marshall who just will not shut the F**&^%*** up , every utterage could fill two volumes of Brittanica .

I watch any All Black game with the sound muted .

The Aussie rugby league who had great commentators is heading in that direction , infested with the numbnuts .

The problem arises because they usually pick the main commentator for his pleasant speaking voice and delivery , BUT the co commentators regardless of voice , education .... are just anybody who has ever played the game .

That nasally p****ck Trevor Francis ruined every game he was ever involved in for me , long winded , cr*p voice , Nigel Winterburn another .

Ornstein saying French midfielder Matteo Guendouzi is having a medical at Arsenal today. Know nothing about him except that he's 19 and looks a bit like David Luiz.

Disappointed to hear this isn't simply stating the facts.

Got the 'patrol on here.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RXYUoUsz_0[/youtube]

That Brexit, eh?

Bunch of arse.

What more can be said about it eh ?

The morality of the people in question is non existent. Many of the tories involved don’t give a stuff about Brexit but more so desire to use it as a leadership vehicle for the individual ambition to achieve power.

Nobody is thinking about the UK or British public. People are going to lose livelihoods. Corbyn is a complete waste as a politician. He has causes and nothing else and he’s essentially abandoned an element of his core vote.

Hard Brexit isn’t possible cause of course the EU will reject it. However hey ho on they go!

Meanwhile the Russians accidentally assassinated a citizen on British soil and the biggest orange wanker on the planet is due to arrive in 72 hours with barely a comment made.

An absolute disgrace of the highest possible order.

What an absolute *%^@ and charlatan that Boris Johnson is! Behind that outward facade of an upper class buffoon hides a despicably dangerous *%^@ of a politician, a type that would feature heavily in a Stephen King apocalyptic novel if he wrote one based on a uk politician. How can people, even those who voted out of the EU with legitimate concerns go along with him?

Hard brexit is very possible, make no bones about it. The Germans and French will take it over the alternative scenario of allowing the UK cherry picking the best parts while closing its borders. Which is I think what the UK ultimately wants. I only hope the EU are ready to bail us out as our economy crashes .... again....and worse still the British government better be ready for it all to kick off again in the north.

May is finally doing the right thing and taking on the hard-Brexit loonies. They had to be faced down at some stage as I hope common sense is surely going to prevail and there will be the softest possible Brexit despite her harder position in public. The war is on though and will be interesting to see if she can survive their attempts to topple her.

Personally, I don't think it will "kick off" in the north again. Yes there may be sporadic incidents on a hard border and I don't rule out the possibility of shootings etc but nothing on the level of 69-95. The demographics are moving in favour of nationalists and in the case of a hard brexit I would see much political effort being put into creating an all-Ireland referendum and a hefty political push towards a UI that way.

Labour are not in power and also have divisions over Brexit though I'm not sure it's on the same scale as the Tories who have been at it over Europe for 40 years. Corbyn would be a mug to intervene on what is Tory party disarray on Brexit. They are in power the focus is on them. Let them tear themselves apart on it and hopefully they will benefit by winning a new election or May will have to go to them for support on Brexit allowing them to extract a price for that support I would imagine.

And a hefty push for a UI wouldn't kick it off from the other side Niall? I just worry that if the UK was to isolate itself from Europe, including a hard border however unlikely that may seem, the hardline 'republicans would rise again. And if the hardline loyalists sensed a big push towards unification to escape brexit they would mobilise pretty sharpish too. Worst case scenarios I know but I wouldn't rule it out.

I'm talking a hefty push politically, not through violence. I don't think there is an appetite on either side to return to the horrors of the past though I accept there are elements who wouldn't share that view. As part of the GFA a referendum on unity can be held and this has been accepted by unionist signatories. Recent statements from unionist leaders like Robinson seem to suggest that they aware that the likelihood of a referendum in the near future is quite high. Also, don't rule out the fact that unionist farmers and other business leaders, if their livelihood is wrecked by a hard Brexit will be more likely to consider swapping the queens shilling for the Euro. A recent political programme suggested high level talks with Dublin have already taken place. Moreover, the DUP are the only Brexit supporting party in the north, a fact that is frequently raised by Leo. They don't speak for most of the north.

I would say a hard Brexit would lead to a clamour for a referendum lead initially by SF, SDLP and Alliance and I would suspect it would subsequently garner support from the Irish government backed by a huge dollop of money coming from the EU should there be a yes vote. Game on.

We've got Peter Drury for many games on Optus. Not afraid of a bit of excitable commentary. But, he is the only commentator when the match is playing so there is no off topic dribble from someone else sitting there with him.

People have been talking of commentators and co-commentators. Moving the topic to pundits, I have to admit to something. I quite like Jermaine Jenas. I like Lee Dixon as well, although I'm not sure how much that is driven by him being an Arsenal legend. Mind you, Martin Keown and Ian Wright both are too and I'm not overly impressed with either of them. Especially Keown who I find a bit boring.

I don't mind Danny Murphy either. So ironically two of my favourites, Jenas and Murphy, once played for Tottenham - well, more than once but you know what I mean . Gary Neville is okay, as is his brother Philip. But I prefer Jenas and Murphy to the Neville brothers. Gary built up quite a reputation before I saw much of him as a pundit. Perhaps I was expecting too much. But when I started seeing more of him, I wasn't convinced he was quite as good as he was supposed to be.

TG fyi the EU cannot reject a hard Brexit all they can do is soften their own stance which is what I expect them to do at the last minute.

The Tories are split but the membership of the Tory party, the voters, are in the majority possibly as much as 80/20.

There are no calls for May to resign but both sides want her to shift her stance. Imo what she has proposed is workable but I wait to hear about the nitty gritty, the details of the offer. Boris will propose himself but I expect him to get shot down

The EU has to respond to her offer and I expect them to eject it but they are as split as we are and he main powers will prevail in due course so she needs to do a deal with France and Germany whilst keeping the rest onside.

I do not like a lot of May's proposals for the social side of politics but hope that once we are out as per her proposals then Labour can get it's act together and attack her on what needs to be done to make the place fairer and better to live in.

Delicious bit of gossip from a very well-placed acquaintance - Tottenham are in deep (and deepening) doo-doo in the run-up to the first game at their new stadium, currently scheduled to be Liverpool over the weekend of 15-16 September.

Coincidentally, Wembley now has a whole series of provisional bookings stretching into next year.

Hee-hee....

To the confusion of our enemies!

Oh and if Engerland get to the final, the FA will show the game at Wemberleeee....

To explain Brexit, and to know who’s behind it and manipulating everyone who voted for it, all you have to do (as has usually been the case throughout history) is follow the money.

Rees-Mogg, Johnson, Farage, Banks et al the friends and saviours of the ordinary man? Best joke ever, and the sad thing is a lot of the ordinary men and women can’t see it.

Heard the money’s getting a bit tight too.

To the confusion of our enemies!

Lucas Torreira

Arsenal have signed 22-year old Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira from Sampdoria for a £26.6m initial fee.
He becomes signing number 4 this season, taking Arsenal's net spend to -£63.5m so far.

This is the staggering thing about it John your right.

It highlights how many people are incapable of critical thinking

"So, I told Bobby to put it there and I did the rest."

There have always been people in this country who don’t live like normal people. They’re something of an exclusive club. They don’t pay much tax, certainly not in the way that normal people pay tax. Some of their ancestors will have been on the boats with William the Conqueror. As a group, they are generally pretty low profile but they are powerful and extremely influential. They largely created and control the media and are well served by their investment. They have the financial and social wherewithal to take advantage of opportunities in ways that are not open to normal people. They don’t put much back, indeed they graze off the industry and endeavour of normal people.

They don’t like the EU, not because of its overblown bureaucracy (which pisses off everyone) but because it seeks to constrain them. These are the ones who will benefit from the broken play that will follow Brexit. The more chaos, the better for them. The fewer the rules and the harder the Brexit, the more they’ll benefit.

Torreira, guendouzi and greenwood (16 year old striker from Sunderland) all signed on the same day