I like the pace of the Hungarians. Positive, purposeful football.

They've put in a heroic performance, lifted by their magnificent, passionate support. Into stoppage time now.

And they hold out for a draw against the world champions.

Just like England holding out for a draw against Scotland eh?

Great start to Germany - Portugal. Have to say it's been a brilliant tournament so far, almost every game has been entertaining to watch.

Similar LTG

Portugal are on fire. Now scored three. Only problem is that the last two were in their own net.

They seem to have given the first Germany goal to Havertz, not sure how as he never touched the ball

When you said they are 'on fire' I thought you meant ...

But I see you meant ...

Grealish Cpuld easily move to a real big team this summer, City are meant to be interested. I think he’s a fantastic player but one of the things he’d have to prove if he moved to City is can his box of tricks work against an 11 man defence.

When I’ve seen Grealish at his best it’s on a counter using dribbling and pace and skill, and in 1 v 1 situations when defenders are back peddling.

Watching Mbappe today showed his class in this regard. I know France didn’t win but there were a couple of moments when he went from 0 to full speed in the blink of an eye over 5 yards and had his defender beaten inside the box

Sky Sports and also the official site still have it as an own goal

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=uefa+ ... ;dt;fp;1;;

And as I type that Germany get another similar goal, albeit Havertz this time.

that's weird, the graphic on TV still had it as a Havertz goal at the end of the half. Very impressive game from Germany in any case, despite conceding the first goal. Portugal will need a result against France now.

Yep those bananaskins.

It will be interesting to see if Southgate changes style for the Czech match. I didn't find his after match presser very encouraging.

As it should be a lesser fee. Lyon finished 4th in Ligue 1. Hope a deal can be done.

Two former Arsenal midfielders have been pundits on BBC and/or ITV this competition. Vieira and Fabregas. Is it me or are they both looking quite chubby now? I suppose with Vieira it’s understandable as he would have given up playing many years ago. But Fabregas is still playing at Monaco, and unless I’m mistaken he looks much heavier now.

I enjoyed the Daily Cannon podcast this week, particularly Steven Bradley’s thoughts on Maddison. Looking at last years injuries he had a lot of knee injuries. I thought he wasn’t as good last season as previously.

So much of our transfer activity depends on Arteta’s preferred system. Some of the rumours on players clearly are not suited to 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1. Similarly if we revert to 3 at the back. I understand that White usually plays in a back 3. Is he then suited to us or can he adapt to a back 4.

People will know I do not have any faith in Arteta’s ability to properly recognise talent that will fit into our team. I am more concerned than ever with the money we are talking of spending and probably paying over the odds in wages who must immediately succeed and in some cases may not be a true fit with the club. We could be in danger of repeating past mistakes.

It’s not just us that have player contract issues. Pogba at Man U has 1 year left on his deal and they are worried he’ll just run down his deal and leave for free next year together with a much bigger pay day for him and his agent.
Man U may want to sell him this summer but won’t get anything like the £85m they signed him for and want for him.
Man U have failed to get consistent performances out of Pogba. He’s much better for France

Indeed. We focus on our own contract issues but it is a challenge facing most clubs. Man Utd regularly make losses on their transfers. With Depay joining Barca yesterday, it is a reminder that Utd bought him for £30m and sold him for about half that. Wijnaldum is leaving Liverpool next month on a free transfer. He is 30 now but has played the best football of his career in the last two seasons and has a lot to offer yet.

What about Palace though? 12 senior players out of contract at the end of this month.

I’m liking the profile of the players we’re being linked with. Young players who would clearly have a resale value. I think this is how we’re going to have to operate for a while until we can get back amongst the leading pack. We’re not what we were but, likewise, we can still prove to be a draw and offer these players minutes they may not get elsewhere should they opt for the bigger clubs right now. We need to be shrewder and this looks to be the way we intend to go.

This is where we differ. I get the impression that Arteta does have a clear vision and is working very hard to acquire or mold players who fit that vision, and to get rid of those who don't.

In any case, this season will give a definitive answer to this issue!

I agree, and that's why I like seeing us go for players like Camawinga and Lokonga. If we can get them, and integrate Saliba into the team, it also sends a signal to other young, highly talented players that Arsenal is a good destination.

Dortmund has that profile, and they're constantly attracting elite talents. Players like Dembele and Pulisic performed very well, and were then sold for huge profits. If Sancho and Haaland leaves this summer that will again be for huge profit after having performed extremely well for the club. And they still have players like Bellingham and Reyna who are on the same track.

Southgate faces a very interesting dilemma now. Lots of criticism for him and his team for a lacklustre performance against Scotland (although France only drew v Hungary). At the end I think Southgate was scared he could lose the game if he tried to really go and win it.
Defensively England seem sound enough but that has a lot to do with the defensive set up with 2 holding mids as well. Is he brave enough to bring a more progressive player in to the middle of the park? For me money Id have Bellingham in there now, he may only be 17 but watch him on the ball and he's superb.

Also lots of calls for Grealish to start, and general bewilderment from Germany why Sancho hasn't had a look in yet. Then we also have Saka who was good in the warm up games.

Up front Kane is a real problem for Southgate, he's looked heavy legged in both games. People talk about the service but that's only part of it, look at how well Che Adams linked the play for the Scots, he didn't exactly have tonnes of brilliant balls or crosses to work with he made himself available and controlled things really well as well as creating chances. Kane on this form is a problem for England.

I'm the same as you Decaf, I think Arteta is so focused, intense, serious, meticulous, methodical (some might say to a fault) that I do think he has a very clear plan in what he wants in a player, a structure, a team and tactics. The big question mark for me is not whether he has a plan but whether that plan is any good.

He's far from that sort of 'motivation' style manager who goes in shouts a bit, puts an arm round a few and tells them to 'run around a bit'

Henry has still got it

What a superb video. What a player.

Now he was a good loan signing for us.

Southgate seems a bit beige all over. It’s perhaps easy to point out what should have happened in hindsight but taking of Kane and putting on Rashford, for me he has Rashford Grealish and Sterling who all operate best in the same area of the pitch and no centre forward who would occupy defenders or get on the end of anything. Felt like Calvert-Lewin was the obvious option, I’m left wondering what Southgate’s thinking was, and no faith in his selections tbh.

There are a very, very select group of athletes in all sports that you always felt you had a chance to win as long as they were in the game and Henry is one of them.

The one thing I love about that squad is that whenever any of them, even the ones that didn't start see each other you can see how much they feel about each other. Very special and very unique.

I can't recall exactly but when Fabregas was on Chelsea and they were saying something about how good that Chelsea team was and asked him about the comparison to the Invincibles, he was diplomatic but even he was in awe of the squad at the time. This was a Fabregas that had already played for Barcelona.

We forced Man Utd to respect us and on a few occasions fear us. Gary Neville certainly has us in his highest regard. I recall him talking about us and one of his defenders saying something to the effect, 'my man and other player have crossed over?' and he said 'just hold your position'. At times defenses had no idea what to do. And the midfield at times was locked solid. Long ball is all they could muster.

Those were great times. I would walk into the bar in LA as a supporter and opposition supporters had the same look their players had on the pitch. A few would say something like 'No crime losing 2-1 at Highbury to this lot, we gave it a go'. or such similar utterings.

I was mystified by the mobile Foden being replaced against the defensive Scots, but overall I think Southgate is a good manager. He certainly got a tune out of his men against Croatia, and although he maybe a little on the conservative side tactically, that isn't a bad thing in the group stages of an international tournament. He may have his critics, but as it currently stands of England managers only Capello has a higher win percentage (66%) than Southgate (62%). Also, and this is just my impression, has he not achieved this with a younger than average set of players?

So can I ask both of you is it 4-3-3 or 4-3-2-1 or indeed maybe 3 at the back that is his way to play. I assume given he wants Ben White he must want to revert to a back 3 as I understand that is how Brighton usually use him. Otherwise does he buy White and ask the player to adapt to a 4 which should not be that difficult.

Maybe if I knew I could have more faith in some of the players being linked to us.

Four of them went on to be huge names in the EPL

Arteta has said in interviews he wants to eventually play a 4-3-3, which depending on the make up of the 3 in midfield could be more or less attacking than the 4-2-3-1 (I always see the 4-2-3-1 as having a classic No.10)
I cant see Arteta going with 3 at the back for anything other than isolated games. The targeting of White I'm sure won't be a move to play 3 at the back. White has pace so should be able to play in a 4. He played in a 4 in his year at Leeds.

And whether he can get the players who fit the profile at the prices we can pay.

It seems odd that in a summer where we really should have a smaller transfer budget than any recent season we are making bids as though we’re going to spend more than we have in recent years.
We’ve bid £40m for Ben White, we have also bid £13m for Lokanga. On top of that we know we need a creative midfielder, a right back, a left back and a goal keeper and probably another central midfielder.
If the links to Maddison are true then we must know it will cost us at least £50m plus. So we could be planning a £150-200m spend on players. Some of that will be offset by outgoings but none of that is certain in terms of price.
It’s all quite confusing.
Bids of £13m for someone like Lokonga i expected this summer. Bids of £40m for White I didn’t expect

It’s worth remembering we have shed a lot of money off our wage bill

David Luiz, Sokratis and mustafi leaving alone would have reduced the wage bill by about 320k a week. Agreeing a transfer on instalments must be far easier in these circumstances and no way would Ben White be asking for Davis Luiz type money.

Likewise midfield with Özil, Guendouzi, ce-ball-loss and potentially Xhaka going. That little lot will probably save us 550k a week! For players who haven’t been contributing at all in most cases.

The club has carried a lead weight round its neck with all these non contributing players on huge wages who haven’t delivered. Kolasinac and Willian are the last of these. Disastrous transfer business

Makes me wonder how much is actually true. It’s surely accepted the huge majority of transfer gossip is made up by journalists trying to sell newspapers and reporters attempting to attract internet hits. Someone says Arsenal want to sign a player. So lots of others say the same thing. So I’m not even convinced lots of rumours saying something similar are necessarily trustworthy.

Perhaps Arsenal do have an interest in Ben White. But if that is the case (and there’s no guarantee it is), I’m suspicious whether there has really been a £40m bid. I’d say exactly the same about a £50 plus bid for Maddison.

When transfers are confirmed on Arsenal.com is when to believe a player is joining. And even then I doubt the accuracy of the reported transfer fee.

This morning I see we are linked with Andre Silva, Guido Rodriguez, Joaquin Correa and Hakan Calhanoglu. I agree that most of this gossip is simply not worth paying any attention to and good old-fashioned bullsh*t.

We also have to remember a reporter will see another saying Arsenal want to sign someone and have bid an amount. So that will make them think they’d better report this as well to avoid looking uninformed, just in case it’s one of the rare examples when a transfer rumour has some validity. Maybe adding or subtracting a few million from the other report to make it look slightly original (I’ve seen Arsenal are making bids of £40m and £50 for White). That’s why I don’t even see lots of reports saying something similar as any sort of guarantee there’s much in the story.

Provided we get actual quality to replace them. Transfer rumours don't win football matches.

I do think you mischaracterise our main weakness. Having non-performing highly paid players on the books is a major problem. But major squad holes has been our biggest problem since the mid-Wenger years.

But why do you have squad holes?

Because you sign bad players. I honestly believe Wenger ultimately lost his job because of the business done in 2016 when we blew best part of 80 million on 3 duff players. If you replaced mustafi and Xhaka with Kante and Van dijk who both sold for less at that time than we paid would we still have squad holes?

Our transfer business for a long time has been sheer lunacy and nothing more has highlighted this than by us signing any players from chelsea like Čech and Willian who they deem no longer good enough.