Mr Popodopolous

Poland have played wirh more positivity today than the last couple of games IMO. Little flurry there. Decent supporting cast to Lewandowski and Zielinski on paper. They'll lose of course but I wondered if they needed to be quite so negative in the Group Stage. I guess that getting through the Group at a WC for the first time since 1986 can help- hoodoo resolved, pressure off a bit.

Unbeaten with 7 points, think Croatia got 5- 1 win and 2 draws. Edit: USA too- as per Harry.

Agreed. Goals scored actually, in the end.

He will have thought they were through- as in they would win here and presumably that South Korea v Portugal wouldn't have South Korea winning...went too soon.

Or Uruguay have finally turned up at last. Took them going a goal down v Portugal to stir them into life properly- were probably playing for a draw that game. Anyway players such as Partey, Kuddus, the Ayews (okay and Semenyo) to name a few days otherwise. When they showed some belief v Portugal they were decent.

Semenyon. Let us hope he can make an impact.

Interesting. I'd be surprised if it had reached EFL approval stage or near it given the lack of transparency- for example whoever wins the stadium still hasn't released the Birmingham City Stadium Ltd accounts for 2020-21 season (should be rent payable on the 2019 transaction). That is a piece of the jigsaw. These accounts eere at best due at the end of June 2022- subject to Covid-19 extensions otherwise the end if March 2021. Birmingham Sports Holdings- as per CH anyway- no longer own that company. Achiever Global Group Limited- whoever they are- are now listed as being in control. Oh and the auditors quit in late August 2021. Although they'll have new ones.

Plus Arsenal's results out, for the club at least. Have attributed £2m to Covid-19 for 21-22. Puts Everton and their £170-220m into perspective!! (£122m across the 3 years for Arsenal iirc). Really am growing to dislike Everton, spineless Governing body and a club chancing their arm. Entitled fans too.

Interesting take from Ince. He accepts the punishment, says that if you overspend it rightly has consequences etc. He also suggests that the underlying intent of the embargo and or Business Plan is to relegate a club. Not really heard it mentioned in those terms before. We don't know what most clubs have stuck in for their Covid claims including Reading but do wonder how compliant Reading might be to this season?? £13m FFP Loss seems to be what they were limited to under the terms of their Business Plan, no notable sales so far this season. They have lost a clutch of players such as Laurent, Rinhamota, Swift and Puscas has been loaned out. Rahman return on loan was free of charge but they've also added on loan players such as: Hendrick- Loan (Newcastle) Loum- Loan (Porto) Fornah- Loan (Nottingham Forest) 2nd is a fringe player, 3rd is young and Newcastle are reportedly covering two thirds of Hendrick's wages but it does make me wonder why we cannot tap into contacts and exploit some favourable deals. Don't forget that Granovskaia and her friendship with Kia Joorabchian who was/is also friends with Dai Yongge got them Rahman x 2 loan spells for free and Drinkwater also free of charge last season. Rafael left in January permanently and they have a full season rather than half of Puscas off the books this year which helps... ...Ince however would be permanent albeit surely lower wages than last season when he joined on loan from Stoke. Moore woukd be back- full wages whereas they offloaded him for several months last year and unlike the sale of Olise no transfer profit of note yet. I expect that their turnover shouldn't exceed £20m. EDIT: If they brought their losses dowm last year to below £13m, then by way of example say to £11m in FFP terms then they could lose that surplus this year- a £15m FFP loss.

Semenyo is on the bench again. Was hoping he might get a couple of goals, or maybe a goal and assist this tournament. Still time of course.

Yes, agreed thank you. It is why I am a bit of a sceptic when people crow that Germany are terrible etc. Terrible in certain areas perhaps but exactly that is laid our well. They also averaged about 58 pct possession and didn't concede a huge number of shots either albeit not the best...hit woodwork 5 times, statistically quite good, dominant even.

Anyway dunno why I'm defending Germany so much. Someone I had a suboptimal experience with in the summer I remembered this morning is part German. Germany certainly has some good things football wise and generally, but in the context of my experience and this football outcome. To that individual! Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland, Weltmeiserschaft 2022! ???

Sort of proves my point that Germany statistically really were not so bad. Tournament wise too.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/reading-players-staff-salary-delay-b2237177.html Not FFP and I assume it's cash flow rather than anything but one maybe to keep an eye on. Says it'll be resolved imminently.

Was a fairly thrilling evening, swung one way and then the next. Belgium out of the Group stage too, end of an era there.

Oh totally agree. Was being a bit objective and balanced too but it is excellent for sure.

Played quite well 2nd half agreed. Point is with better finishing they would be in the last 16 I expect. Doesn't make it less funny of course! However objectively speaking Germany have dominated 2 games and come back well in a 3rd.

69 shots in 3 games- probably one of the highest in the tournament objectively speaking .

This is one of the harder groups tbh. Hard to say- Costa Rica of course beat Japan...who beat the two favourites.

Group E is surely the Group of Death. Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!

Reached semis in Euro 2016, cruised to the WC in 2018 and won the Confederations Cup in 2017. Where it really went down the pan was WC 2018 to present.

Agreed on this and well highlighted for the key bits. It is usually done on relegation, that kind of impairment- has been done by a lot of clubs but will check the accounts again but am sure they have sought to attribute it to the impact of Covid-19, however this strikes me as being very convenient Promotion Bonuses I've always taken as red that these are excluded. If they were not then most sides would exceed P&S limits upon promotion. Plus the fact that they are only payable in the event of promotion being achieved- would be interesting to know for sure though. Fulham and their 2021-22 accounts? A pre-tax loss of £60m or above wouldn't at all be surprising. Unsure if that's inclusive or exclusive of promotion bonuses. Worth noting too that a bit of Parachute Year 1 was deferred into 2020-21 due to timing differences. Only clubs whose accounts ran until the end of July 2020 would account for it all in 2019-20. It all computes out in the end though.

Thought they played alright or at least cohesively us in qualifying. Had a different coach then of course. Looked very poor tonight though. Zielinski, Lewandowski to name 2, a side who probably should be better than they've shown.

Perhaps later on yeah, but playing without the ball as we did for good chunks can be draining. Agree on your last bit, think both side were playing for pens a bit.

It's arguable. Italy steadily took control of CM, that was a tactical thing to some extent but they had 3 in there...Verratti, Jorginho, Barella. We were being pushed back somewhat- had we matched up with 4-3-3 might it have been different? Otoh do we have those who control a central midfield battle in the same way as that trio. Who were the controllers in summer 2021?