Inverted

Worrying. It is still quite hard to see how the injury happened. He was completely knocked out cold and on the replay I was looking at the Hungarian guy running closest to Ralston and Gunn, but it wasn't him that got hit.

Weirdly deferential approach from Hungary. As soon as they started engaging a bit higher they made a few good opportunities. Although it makes some sense since it seems obvious that this Scotland team is not remotely set up to create chances against a deep defence.

I mean, the rules I think revolve around "interfering" with play. The way I understand the word suggests that, to interfere, you need to somehow affect, or try to affect, the outcome. If the goalie is not going to save it in the first place (and hardly tries in any case) that to me is not interfering.

If he had dived in that direction and Dumfries physically blocked him, of course give the offside. But he didn't move at all, he was totally wrong-footed (not by Dumfries) and was never going to save it. In which case, its just a case of referees looking for a reason to interfere with the game.

If it takes that long to work out, it's obviously just a case of killjoy refs taking any opportunity to use a subjective rule to disallow goals.

How can Austria possibly be expected to compete if the referee makes it basically impossible for them to put France under any pressure. They're not allowed to win the ball high, and then when they do get into the final third, put France on the back foot, and force Maignan into a great save, France are instantly given a goal kick and let out of jail. I don't know why these notoriously corrupt/soft Spanish refs are still given major games in all competitions.

Yeah this ref just blatantly is looking for a France win. You can see how this is all going to end up.

A team that tries to play with any kind of intensity is never going to have any luck with a Spanish ref. They're allergic to good football.

I don't think I even understand the commercial sense (from the manufacturer's POV) of advertising with a football club. Is some defence minister in a foreign country going to tune into a Dortmund game and think "maybe we should give these Rheinmetall guys a go"?

I suppose if you leave at the end of a contract, you are leaving when both parties initially agreed you would. Still sounds weird phrasing it as "mutual consent" which I would normally interpret as agreeing a settlement to end the contract early.

Another wasted 5 on 3 counter from Liverpool. These Liverpool attacks are just shocking in terms of final decisions. Against United they suddenly start playing like it's an exhibition match and forget they actually need to win.

From now on, the only question which should be asked of any figure in British politics about the Gazan war is "how many British lives are Israel's war goals worth?" Because for most, it is evidently more than 3, and I think the British public deserve to know which of their leaders think their lives are expendable for the sake of Israeli objectives.

That was pretty brutal watching. So negative.

Judging from this game, I don't think the complaint about Gakpo is that he is a stupid player, or technically shit. It's more that his whole playstyle just seems totally wrong for what he's being asked to do. That's why he looks worse than random youth players. All else being equal, of course he is a better player than them, but he doesn't have the same intensity. He looks like he would fit better in Spain or Italy.

Gakpo looks so far off the rest of that Liverpool team (youth players included) its unreal.

Poor from Fernandes. Got to keep his head second half but he's looking aggravated. United could have scored one or two more and been comfortable but they've just fallen apart a bit near the end of the half.

I wonder if a player dodging a stonewall sending-off for diving and then scoring the winner will generate as much media buzz as a contentious restart.

I can't believe how a team that has absolutely 0 flair is somehow catastrophically open defensively at the same time. Like surely if you're playing a bunch of championship jobbers you can at least run about a bit and be solid.

Rashford followed a world class goal with honestly one of the worst performances I can remember seeing from a forward. Seems to sum him up, largely.

There's no other manager in the world who wins that final, in those circumstances. That's the difference between a historic manager and someone like Poch.

Chelsea are being invited to beat up a corpse that's being propped up for them and it's somehow been a fairly even fight.

I have never seen that given before, ever. This match is compromised.

It's going exactly how Poch would want it. Snap a couple more people before half time, beat Liverpool's U21s in the second half/extra time.

The amount of tactical fouling and Poch's comments about the refs and Klopp seem to suggest that Chelsea's gameplan is counting on soft officiating.

The weird thing with ETH is that he's somehow managed to not buy himself any good will in any sense. If there was one aspect of his coaching/managing that seemed promising I would be more inclined to say "it would be stupid to sack him now", but is there? If the results were crap but there was a clear style, or if he was re-shaping the squad, or changing the attitude of the team, or even if he was just likeable, that would be something. But he's chucked absolutely everything out the window in the hopes of scraping together enough results to save himself, and it doesn't seem to be working.