Group G Matchday 1 - 18th June - Belgium 3-0 Panama, Tunisia 1-2 England

[Marc]

44 minutes ago, Dan said:

Did that EPPP idea ever hold up, that initiative that effectively gave the bigger clubs the ability to cherry-pick youngsters for a nominal fee. Absolutely disgraceful idea.

Yup it’s in place. Category 1 academies can effectively poach players from anywhere in the country for nominal fixed fees.

5 or 6 clubs have already closed their academies as a result of the rule being implemented.

[Dan+]

It isn't a criticism of Stones at all by the way. I thought he was the pick of our defence. My opinion on him has changed somewhat in that he's good on the ball but not particularly eye-catching, and that he's generally quite good defensively, he's just prone to the odd howler which makes him look worse than he is.

Maguire can actually carry the ball forward and really does pass between the lines. I think Stones is a better player but I genuinely think Maguire's got a bit more on the ball.

[Dan+]

35 minutes ago, Marc said:

Yup it’s in place. Category 1 academies can effectively poach players from anywhere in the country for nominal fixed fees.

5 or 6 clubs have already closed their academies as a result of the rule being implemented.

It really is an absolute disgrace. Fans in this country aren't organised enough. You'd never get away with it in Germany.

[Danny]

7 hours ago, Dan said:

It isn't a criticism of Stones at all by the way. I thought he was the pick of our defence. My opinion on him has changed somewhat in that he's good on the ball but not particularly eye-catching, and that he's generally quite good defensively, he's just prone to the odd howler which makes him look worse than he is.

Maguire can actually carry the ball forward and really does pass between the lines. I think Stones is a better player but I genuinely think Maguire's got a bit more on the ball.

Stones is a lot more composed and for me can pick out the better passes, Maguire looks better than he is because he dribbles forward with the ball. Close him down and he struggles and gets dispossessed. Some of our passing in triangles was pretty bad to watch between him, Henderson and Young.