sancho_panza

I don't buy the idea this was some kind of shambolic mess of a squad and that Glass by implication should be shielded from criticism if we start the season poorly. We were more stodgy and predictable last season than shambolic. We couldn't score or create anything, but we weren't losing loads of goals either. It was right around the same number of goals we lost when we were finishing second if you look at the season overall. Most managers take over in less than perfect circumstances as they're usually replacing someone that got sacked. This situation is actually about the best you could reasonably hope for as a new manager - a team with a solid defensive foundation that had gone stale, a reasonable budget to bring in new players (Brown and Gallagher must be on decent wages), strong backing from the chairman, etc. Glass has also been given the luxury of a good four months or so to prepare in the job, which most managers don't get (though Mcinnes got something similar).

Seems like Heinze might be under a bit of pressure soon. Maybe if he gets sacked then Hernandez will get more opportunities to play.

Southgate bringing Rashford and Sancho on right at the end was a bit daft for me. They might be good penalty takers but they had no chance to settle into the game and calm their nerves before taking the penalty.

I actually wish I was one of those people who could be happy for England winning a major tournament. For one, it would get rid of the mounting nausea and night terrors I've been experiencing at the prospect they might actually do it this time. But then I take one look at Jordan Pickford scowling and my brain tells me they should all be burned.

It's been like that since day one of the pandemic so I don't see what's so special about it happening at the Euros. Two weeks ago Boris and his wife were faffing around a luxury resort in Cornwall with a bunch of politicians at the G7 summit who didn't have to quarantine.

I think Denmark are worth a punt. That half of the draw is really weak, the Netherlands, England and Germany all flatter to deceive a bit and Denmark are a good side.

Can't really see a case for playing Nisbet over Adams - they're the same age and Adams has success at a much higher level. I thought he played well in this tournament to be honest. Dykes on the other hand is a one dimensional target man who you'd ideally keep on the bench as an option for the last ten minutes rather than start. I hope Nisbet can replace him going forward but that depends on him really.

They completely outplayed us in the middle of the park, but I think they'll get desperate the longer the game stays at 1-1 and we'll get space to hit them on the break.

It's hard to see how he could be good. Ordinarily you could argue he might be some hidden gem that Glass knows about from his previous job, but his previous team thought he was shite as well and cut him out their squad in favour of a right back who couldn't get in our team last season. There are a long list of decisions now that make very little sense from a footballing perspective and all involve Atlanta in some capacity, including the decision to hire Glass in the first place. I've yet to really see a benefit to it unless there's money getting funnelled into the club behind the scenes. I have a feeling it's all going to blow up at some point and we'll get our own expose in the Athletic about how Arthur Blank has been using the changing rooms to hide stolen Rembrandt paintings or something.

If we do go through in third then it's now guaranteed we'll play either the Netherlands or the winner of Spain's group (Sweden as it stands). If it's the Netherlands then the quarter final would be against Wales or Denmark.

Denmark 1-0 up so as it stands all we would need is a win against Croatia to qualify.

If we win by one goal then we need at least two of these as far as I can work out: Group B - Belgium win or Denmark win / Finland win and Russia draw Group C - Ukraine and Austria is not a draw Group E - Poland don't win or Poland win by 3+ goals Group F - France win / Portugal win by 3+ goals / Hungary win by one goal

I don't rate Austria either, think Ukraine will beat them and go through.

As far as I understand it, if we beat Croatia then the only way we can finish behind them is in a situation where three teams are tied on three points and it comes down to goal difference. Although we could technically finish second in that scenario, it's probably best if the Czechs get at least a point against Croatia if we lose to England. We'd then need two third place teams to be worse than us, which is possible. For example if Italy win all their games and either Wales-Turkey or Switzerland-Turkey is a draw then third place in that group will only have two points. If Italy win all their games and Turkey beat both Wales and Switzerland then that would also work.

Similar story to a lot of matches under Clarke, looked half decent in attacking areas but the defensive shape always seems a bit all over the place.

I never had much against Wales until those qualifiers a few years ago where they beat us twice and Bale dived to win a penalty.

Those comments were just straightforward racism - racist slur, racist stereotype, nothing remotely funny about it. Pretending that's normal banter you'd hear in a workplace is complete nonsense.

I actually think Brown will overshadow Glass. Brown isn't here to help Glass out, he's here ultimately to try and kick start a management career. Most people in that dressing room have experience of playing against Brown or with him (e.g. McGinn and Hayes) while he's been one of the most high profile players in Scotland. Glass in comparison is a relative unknown to most of them, with a less successful playing career a longer time ago and no real managerial experience. The minute him and Brown disagree about something I think Glass will be in an extremely weak position and he'll probably need all the allies he can get.

I wonder if there's a bit of insecurity in this from Glass. He's an inexperienced manager and he might worry about losing authority in the dressing room. This guy is presumably on good terms with him and will back him up in an argument if nothing else.

There was a Uruguayan guy called Carlos Nunez who played in a preseason friendly against Brechin about ten years ago. Surprised nobody remembers him.

I agree that's what should be done, the problem is nobody can do it because of the system used to implement changes, chiefly that Rangers and Celtic would have to agree. It's like saying all Westminster needs to do to solve inequality is abolish private schools, raise taxes on the rich and implement a basic income system. Knowing the answer isn't much use when there are self-interested cretins holding all the cards.

I've always thought Ferguson is a horrible cunt and I don't wish him well when he goes but I genuinely think he'll end up playing in the Premier League eventually. He's 21 so you expect patchy form. Most centre mids have done nothing at his age - Kenny McLean was 23 when he joined us, John McGinn had only just joined Hibs at 21, etc.

Accepting mediocrity is just another term for being realistic. No amount of psychological mumbo jumbo is going to change the reality that we can't win the league at present. Setting unreachable targets for the sake of it is pointless. The only genuinely ambitious thing I could see the club doing is pushing for some kind of radical reform of the game - joining an Atlantic/British league or some nonsense that nobody wants but which would give us a chance of doing something more interesting than finishing third in Scotland every year. Beyond that pie in the sky scenario or some idiotic billionaire throwing money at us for no reason I don't expect anything remotely interesting to happen to us in the league for the rest of my lifetime other than potentially getting relegated at some point.

Sporting have just won the Portuguese league and are still unbeaten in the league all season. I remember when they beat us some people were saying they were a team in decline, fallen giants, and so on, which was obviously a load of shite in retrospect.

I'm not being serious, however I genuinely think the city centre is going to be a ghost town in future unless something radical gets proposed - e.g. like this.