Welcome Joe Rothwell. Looks like a lad with excellent potential and adds steel with ability.

this thread is nothing about signings but good entertainment when I am in a perverse sort of mood.

Balkan

Why I said substantial and not massive. Will be over 1,000 for sure.

That Ipswich away opener is going to be massive. The away following will be substantial so going to be important to give them a great start to the season. Seem to remember too many good performances with bad results at Portman Road.

Shame about Armstrong whom I thought looked very useful. Glad Nixon is not getting any tantric tips right.

Brilliant game- agreed Argentina have a rubbish manager. Croatia look very dangerous opponents in a competition lacking a stand out side so far. Russia are banging them in but are in the worst group ever seen in a World Cup finals- there's an invitation for someone to offer worse.

Thanks Madon- very helpful. This is a valuable exercise for club and fans. With incommunicative people owning the club, the more channels that are open the better even if it does appear to be duplicative. Ask the same question more than once and it is always possible to get a different and more revealing answer.

Not too far removed from the equivalent of the 1936 Olympics

Group H the wide open anyone can beat anyone group. Come on Egypt!

So much for my predictive powers. Japan well on top of the Colombia ten.

Highly politically incorrect but Colombia v Japan undoubtedly the game of the tournament. Will have to get to the bottom of this but Malta is swamped this summer by holiday-making Japanese young women. Add that lot partying for 36 minutes to the Colombian female version of the national football strip which has more holes than shirt... Colombia male football team look useful too- expect the ten men to win. Also expect as we move into the second cycle of matches, Russia will not be as good and Saudi not as bad as the opening day suggested.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/sports/world-cup-countries-of-birth/?ex_cid=SigDig&utm_term=.110a34c00df5 Group F is uniquely homegrown! Especially Germany's Gundogan, Ozil, Gomez and Khedira... Great article showing how wonderfully interconnected the world is now and so much for the better.

Further reflections: Relieved we are are comfortably in the competition and not sweating on a likely goal difference lottery as are Messrs Sterling and Lingard no doubt... Kyle Walker never the brightest tool in the box. Maguire certainly did enough to keep his place, Young didn't. Worst ref so far (better than Prem Refs though) of what otherwise has been a superbly reffed tournament. Hugely relieved to see my first live goal after changing my plans to be able to watch it. Mind you, after 11 minutes I thought I had totally jinxed England with those early misses...

Have we sold any STs?

Well that was one seriously WEIRD game. England get 8 gimme chances which Premier League footballers bury at least 80% of the time. Two fell to Kane= two goals 6 fell to other players = 3 air shots, 2 horrible misses, 1 scramble Plus other decent chances spurned. What did we learn? Sterling confirmed his supporters wrong and critics right. England are pedestrian with little imagination or killer balls in them. Tunisia (yes TUNISIA) defence EASILY bullied us off the ball in the final third and kept their formation Ali ??? Young showed why he doesn't start too much for the Mancs Lingard busy to not much avail. Start Loftus-Cheek and Rashford against Panama because were going to need 6 to top the group with a draw against Belgium.

I have seen bits of every World Cup game live so far except Spain v Portugal and still haven't seen a single goal. No longer getting excited when there is a promising situation because I know it will be cleared or saved.

Mexico victory was assured the moment I decided to watch the second half... Not too surprised by the result. Recent German performances have been pedestrian.

Suddenly struck me after arriving at the local World Cup village (out door boozer and big screen) after the Serbian goal was scored that I have seen bits of every game live thus far but not seen a single goal scored live yet. I am not planning to watch all of England v Tunisia live you will be relieved to know.

Transfer window closes on 9 August this year. Just 53 more days to wait for Chaddy to sign on that freebie.

Thus far been an excellent World Cup for European nations. Just wait for you know who to blow it tomorrow...

So four games today. Big wins for France and Argentina, draws in the other two.

Classic autocorrect!

A Salah-less Egypt made it seriously hard for Uruguay so that should be a warning not to take Tunisia for granted.