[Powelly]

any of you folk doing the Englands games, god i hate the international break

Doing both games. Long drive to Southampton after work on Tuesday.

[johnny Cash]

I know Maddison has pulled out on this occasion and I’ve nothing against mount, he also looks a very good player, but I can’t understand how Southgate could say this week he cannot promise anyone game time when speaking about Maddison.

Hudson-Odoi got a start before he had started for Chelsea, Mount has moved up the pecking order dead quickly. I can’t see any other reason than they play for a more ‘fashionable club’ and the old big club bias

[Droitwich Baggie]

Has Pulis trained them?
A lot of backwards and sidewards passing. Even then, the final pass is poor.

[caravanc58]

Harry Maguire  the most expensive defender in the history of the game. £80m for someone who hardly won an header all night and can only play short sideways passes. games mental. does Harry Kane ever attempt to head theball?

[elmo_in_swansea]

A couple of hours of my life I wont get back - dire

[BRIAN]

I find the football at International  level and the Premiership totally boring. It seems to me "why make one pass when twenty will do?" I know it is looking for openings but it bores me to tears.
The Championship has more "old fashioned" type of play and certainly keeps me far happier.

[tommcneill]

It was a poor performance, the worst I’ve seen in a long time if I’m honest.

However that’s the first qualifier in 10 years we’ve lost....people have an off day, it happens!

If they come back and play well and smash Bulgaria then it’s a blip


I though the team selection was bad though myself

Rice AND Henderson doesn’t work that need to be stopped immediately.

Michael Keane is not an international Centre Half, he needs replacing

[tuamigos]

Really poor last night.
Rice and Keane nowhere near good enough.
Sancho did nothing for me on that performance.
Hope its just a glitch and the put it right against Bulgaria.
Seems as though whenever we come up against a well set up physical team we struggle.
I was hoping that we could qualify with maximum points so that we had a good seeding.

[TheJacko2000]

Whenever we come up against anyone half decent we struggle. Southgate is a fraud.

[zippyandbungle]

It was a poor performance, the worst I’ve seen in a long time if I’m honest.

However that’s the first qualifier in 10 years we’ve lost....people have an off day, it happens!

If they come back and play well and smash Bulgaria then it’s a blip


I though the team selection was bad though myself

Rice AND Henderson doesn’t work that need to be stopped immediately.

Michael Keane is not an international Centre Half, he needs replacing

I’m with you
There’s been a bit of an over reaction ...maybe we have some really good players (Kane ,Sterling) maybe we have some that are still young and learning (Sancho,rice,Rashford) and maybe some that will never be top 16 teams of world football quality (Pickford,Keane,Henderson)

Something felt strange watching them last night,I started to wonder if the “spurs” issues had festered ,could it be that the Erickson/verthongen problem had split Kane/Rose/Trippier,was this why trippier was sold ?...do others in the England camp now dislike 1-2 individuals due to their stance

Or maybe we just had an off day

[Barrington]

Whenever we come up against anyone half decent we struggle. Southgate is a fraud.

I completely agree.

[TheBrom]

I’m with you
There’s been a bit of an over reaction ...maybe we have some really good players (Kane ,Sterling) maybe we have some that are still young and learning (Sancho,rice,Rashford) and maybe some that will never be top 16 teams of world football quality (Pickford,Keane,Henderson)

Something felt strange watching them last night,I started to wonder if the “spurs” issues had festered ,could it be that the Erickson/verthongen problem had split Kane/Rose/Trippier,was this why trippier was sold ?...do others in the England camp now dislike 1-2 individuals due to their stance

Or maybe we just had an off day

I actually think the England team is a bit of a mirror of the Spurs team. Always there or there abouts, have a half decent first 11 but never actually win anything. Heavily geared up to play with Kane as a lone striker with wing backs playing high up the pitch meaning we need holding midfielders in the middle to cover. Like Spurs we're also missing that truly top quality number 10 to help going forwards and link midfield and attack.

Personally I also think that whilst Kane is a very good finisher, he's part of both Spurs and England's problem, in that he's pretty much undroppable, but we have no plan b when he's in the team. Look at Spurs too, they're never going to be able to sign another decent striker whilst he's there as they know they'll be sat on the bench the majority of the time. He's a great finisher, but doesn't really have a turn of pace, doesn't play on the last defender, isn't a hold up man or particularly good in the air and means that we rely on wingers and attacking midfielders for creativity. Trouble is the whole team is set up with Kane in mind, meaning that when we try to switch it up with a different type of striker it often doesn't gel.

[Fritzl Palace]

I'm hearing that Mings gets a start tonight. Just doling out caps under this manager, it is a tad embarrassing. Not quite sure what he has done to earn a call up let alone a start, he has now played what, 10 games, consistently in the Premier League and has looked fairly poor during the majority of them, particular highlight being Jordan Ayew walking past him to score for Palace.

[glosterbaggie]

Irish 0-3 up v Czech Republic!

[skyclad99]

4-0 up but looks dangerously close to being abandoned if the racist chanting continues.....what is wrong with people???

[tuamigos]

Racist taunts, nazi salutes, no place for this lot in a civilised world.
FIFA should kick them out.
Set a precedent.

[BB74]

Racist taunts, nazi salutes, no place for this lot in a civilised world.
FIFA should kick them out.
Set a precedent.

England should have set a precedent by walking off.

[WBArgo]

Racist taunts, nazi salutes, no place for this lot in a civilised world.
FIFA should kick them out.
Set a precedent.

FIFA are a joke, it will be something like £20k fine and no fans for 5 games.

[east-stand-nick]

Isn't it down to UEFA, not FIFA?

Either way. UEFA/FIFA/FA - they're all the same, they simply do not care. Sanctions and fines for offences such as sponsorship breaches are greater than those for racist chanting. It's a disgrace. The fact the FA chairman has come out and defended UEFA says it all really.

Bulgaria should be expelled from the competition to send a statement, but we all know they'll get a slap on the wrist and we'll be back talking about it in a few months.

[skyclad99]

England should have set a precedent by walking off.

I would like to have seen that personally as it would have shown that we are serious about the matter, and that would have made news around the world.

To be fair to the Bulgarian authorities they do seem to have acted on it. At half time a few hundred similarly dressed gentlemen left the ground. However, the abuse could still be heard in the second half.

Although not ideal, games like this should be abandoned so that the vast majority of home fans get the message that 'their own' caused the abandonment.

I go to Estonia on a regular basis to see friends and racism does seem to be ingrained to many. A few years ago they would casually use the N word to describe someone from an ethnic background, and they used it as a matter of course as opposed to using it with venom. We pointed the issue out, and when they came to England we made a point of taking them to the Balti belt etc and explaining what it was like living in a multi cultural society - they loved it, particularly the food!

I would say that eastern European countries are about 40 years behind us; a lot of their attitudes remind me of programmes such as Love Thy Neighbour etc. They will change I am sure, but we will never get rid of the Ultras within our societies. So for me, an abandonment would have been a great result to be honest.

We also need to remember that we are not exactly squeaky clean are we???

[tommcneill]

I would like to have seen that personally as it would have shown that we are serious about the matter, and that would have made news around the world.

To be fair to the Bulgarian authorities they do seem to have acted on it. At half time a few hundred similarly dressed gentlemen left the ground. However, the abuse could still be heard in the second half.

Although not ideal, games like this should be abandoned so that the vast majority of home fans get the message that 'their own' caused the abandonment.

I go to Estonia on a regular basis to see friends and racism does seem to be ingrained to many. A few years ago they would casually use the N word to describe someone from an ethnic background, and they used it as a matter of course as opposed to using it with venom. We pointed the issue out, and when they came to England we made a point of taking them to the Balti belt etc and explaining what it was like living in a multi cultural society - they loved it, particularly the food!

I would say that eastern European countries are about 40 years behind us; a lot of their attitudes remind me of programmes such as Love Thy Neighbour etc. They will change I am sure, but we will never get rid of the Ultras within our societies. So for me, an abandonment would have been a great result to be honest.

We also need to remember that we are not exactly squeaky clean are we???

There is no comparison to what happened last night to what happens over here. Monkey chanting on the terraces.......in all of my time going to football ive witnessed 2 racist situations. 2 in over 35 years...

There is an issue with some people here but it happens away from the game and mainly on social media not on the terraces.

Last night was disgusting, nothing more than a 2 year international ban going forward for Bulgaria will do, anything after that and the ban doubles.

[baggieboyfred]

Fully appreciate that the racism in football in this country is nowhere near the level in some other European countries, but it is slowly creeping back into our game especially  more frequently in grass roots non league football , racism in any circumstances is unacceptable and although we  should condemn it where ever it occurs, we need to be careful that we don't condemn others and ignore our own problems which will only get worse unless we start stamping it out now, and maybe a few severe punishments such as matches being played behind closed doors or even ejections from cup competitions where appropriate and fines that mean something. I know that means punishment  for the majority because of a minority , but unless we all start getting involved and pointing out offenders to stewards, police etc and I appreciate can create its own issues,  and try and lead from the front this problem will never go away

[skyclad99]

There is no comparison to what happened last night to what happens over here. Monkey chanting on the terraces.......in all of my time going to football ive witnessed 2 racist situations. 2 in over 35 years...

There is an issue with some people here but it happens away from the game and mainly on social media not on the terraces.

Last night was disgusting, nothing more than a 2 year international ban going forward for Bulgaria will do, anything after that and the ban doubles.

Tom, I am sure you are aware that racism takes many formats, the fact that you have not heard that type of chanting in 35 years does not mean we are not as bad. What happened at the Hartlepool - Dover game the other week?

Are you seriously telling me that the Chelsea and Millwall [as well as others] contingents were not racist in the 70's? Only a couple of years ago I clearly remember footage of Chelsea fans in Paris [I think] openly singing 'we're racist, we're racist and that's the way we like it' on a metro train.
I did say that in my opinion they are 40 years behind us in their progress. I never once suggested we have open chants from the terraces today, but it does exist...…

If you don't believe me have a look at some of the white supremacy postings on youtube. They are from all countries including us and I can assure you they are singing about what a jolly good football team they support...…..

[tommcneill]

Tom, I am sure you are aware that racism takes many formats, the fact that you have not heard that type of chanting in 35 years does not mean we are not as bad. What happened at the Hartlepool - Dover game the other week?

Are you seriously telling me that the Chelsea and Millwall [as well as others] contingents were not racist in the 70's? Only a couple of years ago I clearly remember footage of Chelsea fans in Paris [I think] openly singing 'we're racist, we're racist and that's the way we like it' on a metro train.
I did say that in my opinion they are 40 years behind us in their progress. I never once suggested we have open chants from the terraces today, but it does exist...…

If you don't believe me have a look at some of the white supremacy postings on youtube. They are from all countries including us and I can assure you they are singing about what a jolly good football team they support...…..

Please quote me where ive said it wasnt around? I know it was around.....im talking about my experiences in football and ive not witnessed what our black players came up against last night.

Ive also never said it doesnt exist still in the game, its obvious it does (The Chelsea guys on Raheem Sterling for instance) but what happened last night was new to me in just over 35 years of following football.

This country has made huge strides societally with racism, you cant stop a person being racist...you cant, you can try but an inherent racist will be an inherent racist.

There is no comparision between thousands of people on a terrace monkey chanting at a game and a group of 3/4 people out of 40k+ saying something racist. Social media is the main protaganist of racism in football, its why ive come off Twitter.

[skyclad99]

Please quote me where ive said it wasnt around? I know it was around.....im talking about my experiences in football and ive not witnessed what our black players came up against last night.

Ive also never said it doesnt exist still in the game, its obvious it does (The Chelsea guys on Raheem Sterling for instance) but what happened last night was new to me in just over 35 years of following football.

This country has made huge strides societally with racism, you cant stop a person being racist...you cant, you can try but an inherent racist will be an inherent racist.

There is no comparision between thousands of people on a terrace monkey chanting at a game and a group of 3/4 people out of 40k+ saying something racist. Social media is the main protaganist of racism in football, its why ive come off Twitter.

Two points there;

It makes no difference the numbers involved, there must be a zero tolerance policy to it, and secondly I have heard the chanting a few times now with games in Europe so it is nothing new.

Regardless, we both agree that what happened last night is totally unacceptable.