DaveT

This is the Chelsea model, and taking it even further. Creating a revenue stream by recruiting the cream of global talent, letting other clubs, or their own satellite clubs do the heavy lifting in terms of development and then selling these kids at a significant profit. Except Chelsea got caught for 29, I think it was, transgressions of the FIFA rules on recruitment of youngsters and duly incurred a transfer ban. Would it surprise anyone if City's activities in this area were not completely above board? Nobody in the media seems to have a problem with this kind of business model where certain clubs sweep up a lot of the young talent, with minimal intention or likelihood of them ever playing in the first team, farm them out to satellites or 'partner'clubs and then make a profit from them to help them keep to FFP rules. It kind of undermines the traditional system of smaller clubs surviving by developing their local talent and selling to bigger clubs. Now, the smaller clubs have to rely on the largesse of bigger clubs in the hope of getting their young talent on loan. Feels unhealthy to me. I know we do it to an extent, but it's near on an industrial scale with Chelsea and City.

I’ve added half a dozen friends to my ticket. They registered for free, here…https://ticketing.liverpoolfc.com/crmcreateaccount.aspx It all looks ok, but the proof of the pudding… And there’s no detail yet that I can see about how to transfer to a friend for a given match

England and Southgate reverting to type in the end. They played well in the first half but after Italy tweaked their tactics and personnel at halftime, and fully seized the initiative, Southgate did his rabbit in headlights act. Waited too long to act, made the wrong decisions, failed to beef up the midfield where Veratti and that horrible twat Jorginho were running the show. Too many speculative passes on the occasions they did win the ball back, too little composure, too many hoofed clearances. Hard to tell what formation England went to after they reverted to a back four. Saka certainly didn’t seem to know. It seemed to end up as a 4-1-4-1, but it was shambolic whatever it was. And how did Mount stay on the pitch so long? Maybe Southgate, like the rest of us, forgot he was there! Ah well, we can fully focus on the serious business of the transfer window and pre-season.

No way should Sterling have taken a penalty, he’s one of the worst strikers of a ball in the league. Grealish, Phillips , however… Just glad Hendo was excused penalty duty

Very interesting. What period does this cover, is it since Guardiola’s arrival?

And one of the reasons why it’s so difficult to support this England team

The drop-off in quality from last night is painful

And he gave the ball away at the end of it!

Shaqiri putting in some killer corners

Can’t think of anything else offhand

A midfield to set the pulses racing!

If Hendo plays, I’ll support England, although after all the criticism he’s had from know-nothing England fans over the years, they don’t deserve him. Otherwise I’ll watch it from a neutral standpoint, hoping for as much drama as we had last night. I’d certainly struggle to cheer on utter gobshites like Pickford Walker Sterling and Kane.

I thought he was poor in the games I saw. But he seemed under orders to give maximum cover to the left back and generally play safety first. It was unfortunate that he got hooked just when the negative Portuguese coach finally decided to release the hand brake. Crazy that Felix hasn’t had more game time,too. No worries about Jota when he comes back to us.

Yup, hopefully he gets found out again next season

There are some decent teams in this tournament. And there’s also England