Naitch

In a hilarious update to this, I'm managing England now and Switzerland finished last in our Euro 2016 group after three losses, with just one goal scored (by Timm Klose against Croatia). The Swiss had topped our qualification group after tonking us 4-0, with Scotland qualifying via the playoffs and also somehow being drawn into the same main tournament group. I think Scotland topped the group on least goals conceded as three teams finished on 6 points, as well as both England and Scotland having +3 goal difference. We beat Scotland 3-2 before smashing Switzerland 3-0 when I decided to go with a flat 5-3-2. No European glory for England as, although we comfortably beat Ukraine in the second round, France won 2-1 aet in the quarters after Phil Jones got himself sent off in the 80th minute. I think I've only ever won the Euros once on any FM game, not sure why I struggle with it so much considering I've won the World Cup at least four times (including three times in a row with none other than Phil Jones as my captain) across multiple saves.

The Chelsea app is telling me we're linked with PSG's Thiago Silva on a free and that Atletico Madrid's Jose Giminez has spoken about his love for Chelsea in a recent interview. Both of them are central defenders so I'd be very happy with either of those going further, moreso the latter seeing as he's a decade younger. It also mentions Juve's Federico Bernardeschi. Not sure we need another winger.

It's clearly a roundabout method of preventing more German teams from thumping us in the Champions League.

That makes sense if the current unpopular president was the one who appointed Koeman.

I, too, would be happy with this.

My missus likes zebras and Cristiano Ronaldo so that Utd shirt will definitely appeal to her. I'm surprised she hasn't bought a Juve shirt yet for that very reason.

@Ollie wanted two new subscribers to do a mukbang so @Gazz and myself obliged. Mukbang beginning imminently.

I'd have preferred Ake but, if it also leads to one of Rudiger and Christensen leaving for a similar fee, I guess I'll take it.

Apparently UEFA don't enforce it. There was talk in a thread somewhere, maybe even this one, about Chelsea not wanting Courtois to play in goal against them for Atletico Madrid a few years back. Atletico disputed it and UEFA backed them, so presumably it's a universal rule in European competitions now. https://www.joe.ie/sport/uefa-step-in-to-ensure-courtois-can-play-against-chelsea-after-all-423456

Ollie is currently whacking big lads on Shadow of the Colossus. I wish I could've stuck around but my internet connection wasn't playing ball with Twitch.

That's not Mason Greenwood. That's Ken Griffey Jr after (mostly) recovering from his nerve tonic addiction in "Homer at the Bat".

There's not much between them but I think Buffon might edge it out. Buffon is 11-14 on league titles depending on how you consider the two Serie A wins Juventus were stripped of, plus their Serie B win in case anyone wants to count that. Casillas seems to have done better on individual awards though, so I'm not sure which one I'd pick overall. Casillas Buffon League Titles 7 11-14 National Cups 3 5 Super Cups 8 7 European Cups 3 1 League appearances 387 333 Caps 167 176 World Cups 1 1 Euros 2 0

Managed to make it to my first final on the third attempt. I didn't do very well in it but was glad to progress from a Tail Tag on the second try.

I'm not sure what I want Norwich to do. They clearly can't hack it in the Premier League but they're probably too good for the Championship. Usually of lot of their fans get a little overzealous when they're on course for a promotion battle. Might be different this year if we remain in various states of lockdown through part of the season though. I'd like to see Brentford and Nottingham Forest go up in the automatic spots this season. I think if Ipswich don't get out of League One this season then they're more likely to be in a relegation battle than fighting for promotion again the following season. Hopefully Bolton manage to bounce back in League Two but I'm not confident they will. Wishing Barrow well, it'll be interesting to see which side Grant Holt takes when he inevitably provides studio analysis on BT Sport for the Cumbrian derby games.

Probably watch Ollie on Twitch.

I can't wait for Spurs to unveil the latest version in the Kyle Walker line then. My money is on Kyle Walker-Peters-Thompson.

Hopefully he's feeling blue

Atalanta, Lyon, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Man City, PSG, Barcelona, Bayern Munich. That's my order of preference. The first three are so decided because they aren't "money" teams; Atalanta are probably the biggest underdogs and Madrid have made it to finals before, which is why those three are in the order they are. After that, RB Leipzig edge above City just because City have been so dominant in English football recently, but they're still above the last three because PSG, Barcelona and Munich just win too much domestically and have for a while. PSG nab fifth as the last team not to have already won the Champions League and Barca are above Munich because the latter knocked out Chelsea

I'm sure Sarri will find work elsewhere fairly quickly. Having last year's Europe League and now Serie A on his CV will still make him look appealing. He could always replace Mourinho at Spurs to continue the trend of ex-Chelsea managers there xD

Just had this as a 2014 World Cup knockout stages on FM12 (I was just playing as Chelsea so no involvement from me): All of the "big guns" on one half of the draw and getting knocked out by Uruguay or England, except for Germany on the other side going down to the United States in extra time. Meanwhile, Switzerland sneak through by a single goal or on penalties in every match after pipping France and South Africa (all on 6 points) to top their group on goal difference. Imagine if that happened in real life. Mad! The only real shock of the group stage was Holland finishing last in their group with Morocco, Colombia, and Serbia. Italy finished third after losing to Mexico and failing to beat Argentina in the final game. If Italy had won then Switzerland would've faced whoever had the second best goal difference of the three.

Ipswich losing out on one of their own youth products to a lower tier League One side managed by a Norwich icon. That's gonna hurt a fair few Suffolk hearts.

Because they already have a strong team and can afford to invest in strengthening it. Liverpool have the strong team but can they afford to spend £42m on a backup player?

As great as this (last?) season's Liverpool team is/was, and as strongly I think Chelsea have performed in the transfer market so far, you have to doubt that any team other than Man City can win the 20/21 Premier League title.

I know they're not new but Stand Atlantic are my favourite newly discovered pop punk band of 2020.

I agree. Even rotating between two different colours is better than having a wildly different one each year. White or yellow for Chelsea, white or blue for Man Utd (because yellow and green won't happen again under the Glazers), yellow or blue for Arsenal, and black with red stripes for Man City please.