Cristiano Ronaldo has been ‘blasted’ by a ‘brutal’ Portugal team-mate, while Nico O’Reilly has a fan in Pep Guardiola but is not for everyone.
There is also an ‘unwritten MOTD rule’ that someone has carelessly broken.
But first, some England squad silliness.
Ifs and buts
‘If Tuchel could bring in the Gunners’ back four of Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori, England would win the World Cup because their midfield and attack is so strong’ – Charlie Wyett, The Sun.
Oh, natural
In the rest of his Sun column, Wyett writes excitedly about watching an England team ‘play without the handbrake on’, but cannot shake the idea that their defence might ultimately cost them.
‘The full-back situation is a mess,’ he writes. ‘It could have been partially corrected by replacing the crocked Tino Livramento with a like-for-like replacement.’
It’s not ideal, but does replacing a player who probably wouldn’t have played that much, if at all, with a player who probably won’t play that much, if at all, constitute ‘a mess’? Is it really worth worrying about the 25th most important player in the England squad?
‘Instead, Tuchel brought in centre-back Trevoh Chalobah.
‘Therefore, England do not have a fully fit, in-form, natural full-back.’
Those are quite some caveats designed specifically to skirt past the two full-backs who played in the Croatia win. The fitness of Reece James you can maybe just about have, but this is nonsense…
‘Nico O’Reilly has been playing well but he is a midfielder who is being squeezed in at the back.’
