DangerousSausage

I'm a bit surprised by this, but maybe I shouldn't have been. He'd have seen a lot less game time next season, and of course he wants to be playing. It'll be interesting to see how he does in Scotland. He's been honest about his motivation for the move and he is one of our promotion heroes after all. I hope he does well there and finds a better hairdressers too!

One was given in Germany's last game @Robbie, and to be fair it is a grey area. But they can't rely on a dodgy penalty every match.

I do think a version of PR would be more democratic. In Germany you get two votes, one for your constituency and one for a party list, with the number of MPs for each party being aligned with their percentage of the vote. For anyone who'd rather stick with FPTP because it stops certain small parties gaining too much influence, here's some food for thought: the French National Front has just won about the same share of the vote that Labour has. In France, there's a second round of voting, and after that a party with a third of the seats will have to negotiate and build alliances before entering government. In the UK, though, such a result could give them unfettered power - they could govern like kings for five years. Should any party have that kind of power? Nonetheless, it's hard to see it happening because the party in power is the one that benefits the most from the current system. Why saw off the branch you're sitting on?

Germany came back well after falling behind and to be honest I thought they deserved to go through. But they missed their chances and the sucker punch came at the end. There's been a lot of talk about the alleged handball at 1-1. The German pundits have just dedicated the half time break of Portugal v France to talking about it and how hard done to they are. I can almost understand it when this comes from people who only watch major tournaments and don't understand the rules of the game, but from former professional footballers it's embarrassing.

So offline tickets will now cost 27.50 on matchday - that's quite a hike. And the membership scheme is only worth it if you attend between 10 and 15 games. This will probably deter casual fans more than anything.

I wouldn't worry about the floor, I doubt they've fitted a carpet ???? Maybe I'm just tight, but when a goal is scored the first thing I do is make sure my precious pint is safe and sound!

I think it's a terrible kit. There's more red than white on it, and the plain black back and socks are poor too. Our colours are black and white. I certainly won't be buying it. I'll wait and see what the away kit looks like, but am not optimistic as manufacturers seem to be falling over themselves to replicate the tacky designs of the early 90s. Maybe in a few years we'll get to play in a traditional kit again.

We're through and that's all that really counts. It took us far too long to respond to going behind and could easily have been a case of too little, too late. I don't even mind us being boring but effective, what troubles me is that we're not effective. We look like a team of strangers and I fear we'll get found out once we meet a team that looks like a cohesive unit and has that bit of quality too. However, I'm old enough to remember the 1990 World Cup, we looked like a pub team for most of that tournament and Bobby Robson got pilloried for it (like he did for most of his tenure). Nobody remembers those dire group stage games now. So I'm very grateful that Southgate didn't take my advice and sub Bellingham off, I'm delighted we're through and looking forward to the next round!

Winning the fourth division title in 1998 doesn't make someone a good choice to manage a national team in 2024. Likewise, being a club manager and a national team coach are totally different jobs. England have often fallen into the trap of appointing coaches with successful club careers without considering whether they'd be suitable for the different requirements of the national team. I totally agree with @liampie here, but having said all that I'd still be very intrigued to see how he does.

It's only been about 20 degrees here @CliftonMagpie , perfect conditions for football (bar the odd downpour). And the roof in Frankfurt doesn't close completely. One of the big challenges of international football is taking a bunch of players who are doing well at different clubs and fitting them into one team, and we obviously haven't managed it yet. That's what pre-tournament friendlies are for. Then you've got the fear factor, which Southgate did so well to eliminate in the past. Hopefully we'll get it right in our next group game and we can peakwhen it matters. History shows that the teams that start off well during the group stages often don't keep it up.

Well wasn't that complete rubbish. We get a lucky goal and then park the bus and hand the initiative to Denmark. We are second best in every department and second to every ball. I'm expecting some changes at the break and a big improvement, otherwise we'll lose this.

Is it me or does the Denmark manager look like a detective in a bleak Scandinavian crime series?

If anyone is wondering what they're playing after Germany's matches, it's this absolute banger of a tune inspired by Space Oddity:

I had no idea that Klaus Gjasula had made Albania's squad. He used to play for my German team Waldhof Mannheim in the dark days of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg (fifth level), and he didn't look particularly good at that level either. How he ended up playing in the Bundesliga is one of life's great mysteries. But well done like.

That's got to be the goal of the tournament so far surely? The lad probably doesn't even need to shave yet and he's banging those in. Turkey aren't home and dry yet though, some of their defending is a bit Nottsy.

Turkey look so nervous at the back. Anyone who likes direct, British-style football should watch this, there's no continental faffing about here! Cracking match.

I enjoyed the Italy match. They came back strongly after falling behind, but failed to finish Albania off and the second half was almost an exhibition of Ardleyball - they dominated possession, but nobody wanted to take a risk to score the decisive third goal. They nearly paid for it at the end. Looking at who else is in their group, Italy needed to win that one. Sounded like a brilliant atmosphere too.

What is the continental style? England won the World Cup nearly 60 years ago, when training consisted of players running laps of the pitch while the manager stood on the touchline smoking woodbines. The world has moved on and football has evolved, as it has done since its earliest days. We have won sod all since then because we insisted on playing kick and rush for decades and got left behind.

It's a good starting point, but we need more. We obviously need a new number one unless we're going to take the plunge and go with Brooks. At the back, I'm happy with our two new signings, although it remains to be seen either our style of play suits them. Since he's no longer captain, I'd expect Kyle Cameron not to be an automatic starter, we could even use him as a wing back. On the other side, Nemane is a good player but struggles against the better teams at this level, I'd like him to have some competition (which is what Randall was originally meant for). Maybe Chicksen could cover both sides. I'm looking forward to seeing Palmer and Robertson playing together, but a midfield all-rounder to push them would be good. The squad looks a bit light on competition in general, but it's early days.

I'll restrict this to the ones I can remember myself. Ramsay is revered now, but he came in for a lot of criticism during his time. The best is obviously Sam Allardyce as he won all his games (game). Gareth Southgate has taken us to a final and a semi-final, and but for a couple of penalties we'd have gone into this tournament as defending champions. That speaks for itself. We're in poor form and he might have outstayed his welcome by now, but the same was true in 1990 (and Bobby Robson was much less successful in the years prior to that). We'll have to see how it pans out. Calling Taylor a "yes man" is cruel. He was out of his depth in the top job, but had shown himself to be a hugely successful manager in the years prior and deserved his chance. No one knew he'd mess it up so badly at the time. Terry Venables was the right man for 1996 and really brought the team together, but wasn't interested in staying longer. We played some brilliant football under Glenn Hoddle too but fluffed it in 1998. His replacement, Keegan, was one-dimensional and a big step back. However, he - and Taylor - at least qualified for a major tournament, something Steve McClaren never managed.

I disagree that Dortmund were the better side @Robbie, Real are masters at cranking up the pressure at just the right time and Dortmund didn't have an answer to it. You sensed they needed to score at least one of those chances in the first half, as you just knew that Madrid would turn it on when it mattered. Unfortunately this season Dortmund have shown themselves to be prone at the back, and Real are ruthlessly effective. About the Champions League, I think UEFA have managed to turn their premier competition into a version of the UEFA Cup, and the next changes will make it even more bloated. It's all about guaranteeing that the biggest clubs don't miss out and get as many games as possible.

I won't claim to be a clairvoyant with my prediction earlier, you could see it coming a mile off. Real struggled to deal with Dortmund's attacking threat in the first half, but BVB failed to take advantage. Real are dangerous because they can always move up a gear or two, and usually do. It's a shame, but worse things happen at sea. Bring on the proper football in August!

BVB have already had two fantastic chances to take the lead, Real look vulnerable. The cup's got Real's name on it, hasn't it?

To be fair Dortmund could quite easily have come into this season's CL as champions, they only missed out on goal difference last season. I agree that only champions should be taking part though. Now we've had what looks like influencers on the pitch taking selfies. This is too modern for me, I'll just shake my head along with the boomers!

Is anyone else watching this? It's ten minutes till kick-off and there's a pensioner on a stage singing. Methinks UEFA want to emulate the World Series. It's killed the atmosphere if nothing else. Hope BVB deliver today.