Tonight's Football

[TANGODANCER]

Despite their lowly rating I was quite impressed by Malta (their football, not their fouling), Totally unimpressed by a seemingly clueless referee who denied England what I thought was two clear-cut penalties. We won 2-0, but not our best night. It got better when Kyle Walker came on as a sub.

[Gooner Girl]

So Everton have got a large point deduction. What do we reckon Man City might (eventually) get?!

[Worthy4England]

So Everton have got a large point deduction. What do we reckon Man City might (eventually) get?!

About the same as Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and United? Coz they're all at it?

[TANGODANCER]

North Macedonia ( remember Rabotniki in the UEFAA? ) v England, 7-45 on Channel 4 tonight.

[sonicthewhite]

England struggling but at least Dion has got a goal for the N'orn Iron

[sonicthewhite]

And now Dion has gone off injured. Hope it's not serious?

[TANGODANCER]

Least said the better on the England 1, North Macedonia plus the referee 1. Crazy decisions against a team of thugs.

[Mar]

Least said the better on the England 1, North Macedonia plus the referee 1. Crazy decisions against a team of thugs.

They should've had a penalty for the Maguire push in the early stages, then they get a softer penalty, presumably to make up for it. Either that or there's something dodgy going on with goal timings.

Didn't seem like England cared to turn up today and just went through the motions, as per the Malta fixture. If they can't be bothered, why should we. Might as well have sent the B-team out against this last two fixtures.

[TANGODANCER]

Least said the better on the England 1, North Macedonia plus the referee 1. Crazy decisions against a team of thugs.

They should've had a penalty for the Maguire push in the early stages, then they get a softer penalty, presumably to make up for it. Either that or there's something dodgy going on with goal timings.

Didn't seem like England cared to turn up today and just went through the motions, as per the Malta fixture. If they can't be bothered, why should we. Might as well have sent the B-team out against this last two fixtures.

Don't quite agree with that Mar, mate. Amazing how playing against England brings out the best of low ranked teams. Both Malta and North Macedonia played some very decent football in between bad refereeing and kamikaze defending and both obviously did some homework on us. We were hardly a weak side even if Gareth used the games to bring in faces new to the team but hardly new to Premier league level football. Past reputations are gradually disappearing as the minions lose their fear of the top dogs of yesterday. Nothing can be taken for granted any more. I think Northern Ireland beating Denmark is a good example of this.

[Harry Genshaw]

Past reputations are gradually disappearing as the minions lose their fear of the top dogs of yesterday. Nothing can be taken for granted any more.

You need to post this on a Gibraltar football forum TD

England were far too pedestrian last night. They were well organised defensively but didn't look remotely dangerous until Maguire gave the ball away, then fell over his own feet before clearly fouling their striker. I like Maguire for England, he rarely lets us down, but that was shocking and briefly handed them the initiative.

Ref was a shocker.

[Worthy4England]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg (415.38 KiB) Viewed 17107 times

[Hoboh]

After wasting 2 hours of my life I've finally calmed down.
Maguire was bloody awful, clueless when on the ball and snail pace at best, Saka? Yeah definitely a sack of, England were awful. Felt for Pickford it was a good stop but overall we looked clueless. Passing into packed areas is not our game, we ain't the Spanish, movement off the ball was occasional and some of the half hearted long balls were a disaster.
Playing like that against a decent side and they would have ripped us a new one!

Forgot to add, Grealish needs to grow up a bit and stop acting like a petulant child, he has the skill.

[Hoboh]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

I'd have to flick a coin between three of them to be honest

[Worthy4England]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

I'd have to flick a coin between three of them to be honest

Actually - now you come to mention it!

[Mar]

Least said the better on the England 1, North Macedonia plus the referee 1. Crazy decisions against a team of thugs.

They should've had a penalty for the Maguire push in the early stages, then they get a softer penalty, presumably to make up for it. Either that or there's something dodgy going on with goal timings.

Didn't seem like England cared to turn up today and just went through the motions, as per the Malta fixture. If they can't be bothered, why should we. Might as well have sent the B-team out against this last two fixtures.

Don't quite agree with that Mar, mate. Amazing how playing against England brings out the best of low ranked teams. Both Malta and North Macedonia played some very decent football in between bad refereeing and kamikaze defending and both obviously did some homework on us. We were hardly a weak side even if Gareth used the games to bring in faces new to the team but hardly new to Premier league level football. Past reputations are gradually disappearing as the minions lose their fear of the top dogs of yesterday. Nothing can be taken for granted any more. I think Northern Ireland beating Denmark is a good example of this.

You mention how playing against England brings out the best in low ranked teams. I can understand that, which is why I can also suggest that playing against the likes of Malta brings out the worst in top ranked teams. We know its a mismatch, they know its a mismatch, and yet, we don't go for the embarrassing 14-0 score line turfed out by France.

We've got more than enough in reserve to beat Malta with our B-team, and more than enough to give North Macedonia a competitive game. Aside from consistency, we would've been far better suited to learn something from the players on the periphery, those that want to get in the squad play well and come in contention, those that don't would get shifted further from the selection. Instead, we've had the situation where those on the periphery can't contribute as well as they should because other more seasoned England professionals haven't got out of first gear.

As for your Northern Ireland beating Denmark, sure there will be the occasional upset, but i'd argue that's more entertaining for the match go-er than England strolling to victory.

[Harry Genshaw]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

After an opposing player suffered a broken kneecap from one of her shots I believe?

I'm all for equality and people being happy in the gender they choose to be in and playing the sport they want but even trans folk must see this kind of thing can't continue. The league could also be sued by the victims family for allowing this to continue and putting their daughter in harms way. Unless I've got the science wrong, it's the physical equivalent of letting a bloke play in child's football.

[Mar]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

I suspect the only real way of solving this is to have a mixed gender football league that people can compete in.

[Worthy4England]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

I suspect the only real way of solving this is to have a mixed gender football league that people can compete in.

We tie ourselves in knots, trying to solve something that doesn't have an answer everyone is going to be happy with. That's unfortunate. I suspect (coz I'm generally suspicious) that some people might be doing this, because in part they perceive they could be a big fish in a smaller pool. They would rather shout they're being discriminated against, than play in a mixed gender league...

What changing rooms are they getting changed in? Or do we need to build one each? It's unsustainable.

[boltonboris]

Womens only leagues are womens only
Any other league is 'mixed' - ie; Woman, or Trans people can play in a 'mens' league. Mens / Boys football is now mixed for this exact reason, but the 6'2 bruiser wants to play against girls instead

[Mar]

I come to the sad case of Rossington Ladies FC. Who have amongst their ranks, a trans-gender player, who is now pursuing a discrimination case. I don't know about you folks, but I reckon I can guess which of the players below it is, that allegedly has no obvious advantages. We need to stop this.

skynews-rossington-main-ladies-fc_6367131.jpg

I suspect the only real way of solving this is to have a mixed gender football league that people can compete in.

We tie ourselves in knots, trying to solve something that doesn't have an answer everyone is going to be happy with. That's unfortunate. I suspect (coz I'm generally suspicious) that some people might be doing this, because in part they perceive they could be a big fish in a smaller pool. They would rather shout they're being discriminated against, than play in a mixed gender league...

What changing rooms are they getting changed in? Or do we need to build one each? It's unsustainable.

Gender neutral changing rooms with privacy akin to swimming bath changing rooms with certain areas with clear privacy for an individual.

I'm not saying pandering to a small minority is the way to go, but given this issue will continue without providing a level playing field for all then the only way to likely fix it, is to give an alternative that we can all say is fair. Clearly men playing against women isn't fair, but if participants going into it know that's an expectation, then it should settle the issue.