Belgium’s Keeper Made a Costly Mistake. It Might Be the Best Thing That Happens to Him.

Senne Lammens had a moment he’d rather forget. Spain’s winner in the World Cup quarterfinal slipped through his hands, and Belgium went home. Brutal way to go out. The cutaway to Thibaut Courtois on the bench wiping his eyes after the goal said everything about the weight of that moment. Courtois looks like a tit half the time with that arrogance, but honestly it’s probably what makes him so good. Seeing him cry though? That’s a boost for Jordan Pickford ahead of Saturday night.

Here’s the thing about Lammens though. This stings now but it won’t define him. You watch. Manchester United probably end up with a better keeper next season because of this. Pain teaches you things comfort never does. He’ll be fine.

Edwards Leaves Liverpool and the Timing is Awful

Michael Edwards walking away from Liverpool wasn’t totally shocking given his ambition, but it doesn’t exactly burnish his reputation either. The guy was supposed to be a genius in the transfer market and the last two years have been a mess. Contracts. Player sales. All of it. People point to bringing in Salah over Klopp’s supposed preference for Brandt but that’s one trade. Ian Graham’s book on winning the Premier League painted a picture of a data-driven operation that checked out players based on numbers. That’s fine. But where was the strategy when the wheels came off?

Arne Slot got hung out to dry in Season 2. The transfer failures were mostly Edwards and Richard Hughes. Neither ever came out and explained what they were doing short term or long term. Slot took the fall. Now Edwards replaces him with Iraola which is a decent change but then bails because FSG didn’t buy another club? In the middle of Liverpool’s most important transfer window in years? Come on. He’ll land somewhere good, probably already has something lined up. But the timing stinks.

Or maybe FSG wasn’t happy with how the transfer business was going and gave him a shove. That’s a theory anyway.

Stop Blaming Spurs for the Cartel Thing

All this crying about a top six cartel from Villa and Newcastle fans is getting old. The financial rules have been around for a decade. They’re not going away. And here’s the thing about Tottenham: they’re not Chelsea or City. Those two clubs got bought by billionaires and had unlimited money poured in. Arsenal and Liverpool built their positions through smart sales and Champions League revenue. Arsenal built a new stadium in 2006. Liverpool extended theirs. United already had a massive one and decades of global success.

Villa and Newcastle got billionaire owners too. They wouldn’t care about the integrity of the game if there were no rules. They’d poach players from Brighton and Brentford and pay them top dollar. So spare me the tears on their behalf.

Spurs took the long road. Built a state of the art stadium. Kept wages at 40% of turnover. Borrowed from banks instead of writing checks from a sugar daddy. Now they’re finally spending and people are mad about it? If you want to whinge, aim it at Chelsea and City. Spurs are a big club in a blip because of years of underinvestment, not because that’s their ceiling.

Newcastle’s Problem Isn’t the Rules. It’s Their Mistakes.

Newcastle sold Isak for record money and made the Champions League. Great. Then they spent all that and more on Woltemade, Wissa and Elanga. All three were dropped by the end of the season. Missed out on Europe. That’s a massive mistake you can’t afford to make when you don’t have infinite money. City can drop 60 million on a midfielder, bench him for half a season, then buy a replacement for twice that. Newcastle can’t. That’s the difference. The rules aren’t unfair. They just punish bad decisions.

England Fans Need to Chill

Every tournament it’s the same thing. We beat Croatia and Panama and DR Congo and Mexico. Make a quarterfinal. Suddenly we’re world beaters. Dan Burn puts his head in dangerous spots for 50 minutes and everyone loses their mind. The Mexico game proved we can make last ditch tackles. Cool. Better teams will punish those chances.

People are already looking past Norway and Argentina to the final. That’s insane. Norway is a proper team. Spain might beat France. History says anything can happen. Look at the minnows in this World Cup. Look at the FA Cup. Brazil probably thought they’d win too. Just play the game. Support the team. Cheer the wins. Applaud the losses. Unless Tuchel screws it up then yeah he can leave the door open for Pep.

FIFA Fixed a Physics Problem with Quansah’s Ban

Nice to see FIFA respecting the First Law of Thermodynamics. Matter can’t be created or destroyed. Balogun’s red card suspension couldn’t just vanish so they gave Jarell Quansah a two match ban instead. Problem solved. Probably prevented the entire World Cup from collapsing into a disciplinary black hole.

Also Anthony Gordon is definitely Scottish. Scottish name. Looks Scottish. Plays Scottish. I don’t know how he’s allowed to play for England. That’s my contribution to the big talking points today.