Ronaldo 'blasted' by team-mate in 'brutal' takedown

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.

Why stop there? Get David Raya in too. Sod it, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi could take turns with Djed Spence as the transformative attacking impact substitute.

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.’

He’s the starting left-back for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola reckons he’s good enough there so it’s probably fine.

And by the way, if that’s the game we’re playing then that apparently ideal England defence of Timber, Saliba, Gabriel and Calafiori contains precisely zero ‘natural full-backs’.

Shaw thing

Wyett adds:

‘It was ridiculous that Tuchel did not pick Luke Shaw for the squad after a good season at left-back for Manchester United but he has not featured for the Three Lions since the Euro 2024 final.

‘So, his omission was not a surprise.’

Sounds like it wasn’t particularly ‘ridiculous’.

Crist alive

What is ridiculous is this combination of Sun website headlines:

‘JUST ANOTHER PLAYER: Portugal World Cup star sparks storm with brutal comments on Ronaldo’

”He’s just another player’ – Cristiano Ronaldo blasted by Portugal World Cup team-mate after DR Congo horror show’

Did we miss Bruno Fernandes calling Ronaldo a greedy sod? How brave of someone to call him out after that nonsense of a performance.

Except all Joao Neves said was:

“We know what Cristiano has done for us, for our national team, and for the world of football. But at this moment, he and we know that he is no different. He is just another player here to help. He is no different from the others. He is here to contribute, just like all of us.”

That really is ‘brutal’. Ronaldo has been utterly ‘blasted’ there.

And is a load of fanboy children mobilising on social media really a ‘storm’ now?

Palm reading

It is a great bit from The Sun to describe Cole Palmer as the ‘humble star’ for flying with Jet2.

There is surely a key difference between him and Raheem Sterling, who was described as ‘penny pinching’ and having ‘slummed it on the budget airline’ EASYJET – their capitalisation – despite the fact he ‘rakes in a staggering £200,000 a week’, a few years ago.

But we cannot quite put our finger on it.

Good day, old Chap

‘BBC host Mark Chapman makes feelings perfectly clear after World Cup clash as he breaks unwritten MOTD rule’ – The Sun website.

The only ‘unwritten MOTD rule’ Mediawatch can think of is that if a player is shown receiving a yellow card, they must be sent off later in the game. Or that if the highlights includes a player coming on as a substitute, it’s because they’re going to score.

So what ‘unwritten MOTD rule’ did Chapman break? It feels like ‘don’t drop any C-bombs’ is probably in his contract somewhere; this sh*t is apparently so sacred it doesn’t even need to be outlined.

Sit down for this one, dear reader, as it is shocking. After Czechia drew with South Africa, Chapman said:

“Sometimes a game does not deserve a really clever closing link. Goodbye.”

And ‘it is an unwritten rule in the BBC that there is always a clever link at the end of match coverage’.

A couple of things:

1) Not sure ‘good broadcasting’ is really ‘an unwritten rule in the BBC’.

2) That is a clever link.

Hayes travel

The Emma Hayes discourse is ripe for nonsense, but this is a particularly funny line from The Sun website:

‘Hayes was forced to do her tactical analysis on a tiny blackboard on a set that looked like a little kitchen, sparking outrage online.’

The idea she was ‘forced’ is great, but the ‘tiny blackboard’ bit is wonderful. It’s not exactly Michael Scott’s plasma TV.