Adventurer, philanthropist, philosopher, linguist, dragon slayer, destroyer of worlds, Everton fan. I am none of these things and more (except the Everton bit)
Group stage is the best stage. The tournament is young, summer is young. You’re inundated with an endless marathon of games. All the teams, including yours, are in so anything can happen. Once you get to the quarters you’re reminded that it will all be over soon and you’ll die
Deschamps has brashly taken all of his best players and fashioned them into the most lethal attacking unit in world football, sure.
But do they have the squad balance, leadership and cohesion provided by the likes of Dan Burn, Jordan Henderson and Anthony Gordon? I think not.
Beauty of Nice is, short flight, short transfer from airport, and amazing variety for short stay, (beach, hilltop village (Eze), history. Oh yes and pop into Monte Carlo). Recommend staying in Villefranche sur Mer! Just lovely.
In my eyes, there is no such thing as “ordinary” or “traditional” Partridge; there is only classic Partridge.
In honour of the Association Football shenanigans taking place across the pond, here's some early “Classic Partridge” from the life-changing The Day Today, featuring some "liquid football" commentary. More to follow.
GOOOOAL!
"Just one minute is enough to understand why our generation fell in love with football. Demonic mind, divine feet. He turned the simplest moves into the most impossible art. Diego wasn't just the best – he was football itself." 🇦🇷
Jürgen Klinsmann: “There were 70,000 people, we were warming up seriously. While ‘Live Is Life’ was playing, Maradona started juggling the ball. We stopped warming up, because there was nothing more we could do except watch him.”