saintant

Embarrassing. Has a side ever won the Fair Play trophy and lifted the World cup in the same tournament? My guess would be no and it's why we'll always struggle to win the big prizes - too meek, too mild, not ruthless enough and no cajonas.

Maybe your lad's Sunday League Manager should put his CV out to a few clubs then - see what response he gets.

To me he has clearly identified that he is dealing with a passive group with little or no leadership qualities and no talkers. That is not what he wants so he's trying to generate something out of nothing. I doubt many would disagree that the group is far too passive and not passionate enough. Whether the players buy into this remains to be seen but the passive approach was not working so good on him for trying to drum up a response.

You usually get your wish in games where it counts. 🙂

Boufal was excellent tonight, shouldn't have been taken off.

England need to bone up on the dark arts. We are far too sporting and lack the ruthless streak that you see in France and Argentina. It doesn't come as naturally to us but we need to learn from the masters. Often, that ruthless, win-at-all costs attitude tips the balance. We hardly picked up any yellow cards which is great but is a pointer to not being willing to make the cynical fouls.

Just read it and it struck me as a load of pretentious froth and nonsense. Easy to support his points after the game. It would have had more clout if he wrote this article ahead of the match and predicted what would transpire including the result.

Very interesting point. Is it a conspiracy? I will watch the two semi-finals and in particular the refereeing with added interest 🙂

I agree with people who say Kane should have made absolutely certain his penalty was on target so that the keeper had to save it. Having said that, none of us have been in his shoes. Taking a crucial penalty with the whole nation depending on you must produce a tremendous cocktail of adrenaline, stress, pressure and responsibility. It is easy to understand why so many are missed and Kane will be feeling worse than any single one of us who, so desperately, wanted him to score.

The referee was a disgrace summed up by the fact that he failed to give the second penalty in real time despite the French player barging Mount in the back right in front of his eyes. That he didn't have the courage to give it without being invited by VAR to look at the screen was just one of many mistakes he made and there were a lot.

They are world champions and we pushed them hard in a game which, if we're honest, could have gone either way. Not going to join those slagging the team and manager, think that's a bit out of order but maybe brought on by the huge disappointment. Fine margins.

Proud of the boys tonight. Gave it their all but didn't get the rub of the green plus ref was awful. Shouldn't miss a penalty but feel for Harry Kane. Ah well, come on Morocco, keep it as tight as you have done so far and sneak a lucky winner in the semi-final!

Huge 45 minutes coming up. Go for it boys!

Definite foul on Saka, definite penalty shout for us. Officials and VAR favouring France.

Well someone has clearly decided that France must win this game.

Fucking cheats. That's a foul all day long.

Is that a 'tallist' comment? 🙂

What a stupid comment.

That's Deschamps pre-match rallying cry done for him then 🙂

Looks like I've jinxed Portugal 🙂

Just the way I see the world going these days. Not stupid.

Hilarious. Assume nobody dared challenge her maths because she is a person of colour.

Probably has been leaked then so blows my theory out of the water.

Has the England line-up been leaked? Wouldn't surprise me if Southgate goes for a back five with Walker on right of Stones and Maguire and Trippier at right back to double up on Mbappe.

Holland scored two goals by going direct then reverted back to tip tap going nowhere in extra time. What was the point in that? Their fans must be furious.