Saint Pete

I wasn't defending him, he could and should have done more to stop what happened, but the players shat the bed as well once getting in front, no mistake about that. We have failed in games like this over multiple World Cups and Euros and it ain't just down to the managers although I know our fans love to think our players are great really and it's all down to poor coaching/tactics.

Can you imagine the uproar if the England team paraded a political banner on the pitch openly baiting the opposition like that? There would be international outrage, calls for expulsion, suspensions, etc no doubt! As it's Argentina, sure it will be quietly swept under the FIFA carpet though so that the Messi love in can continue in earnest for the Final.

I can of course see why Tuchel is getting lots of stick for this and agree that much of it is deserved. But it's a mistake in my view to put what happened 100% on the manager if we want to improve in the future. I don't know if folks saw the stat given after the game last night that England had just 12% possession between taking the lead and Argentina's winner. That is crazy and the change in the game was immediate after we scored and before the subs started. To me, it felt like the players didn't have the belief that we could kick on and win that game after getting in front and that is at least as much mental as it is tactical. We stopped doing the basic building blocks of our game; passing to each other, keeping possession, building attacks, closing down crosses. All of it fell apart. It reminded me of a Golf or Tennis major where someone not used to winning gets near the finishing line and the basics of their normal game and technique crumble. Basically, the players choked and that is not all down to the manager. I don't think Tuchel was stood on the touchline after Gordon scored shouting "Everyone, retreat into your own box, let them have all the ball and don't close down crosses!" Those things happened because our players froze and didn't have the belief to continue playing their normal game. In the moment their belief should have soared having gone in front, it was the exact opposite and they went into their collective shell thinking of the finishing line. So disappointing as I don't believe this Argie team are great by any means but we made them look amazing in that last 35 minutes. That said, Tuchel's changes did nothing to help and if anything resulted in us retreating even further. And I agree with comments about his squad selection which has hampered us throughout the tournament, plus his refusal to play certain players he selected that could have helped us, eg Mainoo. But simply sacking Tuchel and putting in An Other without dissecting the reasons for the failings of the players described above won't result in us winning this type of game in the future.

I don't see it as cover/understudy, I would think the idea is he will alternate with Larin in the same way as Stewart did. From reading about him, it sounds like he has the right attributes for that, just needs to step up his goals output a bit in the same way as Larin did when he arrived.

This seems positive to me. Definitely looks like the Stewart replacement who we can use to rotate with Larin which is what we need. And if as it seems we are signing both this guy and Dobbin, then that indicates Dobbin is intended primarily in other forward positions or in support of Larin or Azon if we go 2 up top in some games. Also must mean both Archer and Downs will be moved on one way or another you would think. Not a stellar goals record but Larin didn't have that either. And some of the comments of Ipswich fans posted above actually give me hope as sounds like he is another that contributes well to the team in other ways like we have seen with Larin/Stewart, which is important to how we play.

I agree with you about the time taken, the facts of the case were pretty much all out in the open at the start of the summer, especially after Tonda and Solak's public statements came out. So no reason at all why it should have taken so long to reach a verdict, which in itself makes me nervous of what the FA may be planning and also suspicious that they want it to have maximum impact and publicity post World Cup and pre season. I'm a little surprised Dragan or someone else from the club hasn't publicly pushed the FA on the timescales rather than it appearing to be open-ended allowing this situation to arise where they could drop a big ban on him on the eve of the season leaving us right in the shit. I just fear that we don't have much legal argument to fight a further punishment that would hurt the club given that Tonda has admitted his guilt and hasn't yet been punished personally, but I agree a long ban would have a disproportionate impact on the club given the punishments we have already received.

Problem is EFL punishment was for what the club did and the FA investigation is looking at the individuals behaviour including Tonda. So they will argue Tonda personally hasn't been punished yet. Our other problem is that we broke the rules and Tonda has admitted he was at the heart of it, so that limits our legal arguments against any punishments handed out, just as it did with the EFL investigation. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree that a further punishment that will affect the club's season is proportionate to what happened given that we already have a points deduction. It's just I'm not convinced there is much we can do about it if the FA do go full beans on Tonda, which I suspect they will, but hope I'm wrong.

It's pretty obvious they are going to drop their judgement just before the new season starts for maximum impact and so that the FA can get some headlines and be seen to be taking the matter "seriously" rather than it get lost during the World Cup.

He beat his man, but he then stopped "running" in my view, watch the way he positions his right foot, cannot be described as a normal way for anyone to run. He intentionally pushes his right leg backwards between the defender's legs rather than continuing to drive towards goal. The defender then has no way to avoid contact and Spence's body position is already on the way down anyway! Spence's only intention there is to go down and get a penalty and it would have been wrong for him to be rewarded for that. It seems to be becoming more common that pundits and fans are arguing "he has every right to go down" once a player beats a man in the box and that pushing your leg into a defender and then falling over is the same as being "tripped". This narrative should be resisted in my opinion if we don't want even more cheating in the game.

Yeah, it's odd Mainoo is not getting a look in given Rice's struggles with fitness and illness. He seems a much more obvious sub for Rice that doesn't disrupt the position of our best player in Bellingham. Maybe Tuchel doesn't rate him?

Argentina taken to extra time by 10 man Switzerland. I'm sure they will scrape through but they are very average and were lucky to get this far due to Egypt's implosion in the last 16. Every chance for England to make the final if we turn up on Wednesday night.

It's a shame as they looked good earlier in the tournament and particularly vs Brazil in the group stage where they were much more positive and I thought the better side. I remember they have been similar to today in knockout stages in previous world cups, they seem to retreat into their shell and not believe they can compete in the latter stages.

Apparently there might have been a handball earlier in move but no replays emerging to assess it. How surprising.

Shite.

This does have the feel that it could be an upset. But can Morocco be positive enough to sniff out a goal and then not shit the bed in defence Egypt style towards the end?