The World Cup Thread

Lucky lucky. Maguire completely out of his depth, walker out of position, and stones unreliable. Our attack is fast but flatters to deceive. If we make it to the quarters it will be because Kane drags us there.

Bloody hell mate, cheer up lol are you Scottish?

Shout out to Frank Lampard. Superb pundit

Yep spot on, talked total sense.

Tunisia were disgusting fair play to England. Despite a dour 2nd half, I don’t pin that frustrating 45 on them... they had literally nowhere to go. They found a way to win though, and they can ply with more freedom against Panama. Well be ok. Could have definitely used a lallana in these deadlocked games though

Let’s all agree

That referee was a total joke. Reminds me of Mike Dean

Let’s all agree

 

That referee was a total joke. Reminds me of Mike Dean

Trust us to have the worst ref of the world cup so far ffs. They've all been pretty solid up until tonight. he was all over the show.

100% Correct. Playing a right footer at left wing back is dumb. Opposition know they won’t get skinned down the line. Toss decision not taking Bertrand. Sterling total cr*p. Rashford deserved to start rather then him on past performance.

Saints goggles off please, Bertrand was absolute garbage for 90% of this season.

Want to go to a World Cup? Try turning up for your club first.

Lol

Let’s all agree

 

That referee was a total joke. Reminds me of Mike Dean

VAR refs very poor too.

Saints goggles off please, Bertrand was absolute garbage for 90% of this season.

 

Want to go to a World Cup? Try turning up for your club first.

Young, Sterling, Lindgard and Ali were rubbish. Trippier did well.

Did Pickford have a save after penalty?

Disgraceful refereeing and Var a joke.

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Saints goggles off please, Bertrand was absolute garbage for 90% of this season.

 

Want to go to a World Cup? Try turning up for your club first.

Young isn’t even left footed, Rose is overrated and spent most of the season out with serious injury before picking up a modest amount of starts. Yes Bertrand did not have his best season but he still would have been a better choice at LB for England than either of the players that were picked ahead of him.

Let’s all agree

 

That referee was a total joke. Reminds me of Mike Dean

Not quite. Didn’t Dean go through a phase where he wanted to be the big man and was giving penalties left, right and centre for grappling in the box?

Bloody hell how good was Maguire? He won't be at Leicester for long. Only Tunisia but totally in control at the back (except for one mistake early on) and was our most attacking threat most of the game! Also winning everything in the air. Thought him and Stones were both very good.

Bloody hell, you must have been watching a different game, thought he was awful (defensively) against an awful team. Looked nervous, was quite good going forward though I would concede. Stones was also gash, those two will get slaughtered if (when) they come up against a half decent team. Mind you having Henderson in front of them didn't help.

Always amazed at how many want to single him out amongst everyone else. Including tabloids

To be fair, it is because he is actually a terrible player in an England shirt. The agenda exists for a reason. You can't hide behind an 'agenda' agenda to criticise anyone calling the bloke out for being a terrible player in an England shirt. 4.1 on the BBC Player rater - last by two thirds of a point for a reason.

never in doubt.......LOL

we have to be much better after this game ffs

 

just think, the last Euro's, Kane was taking the corners

And the free kicks. Remember the floaty free kick against Iceland in the 90th minute that went over everyones head and out at the back stick for a goal kick? Better this time around to get on the end of things and the knock downs. Hodgson was a muppet.

No way we are getting anywhere near winning this thing whilst the VAR operators behave like they are the judges at the Eurovision Song Contest.

To be fair, it is because he is actually a terrible player in an England shirt. The agenda exists for a reason. You can't hide behind an 'agenda' agenda to criticise anyone calling the bloke out for being a terrible player in an England shirt. 4.1 on the BBC Player rater - last by two thirds of a point for a reason.

Agree. Hearing so many pundits say sterling has to start as he is a massive threat.

One even stated that Raheem is one of the biggest dangers at the World Cup....

Why do they say such tripe?

Agree. Hearing so many pundits say sterling has to start as he is a massive threat.

 

One even stated that Raheem is one of the biggest dangers at the World Cup....

 

Why do they say such tripe?

Because he has been one of the stand out players in the stand out team of the season perhaps?

But the gun the gun

Because he has been one of the stand out players in the stand out team of the season perhaps?

 

But the gun the gun

for england?

I genuinely hope he tears Panama a new one if he starts.....Just I think (as do many others) think he is pony for england.

A forward who averages a goal every 16-17 games ffs

To be fair, it is because he is actually a terrible player in an England shirt. The agenda exists for a reason. You can't hide behind an 'agenda' agenda to criticise anyone calling the bloke out for being a terrible player in an England shirt. 4.1 on the BBC Player rater - last by two thirds of a point for a reason.

Ahh the player rater. The modern fan needs that validation. All Wilshere’s goals were better than Le Tissier’s. I consulted the twitter poll.

He didn’t play well but if you can’t see the talent then you didn’t watch City last season. Think Pep might be a better judge than some mug who wastes his time clicking on a player rater.

for england?

Shearer was banging in 30goals a season but hadn’t scored for 2 years for England prior to 1996. Things change. It can’t be some sort of curse and a good player is a good player.

Shearer was banging in 30goals a season but hadn’t scored for 2 years for England prior to 1996. Things change. It can’t be some sort of curse and a good player is a good player.

well, I hope so.

He clearly has the talent and hope it clicks for him.

Just think we have a better player on the bench in Rashford.

I wonder if Pep would agree if Rashford was available to him? we will never know

Oh, I also think Ashley Young is utter pony for England. Should I not think that because Jose Mourinho picks him?

Another one with a better player on the bench

I actually made a vag out of it and ruined it.

We should all thank this man, good work Benjii

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There were times in the second-half when England looked very much like Saints in the season just finished. Plenty of possession but far too slow, far too laboured and a reluctance to move the ball forward. I was watching with someone who has next to no knowledge of football who regularly asked how many passes would England make before the ball eventually found its way back to Pickford.

Having highlighted the shortcomings of the England team, I was surprised at the number of genuine goal scoring chances created and this delight was only surpassed by the frustration of seeing so many of those chances butchered.

However, the necessary goals were scored, the win obtained and we move on to take on Panama.

As for the penalties not given, the comments from Whitey are worth considering rather than rejecting. We can all say how obvious the hauling(s) down of Harry Kane looked but as WG pointed out, if extremely well qualified referees looked at the footage and decided there had been no foul then what are we all missing?

They've shown the controversial 'penalty' moments on BBC Breakfast this morning and when you see the grapple in the second half from behind it clearly shows the ref's position, it's in his immediate eye line. If he's giving their keeper a free kick for jumping into a striker heading a ball then he can't be trusted making the big decisions. Questions certainly should to be asked over the point of VAR operators.

I thought we looked very good up until the very soft penalty after that we become the England side I'm used to watching and the second half was pretty dull.

We have decent attacking options but I'm not sure the defence will cope once we go up against better teams in the competition.

They've shown the controversial 'penalty' moments on BBC Breakfast this morning and when you see the grapple in the second half from behind it clearly shows the ref's position, it's in his immediate eye line. If he's giving their keeper a free kick for jumping into a striker heading a ball then he can't be trusted making the big decisions. Questions certainly should to be asked over the point of VAR operators.

I think a problem with VAR will be that refs will start to not make decisions themselves and rely on VAR too much. As you say, the second half one is right in front of the ref so he should be making that decision, should be no need for VAR there.

Main problem in this game was not VAR in my opinion, the ref and linos were just absolute gash throughout, you can't expect VAR to solve everything. They were letting Tunisia get away with murder with their cynical tactics. Was almost comical at one point in second half where I think Trippier was trying to take a free kick and their player was continuously standing on the ball and not retreating the 10 yards for a good minute or so, ref did nothing. Weakest officials of tournament so far.

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Never heard Kyle Walker talk before. He has a silly high voice, like he on helium.

You're well out of order with that stupid comment mate, are you sure there's not a touch of racism in there? Best to keep your trap shut on individual personal comments.

Thought we played alright, had to deal with a really nasty, niggly Tunisia team. Clearly very limited, so they had to resort to other methods.

 

Harry Kane just scores goals. One of the best strikers in world football without question, Spurs did well to sign him up on a 6 year contract. (Although we know how much they mean...).

 

Big negatives for me were Sterling and Young, really, really rubbish. Young especially. Raises more questions as to why Ryan was left at home to be honest.

 

But get the next game out of the way against a pretty non-team, and we're onto the next stage.

It was only one game and who knows who will shine or fade in the next one. Gut reaction to individual results not recommended.

Good old Saints Web, a few dodgy moments and some have him marked as a bloody useless player for evermore. McGuire admitted himself that he had a few dodgy moments early on, had a word with himself and got on with it. Thought he played well, if we were picking teams in the playground he would be an early pick for me. Certainly one who if Saints had bought in the Hull City post relegation fire sale I’d have been happy with.

As others have said Bertie must have been spitting chips watching Young, seemed very powder puff and as often commented when talking about the malaise of the England side, when you see the calibre of player he plays with week in week out at Man U his deficiencies were highlighted.

The player who seems to have had very little said about him is Trippier, thought he had a great game easily my man of the match........oh hang on he didn’t score so he can’t have that award. Talking of which, well done Harry Kane, does what he does for his club finds enough space in the box for himself to punish teams, nice to see an England striker living up to his billing on the first night.

Onwards to Panama’s World Cup final on Sunday.

Lingard coming out for the second half will tell us all we need to know about our current manager.

& what exactly does it tell you?

& what exactly does it tell you?

That he was one of our better players got into good positions but had borrowed Shane Long's finishing boots for last nights game?

You're well out of order with that stupid comment mate, are you sure there's not a touch of racism in there? Best to keep your trap shut on individual personal comments.

:lol:

Never heard Kyle Walker talk before. He has a silly high voice, like he on helium.

You're well out of order with that stupid comment mate, are you sure there's not a touch of racism in there? Best to keep your trap shut on individual personal comments.

He was talking about the pitch of his voice, that is not remotely racist. If he had been talking about David Beckham's high pitch voice like many used to do, would you accuse him of being racist?

I think a problem with VAR will be that refs will start to not make decisions themselves and rely on VAR too much. As you say, the second half one is right in front of the ref so he should be making that decision, should be no need for VAR there.

 

Main problem in this game was not VAR in my opinion, the ref and linos were just absolute gash throughout, you can't expect VAR to solve everything. They were letting Tunisia get away with murder with their cynical tactics. Was almost comical at one point in second half where I think Trippier was trying to take a free kick and their player was continuously standing on the ball and not retreating the 10 yards for a good minute or so, ref did nothing. Weakest officials of tournament so far.

 

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Yeah, absolutely right. I have no idea why football tolerates that sort of behaviour. In rugby or hockey, if you concede a penalty you have to back off pronto and get out of the way. Failure to drop off can lead to further punishment. If you were to actively impede the fouled team by picking up the ball, kicking it away, standing in their way etc. you'd get carded immediately.

This is one of the areas which would be very easy to fix and would not be contentious. If a team concedes a free kick and any member of that team doesn't immediately retreat ten yards or if any member of that team touches the ball before the free kick is taken it's an instant yellow card.

The ref was pathetic. Also the linos got some offside decsisons badly wrong. There was one where Khazri was several yards onside and the flag went up

You're well out of order with that stupid comment mate, are you sure there's not a touch of racism in there? Best to keep your trap shut on individual personal comments.

Are you for real?

It's still amazes me not one Tunisia player got carded. Constantly fouling, standing on freekicks, throwing ball away, diving, rugby tackling and generally being ****s.

It's still amazes me not one Tunisia player got carded. Constantly fouling, standing on freekicks, throwing ball away, diving, rugby tackling and generally being ****s.

I know Ekon. Ref has take control early or it just gives them license to continue being c**ts.

I know Ekon. Ref has take control early or it just gives them license to continue being c**ts.

Cheers Glasgow. Exactly, but then booked Walker. #Mess

Not one to praise England regularly, and still mystified by RBs exclusion, but think there were plenty of positives last night. Does annoy me how pundits/commentators bemoan the drop in pace late in a game when players are clearly just knackered. As I think we saw with Pochettino’s team, the high intensity game relies on blitzing a team early on and to some extent hoping you get enough of a lead to counter the second half drop-off. To lazily say, ‘they just need to increase the pace’ Is to ignore the draining effect of playing so intensely (in the heat) in the first half. More than anything England showed great patience last night, didn’t panic whilst the rest of the nation tweeted desperately. A solid start.

Not one to praise England regularly, and still mystified by RBs exclusion, but think there were plenty of positives last night. Does annoy me how pundits/commentators bemoan the drop in pace late in a game when players are clearly just knackered. As I think we saw with Pochettino’s team, the high intensity game relies on blitzing a team early on and to some extent hoping you get enough of a lead to counter the second half drop-off. To lazily say, ‘they just need to increase the pace’ Is to ignore the draining effect of playing so intensely (in the heat) in the first half. More than anything England showed great patience last night, didn’t panic whilst the rest of the nation tweeted desperately. A solid start.

I'm generally of the same view. There aren't really walk overs in football anymore, every nation has improved coaching over the last 10 + years, and even the smaller clubs in the lower leagues when we get into the FA Cup rounds prove that notion.

Tunisia were there to make it a very niggly, tight and compact game. But we still carried a threat, I thought we still showed patience. I remember the Iceland game and we couldn't even string two passes together for 60 mins. We deserved to win the match and given that we now have a manager who keeps Harry Kane in the box when we have a corner, we've got a chance.

I'm generally of the same view. There aren't really walk overs in football anymore, every nation has improved coaching over the last 10 + years, and even the smaller clubs in the lower leagues when we get into the FA Cup rounds prove that notion.

 

Tunisia were there to make it a very niggly, tight and compact game. But we still carried a threat, I thought we still showed patience. I remember the Iceland game and we couldn't even string two passes together for 60 mins. We deserved to win the match and given that we now have a manager who keeps Harry Kane in the box when we have a corner, we've got a chance.

it was amazing how roy kept his job after Brazil 2014. he was appalling really

it was amazing how roy kept his job after Brazil 2014. he was appalling really

Bobby Robson would have been long sacked after Euro 88.

at least he had a world cup 1/4 final that we were cheated out of to cling on to....and he did cling on...just

Yoshi in the Japan starting line up.

Yoshi close with a headed chance.

Japan 2-1 up. Better this half with the extra man.

Fully deserved thus far by Japan.

Fair play Maya and Japan. Thought he did well up against Falcao.

Always liked Maya

Bednarek on the bench for the Poles.