World Cup 2026

[Stripey McStripe Shirt]

3 minutes ago, 64saint said:

I think that was called a realty check

I thought it was called a reality check. 

[egg]

10 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Where's Henderson for the experience. 

Taking a squad place from a player who merited out. Palmer, Foden or Gibbs - White would all have made a difference tonight.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

16 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I've never heard of half these players. 

Partly because we've not been in the PL and partly because some of them play overseas. That Kane bloke, Bellingham and now Gordon don't play in the UK. Anderson and Rogers could be anyone though. 🙂

 

[Baird of the land]

Why did they not bring Toney/Watkins if not using them in a game like that

Edited 19 hours ago by Baird of the land

[AlexLaw76]

Is it not coming home, then?

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, Stripey McStripe Shirt said:

I thought it was called a reality check. 

I think if you face a defensive fortress, it really is a realty check. 🙂

[saintant]

It's a laugh really listening to Rooney saying what England should and shouldn't do yet he proved to be shite as a manager 🙂

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Is it not coming home, then?

Do you want to win the Trump cup anyway?

[SNSUN]

1 minute ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Is it not coming home, then?

No. But if we beat Panama, yes. But if we end up playing Scotland, yes. But if we play anyone good, no.

[AlexLaw76]

Hydration breaks seem needed

#playerwelfare

[Sheaf Saint]

1 minute ago, saintant said:

It's a laugh really listening to Rooney saying what England should and shouldn't do yet he proved to be shite as a manager 🙂

His players probably couldn't bear to listen to him either. 

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

Why did they not bring Toney/Watkins if not using them in a game like that

With service from the wings like we have, would there be any point having 2 up top?

[saintant]

Thought Rogers looked more effective than Bellingham.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Just now, saintant said:

It's a laugh really listening to Rooney saying what England should and shouldn't do yet he proved to be shite as a manager 🙂

I only caught a second earlier to hear "more quality" was needed. Such tactical insight, is why they make Emma Hayes and her test card blackboard look like a genius.

[SNSUN]

We can only hope Saka's achilles gets better quick. 

[AlexLaw76]

1 minute ago, egg said:

With service from the wings like we have, would there be any point having 2 up top?

Gordon offered little/nothing and Madueke is shyte

Saka offered so much more

 

Edited 19 hours ago by AlexLaw76

[AlexLaw76]

Anyway, result matters not.

Spence was the first Muslim to start in the World Cup for England - that is the real winner here

[AlexLaw76]

The biggest crime of the night was not Madueke or Gordon phoning it in, it was Micah Richards' jacket.

My christ

[John Boy Saint]

3 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

The biggest crime of the night was not Madueke or Gordon phoning it in, it was Micah Richards' jacket.

My christ

Looks like a waiter in an Indian restaurant 

[Suhari]

16 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

A fair result.

Ghana got it past Pickford twice. England hit the post and Kane thumped it over.

There was a bit more intensity when Saka came on. But overall, nothing suggesting they had worked on ideas to break an opponent down.

This. Awful.

Isn't that the point of the game?

[benjii]

7 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Anyway, result matters not.

Spence was the first Muslim to start in the World Cup for England - that is the real winner here

Wrong. It was Paul Inceshallah. 

[AlexLaw76]

 

[saintant]

Fine margins. If the normally reliable Harry Kane smashes into the net instead of over the bar we win and everyone is reasonably happy.

[qwertyell]

Southgate would've been buried for that performance.

I don't know who Barcelona's head of recruitment is, but spending £80m on Anthony Gordon, who couldn't dribble past a cadaver, is probably a war crime. 

Konsa definitely should've been penalised for a blatant foul in the box - and I'm not sure how Pickford got away with cleaning out a Ghana guy when he was going through. 

Could really have lost that. 

Edited 19 hours ago by qwertyell

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

And Trent 

He can't defend, haven't you heard?

Unlike Reese James, who can't defend or attack. 

[Saint_clark]

38 minutes ago, egg said:

Taking a squad place from a player who merited out. Palmer, Foden or Gibbs - White would all have made a difference tonight.

Suggesting that Foden would have been there on merit is a joke within itself.

[IronCitySaint]

On the train back from the match. Shit stadium, no atmosphere, pissing rain, massive queues everywhere, half and half scarf tourists and the worst match I have seen since Will Still. All a bargain at $1000 a ticket. Really wish I hadn't bothered with it all. And, how did Kane miss that sitter? Ghana celebrated like they won the world cup but their players spent more time rolling around on the ground than on their feet.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

I had wondered if they would shake Partey's hand (I only turned it on at kick off)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cg4w21g45zyo

[skintsaint]

54 minutes ago, qwertyell said:

and I'm not sure how Pickford got away with cleaning out a Ghana guy when he was going through. 

The Ghana guy cleaned Pickford out to be fair. The player followed Pickford rather than the ball and collided into him.

Konsa challenge was a foul I thought, surprised it wasn't looked at.

[SNSUN]

Well this is shit too. Modric is nothing like the player he used to be. Sad to see. 

Ok he'll probably go on to be player of the tournament now ive said that. So far though...

[Gloucester Saint]

7 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

The Ghana guy cleaned Pickford out to be fair. The player followed Pickford rather than the ball and collided into him.

Konsa challenge was a foul I thought, surprised it wasn't looked at.

My reaction live was ‘that’s going to be a penalty’ and surprised although not amazed it wasn’t given.

Saw the replay and thought ‘I must have got it wrong as they never referred it to VAR’ and it was quite blatant that Konsa got nowhere near the ball!

It was a horrible game, Kane missed at the sitter at the end, but it could have been far worse. 

[Osvaldorama]

Really poor. Disappointed in Tuchel, we needed technical players that could break down a low block. Instead we aimlessly crossed it to no one.

 

What made it even more special was the interview with Stormzy, who, after being given the job of voicing England’s pre-match hype video, proceeded to say he supported Ghana. Special times

Edited 17 hours ago by Osvaldorama

[whelk]

6 hours ago, IronCitySaint said:

On the train back from the match. Shit stadium, no atmosphere, pissing rain, massive queues everywhere, half and half scarf tourists and the worst match I have seen since Will Still. All a bargain at $1000 a ticket. Really wish I hadn't bothered with it all. And, how did Kane miss that sitter? Ghana celebrated like they won the world cup but their players spent more time rolling around on the ground than on their feet.

Fair play for making the effort. Commentators keep mentioning electric atmospheres in grounds but so often camera pans to fans filming ion phones. I I am genuinely surprised that so many are stumping up for tickets but guess every country has a large community in the US. Assume you re there for Panama game too?

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

7 hours ago, egg said:

Taking a squad place from a player who merited out. Palmer, Foden or Gibbs - White would all have made a difference tonight.

Yes, good point. 

Complete waste of a squad place.

Dont get me wrong, bring Henderson as part of the coaching team if he wants that but not as a player.

Ridiculous really. 

[JohnnyShearer2.0]

6 hours ago, qwertyell said:

He can't defend, haven't you heard?

Unlike Reese James, who can't defend or attack. 

Nah, Reece James is top notch when he is on it.

[egg]

2 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Yes, good point. 

Complete waste of a squad place.

Dont get me wrong, bring Henderson as part of the coaching team if he wants that but not as a player.

Ridiculous really. 

Yep. Tuchel pushed James onto the middle when Rice went off against Croatia rather than bringing Henderson on, and I'd hazard a guess O'Reilly would get that role ahead of Henderson as well. Just a pointless pick. 

[egg]

4 minutes ago, JohnnyShearer2.0 said:

Nah, Reece James is top notch when he is on it.

Yep. I don't get the criticism of him. Excellent player, and actually a very able CM too. 

[Whitey Grandad]

6 hours ago, skintsaint said:

The Ghana guy cleaned Pickford out to be fair. The player followed Pickford rather than the ball and collided into him.

Konsa challenge was a foul I thought, surprised it wasn't looked at.

Offside

[AlexLaw76]

It is remarkable that Madueke is a starting winger in a system that is reliant on our wingers being good.

Fucking hell. All pray for Saka 

[Sheaf Saint]

13 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Offside

It wasn't.

[Turkish]

8 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Anyway, result matters not.

Spence was the first Muslim to start in the World Cup for England - that is the real winner here

Surely one of the greatest nights in African football history wasn’t it? Will inspire a generation 

[John Boy Saint]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Yep. I don't get the criticism of him. Excellent player, and actually a very able CM too. 

Bloke was a hologram last night - I had to check to see if I had missed he had been replaced already when Anderson was subbed off. 

[Whitey Grandad]

4 hours ago, Sheaf Saint said:

It wasn't.

True. The offside came after the challenge.

It was a very risky challenge but for me not enough for a penalty.  The Ghanaian player tucks both his legs up and had a pancake landing.

Edited 7 hours ago by Whitey Grandad

[egg]

23 minutes ago, John Boy Saint said:

Bloke was a hologram last night - I had to check to see if I had missed he had been replaced already when Anderson was subbed off. 

We were watching different games. He defended well, got forward, and stepped inside loads to give space to Madueke. 

[rallyboy]

A Premier League ref would have had a field day with that match, penalty, cards all over the place, but that ref last night set a high bar for fouls.

He wasn't going to let the challenge on Eze go in the build-up and then give a penalty straight after for less.

 

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, egg said:

We were watching different games. He defended well, got forward, and stepped inside loads to give space to Madueke. 

I agree thought he was decent. Madueke was absolute shite though as he was v Croatia in a different sort of game, i dont get it with him. Gordon and Spence as you said were complete wank too. Our width was so poor last night which is one of the way to stretch a defence that defends deep, or a low block as the pricks now call it.

[Window Cleaner]

8 hours ago, Osvaldorama said:

Really poor. Disappointed in Tuchel, we needed technical players that could break down a low block. Instead we aimlessly crossed it to no one.

 

What made it even more special was the interview with Stormzy, who, after being given the job of voicing England’s pre-match hype video, proceeded to say he supported Ghana. Special times

England need to play the first team from the start every game and not what the french call the "hairdressers". I doubt the ability of Konsa and I don't see why James is even in the squad.

[AlexLaw76]

Barcelona paid how much for Gordon?

May not be at all fair, as Spence hung him out to dry a bit IMO. 

[Osvaldorama]

Gordon genuinely looks like a lower half PL or even championship player to me. 
 

Nothing special about him at all. I wouldn’t swap him for Leo. Baffled barca signed him and baffled he played last night.
 

I get it in games where it will be tight, he can press, harry and break on the counter until Rashford can come on against tired defenders. But I don’t get him starting against a low block. 

[wild-saint]

My thoughts on the game were if we are needing a German manager then the only one I would have chosen is currently testing out his new meta Sunglasses.