World Cup 2026

[saintant]

Different manager, same old England. Didn't have a clue how to break down a team defending deep. Usual slow build up with centre backs and full backs playing the ball between themselves rather than attempting to drive forward into space because we feared their pace on the counter. Not until desperation crept in as the clock ticked down did we start to take risks and it nearly paid off. 80 minutes of pure propaganda football with not a single player willing to step up to the plate. Feel sorry for those who paid a small fortune to watch that dross but at least they didn't have to suffer the mumbling rubbish coming out of Rooney's gob.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Our centre halves play the ball too slowly & don’t break the lines. I’d have played Stones in that one, at least he can pick a pass.
 

The wingers were wank, particularly Gordon.
 

The subs did better than most  (apart from Eze), although O’Reilly really should have scored. Rice doesn’t look right to me, although BBC website made him “player” of the match. 
 

I thought it was a pen, would have been disappointed had we not got that at the other end. Also think the Pickford incident could easily have gone the other way. 
 

All in all, typical game I’ve watched England produce at multiple World Cups, possession with no urgency 

[Football Special]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

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. 

Barca signed him as he'd been learning the language on Duo Lingo and likes Spanish food 

[Wade Garrett]

Thought I was watching Southgate’s England.  Side, side, back repeat.  

Some of our players are fucking thick as pig shit.  For once, refs across the whole tournament are not being conned by players going to ground after the slightest of contact or worse, no contact.  
Yet a good few of our players continue to go down looking for a foul when they could easily carry on.  Eze is a cunt - he spent more time sat on the grass than he did on his feet.  He was by no means alone in this.

We need to improve to challenge.  Fortunately, I think we have a smart manager with decent players at his disposal.  Hopefully this was a blip.

 

[disconnect]

1 hour ago, Osvaldorama said:

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. 

I've never seen him have a particularly impressive game, but last night was embarrasingly poor. Reece James also pretty poor, and Madueke only slightly better than Gordon (he did at least beat his man a few times, but generally ran into dead ends). Is Konsa particularly good? Always looks decent but not amazing, I'd probably go Stones and Guehi (or even Maguire if he was there)!

[Secret Site Agent]

On 19/06/2026 at 19:42, Turkish said:

Don’t fancy bending that over the sink tbh 

That, me old mate Turkish, is where we differ 😁

[Miltonaggro]

On 21/06/2026 at 09:56, Lord Duckhunter said:

Proper pundits, who knew their stuff and a top presenter. No wokies, or diversity hires….Brian Moore, The Doog, Big Jack, Big Mal, Cloughie & Peter Sutcliffe. Great days….

 

 

Always thought it a shame that PS didn't get to commentate on the 82 World Cup.

[Window Cleaner]

7 minutes ago, disconnect said:

I've never seen him have a particularly impressive game, but last night was embarrasingly poor. Reece James also pretty poor, and Madueke only slightly better than Gordon (he did at least beat his man a few times, but generally ran into dead ends). Is Konsa particularly good? Always looks decent but not amazing, I'd probably go Stones and Guehi (or even Maguire if he was there)!

As I said yesterday, the problem with Madueke (by far not the only one with this) is that he only had one useful foot and it's often the wrong one at the time.

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, disconnect said:

I've never seen him have a particularly impressive game, but last night was embarrasingly poor. Reece James also pretty poor, and Madueke only slightly better than Gordon (he did at least beat his man a few times, but generally ran into dead ends). Is Konsa particularly good? Always looks decent but not amazing, I'd probably go Stones and Guehi (or even Maguire if he was there)!

did he? I cant remember him doing anything remotely decent apart from one cross midway through the second half when he got moved to the left. I know it's hipster to right footed wingers on the left and visa versa but when you're playing a packed defence cutting in is a stupid idea, you want to stretch the play, get wide, move the ball quick and open play up, not having wide players cutting into an already packed penalty area. 

[BARCELONASAINT]

Portugal beat an absolute shockingly bad Uzbekistan who are ranked 50th in the World rankings and we could only draw against a Ghana team ranked 65th! That really says it all because when the smaller nations deploy the low block tactic you really need your creative players to step forward.....unfortunately we left all of ours either sat on the bench too long or back home in England!

[Window Cleaner]

3 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

Portugal beat an absolute shockingly bad Uzbekistan who are ranked 50th in the World rankings and we could only draw against a Ghana team ranked 65th! That really says it all because when the smaller nations deploy the low block tactic you really need your creative players to step forward.....unfortunately we left all of ours either sat on the bench too long or back home in England!

Just proves that the rankings are a lot of poppycock. Depends who you play really. Ghana is a good side .

[egg]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Barcelona paid how much for Gordon?

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

Agreed. Although Gordon wasn't good, he made decent runs at times and wasn't played in (Rice was guilty, ditto against Croatia), and often was left against 2 because Spence often looked like he was playing left of a back 3 rather than a full back. Any decent movement from him would have made life easier for Gordon. 

Hopefully we'll see O'Reilly and Rashford down the left against Panama. 

And why Shaw isn't there is anyone's guess. 

[Lord Duckhunter]

18 minutes ago, BARCELONASAINT said:

Portugal beat an absolute shockingly bad Uzbekistan who are ranked 50th in the World rankings and we could only draw against a Ghana team ranked 65th! That really says it all because when the smaller nations deploy the low block tactic you really need your creative players to step forward.....unfortunately we left all of ours either sat on the bench too long or back home in England!

Ghana looked a far better outfit than Uzbekistan, who were awful defensively and pretty poor going forward.