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World Cup Discussion Thread - Day 11 (24 June)

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
I bet Danny Rose regrets telling his family not to come over. No problems at all.

It's not over yet and Russia are still in it.

Does make you wonder if the Russian authorities have "removed" the hooligans or whether the hooligans are connected to the authorities.....
 

cwy21

Well-Known Member
May 11, 2009
9,448
7,929
Does make you wonder if the Russian authorities have "removed" the hooligans or whether the hooligans are connected to the authorities.....
I think it has more to do with knowing that making Russia and Putin look bad on the biggest stage will lead to very bad consequences. They know everything returns to normal in August.
 

mark87

Well-Known Member
Nov 29, 2004
36,031
114,061
It's not over yet and Russia are still in it.

Does make you wonder if the Russian authorities have "removed" the hooligans or whether the hooligans are connected to the authorities.....

Hooligans connected to the authorities. Putin told the heads of the ultras there is to be no trouble and so they haven't done anything.
 

steve

Well-Known Member
Oct 21, 2003
3,503
1,767
That was a very entertaining game. Japan were better in a footballing sense, Senegal stronger and more physically imposing. Draw was probably a fair result but if Japan had a better keeper and striker they’d have won that game.
They play a decent brand of pass and move footy into feet and Kag is still a class act, you're right about the keeper and up front, but they've done well considering
 

ghjk_91

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
767
2,504
James was insanely good at times - surprised he didn't get poleaxed after some of the showboating.

Colombia are great to watch in that mood.
 

thinktank

Hmmm...
Sep 28, 2004
45,893
68,893


XnOyn3t.jpg
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Southgate recognises some of those issues

BBC Sport: World Cup 2018: Gareth Southgate 'didn't particularly like' England performance against Panama.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44595251

It's good we can be critical and it wasn't an all star performance the result suguests but in context of how other teams are performing at the moment in this toury only a handful of teams are better than England, defiantly things to work on but lots of positives signs.


As I've said previously, lots of the contenders have issues, but all those teams have a generic ability to play some proper "football", even against decent teams, which England just don't have. Even many of the "second/third tier" teams have a better endemic ethos than England, who haven't played anything discernibly described as "football" for about 20 years. Maybe they won't need it, Portugal didn't two years ago, but even them Portugal had some kind of midfield, a couple of wiley old defenders and a narcissistic genius totem.

This England team has a refreshing energy to it, there is a good spirit about it, Southgate has decided on a shape/format and has them comfortable in it, and it does have a couple of players capable of moments. But they are miles from the quality of collective individual or performance level of the main contenders. If England are to go far in this WC, they are going to need others to keep fucking up and a big chunk of luck.

I think there's more to be excited about going forward, when some of the even younger players like Sancho, Foden, Edwards, Ejaria, Maitland-Niles, Onomah (if he develops on), KWP, Dasilva, Roberts etc. come through and start to give England real creative options. But England have got to start playing some proper football by default, you can see this starting to happen to a degree at youth level, largely thanks to the club academies (Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs, Southampton, Fulham etc) but I'm really not sure Southgate, as cuddly as he is, is the man to do that, he's a man of good intentions, but I'm not sure he's the full package, a bit like Roberto Martinez if you like, talks the game better than he coaches it.
 

THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
If it was Germany or Spain and not England people would be praising them about how they’d thrashed a team without getting out of first gear.
 

Pegspurs

New Member
Jun 20, 2018
11
17
I notice Liverpool loving Murphy praised Henderson to the rafters saying Southgate can justify his pick of H over Dier!!

I thought Henderson was pretty average?
 

Bobbins

SC's 14th Sexiest Male 2008
May 5, 2005
21,548
45,031
Dele shouldn't play against Belgium. Just rest him for the knockouts.

I'd go with this:

Pickford
Stones Dier Maguire
Trippier ------Henderson---Delph------- Rose
Lingard
Kane --- Rashford



Dele isn't currently good enough to get back into this team.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
If it was Germany or Spain and not England people would be praising them about how they’d thrashed a team without getting out of first gear.

If it was Germany or Spain, people would know they hadn't gotten out of first gear because they've actually seen gears 2, 3, 4 and 5. And not just against the shittest teams.
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Just finished Poland v Columbia. What a fantastic game that was. Proper World Cup game, fantastic atmosphere, two sides going at it and Columbia playing some scintillating football. Feel a bit for Poland, who gave a lot to the game, but just came up against one of the best team performances of the competition so far by Columbia, who were just ferocious all over the pitch.
 

WiganSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
15,974
32,682
Dele isn't currently good enough to get back into this team.
Disagree with that. This is an England team full of exuberance, but don't mistake that for an England team having intelligence and craft. Alli's the only player we've got who can do that in the squad. I never used to rate him as a traditional number 10, but in the last year he's come on leaps and bounds in terms of cutting out the silly bollocks and finding productive and incisive passes. He's no Eriksen, but he's got a lot more genuine creativity than the likes of Lingard and RLC.

You might say he was poor v Tunisia but he was causing them problems until he picked up that injury. Never looked the same after that.

It's crucial we get him back fit if we want to go far. He's probably the second best player in this team.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
Dele isn't currently good enough to get back into this team.

Dele walks back into this side if he's fit especially as it gets the best out of Kane, their link up could be key to breaking better teams down later on in the tournament.
 

Gassin's finest

C'est diabolique
May 12, 2010
37,353
87,816
Disagree with that. This is an England team full of exuberance, but don't mistake that for an England team having intelligence and craft. Alli's the only player we've got who can do that in the squad. I never used to rate him as a traditional number 10, but in the last year he's come on leaps and bounds in terms of cutting out the silly bollocks and finding productive and incisive passes. He's no Eriksen, but he's got a lot more genuine creativity than the likes of Lingard and RLC.

You might say he was poor v Tunisia but he was causing them problems until he picked up that injury. Never looked the same after that.

It's crucial we get him back fit if we want to go far. He's probably the second best player in this team.
Dele walks back into this side if he's fit especially as it gets the best out of Kane, their link up could be key to breaking better teams down later on in the tournament.
I agree entirely re Dele and his quality compared to the rest of that midfield. But you know that he's lost his place in the eyes of Southgate and the average fan. He won't drop Sterling, despite utilising him incorrectly, and Lingaard is now flavour of the month.
 

tiger666

Large Member
Jan 4, 2005
27,978
82,214
I agree entirely re Dele and his quality compared to the rest of that midfield. But you know that he's lost his place in the eyes of Southgate and the average fan. He won't drop Sterling, despite utilising him incorrectly, and Lingaard is now flavour of the month.

He takes his place back from RLC who did nothing yesterday.
 
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