World Cup 2018

[K-Hod]

A bit generous to say Rashford is better than Sterling. Compare their numbers and Rashford is nowhere near him...

To be fair, we should be playing the both of them and Kane IMO.

[chaddyrovers]

My team would be

                     Pickford

         Walker Stones Maguire

Tripper  Lingard  Dier  Ali  Rose

                  Kane Sterling

Tough on Rashford but its really good to see so much competition for places. 

Edited June 7, 2018 by chaddyrovers

[roverandout]

I just meant talent wise..if mourinho played rashford in his proper position second or first striker, he could easily get 20 goals a season

[RV Blue]

3 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

My team would be

                     Pickford

         Walker Stones Maguire

Walker  Lingard  Dier  Ali  Rose

                  Kane Sterling

Tough on Rashford but its really good to see so much competition for places. 

Two Walkers, bold. What about two Kanes up top? Would be unstoppable.

[roverandout]

19 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

Two Walkers, bold. What about two Kanes up top? Would be unstoppable.

2 sterlings..oh shit ones bad enough

[roversfan99]

56 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

My team would be

                     Pickford

         Walker Stones Maguire

Tripper  Lingard  Dier  Ali  Rose

                  Kane Sterling

Tough on Rashford but its really good to see so much competition for places. 

Henderson for Dier, otherwise id pick the same team. Better on the ball, more progressive in his passing, better positionally, more of a leader, had a far better season individually.

[JacknOry]

21 hours ago, bazza said:

My prediction for winner is........................Belgium

Decent odds for an outside bet.

[philipl]

England will have a decent world cup by recent standards until the second knock out round when they face either Brazil or Germany. Both are beatable by England but won't be.

For once unless Colombia show hidden capabilities, coming first or second in our group isn't going to matter much for getting through the first knock out round. 

I expect England v Belgium to be a draw despite Belgium being comfortably the better side.

[Mattyblue]

Great piece in The Times today talking to England players from 1954 until 2014.

Bryan Douglas talks about ‘58 and ‘62. It’s probably behind a paywall, so:

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2018 by Mattyblue

[roverandout]

3 hours ago, philipl said:

England will have a decent world cup by recent standards until the second knock out round when they face either Brazil or Germany. Both are beatable by England but won't be.

For once unless Colombia show hidden capabilities, coming first or second in our group isn't going to matter much for getting through the first knock out round. 

I expect England v Belgium to be a draw despite Belgium being comfortably the better side.

Agree on paper..dont think belgium are that much better..lukaku is overrated.had a poor domestic season at united..their defenders are injury prone..admittedly de bruyne hazard and cortouis are world class..if we can start with ali, kane, sterling and rashford we can give any team a problem

Edited June 9, 2018 by roverandout

[blueboy3333]

13 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

Great piece in The Times today talking to England players from 1954 until 2014.

Bryan Douglas talks about ‘58 and ‘62. It’s probably behind a paywall, so:

 

 

 

Thanks for that. His pride at being from Blackburn and playing for Rovers stands out.

[Mattyblue]

He has a couple of lines through the rest of the article

On Alf Ramsay:

’He didn’t know the players like Walter Winterbottom, he was a bit naive at first. To be honest, the lads took the piss out of him, although he obviously learnt quick’

On wages:

’’I went from £14 to £17 to £20 a week. Then Jimmy Hill got involved. I went to a function with Jimmy McIllroy, who told me Burnley were offering him £50. ‘Bloody hell Jimmy’, I said. ‘How are you going to spend 50 quid in Burnley?’.

[Norbert Rassragr]

I think England will do better than the last few tournaments. Southgate has not made a tit of himself yet, and it seems that there are fewer egos than the last few squads. And by better I mean actually competing in the group games and probably getting through rather than losing to Tunisia 4-2.

[philipl]

Brilliant piece on Douglas.

Was enjoying my early Saturday morning walk and realised the World Cup starts five days from now- zero buzz or evidence of it. Not seen any adverts or merchandising relating to it. Ok only been in five countries recently and all did not qualify but still...

Tried another thought experiment and realised that this is the first World Cup I have been old enough to know about such things (ie since 1962) that I know nobody going to the World Cup to watch it from the stands (as opposed to watching from the subs bench...).

 

 

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, roverandout said:

Agree on paper..dont think belgium are that much better..lukaku is overrated.had a poor domestic season at united..their defenders are injury prone..admittedly de bruyne hazard and cortouis are world class..if we can start with ali, kane, sterling and rashford we can give any team a problem

I dont think you can fit all 4 of them in the same team. Its Sterling or Rashford and for me, Sterling is a more complete player off the back of a superb season.

[speeeeeeedie]

5 hours ago, philipl said:

England will have a decent world cup by recent standards until the second knock out round when they face either Brazil or Germany. Both are beatable by England but won't be.

For once unless Colombia show hidden capabilities, coming first or second in our group isn't going to matter much for getting through the first knock out round. 

I expect England v Belgium to be a draw despite Belgium being comfortably the better side.

England definitely have the attacking talent to beat teams, but shakiness and inexperience elsewhere will be their undoing. I'm with the majority opinion on here that Southgate will pick 2 from Sterling, Rashford, and Alli to play behind Kane. I think Sterling is in; he's played well all season, and has a World Cup under his belt. Rashford is dynamic, but Alli plays well with Kane. 

Colombia won more games at the last World Cup than all their previous appearances combined. 

[joey_big_nose]

5 hours ago, Norbert Rassragr said:

I think England will do better than the last few tournaments. Southgate has not made a tit of himself yet, and it seems that there are fewer egos than the last few squads. And by better I mean actually competing in the group games and probably getting through rather than losing to Tunisia 4-2.

I feel the same way, but then I felt the same way a week before the tournament every time England have qualified. Always seems like things are looking up going into the finals then you get kicked in the nuts! 

I will say this though, much as I think Allardyce is a very very good manager and gets too much stick, I am happy he got the boot so we could adopt  an attacking setup. If Sam was in charge we would be grinding it out with 451. At least we should - win or lose - be entertaining to watch under Southgate 

[Audax]

Boy, some people don't miss a chance to stick it to England. Don't count me among them.

[chaddyrovers]

This is being reported as England Starting 11 for the 1st game

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/6486113/england-marcus-rashford-world-cup-starting-xi-tunisia/

[Norbert Rassragr]

I can't see Sterling as a conventional forward or number 10. He can be a bit selfish and over estimate his shooting ability. He's more of a winger, whereas Rashord is a forward made to play as a winger at Man Utd.

[JacknOry]

2 hours ago, Audax said:

Boy, some people don't miss a chance to stick it to England. Don't count me among them.

Some poeple dont miss a chance to defend gun laws in the US despite kids getting killed....

[speeeeeeedie]

 

2 hours ago, chaddyrovers said:

This is being reported as England Starting 11 for the 1st game

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/6486113/england-marcus-rashford-world-cup-starting-xi-tunisia/

For those who didn't click;

                     Pickford

         Walker Stones Maguire

Tripper       Henderson         Rose

      Lingard   Sterling    Alli

                        Kane

I can justify Rashford being sub. He won't complain, and will cause havoc when he comes on. I didn't see the friendlies so don't know how England played with only one holding midfielder. My impression was that England would play with 2 covering the back 3, with Dier being in for another attacker.

My worry in that team is Trippier. Could Lingard do Trippier's job, and have Dier in there too?

[philipl]

So this looks like Everton, Spuds, Citeh, Leicester, Spuds, Liverpool, Spuds, Manc, Citeh, Spuds, Spuds.

Good for making chips from.

[Atko's Engine]

4 hours ago, speeeeeeedie said:

 

For those who didn't click;

                     Pickford

         Walker Stones Maguire

Tripper       Henderson         Rose

      Lingard   Sterling    Alli

                        Kane

I can justify Rashford being sub. He won't complain, and will cause havoc when he comes on. I didn't see the friendlies so don't know how England played with only one holding midfielder. My impression was that England would play with 2 covering the back 3, with Dier being in for another attacker.

My worry in that team is Trippier. Could Lingard do Trippier's job, and have Dier in there too?

Tripper worries me too; I just can't see him staying on his feet long enough to make a lasting impression... ?

[chaddyrovers]

Tripper deffo does not worry me one bit. Dont see why ppl are so negative. 

I agree with the team 100 percent. Very tough on.Rashford but that football