World Cup 2018

[AllRoverAsia]

31 minutes ago, pick32 said:

People actually worried about Falcao? From what I’ve seen of him for UTD and Chelsea he would struggle to make our squad he is past it. Glad we finished second and there should be no excuses for not reaching the semi finals.

Only Croatia and Belgium have turned up so far.

You tempt fate. If Pickford pushes a ball out towards Falcao he will score without blinking. Falcao has been effective this WC and scored a beaut already.

[Ewood Ace]

1 hour ago, pick32 said:

People actually worried about Falcao? From what I’ve seen of him for UTD and Chelsea he would struggle to make our squad he is past it. Glad we finished second and there should be no excuses for not reaching the semi finals.

Only Croatia and Belgium have turned up so far.

Falcao is a different player now. When he was at United he had only just come back from an ACL and his time at Chelsea was blighted by injury. Now he is fit & has his confidence back he is not far of the Falcao of 2010-2013 although I don't think he will ever hit those heights again as he has lost a yard of pace. The only striker in the England squad better than him is Kane and at his peak Falcao was as good as him.

And I would say Uruguay have turned up 3 wins from 3 no goals conceded from their rock solid defence and Suarez and Cavani both on the score sheet. At the moment they would be my favourites to win it.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Ewood Ace

[AAK]

It's a funny one, I don't think we have really exceeded anything yet. Look at it this way, if we lose against Columbia which is very much possible, we will have been knocked out having won 2 against two mediocre teams and lost two against two decent sides. Wouldn't have been a great tournament really.

[Mattyblue]

England have consistently put teams at Tunisia and Panama's level to the sword in qualifying for years. Yes, we played with a bit more attacking flair and Southgate's been great at getting the press eating out of his hands, but Colombia will be the first decent test he's had.

[philipl]

Belgium Reserves were a bit too much...

[Husky]

5 hours ago, AllRoverAsia said:

Other teams also learnt that Pickford has major flaws which will not be corrected during this WC. Colombia will pile in to follow up on every shot expecting a push out to feet. He did the same when playing for England youth.

 

Just watched extended highlights back in the cold sober light of HD day. I thought he'd let a dodgy one in when I first saw it (though thought he might have been unobviously getting us in second spot) . . . but he really is pretty bad. I don't know what the hell his goalkeeping coaches have been doing (apart from getting money for jam), but he seriously shouldn't be pushing almost every shot back into play for hungry strikers . . and what the hell is with that trying to save with the wrong hand about?

It's far too late now. But one wonders if The Burnley lad would have been a better choice. We're obviously seeing the negative influx of all the foreign players on the Premier league (as predicted by a lot of people many years ago) and the GK position highlights this more than anything. All the keepers they talk about as being 'top' are all foreigners these days and anyone English is an England shoe-in if they play for a top half Premiership team. Long gone are the days when the good foreign teams would often have a dodgy goalkeeper weakness (like the classic ones that often flaps at crosses/has a weakness in the air).

I expect Colombia already knew about England's potential GK weakness and the Belgium game just further highlighted this. I expect ColOmbia will try and shoot at every available opportunity so our midfield better be on the ball with the closing down.

I do hope it's not gonna be YET MORE dodgy WC goalkeeping (Seaman and Shilton's lead boots and Hart's chocolate hand etc.) that is going to help send us home. On paper he's the worst of the first choice goalkeepers we've had for a while.

Edited June 29, 2018 by Husky

[roversfan99]

Just now, Husky said:

Just watched extended highlights back in the cold sober light of HD day. I thought he'd let a dodgy one in when I first saw it (though thought he might have been unobviously getting us in second spot) . . . but he really is pretty bad. I don't know what the hell his goalkeeping coaches have been doing (apart from getting money for jam), but he seriously shouldn't be pushing almost every shot back into play for hungry strikers . . and what the hell is with that trying to save with the wrong hand about?

It's far too late now. But one wonders if The Burnley lad would have been a better choice. We're obviously seeing the negative influx of all the foreign players on the Premier league (as predicted by a lot of people many years ago) and the GK position highlights this more than anything. All the keepers they talk about as being 'top' are all foreigners these days and anyone English is an England shoe-in if they play for a top half Premiership team. Long gone are the days when the good foreign teams would often have a dodgy goalkeeper weakness (like the classic ones that often flaps at crosses/has aweakness in the air).

I expect Colombia already knew about England's potential GK weakness and the Belgium game just further highlighted this. I expect ColOmbia will try and shoot at every available opportunity so our midfield better be on the ball with the closing down.

I do hope it's not gonna be YET MORE dodgy WC goalkeeping that is going to help send us home. On paper he's the worst of the first choice goalkeepers we've had for a while.

I do feel that Pickford is our biggest weak point. But you mention goalkeepers; Colombias goalkeeper is Ospina (possibly Arsenals third choice keeper with Leno signing) who is very small and very susceptible to a mistake.

[SBlue]

I'm a bit dumbfounded at some of these comments to be honest, England supporters in general need a reality check about how good we really are, especially at the moment.

I like Southgate, he's flushed out a lot of ageing bigheads and put a young, exciting team together that have a good attitude and team spirit - if they aren't good enough to beat Colombia then so be it, I would just like to see us go out fighting and playing with freedom.

I would hate for him to get the boot and for us to start all this bollocks over again with someone else.

Do you think that the Colombian press and fans will be demanding heads roll if we beat them? Perhaps they might, but what have we ever done to suggest that we are better than the Mexicos, Colombias and Croatias of the world? So why do we EXPECT we should beat them?

It's been a cracking World Cup and although I'd be disappointed if we went out in the last 16, I wouldn't be angry. We could learn a lot from other countries who are proud of participating within the top 16 in the world and don't kill their teams or chances with misplaced and arrogant over-expectations.

That Loftus-Cheek is proper wank though.

Edited June 29, 2018 by S8 & Blue

[BR28]

Stumbled across this video last night. I think it perfectly reflects the positive impact that football has all over the planet, as embodied by the World Cup. Where's the craziest place that you guys have met a fellow Rovers fan? Anyone got a photo of a Blackburn shirt in a cool location abroad? 

[AAK]

9 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

I'm a bit dumbfounded at some of these comments to be honest, England supporters in general need a reality check about how good we really are, especially at the moment.

I like Southgate, he's flushed out a lot of ageing bigheads and put a young, exciting team together that have a good attitude and team spirit - if they aren't good enough to beat Colombia then so be it, I would just like to see us go out fighting and playing with freedom.

I would hate for him to get the boot and for us to start all this bollocks over again with someone else.

Do you think that the Colombian press and fans will be demanding heads roll if we beat them? Perhaps they might, but what have we ever done to suggest that we are better than the Mexicos, Colombias and Croatias of the world? So why do we EXPECT we should beat them?

It's been a cracking World Cup and although I'd be disappointed if we went out in the last 16, I wouldn't be angry. We could learn a lot from other countries who are proud of participating within the top 16 in the world and don't kill their teams or chances with misplaced and arrogant over-expectations.

That Loftus-Cheek is proper wank though.

I certainly wouldn't be expecting us to be any of those sides, mate. I fully expect Columbia to turn us over. I didn't think we would beat Tunisia in the first game (we only just did).

[Mike E]

Personally think that it's just about seeing how far we can go now and enjoying the ride.

We have a mediocre team and got out of the groups. For me the expectation has been met. Getting to the QFs and beyond is exceeding that.

I feel it's short-sighted to EXPECT QFs from a team that has been poor-to-shite in tournament football for twelve years now (some of that containing far better players than now).

As for sacking Southgate? Laughable and even pathetic.

[Husky]

1 hour ago, BR28 said:

Stumbled across this video last night. I think it perfectly reflects the positive impact that football has all over the planet, as embodied by the World Cup. Where's the craziest place that you guys have met a fellow Rovers fan? Anyone got a photo of a Blackburn shirt in a cool location abroad? 

Not a Rovers fan, but equally as bizarre.  I was recently up at point Dume on the Californian coast hoping to do a bit of early evening whale watching and I met 2 Cali girls one of which whose parents were (are) from Burnley of all places. Haha, and she was actually going to visit them the following week. I did shudder thinking about the massive difference between exclusive Malibu California with it's affluent houses and beautiful coastline and weather . . .  and the er . . .Burnley.

What made it slightly more Bizarre was that apart from a small group doing some professional wedding photography, a dog walker and 'Malibu Rock guy' (another story) they were the only other 2 people up there at that time. I was the only 'tourist'.

By the way, the girl was HOT, one could say Cali had taken the Burnley right out of her. She even had 5 digits on each hand and no Adam's apple (the 2 things I check first these days).

 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2018 by Husky

[Ewood Ace]

4 minutes ago, Mike E said:

Personally think that it's just about seeing how far we can go now and enjoying the ride.

We have a mediocre team and got out of the groups. For me the expectation has been met. Getting to the QFs and beyond is exceeding that.

I feel it's short-sighted to EXPECT QFs from a team that has been poor-to-shite in tournament football for twelve years now (some of that containing far better players than now).

As for sacking Southgate? Laughable and even pathetic.

But Southgate rested players to give us an easier quarter final in order to get to the semi final. If he had played our strongest side last night we would have had a much better chance at beating a weakened Belgium team, which would have meant we would've topped the group and had an easier last 16 game against Japan instead he looked further ahead and now we have Colombia. 

[SBlue]

12 minutes ago, Ewood Ace said:

But Southgate rested players to give us an easier quarter final in order to get to the semi final. If he had played our strongest side last night we would have had a much better chance at beating a weakened Belgium team, which would have meant we would've topped the group and had an easier last 16 game against Japan instead he looked further ahead and now we have Colombia. 

Personally, I don't see it that way.

He rested the key players in order to give us a better chance in the last 16 game, no matter who it was against.

The game was of little consequence really and it would have been a gamble to play Kane et al.

We were still going to have to play a difficult knockout game against a decent side no matter the result - there are no 'easier' games in a World Cup and the idea that Southgate deliberately lost the match is ridiculous.

[Roverthechimp]

This idea of an easier route to the final - might want to look at just which teams Sweden have dispensed with... (If we get past Colombia)

[speeeeeeedie]

10 minutes ago, S8 & Blue said:

Personally, I don't see it that way.

He rested the key players in order to give us a better chance in the last 16 game, no matter who it was against.

The game was of little consequence really and it would have been a gamble to play Kane et al.

We were still going to have to play a difficult knockout game against a decent side no matter the result - there are no 'easier' games in a World Cup and the idea that Southgate deliberately lost the match is ridiculous.

I'm with you. Southgate didn't rest players to try to finish 2nd. He did it to give his key men time to recuperate, and the others in the squad valuable World Cup match time.

Every game is hard. As a fan I'd rather not play Brazil and France, but England's record against Sweden and Switzerland isn't great either.

All concentration should be on Colombia. They are a very handy side.

[Audax]

Japan may not be as strong as Colombia but Japan has planning and methodology as to where they just might upset that more vaunted opponent. I guess any team at this level is a threat... EXCEPT.... I don't see Russia threatening Spain at all.  Denmark don't look to strong BUT.... I've seen teams like them before, they could probably draw about half of the final 16 teams.  Looks are deceptive.

[Husky]

I'll become Mexican if they beat Brazil

[Rover_Shaun]

1 hour ago, Husky said:

I'll become Mexican if they beat Brazil

Is that some kind of pubic design?

[Audax]

Colombia was a dark horse last time, and wasn't that Chile a very good team. Too bad, they didn't make it.

[Baz]

11 hours ago, RevidgeBlue said:

I have to say I think you are in cloud cuckoo land.  All this talk of last eight and semis is completely deluded imo. To get that far you have to win the last 16 game and if we'd won the group last night we'd have had a very winnable game against Japan.

Instead by trying to be smart we've landed a very difficult tie against Colombia which I Don't expect us to win and I expect us to be coming home Tuesday night. 

We only needed a point to top the group and ensure Japan ffs. We couldn't even manage that against Belgium's reserve side who weren't particularly going for it themselves but who were still far too good for us on the night.

If we do get knocked out Tuesday night I hope Southgate is sacked immediately upon his return. It's bad enough getting knocked out trying your best let alone being eliminated trying to be clever  and falsely manipulate your route through the competition.

Id say the one in cloud cuckoo land is the guy who thinks we have a very difficult tie, but wants the manager sacking if we lose it.

Last night's game means zilch now, as for momentum, losing may well do more good as the team get a bit of realism and realise they need to up their game - a bit like those idiots who thought beating Panama 6-1 was some kind of indication that we are going to win the world cup, but now our reserves narrowly lost to Belgium reserves in a friendly its the end of the world.

[47er]

Don't know if anyone has posted this, apologies if so but 3 ex-Rovers selected for this World Cup---Jones, Kalinc and N'Zonzi. Kalinic got sent home before it began unfortunately, N'Zonzi played in France's third game.

Echoes of what we were.

[roversfan99]

Just now, 47er said:

Don't know if anyone has posted this, apologies if so but 3 ex-Rovers selected for this World Cup---Jones, Kalinc and N'Zonzi. Kalinic got sent home before it began unfortunately, N'Zonzi played in France's third game.

Echoes of what we were.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/june/six-ex-rovers-all-set-for-world-cup-participation/

6 in total.

[RevidgeBlue]

5 hours ago, Baz said:

Id say the one in cloud cuckoo land is the guy who thinks we have a very difficult tie, but wants the manager sacking if we lose it.

Last night's game means zilch now, as for momentum, losing may well do more good as the team get a bit of realism and realise they need to up their game - a bit like those idiots who thought beating Panama 6-1 was some kind of indication that we are going to win the world cup, but now our reserves narrowly lost to Belgium reserves in a friendly its the end of the world.

It's not the fact our reserves lost to the Belgian reserves per se, Southgate was probably entitled to make some changes but a modest 3 or 4 changes at most and giving Kane an hour to keep him revved up and hopefully scoring would have probably sufficed to enable us to get the minimum point we needed, top the group, keep the momentum going, and land Japan in the last 16.

You seem to be completely incapable of grasping why I'm so hopping mad about this, for me we had every chance of reaching the quarter finals, now because of all the shenanigans and landing ourselves a far more difficult game in the last 16. I think It's far more likely than not we'll go out at that stage instead.

I accept that if we do beat Colombia convincingly  then navigate the quarter final then Southgate suddenly looks like a genius and I'd have to come on here and say it worked, but by the same token, will you come on and admit he made a catastrophic miscalculation if we get knocked out?

Ironically one of the changes I would have made he didn't. I would definitely have given the back up keeper 90 minutes or even both of them 45 mins each. We Don't want another 1970 Banks/Bonetti type situation if anything happens to Pickford.

[RevidgeBlue]

12 hours ago, Mike E said:

Personally think that it's just about seeing how far we can go now and enjoying the ride.

We have a mediocre team and got out of the groups. For me the expectation has been met. Getting to the QFs and beyond is exceeding that.

I feel it's short-sighted to EXPECT QFs from a team that has been poor-to-shite in tournament football for twelve years now (some of that containing far better players than now).

As for sacking Southgate? Laughable and even pathetic.

I accept Southgate won't be sacked regardless of results but shenanigans about trying to manipulate the draw aside, what actually qualifies Southgate to carry on IF we get knocked out by Colombia?

We'll have played 2 games under tournament conditions against half decent oppositionand will have lost them both. Other than that his record at senior level consists of relegating Boro.