World Cup 2018

[Audax]

3 minutes ago, Husky said:

Come on guys! Let's not piss off Emilio and Pedro.

Hilarious, I posted that elsewhere. Love it.

[joey_big_nose]

22 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

Southgate is under pressure now. We need a performance against Columbia.

I genuinely don't think he is. Expectations are low, he's got a poor selection of players. As long as we aren't embarrassed he'll get another two years easy.

The FA have done the merry go round of managers. From their perspective it's better just to stick with what they have. There's no indication spending she'd loads on a fancy manager (plus the payoffs when you sack them) actually helps you win anything .

[Baz]

7 minutes ago, joey_big_nose said:

I genuinely don't think he is. Expectations are low, he's got a poor selection of players. As long as we aren't embarrassed he'll get another two years easy.

The FA have done the merry go round of managers. From their perspective it's better just to stick with what they have. There's no indication spending she'd loads on a fancy manager (plus the payoffs when you sack them) actually helps you win anything .

It's also one of the youngest squads at the finals, and 2 weeks ago no one was talking about anything other than getting out of the group.

Time to stop the negativity and look where we are - we now have an unbelievable opportunity to play Colombia, Switzerland or Denmark to get to a world cup semi-final.

The odds of us winning have gone up dramatically after losing tonight.

[joey_big_nose]

8 hours ago, Baz said:

It's also one of the youngest squads at the finals, and 2 weeks ago no one was talking about anything other than getting out of the group.

Time to stop the negativity and look where we are - we now have an unbelievable opportunity to play Colombia, Switzerland or Denmark to get to a world cup semi-final.

The odds of us winning have gone up dramatically after losing tonight.

Hey look, I'm not saying we don't have a chance. Just that in any particular game it's 50-50 against the likes of Colombia, and maybe 25-75 against us when we play one of the big hitters like Brazil, Spain or France.

Of course we can win it - a poor Portugal team and Greece (!!) both won the Euros. It's just probability wise pretty low.

Edited June 29, 2018 by joey_big_nose

[AdamRochina]

Columbia will batter us.. Panama got through our defense a few times .. if James plays we will get smashed 

[Audax]

40 minutes ago, Baz said:

It's also one of the youngest squads at the finals, and 2 weeks ago no one was talking about anything other than getting out of the group.

Time to stop the negativity and look where we are - we now have an unbelievable opportunity to play Colombia, Switzerland or Denmark to get to a world cup semi-final.

The odds of us winning have gone up dramatically after losing tonight.

England can defeat Colombia,  Columbia only really caught fire against Poland in those last 30 minutes. No problem.

So, the winner will play Switz/Denmark. That is a bit of fortune. Switzerland would seem to be big favourites against Denmark, we will see.

 

[Audax]

I shouldn't talk down Colombia really, they got jobbed by the referee back in 2014 according to many against Brazil. I think they did.

A lot of good footy really eventually came out of that group, Japan, Colombia, Senegal and even Poland today.

 

[Baz]

1 hour ago, AdamRochina said:

Columbia will batter us.. Panama got through our defense a few times .. if James plays we will get smashed 

The feeling I have, is that for the next 2 rounds, if we play well, we will progress and if we don't play well, we still may advance because the opposition isnt that great. Colombia are decent going forward, but erratic, aging, and give you chances to score. I.e. beatable.

Get to the semis and anything can happen, but it's likely to be Spain / Croatia or possibly Russia (home nation advantage only). At that stage, we will need to play very well to progress, and in Spain's case them to be poor too.

If we get to semis, absolutely nothing to lose, exceeded expectations. 

[speeeeeeedie]

What an odd experience that game was. 

I was all in on England winning, saw the team sheet and thought the same. Yet with 10 minutes to go I was hoping that England wouldn't score as not only were England going to the softer side of the draw but I now have an afternoon of drinking to look forward to, followed by July 4th. 

The game itself was akin to a preseason friendly with players auditioning for a contract. A genuine bit of skill form Belgium won the game. I've been calling for Rose to paly ahead of Young but ironically he would have stopped Januzaj's shot as it would have been on his good side.

Rashford should have made it 1-1 though.

It's hard to say that any player was poor. I will say that Southgate played this one well. Few people knew that he was going to make wholesale changes. He kept his first 11 fresh whilst, now, letting the rest know that they must improve to get a chance.

Onward and upward.

[philipl]

If I want to watch a reserve game, I could always search for old footage of the Central League..

Brilliant move by Southgate to give a bunch of hungry professionals to stake their claim for places in the later stages of the World Cup. 

Poor Alexander-Arnold was a bag of nerves who couldn't chip a ball above grass height.

As for the rest- the performance by the subs in the fag end of the Panama game gave due warning that this bunch are neither hungry nor professional and are mostly pretty useless.

OK don't risk Kane but otherwise it should have been the winning team given another run including giving Sterling a last last last chance.

Now Colombia loom large and ominous, Belgium's reserves went 90 minutes untroubled and showed more strength in depth in Belgian football than England possess, and we are in a half of the draw which ought to be a smooth untroubled run to the Final....

 

 

 

[arbitro]

8 hours ago, roversfan99 said:

We dont deserve to get beat off Colombia, no need to overreact. Dont think there was a lack of effort, just a lack of quality. We deserve to be in the next round as much as anyone.

The first three games will count for nothing on Tuesday. If Colombia are better than us then they will deserve to beat us.

 

 

[Stuart]

7 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I genuinely don't think he is. Expectations are low, he's got a poor selection of players. As long as we aren't embarrassed he'll get another two years easy.

The FA have done the merry go round of managers. From their perspective it's better just to stick with what they have. There's no indication spending she'd loads on a fancy manager (plus the payoffs when you sack them) actually helps you win anything .

He got a massive break playing Tunisia and Panama though. That really has given him a honeymoon start.

Im a bit disappointed that he didn’t test the strength of his squad against Belgium and I guess his thinking is that his first XI is still unbeaten and fit.

I would have preferred to have played Japan than Colombia though. Not convinced about Brazil either, Sweden could be a tougher team to face.

Let’s see if we can get past a very strong looking Colombia side though.

[AllRoverAsia]

Things learnt.

Belgium B were better than England B. Better individually and better organised.

I am somewhat glad we did not play our A team against them.

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.

Dier is exactly that.

I can't think of any England 'reserve' who staked a legitimate claim for a start against Colombia and I include Rashford and Loftus Cheek in that.

Edited June 29, 2018 by AllRoverAsia

[Kamy100]

Disappointed that we did not try to win the group last night.  If we were serious about doing so then Southgate would have bought on Kane for the last 20 minutes (although I accept his point that he was worried about risking an injury).

Colombia will be a tough test.  They have some excellent players, their front four of James (if fit) Quintero (who a world star in the making) Cuadardo and Falcao will give us plenty of problems.  Sanchez and Uribe will ensure that we do not get the time and space that we did in the group stages.  Davinson Sanchez trains will Kane everyday so will know his weaknesses (equally Kane and Alli will know his).

We will need to play at best to win this anything less and they will beat us.  The other thing that Southgate has done with the team selection yesterday is pile the pressure on himself to get a result on Tuesday, if he does not then the he will get it from the fans and media, all the goodwill built up over the last few weeks will be eroded. 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

1 hour ago, philipl said:

If I want to watch a reserve game, I could always search for old footage of the Central League..

Brilliant move by Southgate to give a bunch of hungry professionals to stake their claim for places in the later stages of the World Cup. 

Poor Alexander-Arnold was a bag of nerves who couldn't chip a ball above grass height.

As for the rest- the performance by the subs in the fag end of the Panama game gave due warning that this bunch are neither hungry nor professional and are mostly pretty useless.

OK don't risk Kane but otherwise it should have been the winning team given another run including giving Sterling a last last last chance.

Now Colombia loom large and ominous, Belgium's reserves went 90 minutes untroubled and showed more strength in depth in Belgian football than England possess, and we are in a half of the draw which ought to be a smooth untroubled run to the Final....

 

 

 

From what I saw last night that team Belgium put out would give our first team a game.

[AllRoverAsia]

Just now, Kamy100 said:

Disappointed that we did not try to win the group last night.  If we were serious about doing so then Southgate would have bought on Kane for the last 20 minutes (although I accept his point that he was worried about risking an injury).

Colombia will be a tough test.  They have some excellent players, their front four of James (if fit) Quintero (who a world star in the making) Cuadardo and Falcao will give us plenty of problems.  Sanchez and Uribe will ensure that we do not get the time and space that we did in the group stages.  Davinson Sanchez trains will Kane everyday so will know his weaknesses (equally Kane and Alli will know his).

We will need to play at best to win this anything less and they will beat us.  The other thing that Southgate has done with the team selection yesterday is pile the pressure on himself to get a result on Tuesday, if he does not then the he will get it from the fans and media, all the goodwill built up over the last few weeks will be eroded. 

Good post.

TBH I am ok with Kane being rested as an injury to him would cripple us.

Colombia's Sanchez is an accident waiting to happen.

I have seen no team so far that I absolutely fear, all have weaknesses.

The glitter of this WC is totally eroded for all here by the young footballers lost in a flooded cave. God please help them it makes me cry.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

9 hours ago, joey_big_nose said:

I genuinely don't think he is. Expectations are low, he's got a poor selection of players. As long as we aren't embarrassed he'll get another two years easy.

The FA have done the merry go round of managers. From their perspective it's better just to stick with what they have. There's no indication spending she'd loads on a fancy manager (plus the payoffs when you sack them) actually helps you win anything .

I really meant he'll be under pressure from the " popular press " more than the FA. When England are in the World Cup expectations are never low once we've managed to win a game or two. People don their red, white and blue glasses as soon as a ball is kicked.

[RevidgeBlue]

6 hours ago, Baz said:

The feeling I have, is that for the next 2 rounds, if we play well, we will progress and if we don't play well, we still may advance because the opposition isnt that great. Colombia are decent going forward, but erratic, aging, and give you chances to score. I.e. beatable.

Get to the semis and anything can happen, but it's likely to be Spain / Croatia or possibly Russia (home nation advantage only). At that stage, we will need to play very well to progress, and in Spain's case them to be poor too.

If we get to semis, absolutely nothing to lose, exceeded expectations. 

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.

[arbitro]

1 hour ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I really meant he'll be under pressure from the " popular press " more than the FA. When England are in the World Cup expectations are never low once we've managed to win a game or two. People don their red, white and blue glasses as soon as a ball is kicked.

I think Southgate has a better relationship with the press than many of the previous incumbents. They have had plenty of access to players for interviews, played darts and pool with them. Southgate seems a lot more media savvy than most managers but he is also smart enough to know he is only one result away from being pilloried.

There has been a nonsensical euphoria around England after the first two results but the real competition starts tomorrow for me. Results are the only thing that matters from here on in. 

[roversfan99]

3 hours ago, arbitro said:

The first three games will count for nothing on Tuesday. If Colombia are better than us then they will deserve to beat us.

 

 

Agreed totally. One rounds done now and we have progressed through it. Thats in the past. Meant my comment in response to those implying that we deserve to go out after last night.

[jim mk2]

 

Even if England get past Colombia - which is 50-50 at best - we would then likely face Sweden, and we always struggle against them for some reason.

We've only ever lost to Belgium once before - in 1936.

Last night was shocking in many ways. I've never seen such a disinterested, lackadaisical display from a professional footballer as that from Eric Dier.  In a World Cup it was unforgivable.

 

 

[pick32]

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.

[HowieFive0]

What England did last night was nothing different than clubs resting players in the early rounds of the FA Cup /Check A Trade .Even better guaranteed into the next round !

Could have played our first eleven .and still got beat ..picked up injuries ..cards etc  and Southgate would have been crucified again.

I bet Shrewsbury wished they d sacrificed the Check A Trade like we did ..

[Ewood Ace]

Huge risk taken by Southgate, yes if we get past Columbia then we have an easier game to get to the semi than if we had won last night. But now we have a harder get just to get to the quarter final. For me Southgate has needlessly put his job on the line against Columbia. 

[jim mk2]

 

Editorial note chaps: it's Colombia, not Columbia