StevieH

4 minutes ago, carmine said:

I agree, and whilst i'm no great fan of international football i'm really enjoying this world cup, its been great.

think possibly the most enjoyable since 1994 as it goes. and there's surely more drama to come yet and the prospect of a really unfamiliar winner. go ed uruguay.

11 hours ago, mrbojangles said:

Yeah it's been great thus far and really happy about there being no trouble whatsoever, which has surprised me for one.

 

The biggest downer has been seeing that arrogant git Gianni Infantino)  sat on his throne like he's King of the World

something tells me word went out from on high to russia's hooligans and nutters. you mess up and cause trouble here with the eyes of the world on us and mister putin will be very unhappy...

9 hours ago, champers said:

Neymar is an obnoxious toerag. About 3 team mates celebrated with him when he scored. Firminho scored and all the playing squad smothered him.

he's awful is neymar. just embarrassing most of the time. and it's a shame he's such an idiot 'cos he's a brilliantly gifted player.

12 minutes ago, carmine said:

A bit negative mate. ?  In reality England conceivably won't have to play a top side till the final

this world cup is rather redefining what a "top side" is though isn't it, at least in traditional accepted terms. no italy or holland at the tournament at all, germany knocked out in the group stage, spain out by a side they'd normally expect to saunter past. all of them have won or reached the final of recent tournaments. 

4 minutes ago, champers said:

Easier, not easy.

but if they've beaten brazil they are surely quite good?

5 minutes ago, carmine said:

So exactly how do you come to the conclusion that we are good enough to pick and choose which half of the draw suits us best?  

 

 The sense of entitlement and over inflated opinion has  been present since '66 mate.

absolutely right, and this is why people don't like england. the arrogance of thinking you can pick and choose your half of the draw and that you're somehow by default better than japan, colombia, switzerland or sweden. got knocked out by iceland last tournament for <deleted>'s sake.

think carmine is spot on here. england could have played full strength and tried to win the match and qualify with 9 points. didn't, played the backups, looked insipid, lost momentum and now have a record of scraped past tunisia, spanked a pub team and got beat by belgium's second string. it was bad management that.

6 minutes ago, BangrakBob said:

Rashford was being played out of position again...

 

The midfield were crap, missing Henderson 

 

 

henderson is about the most underrated player in the game right now. he helps the defence and his vertical passing is excellent. he's vital to this england team.

2 minutes ago, BangrakBob said:

Shame there aren't any Russian Ultras about to belt the English band in to submission, those songs are so old and shiite. 

"the soundtrack is english" says the commentator as the england fans belt out the anthem of the united kingdom and commonwealth.

that band needs their brass instruments ramming up their back ends of course.

enjoying watching trent AA being the scouse cafu as it goes.

2 minutes ago, carmine said:

I can see this morning has been an education for you!    

haha. maybe we actually accomplished some good today!

Just now, Justfine said:

No mention of football.

oh good grief.

bye bye troll.

8 minutes ago, Justfine said:

Genius refers to the brain not muscles. Only an idiot would think otherwise and dribbling a football well doesn't require much thought.

you really going to make me quote dictionary definitions at you numbnuts? or you want to argue that mozart or van gogh weren't geniuses?

"gen·ius
ˈjēnyəs/Submit
noun
1. exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.
"she was a teacher of genius"

2. a person who is exceptionally intelligent or creative, either generally or in some particular respect.
"one of the great musical geniuses of the 20th century"
 

amazing. diego scores a penalty in a friendly match and his mate runs on the pitch with a bag of coke to give him a wee toot.

3 minutes ago, jellydog said:

Maradona can be an annoying loon, but the number of people who truly hate him always surprises me.

it's funny. still so much anger about his hand of god goal. 

yeah cheese always makes me react like that as well.

27 minutes ago, RonniePickering22 said:

Looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself to me!

cocaine will do that. 

cf. also quite possibly the heart attack.

6 minutes ago, jellydog said:

Argentina dodged a bullet last night and fortunate to make it through. Near death volley's with an off foot by the likes of Rojo are manna from heaven. Poor Mascherano is being blistered in the press, and though I love him, rightly so. He's lost his pace and is now a liability but unlikely to be replaced.

 

Generally speaking Argentina is OLD and SLOW. If France were playing up to their capability I'd think they would clobber Argentina, but they aren't, so who knows ?

i don't really rate didier deschamps as a manager. he's got arguably the most talented squad in the competition and just doesn't seem capable of getting enough out of it.

1 minute ago, carmine said:

I can see us scoring against anyone but its the conceding that worries me.  Those three do not have the pure defensive attributes to make a back three.

 

At Spurs, we were doing it with Alderweirald and Vertonghen who have played 257 games together, and are both superior defensively to any English center back.  

yeah it ain't exactly bonucci, chiellini and barzagli is it. 

4 minutes ago, carmine said:

 

I can't see him being able to play a back three, more a 4231 with a very defense minded double pivot to give as much time and protection to the back four.  

that would make sense against better, ball-hogging sides with better attacks. but he's supposedly wedded to his 3 at the back thing and isn't for changing. 

to be honest though england's pace in attack looks like it could give them a chance against just about anyone so far, particularly when it comes to knockout matches.

very much looking forward to france vs argentina on saturday. both have been disappointing so far but it's always good to see two heavyweights clash.

by the way, that messi goal vs argentina. two touches of an angel and the finish of an assassin. thing of beauty.

there's a lot of responsibility on henderson in that formation and i still think that a back 3 will be exposed and got at by better sides. perhaps not belgium if martinez does play his second string but a front three of hazard, lukaku and mertens would give england problems.

1 minute ago, carmine said:

I'll tell you what, Southgate needs to play his best defense to get them better drilled.  Its like the blind being led by the partially sighted.  I doubt he even knows his best defensive line up.  If you can't look rock solid against the likes of Panama and Tunisia what are you going to be like against decent sides?

 

Regards the rest, i'd like to see Loftus-Cheek and Rashford starting and frankly anyone who is showing any form and i don't want to see clearly out of form players being played on reputation.

i don't know why england would play a weakened team for this, it's match practice, it won't be the most hell for leather game anyway and as you say the defence needs a bit more drilling, particularly against a better standard of attack. tournaments are about momentum, england have it, why rock the boat?