SEE YOU! A brand spanking new modern fitba thread 2022/23

That would be the Netherlands.

Croatia were overachievers in 1998, not so much today. They were finalists in the last WC after all. The squad might be old but they're both smart and solid.

I think they have a good chance of beating Argentina, but France would likely slaughter them.

 

I think this has the potential of being only the second rematch in WC history?

edit: i meant consecutive finals

 

Still can't get over that penalty miss.

 

Harry did. He got right over it.

 

I wonder now will the media Spergs delve into profound study of how much more Saka and Co were "abused" for their misses than Kane is/will be ?

I should imagine that will be the major thrust of their intellectual musings this coming week .....

 

Half a dozen is a very small sample size, tho. 'Luck' can totally go against you that many times. Or 'negative vaeiance' to use the geeks' more neutral term

 

I saw it coming tbh. I think if you get two pens in one game you should let a second guy hit the second.... doubly so if your main penalty taker is up against his own club goaly!

 

England needed more of that. They were on top when Bellingham hit that belter.

 

But if Kane had gone missing,Sakho takes it and misses, then it's "oh, where's captain big balls, he's walked out when most needed" etc. The only way to win 8n this racket is win.

 

Just throwing this out there....most kids looking at the refs performance last night and being told "don't complain" might need to read this.

The whole thing is so entirely bent that you have to entertain at the very least the likelihood that it permeates to the officials.

I remember listening to street people like Charlie Sega in Liverpool or Dave Courtney in London. Not sophisticated people but had a very very keen grasp of how head-belting volumes of money just permeate and corrupt everything.

It's like water it ingresses and just gets everywhere. You never know what million quid percolated down into what back pocket to secure what favour.

Just saying. Not our World. We just live in it.




Eva Kaili: Senior EU lawmaker arrested over alleged bribery by Gulf state

 

Wasn't '86 & '90 a rematch?

 

A rematch is gonna be difficult. FIFA is gonna try like a Hell for a France v Argentina final.

 

Nevermind. I missed the "second" in that statement.

 

Fight!!

 

France win the game with a old fashioned header by their number 9 from a cross flung into the mixer.... Ingerland spend 70% of the game playing aimless sideways passes across their backline like an early 90s seria a team playing for a draw

 

The thing is that cross should be meat and drink for good CBs. It's basically the modus operandi every weekend in the league.

A daisy cutter shot and a header .

When Saka went down for the penno, he was wandering out of the box having wandered his way in to no avail.

If matey had let him go, they were about to clear anyways.

We see it in boxing. Just let your fucking hands go.

 

Weirdo club

 

Strictly cum mincing

 

Rock is fucking dead. Just seen Bez on strictly..FFS

 

Apparently, per Dan Roan, England return from Doha "a growing force"

I would say a grown force rather than growing.

 

Hard to say exactly how much FIFA can actually influence end results. No doubt they can to some degree and probably try, but it's not like they can just favor one side over another and simply get the outcome they want.

I'm sure they'd much prefer the thought of a Messi-Ronaldo final, than having Morocco in the semis even though it's historic. That's just one example. There are plenty of sides i'm sure they'd prefer over Croatia getting this far as well.

 

Yeah I never felt there was some silent hidden arm on the lever. Rather just lots of competing interfering interests.

 

Indeed. They were semi-finalists at the last WC and finalists at the Euro. They're fully grown.

 

Hut freezing his balls off tonight.

 

Roans contention appears to be that England are burgeoning, rather than fully arrived, and I think he did it as part of a general belief that a new manager will complete the job, which is what he very strongly hinted at. This is how the Brits do things. Subtly and politely booted out.

 

England have a lot of talent and of course i'd rather see them playing with more aggression but with a semi-final and final back to back it's hard to argue with the results. I'm not saying he's the best man for the job but clearly something is being done right. If Southgate steps down, England get a new manager everybody is high on but still fall short who is the scapegoat then?

I think the tactics against Italy were poor. They tried to out-Italy the Italians for some reason and it backfired. They had no reason to play so conservatively. Yesterday was a different story. No shame in losing to France. This is a side that has the current Ballon d'Or winner and don't even need him. How many sides could claim that? Were England supposed to "trade punches" with France? Almost surely they would have gotten lit up for a lot more than two goals. Then the headlines would be about how they "abandoned their defense" and how foolish it was. Against that side it would have been.

 

Well I know Feebs and I have said many a time that Southgate is not the guy to get this team a trophy. I do think he deserves a ton of credit for taking this side from where they were after the Euro 2016 embarrassment and the previous "golden generation" failures, making us competitive again. Plus he did break new ground in getting us to a major final. I just think we have so much talent in this squad and I hate to see it squandered playing this conservative, safety-first style. Whiskey makes a good point though, and it was mentioned yesterday that there isn't really anyone else waiting in the wings to take over. Howe would be great but it seems he loves the Newcastle job, and I don't blame him. So Southgate will probably stay on regardless of what we think anyway.

 

Bingo.

MTF

 

Again, I like Southgate. I grew up watching him play and he was a fine centre half. He is a proud Englishman. He is obviously well liked and a gentleman, in the proper sense of the word. Moreover, the players clearly like him. He gets a tune out of them.


Let's say he leaves. Honestly, which elite club side employs him? We all know the answer. It's 'none'. He's not good enough. He's tactically naive. His substitutions are useless. The side plays far, far too conservatively based on the players available. He refuses to play those whose form merit inclusion. He continues to play those who don't merit inclusion.

This is a genuinely world class set of English players. He blew the Euros, and the WC semi against Croatia. Last night was unfortunate but there were twenty minutes after that penalty miss and nothing he did affected the game. In Germany, Spain or France, he'd be chased. Here, he's garlanded.

It's not that he's terrible. He isn't. It's just that a proper, elite coach takes that group and wins things.

MTF

 

There is no shame in losing yesterday. But there is a sense of a missed opportunity. France didn't really need to extend themselves. They played well for about ten minutes and it was enough. Is that really where this set of England players see themselves?

MTF