Football 18/19

[pink_triangle]

41 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

I actually thought tonight was ok. First half we could have had three or four save for some dodgy finishing and even dodgier VAR calls. Tunisia offered absolutely nothing second half, from the 30th minute they were happy to camp out on the edge of their box and play for a draw. Eventually we found a way to break them down, something a lot of better teams have struggled to do over the weekend.

Three points was the most important thing tonight and we got them.

I thought England were ok. The game went about how I thought it would. The game hasn't effected my expectations of how far they will go either in a positive or negative way. 

[dentalplan]

44 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

I actually thought tonight was ok. First half we could have had three or four save for some dodgy finishing and even dodgier VAR calls. Tunisia offered absolutely nothing second half, from the 30th minute they were happy to camp out on the edge of their box and play for a draw. Eventually we found a way to break them down, something a lot of better teams have struggled to do over the weekend.

Three points was the most important thing tonight and we got them.

Yeah I thought it was more than okay and pretty encouraging, if I'm honest. Started out ferociously, even the biggest naysayers will admit that. The heat obviously sapped them and the opposition had no attacking inclination, but these have been factors before and have totally stifled England, so to overcome against a team who's just out of the world's top 20 (for reference, we're 12th) is decent.

Plus the things that have become obvious about the team can be worked on pretty freely against Panama - who I don't think will challenge - so hopefully by Belgium we're well oiled and confident. Additionally I think players like Sterling will have a better game against more attack-minded teams cos they might have an inch to move.

[Hugh Jass]

Tunisia were certainly the most negative side we’ve seen at the tournament so far. I was actually pleased to see our patience in the second half, the way we kept hold of the ball and passed and probed rather than just lumping it into the box.

[pink_triangle]

10 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Tunisia were certainly the most negative side we’ve seen at the tournament so far. 

Egypt?

[mjsell]

2 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

So did Sterling - he didn’t know he was offside (again - he was even offside for Kane’s first goal) 

Ah yeah I was referring to Sterling not Lingard. I don't think I''ve ever seen a professional player struggle so consistently from 5 yard out open goals.

 

[dentalplan]

11 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Egypt?

Probably dug in deeper towards the end but they did play a bit more throughout - Godin wasn't MOTM for nowt. 

[mjsell]

Another side note. Even taking the penalty decisions out of the equation - I thought the game was terribly officiated. I got the sense that every decision made was a guess and the ref actually had a complete lack of interest in controlling anything - typified by the late free kick that Trippier was trying to take. Ref had no interest whatsoever in enforcing 10 yards.

[sdvruxk]

5 hours ago, kaosmark2 said:

England still look completely incapable of breaking a team down in open play.

Your previous post says Lingard missed 4 sitters? They weren’t all from set pieces, were they? 

Edit - I really don’t care how we get on at the WC but I thought they were alright tonight. Especially if you look at the standard of performance so far. The other teams will probably up their performance more so than England in the coming games but it’s a decent start. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by sdvruxk

[Hugh Jass]

8 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Egypt?

Didn’t see enough of the Egypt game to make a judgement.

[eFestivals]

10 hours ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Lindgard was the pits like.

beaten by Ashley Young.

[jyoung]

Lingard may have been wasteful but he was positive and tried to make stuff happen. Clearly found it more difficult in the second half with less space after Tunisia sat back. He needs to work on his finishing because against top teams you need to be able to take your chances. Rashford changed the game with his direct play and it was great to watch him take responsibility and make stuff happen rather than relying on others. Thought RLC offered more than Alli also. Kane got the goals, job done for him. Tripper MOTM for me.

[pink_triangle]

6 hours ago, sdvruxk said:

Your previous post says Lingard missed 4 sitters? They weren’t all from set pieces, were they? 

Edit - I really don’t care how we get on at the WC but I thought they were alright tonight. Especially if you look at the standard of performance so far. The other teams will probably up their performance more so than England in the coming games but it’s a decent start. 

Im not sure how much performance in the world cup really matters. I suspect if you look at recent finalists they have their fair share of mediocre performances from start to finish, I don't remember a team who has won the world cup with consistent greatness.

I thought the performance was fine. I think the England setup/management have done an excellent job in expectation management so it should be fairly easy for England to meet their goals.  As a non Englishman I find this squad a bit more likable now the likes of Rooney, Gerrard, Rio, Terry etc have gone, not that this makes a difference to how well they will do!

For all the talk about it being a very different England the performance didn't seem to me that different to the one that England put in against Wales 2 years ago.

[pink_triangle]

8 hours ago, mjsell said:

Another side note. Even taking the penalty decisions out of the equation - I thought the game was terribly officiated. I got the sense that every decision made was a guess and the ref actually had a complete lack of interest in controlling anything - typified by the late free kick that Trippier was trying to take. Ref had no interest whatsoever in enforcing 10 yards.

The penalties are difficult for me because I am not sure if you start giving them if you end up with loads of penalties or less grappling. That's one reason I think VAR has been implemented prematurely, these kind of judgements should be made before the world cup. I personally think the balance in officiating has gone too far towards the attacking team, so I don't have too many concerns about the defence sometimes getting away with it.

[Dan R]

20 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

The penalties are difficult for me because I am not sure if you start giving them if you end up with loads of penalties or less grappling. That's one reason I think VAR has been implemented prematurely, these kind of judgements should be made before the world cup. I personally think the balance in officiating has gone too far towards the attacking team, so I don't have too many concerns about the defence sometimes getting away with it.

I don't think it's been particularly towards attack or defence so far but that's cos it's been very inconsistent. 

I don't mind teams being defensive and cynical, but the risk with that is giving away set pieces and picking up bookings. The refereeing yesterday just didn't seem interested in punishing anything and it allowed the life to be sucked out of the game in the second half. 

[pink_triangle]

5 minutes ago, Dan R said:

I don't think it's been particularly towards attack or defence so far but that's cos it's been very inconsistent. 

I don't mind teams being defensive and cynical, but the risk with that is giving away set pieces and picking up bookings. The refereeing yesterday just didn't seem interested in punishing anything and it allowed the life to be sucked out of the game in the second half. 

I meant fouls in general has gone too far towards the attacking player. I think this idea that a player is entitled to go down because there is contact is one of the worse things that has happened to football. In the last world cup they were more lenient with officiating and hope they are here as well.

[ThomThomDrum]

In the end it was a good 3 points for England and no one could argue that they did not deserve it over the 90 minutes, but I was concerned for them in the second half when it felt that their "patience" was really a lack of sense of urgency and creativity. That second half was terrible viewing and as much as it was down to the Tunisian set up it felt at times that England had no ideas how to deal with it. In the end they were lucky that that chance fell to Kane. I was really surprised that something like that happened in the end considering how Tunisia were marking/man handling him for set pieces. 

Rashford and Loftus-Cheek probably should have been introduced a bit earlier. They both seemed to have a positive affect on proceedings when they came on. 

[pink_triangle]

2 minutes ago, ThomThomDrum said:

 but I was concerned for them in the second half when it felt that their "patience" was really a lack of sense of urgency and creativity.

I agree I thought this patience thing was overstated, they looked like they had run out of ideas and were struggling in the heat. To me they look short of that international nous, which isn't surprising when you look at the age and international experience.

[Hugh Jass]

We also have a huge advantage over Belgium now in that we can effectively decide our position in the group. Belgium play in the first game on Saturday then after that it's the second round of Group F matches, meaning we will go into the Panama game with (hopefully) a clearer indication of whether there's any advantage to coming second over first. Say Belgium beat Tunisia 1-0, we will know that a three goal victory over Panama would be enough to go top on goals scored. If it looks like Germany will come second we could score twice against Panama then ease off, sending us through but not above the Belgains. That third game already looks like a mortgage job for 0-0.

Or course Germany will inevitably turn the group around and none of the above will matter.

[dentalplan]

12 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

We also have a huge advantage over Belgium now in that we can effectively decide our position in the group. Belgium play in the first game on Saturday then after that it's the second round of Group F matches, meaning we will go into the Panama game with (hopefully) a clearer indication of whether there's any advantage to coming second over first. Say Belgium beat Tunisia 1-0, we will know that a three goal victory over Panama would be enough to go top on goals scored. If it looks like Germany will come second we could score twice against Panama then ease off, sending us through but not above the Belgains. That third game already looks like a mortgage job for 0-0.

Or course Germany will inevitably turn the group around and none of the above will matter.

They’re not gonna do that.

[Hugh Jass]

20 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

They’re not gonna do that.

A win against Sweden and a SK win over Mexico (unlikely I know) puts everyone on three points with one game to play...

[TheGayTent]

Happy with Diop, less happy with Fabianski unless he’s coming to get splinters 

[mjsell]

44 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

We also have a huge advantage over Belgium now in that we can effectively decide our position in the group. Belgium play in the first game on Saturday then after that it's the second round of Group F matches, meaning we will go into the Panama game with (hopefully) a clearer indication of whether there's any advantage to coming second over first. Say Belgium beat Tunisia 1-0, we will know that a three goal victory over Panama would be enough to go top on goals scored. If it looks like Germany will come second we could score twice against Panama then ease off, sending us through but not above the Belgains. That third game already looks like a mortgage job for 0-0.

Or course Germany will inevitably turn the group around and none of the above will matter.

I love your confidence in England's ability to completely control their own fate. World cup optimism has truly set in for you my friend.

[dentalplan]

9 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

A win against Sweden and a SK win over Mexico (unlikely I know) puts everyone on three points with one game to play...

No I mean England are not gonna throw a game so they can choose a quarter final opponent with less history.

[Hugh Jass]

41 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

No I mean England are not gonna throw a game so they can choose a quarter final opponent with less history.

You are of course right, however it does through up the intriguing possibility of England v Belgium being a game both teams would prefer not to win.

[dentalplan]

2 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

You are of course right, however it does through up the intriguing possibility of England v Belgium being a game both teams would prefer not to win.

A lot of people have predicted Colombia to knock us out before the quarters so avoiding the winner of Group H is incentive enough. That group is gonna be interesting viewing today.