talkFORUM

theleader82 wrote:It’s a shame the next wc is in Qatar. I don’t think I’ll enjoy it with being near xmas, and being so hot making playing difficult . Fans won’t go because they won’t be allowed to drink

They will be allowed to drink in “faraway drink zones” which are an hour away. Qatar 2022 will probably be just like Russia which will appeal to a better, more affluent class of fan who isn’t a cretinous pisshead who wants to goad the locals. Moose will still be there though.

End-o will probably confirm this.

kancutlawns wrote:

subsub wrote:

m4rkb wrote:it's put the dampers on an otherwise decent WC run and made me (at least) feel like we've actually gone nowhere and achieved little.

Think that's a bit harsh, m4rk. Belgium are a top side and deserve to be in the final ahead of Croatia. No disgrace in losing to them. The group game was effectively a meaningless reserve tie.

I think that winning a WC penalty shootout was a big psychological breakthrough, and the players will be better for the whole experience.

Spot on, sub.

I know Belgium are a decent team, and to be fair we played them twice and lost twice in non games. I had them down to win the WC myself with the rematch with us in the final ,not playing for a bronze medal.

I know I'm coming over unduly pessimistic here and in reality we have made progress under southgate mainly by axing players who almost anyone could have named in the England line up and put younger more enthusiastic players in who will eventually go on to form a very coherent team.

The main point I'm getting at is my disappointment in racking up losses in games which were ultimately meaningless as served no purpose other than to create momentum. There's probably still a valid argument in there which questions whether we could still beat Belgium if we'd have played them on an occasion which did actually matter.

Belgium's win over England was only the third occasion in which a nation has defeated another nation twice in the same World Cup Finals.

2018 - Belgium beat England 1-0 in the Group Stage and 2-0 in the Third Place Match.
2002 - Brazil defeated Turkey 2-1 in the Group Stage and 1-0 in the Semi Finals.
1958 - Northern Ireland beat Czechoslovakia 1-0 and 2-1 both in the Group Stage, the second was a play-off.

Eaststand wrote:I'll tell you what, what makes it worse is the dick sucking of the players when they are clearly playing terribly by Cumonface and Hoddle. Its unbearable. Just say what we can see, theyre not doing very well, stop saying theyre fucking awesome.

Yep, that was bad and dishonest, they probably thought they were grabbing the Croydon Boxpark zeitgeist by bigging us up but for anyone with two brain cells it was clear to see we were getting a football education.

kancutlawns wrote:

theleader82 wrote:It’s a shame the next wc is in Qatar. I don’t think I’ll enjoy it with being near xmas, and being so hot making playing difficult . Fans won’t go because they won’t be allowed to drink

They will be allowed to drink in “faraway drink zones” which are an hour away. Qatar 2022 will probably be just like Russia which will appeal to a better, more affluent class of fan who isn’t a cretinous pisshead who wants to goad the locals. Moose will still be there though.

End-o will probably confirm this.

Not one iota of bother here, from anyone.

Only watched the highlights late last night.
Phil Jones up against Hazard again. He couldn’t get near him this time to take him
down

Seriously, Phil Jones in the England team is just bonkers

Jonathan wrote:Only watched the highlights late last night.
Phil Jones up against Hazard again. He couldn’t get near him this time to take him
down

Seriously, Phil Jones in the England team is just bonkers

Yep, utter shite. Hazard bossed him.

But England don't have anyone remotely as good as Hazard or DeBruyne - they are fantastic to watch.
Good to see that Lukaku still has a dreadful first touch – two horrible examples yesterday.

subsub wrote:

Jonathan wrote:Only watched the highlights late last night.
Phil Jones up against Hazard again. He couldn’t get near him this time to take him
down

Seriously, Phil Jones in the England team is just bonkers

Yep, utter shite. Hazard bossed him.

But England don't have anyone remotely as good as Hazard or DeBruyne - they are fantastic to watch.
Good to see that Lukaku still has a dreadful first touch – two horrible examples yesterday.

That’s what we are missing Subs. A player like those two, who can change a game and unlock defences.

Yeah Lukaku’s close control can be dreadful at times.