England v Belgium

[The Doctor]

56 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

About time England played it smart, we have far too much for Colombia and either the Swiss and swedes... 

Bit arrogant. Colombia are far more evenly matched than you think - good defence, pacey, direct players, top striker in Falcao, you could easily come unstuck against them. Don't act like you're basically in the semis when losing the round of 16 is a realistic suggestion

[Ric Flair]

15 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Bit arrogant. Colombia are far more evenly matched than you think - good defence, pacey, direct players, top striker in Falcao, you could easily come unstuck against them. Don't act like you're basically in the semis when losing the round of 16 is a realistic suggestion

What you even in here for? Go and play up your own end. 

[RonnieTodger]

Blows my mind that Dier is in the squad and Shelvey/Wilshere aren't. 

 

We can definitely lose to Colombia, but if we win the buzz will be absolutely massive.

[AKCJ]

22 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Bit arrogant. Colombia are far more evenly matched than you think - good defence, pacey, direct players, top striker in Falcao, you could easily come unstuck against them. Don't act like you're basically in the semis when losing the round of 16 is a realistic suggestion

Colombia are a decent side, but we're 1/2 for a reason.

[The Doctor]

24 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Colombia are a decent side, but we're 1/2 for a reason.

Where? Shortest I can find is 6/5. None odds on.

 

41 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

What you even in here for? Go and play up your own end. 

If you want to plan your trophy parade before you've even kicked off go ahead, it'll just make failure funnier. Hubris always ends with egg on face, temper your expectations and don't start talking about semis when you've still got two difficult games to get there first.

[Countryfox]

Bout right ...   unfortunately ... 

 

 

[AKCJ]

10 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Where? Shortest I can find is 6/5. None odds on.

Paddy Power

[Ric Flair]

13 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Where? Shortest I can find is 6/5. None odds on.

 

If you want to plan your trophy parade before you've even kicked off go ahead, it'll just make failure funnier. Hubris always ends with egg on face, temper your expectations and don't start talking about semis when you've still got two difficult games to get there first.

I just refuse to consider any other alternative than it coming home, it's irrational.

[The Horse's Mouth]

A lot of people here need to **** off to Scotland, it's coming home get used to it 

[The Doctor]

10 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Paddy Power

Fair enough, I was looking at result (England win) rather than to qualify. 

[purpleronnie]

If Colombia beat us on pens we should retire from international football.

[yorkie1999]

One thing i learned so far from this world cup. U11 coaches need to concentrate on developing midfielders and then in 10 years time we might actually have a decent one at international level.

[CosbehFox]

14 minutes ago, yorkie1999 said:

One thing i learned so far from this world cup. U11 coaches need to concentrate on developing midfielders and then in 10 years time we might actually have a decent one at international level.

The success of the English youth teams says we have plenty in the works. 

[Vacamion]

1 hour ago, The Horse's Mouth said:

A lot of people here need to **** off to Scotland, it's coming home get used to it 

 

I'm already here.

 

I'm a proud Englishman.

 

And, after about a dozen tournament heartbreaks,  I wouldn't ever consider telling people it's coming home.

 

That's pretty much asking for disappointment.

[RutlanderFox]

Let’s look at the positives from last night. At least it shows Southgate got his team selection spot on for the first two games

[yorkie1999]

40 minutes ago, RutlanderFox said:

Let’s look at the positives from last night. At least it shows Southgate got his team selection spot on for the first two games

Or it shows that Panama and Tunisia are crap and his first team selection against columbia might be just as bad as the second team selection were against belgium. Nothing has been learned from the group stage to set us up for the columbian game and he should have made only a few changes.

[foxes_rule1978]

5 hours ago, The Doctor said:

Bit arrogant. Colombia are far more evenly matched than you think - good defence, pacey, direct players, top striker in Falcao, you could easily come unstuck against them. Don't act like you're basically in the semis when losing the round of 16 is a realistic suggestion

Falcao okay mate  

[Max Wall]

5 hours ago, The Doctor said:

Bit arrogant. Colombia are far more evenly matched than you think - good defence, pacey, direct players, top striker in Falcao, you could easily come unstuck against them. Don't act like you're basically in the semis when losing the round of 16 is a realistic suggestion

I'm with you on this Doc.

We may beat Colombia but I'd make them slight favourites. They dominated all three games and were facing elimination after the first game. They've shown they can play (what was effectively) a knockout game and perform under pressure. England haven't.

[Max Wall]

2 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

I'm already here.

 

I'm a proud Englishman.

 

And, after about a dozen tournament heartbreaks,  I wouldn't ever consider telling people it's coming home.

 

That's pretty much asking for disappointment.

I trod a similar path. It made me more pessimistic (probably not a bad thing in all fairness).

If you live in Scotland, my condolences, they're a chippy lot up there. I hope England win it more for you now than myself.

[ScouseFox]

still in a genuine state of disbelief that eric dier actually put in that bad a performance at a world cup whilst captaining england, me 

[Max Wall]

7 hours ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

About time England played it smart, we have far too much for Colombia and either the Swiss and swedes... 

Yeah, I can understand totally why you feel that way. Our record of 2 wins in the last 15 games against them is indisputable evidence that we'll have far too much for Sweden. Those results were achieved by better squads than this one.

I understand the excitement but dismissing those three opponents is pretty ridiculous. You go for it though fella, fill yer boots.

[Ric Flair]

13 minutes ago, Max Wall said:

Yeah, I can understand totally why you feel that way. Our record of 2 wins in the last 15 games against them is indisputable evidence that we'll have far too much for Sweden. Those results were achieved by better squads than this one.

I understand the excitement but dismissing those three opponents is pretty ridiculous. You go for it though fella, fill yer boots.

What on earth have the last 15 games against them got to do with our chances now, they've been spread over many years and even the most recent win has little merit on right now. Sweden are a squad of mediocre domestic players but they work very well together and have shown they're no easy prospect. We have found an effective system that doesn't rely on individuals and we should be very confident that we could read a semi final for the first time in 28 years. No fear and I'd not even waste a moment's thoughts on past games against Sweden as it's irrelevent.

[The Doctor]

1 hour ago, Max Wall said:

I'm with you on this Doc.

We may beat Colombia but I'd make them slight favourites. They dominated all three games and were facing elimination after the first game. They've shown they can play (what was effectively) a knockout game and perform under pressure. England haven't.

I wouldn't make them favourites, particularly if James is a doubt, I just disagree with the sentiment it's an easy win.

[Max Wall]

7 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

What on earth have the last 15 games against them got to do with our chances now, they've been spread over many years and even the most recent win has little merit on right now. Sweden are a squad of mediocre domestic players but they work very well together and have shown they're no easy prospect. We have found an effective system that doesn't rely on individuals and we should be very confident that we could read a semi final for the first time in 28 years. No fear and I'd not even waste a moment's thoughts on past games against Sweden as it's irrelevent.

That's exactly what the last 15 results have got to do with it Ric. Sweden have pretty much always had a squad of 'mediocre' players compared with our (media built) superstars but they do always work well together and they always cause us problems. Those historic results just underline that. They also just topped their group, no mean feat.

Where I don't get it is when a poster says we will have far too much for them (and the other two). There was a reply calling that statement arrogant, I agree with that.

No reason we can't do it but I don't see us as shoo-ins. Obviously some do. No offence meant.

Edited 29 June 2018 by Max Wall

[foxes_rule1978]

56 minutes ago, Max Wall said:

Yeah, I can understand totally why you feel that way. Our record of 2 wins in the last 15 games against them is indisputable evidence that we'll have far too much for Sweden. Those results were achieved by better squads than this one.

I understand the excitement but dismissing those three opponents is pretty ridiculous. You go for it though fella, fill yer boots.

Complete different team mate... history has no impact in this just quality and we have it and they lack it