England v Belgium

[Ross-Kemp]

Finish 2nd.

 

Spain in the semi’s.

[foxes_rule1978]

4 minutes ago, Ross-Kemp said:

Finish 2nd.

 

Spain in the semi’s.

Sounds good 

[Mr Mister]

We should aim to lose this game.

[Ric Flair]

I'd not turn up personally, pretend we got lost as it's pretty much in Poland and not fcukin Russia.

[hackenbacker]

11 hours ago, MattP said:

Assuming the route stays similar it would be mental to try and win this game.

 

Could seriously be looking at either Switzerland/Mexico/Japan or Brazil/Colombia/Germany as the route to the QF.

 

if its 0-0 in extra time England will win the group by having less yellows ..... so it may be a good time for someone to take one for the team and kick the ref.

 

[Crispin LA]

Belgium wanna finish second, that's what the itv pundits reckon

[ScouseFox]

38 minutes ago, Crispin LA said:

Belgium wanna finish second, that's what the itv pundits reckon

anyone who has stopped to think about it will want to finish second. i reckon we are going to be better at losing than them so hopefully we nick it 

[Max Wall]

1 hour ago, hackenbacker said:

if its 0-0 in extra time England will win the group by having less yellows ..... so it may be a good time for someone to take one for the team and kick the ref.

 

 

45 minutes ago, Crispin LA said:

Belgium wanna finish second, that's what the itv pundits reckon

 

6 minutes ago, ScouseFox said:

anyone who has stopped to think about it will want to finish second. i reckon we are going to be better at losing than them so hopefully we nick it 

Unfortunately, Belgium will have considered this too and they are in the box seat.

We get a booking, they get a booking (if they want to finish 2nd), we aim to get a passenger (Wellbeck?) sent off, they can get a passenger sent off. I simply cannot see them trying to score. The ball's in their court.

[Bert]

We're gonna win the group. It's Sod's law. We could be the only country in the world (Leicester being the only club of course) that will win a game that's better to lose. Even if we try and lose we will still win it. Belgium ain't arsed about this game. The only positive we can take is that it'll be another win.

 

At least we'll know before we start what the potential opposition will be. 

[Izzy]

Southgate can't win tomorrow really.

 

If we win the group people will say we've fvcked our chances and should have purposefully played shit against Belgium and tried to come second.

 

If we do play shit and lose people will moan that we've played shit and have got no chance of progressing because the Tunisia and Panama games gave us false expectations.

 

Just read the match thread on here tomorrow night...

[st albans fox]

4 minutes ago, Max Wall said:

 

 

Unfortunately, Belgium will have considered this too and they are in the box seat.

We get a booking, they get a booking (if they want to finish 2nd), we aim to get a passenger (Wellbeck?) sent off, they can get a passenger sent off. I simply cannot see them trying to score. The ball's in their court.

Could end up in a farce - scoring own goals deliberately is probably a step too far but what is the point in playing one of Japan/Columbia/Senegal is 30c heat Monday evening when we could play one of them in 20c on Tuesday evening. winning the group is a bad decision if you want to go far in the tournament. 

[Max Wall]

Just now, st albans fox said:

Could end up in a farce - scoring own goals deliberately is probably a step too far but what is the point in playing one of Japan/Columbia/Senegal is 30c heat Monday evening when we could play one of them in 20c on Tuesday evening. winning the group is a bad decision if you want to go far in the tournament. 

I agree totally.

Problem is, so do Belgium and they just have to make sure they don't score or get a booking and there's nothing we can do.

No one will deliberately score own goals, that would be so difficult to mask, but they don't have to score an own goal.

[ScouseFox]

tbf i’m half an half. i want us to finish second for the route but knowing us we’ll lose to senegal or something anyway. i’ve got faith in these boys and think we would take anyone. 

 

its coming home. 

[Vacamion]

 

I don't understand this stuff.

 

We always flatter to deceive at Tournaments.

 

We hardly ever win knock out games and if it goes to penalties, we've had it.

 

And now there is VAR.

 

Yes we've been impressive so far, but  against hardly fancied sides.

 

So why are we all now trying to Machiavelli our path to the semis?

 

I say we try our best, beat the Belgians, scare the bejeezus out of anyone else who has to play us, even the big boys,  and just see where it takes us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Max Wall]

4 minutes ago, Izzy Muzzett said:

Southgate can't win tomorrow really.

 

If we win the group people will say we've fvcked our chances and should have purposefully played shit against Belgium and tried to come second.

 

If we do play shit and lose people will moan that we've played shit and have got no chance of progressing because the Tunisia and Panama games gave us false expectations.

 

Just read the match thread on here tomorrow night...

I agree Muzz.

I'd seriously love it if we could engineer entry to the bottom half of the draw but, if Belgium want to be there, I'm not sure there's anything we can do about it.

I'm starting to turn and think fvck it, go all out to smash them if they're not up for it tomorrow and take our chances in the top half with three wins under our belt.

You're  a bit of a veteran like me so I know you know just how big an opportunity this is.

I'm not saying were certs to win one knockout game, let alone four, but.....................  

 

 

[Carl the Llama]

Tbh I don't care about this gamesmanship either.  We're not going to win the cup but if we do we'll have to beat the best teams at some point anyway.  I'd rather be knocked out by a good team and say we gave it a fair crack than get a round further knowing it was a relatively hollow achievement or worse, do an Iceland.

[st albans fox]

I’m really not fussed about which half of the draw we end up in - you have to beat really good teams at some point and our record against the semi difficult ones isn’t great anyway ........ it’s the heat sapping conditions of the last 16 fixture which could scupper our chances in a quarter final which could end up going to extra time. 

[ScouseFox]

8 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

I don't understand this stuff.

 

We always flatter to deceive at Tournaments.

 

We hardly ever win knock out games and if it goes to penalties, we've had it.

 

And now there is VAR.

 

Yes we've been impressive so far, but  against hardly fancied sides.

 

So why are we all now trying to Machiavelli our path to the semis?

 

I say we try our best, beat the Belgians, scare the bejeezus out of anyone else who has to play us, even the big boys,  and just see where it takes us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but the point is there is a genuine route to the semi finals where the hardest team we will probably have to face is switzerland. 

 

its all well well and good rolling out the “you’ve got to beat the big teams eventually” cliches, but one route means we have to beat (probably) 4 teams we would probably be underdogs against and the other route would have us one good defensive performance and a spawny harry kane goal away from the final. of the world cup. 

[Super_horns]

Sounds like Kane might start - but there will be 8 changes .

 

Lets hope he doesn't get injured!

[KingsX]

6 minutes ago, Super_horns said:

Sounds like Kane might start - but there will be 8 changes .

 

Lets hope he doesn't get injured!

That's the golden boot for Harry then.  He can score as many as he wants.

 

Screw the cup 

 

 

 

[Vacamion]

21 minutes ago, ScouseFox said:

but the point is there is a genuine route to the semi finals where the hardest team we will probably have to face is switzerland. 

 

its all well well and good rolling out the “you’ve got to beat the big teams eventually” cliches, but one route means we have to beat (probably) 4 teams we would probably be underdogs against and the other route would have us one good defensive performance and a spawny harry kane goal away from the final. of the world cup. 

 

It's quite possible that we could lose to a side in the "easy" half of the draw.

 

That would be so very England. 

 

Nil nil and lose on pens in the round of 16, with the easy path beckoning...

 

I know.  I know.  A lot of people are now getting excited about our chances, and (holds nose) "It's coming home" and all that.

 

But plotting our route like this just seems to be getting way ahead of ourselves.

 

At heart, I guess I'm just a pessimist about England at Tournaments (a dozen or so times bitten, very shy) so I'd just be glad to see us play well and progress, against whoever.

 

Fascinating to see how it pans out.

Edited 27 June 2018 by Vacamion
Damn autocorrect

[Max Wall]

3 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

It's quite possible that we could lose to a side in the "easy" half of the drawer.

 

That would be so very England. 

 

Nil nil and lose on pens in the round of 16, with the easy path beckoning...

 

I know.  I know.  A lot of people are now getting excited about our chances, and (holds nose) "It's coming home" and all that.

 

But plotting our route like this just seems to be getting way ahead of ourselves.

 

At heart, I guess I'm just a pessimist about England at Tournaments (a dozen or so times bitten, very shy) so I'd just be glad to see us play well and progress, against whoever.

 

Fascinating to see how it pans out.

That's where I keep my socks.

[Stinkenzo]

I hope we stick out the reserves as then our negative fans can't (but probably will anyway) go all "thats what happens when we play a decent team" on us

[Max Wall]

4 minutes ago, Vacamion said:

 

It's quite possible that we could lose to a side in the "easy" half of the drawer.

 

That would be so very England. 

 

Nil nil and lose on pens in the round of 16, with the easy path beckoning...

 

I know.  I know.  A lot of people are now getting excited about our chances, and (holds nose) "It's coming home" and all that.

 

But plotting our route like this just seems to be getting way ahead of ourselves.

 

At heart, I guess I'm just a pessimist about England at Tournaments (a dozen or so times bitten, very shy) so I'd just be glad to see us play well and progress, against whoever.

 

Fascinating to see how it pans out.

I agree to a certain extent Vac but I think that is borne from our previous experiences.

It is getting way ahead of ourselves but you just know the eventual winners will probably have thought their route through very carefully (if they had the opportunity).

Is that just the difference between the serial winners and us?

[Jon the Hat]

If Belgium put out a weakened side we should thump them 4-1.  If they play a strong 11 and we lose or draw we finish 2nd.  All good!