Group B: England, Iran, USA, Wales

[foxes_rule1978]

6 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

They had 3 attacks scored twice and hit the crossbar, wait till brazil, spain, france etc play us.  I dont like our defence, of course maybe we'll get a fortuitous run like the Euro's.

Beating Germany 2 nil so easy a Denmark that were at the top of their game. But keep going… despite some massive progress over the last few years 

[purpleronnie]

4 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

Beating Germany 2 nil so easy a Denmark that were at the top of their game. But keep going… despite some massive progress over the last few years 

Hey, I'm hope you're right; it might be the decades of watching England that's made me a bit overly critical.

[foxes_rule1978]

4 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

Hey, I'm hope you're right; it might be the decades of watching England that's made me a bit overly critical.

I get you I really do, and I had given up nearly at euro 2016 but I do see clear progress, with the players coming through… a direction that went from being unable to win a knockout game or even a group game to starting to rack them up. It was terrible but I see the light for sure and you can only be positive with good runs at the last two major tournaments.

Edited 21 November 2022 by foxes_rule1978

[KrefelderFox666]

12 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

Belgium, who England will probably face will open up the England defence if Dier is playing so that would be the only hurdle to the final

Not until the semis/final though. Also, I don't think Belgium have it in them to make a good run. They have the talent and potential but so often underachieve. Netherlands too, they always seem to fall short.

 

Argentina are the big ones for me, Messi's last chance, a decent team. They could be the team this time round. Again, England shouldn't meet Argentina until the final, same with Brazil. So the route to the final is there. Very similar to the 2018 WC but this time England have moved up another level.

 

Of course, this is football and one upset here or there could throw a big team into England's half of the draw.

[David Hankey]

Folk already talking about who we might get in the next round. Wouldn't it be far better if all those who progress went into the hat and be drawn out just like the FA Cup?

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, David Hankey said:

Folk already talking about who we might get in the next round. Wouldn't it be far better if all those who progress went into the hat and be drawn out just like the FA Cup?

It would be, because it stops teams not wanting to finish top of it means a tough draw. Should be like champions league. You are seeded for finish first for the round of 16 draw 

[Izzy]

Southgate now holds the record for most wins as an England manager in major tournaments. And he's now won as many overall matches as Sir Bobby Robson in far fewer games.

 

Say what you want about him and his style but his record speaks for itself.

[foxes_rule1978]

5 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Southgate now holds the record for most wins as an England manager in major tournaments. And he's now won as many overall matches as Sir Bobby Robson in far fewer games.

 

Say what you want about him and his style but his record speaks for itself.

You have to judge him on the games that matter, and so far he has rarely let us down. He went with the right dude today and I’m hoping he sticks with this highly attacking setup. In the games that matter he lost to Croatia in 2018, losing to Italy on penalties yes we could have gone for it more but that is unlucky more than anything 

Edited 21 November 2022 by foxes_rule1978

[Dames]

Looked excellent going forwards with the handbrake off and it was great to see that from an England team but worried that we did look shaky at the back at times and Southgate prefers a solid defence over a fluid attack. 

 

If anything today will strengthen his internal belief that 5 atb will be the way to go in knockouts. I hope I'm wrong but he is so safety first.

[David Hankey]

40 minutes ago, Izzy said:

Southgate now holds the record for most wins as an England manager in major tournaments. And he's now won as many overall matches as Sir Bobby Robson in far fewer games.

 

Say what you want about him and his style but his record speaks for itself.

And folk still want him gone.

[RumbleFox]

It’s funny isn’t it, by pretty much every measure he’s the second best England manager of all time. But it doesn’t feel like it does it? Maybe it’s just me. I hope it’s just me. I just don’t feel the same when we won as I used to. 

[Leicester_Loyal]

Excellent performance. God knows how they got that peno.

 

Onto Friday.

[MPH]

So a BBC public opinion poll has people choosing Ward ahead of Henessey ( sp?!)

[Legend_in_blue]

10 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Excellent performance. God knows how they got that peno.

 

Onto Friday.

Unfortunately I can see a dodgy decision, such as today's, throwing the result in favour of who Fifa want to win the competition at the end.

[Corky]

Southgate has a Rodgers-like quality of generally not offering great football yet able to regularly thump teams.

[Leicesterpool]

Fantastic start no matter who it's against, gets the fans excited and back on side again after depressing build up due to the really poor nations league, I'd like to think we can build on this confidence and can imagine the USA now are slightly less confident of getting anything now after watch that. Defensively again we looked fragile, don't rule out Southgate making a change in that back four.  Overall 8/10 performance, SAKA wow what a performance that kid looked like he was loving out there, Bellingham best performance in a England shirt yet. USA v Wales, not sure who I want to win, not keen on either would love to send either home early. 

[Foxdiamond]

41 minutes ago, RumbleFox said:

It’s funny isn’t it, by pretty much every measure he’s the second best England manager of all time. But it doesn’t feel like it does it? Maybe it’s just me. I hope it’s just me. I just don’t feel the same when we won as I used to. 

Perhaps it shows how apart from 1966 England have not done much at major tournaments over the years. As for GS a  semi final and final is good but so near yet so far. Think of Leicester in 1960s FA Cup Finals. Think how Matt Gilles would be regarded if we had won in 1961 and 1963. Reaching 2 finals was good but not winning is the key.

[StanSP]

13 minutes ago, MPH said:

So a BBC public opinion poll has people choosing Ward ahead of Henessey ( sp?!)

Hennessey did nazi that coming... 

[StanSP]

 

[kingkisnorbo]

Shocked Daniel James gets anywhere near that Wales side. 

[Finnegan]

Oh fvck me pub footballer Sargent is going to score the goal that beats us isn't he jesus it's going to be karma for Hal Robson Kanu turning in to Pele to humiliate the Belgians. 

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, kingkisnorbo said:

Shocked Daniel James gets anywhere near that Wales side. 

 

He does alright for us generally. His pace is quite valuable on the break and some of his crossing for Moore has been decent. 

 

He gets in ahead of Johnson on international form. 

[kingkisnorbo]

Just now, Finnegan said:

 

He does alright for us generally. His pace is quite valuable on the break and some of his crossing for Moore has been decent. 

 

He gets in ahead of Johnson on international form. 

Would have thought Moore gets a go ahead of him. James for me is the footballing definition of “all fart and no shît.” 

[Finnegan]

3 minutes ago, kingkisnorbo said:

Would have thought Moore gets a go ahead of him. James for me is the footballing definition of “all fart and no shît.” 

 

Bale is likely to be at 9 I'd have thought. 

[Wymsey]

2 hours ago, Izzy said:

Southgate now holds the record for most wins as an England manager in major tournaments. And he's now won as many overall matches as Sir Bobby Robson in far fewer games.

 

Say what you want about him and his style but his record speaks for itself.

Quite agree.

 

Think he's very underrated.

 

Admittedly, was pleasantly surprised to watch how attacking-positive we were earlier.