England Vs France - Saturday 10th Dec - 19:00

[Jon the Hat]

4 hours ago, RoboFox said:

At a big family meal for this. Not going to be able to wriggle out of it. 

Thats a nasty cough you have there.  Have you done a RAT?  COVID!  Bugger.  Better stay home.

[TJQuik]

4 hours ago, TK95 said:

At a party in the afternoon. Need to make sure I dip on time 

You had a party without dips?!

[Jon the Hat]

I will have no such clash issues, except it is at 3am on a Sunday morning.  At least not 3am on a Monday morning.

[foxes_rule1978]

This is the big one, for me though france are far from unbeatable… their main source is Mbappe and they struggle on the other side to create much. With Walker we kind of have a player that matches up well and could handle him. England have shown to be far more dynamic when coming forward, we are capable of attacking from every side. 

[fox_favourite]

I thought France v Poland was an odd game. Tbf, I thought Poland, in parts played well. But sometimes France looked slow. Don’t get me wrong, their goals were good and they look dangerous, but looked slow in the build up at times and rash at the back. 
 

Tough game to call and certainly depends what England turns up, but they’re not World champions by fluke. Just don’t want to give them opportunities like we gave Senegal. 

Edited 5 December 2022 by fox_favourite

[cruzFOX]

I’m going out on a limb here and say that England could go up another gear or two which is frightning. The big question is can they summon those powers on the big day. Given the confidence in the camp they have no fear I bet they will give France one heck of a run for their money.

[Leeds Fox]

9 hours ago, KingsX said:

ENGLAND SO FAR

 

 

- 380’+ of football

- about 90’ of good football

- draws against USA and Wales 

- victories against Iran and a 2/3-strength Senegal 

- more chance of seeing Halley's comet than James Maddison

 

I’ll be watching this one with my mate and his young English girlfriend.

Convince me to get on board.

Why did you have to bring her nationality into it? People can’t help but categorise these days 

[kushiro]

Great piece:

 

Phil Foden gives seminal display to show England he really is sensational | World Cup 2022 | The Guardian

[Ginger_Filbert]

Win this and it’s coming home. 

[Col city fan]

It all comes down to this. 
All the rest is talk and speculation. 
England HAVE had a nice run so far. But you can only beat what’s in front of you.

Bellingham has shone, we’ve scored lots of goals and have periods of games where we’ve looked clueless, to then suddenly turn it around in a blink.

But can we beat France? Southgate knows his legacy pretty much rests on this match. When faced with a properly good side, have we got the minerals to turn them over? Our group… relatively easy. Senegal - rubbish when they went a goal down.

But France? Different gravy altogether. 
All comes down to Saturday. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

Tempted to go down the Morningside for this.

Anyone recommend it from the other games?

 

 

 

Edited 5 December 2022 by Stuntman_Mike

[SemperEadem]

4 minutes ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

Tempted to go down the Morningside for this.

Anyone recommend it from the other games?

 

 

 

Help a pub out. Use them or loose them.

[SpacedX]

17 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

All comes down to Saturday. 

Thanks for the insight. 

[Basildon Fox]

11 hours ago, Chiltern Fox said:

I'm at panto.

Oh no your not.

[suffolk fox]

7 hours ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

This is the big one, for me though france are far from unbeatable… their main source is Mbappe and they struggle on the other side to create much. With Walker we kind of have a player that matches up well and could handle him. England have shown to be far more dynamic when coming forward, we are capable of attacking from every side. 

Have you watched France?  Mbappe and Dembele.  Both, quick tricky wingers our slow defence will struggle to cope.

[Stuntman_Mike]

12 minutes ago, SemperEadem said:

Help a pub out. Use them or loose them.

Me not being in a pub for 2 hours isn't gonna see them all close down 

 

 

 

 

[filbertway]

On paper it has so much potential to be a cracking game, but you know both managers will absolutely stifle the life out of it. Imagine it'll purely be individual moments of quality from either of the sides that will ultimately decide the game.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

We're gunna do this. Only thing I worry about is us being to passive and just trying to contain Mbappe, which we won't. Just let the kids play! 

[Deeg67]

I'm just laughing at the notion that France have no threat on the right and Walker can "handle Mbappe".

 

Any team that can score like England have a chance in any match, and it's not as if France are impenetrable at the back.  It's possible - 2-3 times out of 10, maybe.  But I've been saying since the beginning that France is the favorite until they give you a reason to believe otherwise - and they haven't.  They look the best team in thee tournament, but the best team doesn't always win.

[Ed 1]

Normally I’m very positive as a person but I just can’t get up for this - the thought of Pickford, Walker, Grealish et al arriving back home as “heroes” doesn’t sit right. Am I the only one? 
PS don’t shoot me! 

[The boy Linacre]

1 hour ago, Ginger_Filbert said:

Win this and it’s coming home. 

Well perhaps, but we then have to likely beat Portugal or more likely Spain and then the small matter of Argentina or Brazil.

If it does come home, we'll certainly deserve it all the big dogs aside from Germany are there.

Not like 2018 when we can fall past Colombia, Sweden and fall to Croatia.

[Pliskin]

Genuine thought. If we do go on to win the World Cup, how do we think FIFA will feel about it? 
 

Imagine Eric Dier with a world cup medal over Messi……..

[Finnegan]

The parallels to 2018 are so startling I'm amazed at the likes of Phil Mcnulty screaming that Southgate's critics are wrong. 

 

You've bulldozed some rubbish, looked wonky against the only half decent team you've played and run up the goal difference by beating some minnows. 

 

Foden and Bellingham definitely make a big difference to four years ago absolutely but let's be honest, a team with France's finishing would have been 2-0 up yesterday before England even got a sniff. 

 

Comfortably the biggest test of Southgate's England career. If you win this he genuinely will have answered a lot of his critics and even I'd have to admit you'd probably be the favourite to win the whole thing. I think Argentina and Brazil have both largely flattered to deceive. Definitely think a European team will win this wc. 

[oohaahmustafa]

43 minutes ago, Ed 1 said:

Normally I’m very positive as a person but I just can’t get up for this - the thought of Pickford, Walker, Grealish et al arriving back home as “heroes” doesn’t sit right. Am I the only one? 
PS don’t shoot me! 

Why does the thought of the England team returning home as hero's not sit right with you

[TJQuik]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

The parallels to 2018 are so startling I'm amazed at the likes of Phil Mcnulty screaming that Southgate's critics are wrong. 

 

You've bulldozed some rubbish, looked wonky against the only half decent team you've played and run up the goal difference by beating some minnows. 

 

Foden and Bellingham definitely make a big difference to four years ago absolutely but let's be honest, a team with France's finishing would have been 2-0 up yesterday before England even got a sniff. 

 

Comfortably the biggest test of Southgate's England career. If you win this he genuinely will have answered a lot of his critics and even I'd have to admit you'd probably be the favourite to win the whole thing. I think Argentina and Brazil have both largely flattered to deceive. Definitely think a European team will win this wc. 

Which teams have France flattened again?