FIFA World Cup 2018 - GROUP G [Belgium, Panama, Tunisia, England - 18/23/24/28 June] **spoilers**

Arguably we should have had 3 or 4 vs Tunisia, they didn't play the same way against us. Tunisia did not play badly vs England.

Over egging Belgium a bit.
 
It's mad to think that Tunisia could still qualify if both Panama and Belgium beat us. I thought Panama would be easy but we made Tunisia look a lot better than Belgium did (apart from the first 20mins of the match).
 
How much of the different performances is down to the different match situations though?

Tunisia were gifted an early penalty, which gave them something to defend, meaning they could sit deeper. By contrast, Belgium went ahead early and stayed there, forcing Tunisia to come out and be more attacking, leaving more space for Belgium to exploit
 
Tunisia also had 16 shots vs Belgium, they had 6 vs England. Completely different game as Tunisia had to get a result leaving them much more open.

Granted Belgium have some quality but people are over egging things. :)
 
chroniclard said:
Arguably we should have had 3 or 4 vs Tunisia, they didn't play the same way against us. Tunisia did not play badly vs England.
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Tunisia were terrible against England. They couldn't defend any sort of cross at all. Sure, Tunisia had to come out and try to score in this game but it didn't make any difference to their defence. England had like 4? 5? golden opportunities to score before Tunisia got the penalty.
 
chroniclard said:
Arguably we should have had 3 or 4 vs Tunisia, they didn't play the same way against us. Tunisia did not play badly vs England.

Over egging Belgium a bit.
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Belgium will thrash England by 3 or 4 goals. Another brace for Lukaku at least.

Different players but still the same problems with this England team; still the same over-paid players with massive media profiles.

What sickens me is all the stupid interviews and merchandising deals that get played during the world cup - these players are being treated like "Galacticos" yet they have delivered nothing of note in an England shirt.

It's crazy that even the youngest players are built up by the media, made to look like superstars... constant reverential interviews and deliberate exaggeration of their achievements... and the danger is that they themselves believe their own hype, from a crazy young age. Heck, Sterling and Ali probably think they're superstars already.

And then you've got even mediocre players doing merchandising adverts all over the shop... Like I care what Henderson is putting his name to...
 
Yea, but have you seen Milner in those Nivea adverts?! Phwoar!

They are only following on from their great leader anyway...


Unrelated to current topic but thought I'd post it anyway.

 
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The whole point is (that you've completely missed)... why should there be wall-to-wall coverage of players who just don't perform on the pitch. The interviews, the product endorsement, the media hype... is all well out of proportion to the results they deliver. Or don't deliver.

They are given air time and status/attention/adulation far exceeding their performances in an England shirt. I personally think they should stay out of the media until they do something useful like reach the semis. And if they don't they should keep a low profile. Then it wouldn't be so irritating seeing these perennial under-achievers talking about how they "made it", or selling body wash.

So yeah... why would I want to watch yet another interview with Southgate or Sterling? What have they done that makes me want to delve into their heads? What can we learn from them? The art of being completely mediocre at a profession that has made them obscenely rich? The art of failing to beat Iceland, a country with fewer inhabitants than your local Aldi supermarket?

You might not like it, but mine (and others) opinions of the whole England setup are as low as they could possibly be. So when I see the attention/adulation lavished on them by the media (shortly before their inevitable early exit), it just makes me angry.

This time next week the media will be back to demonising them for crashing out to Serbia or something. I guess the media love to put them on a pedestal because they also love knocking that pedestal away and watching them fall. But I would love to see them go to a tournament and just do the football as well as they can. No sodding interviews with all the team, the manager, the kit-boy... they don't deserve it until the bring back some results.
 
Blimey, Foxeye is one angry man.

I have a draw full of beta blockers and ace inhibitors if you’re interested. I think you could do with some!
 
LOL. It's telling that you have to compare Sterling to a pedophile/rapist to make him look good :p :p :p

And yes, the England squad is completely mediocre. They only look semi-decent when surrounded by much better players at their respective clubs.

Sterling, for example, is actually crap. A more useless footballer you could only find in pub leagues.
 
FoxEye said:
LOL. It's telling that you have to compare Sterling to a pedophile/rapist to make him look good :p :p :p

And yes, the England squad is completely mediocre. They only look semi-decent when surrounded by much better players at their respective clubs.

Sterling, for example, is actually crap. A more useless footballer you could only find in pub leagues.
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You're making yourself look pretty silly now:p
 
Fact: for England he missed 90% of his chances or just runs into the opposition and loses possession.

For City 90% of his goals are tap ins. He can run reasonably fast, OK. And so he stands near the goal mouth and waits for someone else to beat their man successfully and pass to him, so he can stick a foot out and get a tap in. Such skills.
 
mmj_uk said:
It's mad to think that Tunisia could still qualify if both Panama and Belgium beat us. I thought Panama would be easy but we made Tunisia look a lot better than Belgium did (apart from the first 20mins of the match).
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Please remember Tunisia went out to win the game against Belgium. They had no choice. They were set out differently against us.
 
FoxEye said:
Fact: for England he missed 90% of his chances or just runs into the opposition and loses possession.

For City 90% of his goals are tap ins. He can run reasonably fast, OK. And so he stands near the goal mouth and waits for someone else to beat their man successfully and pass to him, so he can stick a foot out and get a tap in. Such skills.
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Do you just turn up for the International tournaments?
 
FoxEye said:
The whole point is (that you've completely missed)... why should there be wall-to-wall coverage of players who just don't perform on the pitch. The interviews, the product endorsement, the media hype... is all well out of proportion to the results they deliver. Or don't deliver.

They are given air time and status/attention/adulation far exceeding their performances in an England shirt. I personally think they should stay out of the media until they do something useful like reach the semis. And if they don't they should keep a low profile. Then it wouldn't be so irritating seeing these perennial under-achievers talking about how they "made it", or selling body wash.

So yeah... why would I want to watch yet another interview with Southgate or Sterling? What have they done that makes me want to delve into their heads? What can we learn from them? The art of being completely mediocre at a profession that has made them obscenely rich? The art of failing to beat Iceland, a country with fewer inhabitants than your local Aldi supermarket?

You might not like it, but mine (and others) opinions of the whole England setup are as low as they could possibly be. So when I see the attention/adulation lavished on them by the media (shortly before their inevitable early exit), it just makes me angry.

This time next week the media will be back to demonising them for crashing out to Serbia or something. I guess the media love to put them on a pedestal because they also love knocking that pedestal away and watching them fall. But I would love to see them go to a tournament and just do the football as well as they can. No sodding interviews with all the team, the manager, the kit-boy... they don't deserve it until the bring back some results.
Click to expand...

Here's a thought. So far we've had a good qualifying campaign and are doing better in this tournament after one match than Germany, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. If we have a catastrophe and don't beat Panama then go nuts, but until that happens stop being a misery and try supporting the team?
 
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