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

No Lukaku, Hazard or KDB. No one wants to win this do they lol

Genius from some fella on the BBC page!

If Belgium's priority is not to win, and it looks like England are thinking the same, can't Belgium wear the England shirts and England wear Belgium's, we might get a game then.
 
Hopefully England are clever enough to make sure we come second in the group. ******** to all this moral rubbish. If it's within the laws then we should exploit them to get as far as possible in the competition.

With the draw as it is, this could be the difference between reaching the semi finals vs. reaching the quarters. It's massive. We could reach the semis at a canter and blag it to reach the final ffs.
 
2nd will play Colombia who are playing solid and a massive threat. 1st will play Japan, who just lost to Poland, one of the worst performing teams in the tournament.

They must be going hard for the win as it will be a solid chance to at least get to the quarters and will be a big achievement in itself for Southgate. Throwing the game means we are at high risk of being eliminated in round one of 16.

Knowing that Colombia have topped the group i would be absolutely amazed if we chucked the game.
 
Once again, the easy route is a nonsense.

That is just not and has never been the way tournament football works. Look at the holding champion's result alone for adequate evidence.

Both teams want to win. They also want to win their next games and are tactically starting players with the future in mind.

No one wants to ******* lose, it's just not the only priority in this circumstance.
 
arctine said:
Once again, the easy route is a nonsense.

That is just not and has never been the way tournament football works. Look at the holding champion's result alone for adequate evidence.

Both teams want to win. They also want to win their next games and are tactically starting players with the future in mind.

No one wants to ******* lose, it's just not the only priority in this circumstance.
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You're being incredibly naive. And it's an easIER route, not an easy route.
 
Forget all this talk about an 'easy route' to the final, with Colombia waiting for whoevber finishes 2nd in this group, it's important that we win
 
FFS Sterling rested, that means he will probably play in the next round :(

We need Rashford to have a stormer to stake his claim.

As for the side of the draw, we tend to do worse against the lesser teams so i'd have no problem with us playing Brazil if we get that far, they aren't all that.
 
Moses said:
Makes sense depending on how you look at it. This way England get to give backups playing time/keeps them fresh/pushes on the others... if they win there's a confidence boost, if they lose we arguably get a better draw (but there's something to be said for ranking vs form).

Whereas if we'd started the strongest team and lost there'd be more of a confidence knock/first choice players would be at risk/etc.

^^But yeah, playing Sterling to give him one last chance to hang onto a starting spot might have been sensible...
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yeah they reduce the risk of injuries to key players and people like Vardy have a chance to prove themselves - strategically it is a good move though might not be the most interesting game we'll see.
 
It's a good idea to rotate players, but it would probably be better to win and keep the momentum going. Belgium are one of the top sides too.

At least if we do lose/come 2nd in the group, it's a bonus that we may have an easier route. No team is standing out so far in the tournament. Croatia for example could be the most difficult opponent.
 
It's a win/win whatever happens

If we win or draw, the narrative becomes "We beat/held Belgium with our B team, our first 11 would have hammered them" and squad confidence goes up.

If we lose, then it's "It was only our B team, we would have won with our first 11 - and we'd rather finish 2nd in the group anyway" (Even though I think we should avoid Colombia)

Regardless of the outcome, the first 11 players will be fresher for the day off, squad members will feel involved in the tournament and will retain match-fitness ahead of potential inclusion in latter rounds, and any injuries sustained/cards collected will be to the fringe players, rather than the core team.
 
I honestly don't believe Southgate has put a team out to lose.

He's done exactly what he should do. Resting and preserving his biggest weaponry for games that matter more.

This game matters but isn't the be all and end all if there's not a victory, he can afford to take a slight risk. The risk is slight too because the team he's putting out is still likely to win.

Honestly I wonder how much football the people actually watch if they think we want to lose. They should be embarrassed if it's a lot :p
 
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