World Cup 2022 - Team and Match Discussion

Same. I just hope Lee will give it one more year.

I'm sure it's disappointing for you.

But not for me.

He is a serious shthouser.

England fans very quiet because they aren't full to the ears in beer I'd say

I can see Southgate staying, like where will he go? Would a big EPL club hire him, I doubt it.

I'm not a huge fan of his, but he's done OK with them he's unambitious in his play, but then so is Van Gaal and Dechamps, and the remaining 4 teams play quite conservatively. And I wouldn't agree that England have better players than France England's defence is poor enough, Walker aside. Kane and Saka were primarily interested in diving and trying to win soft penalties, middle 3 were OK at times, but flitted out of the game for long periods too.

This was a tight game that could have went either way. I think England reached their level, there ought to be no recriminations in my opinion, but someone will have to be skapegoated.

The referee will get a bit of the blame, Kane too, but the likes of Sterling or Henderson will probably get a lot of stick, easy targets.

I am just wondering as an England supporter where would you rate Southgate?

There seems to be two arguments -

1) He has wasted English talent and being too conservative

2) He sets the team up to do well in tournament football

-

Personally on Southgate’s record I think he is just below Alf Ramsey- With Robson in third.

Wonder will kane be in for the same treatment that Rashford, Saka and Sancho had to tolerate after their penalty misses 2 years ago. 🤔

Couldnt take England winning the WC , and not a Southgate fan, but you got to feal for them tonight - they were the better team.

ther games are always exciting , its the media overkill that is the put off.

Foden was poor, and Saka was my MOTM.

Nostradamus Cascarino-

Giroud - complete player - competent - natural finisher

That is fairly harsh on tonights match ,england were better team and got nothing from ref . Southgate can hardle be blamed for a farty penaity ,Kane would need to be getting penalty on target at least ,always considered him lacking when heat is on

Sky Sports News going in hard on the ref. Usual thing, wondering why a referee from Brazil is in charge of a game at. ‘this level’.

Complaining Griezmann should have been sent off. In fairness to Griezmann, he kept fouling until he got a yellow and I think he committed one foul afterwards, which may not even have been him as a couple of French players tackled the English one.

Complaining about having to go to VAR for the 2nd penalty is much ado about nothing as they actually got the penalty.

Ref wasn’t great but I don’t think he was unfair to either team.

The whole "stop Mbappe" thing was bollix. France were loaded with talent

I do. I support my local team, and I absolutely take your point about the hypocrisy involved from Irish people who call Man U and Liverpool “We”. They don’t like that being pointed out though, I suspect it makes them uncomfortable deep down.

They needed Winston Churchill and they got Iain Duncan Smith, as somebody once said...

As someone not from Germany, seeing them knocked out just as they were getting going is a hard pill to swallow. Can't help feeling had they got through would of walked this tournament.

Brazil as I pointed out were spoofers. Glad everyone got to see it. A team full of arrogant individuals believing their own unfounded hype. Primma donnas, all show and no real heart or fight.

Hard to not see France win on paper but think Argentina will do it. As I said before, Argentina flaky and disjointed too, with a soft underbelly, but to their credit, they are all fighting for one another. I think it might see them through, they believe in themselves and there's a real unity in the camp, all pulling in the one direction. You just feel there's something in the air there.

For the players and squads they always have, generally one of the best, if not the best in the world, they can never seem to just click as they used to. They fight and get stuck in, but it always feels disjointed for over a decade at this stage.

Would be great to see the Argies just click and play that fluid attacking football they are renowned for. Where Brazil produced the samba footballers, Argentina specialise in the small mercurial technical player's. Would be nice to see them winning this tournament, and doing it by turning on the style we all know they are capable off!

I don't get this train of thought. I don't see the hypocrisy of following an English team and shouting against England. The national team represents the nation and establishment, the clubs don't and originally derive from local communities, many with different ethos, many even with anti-British sentiment themselves.

And to follow from that, many in Ireland take point with the British establishment, not the English people themselves, who most would be quite fond off, and where the clubs came from. So I fail to see the hypocrisy in supporting an English team and shouting against their national team. It's really shouting against a team who represent an establishment we don't like.

I support Shels myself and would rather Irish people didn't follow the English league at the expense of our own, can follow both at least. In that sense your point is valid, but not in talking down people where there actually isn't any real hypocrisy. Just means people will double down not supporting the Irish league anyway.

Depends on your age to be honest, many including myself never seen Maradona kick a ball (bar the obvious videos)

I'm 34 and would of loved to see Maradona play...

But!

You would have to agree the game has evolved to when Maradona played so would he do so well in this cup?

Could also flip the coin and say would Messi have done so well in Maradona's time when tackles,referring, the game plan etc was way more straight forward.

Dont disagree with anything you said as I cant compare it.

Would love Messi to lift the Cup. I'm a silly fan though, when I've always thought Messi was 'meh sure he does it in a easy league' or some other excuse. He's definitely world class and his reading of the game and passes is not natural.

I actually can't believe it's almost 2023 and we're still trying to compare players who played 40 years apart

It's so difficult comparing players of different generations, the game has changed alot since maradonna. All I know is, messi is undoubtedly the best player I've seen in my 30 years of watching football. He was kicked up and down la Liga if you think he couldn't handle the physical aspect of the past. Would he have had the longevity of the past, maybe not but Messi is not a player I'd consider unsuitable for a battle.

Many of the great midfielders we remember couldn't play today's game, technical skill trumps the physical aspects of bygone eras.