16 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

If big game experience was so important then Cahill would start over Maguire. I like the notion that you should stick with the same team if it is working well. 

Lets face it @RIP Mourinho, however RLC was performing, he would be first name on your team sheet each and every game!

 

24 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Lets face it @RIP Mourinho, however RLC was performing, he would be first name on your team sheet each and every game!

 

He's the true England captain in my eyes.

41 minutes ago, the special one said:

Maybe Cahill will start v Belgium (or the later stages if England qualify), in terms of the relative strength of the opposition I wouldn't go as far to say Panama or Tunisia were 'big games'. 

He shouldn't, Maguire should keep his position in the starting 11 until he does something wrong. 

34 minutes ago, Argo said:

In the world cup rotation is a must, lack of it is what f**ked up the golden generation.

debatable, poor management in terms of formation is what f**ked up the golden generation. 

44 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

That may explain why we are not raving about him perhaps we was told to stick on the right to pull out their wide players. Good to see him get an assist too.

Like Nibs I also expect Alli is ahead of him yet still think he will figure before we come home.

  

Really did stick it out wide in that game,  whereas Lingard in the matching position on the left was a lot more floaty. I think he could have come inside a bit more and looked for the ball but that may be more instruction than on him. I think what is likely is we concentrated our attacks along the right, which made that area a lot more congested. 

Overal, decent performance. Not game changing but from a Chelsea perspective, I would have killed for 38 of those performances last season in the Bakayoko role. 

24 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

debatable, poor management in terms of formation is what f**ked up the golden generation. 

That was a factor aswell, but they were often tanked come KO.

32 minutes ago, Argo said:

That was a factor aswell, but they were often tanked come KO.

Another was packing in too many stars and some out of position giving us unbalanced teams.

There is a lot of mention of team spirit too, is this because many played in the England under 21 so already know each other?

 

3 hours ago, Strider6003 said:

Another was packing in too many stars and some out of position giving us unbalanced teams.

There is a lot of mention of team spirit too, is this because many played in the England under 21 so already know each other?

 

Packing in too many stars would be fine if someone actually made a team that could function cohesively. I mean with the talents England had, consecutive finals wouldn't seem too farfetched of an idea. 

On 25/06/2018 at 17:43, Deino said:

Packing in too many stars would be fine if someone actually made a team that could function cohesively. I mean with the talents England had, consecutive finals wouldn't seem too farfetched of an idea. 

Perhaps, but they all sound so miserable when they talk about tournaments. Defoe said him and Rooney were so bored one day they watched Rooney's entire wedding video 

On 25/06/2018 at 12:24, the special one said:

Maybe Cahill will start v Belgium (or the later stages if England qualify), in terms of the relative strength of the opposition I wouldn't go as far to say Panama or Tunisia were 'big games'. 

Someone on my Facebook said that getting excited about beating Panama was a bit like boasting about beating Stevie Wonder at darts.

13 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

Someone on my Facebook said that getting excited about beating Panama was a bit like boasting about beating Stevie Wonder at darts.

Who knows how good Stevie Wonder is at darts, like the Pinball Wizzard 

Reminder that Wales drew 1-1 with Panama last year.

4 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Reminder that Wales drew 1-1 with Panama last year.

And?

 

3 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

And?

 

Meaning its okay to get excited about beating them. The same Wales that went further than us in the Euro's and we struggled to beat. Beating Panama by such a margin was a good achievement for England. 

Playing in the Europa league next season is the perfect scenario to get him to dozen extra games he needed, I don't understand why we would loan him out for another season, even if we get a starting midfielder. If he's a Palace player, we'd be bidding 40M for him.

If he was a palace player I don't think we'd be bidding at all.

30 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Meaning its okay to get excited about beating them. The same Wales that went further than us in the Euro's and we struggled to beat. Beating Panama by such a margin was a good achievement for England. 

It's not the result or performance per se. Yes Panama are no great shakes as a footballing nation but this was just the kind of abyss that those of us of a more mature generation have seen us fling ourselves into time and again. So achievement? Well kind of, in that we achieved what was expected as a minimum.

What is somewhat embarrassing and frankly laughable is the sudden collective "wood" achieved by the media over two group wins against relatively weak sides. Seeing Jermain Defoe being interviewed on Sky Sports analyzing who we may face in the semi finals if we overcome Colombia and remain in the easier side of the draw. Good grief. Do these people learn nothing.

Watch now as we end up with Japan anyway, and play out a frustrating 1-1 draw only to lose on penalties and we'll be a load of old sh*t again.

What I would say, having gone into this competition with similarly low levels of enthusiasm and hope, I actually think that Gareth Southgate has handled the situation and managed both the team and press extremely well. In fact I am quite surprised. I only hope that when the inevitable happens he isn't vilified like previous managers.

Why will the inevitable happen? Having watched Argentina last night, Portugal before that and some of the others, we cannot progress too far into this tournament because we are rubbish at cheating.  We don't have a Pepe diving all over the floor or Ronaldo poncing about one minute then falling over clutching his face. We don't have a Neymar collapsing as if he has been shot, and we don't have a di Maria doing (actually f*ck knows what he was doing).

The only cheat that we have at a world class level is Dele Alli, the rest of them look so lame when they try to dive and half the time we just get on with it.

Football is now in the process of being thrown away so that a bunch of TV pundit refs can choose the way the game should be played watching their TV screens, with weak referees changing their minds or "doing as suggested". As such the players are now hounding the referees and diving around embarrassing themselves in front of their families, their children. It's pitiful and we will lose because of it.

Question is...do I really want to win a World Cup if I have to have tosspots like Pepe, Suarez, Di Maria, Hernandez in the team to do so.

Phew. Sorry about that...feel a lot better now! 

Surely VAR should be there to stop this cheating though? Or at least lessen it.

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Reminder that Wales drew 1-1 with Panama last year.

It was a friendly ffs 

1 hour ago, RIP Mourinho said:

Meaning its okay to get excited about beating them. The same Wales that went further than us in the Euro's and we struggled to beat. Beating Panama by such a margin was a good achievement for England. 

And Nigeria beat Argentina 4-2, also in a friendly.

I'm not denigrating the win, it was and should have been fully expected, but some of the over-reaction is just embarrassing and silly.  

People really need to get out of the mindset that says   "team A beat team B, team B beat team C, therefore it is set in concrete that team A MUST beat team C otherwise the sky will  fall in and the world will end"

This is football, it's a funny old game, Saint, and anything can happen.  Ask Iceland or Norway if they could beat England?   "Maggie Thatcher, .............."

 

12 minutes ago, the special one said:

It was a friendly ffs 

quiet down, we aren't talking about how defenders that don't score are sh*t at the minute.

2 minutes ago, RIP Mourinho said:

quiet down, we aren't talking about how defenders that don't score are sh*t at the minute.

I just merely suggested how Christensen can improve his game - did I say he was sh*t? Quote me.

1 minute ago, the special one said:

I just merely suggested how Christensen can improve his game - did I say he was sh*t? Quote me.

Said he should be sold for a 29 year old if he doesn't become 'net positive' pmsl. Proper stat dependent. Anyway, lets not taint second best Chelsea CM's thread with this.

The ladies love Loftus lol

 

Few rumours been doing the rounds that although we will not entertain any offers for RLC for a permanent transfer we might allow him to leave on loan again this season with West Ham and Everton apparently interested. 

I can't be alone in thinking that it's now or never for Ruben at Chelsea? If after playing his way into the England team he's not given a crack next season then we might as well sell him? If at 22 we're still not sure if we want him in the squad then why bother dragging it out with yet another loan?