World Cup 2018

verylonglegs

mrfpb wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

Have some posts been deleted from this topic?

I have said before and will again here, it is the most drawn-out, over-milked elite sporting event in the calendar. There's no reason it shouldn't be over in a fortnight.

Wait and see if the idiot now running FIFA gets his 48 team competition signed off, think how painful to endure that will be. I'd happily see the likes of Gibraltar and Andorra booted out of the qualifers and get the tournament down to a 16 team competition again but the money boys running the game won't have that.

Matthewfalle

What a fantastic win for England yesterday. After THAT result against THAT team MF reckons they will walk the whole competition.

World beaters

Matthewfalle

verylonglegs wrote:

mrfpb wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

Have some posts been deleted from this topic?

I have said before and will again here, it is the most drawn-out, over-milked elite sporting event in the calendar. There's no reason it shouldn't be over in a fortnight.

Wait and see if the idiot now running FIFA gets his 48 team competition signed off, think how painful to endure that will be. I'd happily see the likes of Gibraltar and Andorra booted out of the qualifers and get the tournament down to a 16 team competition again but the money boys running the game won't have that.

But if Gib and Andorra go who are England going to flex their muscles against?

verylonglegs

Matthewfalle wrote:

verylonglegs wrote:

mrfpb wrote:

ayjaycee wrote:

Have some posts been deleted from this topic?

I have said before and will again here, it is the most drawn-out, over-milked elite sporting event in the calendar. There's no reason it shouldn't be over in a fortnight.

Wait and see if the idiot now running FIFA gets his 48 team competition signed off, think how painful to endure that will be. I'd happily see the likes of Gibraltar and Andorra booted out of the qualifers and get the tournament down to a 16 team competition again but the money boys running the game won't have that.

But if Gib and Andorra go who are England going to flex their muscles against?

Wales and Scotland of course.

Matthewfalle

give the welsh lads a training session at least .....

rick_chasey

Nigeria’s kit is great.

awavey

Rick Chasey wrote:

Guardiola rates him highly, and to me that makes sense.

He’s not world class but pretty much no one (perhaps Kane) is in the squad.

I can’t really imagine anyone in the England squad making the world’s best squad.

I dont think footballers have to be world class to be liked by the England fans, the players just have to turn up and look like they are making the effort to play, that it means something to them and isnt just disturbing their holiday, and the attacking players have to score goals or at least create chances for others to score.

Sterling has scored 23 goals this season for Man City, he hasnt scored for England since 2015, yes you can argue there are less games for England, but England arent always playing world class opposition either, and theres a feeling rightly or wrongly he goes missing for periods of games, doesnt create many chances and doesnt score the goals, all of which means it doesnt matter how quick,lively or skillz he displays with the ball because it doesnt appear to influence or change the game results

Ben6899

Sterling might have bagged 22 for City, but the incredible players surrounding him probably put about 5x the opportunities on a plate for him.

Not that I really care; I can't bring myself to shout for England after the past two years. Their success would bring happiness to people who I wouldn't p1ss on if they were on fire.

Stevo_666

Matthewfalle wrote:

give the welsh lads a training session at least .....

Why, what are they training for?

Stevo_666

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus. I'll be away on holiday when two of the England group games are on so I'll just park myself in a bar and chill out with beer or two.

kingstonian

Sterling’s problem is his decision making, which 9 times out of 10 is shocking. To be a quality player at international level you need a sharp footballing brain as well as speed and a few tricks - he has the last two but the first is sorely lacking. As others have said, Man City as a team created hundreds of chances throughout the season so it is no surprise he could bang a decent number of goals in.

rick_chasey

Kingstonian wrote:

Sterling’s problem is his decision making, which 9 times out of 10 is shocking. To be a quality player at international level you need a sharp footballing brain as well as speed and a few tricks - he has the last two but the first is sorely lacking. As others have said, Man City as a team created hundreds of chances throughout the season so it is no surprise he could bang a decent number of goals in.

They also have enough money that if he wasn’t good they could buy another.

finchy

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

rick_chasey

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Par is getting out of the group stage.

finchy

Rick Chasey wrote:

Kingstonian wrote:

Sterling’s problem is his decision making, which 9 times out of 10 is shocking. To be a quality player at international level you need a sharp footballing brain as well as speed and a few tricks - he has the last two but the first is sorely lacking. As others have said, Man City as a team created hundreds of chances throughout the season so it is no surprise he could bang a decent number of goals in.

They also have enough money that if he wasn’t good they could buy another.

Sterling has so much pace and good enough technique, so that with some intelligent enough players around him, he is an absolutely devastating attacker. You put him in a team without any real creative midfield leader (think, erm, England) and he isn't as effective. If we had a Pirlo or an Iniesta, England could have a world-beating attacking line up.

finchy

Rick Chasey wrote:

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Par is getting out of the group stage.

I know.

Stevo_666

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Give it a try, it feels much better than the delusional thing.

I suppose at least I can say that England won the World Cup in my lifetime - although only just

finchy

Stevo 666 wrote:

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Give it a try, it feels much better than the delusional thing.

I suppose at least I can say that England won the World Cup in my lifetime - although only just

But at least this way I can have the feeling of relief when England crash out and I can give up on the delusion. I'm not even hoping for them to win, just to put in some decent performances.

verylonglegs

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

I predicted the quarter finals earlier because the draw is very favourable, not because of any faith in the squad. Decent results against Panama and Tunisia will mean a game against Columbia, Japan, Poland or Senegal to make the last 8. Not impossible. You just know however that if that did happen whoever England did face in the quarters would make it look like a massive step too far for them to have reached that point.

mfin

Matthewfalle wrote:

What a fantastic win for England yesterday. After THAT result against THAT team MF reckons they will walk the whole competition.

World beaters

Who's MF?

mfin

On the subject of Sterling, it's just that in an England shirt in the positions that he plays, when they get forward and things things should look promising, if it is Sterling who's the one with the ball you can be sure it will come to nothing as he will f**k it up. He's shît.

If he gets injured we might need someone else who can take up the role of f**king things up as soon as they get anywhere near the vicinity of the goal but unfortunately Theo Walcott doesn't play for England any more.

Of course I'd like Sterling to break his habit and do something properly or even score, but I don't hold much hope for the pigeon chested sticky out arsed moron.

Matthewfalle

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Well that's silly isn't it? Even MF chuckled at that and at this point of the morning he's barely alive.

They don't stand any chance whatsoever.

mfin

Who's MF? It's difficult to keep track of all the abbreviations and acronyms on a forum as it it is!

Matthewfalle

mfin wrote:

Who's MF? It's difficult to keep track of all the abbreviations and acronyms on a forum as it it is!

MF = Matthew Falle. He's worried about Russian cyber hacking so I and I are relaying for him.

That way they can't profile him.

CUNNING

Cannock Chase

PBlakeney wrote:

I think you have why England go out wrong. It will be down to cheating, diving dirty foreigners and referees*....

Maybe with should start at home by banning Sterling. Ok he got booked for diving against Nigeria but he should have been sent off.

The commentary said 'he timed it wrong'

No he didn't.... he cheated.

Stevo_666

Matthewfalle wrote:

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Well that's silly isn't it? Even MF chuckled at that and at this point of the morning he's barely alive.

They don't stand any chance whatsoever.

To be fair, we have slightly more chance than your team.

pblakeney

Cannock Chase wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

I think you have why England go out wrong. It will be down to cheating, diving dirty foreigners and referees*....

Maybe with should start at home by banning Sterling. Ok he got booked for diving against Nigeria but he should have been sent off.

The commentary said 'he timed it wrong'

No he didn't.... he cheated.

Maybe he just needs more practice.
The rest will be at it.

mfin

Matthewfalle wrote:

mfin wrote:

Who's MF? It's difficult to keep track of all the abbreviations and acronyms on a forum as it it is!

MF = Matthew Falle. He's worried about Russian cyber hacking so I and I are relaying for him.

That way they can't profile him.

CUNNING

Ohhhhh, I see, you started referring to yourself in the third person and thought it would be funny to keep doing it?

Well done. Very funny.

Matthewfalle

mfin wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

mfin wrote:

Who's MF? It's difficult to keep track of all the abbreviations and acronyms on a forum as it it is!

MF = Matthew Falle. He's worried about Russian cyber hacking so I and I are relaying for him.

That way they can't profile him.

CUNNING

Ohhhhh, I see, you started referring to yourself in the third person and thought it would be funny to keep doing it?

Well done. Very funny.

No. I and I are me, MF is MF, not me. Completely separate people, not the same.

Who is the third person? Pinno?

Matthewfalle

Stevo 666 wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

finchy wrote:

Stevo 666 wrote:

Best way to try and enjoy however long we stay in is to have no expectations of success, then anything more is a bonus.

I can't do that. Every tournament, I manage to delude myself into thinking that England have some sort of chance. This year I'm pinning my hopes on Kane and Vardy being sharp enough to be able to convert a couple of decent chances, and that being enough to enable England to overcome one of the big guns if they then stick 10 men behind the ball.

Well that's silly isn't it? Even MF chuckled at that and at this point of the morning he's barely alive.

They don't stand any chance whatsoever.

To be fair, we have slightly more chance than your team.

And you just earned yourself a Chinese burn.

Actually - can I use that term or will Secret Sam report me?