The actual I am watching the World Cup thread. No, non World Cup watchers please. Spoilers.

Pross

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Dorset_Boy

mrb123 said:

Kane may be slow but he passes like Glenn Hoddle. Very impressive.

Problem is he is supposed to be centre forward. No one else in the attack is over about 5' 7" and when he drops deep there is no central threat.

mrb123

Dorset_Boy said:

mrb123 said:

Kane may be slow but he passes like Glenn Hoddle. Very impressive.

Problem is he is supposed to be centre forward. No one else in the attack is over about 5' 7" and when he drops deep there is no central threat.

Yeah, he definitely needs fast runners around him to get into the box. Thankfully we've managed that a couple of times tonight.

orraloon

Allez les bleus.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

Problem is he is supposed to be centre forward. No one else in the attack is over about 5' 7" and when he drops deep there is no central threat.

We have scored 12 goals in 4 games with 8 different scorers, we have plenty of threat! Kane knows he can drop deep and create as he has players to run beyond him who will score. He knows he doesn't always have to be on the edge of the six yard box, he can mix up his game and do other things.

seanoconn

Pross said:

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Reminds me of Jeremy Guscott. Same kind of athletic grace. Unique talent.

Pross

I take it they’ve given up on the ruling regarding time added on? This match has had pretty much what was normal prior to the World Cup.

seanoconn

First 60mins of Kane is the best I’ve seen him play in ages.

ddraver

Well that was mildly encouraging with regards to things returning to maybe heading in a possible residential direction....

tailwindhome

Unfortunate for England to be meeting France this early in the tournament. Ideally you wouldn't be seeing them until the final

Stevo_666

orraloon said:

Allez les bleus.

Hate to break it to you, but Scotland aren't in it

tailwindhome

Lol

(From 538)

rick_chasey

I liked that it there was not really much drama in it.

Late winners, extra time and penalties really take it out of them, physically and emotionally.

None of that. No yellow cards. Only two goals conceded were the soft ones against Iran once the game was done.

crescent

England played well tonight, never really looked in doubt. I thought Senegal lacked a bit of technical ability, any pressure at all and they gave away possession too easily. Plenty of speed and physical presence but not a great team.
As far as France goes, they are more than just Mbappe, despite what the pundits would have you think. I think Griezman is the one who makes France tick, an outstanding player.
Should be quite a game, difficult to call.

tailwindhome

I don't know why, given that the model forecast France to beat Poland and England to beat Senegal - and then France to beat England - that when those two initial events occur, England is now forecast to beat France

rick_chasey

12 goals 2 conceded and none conceded since the opener.

I'd say England are in the top 3 teams in this world cup, along with France and Brazil, and of those, they're the only team that hasn't lost.

Only other two who have not lost are Holland and Morocco.

seanoconn

I hope Walker’s got enough left in the tank to keep up with Mbappe.

skyblueamateur

After the first goal went in it was never in doubt. Cliche but the first against France will be crucial as well. The way England setup if they score first I don’t think they’ll be beaten. Fantastic counter attack goal the second yesterday.

All a far cry from the whinging after the USA game 😂

DeVlaeminck

I'd still have France as favourites - maybe just because of history -I can't remember England beating many genuine contenders at major tournaments and France are certainly that.

The thing that's gone in our favour this tournament is we've been clinical - especially with our first few genuine chances - and opponents haven't. Once we've got on top though we've looked good so hopefully that pattern continues.

kingstongraham

tailwindhome said:

I don't know why, given that the model forecast France to beat Poland and England to beat Senegal - and then France to beat England - that when those two initial events occur, England is now forecast to beat France

Because Senegal were ranked higher than Poland, England had a lower chance of being France's opposition. If you look at the percentage chance of progression to semi finals GIVEN they made it to the quarters, both England and France were about 54%. The model said France would have had a 32% chance of that being against Senegal, but England had only an 18% of it being against Poland. That means that even before the quarters, 538 had England slight favourites for this.

rick_chasey

yeah 538 is basically glorified ELO.

If you want pure ELO, which doesn't take the weighting of players or the gravity of the match:
https://www.eloratings.net/

Brazil, Argentina, Holland, France, Spain, England

rick_chasey

What's the forum view for Argentina vs Holland?

Argentina have not seemed to that great in that they can't seem to put the ties to bed early, but obviously messi is a bit of a joker card.

MidlandsGrimpeur2

What's the forum view for Argentina vs Holland?

Argentina are hard to work out. Individually they are not a great team, Messi aside. Terrible in 1st game, then marginal improvements in the final two group games but struggled to put away Australia.

Messi, whilst not the player he was, has started to look better with each game and clearly still dangerous if you allow him space.

Having said that, Holland beat a tricky USA with ease and have enough defensively and in possession to make it difficult for Argentina to get any momentum. I am going to stick my next out and go with Holland. I think this will be a true test of where Argentina are, and they may fall short.

DeVlaeminck

Netherlands - Argentina is a hard one to call. Argentina seem to be improving as the tournament goes on but they have looked better when teams try and sit back against them rather than press and play on the front foot. They could have put 4 or 5 past Poland and looked comfortable against the Aussies until they conceded that fluke goal after which they almost conceded a second.

I think having only watched the Netherlands Vs USA if pushed I'd fancy the Netherlands - I think the Dutch are usually good tactically and Van Gaal will think up some way of neutralising Messi and exploiting the lack of legs in the Argentines.

laurentian

seanoconn said:

Pross said:

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Reminds me of Jeremy Guscott. Same kind of athletic grace. Unique talent.

seanoconn said:

Pross said:

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Reminds me of Jeremy Guscott. Same kind of athletic grace. Unique talent.

Now, that's a great comparison!

skyblueamateur

Southgate’s record is second to none. For all the abuse he gets, he’s got to be the most successful England manager other then Alf Ramsey?

Pross

laurentian said:

seanoconn said:

Pross said:

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Reminds me of Jeremy Guscott. Same kind of athletic grace. Unique talent.

seanoconn said:

Pross said:

skyblueamateur said:

Bellingham is majestic. Lovely player to watch.

Yeah, wasn’t very familiar with him before this tournament but he’s class.

Reminds me of Jeremy Guscott. Same kind of athletic grace. Unique talent.

Now, that's a great comparison!

Hopefully he won't become such and arrogant, unlikeable tvvat though.

Pross

skyblueamateur said:

Southgate’s record is second to none. For all the abuse he gets, he’s got to be the most successful England manager other then Alf Ramsey?

I still don't get the stick he gets, he's done a great job. A lot of the current crop of England players come across as more likeable on and off the pitch too. I started to find myself thinking England winning wouldn't be so bad and then stuck the TV on this morning and came to remember why it would be - interviews with supporters saying "it's definitely coming home this time" before breaking into 'that' song', interviewing Keir Starmer and asking about the football, interviewing Stephen Mangan and asking him about the football etc.

kingstongraham

I can see how Japan have beaten Germany and Spain - they are seriously good in attack. Really fast and skilful.

kingstongraham

Can also see why everyone has scored against them.