The Football.....

[albion]

Not exactly daylight robbery but that was by the skin of our teeth.
We lack creativity clearly. Madouake was the rare spark.
Gordon is a mystery - what's he got that's worth Barca spunking all that money on him? Rashford, I like, but he was poor. I'm not sure they'd be up to it but I kind of wish Palmer and Foden were here to raise the squad from mundane workers. Bellingham, Rice and Kane are excused.

Rashford scored a great goal but like the prior match he was extremely poor with near zero gel. Gordon synced and is a far better team player.
Gordon for the first 70 mins next match is a near certainty.
I have Mexico as slight favourites, a clinical feel to their attacks.

 

[AndyRM]

Kane is something else.

Saved youse there.

Using Gordon as an impact sub and actually playing him as a winger... Who knew?

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Luckily, we do have one or two

Indeed. Good job Kane is fully fit for the first time since 2018 or we would have been on our way home!

 

[Pblakeney]

Never in doubt.
Mighty DRC ranked #41. 🤣🤪😂🤣

 

[Mike_P]

Never in doubt.
Mighty DRC ranked #41. 🤣🤪😂

No doubt will be revised.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I also think the principle of "try and win this tournament, don't worry about building a team for the future" was correct

I get Tuchel's thinking behind this, I just see it as very unlikely to be successful. When you look at most WC winning teams, certainly over the past 20 odd years, they seem to be built on an infrastructure at youth level building in to a team developed together, playing a certain style over a few years; France, Spain, Germany etc.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

In non WC news, this is very odd. Thought Glasner had more common sense than to get involved with Marinakis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cy8dgze1n8go

 

[Pblakeney]

No doubt will be revised.

Not by much as FIFA now do “live” rankings and that is as of tonight. Maybe they were slightly higher before the defeat.

 

[Cirrus]

Kane performs year in, year out, for club and country. He’s the epitome of professionalism and when he does retire, will be sorely missed.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

View attachment 813376

Has that pub suddenly emptied again?! 🤔 😁 😉

England game, wasn't it? 😆

Incidentally, the pub is bigger than that, but my picture only showed one side of it up to that wall.

 

[Beebo]

Belgium were going out.
But scored 2 in the last 5 minutes.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Belgium were going out.
But scored 2 in the last 5 minutes.

Senegal threw that away, game was done and they switched off.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I get Tuchel's thinking behind this, I just see it as very unlikely to be successful. When you look at most WC winning teams, certainly over the past 20 odd years, they seem to be built on an infrastructure at youth level building in to a team developed together, playing a certain style over a few years; France, Spain, Germany etc.

Sure, but that's the larger project and beyond the remit of the manager really. This was more about just picking the best players in a system you could get to work for this tournament rather than treating the world cup as a step on te way to future glory

 

[Accy cyclist]

Kane performs year in, year out, for club and country. He’s the epitome of professionalism and when he does retire, will be sorely missed.

Do you think he's better than Shearer was? I think his record says yes, but I think Shearer scored more spectacular goals than Kane does. I remember watching Shearer at Blackburn in the Premier League. He's the best striker I've ever watched/seen 'in the flesh'! His talent was wasted playing for Newcastle at the peak of his career. He should've gone to a bigger, trophy winning club and then gone to Newcastle when his career was in it's latter stages. According to reports at the time of Shearer's departure from Blackburn, he wanted to go to Man United to win trophies and medals, but the then Rovers Chairman Jack Walker said that 'no way is our top player leaving to join our biggest rival'.

 

[AndyRM]

Do you think he's better than Shearer was? I think his record says yes, but I think Shearer scored more spectacular goals than Kane does. I remember watching Shearer at Blackburn in the Premier League. He's the best striker I've ever watched/seen 'in the flesh'! His talent was wasted playing for Newcastle at the peak of his career. He should've gone to a bigger, trophy winning club and then gone to Newcastle when his career was in it's latter stages. According to reports at the time of Shearer's departure from Blackburn, he wanted to go to Man United to win trophies and medals, but the then Rovers Chairman Jack Walker said that 'no way is our top player leaving to join our biggest rival'.

Context is everything.