The Football.....

[No Ta Doctor]

Never mind, we're not out of it yet. Still third place to play for.

And yes, it is worth playing for.

I'd rather have our (Arsenal's) broken and knackered players back to rest and repair tbh. We've lost Saliba for 4-5 months for back surgery, God knows what Rice needs and Saka needed his playing time "managed" in a way that suggests he's not getting any better without complete rest and recuperation. On top of that Madueke and Eze may not have had all that much playing time but they're going to miss a chunk of preseason as well.

Oh well, at least Merino got some valuable minutes after last season's injury. Hope he brings the cup back with him

 

[AndyRM]

Put Rice in a bowl of mobile phones overnight, he'll be fine.

 

[vickster]

Never mind, we're not out of it yet. Still third place to play for.

And yes, it is worth playing for.

If not just for bragging rights over our French neighbours (many of whom according to a colleague in France were supporting England last night!)
No one likes the Argies 😆

 

[vickster]

I'd rather have our (Arsenal's) broken and knackered players back to rest and repair tbh. We've lost Saliba for 4-5 months for back surgery, God knows what Rice needs and Saka needed his playing time "managed" in a way that suggests he's not getting any better without complete rest and recuperation. On top of that Madueke and Eze may not have had all that much playing time but they're going to miss a chunk of preseason as well.

Oh well, at least Merino got some valuable minutes after last season's injury. Hope he brings the cup back with him

We need to buy /acquire some players asap (I'm not keen on Alvarez right now!)

Renee and co are playing a blinder so far for the ladies, 5 class signings so far to replace some of our outgoing seniors. Michelle will be back too

 

[No Ta Doctor]

If not just for bragging rights over our French neighbours (many of whom according to a colleague in France were supporting England last night!)
No one likes the Argies 😆

As far as I could see on social media, it was Argentina and Scotland against the world

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Put Rice in a bowl of mobile phones overnight, he'll be fine.

If only we were still sponsored by O2

 

[No Ta Doctor]

We need to buy /acquire some players asap (I'm not keen on Alvarez right now!)

Renee and co are playing a blinder so far for the ladies, 5 class signings so far to replace some of our outgoing seniors. Michelle will be back too

Yeah, I've seen some exciting stuff, but tbh the turnover in women's football is so high it confuses the hell out of me if I slip concentration for a moment.... Very much hoping for great things from Michelle, such an exciting player

 

[vickster]

Yeah, I've seen some exciting stuff, but tbh the turnover in women's football is so high it confuses the hell out of me if I slip concentration for a moment.... Very much hoping for great things from Michelle, such an exciting player

Shorter contracts and many players move on frees which I think keeps things fresh. We lost Beth and Katie after 10+ years (sadly to City and Chelsea) but we need more younger attacking players too I think

 

[Animo]

If not just for bragging rights over our French neighbours (many of whom according to a colleague in France were supporting England last night!)
No one likes the Argies 😆

I'm now thinking we should gift Mbappe a hat-trick in the next game to deny Messi the golden boot.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I'm now thinking we should gift Mbappe a hat-trick in the next game to deny Messi the golden boot.

Should just let Kane and Mbappé go one-on-one for it for 90 mins. Just them and the keepers on the pitch.

 

[matticus]

We were forced back before the subs,

Ok, please read what I wrote. How is this Tuchel's fault?

(and to expand: Tuchel's had plenty of shoot - and you've added to it! - for his substitutions. Nothing in my post or your replies seems to support this.)
'ere ya go Doc, save you some scrolling:

Did Tuchel's subs lose us the game? Well, he said he reacted to Argentina getting the upper hand. Match stats show (after conceding in min 55) ARG had dominance in every minute following. Tuchel didn't react until 72' - taking off Gordon.
The later substitutions were all defenders or like-for-like.

Did Tuchel tell the players to sit back and defend? I've seen no evidence.
Did they decide to sit back? Well perhaps subconsciously; but in reality it will be a response to more aggresive play by the World Champions, and an aggregation of many small decisions (tracking back when they could have stayed upfield, playing a safe clearance instead of trying to start a move, etc ... )

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/c77yp11e4r6t#MatchStats
The substitutions:

Number
18, Gordon, Attacking Midfielder
A. Gordon
E. Konsa 72'

4, Rice, Defensive Midfielder
D. Rice
N. O'Reilly 82'
, substituted for N. O'Reilly [midfielder/full-back - Matt] at 82 minutes

24, James, Defender
R. James
D. Burn 82'
, substituted for D. Burn at 82 minutes

 

[Animo]

Should just let Kane and Mbappé go one-on-one for it for 90 mins. Just them and the keepers on the pitch.

Good idea although wouldn't fancy Harry's chances.

 

[Rusty Nails]

I'd rather have our (Arsenal's) broken and knackered players back to rest and repair tbh. We've lost Saliba for 4-5 months for back surgery, God knows what Rice needs and Saka needed his playing time "managed" in a way that suggests he's not getting any better without complete rest and recuperation. On top of that Madueke and Eze may not have had all that much playing time but they're going to miss a chunk of preseason as well.

Oh well, at least Merino got some valuable minutes after last season's injury. Hope he brings the cup back with him

Presumably Arsenal and other PL teams will give all their WC players (inc those who play for other countries) a rest pre-season and won't take them on any foreign money-making jaunts.

I hope so, so that all their talk about player welfare and fixture congestion can mean something.

 

[Rusty Nails]

Should just let Kane and Mbappé go one-on-one for it for 90 mins. Just them and the keepers on the pitch.

Mbappe would just keep putting them in the top corners, out of Pickford's reach.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Ok, please read what I wrote. How is this Tuchel's fault?

(and to expand: Tuchel's had plenty of shoot - and you've added to it! - for his substitutions. Nothing in my post or your replies seems to support this.)
'ere ya go Doc, save you some scrolling:

OK, you're just factually wrong then. The later substitutions weren't just "defenders for defenders or like for like" (I'm completely ignoring the injury time nonsense), he took off a midfielder (Rice) for a defender. This was after he'd already, as you've already implied, taken off an attacker for a defender. Net result of the first three substitutions is we were down one attacker and one midfielder and up two defenders.

I think I've been pretty clear in my posts. I don't think the solution to being pushed back midway through the second half is to just remove all attacking threat. I'm not sure why you think I'm blaming Tuchel for how we played between the goal and the first sub, I've never said that.

I'm out now - there's absolutely nothing more to say here. Either you think Tuchel's subs were a good idea or you don't. I'm in the latter camp. Given that we lost the match the idea that there might have been a better approach seems reasonable, though we obviously lack the means to test that.