Football Focus

[hayfield]

1 hour ago, tomparryharry said:

You are correct about the quantity of players in the Premier. However,  The league games start up in a few weeks, and I honestly believe that the earnings potential for a premier player, far outweighs any 'mere' national game. 

 

Selection for  the national team shouldn't necessarily be about being in the Premier; players should be chosen for their ability and attitude.

 

'Right person; right place; right time; right job.   

 

Tomparryharry

 

I don't think its anything to do with money, I think I am correct in thinking all player fees are given to charity

 

Secondly to get to their level you have to have an extra competitive edge and very strong wills. Ben White seems to have enough self belief to tell Southgate and co where to go

 

I think its a case that these players have not learnt to play with each other. Take Kai Havertz who transferred from Chelsea to Arsenal, for the first 3 months he looked like a fish out of water, opposing fans sang what a "waste of money". By the end of the season he was on fire, back to his best and every time he scored the Arsenal fans sang what a "waste of money"

 

I think Gareth Southgate and his backroom staff cannot put together a cohesive team which can work together. No fit left backs, I say again no Ben White (Saka seemingly cannot play with Kyle Walker. Kane deserves to be benched, Bellingham & Foden don't seem to click. On the other hand he might be asking players to play differently to how they play at club level, it could be the players are having trouble with the tactics and formations. He has lost some players to injury prior to the tournament and players are playing out of position

 

When the fringe players come in there seems to be more energy, but still lacking in cohesive play. At the top of the game club players seem to know where clubmates will be/go. football is now so quick that it looks to be automatic. They all now play possession football waiting for an opening to exploit in an explosive manner. The last 3 games few English Players were finding space in midfield. Rice probably has made more mistakes in the last 3 games than he has made all season for Arsenal. 

 

By all means look at widening the pool of new players, but he is not even using his new players in his squad

[GrumpyPenguin]

Sorry, could not resist ;

 

[tomparryharry]

16 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Tomparryharry

 

I don't think its anything to do with money, I think I am correct in thinking all player fees are given to charity

 

Secondly to get to their level you have to have an extra competitive edge and very strong wills. Ben White seems to have enough self belief to tell Southgate and co where to go

 

I think its a case that these players have not learnt to play with each other. Take Kai Havertz who transferred from Chelsea to Arsenal, for the first 3 months he looked like a fish out of water, opposing fans sang what a "waste of money". By the end of the season he was on fire, back to his best and every time he scored the Arsenal fans sang what a "waste of money"

 

I think Gareth Southgate and his backroom staff cannot put together a cohesive team which can work together. No fit left backs, I say again no Ben White (Saka seemingly cannot play with Kyle Walker. Kane deserves to be benched, Bellingham & Foden don't seem to click. On the other hand he might be asking players to play differently to how they play at club level, it could be the players are having trouble with the tactics and formations. He has lost some players to injury prior to the tournament and players are playing out of position

 

When the fringe players come in there seems to be more energy, but still lacking in cohesive play. At the top of the game club players seem to know where clubmates will be/go. football is now so quick that it looks to be automatic. They all now play possession football waiting for an opening to exploit in an explosive manner. The last 3 games few English Players were finding space in midfield. Rice probably has made more mistakes in the last 3 games than he has made all season for Arsenal. 

 

By all means look at widening the pool of new players, but he is not even using his new players in his squad

Once again John, you're quite right, and I understand your point. 

 

Reading your last post seems to hit the nail on the head, fairly & squarely.

Cheers,

Ian. 

[peanuts]

Now i do like this 

 

 

[cary hill]

Only a few hours to go now before another episode of stultifying England boredom commences, complete with the usual tactical ineptitude, continued failure to select the right players in the right positions, no sign of a plan B, no ability to shift the momentum of the game in England's favour, a rigid unimaginative pattern of tardy substitutions and a total lack of nous when it comes to unlocking a packed defence.

 

I can hardly wait for another exhibition totally lacking in wit, pace and guile, with slow inaccurate passing and coupled with a lack of commitment, an abject failure to press and no runners or width.

 

Southgate's 8 years of experimenting on the players with his perverse reverse alchemy must surely drawing to an end with his latest creation Jude the Obscured.

 

 

 

 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, cary hill said:

Only a few hours to go now before another episode of stultifying England boredom commences, complete with the usual tactical ineptitude, continued failure to select the right players in the right positions, no sign of a plan B, no ability to shift the momentum of the game in England's favour, a rigid unimaginative pattern of tardy substitutions and a total lack of nous when it comes to unlocking a packed defence.

 

I can hardly wait for another exhibition totally lacking in wit, pace and guile, with slow inaccurate passing and coupled with a lack of commitment, an abject failure to press and no runners or width.

 

Southgate's 8 years of experimenting on the players with his perverse reverse alchemy must surely drawing to an end with his latest creation Jude the Obscured.

 

 

 

 

Harsh, but the Swiss footie commentators (all ex-footballers) are saying pretty much that.

 

We’ll see, we’ll see….

[Hroth]

Its not a case of seeing, that would be too depressing.  I'll just wait for the result.

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Its not a case of seeing, that would be too depressing.  I'll just wait for the result.

 

 

Best not to waste good modelling time!

 

Mike.

[john new]

Can someone please explain the decision/controversy behind the Danish offside goal? I thought it was offside anyway watching live as there were two, possibly three offside when the ball first came in (apparently not why it was called?) then a German kicked it and the guy who kicked it in was therefore played on!

 

As above I am not surprised it was disallowed but don’t get the whole just a toe of someone standing up being the reason. Penalty, harsh but it did hit his hand. My team I would be yelling for a pen, their forward our defence it would be come on ref that wasn’t deliberate. (I have feeling deliberate has been dropped).

 

Edited June 30 by john new
A minor tweak and punctuation.

[Hobby]

From what I can gather with VAR people have demanded long and hard that mistakes by Refs and Linesmen should be minimised as much as possible and now there is technology that takes the accuracy a stage nearer to perfection they complain it spoils the game. Yes, I know it slows the flow but people can't have it both ways, they want better decisions but then complain when they get it.

 

VAR is in a no win situation (pardon the pun!).

Edited June 30 by Hobby

[Gareth Collier]

I'm sure Southgate will let loose plan B in the second half...... oh, wait

[Gareth Collier]

80 minutes in and we have hit the post but still nothing on target, no plan B and one substitution. It looks like Southgate has given up.

Hopefully this post will come back to haunt me as we hit 2 in the last 10 minutes...

[Hroth]

90+5  and England score an equaliser.

Slovakia must have dozed off for a moment...

 

I think Plan B must be to equalise at the last minute and let Englands expert penalty takers sort things out!

 

Edited June 30 by Hroth

[Gareth Collier]

I know we've now equalised but what was the point of waiting until the 94th minute to bring Toney on? What was he supposed to do with 2 minutes?

[john new]

Glad I haven't paid to go to see it over there. 30 extra mins to go, lucky England, 2nd best throughout the first 90, perhaps things will change IF the players ignore the instructions about sideways negativty and actually get it up the pitch a bit more often.

 

Update - just as I posted the above we did and went 2-1 up.

.

 

Edited June 30 by john new

[Gareth Collier]

I was never worried. Our name must be on the cup playing this bad and still in it.

[Hroth]

I don't believe it.

 

Why couldn't they do the decent thing and LOSE*???

 

* On penalties at least....

 

[gwrrob]

We'll suffer another week of bullshittery from the media on how we can still win the tournament. The Swiss will see us off no problem. Southgate keeps his job a bit longer than Sunak.

[john new]

I think as fans we may as well give up now, despite a VAR check Spain’s blatantly offside goal, twice in the move, has been allowed. Watching it as a neutral but if I was supporting Georgia I would be livid.

 

Edited June 30 by john new
Missing word added.

[britishcolumbian]

3 hours ago, john new said:

I think as fans we may as well give up now, despite a VAR check Spain’s blatantly offside goal, twice in the move, has been allowed. Watching it as a neutral but if I was supporting Georgia I would be livid.

 

Supporting Hungary I can agree the standard of officiating has been... suboptimal.

[Enterprisingwestern]

11 hours ago, gwrrob said:

We'll suffer another week of bullshittery from the media on how we can still win the tournament. The Swiss will see us off no problem. Southgate keeps his job a bit longer than Sunak.

 

I presume from your confidence you have re-mortgaged your house and put the money on Switzerland then?

 

Mike.

[Hobby]

Re Spain's "offside" goal, at the end of the day Spain scored 4, take away one and they still won 3-1, annoying, yes, but I don't think the decision affected the final outcome.

[hayfield]

21 hours ago, john new said:

Can someone please explain the decision/controversy behind the Danish offside goal? I thought it was offside anyway watching live as there were two, possibly three offside when the ball first came in (apparently not why it was called?) then a German kicked it and the guy who kicked it in was therefore played on!

 

As above I am not surprised it was disallowed but don’t get the whole just a toe of someone standing up being the reason. Penalty, harsh but it did hit his hand. My team I would be yelling for a pen, their forward our defence it would be come on ref that wasn’t deliberate. (I have feeling deliberate has been dropped).

 

 

John

 

Just because a ball comes off an opponent (or a goalkeeper saves) unless the opponent deliberately passes the ball (not deflects) its offside. Certainly with a goalkeeper save I cannot understand the logic, its all part of when a player is off side and not (supposedly) affecting play. No doubt as usual there will be a review and the rules will be altered again

 

I think the penalty was even harsher, but in an attempt to resolve one issue they create another

 

Good to see 2 refs sent home for poor performance

[tigerburnie]

I have very little interest in soccer, a rugby man, but wish the team well, I knew they had won, not because I knew the score, but none of my neighbours were out cheering and dancing. They will hide from me for another week now lol.

[Deeps]

4 hours ago, Hobby said:

Re Spain's "offside" goal, at the end of the day Spain scored 4, take away one and they still won 3-1, annoying, yes, but I don't think the decision affected the final outcome.

I agree, but there may an argument that if the “offside goal” had been ruled out then the subsequent passage of play would have been significantly different and Georgia could have won 4-3. Unlikely but possible.

 

This idea was debated back in 1966; if ‘that’ ball hadn’t actually crossed the line then England would still have won 3-2. However, the Germans would not have been likely to leave their defences open to allow our ‘third’ goal and could just have easily equalised. We may then have ended up with penalties (was that the protocol at that time?) and we know how that would have finished up!