Football Focus

[gwrrob]

I wonder what James Maddison was thinking sat on the bench when Sterling came on.

[rockershovel]

15 minutes ago, cary hill said:

England managed to keep up their tradition of going out at the World Cup Quarter Stage but at least they went down playing positively this time, which makes a change from the usual clinging on in quiet desperation style of play.

 

I wonder if the Kane penalty was the worst of his entire career, still never mind, on a parochial level we'll still be able to sing "He's won more than you, Jamie Vardy he's more than you etc." when Harry next visits the KingPower and probably scores two or three goals

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's "positive" about missing a penalty against a team that scored two goals in open play, scoring no goals in open play then getting a yellow card in the crucial last few minutes? 

Edited December 10, 2022 by rockershovel

[Rivercider]

35 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

What's "positive" about missing a penalty against a team that scored two goals in open play, scoring no goals in open play then getting a yellow card in the crucial last few minutes? 

How about getting the ball into the opposition penalty on a number of occasions, and area three times forcing the defender to commit a foul (only two penalties given though)

 

cheers

[cary hill]

49 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

What's "positive" about missing a penalty against a team that scored two goals in open play, scoring no goals in open play then getting a yellow card in the crucial last few minutes? 

 

You obviously didn't see the game, as you stated above in the thread you don't "follow" football, stick with the egg chasers.

Edited December 10, 2022 by cary hill

[rockershovel]

21 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

How about getting the ball into the opposition penalty on a number of occasions, and area three times forcing the defender to commit a foul (only two penalties given though)

 

cheers

I'm reliably informed that the purpose of the game is to SCORE A GOAL once you are in the opposing penalty box?  France seemed to understand this... 

 

I did see the last 30 mins or so and thought France were having the best of it and deserved the win. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by rockershovel

[cary hill]

30 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

I did see the last 30 mins or so and thought France were having the best of it and deserved the win. 

 

You were still watching a different game,,,,,,,,

Edited December 10, 2022 by cary hill

[britishcolumbian]

I didn't even watch the first half through, stopped after that failure to award a penalty as I knew how it would end. Spent an extra 20 minutes studying.

 

All I need now is for the Argies to lose and it'll be an okay world cup in my books.

[rockershovel]

7 hours ago, cary hill said:

 

You were still watching a different game,,,,,,,,

I really can't understand your point. France scored a goal from open play in both halves, thereby (presumably) demonstrating superior execution and control of the flow of play. England didn't do this. 

 

England had two opportunities to equal the score and failed notably on one of them. I also couldn't help noticing that a player much cried up in the media was subbed into play deep into extra time; what was the purpose of this?

 

Speaking of extra time, England lost a player to a yellow card and so, played this period with 10 men. I'm afraid that all the sobbing about the referee mainly tells me that England didn't know how to accommodate his decisions, which seems to be a common theme with them. Arbitrary and controversial decisions by football refs seen to be nothing unusual; this tournament seems have had one or two, a once-noted England player achieved a feat (still unequalled) on that basis and a sometime Argentine player committed a notably blatant foul and had it awarded as a goal....

 

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by rockershovel

[Hroth]

I must say, I'm glad it's all over.

 

[Rivercider]

9 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I'm reliably informed that the purpose of the game is to SCORE A GOAL once you are in the opposing penalty box?  France seemed to understand this... 

 

I did see the last 30 mins or so and thought France were having the best of it and deserved the win. 

Yes of course scoring goals is the important thing.

I thought England played OK against a decent French team. We created enough chances to take the game to extra time, but sadly did not take them.

 

You obviously realise that football and rugby are different games. 

 

cheers

[Hobby]

10 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I'm reliably informed that the purpose of the game is to SCORE A GOAL once you are in the opposing penalty box?  France seemed to understand this... 

 

Can't argue with that, England had two penalties caused by France's ability to hack the player down before they had chance to score! 😉

[EddieB]

16 hours ago, rockershovel said:

I'm reliably informed that the purpose of the game is to SCORE A GOAL once you are in the opposing penalty box? 

You don't have to be in the penalty area to score - as France showed yesterday.

 

Perhaps you're thinking of netball?

[rockershovel]

3 hours ago, EddieB said:

You don't have to be in the penalty area to score - as France showed yesterday.

 

Perhaps you're thinking of netball?

I wasn't... but I can think of a number of players who might be better suited to it. To get into the penalty box and come away empty handed does seem rather remiss, though 

[rockershovel]

10 hours ago, Rivercider said:

Yes of course scoring goals is the important thing.

I thought England played OK against a decent French team. We created enough chances to take the game to extra time, but sadly did not take them.

 

You obviously realise that football and rugby are different games. 

 

cheers

Well, yes. I can't remember the last time football sacked a manager who had taken them to a World Cup Final.... 

[rockershovel]

On a more serious note, these players play in the most heavily publicised, best resourced league in the world; they are probably the best-paid professional athletes outside the USA.

 

Yet when they come to a major tournament, time after time they are simply not good enough, not sufficiently prepared, lacking in whatever is needed to be "The Best In The World".

 

Someone in the FA, probably quite a few "someones" ought to be finding P45s in their in-tray on Monday. At least rugby has the self-knowledge to say "the fans have had enough of this" 

[Nickey Line]

15 hours ago, rockershovel said:

England lost a player to a yellow card

 

Forgive me for asking, but since when does a yellow card result in a sending-off?

Did I miss something?

 

In fact, France had three players booked, England only one.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Nickey Line
More words!

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

On a more serious note, these players play in the most heavily publicised, best resourced league in the world; they are probably the best-paid professional athletes outside the USA.

 

Yet when they come to a major tournament, time after time they are simply not good enough, not sufficiently prepared, lacking in whatever is needed to be "The Best In The World".

 

Someone in the FA, probably quite a few "someones" ought to be finding P45s in their in-tray on Monday. At least rugby has the self-knowledge to say "the fans have had enough of this" 

 

 

We pay them by attending matches and buying merchandise. Nothing to do with anyone else. It's up to us how we spend our money.

 

You do realise that many of the French team play in the EPL? As do many Brazilians, Germans, Argentinians, Spaniards, etc.

 

Notice all the George Crosses?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_squads

 

So how can you blame the EPL players for England's failure when most EPL players aren't English?

 

 

BTW none of us give a flying one about England. Proper football is back soon!

 

 

Jason

 

[Enterprisingwestern]

14 hours ago, rockershovel said:

 To get into the penalty box and come away empty handed does seem rather remiss, though 

 

That's why there goalkeepers!

 

Mike.

[t-b-g]

I genuinely can't recall an England performance under Gareth Southgate that I actually found exciting.

 

To me, each match is 95% passing backwards and sideways, maybe even more.

 

It is as if the philosophy is all about not losing by keeping the ball.

 

When I see us win corners and free kicks near the opposition penalty area and the ball ends up being passed back to our goalie because an opposition player is standing in the way of going forwards, I find myself unable to enjoy watching. I can't remember the last time I watched a whole game and didn't switch over or go to do something else more interesting.

 

I know that some of the players have the skills to be creative and to go past opposition players. They just don't seem to want to do it for England and Southgate, or maybe he coaches them to always take the safe option.

 

I would love to see the England football team to adopt the same approach as the cricket team and just go for it. I would rather see us lose all guns blazing than go out in a dull boring fashion passing sideways and backwards even when we are losing.

[Hobby]

To be fair to him though his record is as good as and a lot better than many before him. So who could do any better, and is a free agent to move to the job, or even want it?! Half the problem with the job is the pressure, often unnecessary, from the press and fans, I know I certainly wouldn't want to do it!

[EddieB]

Knockout football is often a game of fine margins.  Look at the three quarter-finals that preceded "ours".

 

Had the first French goal been pulled back for the fouls (plural) on Saka, had Kane scored the penalty - who knows?  We might have been fractionally behind with our starting XI, but we had a stronger bench - which could have turned the initiative had the game gone to extra time.

 

Frequently the "best" teams have fallen to "inferior" opponents (of course such terms are subjective) - think the 1970s Cryuff/Neeskens Dutch side, the Portuguese generation that preceded the current one, or the now ageing current Belgian team.

[cary hill]

7 hours ago, Hobby said:

To be fair to him though his record is as good as and a lot better than many before him. So who could do any better, and is a free agent to move to the job, or even want it?! 

 

A little "research" reveals that between 1966 and 2016 England managed to win a grand total of 6 Knock-out Round matches at major tournaments. Southgate has managed to equal that in the last 4 years with 6 wins at three major tournaments, so it may well be a case of better the devil you know.

Edited December 12, 2022 by cary hill
omission

[peanuts]

20 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

 

We pay them by attending matches and buying merchandise. Nothing to do with anyone else. It's up to us how we spend our money.

 

You do realise that many of the French team play in the EPL? As do many Brazilians, Germans, Argentinians, Spaniards, etc.

 

Notice all the George Crosses?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_FIFA_World_Cup_squads

 

So how can you blame the EPL players for England's failure when most EPL players aren't English?

 

 

BTW none of us give a flying one about England. Proper football is back soon!

 

 

Jason

 

proper football never finished cracking game on the telly sunday afternoon oldham athletic 3 - 2 torquay united but its not the greedy league so doesent count for far to many 

enjoy some cracking goals  

 

[britishcolumbian]

26 minutes ago, peanuts said:

its not the greedy league so doesent count for far to many

I can't remember the last time I watched an EPL match. I only watch Orient.

[rockershovel]