World Cup 2022

Back to you again Messi

 

They'll have a whip round for him...

 

".... ding dong the bells are gonna chime...."

 

Darwin Nunez is pants.
Bentancur on the other hand has been excellent

 

My bad for even thinking of (maybe) signing Ronaldo until the end of the season. Who wants to win a few more games and even progress in the CL! etc. Silly me.

 

Black boots and jumpers for goal posts, old school

 

Probably moving to Europe soon, as he's increasingly raising his profile.
Spent most of last season out on loan, then moved back to his parent side and won silverware.
The loan was part of an 18-month stint at Gimcheon Sangmu, the country's military team.
That counts as his national service, so he doesn't have to win anything to avoid it.

 

Nation Treasure! Ray Winstone
'**** 'em'
https://fb.watch/h5ltjaaIQt/

 

Can I just go back to the Southgate debate?

It seems to me there is only one thing that you need to know about his odd thinking and thus poor managerial ability. That is he plays someone who doesn't even play for his club, and he was always going to play him, apparently on the strength of what he did in the last tournament. *The last tournament!!!!!* With that "logic" (and it isn't logic), you could play anyone who played in a previous tournament ignoring anything that happened inbetween, alive or dead, right number of limbs or fewer, retired or still playing. The fact that many pundits have agreed with him is mental. And as for doing the right stuff to keep the squad together, how can it be right that any centre half, regardless of how well they are playing, can't displace someone that isn't even playing! Now you might say, "not Dier, because he hasn't played well", and you may have a point. Until you consider that you are comparing someone that is actually playing against someone that isn't. Because it isn't possible for a player that isn't playing to be seen to be playing badly, so he can't even be criticised for it! I can't emphasise how mad this situation is. But it's ok because he played ok against Iran and USA? And where would they finish in the PL? So we'll progress as we've done before, and as soon as we come up against a decent team we'll lose (with the proviso that you always have a punchers chance in a knock out game, except that Southgate also minimises that chance by his defensvie mindset).

 

It is logic, just badly flawed.

 

It's hardly unique to Southgate

How long was Walcott in the squad based entirely on that one game against Croatia in 2008?

 

Agreed. And I thought *exactly* the same about Walcott.

Some players seem to be held to different standards. For some it seems that they only need the occasional (sometimes very occasional) good game and every other non-performance is ignored. Others can be in good form, playing well and apparently haven't done enough to get in.

 

Football is a results based business, if Southgates results were bad he would be out of the job, but the facts are that his results stand up to scrutiny against every manager since Sir Alf was fired almost 50 years ago.

Revie, Greenwood, Robson, Venables, Eriksen, Capello and probably Hodgson and even possibly Hoddle were all better coaches than Southgate and between them they took England 2 semi finals in major tournaments, the same number in 43 years as Southgate has managed in 6. He is clearly doing something better than those who preceded him.

I don't like his football or some of his selections, but I am only a fan, so I get behind him and the team he selects and I don't profess to know more than the man who does the job, though we all think that we do.

 

International is and always has been different to club football and there have always been players who adapt better to the international stage than others.

As an example I will offer you John Barnes and Darren Anderton. One (Barnes) was the probably the best club player of his generation a phenomenal player in a great Liverpool side who was as consistent as he was brilliant until he put the White shirt of England where 1 goal in the Maracana apart he flattered to deceive with a smattering of good performances in a 79 cap England. Then take Anderton a good player in a generally average Tottenham side with the nickname Sicknote, stick the England shirt on his back and he was a world beater. I mean who in their right mind would have started Anderton ahead of Beckham at the 98 WC, Hoddle did and he was outstanding, he did eventually shoe-horn both of them into the side.

 

I get why Southgate kept faith with Maguire, his two performances so far have vindicated him.

It’s far from ideal that he’s not playing for his club but Southgate has built up a relationship with him and feels like he can trust him.

That said, if England lose tonight due to a Maguire mistake then Southgate is in deep trouble.

 

It’s always the right decision until it’s not. Southgate has often stuck with players who have performed for him in the past and as long as he keeps replicating these results at tournaments then it’s fine. He has a talented bunch with some holes in the squad and I don’t agree with all of his selections but he’s probably the best England manager of my lifetime, certainly in terms of tournament results. We’ve had arguably more talented groups on paper in the past and done worse.

 

I don't think there are any teams in the World Cup who would win the PL so I can see why players like Maguire might be selected in the group games. However there are some teams who are better than England so we need to play our most skilful players in the later rounds. Paradoxically I think the side with the best chance of winning the final is more likely to lose early on.

 

Qatar become the first hosts to lose all of their group games.

 

England v Senegal perhaps? Senegal less Mane and Gueye, Southgate lucky manager?

Let me also be clear that I actually want England to win! All I am disputing is the best way of achieving that. If Maguire (and, cough, Sterling) play blinders in the final I will be extremely happy.

 

Super Jan takes on De Bruyne and Hazard

'Romelu Lukaku had to pull apart Kevin De Bruyne and Jan Vertonghen as the Belgium pair came to blows after their World Cup defeat, as per reports.

The European nation arrived in Qatar looking to justify their 'Golden Generation' tag after a semi-final appearance in Russia four years earlier. A shock defeat to Morocco on Sunday though has cast doubt over their qualification hopes and led to major cracks within the group.

De Bruyne made comments about the age of the side, which Vertonghen himself then responded to, before the two players and Eden Hazard clashed in the dressing room with Lukaku having to act as peacemaker, according to RTL Sport.'