JoetheRam

Need to give them more of the ball and break on them cos there's no way we're working the ball through the centre.

2 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

Different strokes for different folks innit. Maybe Senegal’s defence needs a different type of attacker to unlock it. And I’ve never got this fascination with the starting line up, I’m sure rash fire will get in at dome point. We’ve got 5 subs to use. 

Indeed. It's not how you start it's how you finish.

Also Rashford was crap in the last game, bar a well hit free-kick that the keeper should have saved and a swinger with the left peg that the keeper should have saved. Saka deserves the start.

Love the amount of buy in folks have to the "Curse of ITV".

Tough game ahead I think, could go the distance.

Really don't get Ghana's beef.

A guy made a save on the line 12 years ago, which every player in the world would do, got sent off and then Ghana missed the penalty and went out in a shoot out. 

Lost their heads before a ball was even kicked in this one. Too much unnecessary emotion.

1 minute ago, Mucker1884 said:

Dear Mr Souness...

VAR has to prove it went out (Fully over the line).  IF IT CANNOT PROVE THAT, they cannot change the ref's decision, which was that the ball was in.

They may well not be able to prove that, due to angles and/or boots/ankles in the way.  They may not have the pictures you are demanding.
VAR does not have to prove the ball was in... the ref already made that decision.

Didn't the ref give no goal though initially?

Nicely thrown 2nd half by Spain to knock the Germans out and avoid Croatia in the next round.

I think VAR is what confirmed football is rubbish to me.

Arguing over offsides, penalties and red cards has to be me the most banal conversation that could be had about the game. It's such a surface level, everyman chat that you can even imagine a colleague mentioning it the day after an England defeat, or a friends wife bringing it up at a dinner party. "What did you think about that penalty decision? More wine anyone?".

Has anyone, who has ever kicked a ball themselves, gone to see a game involving Messi or Ronaldo or Mbappe, or Jake Buxton come out of the ground and spoke not of their skill, artistry, heart and technical ability but instead about the referee?  It would be like watching a Porno and commenting on the plumbers shoddy groutwork.

What the ref gives, he gives, what he doesn't, he doesn't. Get on with the game and accept you win some, you lose some and ultimately it doesn't matter. That's the beauty of football. It's really important for 90 minutes and then it stops.

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line football started to take itself seriously. Lost it's fun. Lost it's sense of humour. Inevitable really when there's so much money at stake.

The introduction of VAR and goal line technology is the administrators confirming that every decision matters, because football matters and therefore every effort must be made to ensure a decision (which is open to interpretation) is made "correctly".

Boring.

On 27/11/2022 at 13:57, TigerTedd said:

Case in point, and this may be slightly off topic, but it’s my topic, so there…

I recently had a repaired lap top delivered back to curry’s instead of me. I managed to work it out from the dpd tracking. I just needed to be able to speak to someone at the store to confirm this and see if I could come and get it. 

Could I find a phone number for the store? No chance. Could I get through to a human through the generic number? Nope. Try the chat, where they refused to actually read my message and find out what the problem was, they kept insisting it was a new purchase delivery, no matter how many times I told them it was a repair job. 

in the dnd, they said they couldn’t put me through to the store, I’d just have to physically go and ask. 

so in the 21st century, there is no other option than picking up my family in my horse and cart, travelling for 6 days through wind and snow and hellfire, just to ask a simple question. No option to call, text, email, message, WhatsApp, tweet, or smoke signal.

and this from a tech company.

In the 90s this wouldn’t have been remotely an issue. Pick up the phone book, find the number, pick up the landline, call them. 5 mins and done. Now, 47 mins of stress and angst later, the best solution they could come up with was to physically pop in!

how is this progress?!

Assuming it's Kingsway...

01332 290617

https://www.google.com/amp/s/customerservicecontactnumber.uk/currys/amp/

This is the price for living in the sticks and not having to put up with the constant noise, pollution and crime. 

You can't have it all.

Well deserved for Iran.

Wales have been abysmal.

Spain... such a paradox watching them. I want to like it, but I just can't stand the brand of football they play.

They're like a supermodel, geometrically perfect but you could never see yourself taking them for dinner.

I think it's that all individuality and personality seems to have been coached out of them.

What a finish!

Japan playing like prime Leicester.

So much pace and energy on the break.  Couple of tidy technical players too.

Deserve a point.

14 minutes ago, David said:

Guessing you lot are watching this Morocco v Croatia game as well, don't worry, it's almost over and we won't have to watch this game again 

Croatia played like OAP's. No urgency whatsoever. Morocco were classic spoilers and did look well organised to be fair. Hope they go out.

2 hours ago, Unlucky Alf said:

What's this to do with Lycett?

Just trying to keep things football related and steer away from politics.

Although the two things are so entwined in the cultural zeitgeist it's probably impossible to split the two (to the detriment of both topics in my opinion).

Anyway... Nice to see Modric in his last tournament, even if the Morocco-Croatia game hasn't really ignited yet.

France look excellent going forward in wide areas, but open and gettable at the back and through the middle.

Been a decent mix of games so far.

The boring opener, big hitter knocking them in for fun, the chess match with late goals, game of two halves and a massive upset.

1 minute ago, David said:

Was only £270 cash out or something I heard. That's a lot of money to walk away from when I'm guessing he must have stuck a lot on 

Always take the profit.

Anyhow, good stuff from England today against an uncharacteristically ragtag Iran. Bellingham looks the complete midfielder.

Bring on the next game!

Get the reserves on. Won the game, now preserve the vital players.

12 minutes ago, cstand said:

Madri on offer at Morrisons  2 packs of 10 cans £20

Budvar 12 for £10 at Lidl ?

Bit cold for a lager though. Hot Toddy more suited I reckon. 

Regardless of the decisions to focus coverage away from the actual football, the BBC coverage so far has been subpar. Hope ITV are better.

7 minutes ago, David said:

BBC have boycotted the opening ceremony, not showing it whilst talking about human rights issues. Causing a stir on Twitter

Wrong editorial decision for me.

Showing Morgan Freeman talking about "Football for All" whilst some crap stage props parade around the pitch would be more revealing than Shearer, Scott and Williams giving their surface level opinions.

All just "Mad Bantz" isn't it.

Until it isn't. 

Wrote a massive post about the history of FIFA, corruption, voting systems, possible alternatives and just deleted it when I came to my conclusion that man is fundamentally f*****, and the world is a toilet.

Mickleover Cantonese Take Away. 2001.