England

[Cf]

Whatever happens in the next round our approach was correct. It is clearly more advantageous for us to be in this side of the draw.

 

Losing to Columbia won't in any way invalidate the fact that this is/was the better half of the draw to be in. Arrogance and such like doesn't even come into it.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Hads on, there are people who actually think the team intended to lose?

[Bizza]

Hads on, there are people who actually think the team intended to lose?

 

If we wanted to win Kane would've played.

[Guest firetotheworks]

 

 

A World Cup match should never feel like a non-entity, especially a World Cup that has been this entertaining. That was utter shite last night and part of me would laugh if England are put out by Colombia. It would make the approach to last nights game look even more pathetic.

 

I love how people think if we beat Colombia we're in the semis as well, the arrogance is astonishing, England haven't even played a decent half of football against even an average team yet 

 

What people? What arrogance? There's no arrogance in seeing an easier route over an obviously much harder one.

[Guest firetotheworks]

Hads on, there are people who actually think the team intended to lose?

 

If we wanted to win Kane would've played.

 

I don't buy that. If we needed to win, Kane would have played, we didn't need to win. We were through regardless so you could argue that playing Kane would jeopardise the following match. Needing to win and wanting to win still don't mean there was an intention of losing.

 

[Guest neesy111]

There wasn't an eagerness to win the match though.  Was a dire match to watch.

[Marmoset]

The amount of people confusing the meanings of easy and easier the last couple of days is unreal

[Guest firetotheworks]

There wasn't a need to win for either team, I agree that players were rested, but I believe that those players tried to get a result. Even if Rashford had levelled we'd have gone through top of the group and it's not exactly like he Chopra'd it, he just missed.

[54]

There wasn't a need to win for either team, I agree that players were rested, but I believe that those players tried to get a result. Even if Rashford had levelled we'd have gone through top of the group and it's not exactly like he Chopra'd it, he just missed.

No player would ever go out to actively not win, and each of them players knew that a good performance could result in them playing in knockouts.

 

It's likely that it's the only time a few of them players play in a world cup, Vardy for example, no way in hell he wasnt coming off having given it all yesterday (even if he didn't have a great game).

[Dinho lad]

Gary Neville absolutely spot on there in my opinion.

 

Aye, failed football manager and international assistant as he is.

 

In that case, opinions from football supporters is all a load of tosh?

[James]

The game just didn’t feel competitive on either side it felt like a free game.

 

That’s why we got Welbeck off the bench

[mrmojorisin75]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering shite teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was fucking awful

[54]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

[mrmojorisin75]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

[Cf]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

 

But yesterday’s game wasn’t competitive. Belgium fielded their B team like us.

[mrmojorisin75]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

 

But yesterday’s game wasn’t competitive. Belgium fielded their B team like us.

Okey doke. My belief is it'll be a mistake long term but who knows.

[The College Dropout]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

 

Aye but also Belgium didn't treat it like a competitive game either.

 

Colombia is a real test. Could easily lose.

[mrmojorisin75]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

 

Aye but also Belgium didn't treat it like a competitive game either.

 

Colombia is a real test. Could easily lose.

Right, the point being all we've learned is that our b team is quite a bit poorer than theirs. Maybe it's a personal thing but for me this team look like they'll struggle against better opposition because we'll not dominate the ball and don't have a particularly good defence.

 

Had we played most of the first team and went and dicked Belgium b I'd have felt a lot better about what's to come.

 

I think we'll beat Colombia because we'll have too much pace and movement for them, and then draw is kind to us so anything can happen I guess.

[The College Dropout]

i have a feeling he'll regret that myself - he's spent a year steamrollering s**** teams and did it again in the first two games

 

first good team he comes up against competitively and he rests so many players so now he doesn't know if his gameplan will work against better teams or not...at least if he'd have played the spine of his team and we'd dominated a second string belgium it'd be something, as it is all he really learned is that his second string isn't good enough, which we all knew when the squad was picked anyway

 

also has dier always been that bad at DM?  he was f***ing awful

I know they're friendlies, but weve played Brazil, France, Germany, Italy and Holland in the last year. Only losing to France.

That's why I said competitively on purpose. Different game entirely imo.

 

But yesterday’s game wasn’t competitive. Belgium fielded their B team like us.

Okey doke. My belief is it'll be a mistake long term but who knows.

 

I agree with this.

[Mole_Toonfan]

It's only a mistake if we lose to Colombia tbh, the rest of the draw is significantly easier. Also as i've already said if you can't beat Colombia you don't deserve to be in the quarter finals anyway.

[Anderson]

Mental that people can't get their head round it.

 

While Colombia is undoubtedly a harder game than Japan, and it's entirely plausible they might beat us, it at least offers a realistic possibility of making the semis. Meanwhile we'd probably make it past Japan, aye, but we'd just end up becoming burdened with the prospect of once again getting knocked out in a QF at the first sight of quality opposition. I'd also fancy our chances against any of the bigger teams the further we go, if we manage to get past that QF that should be a massive weight off the our back, just a SF appearance would have been considered a massive success a couple weeks back.

[SimplyAnth]

What if he played a full strength team and they got beat by the Belgium B team? Momentum and confidence would only work if we won.

[samptime29]

Was so pissed on Thurs, can barely remember the game.

 

Becoming a temporary alcoholic during the World Cup. Come on England!

[Anon]

He obviously can't come out and say he wasn't playing to win but I honestly don't think he cared about the result either way - lose and get an easier draw, win and his 2nd string have probably given him something to think about.

[ohmelads]

Not convinced about the easier side of the draw. On paper I see a harder last 16, easier quarters, harder semis (Spain have looked the most talented side so far).

 

We should only be thinking about the next game, and that's what I think both coaches did. I can sympathise with the decision to rest players because, as SimplyAnth mentioned above, you could put our your best team and still lose, with the added risk of injuries and suspensions to your best players. I don't think either manager was plotting routes to the final. They were simply thinking about the next game with the added benefit that if you do go far, you've given backup players minutes and kept players fresh.

 

I'm disappointed we didn't win and I think we could've made 4 or 5 changes to protect the obvious key players without going for 8 swaps. Time will tell I suppose.