Off Topic Thread 4.0

ScrubsfanChris · 11-07-2018 09:37PM

"England are going home, they're going.........."

Sorry, been in my head all day

sydthebeat · 11-07-2018 09:37PM

Its been a good game, but France must be licking their lips.

Croatia have played 4 games in their last 3 outings

11-07-2018 09:38PM

IT'S COMING HOME IT'S COMING HOME

Dubinusa · 12-07-2018 02:50AM

C'wan Croatia. They must be the smallest nation ever to make the final. Less than 4 million people!!

umop episdn · 12-07-2018 06:16AM

Dubinusa wrote: »

C'wan Croatia. They must be the smallest nation ever to make the final. Less than 4 million people!!

They'll get steamrollered by France in the final unfortunately, but fair play to them getting there ...I think Uruguay had the smallest population at the first world cup, about 2 million.... but the game has moved on a bit since then

Buer · 12-07-2018 08:45AM

France were the big winners last night. Croatia have now played 120 minutes 3 times in 10 days and have a day less to recover for the final. Aside from that, Croatia looked far from special last night. England should have been clear by half time; Croatia gave them a huge amount of space and time on the ball in that opening period.

Lads like Kante and Pogba are just going to run them ragged in midfield. They've too much energy and athleticism for Croatia to deal with. Despite winning yesterday, Modric was dead on his feet and was barely noticeable for long periods.

England, for their part, should feel disappointed. They were dominant in that first half before completely running out of legs after an hour and dropping deeper and deeper. They were clueless and completely rattled after the goal went in. They were the beneficiaries of a strangely easy draw but when they came up against a relatively good side (and not really one of the top teams), they were found wanting. They can't have any complaints.

I reckon the two best teams in the latter stages already faced off in the other semi final.

thomond2006 · 12-07-2018 10:05AM

Modric is a joy to watch but he and his teammates must be wrecked. IMO Croatia's only chance is to win the final in 90 minutes. If it goes the distance I can't see them hanging in there.

Buer · 12-07-2018 10:24AM

thomond2006 wrote: »

Modric is a joy to watch but he and his teammates must be wrecked. IMO Croatia's only chance is to win the final in 90 minutes. If it goes the distance I can't see them hanging in there.

I can't see them making it anyway. This could be a very comfortable final for France. I can see them winning by two or three goals.

irishbucsfan · 12-07-2018 10:27AM

You're wrong Buer

Buer · 12-07-2018 10:32AM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

You're wrong Buer

It had to happen eventually, I suppose.

thomond2006 · 12-07-2018 10:33AM

Feck I forgot: Go away Buer!

Synode · 12-07-2018 10:51AM

Everything is pointing to a comfortable win for France. But it's a World Cup final. Anything could happen in 90/120 minutes

bilston · 12-07-2018 12:10PM

Mpappe could destroy Lovren and Vida. They couldn't handle Sterling FFS.

bilston · 12-07-2018 12:14PM

England got further than expected, a bit more experience us the addition of the likes of Ryan Sessegnon, Phil Foden and Jaden Sancho over the next couple of years and they could become a very good side. But then France are actually younger than England and the likes of Spain, Germany and Brazil will get stronger, so even though England will get better so will everyone else. This might have been their chance

Synode · 12-07-2018 01:05PM

Their central midfield wasn't good enough. Short a Pogba/Modric type player. And their defense was always liable for a couple of mistakes against a side that can punish

sydthebeat · 12-07-2018 01:15PM

in reality they only beat a very poor Panama, fell over the line against a poor Tunisia side, were better in every way against the poorest Swedish side in 30 years...... (and beaten well by a Belgium B team, but that game was an aberration)

England scored 12 goals, but only 3 of which were from open play which is a bit damning and reflects their flat track bully claims.

P.Walnuts · 12-07-2018 01:20PM

Very hard to judge that English team based off of the tournament, beat two pub teams in the group, meaningless loss to Belgium, scraped past a limited Colombian side.....Sweden performance was admittedly good but again not a top team.

You imagine any team in the other half of the draw bar Japan would have beaten England quite soundly.

bilston · 12-07-2018 01:29PM

sydthebeat wrote: »

in reality they only beat a very poor Panama, fell over the line against a poor Tunisia side, were better in every way against the poorest Swedish side in 30 years...... (and beaten well by a Belgium B team, but that game was an aberration)

England scored 12 goals, but only 3 of which were from open play which is a bit damning and reflects their flat track bully claims.

In reality they reached the WC Semi Final and that's what is in the history books. Set piece goals are worth the same as any other.

Buer · 12-07-2018 01:37PM

bilston wrote: »

In reality they reached the WC Semi Final and that's what is in the history books. Set piece goals are worth the same as any other.

Quite true. Their inability to score from open play was a real problem for them but I don't understand the criticism of the number of set piece goals they scored. That's just a well drilled and executed set piece. Ireland had the same in days gone past and we were delighted with it.

Right now, they just had too many players who lacked incision. I was generally unimpressed with pretty much all of their central midfielders and front two. It's an odd situation when a team reaches the WC semi final and you can't definitively say that any of their forwards or midfielders had a good tournament. Kane will go home with the Golden Boot but I still would be reluctant to give him any significant praise for his contribution on the field.

Dubinusa · 12-07-2018 01:45PM

I agree about Lovren, he's not very good. But France have not really played much this tournament. Modric could open them up, hopefully.
England have no real ball hogging midfielder. A Liam Brady type or Modric would make them better. I thought Vardy should have started, he is a better option than Sterling imo.
I'm happy that Neymar is not in the final. He is a bitch. The most unlikable player in a long time.

stephen_n · 12-07-2018 01:49PM

Jesus Trump is such a narcissist, how do the Americans not see through the self praising bullsh1t he spouts every time he opens his mouth. Also one of his staff needs to point out to him that Ireland isn’t part of the UK. He should know that, since he likes to point out he has a golf club here.

sydthebeat · 12-07-2018 02:19PM

bilston wrote: »

In reality they reached the WC Semi Final and that's what is in the history books. Set piece goals are worth the same as any other.

im not questioning that... what im saying is that they are not actually that good (my opinion of course)

They are the poorest side ive seen in the semi finals since ive started watching football (i was 10 in '86), and that includes 2002, where both SK and Turkey were better footballers in my opinion.

what they do, they do very well..... but they certainly made the most of having a very soft side of the draw.

12-07-2018 02:36PM

Can't see the EU having any interest in the Brexit whitepaper. They won't allow a superior court with the UK, that alone is wishful thinking.

If this still split the Tories it's looking like a hard Brexit.

pickarooney · 12-07-2018 02:51PM

I just can't see what Modric contributes. I stopped watching soccer about 8 years ago and am finding it very hard to get back into, even for the late stages of a World Cup. I fell asleep during extra time last night, woke up when Croatia scored and just couldn't manage to care either way.

There are a couple of players who are actually exciting to watch but none of them were playing last night.

awec · 12-07-2018 05:19PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I just can't see what Modric contributes. I stopped watching soccer about 8 years ago and am finding it very hard to get back into, even for the late stages of a World Cup. I fell asleep during extra time last night, woke up when Croatia scored and just couldn't manage to care either way.

There are a couple of players who are actually exciting to watch but none of them were playing last night.

Modric is unbelievably good. Real Madrid have nobody else like him.

stephen_n · 12-07-2018 05:26PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I just can't see what Modric contributes. I stopped watching soccer about 8 years ago and am finding it very hard to get back into, even for the late stages of a World Cup. I fell asleep during extra time last night, woke up when Croatia scored and just couldn't manage to care either way.

There are a couple of players who are actually exciting to watch but none of them were playing last night.

If England had a Modric, football might indeed have been coming home.

bilston · 12-07-2018 06:44PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I just can't see what Modric contributes. I stopped watching soccer about 8 years ago and am finding it very hard to get back into, even for the late stages of a World Cup. I fell asleep during extra time last night, woke up when Croatia scored and just couldn't manage to care either way.

There are a couple of players who are actually exciting to watch but none of them were playing last night.

The latter stages of world cups tend not to be as exciting as earlier games.

There have been some cracking matches at this WC...Spain v Portugal, Germany v Sweden, France v Argentina and Belgium v Japan and Brazil v Belgium spring to mind.

Is the quality there as much as in the past? Probably not, but a lot of the games have been entertaining. The disapointing thing is that no one player has grabbed the tournament by the scruff of the neck and been the star, although Mpappe is on the cusp of doing that.

Part of me would like to see Croatia win the WC as it would give all countries hope, but part of me wants Mpappe and France to put in a signature performance like they did in the final in '98.

bilston · 12-07-2018 06:46PM

stephen_n wrote: »

pickarooney wrote: »

I just can't see what Modric contributes. I stopped watching soccer about 8 years ago and am finding it very hard to get back into, even for the late stages of a World Cup. I fell asleep during extra time last night, woke up when Croatia scored and just couldn't manage to care either way.

There are a couple of players who are actually exciting to watch but none of them were playing last night.

If England had a Modric, football might indeed have been coming home.

England are a bit like Spurs without Eriksen. They sorely missed a player who could just unlock defences with one pass. It's why I was bit surprised they didn't pick Wilshere. Paul Scholes would have gone well in this England side.

stephen_n · 12-07-2018 06:54PM

bilston wrote: »

England are a bit like Spurs without Eriksen. They sorely missed a player who could just unlock defences with one pass. It's why I was bit surprised they didn't pick Wilshere. Paul Scholes would have gone well in this England side.

Had an argument with my brother last night, him saying Kane’s sh1te without Eriksen supplying him. England badly needed that, Kane is a finisher not really a creator, there was no invention in that English midfield. Nothing to occupy defenses and create space upfront. That’s what players like Eriksen and Modric do so well.

Buer · 13-07-2018 08:36AM

If you were Teresa May, you wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry this morning. Invite Trump, he completely shafts you in the media behind your back. Trump backs Brexit, then adopts as hard a negotiating stance as possible for any trade deal.

Whenever you think Brexit may take a step forward, they take two steps back. If they progress the Chequers proposal now, America apparently doesn't want to know them (and there are elements that the EU will probably reject outright anyway). If they go down the other route of a completely hard Brexit, it is likely to be a disaster.

Off Topic Thread 4.0

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