No Irish, No Yanks, No Clogs - FIFA World Cup 2018

Oh balls, there goes using Bathgate Neymar as a dn. (xp)

It's simple for me as well, and I've no fragile identities of truculent friends to protect. The "most likeable England team in ages" isn't very likeable tbh. It's a team built on chance. There are quality players but I find the heavy reliance on individual talent - as opposed to having an actual team strategy - boring and not very interesting to look at. Not at a WC at least.

More importantly: we will all suffer the nastiest, ugliest, nationalist side of England if they win the WC. It will be a dismal circus and I dread having to live through it – even from the other side of the sea.

(xxp) Obvious Farage never bothered watching the 96 Euros - how unpatriotic is that?

think you can rest easy on that last point LBI

Cheers, I needed that :)

they hate us for our beandoms

https://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/79/590x/world-cup-2018-england-colombia-frank-skinner-david-baddiel-lightning-seeds-russia-983551.jpg?r=1530682002513

I dreamt I went on a killing spree with an axe and a lump hammer last night.

The career of David Baddiel is an enduring mystery.

he's a complete cunt, therefore a fully qualified minor b-lister on tv/radio.

and full of septic pus obv

at some point we shd take this to Real England or somewhere i guess, but just football-wise i feel like the gap between the belief in the England team's ability and its actually ability must be one of the greatest in any nation

Also, like the mystery of David Baddiel, enduring.

for all of worrying about further english success, I can only recommend and echo the sentiments of this chorus (obviously you'll have to mentally substitute "england" for an identifier of your choice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8ODp1WXI-g

to puncture this english nationalist nonsense we can only partake in the very unenglish activity of mercilessly tearing down the individuals who fail to live up the hype

"This Time We'll Get It Right" came on in the pub the other week and it felt like a nostalgic rush of self-acknowledged crapness

played a gig last night straight after the football, we don't have any cheerful songs. didn't go down awfully well.

we will all suffer the nastiest, ugliest, nationalist side of England if they win the WC

interested in what precisely you have in mind here

people chucking themselves in the fountains in Trafalgar Square won't be pretty, it's true

and Baddiel appearing on This Morning will be grisly and sick-making stuff.

harry macguire's face on all the stamps

Every single office in the country has a miserable fucking killjoy Eeyore England 'fan' and maybe a few people should ask themselves if they really want to be that guy. Like if you can't enjoy this moment then what are you here for in the first place? England are still in the World Cup and a lot of apparently superior teams aren't. Save the realism and kicking round the mishapen Jabulani for later*.

It's a team built on chance. There are quality players but I find the heavy reliance on individual talent - as opposed to having an actual team strategy - boring and not very interesting to look at. Not at a WC at least.

This could describe a sizeable chunk of the pre-tournament favourites fwiw, most of whom are no longer there.

*Strikes me than when Corbyn nationalises the FA and the Premiership the entire focus should be on training and developing incisive English playmakers. England produce good-to-great strikers, runners, sometimes a CB and quite often some very good fullbacks. In the past 25 years they've produced precisely one player capable of playing the really decisive, instinctively incisive pass against teams that defend deep, and they treated him like a shitty utility player on the left because England managers are idiots.

This is the first England team with an actual system in maybe five or six tournaments. It's probably not one that will work against top class opposition or teams that defend incredibly deep but it's an improvement on what we've had under the last few managers.

Watching the game last night England looked like a well organised team who knew what they were meant to be doing and carrying it out effectively. Maybe not exciting but a great platform to work from.

xp Yeah I think the accusation of England being systemless is a bit off; boring is mostly right though, if you don't care about the result.

Are English commentators worse in terms of gross bias or saying stupid nonsense than the commentators of other countries? I mean, I only have direct experience of US commentators (and even then only a game or two and years ago) but my impression was they were as bad. Oh and there was that Norwegian fellow about fifty years ago.

still puzzled as to why jamie vardy didn't take a penalty. he's leicester's regular penalty taker isn't he? unlike henderson, trippier, dier, rashford...

One thing England did look good at last night was being able to get back in numbers very quickly indeed, which made it harder for Colombia to get through on the break. They would probably have won in the 90 if they hadn't commmitted the utterly basic error of putting their shortest player on the post at setpieces.

I see you with that edit button, Matt, ruining my zing about what Trippier said in the bench-match interview.

I don't get why Southgate has twice brought Vardy on then not had him play on the shoulder of the last defender, Vardy-style, but instead have him play a roving striker role more suited to either Welbeck or Rashford IMO.

shorter defender on the back post makes sense to me, you're going to want your bigger players challenging for the initial ball

xp (Matt DC)

Noticed that too, whenever Columbia deigned to put the ball into the final third England had it well covered.

Also, I’m sure it’ll already have been said but winning that game on penalties has probably done a lot more for their confidence and belief than if they’d seen it out in the 90..

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/england-vs-colombia-penalty-shootout-video-watch-tactics-gareth-southgate-a8430156.html

This is an interesting article, in particular identifying Dier's spell as defensive midfielder as the part when England were shakiest.

is it fair to see that if james had been fit, we'd have seen a far different game from colombia? think that was a huge stroke of good fortune for england

seesay

I was wondering about Vardy pen pass up too. Not a good sign. Maybe he took a knock. Maybe Pickford should start taking some.

in depth discussion of England penalty strategy = sorry for being the Grinch, i'll accept i'm under-rating them and shut up

still puzzled as to why jamie vardy didn't take a penalty. he's leicester's regular penalty taker isn't he? unlike henderson, trippier, dier, rashford...

Doesn't play for Spurs so wasn't worth the risk

(plus has a groin injury apparently)

In the past 25 years they've produced precisely one player capable of playing the really decisive, instinctively incisive pass against teams that defend deep, and they treated him like a shitty utility player on the left because England managers are idiots.

Can we poll who this might be referring to? I'm unsure tbunfairttl

Scholes, innit?

Scholes?

Scholes?

Are English commentators worse in terms of gross bias or saying stupid nonsense than the commentators of other countries? I mean, I only have direct experience of US commentators (and even then only a game or two and years ago) but my impression was they were as bad. Oh and there was that Norwegian fellow about fifty years ago.

England still seem vapid in the middle to me, but it's a different kind of vapidity than we've had in the last 20 years or so - less melancholy and entitled, more workmanlike and unfussy. Neither makes for good football, particularly, but there isn't that heavy sense of loss that's hung around for what seems like ever.

ach even if it was just broadcasting to Engish people i can get behind home team bias but the tone of English bias is riddled with natural order of things greatest nation in the world why isn't this obvious to everybody else bullshit that i can't believe is played out exactly the same everywhere

and WE ARE THE KEEPERS OF CORINTHIAN HONESTY SEE HOW THESE FOREIGNERS CHEAT AND REFUSE TO BE REAL MEN which is ah god sorry yay they're in the quarter finals let's hope we can keep winning on pens

an audience which also includes scotland, wales and norn iron

Who love-to-hate watch England games mostly so they can complain about the inevitable bias. Unless maybe they too support England in these situations which apparently can be a thing too. Always funny to go thru this at every tournament tho - dreaming of the day the non-English Brits can praise the English commentators and pundits for exemplary even-handedness. Independence for every fragment of this embittered isle tho imho.

yeah if they didn't secretly enjoy it they'd watch their own coverage oh wait

ach even if it was just broadcasting to Engish people i can get behind home team bias but the tone of English bias is riddled with natural order of things greatest nation in the world why isn't this obvious to everybody else bullshit that i can't believe is played out exactly the same everywhere

― Neymar, Mr Nice Guy (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 4 July 2018 10:57 (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I could believe that the English are worse than everyone else but I'm not sure about that, I mean it's not commentators but I have a clear memory of a Brazilian headline years ago that was "Brazil will win because God is Brazilian". Doesn't everywhere have its own pathology of (roughly) this kind? Not saying it makes it right, and more than happy to accept that it's particularly unpalatable for England (actually probably any bit of Great Britain) given our history, but I can't believe that's unique.

Apols for garble.

glad england won. but i did have the link to the youtube pizza hut advert from 1996 in my paste buffer, just in case.