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

The early part of the game was mostly Belgium but France were swarming all over them by the end. They're both an excellent attacking *and* defensive side, it's not like they're Greece in 2004 or something.

England are winning the World Cup from a 93rd minute Danny Welbeck backheel, his first touch of the game.

Maybe his first touch of the tournament.

It was a total fencing match first half, both teams parrying and thrusting. Second half not so much. Anti-football is when what you might do to score isn't a factor of the tactic.

By open play I meant "in the 120 mins" in this case. France had more than enough exciting attacks last night, that declined from utity once they were in front.

Man U played on the counter for most of Ferguson's tenure and they were still fluid and attacking and full if intent more often than not god forgive me.

xp I'm really surprised you saw that game as France swarming all over Belgium, that's not how I'd characterise it at all. I saw them hit on the counter several times as Belgium pushed forwards. I also saw De Bruyne have a terrible second half (or have his normal game stifled maybe?).

"Anti-football is when what you might do to score isn't a factor of the tactic."

I am not sure I understand what you mean. Is what Sweden did this tournament anti-football?

Pretty even till the French goal then Belgium didn't know what to do and then France rolled around a bit to pass the time.

France have more flair but they are keeping it in check, just doing enough to win. A fantasy isn't being fulfilled, probably to do with the way they lost at euro '16 xxxp

I've been saying France v England since the quarters but I really would love to see Croatia put on a performance tonight.

Yeah in the second half last night France didn't look fluid to me. It looked like they were doing their best to choke the game after they scored (and that's not really something I remember Ferguson's Man United doing). I definitely defer to you lot in understanding football tactics though so (genuinely) I don't suppose I'm right about this.

BTW I have no objection to attritional football, I rather enjoy it, so I'm not making a France good / France bad point.

I might refine my definition to "anti-football is when your route to goal is the least important element of the tactic and is based more on percentages than intent". YES IT'S A LEGITIMATE APPROACH WITHIN THE GAME. I just can't imagine enjoying or " supporting " it or wanting to spend my time watching a game based around it.

I do enjoy defensive football if it's technique based I guess, old school Italian football yes, Mick McCarthy's career no

was talking with friends about the mystery of sterling. i think to this point, altho it hasn't been pretty, his headless chicken surges at opposition defences have been a net positive purely for the chaos caused vs teams who have taken a more organised/defensive approach with england overall having a bit more of the ball and so a few more possessions to spare. whereas from this point on i think consistency/making the most of possessions is going to be much more important, so i reckon it's time for the hook for our boy raheem. really the link up play with kane, or lack of, has been a national tragedy that has deserved punishment that it has so far eluded.

france have been so dreary and repressed generally that it makes mbappe's impertinent moments shine brighter. they struggled to break down australia and denmark and have yet to thrash anyone (although this england defence might offer them some hope there) so I wouldn't say their attack is excellent. deschamps has them on such a tight leash they look like they're worried about having to go to macron's office to apologise if they play too much football

mertens is a headless chicken, sterling just goes on runs

Pacey attackers dropping very deep and running with it has been a feature of this World Cup - Sterling, Lukaku and Mbappe have all done that, like the ideal of what late doors Rooney was supposed to be but actually good.

With England it's especially important because they don't have a midfielder capable of consistently making the kinds of passes from deep that release attacking players or unlock defences. Suspect that's why Southgate has consistently gone for Lingard, Sterling and Alli altogether.

ferguson utd played attacking football until jose arrived and took over at chelsea, and played counterattacking thereafter, some of it fluid and with intent and a lot of it not

AOC and Lallana wouldve presumably made a big difference to the first xi setup

just not sure theyd be in the semis with em

(Matt I did find myself idly pondering whether Southgate had some mad plan to make it look as though Welbeck was a makeweight then unleash him as a secret weapon on the later stages of the world cup; this thought largely based on the face that a couple of times Vardy was brought on it seemed to me that Welbeck would have been a better fit.)

The Mark Hughes / Andrey Kanchelskis era of Fergusonited was fairly heavily built on effective counterattacks IIRC, but I don't recall them being very stifle-y.

kanchelskis sure got....russian-looking

rooney-tevez-ronaldo was a thing of beauty, even I admit it

henderson has been much better than I feared so far (v notable deterioration when dier takes over), and for some reason other teams have let him run the midfield

dier, and im his biggest critic, was a really good defensive-minded midfielder in his first run there for spurs, a great tackler/enforcer and his through balls on to dele's right boot were a feature of that season

all fallen apart since utd interest was rebuffed

Re: Henderson - won't happen tonight.

If Eng reach the final it will inevitably damage the way this wc will be seen.

oh the tournament is already ruined

I like how nearly every country that was supposed be a potential winner has blown it early on and somehow that's still England's fault.

If you can't win a second-round tie against Russia, or contrive to lose to Mexico and South Korea, then that's on you. If anything it's improved the tournament.

it's also on russia, mexico and south korea !

The likes of Ger and Spa losing isn't the problem, it's what has been allowed through in their place and how they got there. I enjoyed south korea's run far more bcz they beat the likes of Italy. Eng hasn't even faced anything like that. Not their fault, just reflects badly.

did u just use the yank 'hasnt'

ain't

Colombia > Argentina

So what a damage Croatia have done to this tournament.

Mate

on pickford's vibe https://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/world-cup/jordan-pickford-england-world-cup-2018-hero-asda-money-twitter-legend/365693

The early part of the game was mostly Belgium but France were swarming all over them by the end. They're both an excellent attacking *and* defensive side, it's not like they're Greece in 2004 or something.

England are winning the World Cup from a 93rd minute Danny Welbeck backheel, his first touch of the game.

xp

I can remember David Wheater getting similar treatment for being an ugly, old fashioned (white) w/c buffoon, who goes to bingo with his bird and buys scratchcards etc.. yawn. This nonsense will all be forgotten when the cunt has had his coco the clown moment and everybody wants him to die!

and the whole whatchoocallhim thing...kitson!

more buffoon than buffon? that's harsh imo, pickford is a cheeky boy & full of beans. not sure he'll go deep viral on the level of "cheater, cheater, david wheater" though

I'm sure it was Southgate who I can remember waxing lyrical about Wheater being very uncomplicated and representing a more innocent age of football!

we're humble yeoman pigs of albion and we love our football

Enjoyed Harry Maguire turning up to the World Cup with his stuff in black bin bags.

I mean England can only beat who they play, I can see "This proves nothing" skepticism, but actually treating it as a demerit that they beat the lesser teams dropped in front of them is weird*

(*ok some criticism for tanking to get the easy bracket)

Any thoughts on the Croatia team?

TEAM NEWS // #CROENG

Here are the Starting XIs for tonight's semi-final...#WorldCup pic.twitter.com/28C4ZvnP8x

— FIFA World Cup 🏆 (@FIFAWorldCup) July 11, 2018

2-1 Croatia (1-1 after FT)

Telegraph is a treat for any neutrals who may be contemplating supporting England tonight, it's only a bit of fu....ck off!

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/southgate-vs-churchill-englands-two-greatest-leaders-compared/

nngghhh

what a FH 0-15

at the net 0-30

DEUCE!

3 SPs!!