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

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!!

yes!!

fucking FH annihilated down the line

Hope xyzzzz continues to provide tennis updates as England win 4-0

haha no fucking way man cheering on Luka my favourite tax dodger

hold onto your hernia belts

England to win 1-0

All the 'England expects' headlines have put me off a bit.

lucre madrich

So, like, are you all ready

didn't get to take my pregame dump, oh well...

not sure who I'm rooting for, other than good football

jesse to score the winner

feel like at least two CRO starters are gonna go down with cramps given how many minutes they've logged recently

i have my "cold ones" to hand: iced tap water in a beer mug and a bowl of frozen blueberries

welp, so far, not impressed with England

what a disgrace for the Queen

If I never hear that fucking butchered trumpet/tuba/drum version of 'September' again it'll be too soon. It's worse than the vuvuzelas.

lol