England/World Cup

[tyke1962]

 I never thought we had control of the game despite having some decent spells .

I find this hard luck theory completely nauseating to be honest .

Gone on too many years for me to be down to hard luck .

At this level  we've had opportunities to win tournaments over the last 32 years and it always ends the same way , we bottle the big moments , that's not bad luck that's a flaw in our DNA and until that nut is cracked if it ever can be the wait for a major tournament will continue .

I'm not Southgate's greatest admirer by any means but he's had a decent tournament other than the US game from the technical area .

However I think it's time for a change personally , everyone has a sell by date in football and Southgate is in that territory .

Time for a new man , different perspective and some fresh ideas to take to the next Euros in 2024 .

Eddie Howe would be my man .

[NickDRFC]

When players are being paid thousands and thousands a week, the minimum you could expect when they take a penalty is to work the goalkeeper and get it inside the posts and under the crossbar

Good grief. Have you seen the state of some of the penalties this World Cup? Players miss them. Pressure does things. 1 in 4 penalties are missed, however much you pay players that’s not going to increase the likelihood of scoring.

We played well. We lost to the champions. Hurts as this team could so easily have gone on to win it but going out like this is so much better than the whimpers of 2002, 2006, 2010, 2016 etc etc.

I stand by what I said, I don’t buy the pressure theory, i’d back myself everytime to get a shot on target from 12 yards

And I imagine that Kane would back himself to taxi punters from A to B on a Saturday night but it’s unlikely either one of you will ever get the chance to test the theory.

Very true, I don’t work Saturday nights

Too busy basking in the glory of those high stakes penalties you’ve been slotting in on a Saturday afternoon, no doubt.

[donnievic]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

[tyke1962]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

[dickos1]

Some of the worlds best have missed pens, the pressure in those situations is something that the average bloke can’t imagine.

Totally agree, mate. The defeat wasn't down to him. They were better than us, that's all.

Anyway, the Rovers won, so it's been a good day as far as I'm concerned.

Anyone watching that game, and coming out of it thinking France  were the better side need help.
England were by far the better side and got robbed by a few terrible decisions and a terrible missed pen.

[dickos1]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

[River Don]

I never thought we had control of the game despite having some decent spells .

I find this hard luck theory completely nauseating to be honest .

Gone on too many years for me to be down to hard luck .

At this level  we've had opportunities to win tournaments over the last 32 years and it always ends the same way , we bottle the big moments , that's not bad luck that's a flaw in our DNA and until that nut is cracked if it ever can be the wait for a major tournament will continue .

I'm not Southgate's greatest admirer by any means but he's had a decent tournament other than the US game from the technical area .

However I think it's time for a change personally , everyone has a sell by date in football and Southgate is in that territory .

Time for a new man , different perspective and some fresh ideas to take to the next Euros in 2024 .

Eddie Howe would be my man .

Howe won't be available

[Donnyjim]

Can only think Kane should have drilled it down the middle and cal Lloris’s bluff. Ay ho the better team lost and as rovers fans we know all about that. There is always tomorrow.

[tyke1962]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

The Croatians have won as many penalty shootouts at this world cup as we have in our entire history .

[SydneyRover]

I just hope that Kane isn't subject to any racist abuse

[knockers]

When players are being paid thousands and thousands a week, the minimum you could expect when they take a penalty is to work the goalkeeper and get it inside the posts and under the crossbar

Good grief. Have you seen the state of some of the penalties this World Cup? Players miss them. Pressure does things. 1 in 4 penalties are missed, however much you pay players that’s not going to increase the likelihood of scoring.

We played well. We lost to the champions. Hurts as this team could so easily have gone on to win it but going out like this is so much better than the whimpers of 2002, 2006, 2010, 2016 etc etc.

I stand by what I said, I don’t buy the pressure theory, i’d back myself everytime to get a shot on target from 12 yards

And I imagine that Kane would back himself to taxi punters from A to B on a Saturday night but it’s unlikely either one of you will ever get the chance to test the theory.

Very true, I don’t work Saturday nights

Is that because you can’t stand the pressure!

[grayx]

Gutted.
Very even game that & didn’t expect to concede & header from Giroud with our centre backs.
Would like to have seen Grealish on earlier as hes great at running at defences & taking pressure away from our midfield.
Cant remember seeing a worse refereeing performance.. very suspect.

[dickos1]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

The Croatians have won as many penalty shootouts at this world cup as we have in our entire history .

So drawing against Japan and beating them on pens is better than beating Senegal 3-0 is it?

[bpoolrover]

What a World Cup for England, yes we lost but we played attacking football in every game bar the USA game, we were the better team against the best team in the world and people still want the manager sacked, apart from winning the World Cup what else can he do

[Padge_DRFC]

5 matches. Only 1 of them we played a team on par.
Only at the Euros did we beat someone on par with us. The worst Germany side for decades. Belgium twice, Croatia, Italy, now France.
Wouldn't call him a failure, he's not done have us lose to someone rubbish. He's not got us beat anyone decent though.

[ncRover]

Saka absolutely brilliant all game. To take him off when chasing the game was madness.

I don’t think there’s anyone who necessarily had a bad game. Only Foden could have got involved more for me. Rashford should have been introduced earlier.

But, we’ve been knocked out by 2 moments of sheer quality from them. On another day we go through there. It’s a long way from the Iceland euros humiliation.

The penalty must have been too much for Kane with it being Lloris. I think he tried a penalty that he doesn’t normally try.

The French have a WC winning expert in charge and players with more winning experience and mentality. Perhaps the fine margins are in that?

[Janso]

We'll never win anything with Southgate in charge. France have won with half their side injured. Never a better chance of beating them.

Here we go again your football knowledge is questionable I bet you were one of those who said Marquis was a championship player worth 2 million.

Can never resist a random dig at John Marquis, eh. It really is a very weird obsession with one of the best goalscorers in the club's history.

[Chris Black come back]

The Euro qualifying campaign looks very interesting. Brutally, our first game probably decides it all, away to Italy in March. If we can avoid defeat there, we are probably in the driving seat.

[dickos1]

5 matches. Only 1 of them we played a team on par.
Only at the Euros did we beat someone on par with us. The worst Germany side for decades. Belgium twice, Croatia, Italy, now France.
Wouldn't call him a failure, he's not done have us lose to someone rubbish. He's not got us beat anyone decent though.

We beat Croatia in the last euros and Germany, plus a galvanised denmark side that were beating everything.
We played the word champions last night and were the better side,
But the folk who don’t like the manager will never come round to dishing out any credit,
Same with club football if you set your stall out not to like someone very rarely do people change their mind regardless of how well they do

[dickos1]

The Euro qualifying campaign looks very interesting. Brutally, our first game probably decides it all, away to Italy in March. If we can avoid defeat there, we are probably in the driving seat.

Top two qualify anyhow

[Padge_DRFC]

Ukraine are in the group as well that could throw up some results

[normal rules]

I was more gutted at rovers losing to kings lynn.

[ravenrover]

What did VAR get wrong?

[tyke1962]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

The Croatians have won as many penalty shootouts at this world cup as we have in our entire history .

So drawing against Japan and beating them on pens is better than beating Senegal 3-0 is it?

We were talking about high pressure penalty kicks I believe .

You said we miss just as many as anybody else , which is just plain wrong because everyone knows it's our nemesis , the facts are the facts .

In tournament football it really doesn't matter how you progress to the next stage just as long as you do and Croatia are in there second consecutive semi final because they were also more mentally stronger than the pre tournament favourites when it mattered the most .

This is something that consistently let's us down at tournaments and shows no sign of going away .

Kane's penalty was high pressure last night , the same conditions were in play as a penalty shoot out and his head was so scrambled he put it  3 foot over the bar , the brutal truth is he bottled it .

I'm not so critical as to expect the England team to win every penalty shoot out they are involved in , the Brazilians , French , Argentinean's and the Italians have all lost them but they've won plenty of them too , the Brazilians and Italians have won a World Cup and a Euros from the penalty spot .

It's an unfortunate truth that in high pressure situations we crumble , mentally weak .

The facts are the facts given our appalling record , if it was just down to luck we'd win 50% of them because that's the laws of probability .

[Bentley Bullet]

If England had picked the right team we'd have probably won the game.

The starting line-up should have been......

 Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw; Henderson, Rice, Bellingham; Saka, Filo, Foden.

[tyke1962]

What a World Cup for England, yes we lost but we played attacking football in every game bar the USA game, we were the better team against the best team in the world and people still want the manager sacked, apart from winning the World Cup what else can he do

Depends where your personal bar is set .

The bar to me should be set at lifting a major trophy , I don't expect all the stars that are on the German and Brazilian shirts by any means .

I find the hard luck but well played thing nauseating to be honest but that's just me personally .

No country has a god given right to success , ourselves included , but our record at tournament football isn't good enough in my opinion .

[dickos1]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

The Croatians have won as many penalty shootouts at this world cup as we have in our entire history .

So drawing against Japan and beating them on pens is better than beating Senegal 3-0 is it?

We were talking about high pressure penalty kicks I believe .

You said we miss just as many as anybody else , which is just plain wrong because everyone knows it's our nemesis , the facts are the facts .

In tournament football it really doesn't matter how you progress to the next stage just as long as you do and Croatia are in there second consecutive semi final because they were also more mentally stronger than the pre tournament favourites when it mattered the most .

This is something that consistently let's us down at tournaments and shows no sign of going away .

Kane's penalty was high pressure last night , the same conditions were in play as a penalty shoot out and his head was so scrambled he put it  3 foot over the bar , the brutal truth is he bottled it .

I'm not so critical as to expect the England team to win every penalty shoot out they are involved in , the Brazilians , French , Argentinean's and the Italians have all lost them but they've won plenty of them too , the Brazilians and Italians have won a World Cup and a Euros from the penalty spot .

It's an unfortunate truth that in high pressure situations we crumble , mentally weak .

The facts are the facts given our appalling record , if it was just down to luck we'd win 50% of them because that's the laws of probability .

In one breath you’re saying it means nothing that England got to a World Cup semi and a euro final and then in the next your slinging praise at Croatia for reaching two World Cup semi’s
That just sums up your mentality whatever England do isn’t good enough but when others do the same then they’ve done better than England

[Branton Red]

Anyone watching that game, and coming out of it thinking France  were the better side need help.
England were by far the better side and got robbed by a few terrible decisions and a terrible missed pen.

I'll get in touch with some kind of Counsellor then!

I agree England were the better side in the 2nd half once they were given licence to play. But the first half scoreline was a fair reflection.

In that first half England's possession was mainly slow, ponderous and pointless. So many 1-2's between centre halfs in their own half, balls into the midfield which were immediately returned and players standing on the ball pointing.

The French in comparison when given the opportunity attacked with pace. Where this wasn't possible, in complete contrast to England, they played possession football at a decent tempo in their opponents half probing the England defence and getting their creative players on the ball.

England's ponderous, unadventurous first half display gave a quality French team a half time head start which they could ill afford to allow them. Even when second best top class sides can hurt you in an instant - as the French second goal showed.

I'll repeat over the 90 minutes the braver and better side won.

[dickos1]

I thought we was the better team over 90 mins on the whole,kept their front 3 quiet most of the night and unlucky to lose,anyone can miss a penalty especially when under pressure just think he tried going with more power than placement,if gone with p  lol ace ment and not in quiete in corner and loris saved it then fans no doubt would say he should of blasted it

Yeh we tend to miss an awful lot of penalties under pressure .

No more than Anyone else

The Croatians have won as many penalty shootouts at this world cup as we have in our entire history .

How many have we been in, in comparison to them

[dickos1]

Anyone watching that game, and coming out of it thinking France  were the better side need help.
England were by far the better side and got robbed by a few terrible decisions and a terrible missed pen.

I'll get in touch with some kind of Counsellor then!

I agree England were the better side in the 2nd half once they were given licence to play. But the first half scoreline was a fair reflection.

In that first half England's possession was mainly slow, ponderous and pointless. So many 1-2's between centre halfs in their own half, balls into the midfield which were immediately returned and players standing on the ball pointing.

The French in comparison when given the opportunity attacked with pace. Where this wasn't possible, in complete contrast to England, they played possession football at a decent tempo in their opponents half probing the England defence and getting their creative players on the ball.

England's ponderous, unadventurous first half display gave a quality French team a half time head start which they could ill afford to allow them. Even when second best top class sides can hurt you in an instance - as the French second goal showed.

I'll repeat over the 90 minutes the braver and better side won.

Not for me,
And the stars showing we had more shots, more shots on target, more crosses into the box, more touches in the opposing box, more corners, etc etc also show we were the side probing and being brave and getting into dangerous situations