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[Football] England V Wales



Paxton Dazo

Up The Spurs.
Mar 11, 2007
9,719
A draw and the US would need to win by 5 goals to win the group?

That is how Southgate will approach this game. He is a pragmatist's pragmatic. Avoiding defeat pretty much ensures winning the group. I can see it being a painful watch. I hope you are right - we go all out to smash them, but he won't do that. It will be risk management.
A draw and an Iran win is also enough for Iran to win the group… although you’re still probably right about Southgate’s approach!
 






Official Old Man

Uckfield Seagull
Aug 27, 2011
9,191
Brighton
Prior to KO we will know who are first and second in group A thus who we could be playing (1st plays 2nd & 2nd plays 1st).
Do we really want Ecuador in the next round because I know my loyalties will be split?
 


nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,711
Gods country fortnightly
Prior to KO we will know who are first and second in group A thus who we could be playing (1st plays 2nd & 2nd plays 1st).
Do we really want Ecuador in the next round because I know my loyalties will be split?
I want Brighton players to play well for their country, but not against England where a QF in the world cup is up for grabs.
 






Kinky Gerbil

Im The Scatman
NSC Patron
Jul 16, 2003
58,809
hassocks
we are top of the group, he is rotating and resting. Its called utilising the squad. Wales are shite and we don't need to win

Fine if you don't like Southgate but judge him on results, judge him on what his predecessors acheived (under Keegan, Sven, Capello, McLaren, Hodgson we were a laughing stock) and he has done an outstanding job. He has brought pride back to the England team and we are a team to be feared

We win against USA and you can rest the entire first 11 today, that is utilising the squad better than what we have done.
 




nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,711
Gods country fortnightly
Same idiots criticising Southgate after we drew with Scotland, we then got to the final and could have won the euros. Same again after USA game, same unwarranted criticisim despite still wiping the egg off their face from 2 years ago. Clearly don't know football
My only gripe with Southgate is I feel he could have given the likes of Dunk more of a chance, I'm sure many from other clubs would disagree.

But lets be honest even we lost 4-0 to Wales tonight and crashed out of the WC he has still be the most successful England Manager since Sir Alf.
 




Poojah

Well-known member
Nov 19, 2010
1,881
Leeds
We win against USA and you can rest the entire first 11 today, that is utilising the squad better than what we have done.
For me this outlook slightly underestimates how easy it is to simply “win against the USA”. They’re 16th in the world, well above a good number of even less fashionable footballing nations to have beaten or held the established elite - Saudi Arabia, Japan and Morocco just off the top of my head.

People seem to lose all sense of context and nuance when it comes to England. Forget what you might think of the names Iran, USA and Wales, we faced comfortably the highest average ranked opposition of any Pot 1 team in the tournament - the stealthiest group of death you will ever see, and yet we qualify with anything better than a 4-goal defeat tonight and remain in pole position to top the group and face one of Ecuador and Senegal in the next round.

Besides England, 10 of the world’s top 12 teams are at this World Cup and at least 5 of them are having a worse time than us so far, with the Italians sat at home staring miserably into their pasta.

There remains time for this World Cup to be yet another notch on the list of England tournament disasters, but it most certainly isn’t as of right now. Let’s not beat Southgate up for a performance that hasn’t even happened yet.
 
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Algernon

Well-known member
Sep 9, 2012
3,240
Newmarket.
I'm not certain I believe that Wales will be winning 2-0 five minutes from the end and then score a third with England hanging on by the skin of their collective teeth to a 3-0 loss, but I wouldn't count against it.
 


Justice

Dangerous Idiot
Jun 21, 2012
21,144
Born In Shoreham
I'm not certain I believe that Wales will be winning 2-0 five minutes from the end and then score a third with England hanging on by the skin of their collective teeth to a 3-0 loss, but I wouldn't count against it.
Wales are a middling championship side with two old has beens.
 




nicko31

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2010
18,711
Gods country fortnightly
Wales are a middling championship side with two old has beens.
They are, tonight is like say Derby playing Liverpool in a Cup Final.

Wales realistically have about 1 in 10 chances of winning, to win 4-0 you can get 300-1

I something wonder why we don't just compete as GB like the Olympics, the others could be put of of their misery
 










pure_white

Well-known member
Dec 8, 2021
1,216
Luke Shaw has been immense playing for England. Saka, Rashford, Sterling all flops. Macquire a headless chicken way he plays unpredictable not sure if he should play.
 


Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,817
GOSBTS
Luke Shaw has been immense playing for England. Saka, Rashford, Sterling all flops. Macquire a headless chicken way he plays unpredictable not sure if he should play.
🥸 Saka been a flop ? Not sure you can levy any criticism at Maguire really this tournament ?
 


Commander

Arrogant Prat
NSC Patron
Apr 28, 2004
13,655
London
It's quite odd that so many people don't seem to understand what Southgate did, or why he did it, against USA on Friday. With the GD from the Iran game, his job on Friday was to make absolutely sure that we didn't lose. Yes, a win would have qualified us on Friday, but so what? A draw did too, barring a complete disaster. He did the right thing in effectively ruining the game as a spectacle but getting us through to the next round- that's good management in tournament football. If we'd have gone at USA and got picked off (against a team that have 7 regular Champions League players don't forget) we would have been in a situation where we needed a result against a Home Nation to qualify, which would have been a disaster. He did the right thing, and we're in a great position.

I'd rest some players tonight if I were him, but I'd definitely keep Kane for the first hour or so, and would probably get Foden involved at some stage. We don't need a thumping win, a score draw or a narrow win would be fine. Get through it, and move on to the next one.
 






rebel51

Well-known member
Jan 4, 2021
817
West sussex
Another game which is like beating a third tier team, then we are old beaters again against crud opposition. As soon as we play any half decent or big nation we will be going home, simple as.
 


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