Tom Hark Preston Park
Will Post For Cash
- Jul 6, 2003
- 72,358
Blimey! Now THERE'S a band that doesn't very often get a name check round these parts. Used to
those zany Dutch popsters
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[Football] Keep winning or look for the easier knockout games?
- Thread starter Stat Brother
- Start date
Blimey! Now THERE'S a band that doesn't very often get a name check round these parts. Used to
those zany Dutch popsters
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,207
I still don't think this is likely, we will have to meet one of the big teams sooner or later and will more than likely get found out. With this in mind, for me it is better to progress and improve though experience.
This would be logical, but I don't think it will happen. I think we will get carried away with "we got to the final", "we got to the semis" etc. Then like i said we will end up back with having a false sense of our abilities.
This is a new, young team at the beginning of a new cycle, a cycle that has some real potential coming through from the younger tournament wins. What they need is experience. I suppose that this experience would be better gained by playing more games against beatable opposition rather than getting knocked out in the second round.
It is genuinely exciting to be in this position. Either way it goes is good for us.
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
I just hope we avoid Colombia in the next round.
Would rather face Japan or Senegal but que sera sera.
Would rather face Japan or Senegal but que sera sera.
neilbard
Hedging up
- Oct 8, 2013
- 6,280
Don't underestimate Group H, Poland qualified for the World Cup with ease only losing one game. No easy games now.
- Thread starter
- #165
[tweet]1012230136274538497[/tweet]
This for me is the main thing. If it turns out finishing second avoids Colombia as well then I will agree that throwing the game is worthwhile, until that is the case momentum is more important. Colombia produced one of the top two or three performances of the tournament against Poland, and look organised and really dangerous going forward. It seems to me that people have forgotten they played 90 minutes with ten men against Japan and are acting like Japan=Senegal=Colombia when in fact it is clearly Japan<Senegal<Colombia.
pasty
A different kind of pasty
I can see this descending into farce late on. 0-0 with 5 minutes to go and players on both sides desperately trying to get booked 
- Thread starter
- #168
I can see this descending into farce late on. 0-0 with 5 minutes to go and players on both sides desperately trying to get booked
Fingers crossed, what a great game that would be.
It would be easier to win the cup by playing one or two big teams than playing three of them.
We could beat any one team on our day, just like Brighton managed to beat Arsenal and Utd, but the less top teams we have to beat, the better.
They didn't mind winning, but Denmark didn't want to lose, and France didn't want to tire out players or get bookings. Tonight could potentially be even worse, but I doubt it will.
Blimey! Now THERE'S a band that doesn't very often get a name check round these parts. Used to
Bet one of the reasons/thoughts for starting this thread was an 'do we try to avoid Germany' slant.........which kind of shows the folly of trying to manipulate things really. Just play to win and try to keep the momentum going. Simple.
We have come up against the big teams in plenty of tournaments, and lost nearly all of them. All those big team games hasn't given us the experience to improve, so why should it this time? And if we get through thanks to playing some weaker teams, only to get knocked out as soon as we face a big team, I don't think we'll have a false sense of where we are. Better than the weaker teams, not as good as the bigger teams. If of course we lose our first group match, which is easily possible, then we know we're still really shit.
Getting to the final would be an achievement, and involve beating a big team. And we know that just losing early hasn't helped. Sure we know we're shit, but what good has that done?
Agreed
Southgate is in a very different position to us. For him to talk openly about the quarter-finals, when we haven't got there, would be stupid. Just like in the PL managers always try and stick to talking about their next game. He's going to be thinking about it privately though.
After today, ALL focus has to be on our opponents in the first knockout game. Is anyone here going to be that surprised if we lose it?
BadFish
Huge Member
- Oct 19, 2003
- 18,207
We have come up against the big teams in plenty of tournaments, and lost nearly all of them. All those big team games hasn't given us the experience to improve, so why should it this time? And if we get through thanks to playing some weaker teams, only to get knocked out as soon as we face a big team, I don't think we'll have a false sense of where we are. Better than the weaker teams, not as good as the bigger teams. If of course we lose our first group match, which is easily possible, then we know we're still really shit.
Getting to the final would be an achievement, and involve beating a big team. And we know that just losing early hasn't helped. Sure we know we're shit, but what good has that done?
Agreed
I've got to be honest, I would be happy with going out to a team bigger than Iceland as that would represent progress. My expectations were minimal going into this world cup and they are still about the same. I would like to see us continue playing with the freedom that we have shown so far, What happens other than that is a bonus as far as I am concerned.
This stuff gets on my tits. It's like we are not allowed to dream.
All I've heard on Irish radio prior to the world cup and since is how arrogant the English are. Do the Irish, welsh or Scots never think ahead of what might be in any sport? Is it not allowed to be discussed? No one is taking anything for granted or expecting to sail through but we should be able to talk about it without being branded arrogant.
I don't think there are many of us who expected great things from this world cup. To get out the group is great, there's a chance we could win the first knockout match, even better. Most would class getting to the quarter finals a successful tournament for us. Why not allow us to dream a little without branding us as arrogant all the time. Most other teams big themselves up all the time.
pasty
A different kind of pasty
Call me mentally delusional if you like, but I genuinely believe if we finish second in the group tonight, we can reach the semi-final. We are then a one off game away from the World Cup Final.
See, you are an example of why the English are hated. Enough of that optimism please.
COYBIG, They don't like it 'up em, eh [MENTION=24872]london[/MENTION]Irish?
Kalimantan Gull
Well-known member
Swedden / Switzerland are exactly the kind of team that we could lose to and have lots of hand-wringing afterwards about how rubbish England are.
I'd like to avoid THAT, if at all possible
I'd like to avoid THAT, if at all possible
I agree that it sounds fanciful to suggest that other teams may be scared of England. However, from 2002 onwards we have too often shown either fragility, timidity or both. As things stand, most major nations must consider England a soft touch when it comes to the knockout round. A victory over Belgium won't change that overnight but a good statement of intent won't hurt. Perhaps the likes of France, Spain, Brazil et al might just approach us with a little more caution.
You'd expect teams to respect anyone they face in the knockout stages, and they'll certainly know we're a capable side. Although we keep losing through the years, it's often through penalties after a close match. But I can't see them being scared of us for a while, and I can't see beating a make-shift Belgian side changing that.