"Sono la miglior squadra vista fin qui in Russia"England are the best team seen at this #WorldCup so far claim our Italian friends over at Gazzetta. Good from them.— Dan Ripley (@Ripley_77) June 18, 2018
Which is exactly what should be the case. Baz and I are just saying what looks to be the reality, regardless of what SHOULD be the case. It's just the evidence of what we've seen with our own eyes. As we managed to win anyway I don' really care but I'm gonna be pissed off if we now get called for stuff somebody else got away with against us.
Should probably have quoted Barry's comment rather than yours, but I don't think they've "decided to just leave all pushing/holding to the ref and only pull things back on VAR for tackles in the box". That goes against their "clear instructions" (again, quoting FIFA), so I think it's more likely that they're doing it out of incompetence than by choice.
Not a crazy claim, to be fair, which is not to say that we were incredible. Nobody's been incredible. Croatia might be another contender.
Roy Hodgson watching Kane score from two corners instead of taking them #ENGTUN pic.twitter.com/q00X0qJE9B— Tom Bellingham (@TomP1Bellingham) June 18, 2018
If you didn't celebrate like @GaryLineker are you even an England fan?#ENGTUN #bbcworldcup pic.twitter.com/nRFG4Znwi3— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 18, 2018 Would have expected a bit more of a reaction from the others.
Lots to be positive about for patient England. https://t.co/8X0soCOXCu— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) June 18, 2018 Interesting read.
1: John Barnes vs Ireland in 19902: Harry Maguire vs TunisiaThere's only one way to beat themGet round the back pic.twitter.com/mTTLwlxLE3— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) June 18, 2018
I know it’s sometimes stating the obvious but I always like it when pundits mention body positioning and specifics regarding their previous positional roles. Rio was precise and good at getting his message across when discussing how bad Walker was with his positioning for their penalty. Michael Owen is also good when he talks about forward play. Wish there was more of this in punditry.
LOL Well, yeah. That I can definitely believe The ref fella in the commentary said that they only seem to have about 25-30 seconds to make the call so, if you've got 25 camera angles to check, (somebody else mentioned that), then, almost by definition, SOME will be missed. Nevertheless, it seems a bit daft to me.
For VAR officials to make a call, doesn't the infraction have to be obvious? I would not call it obvious if one has to watch it frame-by-frame.
Well the infraction was clear and obvious - that's not really the issue. But when they say that there must be a clear and obvious mistake for the VAR officials to ask the ref to review it, I would assume that they mean it must be clear and obvious on the basis of the information that they have. There would be literally no logic to them saying "it wasn't clear and obvious at full speed and from the ref's angle, so we won't correct his mistake even though the video proves that he made one". I don't think even FIFA are that stupid.
From FIFA: "Four replay operators select and provide the best camera angles. Two of them pre-select the most likely camera angles while the other two provide the final angles chosen by the VAR and the AVAR2 for each checked or reviewed incident." Those four replay operators are in addition to the four VAR officials. They don't have to find the best camera angles themselves, nor review all 25.
Very glad to get that over with 3 points in the bag. Kind of makes you respect a team like Iceland who can play for the draw without being utter dicks. I particularly enjoyed their goalie having time to wave for an injury while he was on his way to the floor, after going up with Stones. Then he was seemingly unconscious. Over in the refs forum some are saying this was the worst officiating so far. No yellows despite persistent, tactical fouling. Then the wrestling. Compare to the earlier game where Panama ended up with 5 cards, I think. The good thing is, improvements can be made and we have a win. Rose for Young next time, please. Henderson did enough for a second start.
For anyone that missed it when it was played before the game. Some interesting insights into Harry Kane's route to the senior team -
Point of note, but why the f*** was ashley young taking freekicks when we were desparate for a goal and 30 yards out? Especially when you have harry kane on the field. When was the last time you saw young score one for united? Very dissapointed that noone showed some leadership there.
I knew somebody would say this sort of thing. I actually think Spain are the best team thus far even though they drew 3-3. It was that spell they had down 2-1 and taking the 3-2 lead where they played brilliant football.
This has to be the first time ever we've had more points at one time in the group stage than Brazil and Germany combined. Actually, it's the first time since 1982 that we've had more points than Germany at any time during the group stage. First game we beat France and West Germany lost to Algeria. We ended up finishing with six and they had four.
Yes, Spain are the best side I've seen in the tournament. I actually think Peru have been pretty good but sadly got nothing against stoat Danes. From our point of view, excellent win and onto the next one really. Just enjoy the tournament and take each game as it comes. Panama next which we should win. I'm taking the motto of 1-0 will do in every game, doesn't matter how really, no big proclaimations of scores. Tunisia - F'em. Disgusting play yesterday and had a 12th man to back them up.
Agree on Spain. Despite their overall performance, the quality of Belgium's goals should put them in the mix.