Why did England get to regain possession in their own half after 2 minutes of stoppage time expired, then given more time to get down field to score before half?
If suspect City truly want him they will probably get him as they rarely outbid for players even by Madrid/PSG. I feel Rice might go Man United through if Newcastle do make the CL I can see him being wanted by them.
It can get confusing because Ref’s don’t have to allow corners to be taken if they is no time but most but not all at this World Cup have been.
Understood Raheem Sterling has been speaking with police and dealing with the aftermath of the robbery on his home today so still too early for a decision on whether or not he will return to Doha to rejoin England's World Cup squad. England happy to give him time. https://t.co/XWx9OU02DG— Matt Law (@Matt_Law_DT) December 5, 2022
It's a minimum of 2 minutes, not just 2 minutes. Ref can add 10 if he wants after the sign had gone up.
Sounds like the back four will remain with Southgate saying he won’t stray too far from what we have been playing so far this tournament.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/b...d-cup-france-spurs-liverpool-gareth-southgate This article through predicts a back five will return. (There is also an small error. The final is not the only match we could face Messi in - have they forgotten the third place play off?)
This is a negative article even for The Guardian. A classic revising England's successes to play everything down, while simultaneously also making mountains out of molehills of England's supposed issues. I would hope Southgate does not give thought to doommongering defensive issues, the fact is England have basically conceded 4 chances of any reasonable note in the last 3 games (correct me if i'm wrong): - McKennie half volleying over the bar in the box, should have done better - Pulisic hitting the bar - though extremely difficult to score from the angle he was at so more of a good attempt than a chance conceded. - Sarr spooning over the bar in the six yard box - only golden chance - Dia? getting a decent save from Pickford, though would have been ruled out for handball in build up If that qualifies as defensive vulnerability then pretty much every team in the tournament should be going to 5 at the back also. Obsession of Maguire's pace has really got so overblown also. It may well be the case at some point he gets blown away or the line is too high and we get punished. Just as with every other defence in the tournament. You'd think every other team has 100m sprinters at centre back the way people go on about it. Brazil have a 38 year old, Argentina have 34 year old Otamendi and Portugal have 39 year old Pepe starting but we must have this carry on and daily thought pieces that England have a slow centre back and apparently the entire side has to be severely altered to accomodate that. It all ties into a inferiority complex this country has. Yes France can hurt us, yes Mbappe is amazing. But we can hurt them also. Maybe it goes wrong, but sitting 5 men in defence so deep that no one gets beat for pace is just accepting defeat before you even start and trying to keep the score down. France have a higher expected goals against than us this tournament and yet apparently its our defensive frailties that we need to take away from the entire attack just to cover?
If we go one nil down against France which is entirely possible.. Southgate will go all defensive as usual and shut up with the hope we get a few free kicks and corners
Great post. My thoughts exactly, our defence issues really are over exaggerated. Stones plays for one of the best teams in Europe, our full backs are strong and Maguire isn't great for man utd but for England he's a different animal. Neither CB is fast but that's the same for most countries..
The times are a rag paper. We have excellent cover in Henderson and rice. Why Change it. Bellingham can be our game changer the way mbappe is for France
This fixation on England’s defensive frailties based on conceding 2 goals against Iran, one which was a dubious penalty, and then 2 or 3 chances over 180 minutes vs Senegal and USA is ridiculous. In tournaments under Southgate, we have conceded 12 goals in 18 games. Two of which were in the utterly meaningless 3rd place playoff match in Russia. Even if we count those two, that rate of conceding goals would mean only 25 goals conceded over the course of a pl season. Puts into perspective how ridiculous this narrative is. Mbappe may well turn up against us and expose vulnerabilities. However, he is probably the best player in the world at the moment and is capable of ripping anyone to shreds. It will say more about him than us if he does prove the difference on Saturday. It’s not just the English media who play England down though, but everyone outside the country. “They’ve played weak opposition” , “They looked vulnerable at times”, “Kane hasn’t scored yet” , “They were poor against the US”. Unfortunately, the only way this will change is when or if we win something.
According to Jose Enrique France and Brazil have been the best teams in the tournament. Bollocks. Statistically we've been the best team. Brazil and France have been pretty shite overall.
Besides we would focus on our weakness, our relative lack of pace in central defense, and wouldn’t maximize our amazing attacking potential.
Maybe when it comes to GD but I think the graph below is a better reflection as it gauges solidity in defence and attacking threat. We've been good, better than many will give us credit for but a few other sides have been better in general play. It generally reflects our chances as well I think. We're going to have be at our very best and get a bit of luck to win the tournament because some sides are just better than us, including the one were playing on Saturday. Brazil can afford that robust (rest)defence structure mainly because of high gravity and technical ability of their attackers. 5 players responsible for attack, other 5 for preventing danger from transitions pic.twitter.com/yggkGp4GKJ— markstats (@markrstats) December 5, 2022
Its the weak opposition bollocks that annoys me, England have played the 16th,18th,19th and 20th ranked teams in the World Cup. I know Fifa World rankings aren't perfect, but its the best gage we have of a teams ability. Two of our games were against teams who perceive us as our one of their biggest rivals, and Iran topped Asian Qualify and Senegal are Afcon Champions.
Declan Rice has said they one thing he would change about Football is VAR because it is too inconsistent about Red Cards and checking monitors.
BREAKING: Kylian Mbappé is currently missing from tonight’s France training session. [@lequipe/@GFFN]— That's Football! (@ThatsFootballTV) December 6, 2022 Mbappe is currently doing recovery work away from the rest of the squad, in the team’s gym. [@lequipe]— That's Football! (@ThatsFootballTV) December 6, 2022 Are France are doing this for Mind Games rather than medical necessity.
Dunno. Suffering from some form of extreme psychiatric disoserder, possibly? Or maybe you're just an England supporter. Well, OK. They're pretty much the same thing, aren't they.