England v Belgium

[superblue24]

I'll hold judgement until we've played a real game. The group was about as Mickey Mouse as you can get. We almost dropped points against a very poor Tunisia.

 

[AndyT]

I'm a bit with superblue.

We had a chance last night to put a marker down and beat Belgium with our first choice side, but chose to rest a load of players for some reason.

Tournament football is about momentum and we took a step back last night, in my view.

I don't see the point of playing reserve players en-masse. They won't play together again in the tournament so why bother last night.

Bottom line is, we didn't care if we won or lost last night and that's not a good mindset to have in a tournament.

Strongest foot forward at all times. The more the first choice side play together, the better they'll get.

 

[manor15]

It was a blow I think to lose the momentum we had, which started with the team selection. Whether the full strength team will come out all guns blazing in the next game remains to be seen.

Sure Sweden/Denmark/Switzerland are easier in the quarter-finals than Brazil, but I wouldn't say the difference is any bigger than Colombia being better than Japan (they may have lost to them in the group but only by a single goal having had a men sent off and conceded a penalty in the first 5 minutes).

I would have preferred to go out to Brazil in the quarter-final than Colombia in the last 16.

 

[Grayson]

Beating that Belgium side would not have been putting down a marker. Last night is irrelevant, neither team cared, it was as important as a Southend Utd U23s game in the bigger picture.

Forget about it and move onto the important stuff on Tuesday.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I'm a bit with superblue.

We had a chance last night to put a marker down and beat Belgium with our first choice side, but chose to rest a load of players for some reason.

Tournament football is about momentum and we took a step back last night, in my view.

I don't see the point of playing reserve players en-masse. They won't play together again in the tournament so why bother last night.

Bottom line is, we didn't care if we won or lost last night and that's not a good mindset to have in a tournament.

Strongest foot forward at all times. The more the first choice side play together, the better they'll get.

We don't know what reserves we'll need later in the tournament. This means that when someone gets sent off/injured/summoned from the bench to change a match they've already got a game under their belt.

Had we beaten Belgium then superblue and tangled would have been on here saying that it was only a Belgium reserve side we'd beaten. But at the end of the day the only difference it would have made would be that Barna would be supporting Japan in the next round instead of Colombia.

 

[AndyT]

Yep, alright then, we'll do that, muses.

 

[AndyT]

We don't know what reserves we'll need later in the tournament. This means that when someone gets sent off/injured/summoned from the bench to change a match they've already got a game under their belt.

Had we beaten Belgium then superblue and tangled would have been on here saying that it was only a Belgium reserve side we'd beaten. But at the end of the day the only difference it would have made would be that Barna would be supporting Japan in the next round instead of Colombia.

Yes, there is that.

It's not about who we would have beaten last night, it's about the momentum and togetherness of the side, playing as a team. Those who played last night would fit in individually if needed, but changing pretty much the whole team wasn't a good idea, in my view.

We didn't see Pele, Jairzinho and Tostao with their feet up on the bench in Mexico 1970. They all played against Romania.

If we need to see who fits into our team in the middle of a tournament then we've not done enough preparation work.

Get out there. Win every game. Resting players achieves very little, normally.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Yes, there is that.

It's not about who we would have beaten last night, it's about the momentum and togetherness of the side, playing as a team. Those who played last night would fit in individually if needed, but changing pretty much the whole team wasn't a good idea, in my view.

We didn't see Pele, Jairzinho and Tostao with their feet up on the bench in Mexico 1970. They all played against Romania.

If we need to see who fits into our team in the middle of a tournament then we've not done enough preparation work.

Get out there. Win every game. Resting players achieves very little, normally.

We also didn't see Pele, Jairzinho and Tostoa running 12km each match.

 

[GDM]

We needed to play our reserve team last night, as Gareth knew Belgium would make massive changes - and if our first team lost to their reserve team it would have destroyed confidence going into the knockout phase

 

[AndyT]

We also didn't see Pele, Jairzinho and Tostoa running 12km each match.

It's all relative as an intelligent fella like yourself well knows, Yorkshire.

It's also nothing to do with how far you run, otherwise we'd pick Mo Farah every game!

 

[MK Shrimper]

Southgate was in a no win situation. Play the big guns, go for a win and if Kane had picked up an injury or a red, then what?

We're through leave it at that and look forward to Colombia.

 

[AndyT]

I'm sure you're right, MK.

Obviously we'll brush Colombia aside as their 1st choice players have played 3 matches and ours have only played 2, so I'll look forward to the quarter-finals!

 

[mattitouk]

This made me chuckle.......

"Gareth Southgate denies playing to lose, after media obtain the team sheet":

 

[AndyT]

Corbyn wide on the left and Farage wide on the right!

 

[ozzie]

Germany done the same in 74,wanted to and lost to East Germany,so they had the easier route to the final.
Did not do those cheats any harm

 

[buffalowolf]

facts} 1966 Real Madrid won the european cup
Burnley qualified for europe
Man city won the league
Chelsea finished 5th
England won the world cup

2018 Real Madid won the champions league
Burnley qualified for Europe
Man City won the League
Chelsea finished 5th
???

can history repeat. Also fact in 1966 the world cup tournament was played in England, but for the alleged bribes paid by Russia to get the FIFA delegates votes it would have been played in England this time also i reckon.