The_jagster

Thread is unclear whether his misses in games with two pens have been taking the first or second penalty, which is a key part of his reasoning.

I think I should have 50 more bonus points for guessing 7 second half goals - edit - unless ET doesn't count, but your post still says 7 @Sons FC

There would be lots of matches with nothing to play for, indeed most of the teams would be unable to qualify by their last match

Also, having moaned that this new format doesn't punish 0-0s in the group stage we could well have a final in which two teams drew 0-0 with each other in the opening game I blame Lukaku

At least I didn't take time off for the 0-0s in the first week. 5live coverage generally impressed me tbh except when they got too England-y for the knockouts.

I don't think so, considering winning our group and going out to the first big side we faced in the quarters was everything wrong with Sven

Literally nobody has said that. Edit: also, you said Pellegrini was past it when he took West Ham to 10th which really proves Rob's point

Löw won his 4th major tournament Southgate is like an NFL team with a decent quarterback. You know the team could be better but also that a change could be for the worse.

From the start or as a sub? France were quite quick to retreat out of possession, I'm not sure Rashford is ideal for that.

Messi or Mbappe for me and it depends on how they do in the next two rounds to separate them. Amrabat has obviously been very good but players that break up play need to be absolutely flawless to deserve to win imo over players that make the difference in attack. Griezmann, Hakimi, Gvardiol and Livakovic have all stood out too and though he hasn't done anything special Modric is still so good. Part of the reason Croatia have been so hard to beat is being so good in possession and not losing it in dangerous areas (Morocco have been good at this too but are quicker to get it forward to their wingers). Giroud hasn't been so great in general play but has still contributed to many of France's goals.

I thought it was interesting that neither manager was wanting to make a change until late. I think it reflected how the game was pretty much in the balance until Giroud scored, and the innate conservatism of both managers.

This is completely wrong

I'm not bothered about whether Messi wins it or not and I'm slightly surprised how many want him to win it. I would either like a France vs Argentina final or Morocco vs Croatia final so that we have a new winner or a final that isn't just attack against defence. It's not always pretty but France under Deschamps are a good side so I have them as favourites.

That's why it was a foul but not a red, because he's probably not reaching it

There's being annoyed at decisions and claiming bias towards the French or concluding he is a dreadful referee.

I'd like to see Dyche provide evidence he can play differently with better players before giving him the England job though.

Jonathan Wilson reckons Wostenholme was a bad commentator (I haven't listened to his output so can't comment personally) with one famous line. I don't think we can blame the ref for the defeat, the first goal is more down to Bellingham and Henderson being with the defenders marking nobody leaving space for Tchouameni. The Upamecano foul on Kane should have been given but if it's a free kick it's not that dangerous. The Mount foul I can I derstand why the ref thinks he's buying it because he's not getting the ball. There was the push on Giroud as CC mentioned which was brainless. I think the ref was imperfect but not dreadful, and I don't think he was that biased. The first penalty was a pen but even so Saka kicks the ball left then runs straight to make sure he gets the contact, I can understand why refs think Saka is looking for it all the time.

Fair enough if you want to see teams playing defensive football go out imo But Portugal and Morocco would both play with the same ambition against France. And one of those scenarios doesn't have Ronaldo crying today. Caught up with this after the England game, I was expecting a bit more from Portugal in the second half. Morocco have a good defence combined with players in Boufal and Ziyech who can get past people on the counter even if isolated. They are going to struggle if they concede first but they are a solid team.

I have generally been quite critical of Southgate, but for this match you just accept another day and it goes in our favour imo. The Croatia and Italy games were more disappointing for me. Keep Mbappe quiet, if a player scores from 25 yards and a striker beats Maguire to a header in the box you say "fair enough". But as a podcast I like put it, nobody ever says fair enough when it happens, do they?

I thought we looked ok, but mainly because when France were ahead, they were happy for us to keep the ball in unthreatening areas and trusted their defence not to concede any bad chances. And they were ahead for a considerable portion of the match. When it was 1-1 either we were playing even more slowly than usual or they tried to put a bit more pressure on higher up and overall I thought we were worse when the scores were even, Giroud could well have scored before his goal. But then again, we had half chances to score too, it could have gone either way on another day. The Kane chance when he was closed down by Lloris and the Saka goal were the only good chances we created imo, even the pens were not from the most promising positions, Hernandez was a moron as I didn't see Mount scoring there. Fair play to Southgate/Holland in getting the midfielders to be the crossing option on the right and leave Walker back at all times, I thought that was a good way of approaching the Mbappe problem. Rice did seem a bit isolated which makes him look worse than he is imo. I thought Saka was a bit weak in the first half but he did improve considerably whereas Foden just didn't look that dangerous on the times he got the ball. In other words, we were ok and weren't outclassed by a good team. But I think it is France sitting back that makes us look a bit better than we were.

Ohgodohgodohgodohgod see you at the final whistle

They generally only force retakes if the encroaching player gets to the ball

Doesn't the Sun always do this? I'm sure there was some Ibrahimovic projection when we played Sweden too. Not something I really care about whoever is doing it.

Well, they did create more chances compared to the Switzerland match, but Livakovic was solid and they didn't find the corner of the goal.

If it's Occam's razor, which other westerners have been murdered by the Qatari state?