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*Official* Road to 2022 World Cup
- Thread starter GIMH
- Start date
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
My immediate response to last night's match was it was England's worst performance since Southgate took over. Probably not true, but being dominated by this Hungary side isn't a great look; even allowing for Hungary playing far better than when we won 4-0 over there. And we were incredibly sloppy. Too many heavy touches, which is pretty embarrassing at this level, and far too many over-hit or under-hit passes. I'd guess that the player whose reputation was most enhanced was Kalvin Phillips. Southgate must be concerned about the performances of several big names, especially as they reflected their performances or non-selection at club level. Mind you, none of the regular starters were as bad as Jordan Henderson looked in his, er, cameo.
My one gripe, which isn't a mitigating factor at all, is the cowardly performance of the referee at set plays. Back to the bad old days of penalising forwards who make even the slightest contact with their markers, but allowing said markers to do pretty much whatever they wanted. The outstanding example was in the first half when he simply made England retake their corner to see if the defenders could do better second time around, instead of doing the decent thing and giving a penalty against the guy who was rugby tackling one of our players.
My one gripe, which isn't a mitigating factor at all, is the cowardly performance of the referee at set plays. Back to the bad old days of penalising forwards who make even the slightest contact with their markers, but allowing said markers to do pretty much whatever they wanted. The outstanding example was in the first half when he simply made England retake their corner to see if the defenders could do better second time around, instead of doing the decent thing and giving a penalty against the guy who was rugby tackling one of our players.
Could try and entice Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan back to AFC while they're at it.
Lillian Thomson
Hall of Fame Member
England have to play one match behind closed doors because of the unrest before the Euro Final.
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
Ah, fair enough. One can't help feeling that there's a certain amount of resentment in some quarters about having to be seen to take action when our boys are abused for having the temerity to celebrate scoring in those places, and especially for taking the knee. Hence, maybe, what we've heard today. That being said, any concept of English football occupying the moral high ground was always an accident waiting to happen given the minority of knuckle draggers who follow the national team.
andruid
Cricketer Of The Year
A bit late in the day for there to be much jeopardy in the match dontcha think?
wpdavid
Hall of Fame Member
It will be in the Nations League, not one of the WC qualifiers.
andruid
Cricketer Of The Year
Thanks for clearing that up
speirz
State Vice-Captain
Honestly, I'm surprised it wasn't more. I thought the Champions League final that Wembley is due to host in a couple of years would've been in jeopardy as well.
andruid
Cricketer Of The Year
For who?
Howe_zat
Audio File
There's only room for one of them and Portugal in the tournament owing to the draw today. Also true of Wales/Scotland, though they've got a more proper first round to contend with as well.
So, a not unreasonable chance of Italy becoming the fourth European champion to miss out on the immediate next tournament. Internet points if you know the other three.