I've pondered my earlier 'fallacy' (final hurdle)and I've applied a different approach.If we were a thoroughbred national hunt horse we'd be out on the gallops brushing up on our jumping... Croatia 2018...Fell 2 out,whilst leading. Italy 2020...Fell at the last,whilst leading. France 2022...Impeded by lose horse,fell 3 out whilst travelling smoothly. Current form FFF. FTFY.
As usual, Martin Samuel talks sense. Shame he is off to the Times.As d also said, Southgate inherits a mess. If another manager comes in he will have a lot better set up to work with. What is interesting is the age of the players in his squad when the next World Cup comes around. So man will be in teir prime whilst a lot of the top players of other countries won’t be. Of course they will have others coming through but so will we to add to the ones we still have and who have experience of tournament football. Al we need is a City player to break through and my prediction since 1966 will finally come true.
Agree with where Ric is coming from. Fact is, we failed to score from open play v France (as we did v USA). France are a good side, but their defence is suspect. As many others allude to, it just seems that Southgate continues to be more concerned about stopping the opposition rather than seeing us take our game to them. We should of course remain solid & not go gung-ho, but with the talent we have he should be letting the shackles off more than we are seeing. I just don't see that ever happening enough with Southgate.
It's a fair and reasoned post. The ages were posted in a fairly recent post and it is frightening to think of the talent we will have,all with more experience under their belts,in future tournaments. City-wise,I can't find a name ripping off my tongue at present so that may scupper any lifting of trophies...
A few people are underestimating france a tad While bellingham is highly highly rated Tchouameni is also world class in a few years Hopefully jude joins him at real madrid Varane is a far better defender than stones and maguire who are not even regulars for their clubs Rabiot has always been high quality but with questionable attitide problems in the past
As Mrs Two often says to me 'shurrup, cunny funt'. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
I don't see Southgate as an abject failure and I'm not calling for his head here(I think he's going to go through his own choice).It's just raw after Saturday,we were close,the ref was abysmal and big Harry skying his Pen(gutted for him), suggests to me that we could've and probably should've put the French away. He just frustrates me at times as he does to many others. If he stays,fine,I hope he can do better with the players available,If he goes then we look to someone else to see if they can do better(names are hard to come by for that role though)...
We scored more goals in 4 games this World Cup than we did in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 combined. We also had twice as many shots as France did (16 vs 8) and 58% vs 42% possession which reflects the fact that we dominated the game. We had plenty of goal scoring opportunities but it was just one of those days where it just wouldn’t go in the net. France had 2 half chances, scored one and the other a speculative effort from range that 9/10 doesn’t go in.
If anymore proof was needed that FIFA is rotten and ****ed, that clown has just been named in the final group of 12 officials set to take charge of the final 4 games and could get the gig for the final. Incredulous.
in some ways I hope he does,it would be a fitting end to the tournament and interesting to see who he favours in that..
You don’t understand how winning games work do you? **** shots, efforts, fouls, possession etc, when the game ends and you’re in front you win, is that simple enough for you
