I'm not sure that Hungary deserved to win that, but Scotland certainly deserved to lose. Another totally inept performance for around 75 minutes before coming to life. What Clarke was playing at I do not know, but when you need to win you don't play pass the ball sideways and backwards like that.
I have to agree. I could see the Hungary defenders funnelling back into their central defensive positions, making the only way forward down the wings. It was only in the last 15 minutes they tried that route, and it almost brought a result.
All that aside Scotland should have had a penalty and Hungary might still go home anyway The injury to the Hungarian forward was somewhat upsetting and probably affected both teams
True - neither team really did enough to go through. Apparently Armstrong might have been offside which is why the penalty wasn’t given .
I'll have to check back through Twitter to find it, but there's a photo that shows quite clearly that he was onside. Another train of thought was that Armstrong was guilty of shirt pulling, but the ref was unsighted and the linesman didn't flag. I'd need to see a replay of the whole incident to be sure, but I don't recollect the ref doing anything other than wave play on - if that was the case there were surely no infringements by Armstrong? What appears to annoy most is that there was no evidence of a VAR check having been done.
Could be. Given the number times players roll around clutching their heads, I think there's a case for head pads too.
One problem with VAR is the lack of communication at times have to say. I can only presume they didn’t think it was an obvious error in their minds but did seem to go quickly whereas usually the game stops .
As England are through no matter what, maybe Southgate needs to try a different formation, because the one used so far isn't working.
France another big side on one half of the draw . Mind you if we win the group might play the Netherlands so not easy .
Watched it on French TV. I am not sure that the population will be more impressed with this game, or the earlier game with their heroes.
Doesn’t matter who we play if we look this toothless in attack . Better when Mainoo and Palmer came on but not hard to be !
So... England top the Group of (bored to) Death. As Mex says: difficult to watch. Mrs Fez left at half time. I suffered til the end...
Positives - we've topped the group, 3 clean sheets, we are in control of our own destiny on an easier side of the draw if there is one. We haven't lost to Austria like the Dutch and we've scored as many goals as France. The fact is that only one team has looked head and shoulders above the rest and that's Spain.
Fine margins eh? Mind you Slovenia will probably not mind missing Germany . https://x.com/SamJDean/status/1805889927298658318
Watching the games with penalties, I am puzzled. I thought it wasn't permitted for the penalty taker to stop during his run-up. They could de anything at all, before advancing to the ball, but once started, had to continue. From what i've seen some penatty-takers seem to be audtitioning for Strictly Come dancing. Have the rules changed, or are referees tolerating abuse ?
That's something that seems to fallen by the wayside. I've noticed that some goalkeepers seem to be getting away with moving of their line before the ball is kicked, which is against the rules too as far as I know. They're also a bit borderline when punting the ball upfield - in a lot of cases the ball and their hands are outside of the penalty area.