I thought the referee was good today. He wasn't fooled by a lot of the 'enhancing' and did not seem to be influenced by the whinging. I cannot imagine how having to referee any of these games would be.
In the early 90s I went to an European ice-hockey Cup Qualifying Group held in Blackburn, Durham were Britain's representatives, and the Norwegian team's supporters (Valerengen IF) were exactly like football yobs. Drunk, chanting and standing, in an all seater arena, and very menacing. It wasn't until after the tournament and I was back home that I learned that they had a reputation and had broken a UK journalist's arm and had running battles with other team's supporters the previous season. So I guess it's not always just football but because of it's profile football gets more than the lion's share of publicity....
It was just one of the things which used to annoy me a few years ago when people would like "omg so and so is putting club before country what a dick" when if you asked them that question 95% would choose their club winning PL. Personally I find it weird that people can get so involved with the international team, but that's a whole other discussion
If the England team consisted of 11 Saints players, I'd have to say I'd be rather more interested in it than I am currently. So that must say something about my view on club v country. Fraser, Ryan and Dave Watson are there, so I give it a fair bit of attention.
For what it's worth, I take the same viewpoint as you. Watching France reel in Albania, (second half) yesterday, you could sense they were going to score, because they were creating chances and forcing Albania into last ditch challenges. They were stroking the ball around and really causing problems. They also had players that were able to create room for themselves, with good control and turns. We are a workmanlike team, with occasional flashes of brilliance, at best.
Must admit, I am less enthused by International games than I used to be...been let down far too many times by England. But, I scared the crap out of the right hand dog on my avatar (Daisy - who was sleeping on my lap) when Sturridge scored!
Apparently we can qualify without kicking a ball if 3 other results go our way...forgotten every one of them ...so let's wait and see.
1. My bar is certainly not set high for England. Being able to control a ball and do more than five passes is not setting it high. We played a **** team, (sorry Helen). That's two **** teams now. 2. Walker looked up? Jeez, I was going easy on him because I assumed the reason he kept kicking against the first defender was for the very fact he hadn't looked up . If he really looked up and there was only one to cross to and he felt he couldn't reach it, then surely a good player would turn back out and recycle the ball back??? These are top professionals, not kids in a park. I agree we dominated Wales, but it was Wales. They really don't have a lot of quality.
Yes it is. This is England, not Barcelona. Wales have more quality than Poland btw. A lot more actually. And more than Albania, who kept France out for 90 mins. Does the happy clappy flt only exist on GMT?
