Off Topic International Break Thread

[Roo]

Sabitzer has had a busy game, already bodied a couple of the Macedonians and just pinged a banger of a ball for the Austrian opener.

Spicy game this, quite open and both sides look very up for it.

it was Bardhi for Macedonia that stood out for me. Some excellent touches and showed great creativity at times.

 

[Alfie Conn]

Sabitzer looked good but faded at the end

 

[Alfie Conn]

Bachmann in goal for Austria .
Disappointed that Turner and Overdrive aren’t playing as a pair in front of him.

You ain't seen nothing yet

 

[Alfie Conn]

Who's watching the game ? what was that about from the Austrian striker

Oh it was that ex Stoke gobshite Arnautovic , question answered

 

[BluefromBridgend]

Bachmann in goal for Austria .
Disappointed that Turner and Overdrive aren’t playing as a pair in front of him.

You ain't seen nothing yet!!!

 

[bigsmithy9]

Austria going potty after beating N Macedonia. N what/who/where?

 

[vimhawk]

Austria going potty after beating N Macedonia. N what/who/where?

A country previously known as FYROM

 

[deedub93]

Lucky boy

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[The Huddlefro]

Smashing game this, between the Netherlands and Ukraine. The wonderfully named Denzil Dumfries has had a few chances and may have just won it with the 3rd Dutch goal after Ukraine bought I back to 2-2

 

[Alfie Conn]

Watching the football and I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong then it hit me, they have not tried to sell Harry Kane , it was Netherlands v Ukraine though

 

[KingHotspur]

So I made the mistake of going for a shower when The Netherlands went 2-0 up as I thought that would be that and I wouldn’t miss anything.

 

[paultheplug]

Definitely the best game so far. Two teams looking to attack and move the ball forward whenever possible

 

[Diego]

Watching the football and I couldn't put my finger on what was wrong then it hit me, they have not tried to sell Harry Kane , it was Netherlands v Ukraine though

The only person trying to sell Harry Kane is Harry kane and it will be a hard sell.

 

[Dier Hard]

First time in a while I’ve had a heavy hangover, lol. Getting extremely burnt hasn’t helped matters either .

Celebrated that win a bit too much that I missed what seems like the best game of the tournament between the Dutch and Ukrainians, will have to watch highlights later.

As for England, it wasn’t a great game but felt we controlled it far more than I expected. Rice, Phillips and Mount largely being the dominant midfield against Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic was a great surprise, Modric especially was kept very quiet and often doubled/ tripled up on which is what you need to do against him. Phillips was brilliant, MOTM for me and pre-game I was bemoaning his selection with my mate, so absolutely fair play to him.

It’s coming home, boys and girls!

 

[vimhawk]

Too much euphoria over the win. No surprise there. All it's done is propel us one match closer to exiting the tournament when we play the runners up of the group of death (yes I hope to be wrong). And (people will probably be getting bored with this) one of the problems is that Sterling shouldn't be in the team. Or are you of the opinion that one goal in a competition justifies his previous 60 caps? It seems to me that Sterling and Kane can't play together - for example in the last world cup, none of our goals resulted from them linking up (most goals were set pieces of course, in which case you might think that having Grealish picking up lots of fouls might be more useful). And I would suggest Kane is more important to the team so bin Sterling. But I fear that his goal (one of only a couple of good things he did in the match) will "justify" his starting all the other games, when the question should be could we do better. The answer is of course yes, and I would have several of our attackers/midfielders on the left ahead of him. Another problem is that as Spurf said, what position is he actually playing? Is he a midfielder that doesn't create anything, an attacking midfielder that doesn't link up with the attack, a winger that doesn't cross the ball, or a forward that until the very last match doesn't score in competitions. Kane was poor in that match because nobody created anything for him. So before you conclude that scoring a goal (and nothing else) is "enough", just ask yourself if there are better options.

 

[SpursDisciple]

Why are North Macedonia abbreviated to MKD on the score bar on ITV?
I thought Austria were playing MK Dons

My wife thought I was watching Walsall v Swindon last week. (Wal)es v (Swi)tzerland.

 

[Spurf]

First time in a while I’ve had a heavy hangover, lol. Getting extremely burnt hasn’t helped matters either .

Celebrated that win a bit too much that I missed what seems like the best game of the tournament between the Dutch and Ukrainians, will have to watch highlights later.

As for England, it wasn’t a great game but felt we controlled it far more than I expected. Rice, Phillips and Mount largely being the dominant midfield against Modric, Kovacic and Brozovic was a great surprise, Modric especially was kept very quiet and often doubled/ tripled up on which is what you need to do against him. Phillips was brilliant, MOTM for me and pre-game I was bemoaning his selection with my mate, so absolutely fair play to him.

It’s coming home, boys and girls!

The only thing that's coming home is you probably, with a headache.

 

[PleaseNotPoll]

Smashing game this, between the Netherlands and Ukraine. The wonderfully named Denzil Dumfries has had a few chances and may have just won it with the 3rd Dutch goal after Ukraine bought I back to 2-2

We've been linked with him in the past, but he's most recently been linked with Everton. He's a Raiola client, unfortunately.

 

[Spurf]

Too much euphoria over the win. No surprise there. All it's done is propel us one match closer to exiting the tournament when we play the runners up of the group of death (yes I hope to be wrong). And (people will probably be getting bored with this) one of the problems is that Sterling shouldn't be in the team. Or are you of the opinion that one goal in a competition justifies his previous 60 caps? It seems to me that Sterling and Kane can't play together - for example in the last world cup, none of our goals resulted from them linking up (most goals were set pieces of course, in which case you might think that having Grealish picking up lots of fouls might be more useful). And I would suggest Kane is more important to the team so bin Sterling. But I fear that his goal (one of only a couple of good things he did in the match) will "justify" his starting all the other games, when the question should be could we do better. The answer is of course yes, and I would have several of our attackers/midfielders on the left ahead of him. Another problem is that as Spurf said, what position is he actually playing? Is he a midfielder that doesn't create anything, an attacking midfielder that doesn't link up with the attack, a winger that doesn't cross the ball, or a forward that until the very last match doesn't score in competitions. Kane was poor in that match because nobody created anything for him. So before you conclude that scoring a goal (and nothing else) is "enough", just ask yourself if there are better options.

Judging by the comments in reply to a Guardian report on the game this opinion of Sterling is not just shared by you and me vimhawk. It's why I compared it to the Darren Bent situation because in the same way I argued that he took up a place in the team that could be much better used by someone else. It's like accountants versus salesmen, the accountant adds up the figures to justify the decisions made by the board but they can't add up the sales they didn't get and that's one of the biggest failings in human management. How many lost goals from Kane do we experience for having Sterling there instead of say Grealish. THAT is what is not taken into account. Sterling would not be anywhere near my squad because his finishing is poor and his decision making is almost nonexistent. He is never a winger because he doesn't get to the byline looking to provide for a striker he is there trying to wiggle his way towards the goal. It is because of the way he actually plays that I describe him as a striker. Trouble is he doesn't strike too well either.

 

[KingHotspur]

Judging by the comments in reply to a Guardian report on the game this opinion of Sterling is not just shared by you and me vimhawk. It's why I compared it to the Darren Bent situation because in the same way I argued that he took up a place in the team that could be much better used by someone else. It's like accountants versus salesmen, the accountant adds up the figures to justify the decisions made by the board but they can't add up the sales they didn't get and that's one of the biggest failings in human management. How many lost goals from Kane do we experience for having Sterling there instead of say Grealish. THAT is what is not taken into account. Sterling would not be anywhere near my squad because his finishing is poor and his decision making is almost nonexistent. He is never a winger because he doesn't get to the byline looking to provide for a striker he is there trying to wiggle his way towards the goal. It is because of the way he actually plays that I describe him as a striker. Trouble is he doesn't strike too well either.

If only Son was English.

From a Spurs pov, a poor tournament for Kane could benefit the club. It could make Kane appreciate his club team mates more.