Cameroon played well. They'll come good.
World Cup of the Damned
- Thread starter Frogfish
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Cameroon played well. They'll come good.
With the same players over those 60 years one assumes?
Have you been drinking?
Froggy has a point, mate. England's history (or lack of it) since 66 has bugger all to do with the ability and potential of the current team.
My point was that for years England would qualify after beating bilge in the qualifiers and were billed as potential champions to only be spanked by decent sides. After they hammered Iran they were being bigged up (again) then were dire against the US.
The truth is somewhere between your post and Athen's post.
Southgate's England does do a decent job of sweeping away opposition that does not step up to them. This is not a bad thing, by the way. his tactics are consistent, and the players he selects are consistent, which can be infuriating at times, but it does breed familiarity.
He has also been successful compared to his predecessors in terms of reaching the business end of the competition.
But I also think this is the weakest I have seen in international competitions. Italy won the euros and failed to qualify for the world cup. Smaller teams have raised their game a bit but not enough to threaten the traditional powers in winning the lot. The traditional powers look at their weakest. Out of Brazil, Italy, France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal teams from 2004-2012, only France seems to be at the same level. Brazil looks good, but I would take the 2002 -2006 Brazil team over the current version.
He gets credit for beating Denmark and Germany and drawing with Italy, and I accept you can only beat what is in front of you. But at the same time, I don't think I have seen an era-defining victory for him. If he comes against a clever coach, a more determined team, or a team with equal or slightly more quality, particularly at the later stages of the competition, I wouldn't back Southgate's team to win the game.
I should have written my post better. I am not saying we should buy those. The media and everyone says Bellingham is worth 150 million and Rice is worth 100 million. But they were outshone by the other two. Just based on yesterday's game, if we were to pickup midfielders, Musah and Adams impressed more.
Agreed, wasn’t having a pop at your suggestions. Both fair ones to be honest and not seen enough of other midfielders his age to compare.
I really like Bellingham though, I know he had a crap game this time out. However everytime I see him which is not huge amount to be honest, he seems to be the one trying to get it going. I like him, super talented and could be the driving force of the future LFC midfield and he’s only 19. Players of his skill set are rare in modern game. He will be come true force under Klopp and I’m ready to throw all my chips in on him. It’s not scientific but just have a hunch about him being our transformational signing like others did about Van Dijk, Alisson, Mane and Salah.
As mentioned, happy to speak of how great he is going forward, but I'm sorry so many goals he's let go by just ball watching. It's not always to do with him being further up the pitch. Even when he's back, he's a liability. I love our loyalty to the players, but to not acknowledge this issue is a major blind spot on the part of our fans. if it was once or twice, fine. but it's always a strong possibility.
He pretty much cost us the CL with his lack of awareness where VJ was and there's been plenty of other games too.
Back to the point, there's better defensive players on the England team
What on earth are you talking about ...
I can only assume you've been absent from SCM for the whole of this season. There is a difference however between acknowledging an issue (and not acknowledging other factors that have equally influenced the deterioration) and allowing it to blind you to a player's incredible, positive, contributions that have rewritten the history books.
My concern with Bellingham is that if we spend that much money on him, will we have anything left to address other issues? We are loosing three midfielders and the remaining are getting older and more injury prone. In that setting, is it wise to spend 100-150 million on Bellingham?
If we just focus on the CL final goal, the ball comes an awful long way from the left before it ends up on the right for Vinicius Jr, it seems like just want to ignore every mistake before hand to blame Trent. How about his contribution all the way through out to get to the final or even that corner against Barca for the time we won the trophy. At the end if the day, it’s only fair to balance the negatives with the positives. For 2-3 seasons, we had the best wingbacks in world football and revered for it.
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I think yes, I wouldn’t trust us to buy 2-3 possibles at 30m with that money especially if we have identified unique talent for now to be our general for possible next 5-10yrs. If we buy Bellingham then we have Hendo, Fabinho, Elliot, Thiago and Jones for next season. Buy another 10-20m if possible or a freebie like Tielmans or Rice and we are set.
I don’t see this as replacing three midfielders as such because Naby and Ox have never been around to be relied upon.
Irrespective of which side of the TAA debate you are on, one thing we can all agree is that he needs a rest after the physical and mental excursions of last season. The summer break wasn't enough. So I hope TAA and Fabinho never get on the pitch in Qatar, take a break in the warm weather, and return physically recharged.
Well this season we didn't buy Bellingham, and we still spent £0 on our midfield. So yes let's hope we spend it and get him since we don't actually have a plan B
This game has as much quality as an Everton Millwall League cup second-round tie.
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