England vs Nigeria - Sat 2nd June

[Callum Ramsey]

That formation and system doesn't suit any of those english players. If you are going to play with a back 3 it makes no sense to play a midfield 3 with 2 up top. If you're to play 5 at the back with wing backs, its better to play with a 2 in midfield and 3 up top. Southgate has no imagination and tactical knowledge to find a system to get the best out of these players and just picking young players is not enough. All nigeria needed to do was match the formation and that was it. At this point I'm not even sure this team will make it out the group.

 

[paulchapo]

Kane, Ali and Young slow down the whole flow and pace of our momentum. We always fall into the trap of picking so called star players and just hoping they do it in a tournament. Kane top scorer? Shove him up front but he doesn't do anything for me.

Just watching the interview with Southgate. "You stayed loyal to Sterling did he repay that loyalty?" Stayed loyal for what??

 

[NorCalBlue]

Or maybe the reason he's going down easily is cos all season he's been hacked down and given nothing.

It is annoying as a player when referees are so inconsistent, but someone should tell Sterling to always go down when there's contact, but never go down when there isn't. The calls will still be inconsistent, but going down from a soft contact never looks as bad as going down when you haven't been touched.

 

[hilts]

I have a bet that engerland will go out in the quarters I was very optimistic. Sterling dived, the lions were shit. This set of players are vastly overrated. Unless we play on the counter which we won’t we are truly fucked.

 

[Vicmeldrew666]

The "ball watching" by at lest 4 defenders for their goal needs to stop. DO NOT LOOK AND STAY FOCUSSED UNTIL THE REF BLOWS HIS WHISTLE ffs

 

[Callum Ramsey]

So you couldn't find any if that's the best you can come with. He definitely dived in the game against nigeria and there's no defending that but its rare for him to do that. This is not a good example of a 'dive' as he was clearly unbalanced from taking a shot by that grab and anyone who plays football will tell you a grab on the hand when you're about to take a shot will unbalance and refrain you from doing so especially when its someone doing so from behind you. At worst its deemed as too soft by the ref and play goes on but that is certainly not a dive.

 

[richards30]

Was a terrible dive by Raheem to be fair! The contact would have come anyway! He made some good runs though and got into some good positions but finishing was poor again. Walker looked good and delph looked good when he came on as well.

 

[balotelli's back pocket]

So you couldn't find any if that's the best you can come with. He definitely dived in the game against nigeria and there's no defending that but its rare for him to do that. This is not a good example of a 'dive' as he was clearly unbalanced from taking a shot by that grab and anyone who plays football will tell you a grab on the hand when you're about to take a shot will unbalance and refrain you from doing so especially when its someone doing so from behind you. At worst its deemed as too soft by the ref and play goes on but that is certainly not a dive.

That's a better explanation than I was capable of. Cheers.


All week I've heard people saying the media are out of order. But why are people reluctant to lay the blame for this mistake at their door? He was under immense pressure today and he played very well.

 

[NorCalBlue]

This drives me up the f*cking wall - commentators will say it's "not enough" to give a foul, but what the f*ck is the guy doing grabbing Sterling's arm? It's clear cheating and just like shirt pulling, should be an immediate free-kick (or penalty), whether it's enough to take the player down or not.

And if you disagree and think a quick grab's okay, and Sterling should be stronger - then write it into the f*cking rules so we can all do it without fear of giving away a foul if the ref suddenly remembers the rules.

 

[malg]

Didn't watch it, but I'm sure I didn't miss much. According to the BBC online poll Cahill and Kane were the best players, and Rashford was better than Sterling...