World Cup 2018 | 10th July | SF: France vs Belgium, KO 19:00 (BST)

[bumbleblue]

Chadli and Dembele were dogshit. Kev looked fucked off .. may be the change of formation. Feel for them. That acting hurt and time wasting shite from mbarm etc was embarrassing. He is a great talent though wish we had got him, ah well.
C’mon England!

 

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

I’d have much rather played Belgium in the final if we get there. No chance France bottle two finals in a row

It happened to the Dutch in the seventies. And they had a team that was as good as this current French one. But no, basically you're right, let's just say that England are definite outsiders. But hey, as Roberto used to say, eez football…

 

[93.01]

I thought the same, it looked like a man in a Lukaku fat suit tonight compared to the player who turned out against Brasil . Pogba is also a much better centre half than he is a midfielder.

France did a number on him with their deep block. Unlike against Brazil they gave him no space to turn and run at them. He played a lot of the game with his back to the wall. This is why I was surprised at the praise he received against Brasil, his performance I felt in that game was due to Brazil's indiscipline and inadequacies rather than Lukakus abilities. Given the riches in talent available to them I was disappointed in France. Fair enough they played to a plan and it worked but for large parts of the game it was like watching utd, sitting back, soaking up pressure before looking to hit on the break. Effective in the end but hardly entertaining.

 

[inchy14]

The major worry for England is that they're a team who have advanced through set pieces, and France are probably the biggest international side in the world.

Today they faced Kompany, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Fellaini and Lukaku and had absolutely no trouble whatsoever.

Pogba was on Fellaini like glue, they have 2 centrebacks for fullbacks, and Giroud and Matuidi both defend well from the box.

England's 3 set piece threats are going to be double marked, and now everyone knows the referees will penalise holding the surprise element of that has gone.

The delivery was awful on nearly all of them though, something Trippier and Young have been quite good at up to now.

Anyway let's not get a head of ourselves, Croatia will be a tough nut to crack later.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

France did a number on him with their deep block. Unlike against Brazil they gave him no space to turn and run at them. He played a lot of the game with his back to the wall. This is why I was surprised at the praise he received against Brasil, his performance I felt in that game was due to Brazil's indiscipline and inadequacies rather than Lukakus abilities. Given the riches in talent available to them I was disappointed in France. Fair enough they played to a plan and it worked but for large parts of the game it was like watching utd, sitting back, soaking up pressure before looking to hit on the break. Effective in the end but hardly entertaining.

Good summary