England

You could go crazy thinking about the permutations ahead of us. Just keep winning, it's fun. Absolutely loved that first half today; we've smashed minnows before but today obviously felt different because of the context. It was pretty special imo, cracking day.

Columbia were comfortably the better side with 10 men until they tired like (Japan game)

We can beat both Columbia or Senegal but I'd prefer Senegal.

Japan have still got a very good chance of going through like, and a fairly decent chance of winning the group, they'd be the dream opponents despite the fact they're quite a bit better than I expected.

Stating the obvious, but VAR has been so good for us because it has made corners and wide free-kicks so much more dangerous. The move a couple of years ago to combat the all-in wrestling at set pieces seemed to devolve fairly rapidly into lip service, but VAR has given it a shot in the arm.

One reason the US didn’t qualify this year - and often struggle against the smaller CONCACAF sides - is that the opponents often get carte blanche to engage in the sort of spoiling and fouling and general bullshit we saw today. There’s a reason why Panama seemed so amazed that they weren’t allowed to do whatever the fuck they wanted. I am still not totally comfortable with VAR, but if they take the next obvious step and start clamping down on diving then that’s a couple of real footballing bugbears that it will address. It will need a serious commitment for change, which I am not sure we can count on yet given the bizarre decisions to repeatedly not card people for diving (and by people, I obviously mean Neymar).

Today was fun. After the Tunisia match I nearly posted some smug bullshit about how you now know how reassuring it is to have Kane up front in your team. Well there’s that smug bullshit. Panama aren’t completely shit, but like a lot of minnows their game involves a considerable amount of snidery. Take that away, and they don’t have a great deal else. I was very encouraged by our right side, and wow, RLC is a fucking unit. Lingard is such a good team player, and it shows the value of having a team that has grown up together. Sterling still flatters to deceive for me, although his pace is a nice counterpoint to Kane. I really like Rashford and Vardy as options.

Henderson did well, although the suspicion is that that will come to an ignominious end against a good side. Which brings me to the defence. I still can’t escape the feeling that we have three out of five defenders who don’t look particularly comfortable or convincing in their positions. We’re clearly going to score goals - particularly if the current VAR trend at corners persists - but our defence is going to drop a couple of clangers in every game, and I can see the wheels coming off pretty quickly if things turn sour.

Keep seeing the panama trying to score after kick off being shared.  What is the exact rule?  I see one outfield England player is just on the pitch still.  Is it all players or just outfield players?

Lots of people laughing about it mind without a clue that in a certain situation that would be allowed.

I’m sure there’s a video when everyone goes to celebrate with Tiote during the 4-4, Jonas is standing in the Arsenal half so that they can’t kick off.

Yeah, I keep seeing people mention players not leaving the pitch, but my understanding was that it's because they're in the opposition half, not because they're on the pitch.

Kane just scores goals. Great to have such a strong striker.

Encouraging start no doubt, looking forward to Thurs.

Yeah, I keep seeing people mention players not leaving the pitch, but my understanding was that it's because they're in the opposition half, not because they're on the pitch.

Yeap, if you're in the opposition part then the ref can't kick off.  If not they can, so that 1 England player on the line basically keeps from play from restarting.

Yeah, I keep seeing people mention players not leaving the pitch, but my understanding was that it's because they're in the opposition half, not because they're on the pitch.

 

Yeap, if you're in the opposition part then the ref can't kick off.  If not they can, so that 1 England player on the line basically keeps from play from restarting.

This is just not true. Fake news from some tweet the other day.

For the other team to kick off all players from both teams have to be in their own half.

I’m sure there’s a video when everyone goes to celebrate with Tiote during the 4-4, Jonas is standing in the Arsenal half so that they can’t kick off.

Yes, this is different because Tiote ran backwards to celebrate in our own half.

Yeah, I keep seeing people mention players not leaving the pitch, but my understanding was that it's because they're in the opposition half, not because they're on the pitch.

 

Yeap, if you're in the opposition part then the ref can't kick off.  If not they can, so that 1 England player on the line basically keeps from play from restarting.

 

This is just not true. Fake news from some tweet the other day.

 

For the other team to kick off all players from both teams have to be in their own half.

 

 

I've got it now.  Makes sense.

The IFAB even released a statement because of this.

IFAB statement Boudien Broekhuis, Communications & Administration Manager at IFAB:

“The Laws are clear: “all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play” at the kick-off; therefore, the referee clearly cannot and would not (from a fairness perspective) allow the kick off whilst players are off the field celebrating.”

 

The IFAB even released a statement because of this.

 

IFAB statement Boudien Broekhuis, Communications & Administration Manager at IFAB:

 

“The Laws are clear: “all players, except the player taking the kick-off, must be in their own half of the field of play” at the kick-off; therefore, the referee clearly cannot and would not (from a fairness perspective) allow the kick off whilst players are off the field celebrating.”

 

Think it's meant as a joke, mate.

Think it's meant as a joke, mate.

I know, it's still shit though.

Wyans is American, what a shit meme or whatever the are called.

Looking online, it seems like the majority are against the whole 'finishing second' thing but at least Group G goes on last. Going into the Belgium game we'll already know Germany's group and the order of Japan, Senegal and Colombia.

Yes the big teams will eventually be played, but why not start later on? Italia '90 wasn't cheapened by the very generous route England had to the semis. Let's do that.

I don't believe in this playing to ensure you get the best draw stuff etc.  I would rather we tried to win, as a win vs Belgium would put confidence in the squad at sky high levels.

It's good to see an England team that clearly has goals in them, but Panama's defending was so poor that it's difficult to judge. When your best header of the ball gets on the end of a corner, right in front of the goal with no-one within five yards, then there's a problem.

What I find frustrating is when one of our back three has the ball with 20 yards of space in front of them, but lacks the confidence to bring the ball forward and draw a defender out before passing. What often happens is a midfield player comes back to receive the ball, and then just lays it back again to another defender, who is put under pressure by the opposition players who the midfielder has drawn forward.

I know our back three aren't Beckenbauers, but a bit more courage on occasion is going to be necessary if we're going to beat the bigger teams.

"its time football went back to its own country" is excellent tbf

Thought 'CGI Phil Jones' was inspired.