Group G Matchday 3 - 28 June - England 0-1 Belgium, Panama 1-2 Tunisia

[Stan]

Thursday 28th June
England vs Belgium
Panama vs Tunisia

Only England and Belgium will qualify from this group. 

Top spot to be decided. Identical records at the moment in terms of goals scored and conceded.

England currently on top by virtue of a better disciplinary record - England have 2 yellow cards; Belgium have 3.

 

[6666]

I just hope Lingard doesn't score again. Scored a great goal against Panama but his cringeworthy celebration and the cringeworthy "JLingz" nickname he gave himself which he can't stop saying after scoring is unacceptable. What a fucking twat.

[Azeem]

England and Belgium still haven't shown how they will cope with things when they are behind. Hope we dont see a 0-0 draw to get the answer for either of these teams. But if it does than i expect both of them to crack open when they concede first against a good opposition.

[Dr. Gonzo]

4 hours ago, 6666 said:

I just hope Lingard doesn't score again. Scored a great goal against Panama but his cringeworthy celebration and the cringeworthy "JLingz" nickname he gave himself which he can't stop saying after scoring is unacceptable. What a fucking twat.

If England keep winning and he keeps scoring I don’t give a fuuuuuck if he’s a cunt.

[Stan]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

If England keep winning and he keeps scoring I don’t give a fuuuuuck if he’s a cunt.

yeah I'm the same. I've hated all their shite choreograph's celebrations and the like from other players all season but it pales in to comparison if the goals that precede them lead us to winning the thing. May sound fickle but it is what it is.

[LFCMike]

Where does everyone stand on the wanting (or not wanting) to finish top depending on how the draw can pan out? If finishing second means you avoid Brazil or Germany in the quarters surely you take that? Bollocks to the 'momentum' clichés if they win again and top the group.

[Stan]

1 minute ago, LFCMike said:

Where does everyone stand on the wanting (or not wanting) to finish top depending on how the draw can pan out? If finishing second means you avoid Brazil or Germany in the quarters surely you take that? Bollocks to the 'momentum' clichés if they win again and top the group.

yeah everyone says take it a step at a time but if you know you're qualifying from the group, and know who your opponent who may be depending where you finish, why not go for the team you think you have a better chance of beating to get further in the competition.

[Bluebird Hewitt]

First true test for England and Belgium now. Let's see if the media wankfest is justified.

[Smiley Culture]

I definitely wouldn’t be resting anybody if I were Southgate for this, regardless of if they’re already through. You just don’t change a winning team for me. 

I don’t really get the “it’s better to finish here or there” chat. The World Cup this year has been so unpredictable, so trying to second guess the knockout stage is pointless really.

Regardless of whether it’s a 1st or 2nd place finish, it’s a game against one of Japan, Senegal or Colombia next. You’d fancy England against Japan or Senegal tbh but Colombia will be a tough ask if it’s them. They had a man sent-off after 5 minutes in their first game so I think we didn’t see the true them till their second game at the weekend and they’re not a walkover. 

We won’t know till after game has finished but I’d be worrying more about avoiding Colombia than worrying about Brazil or Germany at this stage. 

[Danny]

I think that mentality to finish second is essentially saying we're not good enough...which means whether we finish first or second we won't be good enough. I'd rather get who we get and go out believing we can win rather than avoiding a big name.

[LFCMike]

Southgate would be mad not to rest players. There's 3 or 4 days until the round of 16 game depending where they finish on Thursday. Most of the eleven have had long, hard seasons with their clubs. If you get an opportunity to rest them you take it. No point in risking injuries either.

[Smiley Culture]

Belgium will just defend deep tomorrow and not bother attacking as they’re in second and will be eyeing up the “easier” route to the Semi-Finals with that second place in the Group. 

Unusually, England don’t have to find a way to win tomorrow, they have to find a way to lose. How they do that is anyone’s guess. It’s not a normal scenario and it’s not quite as plain cut as say giving a penalty away. 

It’s weird as the country should be supporting Belgium tomorrow rather than hoping for an England win. 

[RandoEFC+]

1 hour ago, Smiley Culture said:

Belgium will just defend deep tomorrow and not bother attacking as they’re in second and will be eyeing up the “easier” route to the Semi-Finals with that second place in the Group. 

Unusually, England don’t have to find a way to win tomorrow, they have to find a way to lose. How they do that is anyone’s guess. It’s not a normal scenario and it’s not quite as plain cut as say giving a penalty away. 

It’s weird as the country should be supporting Belgium tomorrow rather than hoping for an England win. 

Thinks that's a load of tosh to be honest mate. If you don't win the World Cup nobody cares whether you lose to Brazil in the Second Round or France in the Semi Finals. Best thing to do is go for the win and let the rest of the competition shake out how it's going to shake out. Anyone could lose at any given moment and make it so that actually winning Group G looks like an easier route through the knockout stages after all. Not worth playing silly games trying to dictate your future at the expense of keeping winning momentum going.

[Smiley Culture]

55 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Thinks that's a load of tosh to be honest mate. If you don't win the World Cup nobody cares whether you lose to Brazil in the Second Round or France in the Semi Finals. Best thing to do is go for the win and let the rest of the competition shake out how it's going to shake out. Anyone could lose at any given moment and make it so that actually winning Group G looks like an easier route through the knockout stages after all. Not worth playing silly games trying to dictate your future at the expense of keeping winning momentum going.

If you really believe teams wouldn’t want an easier route to a semi-final and wouldn’t be thinking of such things in the back of their mind, I think that’s a load of tosh.

 

 

[RandoEFC+]

26 minutes ago, Smiley Culture said:

If you really believe teams wouldn’t want an easier route to a semi-final and wouldn’t be thinking of such things in the back of their mind, I think that’s a load of tosh.

 

 

Can you give me a solid example of one time a team has won a major tournament and we've been able to look back and say "it's a good job they made sure they finished 2nd in the group and got an easy route to the final"? Obviously teams would prefer an easier route if possible but it takes more bother than it's worth to plot it out based on what will probably happen.

[LFCMike]

England aren't going to win it, let's be realistic. If you're England though you'd surely want to have a more winnable run to a semi final than a tougher second round game or much tougher quarter final

[Dan+]

On 6/26/2018 at 07:11, Smiley Culture said:

I definitely wouldn’t be resting anybody if I were Southgate for this, regardless of if they’re already through. You just don’t change a winning team for me. 

I don’t really get the “it’s better to finish here or there” chat. The World Cup this year has been so unpredictable, so trying to second guess the knockout stage is pointless really.

Regardless of whether it’s a 1st or 2nd place finish, it’s a game against one of Japan, Senegal or Colombia next. You’d fancy England against Japan or Senegal tbh but Colombia will be a tough ask if it’s them. They had a man sent-off after 5 minutes in their first game so I think we didn’t see the true them till their second game at the weekend and they’re not a walkover. 

We won’t know till after game has finished but I’d be worrying more about avoiding Colombia than worrying about Brazil or Germany at this stage. 

 

4 hours ago, Smiley Culture said:

Belgium will just defend deep tomorrow and not bother attacking as they’re in second and will be eyeing up the “easier” route to the Semi-Finals with that second place in the Group. 

Unusually, England don’t have to find a way to win tomorrow, they have to find a way to lose. How they do that is anyone’s guess. It’s not a normal scenario and it’s not quite as plain cut as say giving a penalty away. 

It’s weird as the country should be supporting Belgium tomorrow rather than hoping for an England win. 

That's some change of tune

[Marc]

I want Colombia to win group H so the winner of our group gets an 'easier' (on paper) last 16 game against Japan/Senegal and runner up plays Colombia. Need to worry about winning the last 16 game first or us or Belgium could look stupid planning our route to the later stages before the final group games are even played.

[Dan+]

The 'left' side of the draw has shaped up to be even harder than we imagined and the 'right' even easier, and if Japan come top tomorrow with Colombia 2nd our game is going to be utterly farcical.

It is absolutely typical England that the one time we finally put one of these awful sides to the sword, it's likely to be what sends us onto the tougher side of what is probably the most imbalanced split I can remember.

Part of me wants Colombia to win their group tomorrow. Our game will be an absolute farce if not. It'll be 0-0 with teams trying to pick up bookings.

I get the whole point of thinking if we want to win it we have to beat the lot of them but we still want that run don't we? And there's no doubt if we go to a semi final after playing say Japan and Swtizerland, rather than say Colombia and Brazil, we'd be a lot fresher in the semis.

Given the 'right' side is likely to throw up Spain v Croatia as a quarter final it presents an even better chance. I'd rather play Switzerland or Sweden than either of those two.

We're going to win the group and it's going to shoot us in the foot. So painfully obvious. It's become a bit of a lose/lose.

[Azeem]

1966: Real Madrid win the European Cup

Burnley qualify for Europe

Man City win their league

Chelsea finish 5th

England win WorldCup

2018: Real Madrid win the European Cup

Burnley qualify for Europe

Man City win their league

Chelsea finish 5th

If you know what i mean !

[LFCMike]

1 hour ago, Devon Von Devon said:

1966: Real Madrid win the European Cup

Burnley qualify for Europe

Man City win their league

Chelsea finish 5th

England win WorldCup

2018: Real Madrid win the European Cup

Burnley qualify for Europe

Man City win their league

Chelsea finish 5th

If you know what i mean !

Liverpool won the league in 66

[Stan]

57 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Liverpool won the league in 66

'Man City win their league'

[LFCMike]

2 minutes ago, Stan said:

'Man City win their league'

These omens things are always bollocks but are you telling me they won a completely different division to the one they won this season then? Not that it makes any difference whatsoever haha

[Azeem]

1 hour ago, LFCMike said:

Liverpool won the league in 66

Lets hope its the only thing that doesn't match.

[Smiley Culture]

11 hours ago, Dan said:

 

That's some change of tune

I don’t think anyone expected the way the tournament has panned out. To see the possibilities, you’d be stupid not to want to avoid the possibility of a semi-Final against France, Argentina (won’t be them anyway) or Spain.