Any team that is going to progress in this tournament requires a big slice of luck and England have had a mighty big slice of it so far. Not only have they been drawn in the most straightforward of all the groups, the order of combat also suited where they face their most difficult group opponent last; although they did only just squeeze past the North Africans thanks to Captain Courageous. The England team also face in the last 16 a desirable opponent whether they finish 1st or 2nd in the group. You can't ask for much more than that. After that, well anything might happen. They have handled it well up till now, but they have not been tested much at the back so far, and though they will continue to score goals that is where they will come under pressure, in my opinion. Still think they would want to avoid Colombia.
-
-
Danny Murphy getting a hard time on social media.
Apparently.
He ought to be ashamed of himself......
( mind you he is a very dull pundit....)I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
-
I hope it won’t be a dull game on Thursday.Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
-
IMVVHO the best pundit there is ..... Shows what I know ....Originally posted by teamsaint View PostDanny Murphy getting a hard time on social media.
Apparently.
He ought to be ashamed of himself......
( mind you he is a very dull pundit....)Comment
-
Perhaps I was a bit harsh. Don’t mind him, don’t think he adds much.Originally posted by antongould View Post
I prefer Lee Dixon, FWIW. Good to hear that DM has been exploring the cultural side of Russia.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
-
As pundits Danny Higginbotham and Michael Gray are quite excellent. I hear them mainly on Talk Sport. Owen Hargreaves is terrible, terrible, terrible and Matthew Upson is poor too. I admire Gary Neville and generally Jamie Carragher too but he is suspended from Sky Sports at the moment. For an obtuse reason I've gone off Matthew Upson as I saw him on a MasterChef-type television programme and he literally couldn't grate a carrot. Ha!
Last edited by Stanfordian; 25-06-18, 16:58.Comment
-
Noooooooooo! Not Danny Murphy! The favourite of every schoolboy! Bigger than Beckham!Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
Comment
-
Uruguay looked very sharp, very organised against Russia today....3-0! That put them in their place. It's been great to see so many teams really committed to creativity and wanting to win - the group stage has been very entertaining, and still Iran-Portugal, and Argentina-Nigeria to come etc....
It's useful for England to qualify already, then have a chance to measure up against Belgium on Thursday.... yet another very capable side...
Always retain affection for Luis Suarez (fine free kick goal today), after the way he raised the game of Sterling and Sturridge for one preciously thrilling, ultimately agonised season at Liverpool (2013-14). He's a great team player.Comment
-
Rio had some interesting comments( before the tournament) about marking him . Did you catch that? Basically said he is the most difficult player to defend against, because his touch is either unpredicatable or just erratic, but that he has the speed and skill to catch out defenders in any case. More or less a case of " He doesn't know what he is going to do, so how do you know what he will do". Rio's point was also that he could read other strikers intentions from their body shape etc much more easily.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostI will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
-
TV seems to be increasingly for monotone Brits and indecipherable foreigners, all of whom lack charisma. I find Neville to be a thunderbirds puppet, Hoddle and Lampard a cure for insomnia, Jenas and Dixon bland, Fabregas a disaster, Bilic needing subtitles, Wright not as happy these days somehow and as for Murphy he speaks like an ex friend who at least had the IQ to stop and mimic his own tendency to waffle inanely with much laughter. I believe Klinsmann is to be on - an acquired taste but a bit better. One just longs for a Vialli, an Henry and a Gullit, though. I guess Shearer is very fine and there is always a sigh of relief when it turns out to be Kilbane. While not oozing anything much, he is the epitome of acceptable.
Oh yes - Rio - well, he's allegedly out of a tower block off the Walworth Road which, of course, I know well, so I tend to admire what he has achieved rather than being critical. He makes some good points although the language is always interesting if unnecessary - the need to hurt them etc features "large" - but unusually I sense there is little malice in it. I can cope with Keown. Haven't heard much from Garth Crooks in this tournament who is best seen and heard - the controversialist with waistcoat and weight - rather than just heard.Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
Incidentally, I don't think Russia has been put "in its place". It is doing very nicely thank you but the contributions of Schmeichel and especially Mourinho on the mysterious RT do make you wonder exactly what they are being paid as well as what exactly Mourinho really knows. I have suspected from the word go, actually, that it is Britain and Russia who are paying not only for that station but for this world cup. I wouldn't be against it - the world cup is a spectacular move forward for race relations in Russia and a lesson to us all in terms of sensible low level police and security management - but the public here needs to be told, given the statements from the Foreign Secretary which would suggest something wholly to the contrary.Last edited by Lat-Literal; 25-06-18, 17:34.Comment
-
Iran's keeper just saved a Ronaldo penalty..! That put him in his place...
After two easy wins, Russia were put in their place in footballing terms, by a Uruguayan side whose sophistication they couldn't match...England may face a similar challenge against Belgium.
I like Gary Neville and Slaven Bilic for their economy of word.... they try to make every comment count, and Neville's the best analyst out there, as we already knew from the Premiership on Sky. I do like Glen Hoddle too, as the commentators' sidekick. Again, plenty of wit and insight, and sounds like he's having fun.
Sorry Lat, but your comment about "indecipherable foreigners" is in extremely poor taste, to say the least!Comment
-
As much as monotone Brits to whom I also referred?Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
TV is a communication medium.
I have applauded previous inputs by Vialli, Henry, Gullit and Klinsmann.
There is a place for where folk struggle to hear what is being said or where they do understand it they recognise it as garbled.
It isn't in broadcasting.
(Incidentally, I felt Neville was sailing close to the wind in describing the South American tea as "disgusting")Last edited by Lat-Literal; 25-06-18, 19:40.Comment
-
"Monotone brits"? Two wrongs don't make a right, but you are a Brit, so it isn't the same. As with the N-word or reclamation of "queer"...Originally posted by Lat-Literal View Post
Personally I haven't found it a struggle to hear the various pundits you mention. Perhaps as a former linguistics student, I have less trouble with "accents" than most. I especially relish Geordie or French-accented English.
(I can't speak about GN's tastes in tea or the context of his remarks, however, let alone the UK co-funding the 2018 World Cup....
)
***
I hope this usually very peaceable thread can return to the joy in soccer it is usually known for. On which subject I have to say..DID YOU SEE THAT!? The 2nd half of Iran - Portugal was possibly the most outrageous, scandalous, chaotic passage of play and non-play I've ever seen... play-acting, refereeing howlers and VAR - a heady brew.
And very entertaining of course. The two coaches hugged each other at the end
, I guess out of a shared puzzled contempt for the misuse of VAR as much as their rival-respect-and-affection... but if Iran had scored that last chance....oh boy, imagine!
So far, VAR has done far more good than harm. But why couldn't the VAR-team override that last, bizarre, penalty decision? Is the referee's decision still final?
Still, it sets up a tempting Suarez v Ronaldo encounter. My heart, and my metaphorical money, is on Uruguay....but Argentina v Nigeria tomorrow looks pretty hot, doesn't it? Ohh yeah, as Rocket Racoon might say...Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 25-06-18, 21:05.Comment
-
Thank you for posting that footage. Wonderful to see it again. The greatest goal ever. Seen some similar ones at Deepdale over the years but never quite as good...Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostComment
-
I see what you mean and it is not unhelpful because it has made me question how I think and feel.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post"Monotone brits"? Two wrongs don't make a right, but you are a Brit, so it isn't the same. As with the N-word or reclamation of "queer"...
Personally I haven't found it a struggle to hear the various pundits you mention. Perhaps as a former linguistics student, I have less trouble with "accents" than most. I especially relish Geordie or French-accented English.
(I can't speak about GN's tastes in tea or the context of his remarks, however, let alone the UK co-funding the 2018 World Cup....)
***
I hope this usually very peaceable thread can return to the joy in soccer it is usually known for. On which subject I have to say..DID YOU SEE THAT!? The 2nd half of Iran - Portugal was possibly the most outrageous, scandalous, chaotic passage of play and non-play I've ever seen... play-acting, refereeing howlers and VAR - a heady brew.
And very entertaining of course. The two coaches hugged each other at the end, I guess out of a shared puzzled contempt for the misuse of VAR as much as their rival-respect-and-affection... but if Iran had scored that last chance....oh boy, imagine!
So far, VAR has done far more good than harm. But why couldn't the VAR-team override that last, bizarre, penalty decision? Is the referee's decision still final?
Still, it sets up a tempting Suarez v Ronaldo encounter. My heart, and my metaphorical money, is on Uruguay....but Argentina v Nigeria tomorrow looks pretty hot, doesn't it? Ohh yeah, as Rocket Racoon might say...
But:
There has never been any identification in me as British any more than there has been any identification as English, being from the London suburbs, white, male, graduate, single or with/of any past school or work place. I support Britain as a concept for its proven historical cohesion and I support the England football team by virtue of where I was born. But even a "we" in terms of my preferred football teams doesn't quite feel right because the economic differences between most of us and the players make a mockery of that notion in all.
To the extent that there has been identification with others - for that is what you are really talking about - I would say it has been in areas of interests and values rather than about me per se. "We" like this kind of music, this sport, this sort of radio, this aspect of communication and/or behaviour etc. Arsenal fan and author Nick Hornby would recognise the outlook.
In "Fever Pitch" he vividly describes how football, music, black culture and people from a range of ethnic groups were latched onto and identified with early in life because a standard southern suburban upbringing seemed so nebulous to him and even vacuous. I don't wholly chime with it but it runs close in perspective with my own which I suspect was to a large extent of its gender, character type and time. The nuances have largely been lost in these days of simply getting on with activities in herds. You must surely recognise that I spend larger amounts of time than most listening to foreign language music. You may or may not know that a key part of my degree, seeing that you mention degrees, was on race relations.
I don't expect everyone to hang on to my every word. But for the purposes of what I was saying, the words "Brits" and "foreigners" were intended to imply an equal distance from me - not of themselves although that is part of the general outlook as described - but specifically to underpin the point that being monotone and/or not easily understood in too well paid broadcasting is distancing. That is why when I referred to a range of more suitable, accessible people who could have been similarly described I chose not to use those words for them.
There is a coherence in my outlook. What I don't tend to identify with, as listed, is about polarity in which conflict often arises. What I do tend to identify with is about common purpose. While that does mean an "I like this and not especially that", the emphasis is on positivity in support so that opposition is not so much opposition as just a "not us" something else. The only arena in which I become more hard line in delineation is one where something's being is threatened - for example if it were suddenly decided the England team were to be no more.
Hope this clarifies!Last edited by Lat-Literal; 26-06-18, 02:30.Comment
Comment