The Round Ball Game - II

[cloughie]

Come on EA did you fail O Level History ..... ????. I am sure Petroc knows .....

He obviously failed O level North East Folklore !

[johncorrigan]

Must say that through the forum I’ve developed a keen interest in Stockport County, St Mirren and Truro City in particular!

Thank you for choosing Buddies as your North of the Border club, Alison. You are most welcome. On the subject of which, Rob, Big Jim is in the frame for the Manager role at the Paisley 2021 Stadium. I imagine they'd have to keep a nice cosy seat in the stand for him. Thanks for all the coverage this last season, Rob...great reading as always...and your supersub did a very fine job, too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You pulling our... Surely you must know!

Nope.

No idea.

[antongould]

You pulling our... Surely you must know!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_hanger

[teamsaint]

So, only just over a week to go. Any of you England fans just a little bit excited ? I mean, we can't do any worse this time , surely ?
Done your sweepstakes ? Got your wall chart up ? Had a sneaky punt on England at 16/1 ? Beer chilling nicely ?

Anyway, England must have a decent chance of making the last 8 after a favourable draw. I'd be happy just to see them play some decent football for a few games. The strike force has a few goals in them, and the defence and midfield should be good enough to cope with most of the early opponents , if not the big guns later on. Shouldn't they ?

[cloughie]

So, only just over a week to go. Any of you England fans just a little bit excited ? I mean, we can't do any worse this time , surely ?
Done your sweepstakes ? Got your wall chart up ? Had a sneaky punt on England at 16/1 ? Beer chilling nicely ?

Anyway, England must have a decent chance of making the last 8 after a favourable draw. I'd be happy just to see them play some decent football for a few games. The strike force has a few goals in them, and the defence and midfield should be good enough to cope with most of the early opponents , if not the big guns later on. Shouldn't they ?

Testing our Englishness then ts? OK I’ll stick to football - yes it would be good to see them progress - they are underrated, maybe justifiably, but it will be a good test of youth, team spirit. I think that Gareth Southgate has been sensible and successfully stayed under a lot of the radar, and maybe just quietly got on with his job. We’ll see dreckly!

[teamsaint]

Testing our Englishness then ts? OK I’ll stick to football - yes it would be good to see them progress - they are underrated, maybe justifiably, but it will be a good test of youth, team spirit. I think that Gareth Southgate has been sensible and successfully stayed under a lot of the radar, and maybe just quietly got on with his job. We’ll see dreckly!

Not testing anybody's anything.

Of course, I'm just as interested to hear about the prospects of board members own teams, if those teams aren't England.

[LMcD]

Egypt v Uruguay could be a real thriller....

[johncorrigan]

So, only just over a week to go. Any of you England fans just a little bit excited ? I mean, we can't do any worse this time , surely ?
Done your sweepstakes ? Got your wall chart up ? Had a sneaky punt on England at 16/1 ? Beer chilling nicely ?

Anyway, England must have a decent chance of making the last 8 after a favourable draw. I'd be happy just to see them play some decent football for a few games. The strike force has a few goals in them, and the defence and midfield should be good enough to cope with most of the early opponents , if not the big guns later on. Shouldn't they ?

I think 16/1 is quite good odds for England, ts. I think that bigger teams will want to avoid them because they have the potential of a lot of goals in them. Lot of weight on Kane's shoulders - historically, England have placed far too much importance on who the Captain is, rather than just being the guy who knows the difference between heads and tails. They've got a good midfield, but England's problem is in defence and the lack of a settled chap between the sticks. They can't argue with their group draw, but they'll want to be through before their final game v Belgium. The other thing in their favour is that there are no stand out teams this time around, in my opinion. No punt/sweepstake/wallchart/chilling beer thus far, but who knows, maybe a sneaky wee sticker album!

[BBMmk2]

I’d say that our performance would be the same as last time. Just the initial Group stage, then out.

[Mal]

I hope Andy's fit for Wimbledon. England usually does really badly so it's useful to have Andy as a back up to alleviate some of the misery, or add to it for separatists.

[Stanfordian]

I think 16/1 is quite good odds for England, ts. I think that bigger teams will want to avoid them because they have the potential of a lot of goals in them. Lot of weight on Kane's shoulders - historically, England have placed far too much importance on who the Captain is, rather than just being the guy who knows the difference between heads and tails. They've got a good midfield, but England's problem is in defence and the lack of a settled chap between the sticks. They can't argue with their group draw, but they'll want to be through before their final game v Belgium. The other thing in their favour is that there are no stand out teams this time around, in my opinion. No punt/sweepstake/wallchart/chilling beer thus far, but who knows, maybe a sneaky wee sticker album!

Hiya johncorrigan,

I have to disagree. In my view England's primary area for concern is midfield.

[Lat-Literal]

England seem to have more defenders in their 23 than most other teams.

I think I counted 10 excluding goal keepers when many have only 8.

I don't know what this means.

Predictions are difficult - I'd say the initial group stage plus one then out but a lot depends on injuries so I'm not sure - and I'd have Argentina as the dark horse for winning it.

Brazil look strong but they don't often travel well; in Europe, I favour France very slightly over Germany, Belgium and Spain in that order.

[Globaltruth]

Iceland. Just follow Iceland. They're all attackers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ_fh_Ks9QY

Euro 2016 was no fluke....



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZzaAMaEYyA

[Stanfordian]

England seem to have more defenders in their 23 than most other teams.

I think I counted 10 excluding goal keepers when many have only 8.

I don't know what this means.

Predictions are difficult - I'd say the initial group stage plus one then out but a lot depends on injuries so I'm not sure - and I'd have Argentina as the dark horse for winning it.

Brazil look strong but they don't often travel well; in Europe, I favour France very slightly over Germany, Belgium and Spain in that order.

Hiya Lat-Literal,

You are dead right about the amount of defenders and defensive minded midfield players. All smacks of fear to me!

I can almost visualise all the square and back passes by Eric Dier and Jordon Henderson.

With Rashford, Vardy, Sterling and Lingard, England must have the some of the quickest, if not the quickest, forwards in the competition.