The Pompey Chimes Forum

A thing that struck me about the England/Sweden match was the absence of play acting.

Saw a post on Facebook from a gentleman with a very foreign sounding name , complaining that now the African sides were out , the referees don't seem to be rushing to use VAR anymore. Never being one for a conspiracy theory , l launched back at him saying it was not just the Africans but the South Americans as well. The teams that were left in the tournament (this was pre Sweden game) were playing football , not rolling around play acting or kicking lumps out of people or cheating in general. Remember football ? The actual purpose of this tournament ? No reply was received but several people liked the post , agreeing with my sentiments.

Well the semis are here and though I think Belgium are the cream of the contest and I'd be happy to see them win it all should England stumble, something tells me the Frenchies are going to win today.

The Cincinnati Kid wrote:Well the semis are here and though I think Belgium are the cream of the contest and I'd be happy to see them win it all should England stumble, something tells me the Frenchies are going to win today.

It could go either way. It could be an absolutely incredible game, France and Belgium both being worthy potential winners. Or they could be scared shiitless of losing the game, neither team takes any risk at all, and it's a completely bore-a-thon.

I have sneaking suspicion the Belgians will win.

Locky_McLockface wrote:

The Cincinnati Kid wrote:Well the semis are here and though I think Belgium are the cream of the contest and I'd be happy to see them win it all should England stumble, something tells me the Frenchies are going to win today.

It could go either way. It could be an absolutely incredible game, France and Belgium both being worthy potential winners. Or they could be scared shiitless of losing the game, neither team takes any risk at all, and it's a completely bore-a-thon.

I have sneaking suspicion the Belgians will win.

Think the French will win - easily one of the more impressive teams in this WC

Milton End wrote:

Locky_McLockface wrote:

The Cincinnati Kid wrote:Well the semis are here and though I think Belgium are the cream of the contest and I'd be happy to see them win it all should England stumble, something tells me the Frenchies are going to win today.

It could go either way. It could be an absolutely incredible game, France and Belgium both being worthy potential winners. Or they could be scared shiitless of losing the game, neither team takes any risk at all, and it's a completely bore-a-thon.

I have sneaking suspicion the Belgians will win.

Think the French will win - easily one of the more impressive teams in this WC

Very tight game with the set piece winning it for the French who were the better side IMO.

Milton End wrote:

Milton End wrote:

Locky_McLockface wrote:

The Cincinnati Kid wrote:Well the semis are here and though I think Belgium are the cream of the contest and I'd be happy to see them win it all should England stumble, something tells me the Frenchies are going to win today.

It could go either way. It could be an absolutely incredible game, France and Belgium both being worthy potential winners. Or they could be scared shiitless of losing the game, neither team takes any risk at all, and it's a completely bore-a-thon.

I have sneaking suspicion the Belgians will win.

Think the French will win - easily one of the more impressive teams in this WC

Very tight game with the set piece winning it for the French who were the better side IMO.

They were indeed. They will make worthy adversaries for us on Sunday..... Mind, I shouldn't say that after a couple of the predictions I have made this WC.

Squeaky bum time!

Came up just short, but a credit to the short for a change in a tournament.
If any member of the national press writes anything negative tomorrow theyvshoukd be strung up By the balls.
Be proud boys hold your heads high

Well, it was fun while it lasted, and though a little bit of me feels we'll never have a better chance, a bigger bit feels we'd have lost to the French if we had made the final. The task now is to learn from the experience, move on and come back stronger for Euro '20. It's coming home - one day!

Midfield quality of Croatia told in the end. For me Alli was a disappointment all tournament and maybe should have been replaced with Loftus-Cheek in second half. Great effort though and nice to have over-achieved for once!

As I posted on Facebook...

"Well played England and thank you. Stand tall and stand proud. You made us all believe, you made us love football again. Every single one of you played your guts out. Ignore the critics and the moaners. Remember today's game, tell yourself never again, and use it to get even stronger.

Football IS coming home, (just not this year)."

No complaints. We were beaten by the better team overall. No controversy, no referee error, no bad mistakes by any of our players; no-one who is going to be blamed. The whole experience over the last year or so has made me (and a lot of other people) like the England football team again, and I have enjoyed watching them. I said at the start that all I wanted was to feel that England try to win and play with freedom, and they certainly did that.

England were the third youngest and least experienced (in terms of caps) squad in the finals, and they will only learn from the experience. As of now, they have played in a WC Semi-final; something that only 40 Englishmen have ever done.

As to the game, it all changed after half-time when Croatia pushed their wide attacking players forward, and England's wing-backs backwards. England were effectively playing 5-1-2-2, and that's not a formation you want to be using. This opened up acres of space for the two Croatia full-backs and Modric, and Croatia have too much talent not to make the most of that. Southgate could have changed things and gone 4-5-1, but you have to admire the fact that they stuck to an attacking mindset, even if it didn't really work.

Roll on Euro 2020!

Pompey Penguin wrote: no referee error

Well, maybe one or two, such as Kane being flagged offside when he wasn't, (linesmen having been told not to flag unless it's an obvious offside) then we didn't get the corner which should have followed. Same lino missed another corner and a throw-in. I seem to recall that we could have had a penalty, though VAR wasn't used. Can't remember who or when though. And how Lovren wasn't carded for the body-check on Kane, on the halfway line first half, I do not know.

We also benefited from a number of dubious decisions.

All in all, I thought the refereeing was substandard, though I will readily admit that the better team over the course of 120 minutes won the game.

Great to read these positive posts. So much nonsense written elsewhere recently.