3 hours ago, goozburger said:

I hope Dack's and Buckley's recent showings in the first team aren't just for next month's shop window. The pair of them have shown recently that they can fit into JDT's style, and perhaps they have just needed time to adapt. Buckley has an arrogant confidence about him which I like. He's correct when he suggests there aren't many better than him in this league when he's on his game. I hope he gets a start today, along with Dack.

That didn't age well. 😆

We deserved nothing from that. We can't even grind out a draw. Fair play to Mogga and Sunderland, although I still don't think he's going to last too long there. It'd be characteristic of a Mowbray side to flatten out after too much passion in one game.

We can fault JDT for tactics, selections, and so on, but we've done that to the last umpteen managers that have been here. My suspicion with JDT is that he is not a motivator. For all this talk about local derbies, intensity, etc., we are simply not up to it when we come up against a positively vocal crowd as we did today. See Norwich victory versus today, Burnley, a big following for PNE, etc.

Only positive from today is that we can't be shifted from third spot. Millwall did us a favour, and hopefully Luton can do the same tonight.

I hope Dack's and Buckley's recent showings in the first team aren't just for next month's shop window. The pair of them have shown recently that they can fit into JDT's style, and perhaps they have just needed time to adapt. Buckley has an arrogant confidence about him which I like. He's correct when he suggests there aren't many better than him in this league when he's on his game. I hope he gets a start today, along with Dack.

Whatever anyone's thoughts are on our chances against France, it's shaping up to be a great set of quarter-final games.

Holland v Argentina

England v France

And hopefully...

Brazil v Croatia

Portugal v Spain

You could call any one of those a final. 😋

This has to be the worst half an hour of football I've ever watched from professional football players.

11 minutes ago, simongarnerisgod said:

the belgians are playing like it`s an end of season kickabout and i can honestly say michi batshuiya is ******* useless,the belgian george hirst imo

🤣 People never learn, do they?

5 minutes ago, AllRoverAsia said:

I've missed 2, both were 2 am ko here and I just fell asleep.

I've caught all of them so far in between flexi-work, of course. 😄

There have been some absolute stinkers of games so far, too. Morocco versus Croatia was scrappy. There were also a couple of goalless draws yesterday. And the second-half of the opening game was arduous.

Other than that, enjoying it. Almost making me forget the circumstances surrounding the whole tournament!

Feel sorry for all those who said they weren't bothering to watch the fixtures that didn't look appealing. Who'd have thought Argentina v Saudi Arabia and Germany v Japan would have been absolute stonkers? 😄

Learn your lessons. A fixture on paper never determines how good the game is going to be.

5 minutes ago, jim mk2 said:

Off the top of my head....

Argentina 0 Cameroon 1 1990

USA 1 England 0 1950

North Korea 1 Italy 0 1966

Algeria 2 West Germany 1 1982

Some good shouts. I've just thought of another:

France 0 - 1 Senegal 2002

This was the opening game of that World Cup. France came in on the back of winning the previous World Cup and the European Championship. Senegal were World Cup newcomers.

Can anybody think of a bigger upset than this at the Finals?

Oh my word! This is no more than Saudi Arabia deserve!

Saudi Arabia are doing a good job at catching Argentina in the offside trap. They're not as bad as I expected. Much better than Iran.

Teams are going to think twice before rugby-style manhandling opponents in the box during corners. That's two penalties given so far for that type of offence.

Argentina should still win this at a canter, but it's not as one-sided as I expected (so far).

Professional and enjoyable display without breaking a sweat. Good to see us scoring six goals and not relying on Kane to stick them in the onion bag.

Some open defending by us at the back could have seen Iran with three goals in spite of how abysmal they were. That's a slight concern, although perhaps we were playing a little too confidently as the game wore on. We won't have it as easy as that against USA and Wales.

16 hours ago, jim mk2 said:

it always pays to be contrarian. Stick a little bet on 

England 1 Iran 1 

Enjoy collecting your winnings!

38 minutes ago, J*B said:

Strange that the fans wearing kits singing behind the goals where the ones that stayed. Almost as if they where paid to be there for the duration?

Just seen more articles claiming thousands left at half time. At 2-0 down, I can only conclude they're all Rovers fans and decided to call it a night.

This was the strangest World Cup game I've ever watched. In that sense, I suppose it was somewhat entertaining, with plenty of comedy gold. But I couldn't help but think how wrong it was. It stinks of bribery and corruption. It'll take a decade or two for things to come out of the woodwork, by which time FIFA will have kept a lower profile, and people will care less than they do now while it's fresh.

Did anybody else notice how the stadium was emptying rapidly after the 70 minute mark? Edit: just seen a Sky News article suggesting the same.

I don't mean to be presumptuous, but unless it was prayer time, it says a lot about how much Qatar deserves to host a football tournament of this magnitude. None of them really give a toss about the game.

36 minutes ago, Giant said:

Group A could be decided by who scores most goals against Qatar, the worst team I have ever seen in the WC finals.

Yes. Even Saudi Arabia would have dismantled this lot today.

Will England's players be as up for it in the group stage games as our opponents will be?

Preston will be a much tougher prospect than last season. Ched Evans will give us problems at the back because, like Barnes, he is another aggressive centre forward that can bully a defence.

1-1

Slight chuckle and shake of the head at the football fixture snobbery. I'm an avid watcher of tournament football and have witnessed many games between top international sides that turned out to be dull and devoid of entertainment, and many games played involving minnows that turned out to be great to watch. As football fans, surely you know it works!

FIFA must be dying for this tournament to be over. People will forget about FIFA for a while once it is, and I suspect nothing will ever change. After all, they're not elected by us, which I think is the only way it could ever clean up its act. Give the power to the people that truly care about the game - the supporters - instead of the few who personally gain money from it.

In spite of possible corruption and being hosted in a country that isn't physically suited to the World Cup, I suspect we (Rovers) are quietly happy about it. A lot of our players look fatigued, and this break could well be a blessing in disguise.

12 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Worst you've ever felt? So not the multiple PL relegations. Not the tyrannical reign of Kean where he had to be shamed into resigning as he was never getting sacked. Not the 5 years of listlessness under Mowbray?

Yes. We were humiliated by our most bitter rivals who, at least in my lifetime, had their most comfortable victory against us yet.

It's about extremes. This season has been an absolute rollercoaster. We've had some appalling performances and defeats, yet we are somehow third in the table. And to go from believing that we might finally have had a level playing field before yesterday's game to being embarrassed on the pitch by that lot is the pits for me.

Kean's reign of tyranny was like being slowly boiled in a pot. Mowbray outstaying his welcome the same. The ups and downs of this season, and not knowing whether to feel confident or to give up before we even kick-off, all came to a head yesterday. Burnley summed up the worst in us this season. Of all the games I didn't want us to put in our worst performance, yesterday was it, and we got the worst possible outcome.

So, yes, it's the worst I've ever felt as a Rovers supporter, in spite of our league position and the belief that JDT will work out.

All the soundbites from JDT told me we were going to fight today, even if we were going to be outclassed. How wrong was I?

Tomasson appeared to sheepishly walk off the pitch at the end, and I'm not surprised. It was abysmal in the second-half, even if we were defensively astute in the first half.

Putting our first half of the season into perspective, I'm delighted that we're third, even if I don't feel it today. But he got it absolutely wrong today. He said we were going there to win - that we were going to be brave. Neither of those things happened.

I've bitten my lip when I've seen unfair criticism of him up until now, but today was embarrassing. As the Dingles put it, we were "f*cking sh*t".

5 minutes ago, booth said:

Mola replacing Scott Wharton as a centre back. Wtf!

4 minutes ago, rigger said:

Who says Mola is starting at center-back ? 

3 minutes ago, chaddyrovers said:

I think its will be 4-3-3 formation with Mola at left back with Hedges on the right side attacking side, Gallagher as number 9 and BBD on the left side

Am I missing something regarding Mola? I understood him to be a centre-back, and while he played there against West Ham and was very good, everybody seems to be putting him at left-back, left wing-back, or midfield. 🤔

3 minutes ago, BigBar said:

Happy he realised that Pickering is too much of a liability at left back against anyone with a bit of pace.

Fully agree with that. Pickering is a solid Championship left-back, but the Dingles have very pacey players down the flanks. I think it makes sense to leave him out.