The main thing that I’ll take from this World Cup is that the gap between the top sides and the ‘lesser’ clubs (those that we would have laughed at twenty years ago) is getting narrower and narrower. Still expect the competition to be won by one of Brazil, Argentina, Spain or similar but the progress of teams like Japan, Morocco, Senegal, South Korea, Australia and the US is impressive and great to see. Wonder how long it will be until one of these ‘lesser’ teams wins it?

Match report from a Hearts’ perspective…

He’s his own man, is Ange Postecoglou and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he ended up in some other far flung place. For the time being, indications are that he’ll carry on the sterling work at Celtic until he feels that that particular job is done. So far he’s bettered himself with each of his moves and he probably will end up in the Premier League. Not only would he relish the challenge, say a three year deal at a middling PL club would set him up for life financially. I reckon another 18 months at least at Celtic, maybe another season longer. Celtic don’t identify with the tag ‘Old Firm’ any more, both the club itself and the supporters. Both Celtic and Rangers jointly own the copyright to the term but Celtic now refer to their games as the Glasgow Derby. Rangers are still hanging on to it and, as far as those in the East End of Glasgow are concerned, they are welcome to it.

The collective amount of chancers, fraudsters and incompetents that have passed through our club, since Venky’s rolled into town, is truly frightening. What annoys and upsets me the most is that our support, in the main, has been worn out by it and, right now, apathy reigns. It’s so frustrating knowing what’s wrong and being virtually powerless and unable to do anything about it. I’m talking about the overall situation at the club here (Venky’s as owners) and not just season ticket prices. The fact that Venky’s have chosen not to communicate and not to visit us. It hurts. I wonder how the ex QEGS lads are getting on.

It was the price of the fucking ‘early bird’ season tickets at Preston and Bolton and you’ve been told this a thousand fucking times. Preston and Bolton offered huge discounts and their supporters responded by buying in numbers. Preston at around 12k, probably their biggest ever sales and Bolton at 13k, despite being a division lower. Waggot fucked it up and we sold 8k. There’s your answer. It’s. Not. Fucking. Hard. To. Understand. You don’t understand it and Waggot doesn’t understand it. Everyone else (including my two year old granddaughter) does.

So many babies on the pitch, France v Tunisia, they should have been feeding them Farley’s Rusks and warm milk at half time.

😳 😆

Foden is all over the shop. He has so much energy. Pleased for Rashford as well, seems like he’s got his mojo back.

No, Lampard was never going to turn down the Chelsea job but the fact of the matter is that he performed poorly there. That’s why they sacked him. He is also performing poorly at Everton and he needs to keep them out of the bottom three or he’ll be the next manager to get the chop.

Granted, Lampard got Derby to a play off final but they lost. Chelsea dismissed him because they were going backwards and, to date, he’s been poor at Everton. They were 16th when he took over there and they finished in 16th, just missing out on relegation by the skin of their teeth. This season they are currently 17th and look like being in another relegation battle. They recently played Celtic in Australia, didn’t have a single shot on target and the other match stats were overwhelmingly in Celtic’s favour. Everton’s fans weren’t happy. There are mixed reactions towards him on the main Everton forum with many wanting him out. I like Frank Lampard. He’s an intelligent and articulate enough chap but, at the moment, this management lark isn’t working for him. Like everything in football these days, clubs want success and they want it now. Lampard should have stayed at Derby and served a proper apprenticeship. He’s been thrown in at the deep end at both Chelsea and Everton and hasn’t had the credentials to turn things around at either club. He would have a considerable amount of work to do, over a number of years, before being in a position to be considered for any England job.

A Spanish baby just gone down in his own box after turning straight into the midriff of a German player. His face touched the German just above his stomach and the Spaniard fell back, holding his face. Luckily, the ref was stood about three paces away and was having none of it.

Germany not afraid of hitting it long and they have pace up front. It’s got them back in the game.

True. It’ll change at some point but, for now, everyone follows like sheep.

Loving this Saudi Arabia v Poland game. The Saudis are playing with an intensity that England, based on last night’s performance, can only dream of. Nice also, to see Poland playing it long, to get out of trouble when pressed at the back. Thinking for themselves instead of the need to being seen to play like everyone else. And that Saudi support. Making an absolute racket and a brilliant atmosphere. I’m warming to this tournament now after being indifferent at the start.

I wish there were stats for the number of times Shaw in particular (and the others) kicked the ball backwards. Maguire just said we weren’t ruthless enough in the final third. They need to get in the final third more and they won’t do that by continually playing the ball sideways and backwards. So slow all over the pitch. Absolutely lacklustre. Subs should have been on earlier, Foden should be on from the start and Mount is dog sh!te and should be nowhere near the England team. Southgate on talking bollocks.

Just been talking about getting Foden/Grealish and/or Ratchford on for the second half. Not after 60 or 65 minutes. Needs to be now and we need to up the tempo.

England players playing like there’s 3lb of lead in each of their boots. Terrible performance, so far.

“Hit the high point.” A new one on me, just heard it in the Switzerland v Cameroon game. From the examples they showed at half time, it seems to mean, knock the ball long or at least play it to the player furthest forward. 🙄

There won’t be any complaints from Celtic. They’ve only played two games (it’s a three team tournament) and they’ve banked £5m from it. In the Scottish Premiership, you can’t turn down that sort of money.

Very good points.

Bearing in mind that, following JDT’s appointment, it was all about our style of play to be the high press. Since then, with one or two exceptions, all we’ve seen is this mind numbing, possession based, play-it-out-from-the-back football. My question would be regarding recruitment that took place prior to, and at the beginning of this season and also future recruitment. If you don’t know the style of football you want to play, how do you determine the type of footballer you wish to bring in?

I wish the interview had been filmed. I would have paid f***ing good money to watch it.

I was at this game. Went on a red, white and green single decker, leading up to a merger with the two councils. Got there at stupid o’clock, as there were no time restrictions in those days. We ended up at the station waiting for the football special to arrive. As it pulled in (most probably was the Ewood Express with 600 on), the doors all opened before it had stopped and off everyone poured to an absolute cacophony of chanting. I do remember that trouble you mention and I can still see an ‘old boy’ being led away by the police, coffee, soup or something all over his face. He had obviously done nothing but the police were having none of it. I would have been 15 at the time and whilst the poor guy seemed ‘old’ to me, he would probably have been a similar age to what I am now! We got our coach tickets via a lad up at SMC. Can’t remember his name, small, likeable lad called Robinson maybe who, in turn, had arranged it via Brendan Searson, the name of the latter rings a bell. So @Exiled in Torontoand @arbitromay well have been there as well along with other regulars like Chris R and Andre R… They can’t take away our (fading) memories. 😆

I think I was at the game, John. Just short of 50 years ago. Bloody hell! I get mixed up with outings on the League Liner and the Ewood Express, although I’ve been to Watford two or three times over the years, including an evening game. What a miss from Tony Field in the first half. Normal service (his) resumed later with that delightful chip. And how good was Roger Jones? Great days. I’d love to be able to relive some of ‘em. It seemed like we’d been down at that level for years and years, so it was strange to hear Brian Moore point out that we had been in the first division (top flight) only seven years previously!