superniko

Was the best player on the pitch for the first 60 or so until Saka starting dominating 😂

We are good enough and we were good enough. It’s just football and it’s why we love it and hate it at times. Or knockout football maybe. Better side, we played brilliant I thought. Pen not given, Kane one on one, Maguire off the post, Kane missed pen. Ref horrendous (I feel like a broken record last days saying that) Feels different to previous tournaments where we’ve been pretty embarrassing with the big games

Not dropping Dacky? He’s not been in your starting line up all season and he’s past it / lost it / no legs remember.

Feels a bit similar to England, albeit at a much much much lower standard. With 4 at the back instead of the 5 our midfield looks more compact and we control the game better. 5 at the back and shipping 4 goals, says it all. I was lucky to have a good JW seat today and at times the middle of the park was deserted, Brereton on one touchline, Hedges pushing onto the other, Dack dropping deep as the only player who wanted the ball and absolutely nothing central. We need more midfield presence.

Cowboys win it this year mate don’t worry. Beat the eagles at Christmas and get #1 seed then a QB-less 49ers the only other team to fear in that conference. Just don’t upset the apple cart with Odell …Yes I am deflecting as much as I can away from that horror performance!

Did you watch the other 45? It’s a bit of a joke that’s been ongoing because Sparks rightly called Whiteman is far superior to any ‘battling’ midfielder we have, or have had in the last 10 years. But, we can blame Mowbray for that one anyway!

He was sat watching that in the comfys so hopefully it’s opened his eyes for January!

Because he made him captain and starts him every week?

Well I’ve not read past page 6 since being at the ground but a few thoughts on what was one of the most pathetic 90 minutes I’ve seen from us. First, the referee, worst performance I’ve seen since last night. All joking aside he was awful, the standard is so bad at this level and we say it every week. 3 minutes added on in each half just baffling. 2nd half we had 3 goals, multiple subs, a minute where PNE fans had the ball etc. I’m really disappointed the league isn’t taking the approach of the World Cup in terms of added time, it’s so detrimental to the sport. That said, it was cold and we were shit so maybe it’s was a blessing. Onto the match/team…I was going to make a Whiteman v Travis joke before the game (I can only assume Sparks has had a few since and rightly so)….no signal so couldn’t, but wow, I’ve said it for a long time now he just isn’t at this level, let alone our captain, if his telling attribute is passion / aggression etc then I’m baffled as he is so weak and slow. He summed up the whole team today - 2nd to every ball and out muscled on every occasion. Jason Lowe ended up at Salford after racking up an insane amount of appearances…we’re not far off that. Hedges shocking, Morton the worst I’ve ever seen him, Mola not at this level at all, Szmodics didn’t even touch the ball in the first half. Is Adam Wharton injured? How is he not even making the bench? The defence were absolutely owned by Ched Evans, he embarrassed them. Johnson - looks like Messi every time we play them. Bossed it for them. Dack is the only one to come out and hold his head high, to think JDT was about to sub him too. Some of you lot wrote him off after about 100 cumulative minutes across 15 or so games, also shows you just would agree with the manager blindly as you had no evidence at all to suggest ‘he’d lost it’ I’ve said for weeks we’re in a false position, xG and every stat suggests we’re a bottom half team and we’ll start the drop to 14th soon. We’ve regressed as a team since last season and play far far far worse football on top of that. We’re about 6 months into JDTs reign and I’m still yet to see this ‘style’ or ‘high press’. Preston high pressed us and we do as we do and fail to pass it through them from the back. We did not high press them at all. We have no style, no passion and no identity. 7-1 back to back Burnley and Preston. Embarrassing. Let’s hope England cheer up the mood tonight.

Completely fine all around the stadium. Roads all clear too. Not snowing here either. Pitch looks perfect too so I’d be amazed if the game isn’t on.

Look at the little shithouses. They can’t even embrace elation without being little sad acts.

Worst refereeing performance I can remember……and I watch the Championship each week. Amazed it took 75 minutes for them to realise the Argies just have a load of midgets at the back.

Brazil playing an interesting 4-1-5 formation. Casemiro left completely on his own. Surely Bruno is a better option than Paqueto in the centre.

Same team for me I think. Hopefully we don't switch to a back 3 with 2 holding midfielders. I think we have the better squad and starting 11 but France have the odd player that do more damage and have done more damage on this stage. Overall I'd say there is very little in it, and it has the potential to be a cracker. For some reason it feels bigger than any of the Russian WC matches, including the Croatia semi-final, it just feels massive. I'm predicting similar to the Germany match at the Euros, a little nervy, a big atmosphere and build up, playing against a big name and England to win 2-0. Cracking day tomorrow, bit of England test in the morning, Rovers back in action midday then nice build up to 7pm for England.

A fine club the orange and black 🙂

I agree he doesn’t look fully fit but I still think we’re better with him on the pitch (which is what you stated against). He’s just playing like a different player, less like a #9

I’d say that’s probably because we were 3-0 (or 2-0?) up at the time. Another nice assist from him, and should have had another for Rashfords sitter - he’s about 10 times the player Wilson is

Some of the comments on here were bizarre to say the least throughout the match. We absolutely cruised all the way through it. I swear no other nation would be this critical through 7 points, topping the group, 9 goals etc.

I think the Canada manager was one of the links we had this summer. Obviously wasn’t going to happen before a World Cup but I’d love someone who sets their team up with a bit of an identity and bags of energy/intensity

Jesus you’re reaching there, Lebanon and Syria are tough nuts to crack I’m sure. I think they only have one lad who plays in a half decent league, and even that’s the Portuguese league.

Well done on completely glazing over the post.

Nope and I didn’t at this stage last season either, but it’s a meaningless point to me. Variance is huge in this league (as we see every year team A drops off or team B comes from nowhere - eg Ourselves, West Brom and Forest last year) We’re in a false position right now as highlighted by every stat, predicted model / simulations out there (eg 538 model has us rated 17th in the league - finishing 8th thanks to our overindexed start). Add to that, we’re extremely boring to watch - 1.14 goals a game

We were a better team and a far more entertaining team last year - exactly the same points and a better goal difference (even including the 7-0 Fulham drubbing) We’ve won 2 more but lost 4 more. Will still continuously hear the “But we’re 3rd in the league, nobody expected that”

Just to emphasise how I’m against the “Dack has shown he’s not got it anymore” mob. He’s only started 1 league match since Blackpool…1! (and he was hooked at HT). Played a total 112 league minutes between Blackpool and today, that’s across 13 games - less than 10 mins a match). I’m actually more embarrassed for our fans who have bought into this narrative that he’s no good (is he worse than Garrett / Travis / Morton / Buckley?) because they buy every word JDT says

100%. No fan of Mowbray but this is all on JDT. His team, his set up, his lack of passion, his embarrassment. Out thinking himself with inept tactics