O/T Qatar World Cup

[Geoff Parkstone]

Despite all the justified (imo) reservations about the appropriateness of holding the WC in Qatar I can’t help but applaud the apparent lack of alcohol fuelled thuggery this time around.
Don’t get me wrong...I enjoy a pre and post match beer as much as anyone, but I don’t miss the the sight of jingoistic drunken halfwits trashing bars and squares at all...not sure how much is due to the unavailability of alcohol or other ‘economic’ factors.

Get yourself down Nottingham one day in January. You'll see plenty of jingoistic drunken halfwits trashing bars - and that's not even on a matchday

[Ramshank72]

France in the quarters then!

[Andy_Faber]

France in the quarters then!

Hoping for no extra time as Dr Feelgood on stage at the Flowerpot at 9 sharp!

[Geoff Parkstone]

A tribute for Wilko or just a regular gig?

[Andy_Faber]

A tribute for Wilko or just a regular gig?

Regular gig, the Dr Feelgood that have been carrying the name for 20 years since Lee Brilleaux died, after saying the band should continue. Very sad about Wilko, a character as well as a great musician. The original Feelgoods were my 2nd ever gig at The Kings Hall

[MadAmster]

According to the draw, an England v Holland final is still on the cards. IMO, my adopted country will fall to Messi. The country of my birth, if we can dispatch the French, and that's a big if, can't see Walker keeping up with Mbappe, I can see us going all the way.

For 30 minutes we messed about and Senegal had 2 great chances. One well saved by Pickford and the other blasted over the top thanks to Pickford getting into the player. After that we started to play and won deservedly. Need to be on it from the off against the French.

Saw some interesting stuff on a Talk show last night. A company has thrown AI at the World Cup and came up with the correct last 8. They went on to assess the chances of who v who in the final. Top with 6.1% was Brazil v Spain. 2nd at 6.0% was Brazil v France. 3rd with 5.8% was Brazil v England.

If we beat France, I'm not bothered by either of the possible semi final opponents. Brazil in the Final, IMO, if we get there and I think we can beat them. The French are the ones who have me pondering.

[Geoff Parkstone]

England haven't really been tested yet and then we have to play the reigning champs in the last 8. it will be a huge test and if we can pass it, we need fear noone. I think we have the game to beat France but will we produce it when its most needed? The team is very two faced - can play incisive attractive football but equally can mess around passing sideways and back all too often. it depends which team comes out to play, but IM not confident. That said I never am!!... If we pass the test though, the likely Spain/Portugal semi, whilst not easy, will be less of a challenge than France. A game against Spain could be the world's most boring game ever, if the bad England come out to play, with both sides passing it sideways and back for 120 minutes and then penalties

[Ramshank72]

Hoping for no extra time as Dr Feelgood on stage at the Flowerpot at 9 sharp!

That should be a cracker - and don't worry, I'm sure that game will be over after 20 minutes anyway!

[Ramshank72]

England haven't really been tested yet and then we have to play the reigning champs in the last 8. it will be a huge test and if we can pass it, we need fear noone. I think we have the game to beat France but will we produce it when its most needed? The team is very two faced - can play incisive attractive football but equally can mess around passing sideways and back all too often. it depends which team comes out to play, but IM not confident. That said I never am!!... If we pass the test though, the likely Spain/Portugal semi, whilst not easy, will be less of a challenge than France. A game against Spain could be the world's most boring game ever, if the bad England come out to play, with both sides passing it sideways and back for 120 minutes and then penalties

We could also say that France haven't really been tested yet. I'll be confident if we can get passed the 1st 20 minutes without gifting them a goal, the standing still then passing it sideways between the centre-backs might not be so successful against France... they'll just sit back and wait for Maguire to give it away.

[MadAmster]

In defence of the back 4, a fair bit of the to me to you to me to you tippy tappy stuff was down to a complete lack of movement ahead of them combined with good covering work by Senegal. If there's no outlet they shouldn't gamble, especially early doors. The few times they did chance a long ball it went wrong. Maguire more often than Stones but sooner or later they are going to try and force matters. Got away with it against Senegal but won't against France.