That was some game!

[Phil xxkr]

19 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

Does anybody agree with me that the game in general has been spoiled by all the shirt pulling and arm wrestling  and professional fouls that happen so often now? You have to go back a very long to the days before the likes of Arsenal's Story and Chelsea's 'chopper' Harris set the scene, back to the days of artistry of men like Stanley Matthews who could show their skill. Although England do this spoiling  too, I thought Denmark used this tactic overmuch to frustrate England either by tripping, holding, or knocking our team over.  Now when I watched games as a lad........................................................but that was along time ago! 

See also disgraceful behaviour of some of the crowd - very unsportsmanlike :- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/euro2020/england-charged-by-uefa-over-laser-pointer-and-national-anthem-disturbance/ar-AALURKz?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBoPWjQ   

You were watching the wrong game Barry, should've been watching RFU British Lions for old style values in players and crowds 😎

[serbarry]

On 7/6/2021 at 11:59 PM, ALAW said:

 We will also be too good for Italy in the final.

It,s coming home folks Believe.

We will see on Sunday. 3 years ago in the World Cup you were already talking about the final with France even before playing against Croatia. Anyway yesterday England played better but that was not a penalty at all! It was actually a good dive from Sterling and everybody but English fans would agree.  

[royoftherovers]

On 7/6/2021 at 8:59 AM, First_Lexus said:

England 24-0 Denmark with Jordan Pickford scoring an unexpected hat-trick…😁

Pickford`s hat trick consisted of 2 right footers and 1 empty header !

[royoftherovers]

36 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

Does anybody agree with me that the game in general has been spoiled by all the shirt pulling and arm wrestling  and professional fouls that happen so often now? You have to go back a very long to the days before the likes of Arsenal's Story and Chelsea's 'chopper' Harris set the scene, back to the days of artistry of men like Stanley Matthews who could show their skill. Although England do this spoiling  too, I thought Denmark used this tactic overmuch to frustrate England either by tripping, holding, or knocking our team over.  Now when I watched games as a lad........................................................but that was along time ago! 

See also disgraceful behaviour of some of the crowd - very unsportsmanlike :- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/euro2020/england-charged-by-uefa-over-laser-pointer-and-national-anthem-disturbance/ar-AALURKz?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBoPWjQ   

I agree totally with you Barry. However we seem to forget that we watched a game played by people who had respect for the game and its Rules and who received little more than a working wage. People who went to the game on the bus with their boots wrapped up in newspapers.No longer a game I`m afraid.

Any match I watch, I watched with all sound muted, so as to watch what I am watching not what I am told. It makes for me not being absorbed by the so called "atmosphere."

[Spacewagon52]

16 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Pickford`s hat trick consisted of 2 right footers and 1 empty header !

I do not have much faith in Pickford. He has made some excellent shaves but also some silly mistakes. Whenever they pass back to him, I have my heart in my mouth.

The cynical fouls are part of the modern game. Regarding shirt pulling, I am surprised they have not gone over to tight Lycra fitting shirts that would be difficult to grab. The game is far better than in the days of Bremner, Harris, Tommy Smith et al. The fouls then were career breaking. The card system should be used more for such cynical fouls.

 

[First_Lexus]

31 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

I agree totally with you Barry. However we seem to forget that we watched a game played by people who had respect for the game and its Rules and who received little more than a working wage. People who went to the game on the bus with their boots wrapped up in newspapers.No longer a game I`m afraid.

Any match I watch, I watched with all sound muted, so as to watch what I am watching not what I am told. It makes for me not being absorbed by the so called "atmosphere."

I had the pleasure of watching an ex-Pro (can’t remember his name now, but he played for Wolves in the 1960s) give an after dinner speech about how the game was in his day compared with the mid-2000s. Suffice to say it was an eye opener and very entertaining!

I grew up watching Watford in the lower leagues, with my first match in 1973/4. Looking at the Premier League now, it really is a different game - in some ways for the better, but in other ways not so much. Watford are still a community club, but the connection between local players, fans and the management was much closer back then as they needed our support more. Television money has transformed the game, but made fans far less important. My brother used to play squash with the first team players in the local club ladder - imagine that today!

I think it’s fair to say the England World Cup squad of 1970 looked entirely different…

 

[LenT]

19 minutes ago, Spacewagon52 said:

I do not have much faith in Pickford. He has made some excellent shaves…

Aided, presumably, by razor-sharp reflexes?  🙂

 

[royoftherovers]

20 minutes ago, Spacewagon52 said:

I do not have much faith in Pickford. He has made some excellent shaves but also some silly mistakes. Whenever they pass back to him, I have my heart in my mouth.

The cynical fouls are part of the modern game. Regarding shirt pulling, I am surprised they have not gone over to tight Lycra fitting shirts that would be difficult to grab. The game is far better than in the days of Bremner, Harris, Tommy Smith et al. The fouls then were career breaking. The card system should be used more for such cynical fouls.

 

I agree. It is the Footballing Authorities that are to blame. Blinded by Television, Merchandising and Advertising monies they are unable to follow their own Rules.

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for Football Authorities to act honestly"

[royoftherovers]

5 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

I had the pleasure of watching an ex-Pro (can’t remember his name now, but he played for Wolves in the 1960s) give an after dinner speech about how the game was in his day compared with the mid-2000s. Suffice to say it was an eye opener and very entertaining!

I grew up watching Watford in the lower leagues, with my first match in 1973/4. Looking at the Premier League now, it really is a different game - in some ways for the better, but in other ways not so much. Watford are still a community club, but the connection between local players, fans and the management was much closer back then as they needed our support more. Television money has transformed the game, but made fans far less important. My brother used to play squash with the first team players in the local club ladder - imagine that today!

I think it’s fair to say the England World Cup squad of 1970 looked entirely different…

 

Was it Denis Wilshaw ?

[royoftherovers]

7 minutes ago, LenT said:

Aided, presumably, by razor-sharp reflexes?  🙂

 

A very nice one Leonard !😉

[First_Lexus]

2 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Was it Denis Wilshaw ?

I think is was Steve Kindon having looked it up. It was a few years ago now, and my memory isn’t what it was!

[royoftherovers]

16 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

I think is was Steve Kindon having looked it up. It was a few years ago now, and my memory isn’t what it was!

Nor mine, Eric !🤣

[Spacewagon52]

28 minutes ago, First_Lexus said:

I had the pleasure of watching an ex-Pro (can’t remember his name now, but he played for Wolves in the 1960s) give an after dinner speech about how the game was in his day compared with the mid-2000s. Suffice to say it was an eye opener and very entertaining!

I grew up watching Watford in the lower leagues, with my first match in 1973/4. Looking at the Premier League now, it really is a different game - in some ways for the better, but in other ways not so much. Watford are still a community club, but the connection between local players, fans and the management was much closer back then as they needed our support more. Television money has transformed the game, but made fans far less important. My brother used to play squash with the first team players in the local club ladder - imagine that today!

I think it’s fair to say the England World Cup squad of 1970 looked entirely different…

 

I still have the Esso (?) coin set from 1970 - not worth much I expect!

[LenT]

30 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

A very nice one Leonard !😉

I must confess, John, to a momentary pang of guilt at taking advantage of David obviously falling foul of the dreaded autocorrect just for the sake of a cheap laugh.

But it soon passed.

[royoftherovers]

6 minutes ago, LenT said:

I must confess, John, to a momentary pang of guilt at taking advantage of David obviously falling foul of the dreaded autocorrect just for the sake of a cheap laugh.

But it soon passed.

Pang ye not. Move over Messers;Took, Feldman, Sid and *****, Doddy. etc.

[rayaans]

2 hours ago, Barry14UK said:

Does anybody agree with me that the game in general has been spoiled by all the shirt pulling and arm wrestling  and professional fouls that happen so often now? You have to go back a very long to the days before the likes of Arsenal's Story and Chelsea's 'chopper' Harris set the scene, back to the days of artistry of men like Stanley Matthews who could show their skill. Although England do this spoiling  too, I thought Denmark used this tactic overmuch to frustrate England either by tripping, holding, or knocking our team over.  Now when I watched games as a lad........................................................but that was along time ago! 

See also disgraceful behaviour of some of the crowd - very unsportsmanlike :- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/euro2020/england-charged-by-uefa-over-laser-pointer-and-national-anthem-disturbance/ar-AALURKz?ocid=mailsignout&li=BBoPWjQ   

I agree. When we used to play 10-15 years ago, half of this stuff didnt happen. There are way too many players falling over after a simple barge.

I think some contact should be allowed. I have no problem with players barging others out of the way but the "owww he touched me" and falling to the ground is too much. For example the Sterling penalty was attrocious. Its a dive every time. If you run between two players I dont understand what the opposition are expected to do? Move out of the way perhaps and just let the opposing team score?! Utterly ridiculous

[Phil xxkr]

2 hours ago, serbarry said:

We will see on Sunday. 3 years ago in the World Cup you were already talking about the final with France even before playing against Croatia. Anyway yesterday England played better but that was not a penalty at all! It was actually a good dive from Sterling and everybody but English fans would agree.  

So Sergio, you argue that 3 years ago we spoke about what may be and in hindsight turned out not to be the case and the record shows it . Move on 3 years and now you argue that the record shows one thing but that it should be something else ! And your preferred position is? 😅

[Malc]

Gentlemen, whatever your thoughts and comments above 

I for one really did quite enjoy last night's Game ....  I even postponed a business call from India to make sure it wasn't interrupted and I could ENJOY  the spectacle 

Well done ENGLAND

roll on Sunday for another spectacular WIN

Malc

[serbarry]

8 minutes ago, Phil xxkr said:

So Sergio, you argue that 3 years ago we spoke about what may be and in hindsight turned out not to be the case and the record shows it . Move on 3 years and now you argue that the record shows one thing but that it should be something else ! And your preferred position is? 😅

I am simply surprised to see that all English press is so self confident about the victory on Sunday. Since the quarter final it is a common saying "it's coming home". Being Italian you may guess my position and even if Italy has a 33 unbeaten match record, there is not such confidence in winning simply because a final is always a tough match. I am not sure where England would be if it had to play against Belgium and Spain, you may agree that Ukraine and Denmark are much weaker opponents.  

[Phil xxkr]

12 minutes ago, serbarry said:

I am simply surprised to see that all English press is so self confident about the victory on Sunday. Since the quarter final it is a common saying "it's coming home". Being Italian you may guess my position and even if Italy has a 33 unbeaten match record, there is not such confidence in winning simply because a final is always a tough match. I am not sure where England would be if it had to play against Belgium and Spain, you may agree that Ukraine and Denmark are much weaker opponents.  

"A report in Italian media outlet Gazzetta dello Sport claims that the "very generous penalty" awarded to England "confirms the suspicions of a return of favour" to the British Prime Minister for his role in stopping the Super League threat to UEFA." Obviously your media are already preconditioning the public to a loss! This clearly explains why you show no confidence in winning because you already think its ordained. But I have to say that the Cosa Nostra may have long fingers but surely not this far 😎

[First_Lexus]

3 hours ago, serbarry said:

We will see on Sunday. 3 years ago in the World Cup you were already talking about the final with France even before playing against Croatia. Anyway yesterday England played better but that was not a penalty at all! It was actually a good dive from Sterling and everybody but English fans would agree.  

^^ I agree he went down easily, and at the other end England fans would have been furious…but VAR decided there was some contact and therefore no ‘obvious error.’ Regardless of what anybody thinks, it WAS a penalty, and that’s what the record books will say.

[serbarry]

3 hours ago, Phil xxkr said:

"A report in Italian media outlet Gazzetta dello Sport claims that the "very generous penalty" awarded to England "confirms the suspicions of a return of favour" to the British Prime Minister for his role in stopping the Super League threat to UEFA." Obviously your media are already preconditioning the public to a loss! This clearly explains why you show no confidence in winning because you already think its ordained. But I have to say that the Cosa Nostra may have long fingers but surely not this far 😎

I did not read what the Italian newspaper wrote and anyway I do not believe in it. I simply would not be so confident in winning as you are, not because I don't believe in the Italian squad but simply because being too self confident in a victory is not wise in my opinion.

[serbarry]

2 hours ago, First_Lexus said:

^^ I agree he went down easily, and at the other end England fans would have been furious…but VAR decided there was some contact and therefore no ‘obvious error.’ Regardless of what anybody thinks, it WAS a penalty, and that’s what the record books will say.

If the match had been played elsewhere than in England I am sure Var would have not given that penalty and this is more concerning than the actual skills of the squad. Playing at home is a big advantage but I want to believe there will be no pressure on the referee.

[Malc]

the Final will be a good game, fair and robust and VAR will do all it's meant to do and the best side will of course WIN

it just happens to be ENGLAND   ( of course )

Malc

 

[Phil xxkr]

10 hours ago, serbarry said:

If the match had been played elsewhere than in England I am sure Var would have not given that penalty and this is more concerning than the actual skills of the squad. Playing at home is a big advantage but I want to believe there will be no pressure on the referee.

Bravo Sergio, you take notice of the English Press but not the Italian ones as you clearly believe them to be untrue. Now take the next step of understanding the true nature of that self-confidence in Zig Ziglars very eloquently described quote : Self-confidence is like going after Moby ***** in a rowing boat and taking the tartar sauce with you 🤣