Still not sure how Ronaldo got away with swinging his elbow into the bloke's face. Even less so after watching it again.
The more I watch that clip the more convinced I am it was not even a foul never mind a Yellow or red card.
He looks at the ball, then the player and then chooses rather than running round the backing up player, which he's easily quick enough for, he decides to abnormally ram his arm along the guy's face.
Still not sure how Ronaldo got away with swinging his elbow into the bloke's face. Even less so after watching it again.
The more I watch that clip the more convinced I am it was not even a foul never mind a Yellow or red card.
He looks at the ball, then the player and then chooses rather than running round the backing up player, which he's easily quick enough for, he decides to abnormally ram his arm along the guy's face.
Think he's sold many of you.
"..abnormally ram his arm along the guy's face." As Mark Lawrence's would say, behave!
He used his arm legitimately to help get his body around the opponent who was illegally trying to obstruct him by backing onto him rather than trying to run for the ball.
Still not sure how Ronaldo got away with swinging his elbow into the bloke's face. Even less so after watching it again.
The more I watch that clip the more convinced I am it was not even a foul never mind a Yellow or red card.
He looks at the ball, then the player and then chooses rather than running round the backing up player, which he's easily quick enough for, he decides to abnormally ram his arm along the guy's face.
Think he's sold many of you.
"..abnormally ram his arm along the guy's face." As Mark Lawrence's would say, behave!
He used his arm legitimately to help get his body around the opponent who was illegally trying to obstruct him by backing onto him rather than trying to run for the ball.
It was most definitely unlawful in the context of the laws of the game.
Nobody will have faced criminal proceedings, however.
I think too much blame is been heaped on the ref. It was not a good performance by the ref but he was put in an awkward position by the Iranian players and management team who from the beginning aggressively questioned every decision that went against them. In the premiership at least two of the Iranians would have been sent off for persistent harassment of the ref.
I'm amazed they still employ Lawrenson. Lawrenson and Hanson both became extremely lazy over the years, getting paid enormous sums, with apparently no one to challenge them. Hanson is now long gone and how Lawrenson survives is a mystery.
He kept asking the co commentator questions, proving that he does little if any research. He's meant to be imparting his knowledge to us. Unless I'm mistaken he even called one of the players Suarez.
The thing about Lawrenson is that he was an excellent player. It amazes me how much rubbish he talks as a co-commentator and he seems to annoy others more than he does me. Dowie has been one of the best for me! He has found something he is good at!
As for Ronaldo - just think when you played. Now I was one of the slowest but sometimes you want to get the ball and your opponent tries to block you a bit to slow you down, you use your arms to get past him. That is what Ronaldo did and whilst he did catch the player, and I think it was a foul - it wasn't more than a soft one. I probably wouldn't have booked him.
Where VAR has really disapointed me - and I think Shearer made this point. I thought it would cut out on the play acting. But the issue here is cultural. Contentals have less of an issue with it than we do. I have always had a major issue and it is one of the things that really brings on the red mist in me. I'd love the bringing the game into disrepute law was focused on here! In one of the teams I played in, we had a couple of italians and they even did it in training!
Australia only scored 2 penalties Other than that havent really looked much like scoring
Peru, 0 goals and like Australia havent really looked like scoring.
Austalia 0-0 Peru IMO tomorrow
No way. Will be a pretty open game as Australia have to go for the win.
Also re: Lawrenson he's becoming a parody of himself. Almost got to the point where he's just miserable and rambles on because that's what we all expect.
Yes, give him some happy pills and whilst it won't make him the greatest, it would almost certainly make him more bearable. He has the Barry Davies fault of making a negative point, then constantly making it through the game, even when the situation doesn't back it up!
Martinez suggesting he might make 10 changes for their game with us.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
Martinez suggesting he might make 10 changes for their game with us.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
Makes no sense to play your best 11 in a game that doesn't matter, especially when losing would be the better option to progress deeper.
You won't hear any pundits on ITV saying that though - too scared people won't watch the game because it'll be 2 second string teams playing - was quite amusing to watch them the other night - Bilic, Neville and Wright scrabbling to justify why England should play a full strength team - it would be tournament suicide on 4 days rest.
From the Panama game we absolutely shouldn't play Walker, Loftus-Cheek (on yellows), Stones, Henderson, Lingard or Kane. No real objection to us playing any of the others though. I don't think we need to change the whole side.
Still not sure how Ronaldo got away with swinging his elbow into the bloke's face. Even less so after watching it again.
Is it deliberate? On that basis Walker should've been sent off against Tunisia.
Yes I believe it was deliberate hence why I thought a yellow was not sufficient. That is not a natural motion for your arm to make and to me, that shows that the intent was to strike the opposition player.
Still not sure how Ronaldo got away with swinging his elbow into the bloke's face. Even less so after watching it again.
Is it deliberate? On that basis Walker should've been sent off against Tunisia.
Agreed.
This is one of the major issues with VAR - there is still so much subjectivity involved with football, so many grey area's that can be viewed in multiple ways.
For me the biggest issue now is that players will harangue ref's with the 'TV Signal', until he maybe even starts to doubt himself, and will then go to the VAR just to convince himself.
Then human nature comes into it, as in the vase of the Iranian penalty, as without a doubt he was trying to 'even things up' a bit with the Iranians, who generally hadn't had the best of his decisions, and subsequently gave them a ridiculous penalty decision.
I honestly think Ronaldo is just trying to get past him. It's just about a foul in my opinion. Can't really bash VAR if fans watching even more replays can't decide. If in doubt, it's not a red.
Martinez suggesting he might make 10 changes for their game with us.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
Makes no sense to play your best 11 in a game that doesn't matter, especially when losing would be the better option to progress deeper.
You won't hear any pundits on ITV saying that though - too scared people won't watch the game because it'll be 2 second string teams playing - was quite amusing to watch them the other night - Bilic, Neville and Wright scrabbling to justify why England should play a full strength team - it would be tournament suicide on 4 days rest.
If England are ahead only on "fair play" perhaps we'll incur a few late bookings to give them first place in the group!
Disagree we should rest players, maybe a few but would prefer we go into the next round with the momentum. Kane should play as he is going for golden boot, take him off after 60 minutes or half time if he has a couple.
Personally would only rest 2/3 players, dont want to disrupt the winning mentality too much.
I reckon it will be a nothing game with both teams not looking for the win, i hope it works out whoever wins will get the easier game next then at least there is something to play for.
Disagree we should rest players, maybe a few but would prefer we go into the next round with the momentum. Kane should play as he is going for golden boot, take him off after 60 minutes or half time if he has a couple.
Personally would only rest 2/3 players, dont want to disrupt the winning mentality too much.
I reckon it will be a nothing game with both teams not looking for the win, i hope it works out whoever wins will get the easier game next then at least there is something to play for.
So Belgium rest Hazard, Lukaku, Vertonghen, De Bruyne, Meunier and potentially others (so their 4 best players + X amount more) but you would be happy for us to play a full strength team? Even Uruguay and Russia rested 7 players between them and they had a reason to want to win their group to avoid Spain! Will be worth watching what Croatia and France do as well.
I wouldn't be even thinking about risking Kane, Lingard, Trippier, Henderson, Alli or Walker, especially when Vardy, Rashford, Dier, Cahill, Wellbeck and Alexander-Arnold are more than capable deputies for this game.
The games come too thick and fast now for the issue of momentum to be a problem, there is only 8/9 days between Panama game and the last 16 game it's not like in the league when you get a two/three week international break to halt momentum.
Disagree we should rest players, maybe a few but would prefer we go into the next round with the momentum. Kane should play as he is going for golden boot, take him off after 60 minutes or half time if he has a couple.
Personally would only rest 2/3 players, dont want to disrupt the winning mentality too much.
I reckon it will be a nothing game with both teams not looking for the win, i hope it works out whoever wins will get the easier game next then at least there is something to play for.
So Belgium rest Hazard, Lukaku, Vertonghen, De Bruyne, Meunier and potentially others (so their 4 best players + X amount more) but you would be happy for us to play a full strength team? Even Uruguay and Russia rested 7 players between them and they had a reason to want to win their group to avoid Spain! Will be worth watching what Croatia and France do as well.
I wouldn't be even thinking about risking Kane, Lingard, Trippier, Henderson, Alli or Walker, especially when Vardy, Rashford, Dier, Cahill, Wellbeck and Alexander-Arnold are more than capable deputies for this game.
The games come too thick and fast now for the issue of momentum to be a problem, there is only 8/9 days between Panama game and the last 16 game it's not like in the league when you get a two week international break to halt momentum.
Yes- four days is plenty in this modern era and they play Saturday/ Tuesday - Wednesday.
I'd Rest Trippier (Been fantastic so far and a good back up), Stones (hasn't had alot of football so probably will need the rest) Cahill in for him. Henderson for Dier, Lingard/ Ali (assuming he's fit again)
So a bit of a backtrack as thats half the team, however i think we should start Kane and the others who are clearly fit enough and dont need the rest. Kane is a bit of a risk, obviously if we lose him we have no chance. But it would just be very unlucky for him to get injured in a game where it will probably play more like a friendly and not high intensity and no wreckless challenges from either side.
Martinez suggesting he might make 10 changes for their game with us.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
Makes no sense to play your best 11 in a game that doesn't matter, especially when losing would be the better option to progress deeper.
You won't hear any pundits on ITV saying that though - too scared people won't watch the game because it'll be 2 second string teams playing - was quite amusing to watch them the other night - Bilic, Neville and Wright scrabbling to justify why England should play a full strength team - it would be tournament suicide on 4 days rest.
If England are ahead only on "fair play" perhaps we'll incur a few late bookings to give them first place in the group!
Wont even need a few bookings. Bring a player on to deliberately get sent off and the red card automatically gives England a worse record.
Disagree we should rest players, maybe a few but would prefer we go into the next round with the momentum. Kane should play as he is going for golden boot, take him off after 60 minutes or half time if he has a couple.
Personally would only rest 2/3 players, dont want to disrupt the winning mentality too much.
I reckon it will be a nothing game with both teams not looking for the win, i hope it works out whoever wins will get the easier game next then at least there is something to play for.
So Belgium rest Hazard, Lukaku, Vertonghen, De Bruyne, Meunier and potentially others (so their 4 best players + X amount more) but you would be happy for us to play a full strength team? Even Uruguay and Russia rested 7 players between them and they had a reason to want to win their group to avoid Spain! Will be worth watching what Croatia and France do as well.
I wouldn't be even thinking about risking Kane, Lingard, Trippier, Henderson, Alli or Walker, especially when Vardy, Rashford, Dier, Cahill, Wellbeck and Alexander-Arnold are more than capable deputies for this game.
The games come too thick and fast now for the issue of momentum to be a problem, there is only 8/9 days between Panama game and the last 16 game it's not like in the league when you get a two week international break to halt momentum.
Yes- four days is plenty in this modern era and they play Saturday/ Tuesday - Wednesday.
I'd Rest Trippier (Been fantastic so far and a good back up), Stones (hasn't had alot of football so probably will need the rest) Cahill in for him. Henderson for Dier, Lingard/ Ali (assuming he's fit again)
So a bit of a backtrack as thats half the team, however i think we should start Kane and the others who are clearly fit enough and dont need the rest. Kane is a bit of a risk, obviously if we lose him we have no chance. But it would just be very unlucky for him to get injured in a game where it will probably play more like a friendly and not high intensity and no wreckless challenges from either side.
Don't disagree with that. It's a nice problem to have, having the choice to rest players if you want - a very unfamiliar position for us for sure!
Don't care what he changes as long as the defence and keeper stays in place. Let them have a proper test against Belgium.
if Lukaku, Hazard, De Bruyne and possibly even Mertins don't start will it be THAT much of a test? Batsuyai and Fellani leading the line doesn't exactly strike fear in the heart lol
Martinez suggesting he might make 10 changes for their game with us.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
Makes no sense to play your best 11 in a game that doesn't matter, especially when losing would be the better option to progress deeper.
You won't hear any pundits on ITV saying that though - too scared people won't watch the game because it'll be 2 second string teams playing - was quite amusing to watch them the other night - Bilic, Neville and Wright scrabbling to justify why England should play a full strength team - it would be tournament suicide on 4 days rest.
If England are ahead only on "fair play" perhaps we'll incur a few late bookings to give them first place in the group!
Wont even need a few bookings. Bring a player on to deliberately get sent off and the red card automatically gives England a worse record.
Nick Pope's time to shine as a Striker with a bad tendency to lunge into tackles appears to be approaching then
Croatian press named the expected lineup for tonight and they're making 10 changes from the Argentina game. Perisic the only one keeping his place.
Difference there being Croatia are three points ahead of Nigeria and four points ahead of Argentina and have beaten both of them, so will win the group regardless.
Croatian press named the expected lineup for tonight and they're making 10 changes from the Argentina game. Perisic the only one keeping his place.
Difference there being Croatia are three points ahead of Nigeria and four points ahead of Argentina and have beaten both of them, so will win the group regardless.
So winning momentum only counts for us but not for Croatia?
Croatian press named the expected lineup for tonight and they're making 10 changes from the Argentina game. Perisic the only one keeping his place.
Difference there being Croatia are three points ahead of Nigeria and four points ahead of Argentina and have beaten both of them, so will win the group regardless.
So winning momentum only counts for us but not for Croatia?
Not quite what I said is it? England have something to play for, Croatia don't.
Croatian press named the expected lineup for tonight and they're making 10 changes from the Argentina game. Perisic the only one keeping his place.
Difference there being Croatia are three points ahead of Nigeria and four points ahead of Argentina and have beaten both of them, so will win the group regardless.
Technically not certain yet. The first tiebreaker after points is GD. So as unlikely as it may seem, if Nigeria beat Argentina and Iceland beat Croatia plus there is a 6 goal swing, Nigeria would top the group.
Re VAR in the Portugal - Iran game, whatever the rights and wrongs of the decisions made, the continual use of VAR ruined the flow of the game.
For the record, I saw the four major talking points as: foul on Ronaldo - penalty; foul by Ronaldo - at least a yellow; handball by Portuguese defender - not a penalty; Lawrenson speaking a load of shite most of the time - definitely.
Croatian press named the expected lineup for tonight and they're making 10 changes from the Argentina game. Perisic the only one keeping his place.
Difference there being Croatia are three points ahead of Nigeria and four points ahead of Argentina and have beaten both of them, so will win the group regardless.
So winning momentum only counts for us but not for Croatia?
Not quite what I said is it? England have something to play for, Croatia don't.
Sorry I must have misinterpreted what you were saying - it's a bit hard to keep up with what the reason is people think we should not rest players. Some are saying winning momentum, others are saying because we should want to win the group - seems like winning the group could be making our route to the final as difficult as possible but each to their own.
Comments
Think he's sold many of you.
He used his arm legitimately to help get his body around the opponent who was illegally trying to obstruct him by backing onto him rather than trying to run for the ball.
Nobody will have faced criminal proceedings, however.
As for Ronaldo - just think when you played. Now I was one of the slowest but sometimes you want to get the ball and your opponent tries to block you a bit to slow you down, you use your arms to get past him. That is what Ronaldo did and whilst he did catch the player, and I think it was a foul - it wasn't more than a soft one. I probably wouldn't have booked him.
Where VAR has really disapointed me - and I think Shearer made this point. I thought it would cut out on the play acting. But the issue here is cultural. Contentals have less of an issue with it than we do. I have always had a major issue and it is one of the things that really brings on the red mist in me. I'd love the bringing the game into disrepute law was focused on here! In one of the teams I played in, we had a couple of italians and they even did it in training!
Also re: Lawrenson he's becoming a parody of himself. Almost got to the point where he's just miserable and rambles on because that's what we all expect.
The Spaniard said changing every outfield player for Thursday's 19:00 BST kick-off "could be an option".
He added: "If I was going to speak about every player, I think every one of them deserves to play in the World Cup.
"So it's more important for me to be able to give that opportunity and see how they can react on the pitch and how much they can contribute.
"Nobody has got a place guaranteed in this team at the moment. That's the way we are looking at it."
Vincent Kompany is on schedule to make his return to the Belgium side, after missing their first two games with a groin injury picked up in a pre-tournament friendly against Portugal on 2 June. The Manchester City captain and defender trained on Monday for the first time since Belgium arrived in Russia.
Manchester United striker Lukaku suffered an ankle injury during Saturday's 5-2 win over Tunisia, in which he scored twice, while Chelsea forward Hazard, who also struck two goals in that game, suffered a calf problem.
Midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, centre-back Jan Vertonghen and right-back Thomas Meunier are the three players who are one yellow card away from missing Belgium's last-16 match.
"What matters now is looking after our suspensions," said Martinez.
"It would be very risky and a real gamble to play any of the players who are on a yellow card against England, because you don't want to have any player missing for the knockout stage."
You won't hear any pundits on ITV saying that though - too scared people won't watch the game because it'll be 2 second string teams playing - was quite amusing to watch them the other night - Bilic, Neville and Wright scrabbling to justify why England should play a full strength team - it would be tournament suicide on 4 days rest.
Personally would only rest 2/3 players, dont want to disrupt the winning mentality too much.
I reckon it will be a nothing game with both teams not looking for the win, i hope it works out whoever wins will get the easier game next then at least there is something to play for.
I wouldn't be even thinking about risking Kane, Lingard, Trippier, Henderson, Alli or Walker, especially when Vardy, Rashford, Dier, Cahill, Wellbeck and Alexander-Arnold are more than capable deputies for this game.
The games come too thick and fast now for the issue of momentum to be a problem, there is only 8/9 days between Panama game and the last 16 game it's not like in the league when you get a two/three week international break to halt momentum.
I'd Rest Trippier (Been fantastic so far and a good back up), Stones (hasn't had alot of football so probably will need the rest) Cahill in for him. Henderson for Dier, Lingard/ Ali (assuming he's fit again)
So a bit of a backtrack as thats half the team, however i think we should start Kane and the others who are clearly fit enough and dont need the rest. Kane is a bit of a risk, obviously if we lose him we have no chance. But it would just be very unlucky for him to get injured in a game where it will probably play more like a friendly and not high intensity and no wreckless challenges from either side.
The first tiebreaker after points is GD.
So as unlikely as it may seem, if Nigeria beat Argentina and Iceland beat Croatia plus there is a 6 goal swing, Nigeria would top the group.
For the record, I saw the four major talking points as: foul on Ronaldo - penalty; foul by Ronaldo - at least a yellow; handball by Portuguese defender - not a penalty; Lawrenson speaking a load of shite most of the time - definitely.