The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163410   Message #3931843
Posted By: Steve Shaw
19-Jun-18 - 04:48 AM
Thread Name: BS: Football (not the U.S. kind)
Subject: RE: BS: Football (not the U.S. kind)
The ref was terrible, and, but for that last goal, there would be ructions today. Several of the Tunisians were play-acting cheats and they got away with it almost entirely. Apart from the great start and the period after Rashford and Loftus-Cheek came on (way too late), England were very uninspiring. Every time Stones got the ball in deep midfield the game almost ground to a halt as he sat on the ball looking around indecisively, allowing Tunisia to regroup. Time and time again that happened in the second half and he wasn't the only one. Swift passing and running, scaring the opposition with pace, are the way to intimidate inferior teams. That's how we got 'em in the end but we'll need more than a few minutes of that per match if we wish to survive against the big boys. I think our turning point will come, one way or the other, in the Belgium game. If we sit back and throw it because "we've qualified anyway" the main contenders will see us as easy meat and our confidence will be shot.