Other Games - 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup Edition (+ warm-up matches): Villa-watch

[Flamingo Lane]

Rogers through ball was indeed sublime, so sublime that neither the commentator nor his mate actually saw it, apparently.

[Monty]

Honestly, I thought England in the second half might have been the most impressive side of the tournament so far, it's them or France. That they had a few weaknesses being a bit open and entertaining is just, well, it's a strange problem for England to have!

[Somniloquism]

Rogers through ball was indeed sublime, so sublime that neither the commentator nor his mate actually saw it, apparently.

Or anyone in the studio, at least on ITV. Brilliant play from Djed Spence was all that was mentioned during and after the match.

[LeeB]

Honestly, I thought England in the second half might have been the most impressive side of the tournament so far, it's them or France. That they had a few weaknesses being a bit open and entertaining is just, well, it's a strange problem for England to have!

It certainly made a change from the usual turgid, nervy shit we usually see and did for much of the first half. Djed Spence was also surprisingly very good when he came on.

[Dogtanian]

Yeah, the same old England nerves and fear of failure that Southgate couldn't shake was evident in the first half. I think part of the issue with Southgate was that while he talked about belief and focusing on success over failure, his actions often sent the opposite message by erring on the side of caution.

Tuchel is different and, like Emery, telling the players they are here to win it and focusing on how they do that. Much like Unai's famous "I'm not here to waste my time." speech.

We have to accept that the strength is in attacking and have the confidence to do that and risk conceding. Again comparing to Emery where he's said he doesn't care about conceding goals.

If we blunt our best weapon of attack by trying to do what we are crap at and defend, we aren't going to get anywhere.

[itbrvilla]

Honestly, I thought England in the second half might have been the most impressive side of the tournament so far, it's them or France. That they had a few weaknesses being a bit open and entertaining is just, well, it's a strange problem for England to have!

It certainly made a change from the usual turgid, nervy shit we usually see and did for much of the first half. Djed Spence was also surprisingly very good when he came on.

He was a real nuisance to them.

[Somniloquism]

Rogers worked well with him putting him through for the one on one with the keeper, then working with him and Saka for the last goal.

[eye digress]

The Croatia keeper's ground game was very good, I thought.

Didn't feel he was especially to blame for any of the goals. Was decent coming for crosses. Made a few spectacular saves early second half.

On loan at Dinamo Zagreb from Fener.

[Dogtanian]

Yeah, he kept the score down in that purple patch especially.

[Mister E]

Stones was poor; Rice surprisingly off it; Gordon anonymous.
Substitutions were well-timed and made a big difference.
Croatia pressed us hard in the first half and we weren't very good at breaking it.

[Duncan Shaw]

The Croatia keeper's ground game was very good, I thought.

Didn't feel he was especially to blame for any of the goals. Was decent coming for crosses. Made a few spectacular saves early second half.

On loan at Dinamo Zagreb from Fener.

I liked him, touch of the Emi's about him I thought.

[Dogtanian]

We didn't make them fear us in that first half, whereas in the second we gave them something to worry about.

I always think you need to always make the opposition worry you're going to score, otherwise you embolden them to come at you.

[Brazilian Villain]

Surprised they took Rice off. It's a (potentially) long tournament, I suppose.

I've seen reports that he's taking painkillers for a back problem to help him through the end of the season. It would explain why they might limit his minutes before the knockout stage.

[Gareth]

Stones was poor; Rice surprisingly off it; Gordon anonymous.
Substitutions were well-timed and made a big difference.
Croatia pressed us hard in the first half and we weren't very good at breaking it.

The left hand side of the team improved massively with Rashford and latterly Guehi coming on - for me O’Reilly was the weakest of the whole back four, thought he was v poor

[olaftab]

All the other teams may as well go home after that. But of course, FIFA will insist on playing the remaining games for the $$$.

Yes it really is pointless to carry on with this charade. Makes me nauseous.....