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

[TelfordVilla]

If Kane had buried the best chance of the match everyone would be crowning England World Cup winners today. .....fine margins again

[Somniloquism]

That Konsa tackle - how the fuck did he get away with that?!

Maybe it's the claret and blue specs, but I see Konsa stretching for the ball and the attacker's knee hitting his leg, causing a big old tangle. It looks worse because he's mid air, and it certainly could've been given, but I don't get all the 'stonewall pen, two-footed line, red card' shouts doing the rounds on socials (not you I know SE). Bit of a 50/50 for me.

That was my first impression after the first highlights last night. Afterwards with a couple of other looks I can see why it could have been given as well. However the red card shout from Querioz might have been him lumping in the Pickford incident as that was a red card if the foul was correctly given. There was no way the Konsa one should have been a red, even with a pen being given, as there was no danger to the player at all.

Of course that challenge takes the spotlight off Spence, Madueke and Eze deciding that defending on the left hand side is a mugs game and abondoning it all to Guehi and Konsa.

[Monty]

If Kane had buried the best chance of the match everyone would be crowning England World Cup winners today. .....fine margins again

I actually don't think this is true. People are looking at performances as much as results (as long as England still qualify), and 'England Squeeze Past Stubborn Ghana' is virtually the same story as 'England Frustrated By Stubborn Ghana'.

[Somniloquism]

I expect the Spanish press weren't too happy with the team in their first match even with the attacking performance being miles better.

[Dave]

I don't think the result is purely on him, but I do think it's odd that for a team everyone says has a wealth of options for the 10 role, he should have lasted 73 minutes in a game when it clearly wasn't working.

As Villa learned quite successfully last season, I'm surprised that the plan after 70 minutes wasn't to try and get the ball to Kane, Eze and Rogers and just tell them to shoot any time they got within thirty yards of the goal.

[Mellin]

He's completely made a mess of the squad. I don't care how much he's paid, or if we're supposed to submit to superior knowledge. It's poor.

Henderson I understand. It's to control the dressing room/Bellingham. An inside man. Outside of that, I'm not sure Eze needs to be there, especially playing whatever role he was in yesterday (would have him over Gordon as the left side). You don't need three strikers if you're going to play Kane for 90 minutes every game...and most damningly...having six, mostly shit, centre backs with barely anything to turn to at both full back and central midfield is just poor. Chalobah was properly incomprehensible.

What that means is Ghana, and others, can just set up like that and know it's 50/50 if we can break them down. The reaction post-Croatia was mental. Neville gushing over a win against a clearly over-the-hill side, whilst Emma Hayes sat there and basically said "it's not the same team mate...calm down" was really on point. For me, yesterday is more representative of what this squad can and will do.

Anyway, Villa in a couple of months. Super Cup 🤤

[adrenachrome]

That Konsa tackle - how the fuck did he get away with that?!

Maybe it's the claret and blue specs, but I see Konsa stretching for the ball and the attacker's knee hitting his leg, causing a big old tangle. It looks worse because he's mid air, and it certainly could've been given, but I don't get all the 'stonewall pen, two-footed line, red card' shouts doing the rounds on socials (not you I know SE). Bit of a 50/50 for me.

That was my first impression after the first highlights last night. Afterwards with a couple of other looks I can see why it could have been given as well. However the red card shout from Querioz might have been him lumping in the Pickford incident as that was a red card if the foul was correctly given. There was no way the Konsa one should have been a red, even with a pen being given, as there was no danger to the player at all.

Of course that challenge takes the spotlight off Spence, Madueke and Eze deciding that defending on the left hand side is a mugs game and abondoning it all to Guehi and Konsa.

Yep.

Not great to have Konsa, a very right sided player having to defend on the left from behind with the wrong leg.

[brontebilly]

If Kane had buried the best chance of the match everyone would be crowning England World Cup winners today. .....fine margins again

They wouldn't, a very limited Ghana team should have had at least one penalty.

Not that it matters all that much, will be hot favourites to reach the quarters anyway the way the draw is playing out.

[stevo_st]

Wasn’t the Konsa one offside anyway? So no VAR review.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Spence was nonetheless man of the match before a ball was kicked.

Refused to shake Partey's hand I gather. So we'll done Djed.

[Somniloquism]

Wasn’t the Konsa one offside anyway? So no VAR review.

No. The offside came after when the player on the floor still managed to get his shot off which Semanyo accidently blocked when in an offside position.

[Dogtanian]

For the first time tonight we have to choose which match we will be feasting our eyes on.

I think it has to be Switzerland v Canada for me.

I'd watch Scotland, but that would be beyond my bedtime and I'd get in trouble.

[Dave]

Going into the last round of matches, it looks alright for Scotland at the moment, doesn't it?

You'd expect neither the Czechs or South Africa to finish on more than two points. Same with Ecuador / Curacao. Probably the same with Iran / New Zealand. Probably two of Uruguay / Cape Verde / Saudi Arabia finish on fewer than three points.

That's all enough to put Scotland through whatever happens tonight. And there's Croatia / Senegal / Bosnia who could still end up worse than Scotland even if the above doesn't happen.

[FrankyH]

That Konsa tackle - how the fuck did he get away with that?!

The Ghanaian player being too honest for his own good. If that was Portugal's Fernandez, it would have been a penalty and a sending off !