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Football Focus


S.A.C Martin
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At least Djokovic vs Nadal saved me the bother of watching the first half.........has Harry Kane been playing the last two or three games wearing lead boots as he has seemed spectacularly slow and immobile....but I assume he must be carrying an injury.

iirc listening to the pre match build up for the croatia game on five live pat nevin observed that Kane had "goneover" on his ankle whilst doing keepyups in the warm up and had been down massaging it for a couple of mins before seemingly carrying on ? 

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I heard a suggestion that he is carrying a knock, but was desperate to play in order to add to his goal total. I suppose if the game actually mattered then Southgate may have thought differently, but in reality it was a game nobody really wanted except FIFA and their sponsors.

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I think they're both quoted as taking their inspiration from Gary Sprake (Leeds).  Younger viewers and listeners may not be aware of the joke that was circulating at one time.

 

Gary had been really depressed about the stick he was getting after some high profile mistakes.  In fact it got so bad he decided to throw himself under a bus.  But..... the bus went under him......

 

His miss at Anfield one time gave rise to the playing of Des O'Connor 'Careless Hands' at half time and forever after the Anfield fans taunted him with this.  

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I better recall the taunting renditions (to the tune of 'Give It To Me (All Your Love) - A Top Ten Hit for The Troggs) opposing fans used to sing to Sprake after his clanger of throwing the ball into his own net :-

"Give Us A goal, Give Us A Goal, Gary Sprake, Gary Sprake"

 

Almost felt sorry for him at times, but then he did play for that awful to watch Revie team.
 

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iirc listening to the pre match build up for the croatia game on five live pat nevin observed that Kane had "goneover" on his ankle whilst doing keepyups in the warm up and had been down massaging it for a couple of mins before seemingly carrying on ? 

 

I don't like to single out individual players, and indeed I have defended ones so attacked on this thread, but I must agree that Kane went AWOL as soon as we got into the knockout stages. Our style of play wan't different to the group stages, so why he faded is a bit of a mystery. His main failings came in the Croatia game though, missing the chance to put us 2 up that he really should have swallowed, and, when we started to wobble and fall apart a bit he was not the captain that we needed.

Overall though, considering we started qualifications with Wayne Rooney as captain and have since had 2 different managers, the team performed superbly. The experience they have gained will stand them in good stead for the Europeans in 2020 and the next world cup, hoping that the existing squad can stay together.

 

Mike.

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Supporters celebrate England's 4th place finish at the World Cup from their barbed wire and polythene topped security compound at Birmingham Airport

 

post-9751-0-68251400-1531738754.jpg

 

Meanwhile in Brussels for finishing third ......

 

post-9751-0-40730200-1531739965.jpg

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As good as Modric is, I wonder how close Kante came to winning that accolade. He completely nullified Messi, and again kept Hazard out of the game.

 

In the final, Modric dropped so deep Kante let him go, then got taken off at half time. Apart from a few passes and always being available for his team mates to pass to, Modric didn't do that much (imho).

 

(Yes, I know Kante's a Chelsea player, but so is Giroud and he won the "most shots off target award"). 

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According to FIFA statistics (or what I heard on the commentary), Modric covered more ground and made more passes than any other player in the tournament.  Perhaps that isn't totally surprising, as Croatia played more football than any other team - three matches going to extra time was equivalent to an extra match.  For anyone that watched the Russia game, the energy Modric carried into extra time shows a unique level of fitness.  He works hard, tackles back and, by the standard of his compatriots, is generally a clean and fair player.  It goes without saying that he's one of the best controllers of the ball and accurate passers (some exceptions against England, when he played a 1-2 with an England player).

 

For me, one of the highlights of the World Cup is watching world-class players performing at the top of their game.  Modric didn't disappoint - others did!

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As good as Modric is, I wonder how close Kante came to winning that accolade. He completely nullified Messi, and again kept Hazard out of the game.

 

In the final, Modric dropped so deep Kante let him go, then got taken off at half time. Apart from a few passes and always being available for his team mates to pass to, Modric didn't do that much (imho).

 

(Yes, I know Kante's a Chelsea player, but so is Giroud and he won the "most shots off target award"). 

 

Kante would be disqualified as there are at least two of him on the pitch at any one time - I know this from his brief and extremely successful sojourn at Leicester :jester:

Edited by cary hill
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Supporters celebrate England's 4th place finish at the World Cup from their barbed wire and polythene topped security compound at Birmingham Airport

 

attachicon.gifengland fans.jpg

 

Meanwhile in Brussels for finishing third ......

 

attachicon.gifbelgium.JPG

A small area round the back of Birmingham Airport and the centre of the Belgian capital.

Yeah, really comparing like-for-like there, aren't you? :fool:

 

Or were you making another, more subtle point? :dontknow:

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I suspect that not everyone may have noticed that East Fife played Forfar Athletic in the Scottish League Cup today.  The game ended 1-1 and so went to penalties.  The penalty result?  East Fife 4 Forfar 5.

 

DT

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I suspect that not everyone may have noticed that East Fife played Forfar Athletic in the Scottish League Cup today.  The game ended 1-1 and so went to penalties.  The penalty result?  East Fife 4 Forfar 5.

 

DT

Love it!

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I suspect that not everyone may have noticed that East Fife played Forfar Athletic in the Scottish League Cup today.  The game ended 1-1 and so went to penalties.  The penalty result?  East Fife 4 Forfar 5.

 

DT

unbelievable geoff !

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I suspect that not everyone may have noticed that East Fife played Forfar Athletic in the Scottish League Cup today.  The game ended 1-1 and so went to penalties.  The penalty result?  East Fife 4 Forfar 5.

 

DT

I've been waiting sixty years for that to happen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A new manager after 12 years with the Tiz, so a lot of changes for new manager at Exeter City, Matt Taylor.

It could not have gone much better, a 3 - nil win with three new boys on the scoresheet.

What could possibly go wrong?

 

cheers

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