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Err...the fans DO get to see elimination matches. Thats how somebody ends up winning. Only the fans of the winners don't get to see their team eliminated. But that is usually considered to be a GOOD thing.

What absolute bobbins. Are you suggesting there's no difference between playing 3 group games and 1 knockout game ? You could fly halfway round the world, get royally shafted by the ref or VARS or chronic bad luck in your one and only game at the tournament, and be on the next plane home. And...

You'll need to expand on that. Are you suggesting that the Group stage is binned completely, and all 32 teams go into a hat for a straight knockout competition ? 4 years (and 2 years of qualification) is a hell of a long time for half the teams there to play ONE game before going home, dontcha...

We are quite clearly making good progress under Southgate. I'll admit he's won me round somewhat, as he just looked to me like a classic, safe, inoffensive "blazer" appointment by the FA in the wake of the Allardyce fiasco. However, these last 2 years he's made a tangible difference to our style...

You don't think the first XI is still a work in progress ? Personally I think they still need game time. REAL game time, and against better opposition than they've faced so far (which even Belgiums 2nd XI would've been). They're not going to get that sat on their arses watching the ressies. I...

Teams that go deep tend not to chop and change their entire XI during a tournament (albeit you don't often have a "dead rubber" in a World Cup that allows the opportunity). Would Brazil have changed 8/9/10 players in their final group game, even if they were already through (as they often are...

Well yes, its certainly a factor. Other elements on Tuesday will also come into play of course (conditions, tactics, luck, sharpness, form, VAR) but Southgate decided that resting all his best players was the best way to manage the squad. We regularly see managers throw Cup games in lieu of a...

When you create one solitary goalscoring opportunity over the course of 90 minutes, you don't really give yourself much of a chance of getting a result. Its fine, whats done is done, maybe it will work out for the best. Its not how I'd have approached this game, but then what do I know ? He'll...

You're a half-glass-full kinda guy. Fair play !

Well Martinez pretty much telegraphed the fact that he'd be sending out a 2nd XI. From the way Southgate was speaking in the run-up, I was expecting 2,3 or 4 changes tops, which I'd have supported. I honestly didn't expect him to throw the whole team up in the air for the last game a-la...

Felt more like a friendly. Two scratch sides, neither of them overly fussed about the result. Southgate coming out with a load of old twaddle about 'wanting to win every game, wanting to win the group' - but then leaves our best XI and most dangerous striker on the bench. Insults the...

Freudian slip there Fishy ?

Frankly, I was dismayed when I saw he'd made 8 changes. Maybe 2, 3, 4 tops, to take Trippier and Walker (on yellows) out of the firing line. But EIGHT ? All this talk about building momentum was clearly bollocks. You simply cannot build momentum by playing 2 completely different teams, and all...

I've read this tournament described as being rather like a doomed holiday romance for Engand, and I agree. Whatever happens tonight and next week, we should just enjoy it while it lasts, for what it is, while we still can. Its a fun, frivolous time to be had frolicking in the sunshine, with all...

Oirland are just there for the craic, they'd have bombed out soon enough.

Germany's route to the Final that year was basically a bye: Saudi Arabia (8-0) R of Ireland (1-1) Cameroon (2-0) Paraguay (1-0) USA (1-0) South Korea (1-0) Even England would probably have navigated through that.

I really don't like the fact that there is a distinct DOWNSIDE to winning tonight. If we go a goal up, its like there's going to be a caveat, or an asterisk next to it.