England v Argentina

Remember Wout Weghorst the worst striker in EPL history once knocked in 20 goals in the Bundesliga.

don't try in on Dix you've been caught with your hand in the til, no subs in 66, pack it it now son.

Spencer was fouled in build up to goal which slowed him getting out.

Harsh blaming him.

TT they were crossing and crossing, thats what Catholics do.

Spence, ffs

Jul 15, 2026 -- 10:38PM, ----you-have-to-laugh--- wrote:

Spencer was fouled in build up to goal which slowed him getting out.Harsh blaming him.

He still could have got a lot closer. Seemed more interested in theatrics, look at me I've been fouled. Always struck me as a bit of mug with his Spence penitentiary nonsense while his team nearly got relegated.

TT has lost, FFS give him a break.

We're out, that's the long and short of it.

Messi has eclipsed Maradonna getting to 3 World Cup finals.

Only him and Cafu would have played in three of them.

Jul 15, 2026 -- 10:40PM, ALIEN SEX FIEND wrote:

TT has lost, FFS give him a break.

Meant for the interviewer.

Comprehension was never your strong point mes me old mate, shame you didn't go to a top Kent grammar school

forgot about this Dix, cannot compete with Rochester's finest

Agent Tuchel had a suspicious looking smile on his face there

If he'd made more of the foul, he might have got free kick.

He had a really good world cup, and a pity he's copping flak
for the goal

Excellent result with the superior side going through The wildest thing for me was seeing the amount of people predicting a comfortable steamroll by England. They kept pointing to Argies unconvincing performances leading up to this match, BUT they somehow never noticed England's!? Simply ridiculous. Anyway, talk is CHEAP as they say. And the reality on the pitch told us where the superiority was.

And the little German was supposed to be the BIG DIFFERENCE, the one who brought a winning mentality, the one who would deliver the required inspiration, the one who would easily get them over the line, and whatever other claptrap could be dreamed up to justify his appointment.   

The moronic Piers Morgan @ 9:33pm "This has been a Tuchel tactical masterclass. Take us home, Thomas!"

Can't wait for what is certain to be an enthralling final!

If Tuchel is was so good how come Chellsea sacked him ?
Completely lost the plot thinking he could reproduce the Mexico tactics. These are not Mexico. They are World Champions . You cannot panic defend your way to a world cup.

Doubleurbraincells pops on after the match to be wise after the event, FOYSDC

Rooney the worst manager in English league history saying Tuchel did not know what he was doing .

Jul 15, 2026 -- 7:51PM, sofaking wrote:

Jul 15, 2026 --  7:50PM, Leano wrote:England 3-0Domination in midfield and we destroy their shaky defence!nnnC'mon man. I think you're getting a bit carried away here.

Yeah, a lot of people got ridiculously carried away here. I blame the media for overhyping this team. Argentina are world champions, England have won absolutely nothing in 60 (sixty) years yet several posters here were expecting an England win.

We had 10 men against the Mexicans,11 tonight,no need
to sit back.
Sometimes it's the way you lose.Pretty gutless when you
think about it.

Stolen from Facebook....

[img]https://images.onesite.com/community.betfair.com/user/thebetterbettor/tbb/58f5d48a7d581d7891439eb213282fc8.jpg?v=103950[/img]

Agreed Sofa, It is often this arrogance that makes people anyone but England. Won a World Cup and some of the fans act like they have won it 10 times, as soon as they lose hissy fit. Just like Shearer.

Going forward...
FA will stick with Tuchel like they stuck with Southgate for too long
The FA aim is to make the tournament first, then go as far as possible to make as much money as possible,  winning it seen as a real bonus

Kane must retire, seems daft to say with his goals and not an obvious replacement, but got to rebuild around the younger players
Ditto, Pickford, bang average...  Stones, Burn, a couple mre

Tuchel is right about the team defending too passively. That wasn't part of his tactics and his players let him down there. Maybe altitude followed by heat/humidity took its toll on England and they faded physically.

even after a tough start messi a  100 touches.involements, jude none in 90 mins
weve been told 24/7 for 5 weeks,7 games, that when ateam come at us our pacey attackers will kill teams, we had a team who had to come at us and we couldnt wait to get our pacey attacker of the pitch and play 10 at the back,  a cowardly surrender

Moronic mesmerised GUTTED England's clear fortune couldn't shine through again and lurka DELULU

Certainly faded.

Kane talking about the stress is perhaps a big thing too.

Winning stuff, brings more wins, losers keep losing.

... Sadly.



That's why Arteta getting arsenal over the line was such a big achievement

The match was strange in that the first half stank the place out...
England score, Argentina then step up 3 or 4 gears, as if they suddenly realise they need to score a goal or two, completely outplayed us for 20 plus minutes, could easily have scored five...

We rather invited them into the game reg.

Sadly they accepted the invite.

doubleurbraincells doing the classic forum thing of claiming he's all green after the event, we can all say nothing then  claim we knew the score after, what a first class prized mug.

Today was only a semi final

Imagine our nerves had we made a final...

Need a good psychologist for a few of these lads.

Doubleurbraincells pops on after the match to be wise after the event, FOYSDCLaugh

  Was just going to say the same Mes, another aftertimer who contributed nothing to the thread jumping on the bandwagon. Prize Perick.

Cole Palmer has had a month resting and relaxing in the sun , Kobbie Mainoo did not play a single minute .

GLASGOWCALLING another pathetic, desperately sore loser

Quick thinking by Tuchel to get the Falklands banner on the pitch so the media could moan about that instead of the match

Jul 15, 2026 -- 11:01PM, GLASGOWCALLING wrote:

Doubleurbraincells pops on after the match to be wise after the event, FOYSDCLaugh

Glasgow, sometimes you come across as mesmerised's press secretary/spin doctor here. Just sayin'....

If we wanted a German manager they should have held out for Klopp, he knows how to play attacking pressing football, now we can look forward to Germany winnig it in 4 years.

Just sayin it as it is Sofa, no probs with you or anyone on the thread this evening, what grates is the amount of posters posting AFTER the game.
where did DBL say Argies would win ?

Post it and I have no probs Apologising.

... The best way to curb the Aftertimers is to ask them their thoughts on the Final ? ... Come on DBL we know you are still lurking.

Not sure why Gordon was taken off , was still full of running

That Tommy T thought Tina could not score speaks Volumes TBH

Beef up the Defence also stick Saka on , the threat would still be there

no bank hol monday get yourself to work you lazey barstewards

Gordon did little bar the goal.

Could have fetched on saka, put Morgan in middle, but ultimately we retreated too far whoever was playing, and keeper doesn't do crosses.

Rice 100 million pounds
Anderson 116 million pounds
Gordon 70 million pounds
Belligham worth 150 mil plus
Rogers 100 mil apparently

htf do we get completely dominated with possession in the middle of the park

shocking management of a game

so has anyone seen the graphic for the first arg goal var offside yet, or the 2nd? they had the eng 1 when he was 3 m onside up within a few mins so just wandering?

There is being defensive and there is being DEFENSIVE, manager chose the latter and it never came off.

Dont know how old you are Donnie , But sadly My time of seeing us Win another , Is dwindling

Punters on here must of cleaned up, Argentina equaliser had been on its way like a rocket waiting to hit its target

Gordon did little bar the goal.


Correct he was awful

Jul 15, 2026 -- 11:27PM, roadrunner46 wrote:

Punters on here must of cleaned up, Argentina equaliser had been on its way like a rocket waiting to hit its target

Yes, seemed inevitable. I said that 1-1 was imminent (when it was 1-0 England) and then I said that Argentina would go on to win at 1-1 so no aftertiming here.

Pretty much everyone called it in running from 60 mins on that they were sat too deep and would pay for it.

Wow !!!!  Hardly Mystic Meg predicting an Argy goal was incoming, looking back half the thread thought the same. Well done btw.

southgate with a little smile no doubt although would never admit obviously, must be satisfying for him to see tuchel doing no better than he would probably have done and going down with the same style of football that southgate got hounded out for

I never made any mention of monetary gains. So whether it's before of AFTER the match, I can post my perspective whenever I choose. I answer to nobody, least of all to any bitter clown who attacks me due do being a sore loser. Win, draw or Lose, a graceless approach will always have me tilted away from it.

Tuchel hasn't quite got the delivery of Mr Trivago. In his defence England were not good before they scored the goal, it's not as they went from brilliant to awful. Is it really the manager's fault that they can't retain possession for much more than four or five touches? The only notable contributions from Kane were a couple of crossfield passes, while Bellingham beat a player in the first half and then held off Messi in the penalty area in the second. Other than that, I can't remember anything that influenced the game. I would give them both 2/10, and Messi 8/10. That's where the game was essentially won and lost, but is anyone pulling them apart in the same way Tuchel is getting stick? Of course not, they have just got a free pass.

that's me all greened up now, even bet the draw half-time, ya beauty. cheers.

We are a dwindling band that were lucky enough to see 1966.

@theoldnanny same here my friend im 63, if we had the world cup in this country I think we would have a good chance, but the next couple at least are taken so guess I wont be seeing it.

i made £60 sqUids you makes money whens lifes bin HARD, ITS IN YA !

WEAKNESS N HARDY THIS MATCH !

But Not laurel and hardy

Took the lead and immediately sh1te ourselves, way before the defensive subs the team had already backtracked, has anyone ever seen a game where it was more obvious that a team was going to score, complete capitulation.

But even before that in the first half we never imposed ourselves on them, we've all seen the praiseworthy headlines during this world cup but there is only one headline now....Cowardly Lions!!!!

And my god, what was Kane doing on the pitch for so long, he had an absolute shocker and offered nothing, why wasn't he hooked for Watkins who can at least run and might offer something.

It was like watching a non league side who've gone 1-0 up in a cup tie. And the late substitutions should have been made after the equalizer, by not doing we were in effect playing for penalties. The message to Argentina is no need to rush you get an extra half hour if you need it.

shearer said on commentary , when england were 1=0 up that they were superb,     they had one cross and one goal up to that point,

mot sure why kane and bellingham being picked out....after the second hydration break we had six defenders on the pitch who demonstrated zero ambition and were content with just hoofing the ball away when in possession.....how are our attacking players suposed to perform with no build up play....they were forced to join in the defence....inbetween goals england had 12% possession....it was a cowardly performance that was only going to end one way and we could all see it....forum comments were more enlightening than the england bench...the manager has been exposed as an imposter...35% posession the whole game...two corners....two shots on target...it was a game of one half...the first stank the place out by both teams...i backed argentia outright at 10/1 and traded out for a small profit as i didnt want to bet against england....that was my mistake....keeping this manager will be a bigger one....

In the cold light of day, Tuchel fecked up by making us so defensive from the 82min. We were under the cosh for most of the 2nd half and in the pub where I watched the match, once the subs were made, people were saying "watching this is going to be 18+ mins of hell."

The game plan had worked brilliantly first half, restricting Argentina to nothing, but we were well tonked second half and Messi took control once we went total defence in the 82 min. The problem with our setup from the start was it effectively nullified Bellingham & Kane as they had no supply and lacked the speed to stay up and preoccupy any argie defenders. Tuchel said he wanted "the full-backs involved in the attack.” and that never happened. The starting eleven setup did not suit our strengths at all.

I'm still convinced an attacking England formation could beat what I think is an average Argentina defensively. Such a wasted opportunity. Anyway we will know of sure after the Spain Argentina final.

*attacking* strengths. Rogers playing out of position on the right backfired...

"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.", this article is spot on imho:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cj365n05mgdo

so has anyone seen the graphic for the first arg goal var offside yet,

I would just like ti see it as all there is is dodgy videos on youtube saying hes def onside  -why no graphic. I persume it exists?

Kane is not world class.

England have a chance to show their class against France on Saturday.

For some unknown reason, I  stumbled across bet356 Golden Gloves winner market just now, judged by a committee as to the best goalie in the tournament
Apart from the obvious that it's gonna be either keeper from Sunday's final...
Pickford is 33/1 to win it...?
Any takers?

spyker Now I've seen Messie catch Djed Spences, hard to understand why VAR didn't get involved. Or with Enzo Fernandezs punch to Anderson. AND to think Egypt goal against the argies disallowed for a foul over 90secs earlier. As somebody said on X, argies have no class/dignity, quite happy to cheat and abuse other teams, winning at all costs.

Des Pond15 Jul 26 22:34Joined: 19 Aug 06 | Topic/replies: 26,049 | Blogger: Des Pond's blog
shut up Richards! What happened to the comedy act? clown!


I was thinking MR was being a lot more downbeat and critical than usual as well Des.

Turns out his dad had unfortunately passed away the day before the game which might explain his demeanour

Amazed he still went to broadcast, not a criticism but most people would be flying straight home especially if it was unexpected and not after a long illness where the inevitable was waiting to happen. Carrying on as normal can only be explained a coping mechanism.

7 touches in the box in a world cup semi final,not in the 1st 5 mins,in a 102 mins,imagine a team talk at 7.50 in the dressing room,IF WE MANAGE TO GET 7 TOUCHES IN THE BOX IN THIS GAME, blah,blah, and i dont think any of the 7  were kanes or jude,s

England capitulated in the 2nd half v Argentina because of fatigue.  Travelled further than any other team in the competition at the quarter final stage.  Had to play in altitude and intense heat in their two previous games and they were knackered.  The running stats from the Argentina game were well down on their previous matches.  Think it showed 2nd half v France too

If it was through fatigue then they were all struck down by it immediately after we took the lead which is a bit of a coincidence which I don't believe.

That "mentality" that Tuchel took umbridge to when Clarke interviewed him after the Norway game was the reason we capitulated, as soon as we hit the front we were looking for the line, firstly by the players and then when he saw what was happening by the manager because instead of arresting it he compounded it, the analogy I'd use is when a guy in poker has a big chip lead and becomes scared and bit by bit after repeated folding hemorrhages his chips away.

It's borne out by the stats objectively duffy.  Everyone won't be the same but collectively that was the issue.

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/world-cup/article/england-fatigued-a...

Do you think that the exact same thing would have happened from the 55th minute onwards if the score remained 0-0 because if it was fatigue then the answer should be yes, but I think no.

It's not a new phenomenon, it happened against the Italians and that happened after taking the lead in the 2nd minute of the game, fatigue? what about against Croatia in 2018 after taking the lead, we clearly have a negative mindset which is what Tuchel was brought in to eradicate which he has failed at.

There is a difference between physical performance and technical and mental performance.  Physical performance is objective and can be measured.  Their physical performance was not at the same level against Argentina which is understandable.  No runner in the world would be at the same level physically after the Mexico and Norway matches

I'm sure there is a mental element too duffy and how physically fatigued you are will effect your mental performance.

My initial reaction was the same as you.  We've crumbled under the pressure.  But since then I read that article and I changed my mind.  The evidence is very compelling imo.

Doesnt the entire team staying 20 yards from their goal for 40 minutes explain the lower running stats?

As Gary Neville said, England for 20 minutes after the goal did sit back but Tuchel instead of taking control and brining on players to help move the ball as far away from our own goal as possible, i.e attackers with fresh legs, he decided instead to bring on defenders to help defend which meant we were going to have even more men behind the ball, inevitably, the incessant pressure from the Argies told. If you have so many defenders on the pitch, they're hardly going to be picking up running stats are they ffs. Kind Regards.

Can anyone tell me why this is, please?Was in baldy shop earlier and a (usually) non punting mate came in, saw me and asked me to help him put a bet on the match tonight.OK, his young daughter had told him England were going to win 6-3 (!) so he want



One round out, and one goal out

Needs more practice

do you think the french manager said to his players.....look we are four down...lets get at them score an early goal follow up and they will fold..... and for a while it looked that way but we turned a corner last night and that score has put us at the top of the most goals in tournament list with 20 so perhaps it wasnt a wasted game...

Last nights game was a social experiment designed to see just how many goals England needed to be in front without collapsing into a horrible mess, the answer is four.

Any chance that Tuchel (as a German) sabotaged England's chance of winning a World Cup with those tactics and substitutions against Argentina?

I said before the Mexico game that altitude followed by heat & humidity was going to take a lot out of the England squad and that it made their draw a lot more difficult once the group stage was finished, regardless of who they actually played in those 2 games.

However, the capitulation was very similar to Croatia and Italy under Southgate so I don't think it was just fatigue. I think it's a player mentality thing. I'd love to know what the players said to Tuchel at the water break and vice versa, I don't think the players were playing the way he wanted before or immediately after the water break and after watching another 10 mins of it after, he decided to go ultra defensive because he could see what everyone else could and that his players couldn't keep the ball at all, putting on attackers wouldn't have helped here, his defenders and midfielders were losing the ball before they even got close to getting it to an attacker, all the attackers were pinned in or close to their own box anyway. That more than likely influenced Tuchel's tactics.

That may well be what happened, but it's not what Tuchel should have accepted.

Sometimes players over rule managers tactics, but it's a slippery slope from then on.

Interestingly to see what happens moving on.


We also have a striker crisis looming,.. As Kane ages and nobody near his ability is around.

Interesting

Kane will be good to go in 4 years imo.  He's that type of player. 

Possibly could play Ngumoha as a striker.  I can't think of anyone else potentially good enough, although players do improve or get worse at very different rates

Peter Beardsley and Jamie Vardy for example

Spain have just won a WC quite comfortably without a striker or any real standout player in their front line. Merino off the bench was as effective as any of their front 3.

England need one of Rice/Anderson in front of the defence, not both. Midfield is as much of an issue as the front line.

no shortage of no 9,s alfie,kane, havert/woltemade, mabappe, brolley,jackson,delap,isak,groy,alverez, etc but with the number of touches they get especially inside the box in a game and spain,winning,argies getting to final without no 0,s, coaches might be happy not have them available going forward

Yeah England have Bellingham who scores goals.

Then there is... Saka, Gordon, Rashford

Anderson and Rice could step up too if tuchel
takes off the hand break.

Merino maybe doesn't fit in so well
to the possession based system, so is a bench player to boost directness.

Williams and yamal featured in euros from start of games, but I wonder if they go back to that....?