The world cup

[POWWWWWWWW]

They've looked very average vs Japan and Senegal and decent vs Poland, which by the sounds of it was the only game James was fully fit for. He got 2 assists in that game. Think they'll really struggle to create without him vs us, and Falcao isn't really a striker to create a goal out of nothing. I'd expect us to give them a real hard time at set pieces as well. Ospina has pretty poor box presence and can't catch.

[TightEnd]

Mbappe is 19. Fun fun player

[horseplayer]

he is saving my tournament going to go near fav for the golden ball after this

mind you the bbc team talking like he is 16

[horseplayer]

talking like Sampaoli is some bloke down the pub who has just taken over, not had a very good managerial career or anything

Argentina problems a lot lot deeper

[horseplayer]

swap kante for mascherano and there is not a great deal between these sides imo

[RED-DOG]

When are they going to start booking players for play-acting?

Out and out cheating IMO, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Despicable.

[tikay]

When are they going to start booking players for play-acting?

Out and out cheating IMO, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Despicable.

+1.

The annoying thing is that it would be so easy to eradicate. Just send them off first time they do it. The authorities just don't have the will to do it. They book players for removing their shirt though.

 

[teddybloat]

.

[TightEnd]

stats from the group stage were
Yellow cards: 162 (3.4 average per match)
Red cards: 1 direct, 2 second yellow cards
Penalty kicks: 24 (7 VAR)
Additional time: 6min 15sec average per match
VAR Checks: 335 incidents checked (6.9 average per match)
VAR Reviews: 17 (14 changed)

[cambridgealex]

When are they going to start booking players for play-acting?

Out and out cheating IMO, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Despicable.

+1.

The annoying thing is that it would be so easy to eradicate. Just send them off first time they do it. The authorities just don't have the will to do it. They book players for removing their shirt though.

 

Afternoon Tikay. I don't think it's easy to eradicate at all. How do you judge at the time, or indeed in retrospect whether someone is faking an injury? Sure there are some clear ones where man grabs his face having been shoved in the back, but there'll be ludicrous numbers of grey areas.

Neymar gets taken out, falls to the ground, rolls once - couldn't help it. Twice, ok....three times...excessive.....four times - yellow! Would be a nightmare for the officials. I wish something could be done though, same as everyone does.

[TightEnd]

straight red please

would be in rugby,many other sports

get out of his face

[teddybloat]

When are they going to start booking players for play-acting?

Out and out cheating IMO, they should be ashamed of themselves.

Despicable.

+1.

The annoying thing is that it would be so easy to eradicate. Just send them off first time they do it. The authorities just don't have the will to do it. They book players for removing their shirt though.

 

Afternoon Tikay. I don't think it's easy to eradicate at all. How do you judge at the time, or indeed in retrospect whether someone is faking an injury? Sure there are some clear ones where man grabs his face having been shoved in the back, but there'll be ludicrous numbers of grey areas.

Neymar gets taken out, falls to the ground, rolls once - couldn't help it. Twice, ok....three times...excessive.....four times - yellow! Would be a nightmare for the officials. I wish something could be done though, same as everyone does.

it should be easy to eradicate from bottom up order. if fans and media chastised thier own players then it would stop very quickly. you dont see people feigning injury in rugby and mma as the fans would slaughter the players and their peers would see it as an act of shame. your character and masculinity would be questioned. manners and ways of acting emerge from below.

racism in the stands was stopped, not due to fines from above, but by fans not putting up with people making monkey noises and shaming and shunning people who did.

shows what a shit show us football fans are when we need the invisible hand of fifa to guide the ethics in our game.

[horseplayer]

would say it is way to earlier to say racism has stopped not just abroad still happens mainly at lower levels in this country as well

personally I would rather the refs started clamping down on some of the tackles, Mercado yesterday was a straight red in any game in a sunday league let alone the world cup

[teddybloat]

that racism hasnt stopped in other countries despite fines rather proves my point.

the culture hasnt changed there.  and the racist chanting wont stop unless the fans stop it.

fans could stop the rolling around pretty much over night if they stopped being hypocrites and didnt tolerate it in their own players. the media too

[horseplayer]

Amazing the way the russians seem to get faster as the game goes on

must be the training regime!