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England are 12-1 for the World Cup. For those of you who don't understand betting: if you bet £10 at 12-1, you'll lose £10.
Thats fkn funny T. Wheres jim? I have a candidate for fave posts.
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I wonder if the refs will be easy on Brazil after their humiliation last time.
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Atm the world cup is a matter of supreme indifference to me.
When the fan stabbing/beating count might be higher than the goal count...
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Due to the time diff I'll probably miss most if it anyway, but I'm in training for missing matches for Qatar which I definitely won't watch a second of. Be nice if more FIFA people were arrested and Blatter and others did hard time.
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What i do know is 23 of them will be promising in maybe 1 group game, the hype will grow, and then ultimately they will be disappointingly average. Worth putting a bet on that.
Thats if there isnt terrible crowd trouble and we come home early.
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Posted: |
May 12, 2018 - 2:09 PM
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By: |
litefoot
(Member)
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In the run up to England's squad announcement I'm going to look at the prospective candidates to fill the 23 places. As I said above, Southgate used 57 players in his squads and he's got to whittle his list down considerably. And that's not including new players who have shone in 2018.
First up:
GOALKEEPERS
Joe Hart played nine of England's ten qualifiers, but in 2017-18, he has had a poor season with West Ham. As well as a number of costly errors in goal (much to Bill's chagrin), he lost his place to Adrian and the West Ham defence looked more solid with him between the sticks. However, England managers are usually loyal to their picks and I suspect Hart will go to Russia. Interestingly, Hart has only started in one of England's four friendlies this season.
Jack Butland has been Stoke's man between the sticks for Stoke but they've finished bottom of the table. It doesn't inspire confidence when your possible number one keeper at the World Cup has just been relegated. But he hasn't been error prone like Joe Hart. He did make one mistake which gifted Leicester a point in February but otherwise he's not a bad option for England. Started one England qualifier and one friendly.
Jordan Pickford is the least error prone of the bunch but his Everton defence has let in a stackful of goals. Little to choose between Pickford and Butland IMO. He started in goal for England in two friendlies this season.
Tom Heaton has lost his place to Nick Pope (more of whom later) as first choice keeper at Burnley this season. Highly unlikely to be on the plane.
Similarly, the once fancied Fraser Forster has lost his place to Alex McCarthy at Southampton. Also unlikely to be going to Russia.
Alex McCarthy has been praised for his Southampton performances, so much so that he's been voted their player of the season by a wide margin. Trouble is, he's never started for Southgate and England so you can't see him going this summer.
Finally, Nick Pope has had a really good season for Burnley, arguably the best performer of the bunch. Heaton dislocated his shoulder in September and Pope has been the number one ever since. Only De Gea has a better save percentage than Pope this season. He's kept ten clean sheets (fifth best in the league) which isn't bad at all. He's 26 years old but, like McCarthy, has never started for England so he probably won't go.
Interesting article on Pope's form: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/03/20/nick-pope-must-start-goal-england/
Southgate will pick Hart, Butland and Pickford as they've all started games for him. I would pick Pope over Hart. Sadly, England managers don't take chances these days.
GOALKEEPERS: Joe Hart (West Ham), Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton).
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Nice assessment litefoot but helluva lot of effort just for the three of us!! 
Bottom line is none of keepers going inspire us or the players and whoever he picks will probably cost us goals.
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Posted: |
May 13, 2018 - 11:12 AM
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By: |
leagolfer
(Member)
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Pickford, Forrester, Heaton, 3 keepers, no one else will do, Hart was a good keeper but lost confidence under Pep.
Ali, Dier, Lingard, should be in already, maybe Sterling he makes some howlers for 50 million.
Defenders not easy, City don't play Stones how's he gunna figure, unknown, Young, Walker, Rose. Definite picks.
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or as the eventual winners would say, Ver good, Tommy Atkins. 
