World Cup 2022

Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
For the match against England, Page has no choice but to bench Ramsey, and probably Bale - but he won't bench Bale. Ramsey in midfield is a luxury we can't afford.

He needs to start youth with one exception - Allen - who at least has the legs and determination to put in a shift for a good 50 to 60 minutes. We need to start James and others that @CroJack has mentioned. We've go nothing to lose but the game, which if you start both Bale and Ramsey, is lost anyway. I don't see England beatable by a team with just 9 or 10 on the field.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Damning statistics from BBC Sport. They refer to our 'porous' midfield through which Iran stormed time and time again. And who were playing midfield? No Legs Bale and No Form Ramsey. What were they doing there anyway? They should have been benched after the USA game and brought on late in this game if needed where they could use what little energy they do have for 15 minutes or so. Any more than that and they're in dire need of gas and air. For sure they are now stealing a living at this level but their arrogance would never let them stand down in favour of other players who would have contributed more. And star-struck Page was equally culpable in selecting such out of form players. Some stats:

POSSESSION: 62-38 SHOTS: 10-21 OT: 3-6 CORNERS: 2-7 FOULS: 9-10 GOALS: 0-2

Note that Iran managed over twice as many shots as us despite only having 38% possession. So what the fcuk were we doing with the 62% we had? Creating sod all is the answer and Bale/Ramsey were SUPPOSED to be our main men in this context. In reality Bales struggled even to get a touch and surely his time has come. Ramsey saw more of the ball but his use of it was slipshod to say the least, redolent of standards to be found in the lower levels of the EFL. International standard? You're having a laugh! He dyed his hair no doubt to draw attention to himself as so many ego-heavy footballers do. He certainly did that by drawing attention to how crap he was!! Take a look at our ratings which I absolutely agree with.

DAVIES: 4.14
WILLIAMS: 4.11
MOORE: 4.00
AMPADU: 3.97
RODON: 3.96
HENNESSEY: 3.83
MEPHAM: 3.80
WILSON: 3.52
ROBERTS: 3.39
JAMES: 3.37
JOHNSON: 3.36
ALLEN: 3.29
WARD: 3.28
RAMSEY: 2.63
BALE: 2.56

Has anyone on this forum EVER seen such a shockingly poor set of performance stats??? :mad: :mad: :mad: Our best performer achieved the heady heights of 4.14. But guess who was the WORST player on the pitch. Yes, it was Gareth Bale with Aaron Ramsey close behind. Our so-called star performers, the players expected to deliver success for us, were the worst two players on the pitch. And, without being wise in hindsight, I predicted as much after watching them stink the place out against USA. I have never seen any player awarded a "2" score in my life but that pair managed it in the same game. Did we ever have a chance?

As for Robert Page, he can piss off as fast as he likes. For me, like greased lightning would be far too slow. He's got as much tactical nous as one of Chris Coleman's and Gary Speeds' week old turds. I'm afraid that being manager at Northampton and Port Vale is absolutely no preparation for international football and the performance of his players in this game is clear evidence of that. And motivation? Hell, he couldn't even motivate so much as one player to achieve a 5!!!

We still have a chance but we have to beat England who will do us no favours after the undisguised delight our players showed when Iceland beat them in the Euros a few years back. Talk about Karma coming back to bite your arse! If they can put 10 on us they will and with undiluted pleasure. I'll check the odds on that because it could happen and it serves our right if it does.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
If people think I've been harsh with my comments, Robert Page admitted that Iran were by far the better side and deserved to win. He said that far too many of our lot failed to show up, that it was not acceptable and that changes would be made against England. Good! The first two who should be dropped are Bale and Ramsey who were rated by the readers of WOL at 2.3 and 2.0 respectively.

They've had their day. They should now walk away with our thanks for past services. But they are not due any thanks for their selfishness today and their rank bad performances. They would have known that they were not up to it and should have made this clear to Page before the game.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Great week for Welsh sport. NOT!!! Last week Price and Clayton butchered their attempts at the Grand Slam of Darts and Gez went out today in the first round after losing to a long-odds outsider. Can't seem to cure his habit of wasting darts in adjacent beds. Criminal for a pro!

Add our egg chasers losing to that bastion of world rugby, Georgia, (like England losing to Luxembourg at football) and likely to get stuffed against Oz tomorrow, we've certainly had better times. About time we stopped talking a good fight and actually producing one. Until then shutting our big gobs would seem like a good idea.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
So … here we are. I think we need England to beat up USA in terms of goal difference, as in brutally with no mercy.

We need the USA to beat Iran … possible.

We need to beat England by at least 3 - I think somebody posted earlier. I think the exact number has yet to be determined. Page needs to be ruthless in his selection to have a prayer of winning, the reasons given by @ivoralljack et al covering it all. If you have a last penny … save it for a rainy day.

I find myself cheering for England who start the same line-up with plenty of horse power on the bench to run up the score.
 
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ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
If USA run out of gas second half as they did against us England will find the gaps. We'll see. Interesting game though.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
It’s going to take a miracle set of results for us to qualify. Iran/USA must draw. We need to win, 1-0 would suffice.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
What a crock of shite that game was! Being honest Wales created far more problems for the USA in the second half of our game than England did in the entire 90 minutes. They were as rubbish as we were today. Well almost. So now we know; Wales have to beat England by 4 goals to go through as I understand it. Good luck with that! Shame we conceded that second goal today although we won't even beat England let alone by 3 goals.
 
jackodiamonds

jackodiamonds

Set-Piece Specialist
Staff member
ivoralljack said:
What a crock of shite that game was! Being honest Wales created far more problems for the USA in the second half of our game than England did in the entire 90 minutes. They were as rubbish as we were today. Well almost. So now we know; Wales have to beat England by 4 goals to go through as I understand it. Good luck with that! Shame we conceded that second goal today although we won't even beat England let alone by 3 goals.
Click to expand...
As @Yankee_Jack said, Wales only need a single goal margin, but Iran and USA have to draw
 
jackodiamonds

jackodiamonds

Set-Piece Specialist
Staff member
Wales need Iran and USA to draw to have any serious chance to progress. Perhaps this will make you feel better:

In 2012-13, Reading played QPR towards the end of the Premier League season. The winner would stay up, the loser would be relegated. The draw suited nobody, as a draw meant both teams got relegated. They drew 0-0, and both teams went down.

So it wouldn't be the first time a winner-takes all match resulted with both teams effectively losing with a draw. And if England play Wales the way they played the USA tonight, and Wales play England the way they played the USA in the second half of their game, it's not completely impossible for Wales to win by a single goal margin, especially since England are now realistically through regardless.
 
KVetch

KVetch

Key Player
jackodiamonds said:
Wales need Iran and USA to draw to have any serious chance to progress. Perhaps this will make you feel better:

In 2012-13, Reading played QPR towards the end of the Premier League season. The winner would stay up, the loser would be relegated. The draw suited nobody, as a draw meant both teams got relegated. They drew 0-0, and both teams went down.

So it wouldn't be the first time a winner-takes all match resulted with both teams effectively losing with a draw. And if England play Wales the way they played the USA tonight, and Wales play England the way they played the USA in the second half of their game, it's not completely impossible for Wales to win by a single goal margin, especially since England are now realistically through regardless.
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I was thinking about the Reading match on the final day when the Swans needed to make up a 5 goal difference and got it with the help of Wayne Routledge and Stoke. England have not been shown any cards this tournament so maybe they're due to earn a red. It's heart breaking after the path they took to qualify and the 64 year gap. They know exactly what they need to do and England will have to feel some pressure since they can still be eliminated.

I'm not expecting to see any 4 goal miracles but they need to go down fighting. Give the young lads the start, they are the next generation and there will be an additional 3 UEFA countries added to the World Cup.
 
ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Have read many articles today about the forthcoming game between us an the old enemy. Every single one of them mentioned the delight we showed when Iceland knocked England out of the Euros. And they ALL took the view that this was England's chance of revenge on a grand scale. What price our gloating back then in today's currency? Maybe everyone should have kept their big mouths shut. Engand will be hard enough to beat anyway, almost impossible given the way we're playing right now and, if they're fired up and hell bent on hammering us, it won't be a pretty sight. And you can be sure that their fans and the English journos and pundits will be reminding them to do just that on a constant basis. Wales to win 2-1 then! :ROFLMAO:
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
The beauty of this game is that many of our players - those that have played in the Prem the last couple of years - have received competitive briefings on the opposition players from their club’s coaches and analysts. We don’t have to depend on the Page brain trust. I don’t think that’s true the other way around.

Our chances are going to pivot around Page’s deselection of Bale and Ramsay … especially the latter and the inclusion of James and Allen … speed and work. We need a full throttle midfield. We can’t beat any team at this level with less than 11 players; and that’s the crux of it.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
To put the Ramsay situation in perspective: there is a video on YouTube (I will try to find) of Wales v England pre-1966. Ivor was playing - may have been his last or one of his last few for Wales. What is most noticeable is that as great as Ivor was, and as fit as he was (Ivor was always in superb physical condition), he was off the pace. The game seemed to pass him by. Ramsay is at this point. This is not going to get any better, and sadly not only is he not as physically involved, but the quality of his work product is sub par. Wherever he plays, if he does play, it cannot be at the core of midfield.
 
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