World Cup 2022
- Thread starter Yankee_Jack
- Start date
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
That’s not looking good
Adding injury to insult
CroJack
Key Player
Well, if you can't beat USA and Iran, then you don't deserve to go to the knock-out stages. Wales FA have to rethink the whole strategy. First of all they have to find a manager who's able to implement some sort of style of play. I'm not sure what's Wales style of play under Page. Second, there is no room for old age pensioners in modern football. At least you have to be able to run and press. Which means Bale, Ramsey and Allen's retirement and inclusion of Oli Cooper.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
When even the best players on the field only have the ball for something like 3% of the match or less, this is a fundamental part of every player’s value proposition. If you can’t do this, that need and work doesn’t disappear, it has to be done by others.
No complaints from me....... about the result that is. I said before the game that they were at least 3 goals better than us and they were. We showed little skill, little passion and little of anything that mattered to win a game of football. We were abysmal in all three games if truth be told and finishing bottom was all we deserved. And they certainly neither deserved or earned the support of those fans who cheered them to the end.
Bale, Ramsey and Allen should retire with our thanks for past efforts and they need to take their completely useless manager with them. How in God's name he earns a living at this level in football is a total mystery to me. It just remains for me to wish England, as the sole British team going forward, all good luck to win the title. Even the most ardent Welsh supporter must concede they deserve it a whole lot more than our sorry shower.
Bale, Ramsey and Allen should retire with our thanks for past efforts and they need to take their completely useless manager with them. How in God's name he earns a living at this level in football is a total mystery to me. It just remains for me to wish England, as the sole British team going forward, all good luck to win the title. Even the most ardent Welsh supporter must concede they deserve it a whole lot more than our sorry shower.
Now the fallout begins! Been reading many reports online and the consensus of opinion is that WALES HAVE BEEN THE WORST TEAM in this competition. Well done, lads, you went out with a whimper and scarcely fired a shot in anger. What good name we had has been severely tarnished if not dragged through the mud. And it's all down to you lot. You had your chance to shine and you totally blew it!
I have little sympathy. Bale and Ramsey knew they weren't up to it but their ego and arrogance wouldn't let them admit it leaving us to play with a badly understrength team. And the gutless, star-struck Page was equally to blame by selecting them when he must have known neither player deserved to be in there based on form. I believe that Bale had just seven touches against England before being hooked. Can anyone in their right mind not believe that Oli Cooper couldn't have made a far bigger contribution than either of them?
Bale says he's not finished with international football. How much ego can one person have? If he doesn't walk away then for the good of our game he has to be pushed. Firmly! And the same goes for Ramsey. Joe? He had a half decent game compared with those two but, even if he stays, I guess he's also on borrowed time. Great servants all but time catches up with everyone.
I have little sympathy. Bale and Ramsey knew they weren't up to it but their ego and arrogance wouldn't let them admit it leaving us to play with a badly understrength team. And the gutless, star-struck Page was equally to blame by selecting them when he must have known neither player deserved to be in there based on form. I believe that Bale had just seven touches against England before being hooked. Can anyone in their right mind not believe that Oli Cooper couldn't have made a far bigger contribution than either of them?
Bale says he's not finished with international football. How much ego can one person have? If he doesn't walk away then for the good of our game he has to be pushed. Firmly! And the same goes for Ramsey. Joe? He had a half decent game compared with those two but, even if he stays, I guess he's also on borrowed time. Great servants all but time catches up with everyone.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Gary Neville in his post match YouTube video had nothing polite to say about Wales and in particular the Bale/Ramsey duo and he also included Allen but was considerate of his effort.
Allen put in a shift and gave all he had, which frankly is considerably more than you can say for the other two. For Bale to even consider himself worthy of international selection is laughable considering he can barely make the MLS team he was with and if he plays for them like he did for Wales than frankly he's not going to cut it athletically. As he demonstrated, if you can't get the ball around the box because you either can't get to the box or the game is passing you by, then whatever diamond dust you have left is too little to spread around.
I thought it bizarre that Bale played a midfield role on the right hand side against England whereas Ramsey was playing much higher up the field. Did Page or Bale really thought he had more gas and gravitas than Ramsey in midfield. We would have been much better off against England with 3+2, no Bale / Ramsay and used the speed of our WBs and James to launch counter attacks. Moore was well managed by the England's CB whereas smaller speedier alternative might have been much more effective.
In retrospect, we arrived in Qatar largely because of Bale and his free-kicks and penalties. We really did little else offensively. The Bale/Ramsey era is now over. Page ... or whoever ... and there should be a whoever ... needs to move forward without them and fashion a squad and system that plays as an XI and not IX + 2. Captaincy should go to Ben Davies as the senior pro ... and the only one that can really command a starting role in a top Prem Club.
Allen put in a shift and gave all he had, which frankly is considerably more than you can say for the other two. For Bale to even consider himself worthy of international selection is laughable considering he can barely make the MLS team he was with and if he plays for them like he did for Wales than frankly he's not going to cut it athletically. As he demonstrated, if you can't get the ball around the box because you either can't get to the box or the game is passing you by, then whatever diamond dust you have left is too little to spread around.
I thought it bizarre that Bale played a midfield role on the right hand side against England whereas Ramsey was playing much higher up the field. Did Page or Bale really thought he had more gas and gravitas than Ramsey in midfield. We would have been much better off against England with 3+2, no Bale / Ramsay and used the speed of our WBs and James to launch counter attacks. Moore was well managed by the England's CB whereas smaller speedier alternative might have been much more effective.
In retrospect, we arrived in Qatar largely because of Bale and his free-kicks and penalties. We really did little else offensively. The Bale/Ramsey era is now over. Page ... or whoever ... and there should be a whoever ... needs to move forward without them and fashion a squad and system that plays as an XI and not IX + 2. Captaincy should go to Ben Davies as the senior pro ... and the only one that can really command a starting role in a top Prem Club.
Last edited:
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
As I posted in another thread (maybe the one on John Charles) .... a dozen years ago, shortly after the beginning of the Bale/Ramsey era, I posted a question on the Swans forum at the time: Charles / Allchurch v Bale / Ramsey ... How do they compare? Who was the best? And now, who would you have picked today?
I think, I may have posed this question around 2012, somewhere around the Wales v Mexico match in the USA.
Thoughts?
I think, I may have posed this question around 2012, somewhere around the Wales v Mexico match in the USA.
Thoughts?
Last edited:
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Ben Davies .... is now the senior guy.
When thinking back to the May 2012 match between Wales and Mexico. Swans players in the Wales squad and played that day were: Williams, Taylor, Allen ... and Jazz Richards.
Rogers had or was on the point of leaving, Laudrup had yet to arrive, Allen had not left for 'Pool, and Ben was going to appear for our first team a few months later on Taylors injury.
When thinking back to the May 2012 match between Wales and Mexico. Swans players in the Wales squad and played that day were: Williams, Taylor, Allen ... and Jazz Richards.
Rogers had or was on the point of leaving, Laudrup had yet to arrive, Allen had not left for 'Pool, and Ben was going to appear for our first team a few months later on Taylors injury.
No bias honestly but Charles/Allchurch all day every day. Ivor was everything Ramsey was and more plus more goals and, as good as Bale has been, he's competing against a player many regard as well in contention for the GOAT be it EITHER as a centre-forward or a centre-half. You need goals? You put him up front. You need to stop goals? You play him at the back - and he was almost unbeatable in the air.
And let's not forget Cliffy Jones. You think Dan James is fast? As ex England and Spurs captain, Alan Mullery, said, Cliff could catch pigeons. In his prime he was the best (and quickest) winger in the world and Real Madrid, then the best team in the world, told Spurs they would pay whatever they wanted for Cliff. But he was a home boy and didn't fancy it. Then in 1962 Juventus offered a world-record transfer fee for him that Spurs turned down. All this after the British record transfer fee that Spurs paid Swans for him.
Terry Venables reckoned that his was the first name on the GOAT Spurs team that included quite a few legends such as Jimmy Greaves and Dave McKay. Not surprising because as a WINGER, Cliff scored almost 200 goals in his career including 16 international goals. Also, he was just superb in the air despite only being 5ft 7" tall. Some player was Cliffy.
And let's not forget Cliffy Jones. You think Dan James is fast? As ex England and Spurs captain, Alan Mullery, said, Cliff could catch pigeons. In his prime he was the best (and quickest) winger in the world and Real Madrid, then the best team in the world, told Spurs they would pay whatever they wanted for Cliff. But he was a home boy and didn't fancy it. Then in 1962 Juventus offered a world-record transfer fee for him that Spurs turned down. All this after the British record transfer fee that Spurs paid Swans for him.
Terry Venables reckoned that his was the first name on the GOAT Spurs team that included quite a few legends such as Jimmy Greaves and Dave McKay. Not surprising because as a WINGER, Cliff scored almost 200 goals in his career including 16 international goals. Also, he was just superb in the air despite only being 5ft 7" tall. Some player was Cliffy.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Oz beats Denmark. Upsets continue.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Williams opines ... Wales' next journey starts with a new identity
I think he's a tad confused over Bale.
I think he's a tad confused over Bale.
He's utterly confused if he thinks Page is the best option to take us on. For pity's sake, anyone who knows football would be hard placed to put Page in the top hundred of those managers equipped/available to lead us in the future. He had his chance in Qatar and blew it BIG TIME. We can't afford for him to be learning on the job. At international level you have to possess PROVEN ability and experience. He has neither.
Welsh football is going the way of Welsh rugby. The amateur blazers in charge, full of self-interest, are destroying both codes at a rate of knots. We need to have a PROFESSIONAL with talent and ability to take us forward. Anything less is a plain cop out.
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
Cue @ivoralljack .... Messi just had penalty saved.
CroJack
Key Player
A low one?
Yankee_Jack
Key Player
About 2 feet off the ground and 3 feet inside the post crossing the goal line ... but it never got there!
I know. I just watched it. Poland were as bad as us and made no real effort to get after Messi & Co.
It wasn't that low but not high enough to beat an athletic keeper.