Holmes_and_Watson

Well worth staying in there for all those hours, until you needed one. I prefer ale, and trying out new ones. It's not my fault that the local Wetherspoons stocks the best range, and it's much cheaper. I live minutes away from my town centre. Buying any coffee, or anything else from a Costa, is madness with a kettle so close. Equally mad to sell an organ that you might need to process cinema food. Given two similar things, I'll pick the clubcard deal one. I begrudge my local team putting the crisps up by loads, when I can see the giant box of golden wonder sitting there. But, in company, if someone really wants to do something, then that's fine. The last thing I want to do, is go on about it. 🙂

Yes. "England will not just be fighting against the fierce passion of an entire nation when they face Mexico in the iconic Azteca Stadium..." That's from Beeb's Phil McNulty, so I spared myself reading any more of his drivel.

Misunderstanding

We know we can send him a pack with details, without bothering his club.

It took a bit of the direct play, they lacked in the first half to get the penalty. While VAR was working on that, Almiron wiped himself out, racing up the pitch. It was an example of how much energy they'd used, and they had little left when they needed a goal. Galzara is the cheater's cheat of the tournament. The ref was clearly letting a lot go. In the first half this was mostly Paraguay, but a couple of France moments too. As it went on, it was clear the ref wasn't taking accumulated fouls into account. Let alone the little kicks or those hits across the chest. But then, on one of those, Kounde went down holding a face that hadn' t been touched. The ref wasn't impressed by any of that. Like a lot of sides, France lacked anything central, and no real desire to get a ball in there to cause problems. As the tournament goes on, that will probably be less of an issue, until you need a goal to stay in it. Well done to France, for not getting involved after the whistle. Paraguay had to go and moan at the ref instead. I noted the Beeb saying that the they were staying with the pics, basically so they could show any fighting, then tut about it.

Good game. The ref doing well, not falling for the theatrics we've seen, and stopping a lot more no doubt. We've not seen much end product from Paraguay. But they've some talented players just waiting for that break. They've got under France's skin a bit. Blocked their through balls mostly; doubling up on the floor flanks and eventually reducing France to a few longer range efforts. But it will be hard to keep it going. On the other hand, France will have more joy getting another body into that box. That might leave some space.

Binary

Mine is £9.70 for a fish supper. And that's battered, rather than breadcrumbed. It went up in leaps and bounds in the last few years, rather than smaller inflation based ones. It's been that price for a little while. But once the £10 is finally breached...

Down

Inertia

I saw Maguire as a player to bring on when struggling to break team's down. You know, you're going to take a few more risks. But he's there as a threat from set pieces, proven disruption ability, and still provide defensive cover. Getting done for pace might be an issue. But a player who fits a requirement in tournaments, when you need to grind out a result.

Someone didn't get an invite. H&W from NYC!

The voice of BBC football, across the website and podcasts too. 🙂

Is that the one where you have to lob a brick through a window, while chanting abuse?

It needed some risks to be taken, just to get the numbers in attacking positions to make a difference. At least a couple of one v ones against an England defender. Not surprisingly, Rice immediately became a better right back. Tuchel then had to have Stones filled in at the end. Daft selections, as many said at the time. It's a side dragged over the line by the sheer quality of a few individuals. As a side, there's plenty of issues.