Match Day Fred.. England v Iran..

It was spotted. It was replayed immediately on tv and Maguire appealed for it. You can't tell me the var team didn't see it.

 

Could easily have been your network.

 

Has there ever been a game at this level with 14 minutes added on to the end of EACH half? Incredible and thank goodness we weren't playing a better team with the score line much closer.

I don't know why football doesn't adopt the rugby union method of time keeping. The clock is stopped when the game is held up for any reason and then restarted as soon as they're all ready. As soon as the 80 minute mark is reached the whistle blows as soon as the ball goes out of play. Surely something similar could be adopted so we're not all asking the usual question: "Where did he get all that from?"

 

Go away with your sensible ideas.

 

If you give that youre giving a pen for every corner in every game!

 

What, you mean when he's NOT giving away ridiculous pens for shirt pulling!.

 

Clearly not a penalty then!

 

I think he/Ben used to do a fizzy pop flavour called Chrystavite, which we now know as Vimto of course.

 

I wouldn’t be worried about us letting a couple in towards the end after we had already won the game.

We clearly switched off a bit & Southgate might say publicly that he’s disappointed with letting two goals in but I’ve no doubt at half time he will have told the lads to take it steady, no injuries or bookings.

If they happen with the game in the balance I’m a lot more concerned.

Apart from Maguire’s possible concussion it couldn’t have gone any better. No bad performances & all the subs looked sharp.

 

Yeah I was impressed with the subs, they all looked sharp and carried on with the momentum, rather than just sitting back.
It does concern me that we nearly conceded before the pen, Pickford brilliantly tipped it onto the bar.
We'll meet tougher opponents than Iran of course, but Im glad that we weren't cautious at all, and surely thats where our strength lies.
Go at the opposition and don't hold back!.

 

A mention for John Stones as well. Set a new record for number of completed passes by an English player today. 116 of 117 & the only unsuccessful one Trippier applauded it as he’d not anticipated it.

I’m not going to claim he’s the best centre back at defending around as he’s got at least one better than him at City in Dias but in terms of been a ball playing centre back he’s as good as any I’ve ever seen.

The weight of pass, the constant probing & the confidence to draw attackers to him before playing the pass to create space for the receiver is superb.

To play a side with 10 men sitting deep & to give the ball away once in well over 200 minutes is hardly believable.

I honestly think he’s better at it than Pique was in the great Barca side.

 

Don't pay it then and then see how far you get trying to watch other live TV. Yes, the Govt funds the BBC via the fee but that is to legally allow you to recieve live TV regardless of the provider.

 

I didn't think Iran were that bad, I thought England were phenomenal. It was a similar story on Saturday. You could argue MK Dons were terrible, but you could also argue that Barnsley were very, very good.

@Archey the answer is to stop using VAR. It's the worst thing to ever happen to (the game of) football.

Anyway, I didn't want to talk about that. I wanted to say how brave the Iranian team were who defiantly stood in silence during their national anthem. They may face serious repercussions for that. I didn't begrudge them their two goals. In fact, I'm glad they scored as Iranian women in the crowd got to celebrate and those pictures were shown around the world. That was some historic stuff. And England were bloody marvellous too.

 

I'm looking at it from the point of view that it isn't going anywhere. There's far too much money been invested in it. So it needs to be used correctly.

In Ice Hockey, the referee comes out after a game and gives interviews explaining certain decisions. There's one from a Steelers game on Sunday I'm looking forward to finding out the reasoning behind.

With the Maguire one yesterday, I can only assume the VAR team didn't think Maguire was getting anywhere near the ball, meaning there wasn't a clear and obvious reason for overturning it. It's the only explanation I can apportion to it.

England were brilliant yesterday though, as you say, and should comfortably qualify for the knockout stages.