England Squad

[mcteeth]

Yesterday was farcical it felt as though once he'd been told to stop play as it was a handball that needed reviewing he was inevitably going to give it. It was also alarming at the number of times he watched through replays and then left the screen, then went back for one final look as if that was somehow definitive on what he was deciding.

It was a prime example of where a subjective interpretation of the rules hasn't been improved by VAR, if anything it has made it more controversial because he overturned his own original decision and the evidence is inconclusive. Perisic has jumped up for a header anticipating a flick on that doesn't happen so the ball comes straight through to him, he is coming down from his jump and his arms are very naturally coming back down towards his side and the ball inadvertently hits his hand. It was ball to hand and if you watched the situation as a whole his arms follow the natural movement of jumping and they're coming back down to his side, so there was no deliberate movement of an arm to the ball.

I don't understand why in a World Cup Final you'd make such a subjective and controversial call.

[mrblackbat]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45177178

Sterling criticism is down to racism according to Wright, rather than him being incredibly frustrating and constantly running into the nearest player.....

[Ethiaa]

Surprisingly hard to spot discrimination when you don't share that particular characteristic. Ask a woman.

While he does do those things, I would not want to dismiss his experiences as a black man in this country.

[mrblackbat]

It's also very easy to class everything as discrimination when you have a particular characteristic.

As an "equal opportunities" recruiting manager, bottom of the list is a white man. Which is just as discriminating as any other hiring practise. Personally, I mostly ignore that "guidance" as the obvious bullshit it is, and hire people who I think would be best qualified for the job. But of course that is also discriminatory; perhaps people who are unqualified could become qualified if I gave them the chance! And obviously their cultural background, upbringing and access to good quality education isn't the same, so I'm inadvertantly discriminating there too!

Somewhat approrpriately on this topic, is the backlash against Jack Whitehall for playing a gay man in a Disney film; the criticism is it should have gone to a gay actor. Fine, but are they saying that gay actors shouldn't play straight roles?

I criticise Sterling cause he continually runs into the nearest man when he gets the ball, and is greedy and wasteful. I'm sure most of the criticism is for the same reason.

[Ethiaa]

It's also very easy to class everything as discrimination when you have a particular characteristic.

I wouldn't know - I'm a white man who has had every privilege that brings with it and that is a very powerful mask. I think it would be rather churlish of me to suggest I know better than the people who experience it.

[Rover the Top]

I'm not sure it's all just racism, but Sterling was singled out as the scapegoat before a ball was even kicked at the World Cup. It put extra pressure on him to do something that made some positve headlines for him for a change, plus prejudiced fans against him so that his mistakes were highlighted more than anyone else's. Pundits and commentators were regularly referencing his goalscoring record as though that's all he was in the team for. There was little mention that most sides put two men marking him and he was creating plenty of space for the team to build attacks.

He had a bad first game, but the criticism remained after that when he played better. As Wright says, that didn't happen with any other player. Whilst I wouldn't attribute it to racism, there's something about Sterling that makes the media target him - possibly talent as he's getting a similar ride to Gascoigne and Rooney.

[Gibbon]

Everytime I’ve seen Sterling he’s repeated his frustrating pattern of 9/10 times getting into excellent positions and then failing to capitalise. I was criticising him before the tournament because of this, and he subsequently did nothing to ameliorate that opinion.

I guess it’s a little bit like the criticism Andy Cole used to get, although he’d miss a fair few chances, he’d make twice as many as anyone else and still score a very healthy number. Those missed opportunities though...

[theadore]

I think Sterling undoubtedly gets a rough ride from the press... the old primark and bathroom stories more so than during the world cup. In a similar vein to the treatment Ozil has received in Germany it's hard to ignore his minority status as a factor. Whether it is the sole, or even main reason is up for debate... football has always been a bit strange in that regard where some personalities just never really click with fans. I've wondered whether his decision to leave Liverpool so young, and then immediate failure to live up to his price tag at City could be part of the reason... without a set of club fans fully behind him he became an easy target for cheap journalism and fan criticism was never strongly countered?

[mrblackbat]

It's also very easy to class everything as discrimination when you have a particular characteristic.

I wouldn't know - I'm a white man who has had every privilege that brings with it and that is a very powerful mask. I think it would be rather churlish of me to suggest I know better than the people who experience it.

I disagree. I think most rational people are able to objectively witness a situation than someone who is directly and emotionally involved in that experience. As an independent witness, you have far more ability to discern whether someone is irrationally attributing cause because they are too involved in the situation and become incapable of being able to tell the motivation of others.

[mrblackbat]

I think Sterling undoubtedly gets a rough ride from the press... the old primark and bathroom stories more so than during the world cup. In a similar vein to the treatment Ozil has received in Germany it's hard to ignore his minority status as a factor. Whether it is the sole, or even main reason is up for debate... football has always been a bit strange in that regard where some personalities just never really click with fans. I've wondered whether his decision to leave Liverpool so young, and then immediate failure to live up to his price tag at City could be part of the reason... without a set of club fans fully behind him he became an easy target for cheap journalism and fan criticism was never strongly countered?

His behaviour around the Liverpool to Man City transfer most certainly contribute to his criticism.

That and that 19 times out of 20 (Gibbon ) he runs into the nearest man when he gets the ball.

[Dan]

[mrblackbat]

At least they aren't as bad as the Bulgarians. Meanwhile the Bulgarian coach has been told to quit. His post match comments were a bit bonkers: surely he heard and saw with his own eyes?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50054475

[Rover the Top]

Isn't that the president of the Bulgarian FA rather than the coach?

Both made outrageous comments before and after the match, though.

You could get very merry if you had a drink every time the commentator said "protocol" last night...

[mrblackbat]

Isn't that the president of the Bulgarian FA rather than the coach?

Both made outrageous comments before and after the match, though.

You could get very merry if you had a drink every time the commentator said "protocol" last night...

Yes. Got my wires crossed. The coach should be booted in any case for his comments after the game.... even his captain intervened and yet he allegedly wasn't aware of it.

Yep that would have been a brutal drinking game!

[Mowbray25]

In 2018, When the world cup was going on, I was in Liverpool watching the game. Hoping that England will win against Croatia after going 1-0 up. But ended up losing 2-1, they were completely lost when Croatia scored the 1st goal. In my opinion, I think GS is putting too much of faith in youth players, and leaving out the fine balance between youth and experience. There should be a couple more veteran EPL players up in the squad.

BTW, I hope this does not sound odd and please excuse me if such a question should not be asked, but why is the Irish and Welsh league very far off the standards of the premier league?... and those countries never perform as well as England. I just don't get it, I mean they are all part of the UK, is it some sort of a mentality thing?