Briefcase Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 22 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: Lawro on absolute top form tonight Commentator (apologies, I'll so unsure who it was) Just a reminder that you can watch this in UHD Lawro: Thought you were talking about milk there for a minute (he's definitely repeated this gag 54 times) And then this: Love a bit of Lawro. Always shows up on commentary for the Euro/World Cup games. You could just imagine him sitting around all day before the game drinking bottles of wine with not a care in the world and then just stepping into commentary 5 minutes before kick off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members martyngnr Posted June 25, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 25, 2018 34 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: Portugal v Uruguay will be tasty. Ronaldo v Suarez. Pepe vs Suarez in a Battle Of The Shithouses is Pay-per-view stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 25, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 25, 2018 To be fair it's going to be a battle of the shithouses all round. For every actual kick and elbow there will be 3 people rolling around on the floor like they've been shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Arch Stanton Posted June 25, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 25, 2018 VAR really needs some proper protocol defining how and when it should be applied. You've got players and managers gesturing for it for every decision that goes against them and it's actually making the officiating worse in some games, with weaker refs leaning on it rather than making decisions. We're still getting shitty decisions, just with awful disruption to the game now. That referee in the Portugal game tonight was fucking terrible for it. He surely can't get another game in the tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fog Dude Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 4 hours ago, PunkStep said: As for countries that aren't part of FIFA, we're talking about a very small number of official states- tiny ones at that. It looks like it's just 6 Pacific island countries: Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Naura and Palau – plus the Vatican and Monaco from Europe. The first of those two have recently joined the Oceania confederation as associate members, whilst Monaco are both in ConIFA (the latest alternative to FIFA, taking over where the NF-board left off in 2013) and get their fix from the French club side of the same name. 3 hours ago, PunkStep said: @Keith Houchenis that the WILD Cup? You get the likes of Northern Cyprus, Greenland and Guadeloupe in that. Guadeloupe aren't members of either FIFA or ConIFA, but they are part of CONCACAF. The Wild Cup was one of many alternative 'World Cups' held for unrecognised countries. The latest version is the ConIFA Cup which was last staged just a few weeks ago, 'hosted' by Barawa but with South East England subbing for that region of Somalia. The FA wouldn't let them hold any matches at professional grounds. It was won by Kárpátalja (also known as Transcarpathia), a team representing the Hungarian minority in western Ukraine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 14 hours ago, Briefcase said: How will the 48 teams work out with the groups? Guessing more groups and an extra knock out round? Official FIFA plan is 16 groups of three, with two going through, then doing a straight knockout with the 32 who go through. People then pointed out that is insanity as the two teams who play the final game in each group will usually know that a particular result will put them both through. FIFA then came up with the suggestion that every group game has to have a winner, so you could do penalties if it's a draw. That arguably makes things worse as without draws, you've got a much higher chance of each team winning one and losing one, deadlocking the group. FIFA then delayed the 48 team format until 2026, by which point they might have given this some more thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 Every system goes through teething problems. Overall, I think it's much better to have VAR than not have it. I agree they need to come up with protocols for VAR, to discourage players doing that sort of thing. To be honest, I think that sort of thing needs to be slapped down - maybe a yellow card for players who harangue the ref for it. It also strikes me that perhaps the best way would be to use VAR almost excessively at the beginning, with heavy penalties for divers and play-actors, for two reasons: 1. To get the referees used to the system quickly, and to develop instincts for when to use it and not. It would also create a large enough data set early on from which FIFA officials and technical staff could draw conclusions and come up with more precise and workable protocols. 2. To quickly discourage players from simulation; the sooner they realise their bullshit won't be tolerated and can be seen for what it is - and VAR won't have to be used quite as often in future once they're used to that notion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 Players excessively making the VAR signal is specifically listed as a bookable offence now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 3 minutes ago, JNLister said: Players excessively making the VAR signal That'll be the latest thing they teach at La Masia, on the same day they train the kids how to clutch their faces and perform card-waving gestures at the ref. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Lion_of_the_Midlands Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 The worst thing is that all the diving and play acting is so bad. Why on earth are the top clubs or international teams not training their players better. If I was a manager of a top club I'd be on the phone to the WWE performance centre looking to get all my players enrolled on the selling and bumping for beginners course pronto. When I see that Real Madrid are taking Johnny Gargano on loan thats when I know the quality of the rolling around on the floor clutching your face will be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 59 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said: The worst thing is that all the diving and play acting is so bad. Why on earth are the top clubs or international teams not training their players better. If I was a manager of a top club I'd be on the phone to the WWE performance centre looking to get all my players enrolled on the selling and bumping for beginners course pronto. When I see that Real Madrid are taking Johnny Gargano on loan thats when I know the quality of the rolling around on the floor clutching your face will be better. That's why Chelsea are still without a manager, we're obviously looking to bring Steamboat in. It would still be a less stupid Abramovich appointment than Avram Grant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 18 hours ago, PunkStep said: At the moment, it's: Europe: 13 South America: 4.5 North America: 3.5 Africa: 5 Asia: 4.5 Oceana (Australia, but exc Australia, as they're part of Asia when it comes to football): 0.5 The 0.5 places are settled via intercontinental playoffs, which brings the allocation above to 31. Add the hosts and you have 32 teams. From 2026 (perhaps even 2022) there will be 48 teams. The plan was to up the number of Asian teams to 8, Africa to 9, Oceana to 1, North and South America to 6 each and 16 to Europe (with the hosts rounding it up to 48). This is pretty arbitrary as obviously the qualification process would have been different, but as a very rough list the extra teams this time round would/could have been: Syria Uzebekistan UAE DR Congo Burkina Faso Uganda Honduras Ivory Coast USA Trinidad & Tobago Chile New Zealand Plus three from: Northern Ireland, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy (The 16th isn't clear as FIFA's still not figured out what to do with having multiple host countries, plus they want to do a couple of places via a playoff tournament the autumn before the World Cup Finals as another test run for the finals venues.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JNLister Posted June 26, 2018 Paid Members Share Posted June 26, 2018 Why are the ITV commentators and pundits going on about how poor France and Denmark looked in that game as if both sides were genuinely trying their hardest to win? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 Because they're ITV commentators and pundits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 7 hours ago, Gus Mears said: That's why Chelsea are still without a manager, we're obviously looking to bring Steamboat in. It would still be a less stupid Abramovich appointment than Avram Grant. That's why Conte is still on the books. Abramovich was shit scared of him turning up at the Emirates and throwing his premier league winners medal in the bin live on Sky Sports news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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