Come on, Iran, you’re going out somebody get Ramos. Do it for world peace.

*%^@ VAR

That's not a phrase you hear very often.

Edit: if it's actually a phrase. I'm not sure. Daz?

True .... what a slippery sleazy bunch of w***nks the Portuguese are ..... some of their carrying - ons

Ronaldo awful dive in the box then has the balls to want the video ref involved

Pépé collapsed like he'd been hit by a large meteor when a Morrocan patted him on the back . I'd be ashamed if any Kiwi acted like that

I'm not .... as a fresh faced young kid I thought he was the greatest thing since sliced bread .

My view would be Wenger cocked up his career by sending him out on loan so often ; early on when he showed such great potential .

If he'd stayed in his own environment he'd have bloomed .

Think on it for a minute ....... shovelled off to the frozen tundra at Bolton , where they don't even speak English at eighteen to make a fresh start couldn't have been much fun .


Then on that fresh face he grew a stubby beard , got a dozen tattoos , went on to held the ball far too long , running up cul de sacs and was for ever collapsing in a big heap when tackled , moaning and gesticulating with a face like a twisted sandshoe .

Gloriously happy to see him f*** off ..... bad management not to get a fee for him though .

1-0 to the Arsenal, is in fashion at this World Cup. The goals are drying up.

I hope we sell Özil. I think he is a stronger negative influence on this core than Alexis was. Alexis was a nuisance to the favourites of our former manager, thus was labelled as such. But he showed so much drive and bravery in his game, that Özil lacks. That's my opinion though. I prefer a team that plays with higher intensity than the art of tiki-taka. Tiki taka was beautiful to watch, provided it yields results. Arsenal's tiki-take under the former manager was toothless beauty. Imagine admiring the beauties on parade in a pageant, and when they smile, they are toothless. Would you still call it a beauty pageant? Thankfully, and hopefully, it is water under the bridge. Please make the team go faster Emery!

I think Banega getting linked to us may be indicative to either Ramsey or Özil leaving. This would be unfortunate

Tika taka is Great to watch but I was watching Spain the another night and their players like Iniesta, Isco and busquets are absolute masters in the art of quick distribution of the football. There’s not many of them about and if you haven’t got players of that quality the approach surely wouldn’t work.

And even they couldn't pass it through the massed fleet of parked busses last night. They mixed it up a bit more at the beginning of the second half, with some nice width and the odd diagonal ball towards Costa. Hence there was a bit more room for Iniesta to thread that pass.

What a pity Iran didn't throw a few more players forward in the last 15 minutes. The Spanish defence looked ready to crack, especially in the air.

Think of it this way. Iran beat Portugal, Spain draw or beat Morrocco & Ronaldo goes home. Would laugh until I felt sick.

It's very hard work not to be drawn into the 'omg, gosh Christiano' hype so I really do hope that Iran do the business to spare me the effort. I fear that if this continues the corks will really come out and the gushing will be overwhelming.

Lol. You'll be happy to know that the boycott is now over and I'll be gracing the forum with my unique, nuanced presence again. Who knows, I might drop you a PM or 2 if you're lucky.

I don't think there was anything beautiful about Arsenal's possession game under Wenger, toothless or not. The keeper rolls it out to a centre half. He gives it to the nearest full back who gives it back to him. He then gives it to the other centre half who gives it to the other full back who is nearest him. That full back gives it back to the keeper and the routine starts again, maybe with the variation of the keeper giving it to a full back or the other centre half.

Look, when the midfielders get the ball there is plenty of sideways passes or passing back. But I don't think Özil can be blamed as the main cause for our possession football being so boring, which if you want him sold I presume you do. His assist stats suggest he is more likely to pass it purposefully forward than many.

Also, selling Özil could be dangerous for another reason. Getting rid of him six months after signing a contract extension could give the next big player we have approaching the end of his contract, or at least his agent, doubts whether Arsenal's contract offer is to keep him longer-term as a player or to avoid losing him on a Bosman. Selling Özil for a hefty transfer fee now will surely cost him a lot of what he could have got as a signing on fee had he joined whoever on a free transfer. Can Arsenal risk that in future negotiations with players nearing the end of their contracts? I doubt it.

I think this is a really interesting point actually.

I quite like the fact that VAR is getting contentious decisions right and I can see its benefits. How boring.

This is hypothetical, but LETS SAY its the final game of the season, we're at The Lane needing 3 points to win the league. Its 1-1, its 90 mins on the clock, and we score that goal that Iran scored against Spain. Mass frenzy, only for it to be chalked off by VAR for the most marginal of offsides that the naked eye couldn't spot. What does that do to the psyche of the average fan, who's just gone spazz about winning the league at white hart lane and now has to come down from that to be denied winning the league at white hart lane? I'm not sure I could cope.

Could I be magnanimous and accept that fair's fair, the right decision has been made, well done everyone else, hard cheese for us? I expect I would be bitter as a bitch and probably give it some "Fergie wouldn't have won *%^@ with VAR". But how does VAR affect the fans in the stadium? Can you celebrate any more when you score or do you now have to wait for VAR? What's the ettiquette here if you've scored, celebrated, had to wait for VAR, and do you then celebrate again if its ok? But its not as good right, the second time?

The salutory lesson from yesterday was that VAR now makes celebrating a goal a pretty fraught experience.

"Kane - 2 goals but largely anonymous". I hope he's as anonymous as that in every match we play in this tournament.

Per Mertesacker departs

Arsenal have released 33-year old German defender Per Mertesacker from the club.
He becomes player number 6 to leave the club this season.

Bernard - did you get my PM ?

Yes thanks.

ahh ok - so, was that a yes or no ?

The reason I ask is, we are 95% done fixing the quote problem.

All I need to do is rename the old, faulty 'Bernard' account which is causing the quotation error, then create a new account for you called Bernard. I just want to make sure you will be able to log back in again.

All you'll need to do is log in after I switch it and then it'll be fixed for good.

Lemme know if that's ok to do. You can PM me whatever password you'd like or just email me if you have a problem.

I can make it the same pw I did before, and you can just change it as you wish.

Denmark vs Australia game. Not a penalty. Schmeichel playing headgames with the pk taker is funny.

The referee's ex wife must be Danish.

I think he's great and the World Cup would be much poorer without him. Proper showman, total cock, absolutely brilliant player.

Forum competition time.

I suggest "Battenburg".

That's my main problem with it - sucks the fun and spontaneity from the game. Oddly the reverse happens with cricket where reviews make it more exciting (realise I have just offered a massive hostage to fortune for the world-classers I can see lurking).

I just think it should only be for very specific things and not offsides. I really don't mind a few marginal mistakes when it comes to offsides. I do mind unjust red cards or blatant penalties or acts of violence not called.

Anything that results in Sergio Ramos suffering would be great fair or unfair.

In the Australia France game I STILL can't make up my mind if it was a pen having seen all the replays!

Ha I nearly deleted that post actually but it was too late...

Bernard spotted earlier after receiving the news.

http://www.football365.com/news/england-win-reaction-exposes-an-unhappy-divided-country

Nicholson on form again...

Yeah, I'm being drawn into that too. Its hard to be a cynic sometimes.

BUT, it wasn't actually VAR being intrusive. It was a good old-fashioned lino (aka 'assistant ref') that spoiled it. The Iranian players didn't look. They just hared off to the corner. Then the ref then went upstairs to check, not necessary to overrule. Would he have over-ruled his linesman otherwise? I can't see why he would.

I'm sure we can all remember cases* where a team has scored and had a big celebration only to notice belatedly that the flag is up.

On reflection, I think that the way the VAR is being done, i.e. with great circumspection, makes a lot of sense. The idea is to take the really stinking decisions out of the game, not the fun.

In this case, not only was there an off-sides, there was a handball too.

*Actually I can't. I can't get the Adebayor goal celebration *%^@ up against Liverpool out of my head.

Shouldn't we discuss this?

I missed that game. I agree that is NOT how it should be used. Leave the marginal ones (i.e. the ones that are actually debatable) to the on-field officials.

Philistine

*instant replay*

I like this Peruvian side. France looks great and this world cup seems to have restored Pogba's confidence. France is the best Eurpiean side Ive seen so far. Yes, better than Spain I think slightly. More power and pace to Spain's better technical ability.

Girpud doing well. I really liked him. The ball would have went in without Mbappe's help probably.

I do see your point about Özil. I would hope he will make more forward passes in the new season. He had a higher tendency to hold and pass sideways in the last half of the season.

Rog, I'm having problems sending you a PM. Could you please send me a new stand alone one and I'll see if it will let me reply to it? Thanks in advance.

I have created the account for you and activated it.

Just login as Bernard with the password you supplied.

You just need to log off first, then back on again.

Thanks. Seems to have worked.

Argentina 0-3 Croatia. Thoroughly deserved for the croats, argentina a total shambles.

Technically the Argies aren't out, but if Iceland beat Nigeria then Iceland and Croatia can engineer a draw that puts them both through and Argentina out.

Worst performance by a 'big' team at the world cup. The team shape was awful. They had nothing in midfield. The croatian midfield 3 are very talented but they were given the freedom of the pitch