Midweek Mention... It's Coming Home

 Its Coming Home

Cris: Hello. Hello.

Dan: It's coming home. Said it

Cris: ICH, apparently.

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: #ICH.

Reegs: A change

Sidey: you mean? Yeah. #ICH A change to regular programming- Yeah ... because the World Cup has taken over a bit.

Reegs: it

Dan: has, isn't it? I

Sidey: it's been- Yeah. It's only natural when it's coming home

Reegs: month.

Dan: it actually, then, it's coming home? It feels that way. For the first time in a long time, I've felt like we might have a chance in actually getting to a, the final of the World Cup.

Sidey: It's

Reegs: a bit of a regular thing for England now to achieve in tournaments, right? The semifinals and they made the final of the Euros, obviously.

Sidey: Yeah, two, two finals of the Euros and a World Cup semi- Yeah ... is that right?

Reegs: to- had a t- semi, and we've got now- George- ... we've got another

Sidey: reading, there was like an article on the BBC about it, about the few tournaments beforehand, and the change has been quite marked. Mm. Yes. 'Cause obviously we got- Yeah ... done by the Icelandic.

Dan: Yes. Well, that was

Reegs: the low- That was a real low point, that ... lowest of the

Sidey: in 2008, the Wally with the brolly. Yeah. So- Well, we

Cris: We didn't even

Reegs: qualify for the Euros in 2008-

Dan: 2008- Yeah

Reegs: before the

Dan: we had to play. Yeah. So- Well, we ended up... Like, there was a time in the England, uh, team that certainly the inter-club rivalry was so, um, dominant that the team, the players themselves didn't seem to get along.

Reegs: Um, well they talked about that openly later- Yeah ... didn't they? The Gerrards and whatnot. But

Sidey: Yeah, they would have- They talked about it dinners, lunches at the dif- team tables, wouldn't they? Yeah. They wouldn't mingle. It's,

Dan: taken 10 years or longer for them to start talking about

Reegs: and it's prob- it's a good reason why that generation that had decent players

Sidey: They didn't get past a quarter. The gold- Yeah ... the golden, I'm doing an inverted commas thing, didn't get past the quarterfinal- And then- which is fucking shocking, really

Dan: then we had, you know, the, the players that weren't doing that well, when actually it seemed like turning up for England was a bit of a hassle and getting in the way and, and it w- they weren't really playing for pride. And it took someone like... and I wasn't his fan, but it took someone like Gareth Southgate to start putting- Love Gareth Southgate now ... putting the pride back into, like- He gave a sense

Reegs: them something to play for again, didn't he?

Sidey: think there's a few other things. The club managers didn't want 'em to go. Fergie would've, like, brainwashed all those players to, to make- Yeah ... them hate it. Um, there's no one playing now. There was other teams that were better. There's no one playing now as good as Zha- Zaha's, Zaha's. So, I think the standard is generally a little lower.

Cris: as Dans. Yeah. So I think the standard is generally a little lower. It's, it's not only that. The, the way they've done it, and you see it with, um, the way England's done it was probably one of the first countries that have done it with promote from within, 'cause Southgate was working already at the federation. Yeah, yeah. He was on with the under-21s. He knew the players from there, and he promoted m- the Mounts and the, all these, uh, uh, Rashford, all those kinda, uh, that he had at the youth team. He promoted all of them because they were already mates, and they already knew each other, and they, they almost went past the rivalries. Whereas before it was, let's say Rio and Lampard was, were at West Ham together, but when they went to Chelsea and United-

Sidey: Yeah, I think- ... it was said that they weren't mates anymore ... Greg Dyke, lol, took over behind the scenes, and then they put in the elite player performance- Yeah Yeah EPPP.

Cris: Fontaine, the same like they

Sidey: iPhone X, the same like they used to have the And the St. George's thingy. Excellence center, yeah.

Reegs: the St George's thingy.

Cris: Excellence center,

Sidey: So they had the Center of Excellence, and quite a few of the squad, Elliot Anderson, I think Saka, and a few others have all come through that. So- Yeah ... you put the building blocks in place, and you can have success. Graham

Dan: Saux, Jersey boy, he was instrumental in choosing the England manager at the time, which was

Sidey: Really?

Reegs: was

Dan: He was, uh, one of a three-man pan- panel, I

Sidey: think that-

Dan: that- Oh, is that who it was? ... that ended up choi- uh, choosing Southgate.

Sidey: scored a belter against Brazil, remember? He did. Yeah. Yeah,

Dan: Beauty. I mean, wow. Score against Brazil, Jersey boy. Brilliant. Um, but then, you know, fast-forward, Southgate probably never had the tactical nous to get over the line. Um- A

Reegs: bit too conservative maybe. I'm not, not sure if it's not the tactical nous. I just think that maybe in the crunch moments it felt like he picked the wrong team, especially in the final. Yeah.

Dan: Which I

Sidey: was the one. Italy was the chance. Spain were better than us. Yeah.

Dan: Italy at home. I mean, they hadn't, they hadn't qualified before, uh, before that tournament and after that

Sidey: Spain, you go into the game as underdogs against Spain, so you can, you can kind of live with that result. It's disappointing- Yeah ... but

Reegs: but the Italy one

Sidey: it. But Italy was the one you, you had the real good chance

Dan: And

Cris: had the real good chance. And you had the 1-0 up as

Sidey: well. Yeah. Yeah. And Croatia. Yeah.

Reegs: But the difference now is that Tuchel seems to have built on that, and he's got a team now that reflects the identity of some of the best things about English football at the moment. The intensity, you know, defensive security. Um- Set pieces. Set pieces,

Dan: positive substitutions instead of-

Reegs: Yeah, game-changing subs ... holding

Dan: what you've got one-nil up. Let's go and put a, let's go and be a problem for the other team, and he'll go and throw on positive,

Cris: positive, uh, substitutions. He's also a good proven manager. I know he's German and England is, you know, never been coached by anything, any other person.

Dan: No, we had Sven.

Cris: Oh, no. But yeah, sorry. But, but you know what I mean. So, so you had those ones that even Capello that were-- You brought them in and they were-- they turned out to be not good because they didn't really understand the English culture. Whereas this guy, he has managed in England, and he managed brilliantly at Chelsea when the club was up for sale. There was the embargo, there was this, that, and, and he was a brilliant manager for that. And when they brought him in, they under- he understood what he needs to do. And I think the FA pretty much understood, "Look, what you want to do, you do it, and if it goes wrong, it's on you." Yeah. And-

Dan: And that's how the managers should be given a job, you know, because they're the ones that ultimately are, you know, gonna be judged if they do well, or if they don't do well. They're the one, you know, so you can't tie one hand behind his back. And that, to be fair, I don't think they did against for Southgate. I think they let him do his way, and they gave him an extra contract, didn't they? And

Sidey: And he

Dan: did brilliantly. He did far better than I thought he would do. Mm. 'Cause I didn't actually rate him as a very good manager. He'd never won anything with

Sidey: No, he's done-

Dan: never won

Sidey: He's not taken a job since.

Reegs: No, he, he's

Dan: Taken a job since. Yeah. No, i-i-it's not, but he was able to put pride into the shirt, and maybe at that time, that was the most important building block that- Yeah ... he could do. And then you've got players like Kane, who have just, you know, gotten better and better, and he's got this youth coming through. He's got a, a lot of

Reegs: he's also got a

Dan: got a-

Reegs: building blocks ... tactical plan as well, and you see that because his... I hadn't really heard from him before, but the guy that they wheel out at half time- It's Southgate ... Anthony Barry.

Cris: He's meant to be really

Reegs: He's good. He's sharp, what he says. Yeah. Like, obviously he has to be careful what he says at half time in a World Cup game, but it's always pretty incisive

Dan: but he's not that careful. Yeah, I, I like the way that he, he... I like the cut of his jib. Yeah, I like the way that he speaks. I'll tell you the other thing that I like, and I know it's an unpopular decision, um, and viewpoint,

Reegs: you're gonna talk about the hydration break. I'm gonna

Dan: the hydration breaks. Yeah. It's a- Every- I like

Sidey: It has done us some favors, to be fair ... it's done us some favors.

Dan: us some favors.

Sidey: it d- it killed us against Norway.

Dan: If we'd have had Southgate, I don't think that's a b- because it's a tactical break, right? You know, it's not just a drinks break. It is-

Reegs: an advert break

Dan: and I know that it's an advert break as well, but they're all the reasons I don't like it. I mean,

Reegs: lots of reasons-

Sidey: but- They did need it for the proper, for the, the sort of hydration reasons in Miami. All the other games

Dan: When you get to my age, you need the toilet 20 minutes into the match. Yeah. So, it's, um, doing a hydration break isn't so bad for

Reegs: me. But there aren't many 75-year-olds playing

Dan: no, there's not. You know, that's why we're, you know, um, I don't mind it. And- Truth be told

Sidey: be told, we've had moments in this World Cup- Yeah ... but we haven't set the world alight particularly. We've just done enough with-

Dan: Croatia was our best game.

Sidey: a half.

Reegs: a half,

Sidey: And we've dug in in other games. The Mexico game was brilliant because it- Yeah ... was a real backs to, backs against the wall.

Dan: 10 men.

Sidey: We, you know, we got two nil then it, you know, things went against a little bit, but we dug in. But the other games we've done just enough

Reegs: Yeah.

Dan: But

Sidey: you hope we'll raise it again, which I'm sure they will

Reegs: our opponents at their level, right?

Sidey: That's... It's, yeah, I was saying to Dan, it's what Simond do. We just play it. We're like, "Whatever." Just subconsciously you go, "Well, we're playing the top- we're playing the best in the world, so we'll have to play well. We're playing someone that's bottom of the league, we'll play..." You know, we... You just subconsciously just drop down, and that's- Is

Cris: it

Reegs: that's- Was it Panama

Dan: and Ghana we left... Well, Panama we left it very late. Yeah, and Ghana was nil-nil. Ghana we, we nil-nil. That was the worst job to do. And yeah. Fair enough. Congo. Congo. Congo game was better. Do you know what?

Sidey: was... That was the witch doctor, though.

Reegs: Congo game was pretty awful as

Sidey: Congo

Cris: very awful

Reegs: Congo game was

Cris: game was- Do you know what? You say that I... Obviously, I'm not B- British or English, and, uh, although I'm a fan now, I'm, I'm fully committed. I'm on the bandwagon. It's coming out. But the... For, just from a neutral point of view, if I would think, like randomly like that, if you would have to play against England, England is not Spain or France for that matter, where if you sit deep and you frustrate them- They're not Brazil you still can't... Y- you, you can c- you still can't keep them out because the players are so brilliant, and they've got these little tricks. England has good players, and some of them, especially Kane and Bellingham, are pro- they could walk into pretty much every team in the world. But England doesn't have... Traditionally, historically, in the future, they don't have... People say Cole Palmer or Foden. I still think there's no one at the level of a Pedri or a, you know, players like that, that you can, you can play and they'll find a pass or, or Messi or, you know, that they'll get a through ball and you're in and you're done, just through the middle. England is more

Sidey: direct and- Crash, crash bang wallop

Cris: more, it's more- Yeah ... attack, but in a, I, I don't know, more linear way rather than

Reegs: attack- Yeah. It's very vertical. Get the ball up the pitch quick. You

Cris: know, whi- which is,

Reegs: Get... Play the percentages ... there's nothing wrong with that cross it from the right places ... I'm not saying there's

Cris: wrong with that because y- you've been really successfu- successful until now with brilliant players. But what you do have is those two players that at any time they can give you a goal or two goals. Right. Both Bellingham and... And I listened to a guy on "The Athletic" this morning, and he was like, "If you look at Bellingham, he's a, a, a midfield player, but he- his-" In contribution, he's not really in

Reegs: Mm. "He, his contribution

Cris: is in the box- Right ... or in and around the box. He's not in, in... He, he's a goal-scoring midfielder, but he's not really a midfielder. You're not gonna see him taking the ball and driving too much with it or playing the slick passes. He, he's not

Reegs: I find it, it's quite interesting that him and Kane don't end up in the same spot really, isn't it? No. Because,

Dan: it? Well, he'll- because, um- He'll

Sidey: kind of go late. Kane will make the first move and he'll just go to wherever Kane is and- Yeah. Kane, I think Kane generally would like to go near post.

Dan: they can't leave Kane alone, so they, they... He'll take one or two defenders with him. Yeah. Yeah. And Jude's clever enough to look at that and then go in- Where the- in the space, and the other players are clever enough to say, "Right, there's two players on Kane, I'll chip it to the back

Sidey: it's Madueke. He, he ain't clever

Dan: and then he... But our tactics is, is kind of suck 'em in and blow 'em out. You know- ... it

Sidey: He's, he's- Are we still talking about football?

Dan: I think so. Um, it is kind of bring the players towards us, you know, go very deep, have five, six of their players commit, and then a quick ball over the top, and then we catch them on the break, and we, we attack at, at pace. The goal that we scored, Bellingham's, um, goal where Rice, uh... Was it Pickford who ro- bowled it out to Rice? Rice has gone forward-

Sidey: Into Saka ... uh,

Dan: into Saka, and then it-- Bellingham's headed. I think that was Mexico, wasn't

Sidey: Yeah ... the Norway game they wanted to get it into midfield and then quickly switch play- Yeah ... out to the wide players.

Dan: Oh, it's short, short, short, long. Well,

Sidey: stopped doing it

Reegs: I

Cris: the

Reegs: Typical of White players ... the Norway

Cris: game because it- Their

Sidey: for

Cris: are way- The fullbacks are not great for Argentina, and they're not quick either. Yeah. So whoever's gonna play, England has great options on the

Sidey: got to start Saka surely. Madueke's such a, such a

Cris: I'm gonna say he's probably gonna start Madueke again

Reegs: think he will. He,

Cris: so direct.

Reegs: he's also got definitely the concept that, you know, I know it's a bit cringe 'cause Arsenal fans were talking about it, but starters and finishers. Like, he's definitely got that, you know, let Madueke run the fullback tired for a bit, and then bring Saka on to have

Cris: clueless, yeah, let him run it.

Reegs: yeah. Just 'cause he's pacey as fuck- Yeah ... so just make him go up and down that wing as many times as

Cris: you can. And he's uncomfortable. You can imagine... I,

Reegs: the

Dan: Can

Sidey: imagine... I, I, like

Cris: I'm not, I've never played on the right back or left back, but whenever I ended up in that position, I got, every time I got rinsed because the wide players are quick, and I was never quick. So I would just look at them and they're already in behind.

Dan: might play Jude Spence 'cause of his pace if, if they play Álvarez, he's got pace and, um- Probably ... you know,

Reegs: yeah, we'll,

Dan: we'll see how he goes.

Sidey: know, he could- Well, I don't know. This chat is Uh, that it'll be Reece James center mid for, if

Reegs: if Rice is- Really?

Sidey: Yeah. But that's

Dan: will be fine

Sidey: I think he will

Dan: he will be. He'll be absolutely fine.

Sidey: But he was f- fumes from the start

Dan: start. He, he was, he was like a man who'd had an

Reegs: illness. Three days in bed. Yeah.

Dan: and he gave everything, but he didn't even seem like the quality of the ball, and it just goes to show, doesn't it, how much that takes out of you. In that heat- Yeah ... as well, at that level, he couldn't even seem to, you know, take a corner. He was running around, he was doing all the hard

Sidey: he needs to be at it 'cause it's gonna be messy in that position, dropping, walking around- Yeah. I hope- ... suddenly going, and he needs to be able to do that ... I

Dan: I hope he is so he can feel, "I gave it my best and I was at my best to test myself against the best," you know? Well, yeah,

Cris: because what Argentina want and, and the only way England's gonna lose this game, I really think England's gonna be two, three-nil up cruising in the game. I was gonna- I really think so

Reegs: I

Dan: gonna ask-

Reegs: you for your

Cris: predictions. I really think so. And I, I think this is gonna be the easiest game for England, only, only if they play at a fast pace and a high tempo. If they

Sidey: get- But it's- ... caught in Argentina's

Reegs: tempo and, and- Premier League style ... it's

Sidey: It's air con stadium, so they should be able to- They're

Cris: be... You know what's gonna happen with Argentina. They're gonna be basically, what they're gonna do is Paraguay versus France. They're gonna be shit houses. Yeah. They're gonna be, uh, pulling you,

Reegs: England are okay with that. Th- they've shown already because it was like that in the Mexico game, right? I mean, that was just filth from

Dan: the start. They're better at it, though, the Argentinians.

Cris: The Argies are better and, and more, more-

Sidey: Well, the good thing is the cards have all been cleared, so we don't have to worry about yellows. Yeah. Yeah. So as long as no one gets a red, we're all right.

Reegs: I think I- This is

Cris: I mean, a- and, and that's what, that's my point. If, if, if England gets at them and they run them, like proper run... And that's why I was saying that Madders is probably gonna start because he's probably gonna use the freshest and the- Yeah the most q- quick or rapid players to start and to just

Sidey: push

Cris: push them, push them. Then because the Argentina, the bonus for England is they went 120 minutes as well. Yeah. Yeah. So-

Sidey: They were lucky.

Cris: Yeah, but look, it's just you can argue with England that they touched the cable.

Sidey: it? I still can't work if it, out if it has.

Reegs: can't work if it, out if it has. It looked to me like it did, I thought, from the replays, but-

Cris: Oh, I can't. But, but

Dan: Anderson's read it well, is what I

Cris: can't really tell, right? And if you can't

Reegs: It looks like the flight of the ball changes. That's why

Sidey: I

Cris: dunno. But anyway, it look- it's done now, right? It's done and you- you're through. The Argentinians is done, they're through. They beat the Swiss and all that. But for me, that's the secret, in high tempo, they won't be able to keep up with it.

Dan: What's your score prediction?

Cris: 3-0 England.

Dan: What do you think? Well,

Sidey: I

Reegs: yeah, go on 3-0 England. No, I can't see England keeping a clean sheet, so 3-2. No. No way.

Sidey: way

Reegs: 3-2.

Sidey: way are we gonna be that comfortable. It just isn't gonna happen. I fucking hope you're right, but- Yeah.

Dan: What, what do you think? 1-0 or

Reegs: 1-0 or 2-1 England. I

Dan: think it's 2-1 England.

Sidey: Okay.

Dan: It may take extra time for us to get

Cris: is a team you should

Dan: beat.

Sidey: I know.

Cris: This is another team you should beat. Every team

Sidey: that's- I'm backing us to win. I just don't think it'll be

Dan: a World Cup

Reegs: It's a bit on, like, what Messi as well does- It's a biggie because even at as old as he is, if he decides to show up and just do his thing, it's virtually unstoppable,

Sidey: Big Dan Burn. Have you seen the, uh, the thing of, um- Is it Dr. Evil? Who is it? But it's with, um, Mini Me, and, uh, it's like Big Dan Burn when Messi's... It's his fucking voice.

Reegs: I don't fancy Dan. I lo- I've loved it. I've really enjoyed Big Dan Burn, uh,

Sidey: sort of- No, he's got... It, it's horses for courses

Reegs: don't really fancy him against Messi. No.

Cris: Yeah, I don't think he's gonna start at left back w- with, with Messi on the right wing. I'm not saying that, but... And I, I'm, you know, I'm not, I'm... As much as I love Dan Burn because I'm a Newcastle fan, but the, the, this, the, the idea for me is I think it's gonna be easy for England because, again, every team that England's played until now, they were the better team.

Reegs: Mm. I- If

Cris: If you look at like both teams, they're a better team. Messi at 37, 38. Look, he's a great player. He's always been a great player. He's always gonna be a great player. If you tell me that Messi's gonna destroy England,

Reegs: I can't see it. No, I d- no, but it's not like it's out of the question either that he could just have a half where he just plays unbelievable and bags two or three

Cris: or three goals. Yeah. I,

Dan: three goals. Yeah. Or, or a quarter. I, I, I think those-

Cris: Or a quarter. Yeah ... I

Reegs: those- Or a quarter ... I think those

Cris: days are gone.

Dan: think

Reegs: You think those days are gone? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. Well,

Dan: let's see.

Sidey: So w- so confidence is high- Confidence is high

Dan: Confidence is high. Yeah. Uh, do you, have you got a goal scorer for us in your, in your prediction?

Cris: First goal is gonna be a defender, Konsa or John Stones or

Reegs: Someone

Sidey: else has to score for England in this game.

Reegs: Who

Dan: you think- Who's gonna

Reegs: Who's gonna get a goal?

Dan: get a goal? Maybe the first goal.

Sidey: first

Dan: Give us the first

Sidey: I'm going Gordon.

Dan: Gordon or, like, Kane. Two-

Sidey: I'm going Gordon to score and Romero to get booked in the game. England to go through, get that on BetBuilder.

Dan: Yeah, that is a good bet. Um-

Cris: The Spurs connection, right? Yeah.

Sidey: Yeah. He's such a hooligan,

Dan: I think Rice is gonna come up trumps with a goal

Sidey: and- Rice on his right foot curling it into far stanch. Rice- That's how I would see that

Dan: I see that. Um, anyway, uh, let's see if we're right. We can listen back to this and,

Sidey: say strong recommend.

Dan: Strong recommend. Yeah,

Reegs: Very- It's very strong recommend

Dan: o'clock UK time Are you