Absolutely.
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I thought the media and some of the pundits were far too cocky
Poland are an experienced international side
Not what they were but plenty of class and nous
We were at home and ultimately failed to open them up enough
If we had carved out lots of chances then we could have felt hard done by but we were not worthy of an outright win and that's the way it goes sadly
Shouldn’t questions be asked as to why we only used three subs in a game which lasted 120 minutes though?
I have a quibble about what Ramsey was doing there as well, but, that apart, I wouldn’t be too critical - that Armenia defeat was what really buggered our chances up not Dan James or what Page did or didn’t do tonight.
This.
I expected Poland to win fairly comfortably tonight. They didn’t and it literally, by any definition, couldn’t have been closer than to lose 5-4 on penalties.
Many will say it was a mistake that Rambo didn’t come on but it wasn’t long ago it would be inconceivable not starting him, especially now we are without Bale. Now we have other options.
This team has a good future
And one of the subs had to be subbed as he wasnt fit due to illness.
Argually our best player was subbed as well.
Why was Ramsey on the bench if he wasnt going to be used as a sub.
It would be a pretty boring forum if we said ah well perhaps no one was at fault.😂😂😂
Theres plenty of positives with some of our young players going forward. We may not have a superstar like Bale but a number of good young players. But the chance of our fans having a tournament away in Germany is gone forever.
Yep. We took four points off Croatia. Yet were hammered at home by Armenia in a game where Page got his tactics badly wrong. Armenia loaded down their flanks and Page didn't counter it. Shades of campaign's in the past where we slipped on that banana skin.
I didn't think all of the Poland penalties were great. Lewandowski's was the Fernandez skip and Ward dived past another. Regarding subs why did Page move Johnson to the right at half time when he was so effective on the left first half? Why was Broadhead brought on so late to then not take a penalty? Why was Brooks brought on if he was ill? Why not use more subs especially late on to improve our penalty taking? These are all questions Page needs to answer.
I was surprised at the starting line up but Brooks, as was proved, was not 100%, bringing him on was a gamble that failed to pay off. Thing is though despite the substitution, nothing changed. Perhaps bringing Moore off and moving Johnson inside would have been the plan B that could have thrown the Polish defence. Instead it was, more or less, like for like. I’d have liked to have seen Johnson in a central role with the ball on the deck. I like attacking substitutions to mix things up, to bring a different approach, unsettle defenders, especially central defenders who’ve had a 60 minute aerial, roughhouse battle to be suddenly finding themselves having to turn and chase a whippet.
Im used to Wales falling at the last hurdle, Im old enough to accept thats what we do
Now im not a " page out " bloke, but you have to question why with 1 min to go, he didnt get a recognised team Pen taker on the pitch, really dont know why he didnt get Rambo on
saved one in the Prem
saved 2 Pen's V Shed Wed's in the semi ( here is the 2nd )
https://www.skysports.com/watch/vide...d-winning-save
then saved one in the final for Huddersfield V Reading
So a close, shittish game.
Transgender flag went around the the stadium at around 87 minutes and I swear it stopped me caring somewhat about the result.
I’ve been on my own Mikey Rayer today, regardless of the time zone.
Page is shiit.
The Welsh FA has always been shit and it’s even shitter with an Irish ShitC*nt politicizing shit.
I feel very fighty right now, like bumping into people on purpose for a fight like,
My Mrs jus beat the shit out of me with her slipper though.
Ward really isn’t a decent keeper but your point on Hennessy is a good one
Moving Dan James to cover for Roberts felt like a waste. I’d have gone 4 at the back and left him to trouble them at the other end.
Flat as a pancake… trying to console myself with the fact we’d probably have 3 defeats at the Euro’s
It’s the weirdest qualifying game ever for me.
It could be that we qualified in 2016.
It could be that I saw our fading players in Qatar.
I remember though how devastated I was losing against Scotland for 86.
Being there for Romania for 94, Russia for 04, paying £300+ after coming home for a ticket v v Ireland for 2018 after not being able to attend 2016.
This time I don’t even feel sad.
I’ve felt it for a fair while, mainly due to the FAW, social media output.
87 mins or so in the game, the Transgender flag went around the advertising boards, and I have to thank whoever was responsible for doing that…it really stopped me caring about the result.
Just don’t think that was the case Sludgey. Evenly matched and in with a shout at home is what I could pick up. Which I think is a completely fair assessment.
Arguably the better team over the course of the match for me, just about shaded. But that’s not how things work out in a one off shootout.
Gutted but more gutted with the Armenia performances at the end of the day. That’s what really cost us.
It didn’t augur well when Ben Davies strode up to take the first one and I thought Neco was going to miss, but fair play to them both. It does rather show that we didn’t have many natural penalty takers on the pitch though - I was surprised not to see Broadhead take one (even though I can’t remember him taking penalties in club football) and, although I don’t always trust Ramsey from the spot, it seems a mistake not to get him on in the last few minutes with the intention of him taking one of the five.
I did wonder whether the subs could have been better used but to be honest whatever he did it felt it was destined to be a 0-0 and a penalty shoot out. Either keeper will be disappointed to have not saved several, given most kicks were nowhere near the corners,
But Poland are a team with many of their players playing in Europe’s top leagues whilst most of ours are championship level and unlikely to play higher. I fear we won’t be able to keep relying on easy qualifying groups and home play offs in future campaigns.
I don’t think it’s necessarily anyone better out there but Page really has fked up a strong advantage from the golden years.
The £8m miss for the FAW will sting a lot and unfortunately thousands of people will miss out on improved facilities which in turn helps provide better players going forward. At least they got 2 sell out games.
Be interesting to see our seeding, we’ve botched 1st and 2nd seedings which are important to hold, be interesting to see how the World Cup seedings end up like. Harder to qualify there so we need all the help we can get.
I'm sure I saw somewhere that more teams qualified for this year's tournament than didn't qualify as they increased the numbers again so that has to be taken into context as well as to how bad it is not to have qualified
Bit like the city - lot of people don't like bulut but not many people coming up with viable alternatives if it were to change
They gave it their best, the defenders played well for both sides, Ward didn't have to make a save until the penalties and when he did he couldn't. I feared the penalties although Ward looked bigger and filled the goal a bit more he didn't get near any, and I thought Szczesney would have saved more. It's tough on Dan James who will always be remembered like Paul Bodin for missing the penalty that stopped us going to the Tournament.
I think Poundland will take a pounding at the finals it's a tough group and they will be cannon fodder, in a few months we may feel we had a lucky escape?
£8m lost by not qualifying. It would have cost the FAW a bit to get rid of Page with his 4 year contract to 2026 (!!!) but not that much. Should have gone after the Armenia defeat.
I’ve only read the last page of comments, I can’t be arsed to read what went on before. From the moment I saw Kieffer in the starting line up I knew we were going to play Polands game. We tore Finland apart with our pace. Poland were (very) poor and very slow but we played into their hands because we were looking for Moore all of the time. My Polish colleagues were expecting to lose, in their opinion this is the worst Polish team in decades with a suspect defence.
The point about substituting Hennessey on is a good one. Dan James body language was all wrong, you could see the nervousness in him.
I’m disappointed this morning, as it’s an opportunity wasted because of caution / lack of self belief / giving them too much respect, whatever you want to call it. Opportunity wasted.
One of the most annoying things about the night was that I didn't think the Polish defence was that good - they struggled with high crosses into the box all night and Johnson, especially, had the beating of them when he was able to get isolated one on one. Where Poland did well defensively was in the way they never really allowed the likes of Wilson and Brooks to get much of the ball in the sort of areas which caused Finland so many problems last week.
You can see why Keiffer Moore is the 1st on the teamsheet - everything when through/up to him, even when he was out on his legs. Feel for Brookes. I rate him more highly than many do, he offers a lot more than just pure pace, and totally mystified why he was subbed so quickly.As the game progressed, they looked stronger, us weaker, and the pens had an inevitability about them..
Just lack any depth.
I'd say half our bench had next to no chance of getting on, Ramsey sadly included.
We had to win it in 90 for me, longer the match went on Poland looked the stronger and I was surprised they also seemed to almost settle for pens than really going for it. Perhaps just cautious of the pace we do have on the break.
I think one FIFA place between the teams and on the pitch that played out.
I wouldn't blame page so much for this match, but ultimately it's a disappointment not to have qualified automatically from the group.
This is a pretty balanced thread to be fair. Like most I couldnt fault Page too much other than not using all the subs when we looked gassed in extra time.
I think theres a lot of similarities between Page and Southgate. Both are solid and have done a good job with their teams. Both are probably a bit too conservative and both are starting to suffer from fans forgetting just how useless their teams were in the not too distant past.
Just had the email off 442 to download the Euros 2024 wall chart. Stick it up your arse sprang to mind:hehe:
The financial costs are massive, although we would have probably lost all three games, we would have picked up so much money through being there, plus World rankings for future tournaments. This was a great opportunity, Page blew it!