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Various lower leagues? These are the starting XIs we've put out and the leagues they play in:
Hennessey - Premier League
Roberts - Championship
Mepham - Premier League
Rodon - Ligue 1
Davies - Premier League
Williams - Premier League
Ampadu - Serie A
Ramsey - Ligue 1
Wilson - Premier League
Bale - MLS
James/Moore - Premier League
Here's Iran by contrast:
Hosseini - Iranian league
Mohammadi - Greek Superleague
Pouraliganji - Iranian league
Hosseini - Turkish Superleague
Rezaeian - Iranian league
Hajsafi - Greek Superleague
Ezatolahi - Danish Superleague
Nourollahi - Saudi league
Taremi - Portuguese top flight
Gholizadeh - Belgian top flight
Azmoun - Bundesliga
Our squad is solid enough to not get ripped apart by the side above and yet they were, thanks in no small part to Page completely abandoning the midfield for the second consecutive match. There are obviously other factors, but we were wide open through the middle against both the US and Iran
Under performing, I would have been disappointed had a kids team given the ball away as much as we did against Iran, awful.
Underperforming for me Clive.
I think Page will look back on his decision to change the midfield set up with regret. Ampadu has been holding the fort on his own frankly as Ramsey has been so off the pace. As others have said I think the heat (especially the Iran game played at midday) has exposed just how little football Bale and Rambo have had in the last few years. You can crtiscuse Page for persisting with them but im sure the same people wpuld have crucified him if hed left them out and we'd lost.
Long term though I dont share the doom and gloom. There are a lot of good players in this squad under the age of 30 plus David Brooks to come back. Also I genuinely think Colwill will have a big part to play in the coming years. We may struggle to qualify for the next few tournaments but theres zero chance of returning to the bad old days of Gould and Smith when we struggled to beat the minnows.
I think the success of the last 8 years has built a base for football in Wales that we havent seen in decades. Hopefully the amount of engagement and participation will mean that we can keep producing enough talent to keep us competitive and enable us to not have to wait to for 64 years to qualify for another world cup.
I think we're the worst team i've seen there. No effort and poor skills
Agree with this. In the two games thus far we have been undone because of our own fitness levels and lack of pace in our play because of it. I saw some of our players blowing for tugs in the first half against Iran. Iranian players never missed a beat when it came to pace and energy. To think of ot neither did the yanks.
Spedger
I think mostly we are under performing.I wonder whether a better manager would have got more out of the squad.
It's been a combination of factors at this world cup. They include unfit and/or underperforming players, the conditions, especially against Iran and rank bad management and team selection.
I see Ampadu has been singled out but he was a one-man midfield against Iran so no wonder he looked poor.
Looking back this World Cup was an opportunity wasted and I may not get another chance to see us perform in the finals again.
We froze in the first half v USA but against a very useful side who were laughably underestimated on here in the build up.
Against Iran it was a combination of the conditions - vastly favouring Iran - our undercooked squad and rank poor play.
Generally we have punch hugely above our weight in recent times.
Bale and Ramsey still have a role to play in the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers, especially in our home games when we have to find a way to unlock defences, I don’t see either retiring from International football just yet
Bale was asked earlier if tomorrow could be his last game for Wales. One word answer, "No."
I can't see Bale retiring from internationals before he retires from club football. Hell, he might even retire from club football before internationals!
Stay with LA until the summer then come to Cardiff for a year and retire after Euro 24 having been the first player to captain Wales to three tournaments. You know it makes sense Gaz!
The conditions keep getting mentioned. While its an advantage to those who play in warmer climates it doesn't help when you cant keep the ball and we were passing the ball to Iranian players long before the heat took its toll.
Keep giving the ball away and of course you will be knackered if you have to chase it.
Im sure it was hot for England and they barely broke sweat and destroyed Iran.
The 2 goals. Its unfortunate for Allen that his errors were punished but you cant put that down to conditions. Nor Roberts ridiculous pass in the 1st half for the offside goal , or Hennessy charging out of goal or Rodon running out of defence v USA.
The only one who was affected by the heat was Page before a ball was kicked.
We have a number of [layers who are coming to the end of the international careers - Bale, Ramsey, Morrison, Gunter, maybe Hennessy. We don't really have players of the same quality coming through, though there are a couple of bright prospects. In our recent games, we've set out wrong from the start both times, though you can se why Page thought that. Like everyone else has said, we've had a great 7 years, and it's going to a close. We're going to have to start again. Not sure Page is the right guy for that, though.
Steve Morison anyone.🤣🤣🤣
Unfortunately, a team comprising of has beens who are not performing anywhere near their best, of players who are not match fit including the first group, of second-string players, of youngsters all of whom played without the passion that is required to overcome their individual failings and whose ability to pass, even when not under pressure was appallingly poor.
Here we go.. We're a poor side, but weaker with Ramsey and Bale. Sentiment aside, there aren't more than half a dozen decent Welsh players. Small - or like us - tiny nations, can only work with what they've got, and we really haven't got a lot.
Crap
That may be true, but it riles me when people say we can't compete because we're a small (or even tiny) nation. 9 of our squad members were born outside Wales. By contrast, Denmark has a population of around 5m and I believe all their World Cup squad was born in Denmark. In football terms, whilst we will inevitably lack the player pool that large countries have, we are not the tiny minnows that some suggest. Its reasonable to expect us to be competitive, whether that's in qualifying stages or, occasionally, in World Cup or Euro finals. We haven't been competitive in this WC and that's frustrating.