The play-offs

[Ray de Galles]

Really don't understand this view. I thought the referee last night was really really good; a world better than the officials for the Finland game.

Yeah, the ref had a really good game and was consistent and even-handed in his decisions. Not an easy task in such and important, tense match with a vociferous atmosphere.

I’m still too numb to analyse or process much else about last night. It feels very weird, as if someone just pressed pause with the James penalty.

It’s not been a vintage couple of months for Welsh sport and me, Cardiff and back five times in six weeks and a disappointed journey home all but once - though Thursday was great.

I feel the football team are in a better place than the rugby one, mind. Recent games since the disastrous mid-point of this campaign have been promising and, while I can’t say I’m convinced about Page, the haste and venom with which some people have torn in to him over the last twelve hours is unseemly.

[Kowalski]

Clutching at straws...... . I've seen Dutch sides overpower us countless times so won't miss another match of that ilk. We might have gained another tight narrow victory over Austria to set up slight glimmers of hope eternal but then whadda you know, along comes le coup de grace as the red wall meets the yellow wall to create the orange wall on Tuesday 25th June 2024............ The football world watches as Mbappe and Griezmann use Wales as a canvas for their brand of football art and swat them aside with a "Qui sont ces imbéciles?........oh le petit Gallois!!!" shrug.

[Patrick Thistle]

People criticising Rob Page really need their heads examined.

Overall I thought Cymru played very well. They took it to their opponents. Poland had to resort to defending deep with the prospect of penalties.

Lewandowski didn't do very much. He reminds me of swansong era Gareth Bale. The star you have to play even though he's on the wane.

[Ray de Galles]

Poland had to resort to defending deep with the prospect of penalties.

Not sure about that, we were the ones hanging on near the end of extra time.

Roberts' injury was perhaps the pivotal moment. We had to move James to right wing-back which robbed us of too much of his threat up front. I'm not sure I agree with that move and would personally have liked to see us go four at the back with Neco on the right and Davies on the left.

Has Brooks' substitution been explained at all? I suspected he couldn't have been fully fit and his introduction was a gamble that failed but perhaps it was tactical to try and get Broadhead to aid Moore in occupying the Polish defence and ease the pressure on us.

[ad hoc]

It was a big night for (political) Eastern Europe. This leaves the finals more or less split evenly between "Western European" countries and "Eastern European" countries
(12 teams are from the west, 11 teams are from the east (politically) and add in Turkey who are more eastern than most, but not part of the pre-1989 communist world) I'm not sure to what extent these labels still mean anything (Slovenia for example feels not really eastern), but still.

[HORN]

Clutching at straws...... . I've seen Dutch sides overpower us countless times so won't miss another match of that ilk. We might have gained another tight narrow victory over Austria to set up slight glimmers of hope eternal but then whadda you know, along comes le coup de grace as the red wall meets the yellow wall to create the orange wall on Tuesday 25th June 2024............ The football world watches as Mbappe and Griezmann use Wales as a canvas for their brand of football art and swat them aside with a "Qui sont ces imbéciles?........oh le petit Gallois!!!" shrug.

Yeah, call me a low self-esteem MF but I view Wales v <good opponents> with the same enthusiasm I reserve for being hauled onto the dance floor by my mum.

[Patrick Thistle]

Has Brooks' substitution been explained at all? I suspected he couldn't have been fully fit and his introduction was a gamble that failed but perhaps it was tactical to try and get Broadhead to aid Moore in occupying the Polish defence and ease the pressure on us.

My brother texted me about that because he couldn't understand the Cymraeg commentary and I'd actually missed it happening because I was distracted by something. (Possibly OTF. I found it sickening watching the game.)

[Duncan Gardner]

I once offended a Sloveńe by calling her Eastern European

[Patrick Thistle]

Not sure about that, we were the ones hanging on near the end of extra time.

Yeah, it's true they seemed to come alive on 115 minutes. There was also one shot that went close before that. But apart from that I thought there was very little about Poland.

[Ray de Galles]

My brother texted me about that because he couldn't understand the Cymraeg commentary and I'd actually missed it happening because I was distracted by something. (Possibly OTF. I found it sickening watching the game.)

I've been told elsewhere that Brooks had been ill since the Finnish game and hadn't trained since. I did suspect something like that when Moore was gesturing to his stomach at Page and pointing around somewhere right before Brooks was subbed off.

[Nesta]

I once offended a Sloveńe by calling her Eastern European

There's nothing more quintessentially Eastern European than getting shirty about being called Eastern European

[Nesta]

I've been told elsewhere that Brooks had been ill since the Finnish game and hadn't trained since. I did suspect something like that when Moore was gesturing to his stomach at Page and pointing around somewhere right before Brooks was subbed off.

Yeah, nobody wants to see another Lineker in Cagliari moment

[George C.]

I once offended a Sloveńe by calling her Eastern European

Except...

[Patrick Thistle]

Jeez, I just looked on Twitter and seen calls to replace Rob Page with Steve Cooper.

I don't feel that's much of a step up.

[Kowalski]

I once offended a Sloveńe by calling her Eastern European

During our Erasmus project visit to Slovenia one of the Slovene teachers told me that Slovenes like her have always felt like they were at the crossroads of Europe; "Well you've only got to look at our position and look at our history to see we're connected to the rest of Europe, you know the break up of empires in Versailles Treaty, allies side in WW2, non-aligned in cold war, then we had the best of both worlds in the '80s as we lived in Yugoslavia but could go for days out in Austria or Italy."

[3 Colours Red]

Not sure about that, we were the ones hanging on near the end of extra time.

Poland never really looked like scoring though, other than that one Piotrowski (sp?) shot that whistled just wide. I don't think Ward had a save to make.

[Ray de Galles]

Poland never really looked like scoring though, other than that one Piotrowski (sp?) shot that whistled just wide. I don't think Ward had a save to make.

No, I mention their zero shots on target on the matchgoing thread actually. The pressure they had us under for the last ten minutes or so of extra time was immense though, it was only their inaccuracy and some heroic defence that kept us in it.

[Nesta]

During our Erasmus project visit to Slovenia one of the Slovene teachers told me that Slovenes like her have always felt like they were at the crossroads of Europe; "Well you've only got to look at our position and look at our history to see we're connected to the rest of Europe, you know the break up of empires in Versailles Treaty, allies side in WW2, non-aligned in cold war, then we had the best of both worlds in the '80s as we lived in Yugoslavia but could go for days out in Austria or Italy."

Hey Nikita, is it cold
In your little corner of the world
You could roll around the globe
And never find a warmer soul to know

Oh, I saw you by the wall
Ten of your tin soldiers in a row
With eyes that looked like ice on fire
The human heart a captive in the snow

Oh, Nikita, you will never know
Anything about my home
I'll never know how good it feels to hold you
Nikita, I need you so

[Kowalski]

Let me tell you that on the last evening of every Erasmus meeting for the first 6 months , we would sing Elton John songs to celebrate the EU in the 21st Century. The last gesture of the evening was always standing in a big circle and chanting; "Let us stand upon the bridge between the past and the future with a smile.". Needless to say the Turkish partner left after the first 6 months, then the main liaison for the UK, Swedish and Polish partners stepped aside within 18 months and Brexit happened halfway through.

Naturally I'm still on that bridge, and smiling, not even Wojciech Szczęsny and Warren Gatland can stop me smiling.

[Patrick Thistle]

There was a Wales Online (non)story yesterday about how loads of people watched Cymru v Polska on S4C and loved the Cymraeg commentary.

I'd link to it but their website is a hot mess.

[Mr Delicieux]

I do miss the days when you could pick up S4C in Bristol. I used to watch all of Wales matches, not to mention Pobol Y Cym.

[Discordant Resonance]

I thought in the digital era, anyone in the UK can set S4C as a favourite Freeview channel?

[3 Colours Red]

If their aerial can pick up a signal from a transmitter, they can... which isn't a given even if you live in Wales, he says from bitter experience.

Anyone in the UK (or outside with a decent VPN) can watch S4C live on iPlayer.

[Patrick Thistle]

I've started calling it Es Pedwar Ec since I started learning Cymraeg

[Bored Of Education]

You can easily get S4C’s CLIC player on a smartphone/TV.

Can’t add much to what’s already been said. Thought the ref was ok on Tuesday especially compared to Thursday’s. I didn’t see the penalty shouts or the second Mepham yellow card and am not going to watch again.

I changed my mind within 12 hours and have now decided Page should stay. I was looking at the team on Tuesday and thinking that we have a good team of young players who obviously trust Page and listen to him. I don’t really see that they could’ve done much more on Tuesday especially after Roberts had to go off. Page definitely deserves another qualifying campaign. Aside from the Armenia home game, we didn’t really have a bad game. Talking of Armenia, I was impressed with them.

The thing is neither team from Tuesday we’re going to set the summer alight but, obviously, I wouldn’t have given a shit once we got there. Poland are going to be crap as are Croatia. Actually, going back to Armenia, I’d rather see them than either of those two in a Georgia sort of way.

Anyway, give Page another campaign - even if it’s just the Nations League (I’m not sure when his contract up) - and see what happens