Dire all round. And if that presenting team is what we've got to look forward to in June then I hope the beeb get most of the games!!!!!'

The last 20 mins was fine TBH. A bottle of chilled Savignon Blanc (sp?) helped immensely.

ITV football has been crap since Big Ron went. At least he was funny.

Jingle jangle fat **** ron! Wonder what he's upto these days?

Couldn't agree more with the OP. Really looking forward to the World Cup, just not the England matches and the crap pundits and the adverts and the media circus and the casual fans and the…

and the…

Lack of scottish representation (as usual) perhaps?

I was watching it in Portuguese in Brazil.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

times 4 😀

Desperately trying to learn all the football related vocab possible in time for the world cup.

backhander, I see what you're thinking there but you're wrong I'm afraid. I'm English, just don't care about the national team anything like as much as my provincial club season ticket.

"Is it the world cup or Euro 96?"

just don't care about the national team anything like as much as my provincial club season ticket

Pretty much the same here, I'm more than likely missing 2 of the group games and for the first time since Italia 1990 I can't say I'm all that bothered.

It's ridiculously over-hyped, hi-jacked by part-time football fans and I don't honestly feel part of it.

Having said that, I'll probably get drawn more and more into it if/when we progress beyond those games!

Fair enough mrgreedy, it smellled like a jibe which normally comes from our friends north of the border. I'm not a footie fan (eggchaser) but will follow the world cup and england. Don't really know why but I'm not expecting much.

It was a pretty poor display on the whole by England although to play badly and still win 3-1 is not such a bad thing. Fortunately didn't see much of it on the telly – listened to the commentary on Radio 5. I suppose the one good thing so far is that the media hype seems a bit more understated compared to previous campaigns. Who knows – we may even do quite well.

Why is it ITV just cannot get their shit together when it comes to football coverage? I feel sorry for Adrian Chiles…

there is no other country in the world that would moan because their team had beat a good side but played inconsistently . same shit every time, the media will have lost us the contest before we kick a ball. yes there were iffy bits but some really good signs and good link ups- 2 goals nad a hand ball . the argentinians would have declared crouch a national hero.

The argentines would have also been 3 up at half time due to the sh¥te defending! That for me is the first port of call. As a huge england fan I desperately want to see them do well but giving away so much possesion to an ok side is bad. A team such as Spain would have made us pay big time. I think I recall seeing Mexico had 60+% of the ball at one point in the first half! Just over two weeks to sort it because I don't think the group games are gonna be as easy as some think.
As for the southgate and chiles combination? It was just so dull!

Anyone else think you might not play @ 100% if it was a dodgy pitch and a strong chance of ending your World Cup before it'd begun?

ITV has and always been pish for England. I'm sure we lose more games when they cover it, anyone got the stats?

… and was it me, or was the picture on ITV gosh darned ropey? Are they in collusion with Sky to try and force you into paying for HD?