World Cup KO: En-ger-land, En-ger-land, En-ger-land (was 'Group G')

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Comments

  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    I’m trying to get a response from my Airbnb host in Dubrovnik - I think I’ll be waiting a while
  • HammerexHammerex
    On the bright side " sir" Robert Moore is still the only English man to lift the
    World Cup.
  • claretandblueskyclaretandbluesky
    Did better than expected and provided a world cup us fans would never have anticipated, however I think much of it down to the passage we had rather than our ability. It really doesn't stack up on that we have suddenly turned some corner nationally.

    Tunisia won
    Panama won
    Belgium Lost
    Colombia drew ( through on penalties)
    Sweden won
    Croatia drew (lost in extra time)

    It's hardly form that suggests some new dawn. What was positive was Southgate showed class and managed to create a good team spirit and will have served his players in terms of furthering them very well.
  • ClaretandBlueforLifeClaretandBlueforLife
    edited July 2018
    Well done England and well done Gareth Southgate and his staff, you gave me back my passion for England which had been lost/killed off under the dull direness of Roy Hodgson. We’ll never know how well England would have done under Alladyce but I feel sure we’d not have progressed as far under him.
    Disappointed yes, but from my pre World Cup prediction that we’d struggle to get out of the group and be home early that I posted somewhere on here a few months back Gareth Southgate and his team have proved me wrong and I am happy to admit I was so wrong.
  • chicagohammerchicagohammer
    A really good effort, Southgate proved himself to be a class act and the team can hold their heads high.

    Shame to fall at the last hurdle, losing a semi final in any tournament is tough, but we lacked something in the final third, that killer pass, first touch control and general awareness.

    Was a fun ride ;clap
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    On the bright side, it would have been hard to utter the words Dele Alli MBE
  • VorselaarhammerVorselaarhammer
    I think Croatia deserved it, no complaints.

    But the young lions did us proud and put a smile back on our national team...

    Look forward to watching England again....
  • mikemike
    We came out second half a different team.Instead of looking for the second goal we sat back and started to defend deep.It was only a matter of time before crotia scored.
    In the end Croatia deserved it and anyway being a club over country sort of person i get far more upset when west ham lose.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Has to make you wonder when he brought on Dier for Henderson....surely a wilshere or shelvey wouldve been better choice

    Hell even carroll...i dont rate him particularly highly but you need to get the ball up the pitch why not lump him on hes effective with what he does...surely hes worth more than Welbeck who had no role

    All in all i was disappointed as i dont rate croatia but we went a hell of a lot fruther then i thought we would

  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    We lacked creativity from our midfield. Once we got out of the group stage, we struggled to score from open play.
    Good overall result from this WC as we never expected to get this far but disappointed in our performance today.
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    On a separate note, I didn’t even realize Kyle Walker was playing until the start of the 2nd half. Both my mate and I looked at each other at the same time and said “was he playing in the 1st half or did we make a substitution?”. We had to look up the team sheet to figure it out.
    And it had nothing to do with the fact that we were watching the game in a bar. ;whistle
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    I’ve heard a lot said about how England have “overachieved”. I may be in the minority but I don’t agree with that. I do agree that we have got further than expected, but that is a different point - that was due to a series of results elsewhere opening up that side of the draw completely. England were in probably one of the easiest groups to get out of (yet only just scraped a draw v Tunisia). A side littered with players who command fees of 50m plus. On any given day you would expect the side to beat Columbia minus their star player, and certainly Sweden, who no longer had theirs. And more often than not we would expect to beat Croatia. What an opportunity blown. Big time.
  • Pearces_Left_FootPearces_Left_Foot
    We needed that 2nd goal in the first half when well on top Kane’s double miss was that big chance he could of squared it for a tap in for sterling. Bringing on two spurs players made the spurs effect too much no wonder we lost :smiley: I am not sure Kane is the right man to be captain I did not see him encouraging players etc in fact I barely saw him atall since the Columbia game. England have a good core of hard working players we need to add a left back to replace young and some creativity in midfield and maybe a few less spurs players lol
  • PrestonHammerPrestonHammer
    baracks.

    We beat Tunisia, admittedly we scored the winner in the 92nd minute but we created more than enough chances to win it well before then.

    In the second half last night we could have done with Andy Carroll because a lot of the time we were just hoofing up the field to either Vida or Lovren's heads.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    It’s at times like this you appreciate having a player like Arnie - someone with that bit of magic who can make things happen and turn a game. There was no such X factor in the England squad.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    edited July 2018
    Baracks ;ok

    Agree with all of that.

    When you break it down, we scraped past an average Tunisia team, beat a pub team with the aid of a couple of penalties, limped past Colombia, beat Sweden and lost to the two half-decent teams we played.

    Now I don't mean to be negative - I actually like what Southgate is trying to do - but there have been a few questions marks over some of his decisions for me. The squad for a start; no Wilshere or Shelvey, as has previously been said, and Welbeck's inclusion were a bit short-sighted IMO. His persistence with playing Sterling and Alli, who I thought had a terrible tournament, was also frustrating, and he left it too late to sub them yesterday, too.

    I guess I'm just a bit sore because it was our best opportunity to win a major tournament in my lifetime. I don't think Germany will be as poor as they have been this time round, and to have made the semi-finals without having to face any major nations is a situation that is unlikely to present itself again any time soon.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    At the end of the day, sometimes when the door is slightly ajar as an underdog (which in terms of the tournament as a whole at the start England would have been), you have to seize the moment. Just like Greece did. Just like Leicester did. There might not be such an opportunity again for a long while.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    PrestonHammer said:

    In the second half last night we could have done with Andy Carroll because a lot of the time we were just hoofing up the field to either Vida or Lovren's heads.

    I said when the squad was announced that Carroll would have been of more value than Welbeck. He is a proper Plan B; perhaps not in keeping with Southgate's philosophy, but he's proved with us on a couple of occassions during the season just gone that he can be very effective from the bench (versus West Brom and Stoke).

    Missed a trick in leaving him out, IMO.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    And another thing. Just how bad a miss was the Kane rebound? I mean he pulled it back to create the angle and from, what, 2 yards how on earth did he miss the target? Shocking. That was the game right there. If you are truly world class you simply cannot fluff your lines in moments like these. Top level sport takes no prisoners
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    The keeper saved it.
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    Did he? His rebound hit the post, then came out and hit the keeper? I’m talking about the rebound not the original save by the keeper
  • Pearces_Left_FootPearces_Left_Foot
    For me its another time in big games where Kane has gone missing it has happened too many times FA Cup semi final , PL title run ins and now England games he is great at banging them in against lesser opposition but when he comes to a game with some pressure against quality opponents he does n't do it. He is a v good players but nowhere need world class Manduzic had barely a sniff but when his chance came bang back of the net.
  • LukerzLukerz
    edited July 2018
    Unfortunately what yesterday showed was that we just aren't good enough to beat a half decent opponent. Croatia I would say are probably an 8/10 team, whereas England more a 7. Our key players didn't produce & the occasion got the better of us after HT. First half was as comfortable as it has been, but we retreated during the second, didn't appear to have the ambition to make it two & ended up paying the price. Kane, Sterling, Lingard, Ali etc all ineffective as the latter three have been all tournament to be honest. But this side has come across as more 'likeable' & I think that was the main reason for the feelgood factor & the support across the nation. As many have pointed out, victories over Tunisia, Panama, Columbia & Sweden are not really anything to return home as 'heroes' over, but we did well to still come through those games (other than Panama) & reach the semis thanks to the favourable draw & underachievement of the better nations. I think yesterday was too big an occasion & they didn't seem to know what to do once the game started to turn against them. Whilst we all like Southgate, I think there are still doubts over his ability to make game-changing decisions during a match when it is not going our way.

    I agree that it seems like a massive opportunity lost. Croatia, whilst decent, were certainly beatable, but there just wasn't enough in that performance yesterday to come close to winning the game. Every tournament is different & I don't think the fact we reached the semis is in any way a predictor of how we'll do in the next major tournament, so phrases like "we need to build on this" are almost irrelevant because next tournament it will be a different squad, different XI, different players for other teams, different managers etc. The core players will remain (Stones, Pickford, Ali, Kane, Sterling) but beyond that you just don't know.

    But if we'd been offered a semi final extra time 2-1 defeat back in May, we would have all taken it.
  • BazshuayiBazshuayi
    Whilst everyone is obviously disappointed and, yes, we missed a golden opportunity (but France are IMO comfortably stronger than Croatia anyway) but the positives have been there to be seen.

    e.g. Southgates reputation totally grew. A new system/philosophy which we adapted to pretty well and got plenty of positive comments from other teams players/former players etc plus a team spirit and bond I've not seen before

    Our youngsters have won world cups and Toulon tournaments recently which further boosts us. Lads who have experienced winning things early

    Perhaps the midfield creativity will come from one or two of them.

    Our current side has plenty of young players who now have big tournament experience allied to champions league too

    The youngest players like Loftus Cheek, Rashford, Stones will surely improve. Perhaps players like Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Rhian Brewster etc from the younger sides will fill that creativity void too?

    Over all I now feel a lot more positive about the national side and its potential. Those recent World Cup wins etc already gave me hope prior to the Russia 2018. We have something to build on and, after Iceland, that seemed a long way away...

    Disappointed but more proud
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    It has to be said, perisic’s equaliser was a wonderful wonderful goal. Unbelievable cross and incredible technique for the finish - he had no right at all to score from there. Dare I say it, Arnie-esque.

    Game changer.
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    Bring on the Euros
  • SuzanneClaretSuzanneClaret
    What a fantastic tournament, it brought me a actual joy ;biggrin
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    edited July 2018
    Lukerz said:

    Whilst we all like Southgate, I think there are still doubts over his ability to make game-changing decisions during a match when it is not going our way.
    .

    ;ok

    We all* like him because (in part) of how the media has chosen to portray him. He's been given an easy ride, imo

    The doubts about his ability persist because his ability is in doubt! (again, imo) He, like the team, is inexperienced at this level and he, unlike the team, is inexperienced at club level. He was promoted beyond his level of qualifications and experience. Time will tell if he will grow into the job.



    *I actually am indifferent.
  • MrsGreyMrsGrey
    edited July 2018
    Pearces_Left_Foot said:

    he is great at banging them in against lesser opposition but when he comes to a game with some pressure against quality opponents he does n't do it.

    That's partly (imo) because better opposition are better at marking him out of the game. Plus, he suffers because of the limitations of the team against better opposition: he's a finisher but last night he was coming so deep to get the ball simply because we had nobody in MF creative enough to get it to him up front. So we were triply-weakened. No MF creativity, our best striker out of position, and Kane not occupying 2 opposition defenders.
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    Well he did have a 1 on 1 with the keeper and an open goal from 1 m out.
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