World Cup 2018

[hamilboy]

Southgate was to loyal to Alli Young Sterling,Alli because he was not fit his legs went after the second match.Young is never a left wing back and never will be.Sterling put him in a blue shirt somtimes he is unplayable put him in a England shirt he could not trap a bag of cement.

[elav trop 1876]

Southgate was to loyal to Alli Young Sterling,Alli because he was not fit his legs went after the second match.Young is never a left wing back and never will be.Sterling put him in a blue shirt somtimes he is unplayable put him in a England shirt he could not trap a bag of cement.

 

was hoping he would have taken sessegnon and poss shelvey (although he would have got sent off v Columbia)but think this would still have left us short

[Biddulph_PV]

Big, big opportunity missed for England. I’m 40 years old and I cannot see us ever winning the tournament in my life time. This really was the equivalent of the season Leicester won the Prem in terms of just how weak the main contenders were at the same time. All this saying they’ve expected expectations is absolute nonsense. Given the size of and wealth within the UK football industry, I’d have thought a semi-final spot was the minimum requirement tbh. It’s a shame that’s it’s got to the stage where the mainstream media see a semi final exit as a reason to be proud.

[valiant_593]

Big, big opportunity missed for England. I’m 40 years old and I cannot see us ever winning the tournament in my life time. This really was the equivalent of the season Leicester won the Prem in terms of just how weak the main contenders were at the same time. All this saying they’ve expected expectations is absolute nonsense. Given the size of and wealth within the UK football industry, I’d have thought a semi-final spot was the minimum requirement tbh. It’s a shame that’s it’s got to the stage where the mainstream media see a semi final exit as a reason to be proud.

They’ve done fantastic to expect semi finals given how poor we are in tournaments, how poor our squad is on paper compared to previous years and the fact we’re only 16th in the world is absalute nonsense.

 

Brilliant showing overall from us.

 

Tonight we dominated the first half but didn’t take our chances yet again. Sterling impressed me first half as well Ali and obviously trippier. Second half they looked a real strong outfit as we tired and if any side deserved to win it would be them.

 

They can all come back with their head held high. Trippier, stones, mcquire and Pickford were fantastic.

[TylerB]

Kane was shocking last night by his own usual standards He missed an absolute sitter, one that would have more than likely won the game for us, and also dropped back far too deep. When we needed him more than ever before he had arguably his poorest game in an England shirt. He might win the Golden Boot because of his penalties but I don't think he's hit the heights he's capable of this tournament, though obviously a massive improvement on the Euros.

 

Tripper has arguably been the best player in the tournament, at least at the back. Maguire and Pickford wouldn't be too far behind. Henderson and Lingard did well, and Sterling was our biggest threat despite not actually scoring and Southgate made a blunder taking him off for Rashford, the latter who continues to flatter to deceive when given any sort of opportunity. And Dele Alli was absolutely abysmal throughout other than his simple headed goal against Sweden. Shocking But he doesn't pick himself.

 

We all like Southgate a lot but for me his subs were pretty awful throughout the tournament and none more so than tonight. When we needed drive and strength he brought on Eric ******* Dier (again!) instead of Loftus-Cheek. And Rashford should never be considered as an actual striker at the highest level. He should have replaced Alli and not Sterling, the latter who Croatia were scared shitless of.

 

Croatia were there for the taking but some bad misses and poor use of subs really cost us a once in a lifetime opportunity. In a way it probably did us a favour as France would more than likely have put 3 or 4 past us which would have been awful in a final.

[TylerB]

England 3-0,Kane et al must be in dreamland thinking about a defence that includes Lovren.

 

Well Lovren and his mate handled him pretty easily last night.

[Paul6754]

Paul6754

 

when players aren't running you need runners to create space the only reason sterling is in the starting line up, once our levels dropped we offered nothing because our movement had gone , but agree as said before our inability to keep the ball, progress forward with the right paced pass is a step the England team need to make before we win anything...but this is a starting point and hopefully the kind of players we need are in the production line.

 

Of course you need runners to create space and run into space but you also need a player(s) who can play a quality pass, a final quality ball and who can take a man on and create opportunity. If just having the ability to run would constitute an International footballer or a footballer of any standard then Usain Bolt or Mo Farah would be pro-footballers.

 

Go back through International tournaments from 1966, the first one I watched, and you will find that a characteristic of the tourney winner was they had in center midfield a quality passing player who could act as a fulchrum of the team, Charlton, Gerson, Overath, Netzer, Zidane, Pirlo etc etc etc.

 

England don't have a passing player of that class but in John Joe Shelvey there is a very good passing player who would play better with better players around him, ie in the England team.

 

I have to admit this is a bit of a bee in my bonnet ever since Alf took off Bobby Charlton in Mexico and replaced him with Colin bloody Bell, he could cover every blade of grass but couldn't do anything with the damn ball.

[Paul6754]

Kane was shocking last night by his own usual standards He missed an absolute sitter, one that would have more than likely won the game for us, and also dropped back far too deep. When we needed him more than ever before he had arguably his poorest game in an England shirt. He might win the Golden Boot because of his penalties but I don't think he's hit the heights he's capable of this tournament, though obviously a massive improvement on the Euros.

 

Tripper has arguably been the best player in the tournament, at least at the back. Maguire and Pickford wouldn't be too far behind. Henderson and Lingard did well, and Sterling was our biggest threat despite not actually scoring and Southgate made a blunder taking him off for Rashford, the latter who continues to flatter to deceive when given any sort of opportunity. And Dele Alli was absolutely abysmal throughout other than his simple headed goal against Sweden. Shocking But he doesn't pick himself.

 

We all like Southgate a lot but for me his subs were pretty awful throughout the tournament and none more so than tonight. When we needed drive and strength he brought on Eric ******* Dier (again!) instead of Loftus-Cheek. And Rashford should never be considered as an actual striker at the highest level. He should have replaced Alli and not Sterling, the latter who Croatia were scared shitless of.

 

Croatia were there for the taking but some bad misses and poor use of subs really cost us a once in a lifetime opportunity. In a way it probably did us a favour as France would more than likely have put 3 or 4 past us which would have been awful in a final.

 

IMO Rashford has lost his way at Man U under Jose please bugger off Mourhihno, he'd better serve England by moving abroad.

[Howjy04]

Well Lovren and his mate handled him pretty easily last night.

 

Yes Tylerla.Lovren’s first half performance was worthy of him getting an England shirt for the second half.Isn’t Henderson a Scottish name?I wonder if ......Karius,Lovren,Henderson,oh dear.Meanwhile back at the French camp the mighty PP prepares to be elevated to legendary heights.That 90m looks a bit of a snip don’t you think Tylerla?

[geosname]

First half we played... second half we played like it was a done deal and had a right to go through... they played like they wanted to win.... if they play like that against France they will win.

We stood and watched and Rome burned around us.

[Aussie Rules]

For a young country of 4 million Geo they must be in 7th heaven already

[For Us All]

Same as I said in the group stages we tend to ease up in the second half of games.I don't know if it's down to tiredness or tactics but we definitely ease off.We got murdered down both sides with Young and Trippier getting overrun.Dropping off protecting a 1-0 lead is a dangerous strategy.

[TylerB]

Pickford - Great tournament after a nervy start and looks like he's set to be our keeper for years to come! 8/10

 

Walker - His pace is a massive attribute and does add some much needed speed to our backline, but he's not a centre-back and looked like he had a mistake in him every game. 6/10

 

Stones - Had a pretty solid tournament but did have his usual moment of switching off, one that really cost England. For that he loses a mark. 7/10

 

Maguire - Takes the odd risk but had a brilliant tournament and is one of the success stories. Would love to see him at Liverpool alongside Van Dijk. 8/10

 

Trippier - Best wing-back in the competition and has massively enhanced his reputation. Deserved his moment of glory with his free-kick. 9/10

 

Young - Never convincing, but neither was Danny Rose. I think it won't be long until Ryan Sessegnon has made that spot his own. 6/10

 

Henderson - Played really well and was rightly getting some plaudits. Really needs to do better with his shooting though! 7.5/10

 

Lingard - Loads of energy, scored a worldie and was much better than Alli. Shame that he missed a sitter last night as that was the game right there. 7.5/10

 

Alli - Scored a header but offered next to nothing else. Doesn't get forward the same as he does for his club, and generally looked completely our of sorts. 5/10

 

Sterling - Caused problems every game but looks completely shot of confidence when it comes to the last pass or shot. Desperately needs a goal as his record for England is shocking. 7/10

 

Kane - Might end up the most unconvincing Golden Boot winner of all time. Since the group stages he's struggled. Dropped far too deep and also looked knackered. 7/10

 

Southgate - Has restored some pride and belief back into our national team while always coming across as a really classy bloke. His substitutions were generally poor though. Why was Cheek so under-used? Why did Alli stay on the pitch last night when he was awful throughout, and Sterling taken off despite being our biggest threat? 8/10

[TylerB]

IMO Rashford has lost his way at Man U under Jose please bugger off Mourhihno, he'd better serve England by moving abroad.

 

He's also making a decent fist of destroying Paul Pogba.

 

Rashford should join Liverpool. He has the attributes - Klopp will turn him into a genuine world-beater.

[onestepatatime]

Why oh why do Teams, when going a goal up and seemingly in good control of a game, suddenly resort to defence and backing off completely? It's really frustrating watching these poor tactics.

 

Games are won by scoring goals. Why don't these managers realise that when you take your foot of the pedal and try and defend you rarely win anything?

 

As an ardent Valiant home and away I've seen my Team attempt to block midfield and back off to the penalty area in an effort to "save" a point or a one goal advantage. I didn't expect England to do that last night, particularly after the first half. Croatia were there for the taking, if we had forwards and midfielders being aggressive.

 

Totally dejected this morning watching a very poor tactical and inept display after half time.

 

OK, we did more than maybe a lot felt we would do but in context do we honestly look likely to win anything yet? Some good young players coming through but they HAVE to be coached and managed in a way that we attack and make the opposition scared of us. Will we ever have that mentality? I fear not.