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

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Comments

  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    Southgate was pretty roundly mocked as an appointment. He’s turned that around and earned himself space from the press.

    There’s a lot more there to praise than I think is being suggested, even if thete’s also a lot to address.

    Lingard put in a lot of work and helped make England look dynamic, even if he faded in parts of games.

    Sterling needs to work on his finishing but he absolutely terrorised Croatia early in the game and did similar against Sweden. He stretched the back line like no one else. Rashford doesn’t have the same impact because he seems to want to take players on himself rather than run off the ball.

    Alli was not as good as we’ve seen for Tottenham but he still provided the only midfield creativity - winning the free kick and several smart through balls in the game that other attackers didn’t make the most of.

    The whole defence were generally pretty good. Kane did his job for a while. England have some really good RWB options.

    Sort out that midfield and they have a lot to offer
  • baracks_a_hammerbaracks_a_hammer
    I don’t think you can say with certainty what Sam would/would not have done with a longer reign. He was the one who gave Reece Burke a run of games at West Ham. And when he had us flying at the start of one of his seasons with us the football was v pleasing on the eye. Who knows what he would have done with a full complement of player me to choose from at national level. What I am certain of though is that the media would have been circling around him like vultures waiting for any small opportunity to swoop
  • BubblesNeverDiesBubblesNeverDies
    edited July 2018
    I wonder if the header from Perisic to Mandzukic to score their second would have been different if Trippier hadn't shoved Perisic in the back. The ball certainly would have taken a different trajectory and may well not have found Mandzukic. ;hmm
  • YeoldhammerYeoldhammer
    Wasn't his fault, Stones let Mandzukic run right by him. Momentary lapse of concentration on his part. Which was amusing considering he supposedly had cramp and needed lifting to hit feet from Alli and Co. lol
  • Cuz1Cuz1
    baracks_a_hammer said:

    I don’t think you can say with certainty what Sam would/would not have done with a longer reign. He was the one who gave Reece Burke a run of games at West Ham. And when he had us flying at the start of one of his seasons with us the football was v pleasing on the eye. Who knows what he would have done with a full complement of player me to choose from at national level. What I am certain of though is that the media would have been circling around him like vultures waiting for any small opportunity to swoop

    Games all about ifs if Carrol and Wilshire had been fit they’d have been on that plane
  • OutcastLondonerOutcastLondoner
    edited July 2018
    At the end of the day, I think the only real difference between the sides was Perisic. Yes, Croatia were stronger mentally and dominated but they weren’t doing all that much with it without him. He had the sharpness and drive to get ahead of walker for the goal, get that shot off that hit the post and nudge it to Mandzukic. Just a quality England didn’t have when they were on top
  • SuzanneClaretSuzanneClaret
    397E8D9E-6983-4AA1-9E1D-E64EAA5F1650
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    But we weren't talking about the women world cup. Different game.
  • ianbishoplegendianbishoplegend
    Need a plan B team, that doesn’t have Lingard and Alli in midfield. Dier for Henderson and Rashford for Sterling is not a upgrade.
  • Ace of ClubsAce of Clubs
    Prizes
  • Pearces_Left_FootPearces_Left_Foot
    The u20,s won the World Cup earlier in the year so it’s 0 really
  • SuzanneClaretSuzanneClaret
    IronHerb said:

    But we weren't talking about the women world cup. Different game.

    Different tournament maybe but a different game, no not all.

    Although having said that there is far less histrionics in the women’s game and very little rolling around like they’ve been hit by sniper fire.
  • BubblesNeverDiesBubblesNeverDies
    I thought it was very refreshing that there was no rolling around in the game, and virtually no diving either as far as I can remember.
    Suze, did you get a chance to correct the Argentinian girl on your course? ;biggrin
  • MunichHammerMunichHammer
    This morning we were listening to 3 Lions in the car. When we got out my daughter (6ys) asked me 'Daddy, why is the song called football's coming home even though football doesn't come home?"

    So young and she's already sussed it out. ;weep ;weep ;weep
  • BazshuayiBazshuayi
    ;weep
  • ASLEFshruggedASLEFshrugged
    edited July 2018
    I thought it was a 7pm ko, I'm working until 6:40pm.
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    Huge difference between the teams when counter attacking. Belgium surge forward and we seem to trickle forward.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Belgium looking a lot livelier

    Purely because they have Hazard and KDB pulling the strings
  • IronHerbIronHerb
    And because we have Sterling who is woeful.
  • EXETERHAMMEREXETERHAMMER
    Dull I'm afraid.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    I know Southgate has defied expectations etc and I'm happy for him but its games like this where I find him tactically pretty inflexible

    Apart from Panama we have lacked creativity with the 5-3-2 formation, I agree I would've liked to see Rashford up top with Kane with perhaps a few attackers behind him

    Either way this game is effectively a dead rubber...it really doesn't matter
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    So slow....so boring

    No imagination at all

    Just lile the 2nd half of croatia struggling to see us scoring from open play
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Heads the commentator say that we were second only to Iran for the fewest chances created from open play.

    That's really poor when you consider who else was in the competition.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Belgium showing us up now
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    Southgate with another like.for like change

    I dont care about this game but i really dont get some managers who persists whe the system isnt working
  • MunichHammerMunichHammer
    I disagree there OCS - we are opening up because we need a goal and Belgium are taking advantage.

    England played a decent tournament. For Southgate this is the first time he has come up against decent opposition in earnest. I am sure they will learn from it and be stronger next time around.
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    edited July 2018
    We are so slow and laboured going forward, the whole Belgium team can get back to defend before we approach their 18yard box.
  • OldCastleSwiftOldCastleSwift
    Whereas their attacks are quick and the movement and one-touch football is much better than ours, which is why I say they're showing us up.
  • WHU_Champo_league_in_7_yearsWHU_Champo_league_in_7_years
    But they also have better players than us

    KDB is arguably in the top 3 central midfielders in the world, Hazard is an ex pfa player of the year and potential Ronaldo replacement at Real, Lukaku is about as good as Kane and Mertens has got like 60 goals in the last 2 seasons for Napoli

    You chase the game you open yourself up....and world class players epxloit that space
  • MIAHammerMIAHammer
    I agree chasing the game will open yourselves up but that still doesn’t explain/excuse why we are so slow going forward. We just don’t seem to have the players for that. And I’m not just talking about this game. It is been the same since we got out of the group stage. Plenty of possession on the halfway line but we struggled moving forward from there. We lack a creative midfield player that can open up the opposition.
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