Post Match - England 1 - Croatia 2 (AET)

[Strokes]

It’s a shame but they did us proud in Russia, it’s nice to finally enjoy the national team playing the national sport again. No shame in losing when the effort was there. France would have walloped us anyway.

[whoareyaaa]

ScouseFox must be in pieces 

[Heathrow fox]

If the next World Cup is been played in November December then it’s going to be 8 years until we have these great summer nights again.England might not even qualify?

[Foxxed]

After the first goal we looked quality. I half started believing we could beat France.

 

Then we became complacent. From 40 minutes onwards they were better. They played with more commitment.

 

Kane was quiet. Alli didn't do that much. Sterling had the spark without the finish. But it was more a team failing: we failed to keep up the pressure.

 

Yet this is the first world cup I've enjoyed for years. I'm happy with the semis. I hope we can build on this.

[whoareyaaa]

Lingard done well tonight I thought out of everyone he kept going right till the end, was trying to get involved but just didn't happen for him on another day he puts that chance in the top bag and we are cruising at 2-0.

[Carl the Llama]

The thing that really bothers me, that really pisses me off, was that come Vardy's substitution onto the pitch I wasn't able to enjoy the moment that Leicester's main striker turned out for England in a World Cup semi final because I was far too angry that Southgate would wait until we only had about 8 minutes of extra time when we're losing against a closed shop to bring on a striker whose key feature is his pace and ability to run in behind defenders who now have no incentive at all to venture further than the 18 yard line.

 

I said previously that Gareth knows what Vardy is about but clearly that was total bollocks because anyone with half a clue would have brought off the utterly ineffectual Kane for him at half time when we knew Croatia were going to have to come at us or at the very least after the Croats equalised and began dominating play.

[Matt]

Not posted much on here recently.

 

Gutted, but proud.

 

I've finally got some emotion back about England!!

 

Ironically everything i've struggled to feel about Leicester in the last few months. Role reversal!

 

Alot to be positive about for the future. Well done!

Edited 11 July 2018 by Matt

[KingKoala]

Thought England had huge advantage in fatigue going into extra time and I was so wroing

[fuchsntf]

Stones and Walker,just couldnt take the pressure in the end...

Tippier and Maguire,Were our Rocks.Henderson player a top game,but neither Ali nor

Lingaard could make that step up,to give him that 90minute support.

Sterling should not of played has 2nd striker..but has a feeder out on the flanks...

Sterling and Ali lacks concentration and discipline in game mentality

We just didnt have that quality attacking midfielder.

Lingaard should be demanding the ball more,then drive and push forward.

He should of at least got his shot on target.

But we have a young Team,who just havent the experience in having to dig deep.

We needed someone like Moderic,but hes had over a decade of top experiences.

 

Just IMO..if Vardy had player after 55-60mins in the 2nd half,we would of got to the final.

Then...I dont think they would of beat France,but just to be in the final should of Been our glory.

 

No real complaints,just observations...Well done Southgate,well done England,

Croatia,just had the More and better experienced players.

 

The shame is that great 1st half we couldnt take the Initiative and convert our great chances.

2nd half we couldnt get behind them,we didnt attack the corners of the Park,Croatia did!!

 

My top English players through the Finals...

1st level....Trippier,Maguire,Pickford,

2nd level... Stones,Henderson,Lingaard,Kane,Rose,Young

 

Should of done better...Ali,Sterling,Rashford...3 players who havent advanced or even advanced

Their potential too much in this Wcup..and should of Been the 3 who could have Stampd their names,

on this tournament.   They are still young,so they can still gather that extra quality needed at

International level. Southgate like Puel,needs to find a midfield maestro....

 

 

[Stadt]

Wounding. The last time I truly enjoyed following Egland was when I was 8 years old. On Devonshire Green in Sheff there was 6,000 there apparently, the belief was palpable - hopefully this paradigm shift is enough to get everybody behind England again in the future.

 

There’s enough talent in the upcoming generations that we just might pull up some further trees. My overwhelming emotion is disappoinmet but in a close second is pride, almost unbridled pride. 

[Aesc]

I'm gutted because it feels like such a missed opportunity. But it's nice to have some optimism about the national team again. Add a bit more consistent creativity in the final third (and maybe more of a clinical edge) and we have the basis of a a decent team for years to come.

[Stadt]

I think Lallana's injury was a huge miss, in Southgate's early tenure (and Allardyce's) he was our most important player and he offers more creativity than any other English midfielder. He's very capable of playing as an 8 too, which he's more suited to than Alli or Lingard - given our inability to create in open play I think if he was fit he just might have made a difference. 

Edited 11 July 2018 by Wookie

[Foxy harry]

Lets look on the positive side, we can hate Kane again now. Big nosed c**t

[Stadt]

2 minutes ago, Foxy harry said:

Lets look on the positive side, we can hate Kane again now. Big nosed c**t

How can you hate any of these lot? Spurs aren't our rivals, we won the league and I hope all members of this squad get a decent reception at our place.

[StriderHiryu]

Not a fan of the Spurs players usually but I have new found respect for Kane and especially Trippier. I think they did the country proud.

 

Over the course of the tournament the weakest players in the starting 11 were Alli and Sterling for me, who were OK in patches but neither of whom really made any difference at key times.

 

Pickford, Maguire and Trippier all made themselves household names from nowhere. All 3 should be extremely proud of their performances.

[Guest Harrydc]

The last month or so has been strange seeing the country come together like it has. That's what most people I feel will look back on , and hopefully the country remains unified. But like Ive said to people, it's time to move on and get back to reality and life.

[Foxy harry]

11 minutes ago, Wookie said:

How can you hate any of these lot? Spurs aren't our rivals, we won the league and I hope all members of this squad get a decent reception at our place.

Simply for the fact I cant think of anybody else to hate

[Bob Weasel Fox]

1 hour ago, Carl the Llama said:

The thing that really bothers me, that really pisses me off, was that come Vardy's substitution onto the pitch I wasn't able to enjoy the moment that Leicester's main striker turned out for England in a World Cup semi final because I was far too angry that Southgate would wait until we only had about 8 minutes of extra time when we're losing against a closed shop to bring on a striker whose key feature is his pace and ability to run in behind defenders who now have no incentive at all to venture further than the 18 yard line.

 

I said previously that Gareth knows what Vardy is about but clearly that was total bollocks because anyone with half a clue would have brought off the utterly ineffectual Kane for him at half time when we knew Croatia were going to have to come at us or at the very least after the Croats equalised and began dominating play.

Totally agree 

 

great post, spot on

[murphy]

For all the plaudits that Southgate has had because he seems like a nice chap, he had no answer when they put three up front pushing our wing backs into full backs and thus dominating midfield and possession.  Outhought tonight and the players were also outfought which was disappointing.  Could have gone 4-4-2 or matched them up.

 

Had we won tonight, we are a million miles from France's level.  Had we managed to actually beat France, maybe set pieces and a lot of luck, we would have been the worst world champions in history.

 

England have no business being anywhere near the final but an amazingly kind draw gave us a fun ride.  You can't blame the players for being short of elite international quality, so well done to them for getting to the semis.  Maguire has been a revelation but we should not have let a kind draw raise our expectations and believe the hype.  This team is pretty average.

 

Second half was tailor made for Vardy by the way.

Edited 11 July 2018 by murphy

[ScouseFox]

absolutely gutted. we were rubbish tonight after we scored and that’s about it. didn’t deserve much and nearly hung on for penalties but didn’t. nightmare. 

[ozleicester]

Disappointing result, we were good enough to win.

Maguire had a sub par (by his high standards) game and will learn from it.

Southgate was too slow to make changes.

Vardy didnt have the time or opportunity to make an impact.

Kane looked out of sorts i think possibly injured and shouldve come off

Sterling worried the Croats early but needed to be changed before they scored.

 

Mistakes were made, lessons will hopefully be learnt.

 

The Semi finals FAR exceeded my expectations all over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nod.E]

We just need a midfield. 

 

Modric and Rakitic

Kante and Pogba

De Bruyne and Dembele

 

All far superior.

 

There's only so much you can expect Henderson to cover. 

 

Difficult to blame Southgate, he's got us to the semis with a one man midfield.

 

Lingard and Alli are luxury players. That's fine but if you're going to have even one luxury player, they need to provide a real threat. Neither did.

 

Football is dictated by momentum and pressure, which by and large comes from the centre of midfield. 

 

The simple fact of the matter is that we are crying out for an engine with an eye for a pass. 

 

Hopefully one of those springs up from nowhere in the next few years. If Rashford can become world class in that time as well, we'll have a decent side.

 

Difficult to take in, all the same. When you get this far you always have a chance.

[Super_horns]

A half too far?

 

We certainly played well for 45 minutes and should have scored more.

 

However we then say back and showed inexperience I feel letting Croatia back in the game and dominating.

 

Some are suggest their Walker was done by a high foot for the first goal but that is maybe clutching at straws.

 

Winner was messy - sort of summed up our performance a bit.

 

An excellent effort overall but just undone by a more experienced and street wise side.

[foxinmyhouse]

The ball is passed back too much from our own attacking positions, why cant most people see it. None of the pundits seem to mention it, none of the coaching staff seem to tell them to stop. There were many times in the tournament and many in this match alone where we had a  attacking situation or throw in near their box yet the ball went backward.  A lot of the chances Croatia had come from this, all it does is create  needless panic. Henderson and stones  and some of the others dawdle on the ball too much and its taken off them, its as if they think they are the only ones playing.

 

kane keeps dropping deep meaning we have no real striker in attacking positions. He has been praised all tournament for doing it yet now we have lost the itv pudits said he dropped deep too much. Ridiculously the same pundits kept criticising vardy for not dropping deep.  Also he was poor again tonight and as I feared before the world cup began the fact he was made captain meant there was no way he would be replaced.

 

Sterling cant keep being picked as a striker just for the fact he runs. Again he run around but offered nothing else. He takes too long to decide what to do, he falls over, his crosses hit the first man, he does not win headers. Vardy come on and won a header straight away. Too long the same debate about sterling has been taking place, 2014/2016/ and now 2018. How much time is he going to be given. Vardy is 31, so his chance maybe gone now. A player with one of the best strike conversion rates in Europe  who did have a good record for england yet never got a real chance because there is some sort of media love in  with sterling, as to not hurt his feelings. I just dont understand how every other striker gets one chance to impress, one chance to score and if they dont do it, this is seen as confirmation that sterling should play.

 

 

Moving forward more creative players need to come into the team, deli alli is way  overrated so his place should not  be guaranteed just because of kane. Sterling needs to be dropped and some one else deserves a chance. I also wish that in one of the meaningless friendlies we have prior to tournaments that right from the beginning we play as if we are losing and need a goal. Set the team up to have one less defender,   two extra strikers etc, Change the formation to offer non stop attack. Try everything, Even if we lose it would not matter but at least we would have some sort of plan.

 

Im happy we got this far but also hugely upset, I doubt we will ever get this chance again with so many of the big teams not qualifying or getting knocked out early.    I cant see us doing anything in qatar with the heat. And when the wc  is  increased to 46 teams and some of the bigger teams that missed out qualify it will probably become even harder.

 

 

[Arriba Los Zorros]

1 hour ago, Wookie said:

I think Lallana's injury was a huge miss, in Southgate's early tenure (and Allardyce's) he was our most important player and he offers more creativity than any other English midfielder. He's very capable of playing as an 8 too, which he's more suited to than Alli or Lingard - given our inability to create in open play I think if he was fit he just might have made a difference. 

 

Very good point. Lallana instead of Lingard may just have had us in the final.