I'm a big fan of the ELO ranking system. Under that, Belgium are 3rd in the world and England 10th. That seems about right to me
FIFA World Cup 2018 - 3rd/4th Place Play-off [14 July] **spoilers**
- Thread starter Cosimo
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I'm a big fan of the ELO ranking system. Under that, Belgium are 3rd in the world and England 10th. That seems about right to me
Caporegime
I’m not that convinced after this tournament to be honest and I’m trying to stay positive. If we were in any of the other groups apart from maybe A, I think we’d have struggled to even make the last 16.
It’s all well and good saying in 2 or 4 years the players will be better but we have no creativity and likely never get a draw like this again for another century.
It’s all well and good saying in 2 or 4 years the players will be better but we have no creativity and likely never get a draw like this again for another century.
In the past we haven't had youth sides winning tournaments at u17,u19 and u20 level though
That's true, I suppose that's something, it just depends if anything comes from it.
England didn't fluke anything. They won with well practiced gameplans to score from set pieces. They lost when they couldn't put this plan into effect. Croatia forced England to sit deep and consequently few corners and free kicks were won. England weren't terrible against Belgium, but they were second best. Their play in the final third needs to be quicker and more decisive, keep these players together and this can come. They know what needs to be done to improve.
I can't see it either - the likes of Dele Alli and Stirling aren't going to improve radically, Vardy's play style just isn't a good match for these kind of games, Kane probably has some room for improvement. I've been impressed by how some of the players stepped up and I think they are capable of producing in these kind of games though and I thought Southgate largely was starting to get a grip for the strategy required.
EDIT: I'm not sure Kane as captain really worked though but without being able to contrast it I might be doing him an injustice - Henderson or Trippier would have been better choices for captain based on how they were operating.
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Soldato
This, but for the whole tournament to be honest!
Kane has had an abysmal World Cup that his goals have really masked in my opinion - 3 penalties, 2 reaction goals and a deflection he knew absolutely nothing about - I can't think of another shot on target he's had the whole tournament! Yes, I know he had to show composure for the penalties and for the 2 against Tunisia he had to be ion his toes but you watch him while England do their ever-so-entertaining saga of passing back and forth across the midfield and you will see absolutely no movement from him to give anyone an option of passing to! All he did all tournament was draw fouls!
And as for the defence, 7 games and one clean sheet - not particularly good when you consider the calibre (or lack thereof!) of the opposition! (but then I guess that's what you get when you shoe-horn a right back in as a centre-half!
Glad they did as well as they did but they need to get a hell of a lot better if they ever hope to do this well (in terms of getting to a semi) in my lifetime!
Kane did OK first 2-3 games but then seemed to just fade - I'm probably wrong but I wonder if he was concerning himself too much with some of the team's weaknesses which were becoming more and more exposed against better teams and putting him off his game - IMO someone else would have been a better choice for captain even though the captain role isn't hugely involved in the game - it still tends to infer some responsibility that will be on the person's mind.
Permabanned
Would have thought some of you grumpy old men would be happy getting a semi.
Caporegime
That's not much different from the FIFA rankings: 3rd and 12th respectively. All the rankings systems suffer from the same flaw: teams are time variable. You can rank a country, but the team is something different.
Caporegime
Nice.
Man of Honour
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Haha, beaten by Belgium again. Can’t believe people are expecting more in future competitions. Our only hope is the current youth side.
At the start of the tournament I would have been more than happy with a 4th place. However, we have certainly miised a chance of a cup win with how things panned out.
Going forward, we need to look at the way young players are given chances in the first teams of the bigger teams in the PL.
Look at the younger players at pretty much all the top 6 teams, all out on loan to championship or league 1 sides. They need to be given a chance playing at higher level for there development.
Unfortunately the state of the game now is instant results or the manager is sacked so they will always be reluctant to give youth a chance.
Manages would rather go out &spend £50m on a player rather than take a chance on a youth player.
Going forward, we need to look at the way young players are given chances in the first teams of the bigger teams in the PL.
Look at the younger players at pretty much all the top 6 teams, all out on loan to championship or league 1 sides. They need to be given a chance playing at higher level for there development.
Unfortunately the state of the game now is instant results or the manager is sacked so they will always be reluctant to give youth a chance.
Manages would rather go out &spend £50m on a player rather than take a chance on a youth player.
Caporegime
Back to proper football.
Soldato
Looking forward to the Premier League starting again... I hate international football as a whole, but the World Cup is always good.
Man of Honour
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At least it has been an entertaining World Cup.
Caporegime
Very entertaining, and Pickford has been cracking.