FIFA World Cup 2018 - Semi-finals [10/11 July] **spoilers**

MikeTheNative said:
Have England really improved under Southgate? They beat all the teams I would expect them too but have come up short against decent opposition.
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I'd say much improved. Remember Iceland!

We seem to have this belief that England are better than they actually are. Still a very long way to go, a very very long way but we have definitely improved.
 
TheOracle said:
I'd say much improved. Remember Iceland!

We seem to have this belief that England are better than they actually are. Still a very long way to go, a very very long way but we have definitely improved.
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cheesyboy said:
When was the last time England beat all the teams you would expect them to?
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Good points :p

On the whole though I think for the sum of it's parts the team preformed as I expected it too anyway. There has been a lot better England teams on paper do a lot worse.
 
I think it is fairly easy to be critical of the footballing performance of the England team in objective terms.

However that just bring a negative spin on the tournament for us. It ignores the huge amount of goodwill they have generated through their humility and dignity off the pitch. After 25 years of a really toxic relationship between England and its football team this team is amazing. I love them and I’m so proud to have them represent England.
 
MikeTheNative said:
Have England really improved under Southgate? They beat all the teams I would expect them too but have come up short against decent opposition.
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You've answered your own question. In previous tournaments we haven't beaten the teams we'd expect then to. So that's an improvement.

Also, most goals England have ever scored at a WC, hat-tricks, a likely golden boot winner, etc. All good achievements.
 
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If we had gone out to Colombia on penalties I don't think you could have called the tournament any more successful than previous ones. I suppose you can argue the psychological aspect of penalties and that we've improved there but imo penalties are largely luck and we were bound to win a shootout eventually.
 
mmj_uk said:
If we had gone out to Colombia on penalties I don't think you could have called the tournament any more successful than previous ones. I suppose you can argue the psychological aspect of penalties and that we've improved there but imo penalties are largely luck and we were bound to win a shootout eventually.
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Honestly, look at how England have performed in the last 10 years of tournaments. You have to go back to 2006 before you find anything better than if we'd gone out on penalties to Columbia.
 
TheOracle said:
What does England need to do to become a world class team? and by that I mean putting teams like France and Belgium away easily? Impossible?
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Beating teams like France easily? Even the likes of Brazil playing at their best would never do that easily. You're putting unrealistic targets.
 
cheesyboy said:
This^

England were forced into long balls from Pickford for the first time in the tournament. Weren't able to reliably start attacks building from the defence. We had trouble creating chances all tournament, but this just made it worse.

Creativity was our weakness. Alli and Lingard, for all their other qualities, don't really offer that. Sterling was the only one here giving them problems, was surprised to see him subbed- perhaps he was tiring.
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Aye you can always imagine what if we had Adam Lallana in the middle or the Ox. Jordan Henderson put a massive shift in all game but he needed the players around him. Even still next world cup these youngsters will be in their prime and it is good going forward into the Euro's. We just miss that Paul Gascoigne figure we really need in the middle. France have their Pogba, Belgium have both Hazard and Debruyne and even Croatia have Modric and Rakitic.

Dropping Jonjo was a big mistake as he was what we needed really.
 
adam cool dude said:
I think it was mainly due to the high pressing of Croatia on the keeper to draw them forward to create space up top.
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I think we also suffered with only having Henderson as a proper CM up against Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic, and Perisic dropping in. Alli and Lingard didn't offer anything without the ball and didn't show enough when Henderson or the CBs had it; it always had to go backwards. As you say, the Ox being fit would have made a massive difference imo.
 
Absolutely gutted :( But they did us proud getting to the Semis and winning a penalty shootout. It's been a great world cup, and it's a shame it's over for us, but Croatia ultimately deserved to win last night. It's not going to be as interesting as a France vs England final though :p

Did anyone see that England tried to score while Croatia were celebrating their goal? :p

Absolutely embarrassing! :eek:

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So much slat in here about Turkish Ref this and that, blind Lino's and dirty Croats. Face the truth you lost because the team is actualy just average. Fact is England lost because they are retarded and simply cannot score in open play. They were lucky to get this far as they have played 2nd rate teams, apart from Belgium's reserves who tore you a new one. If you can't score in open play and come up against solid units like croatia you will always lose.
 
wildman said:
So much slat in here about Turkish Ref this and that, blind Lino's and dirty Croats. Face the truth you lost because the team is actualy just average. Fact is England lost because they are retarded and simply cannot score in open play. They were lucky to get this far as they have played 2nd rate teams, apart from Belgium's reserves who tore you a new one. If you can't score in open play and come up against solid units like croatia you will always lose.
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Tore us a new one? We lost 1-0 and also played our 2nd team.

The ref was not good, but I'm not going to blame him for the loss, it went against Croatia in the first half tbh. The linesman does need some glasses though, missed so much.
 
wildman said:
So much slat in here about Turkish Ref this and that, blind Lino's and dirty Croats. Face the truth you lost because the team is actualy just average. Fact is England lost because they are retarded and simply cannot score in open play. They were lucky to get this far as they have played 2nd rate teams, apart from Belgium's reserves who tore you a new one. If you can't score in open play and come up against solid units like croatia you will always lose.
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The biggest take away from this tournament is that for the first time in YEARS, we looked like an actual team. Maybe not all the time and maybe not a superb one, but there where moments where you felt that we weren't just good but world class.

It's way too easy to state that we where given an easy path through during this tournament. We certainly had some lucky picks, but to state that we played poorly or haven't really evolved is just insane. You can't have seen many England games in the last decade if you really think that to be the case.
 
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