Small boys in the park, jumpers for goalposts, rush goalie. World cup thread.

I hope they also look at how the whole country got behind the team, and start touring games around other city’s again. It is really hard to get behind a national team that only plays in one city.

Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Leeds all have top class grounds for major internationals, and I would even play some friendlies in Bristol, Derby and Nottingham etc.

Radio etc full of people talking about kicking on towards Euro2020. Frankly I’d be worried for this England side in the group stage of a European Championship. (EDIT, talking out of my arse about qualification… 😀 )

Disappointed for England this morning – but also delighted for Croatia – they’ve had to work much harder to get to this point. I’d love them to beat France. I think #LesCheats will have too much for them but if they can rattle the French with a little cynicism the way they did England, anything could happen.

I didn’t know there were so many Croatians around my way. Well judging from the cheers anyway.

Werent in scotland were you?

A few what ifs, a couple of Croatians should’ve been booked early on, but… they were the better side & I will be cheering them on in the final.

As yet we don’t have a plan B or tactical flexibility.

The signs are very positive for the future. Actually looking forward to seeing this team develop.

Well it was very quiet on the tram this morning on the way to work, France can move it closer to home and we can collect it next time.

Love the way some people have turned a bit on here through no hope to we can do it to we were rubbish….

Listening to the stuff Southgate has done at a structural level through the English game from grassroots to the junior teams English football has a bright future.

He has done a fantastic job, shown maturity and calmness, shown class and compassion to his opponents and hopefully made England more current.

the last 2 Semi Finals I watched both had Paul Gasgoine in them, this generation is starting on their journey, they will learn from this and get better.

It’s been a fantastic tournament so far and hopefully the last time games can cap it off.

Yeah we were short in midfield and didn’t create anything for Kane to feed off, but the plan to play Walker in the middle of defence finally got found out.   He made some bad mistakes last night and Young wasn’t any better, but got away with it.  Not sure why he didn’t put Cahill in, when we were under pressure in the second half?

There you go, 10/10 for effort, but needed some better decisions on the night.  #gutted!

Lets face it… Ingerland have always had a terrible reputation. And rightly so. Teams consisting of preening, smug, aloof, entitled, self-satisfied cockwombles who would, absolutely guaranteed, fail to deliver the results their planet-sized ego’s suggested. The epitome of this was ‘Englands Lionheart’ and captain John ****ing Terry. A man so utterly loathsome and repellent that he not only embodied everything that was wrong with modern football, but everything that was wrong with England. And it was him that was held up by the media of a certain type of Englishness. Is it any wonder the national team attracted gangs of shit-thick, racist nobheads when thats the ‘role model’ you’re promoting?

This squad under Southgate has been the polar opposite of that in every conceivable way

Thats good enough for me. They’ve made it ok to watch England again, without feeling slightly soiled afterwards

Wasn’t that just what you’d expect. We didn’t really have a midfield – two slightly lumpen defensive mids plus a bunch of wannabe number 10s and nothing in between. Nothing linking defence and attack. I still have no idea why Southgate took neither Lallana or Wilshere, but included Delph and Welbeck, who between them did pretty much nothing whatsoever. We didn’t have anyone who could keep the ball in tight spaces and play a inspired, precision through ball, it was like watching a table tennis match.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s good stuff about this England team, mostly the wider mentality and lack of ego, but it’s a bit limited. Shame really, but a good foundation to build on.

My money is on Mbappe terrorising Croatia’s defence in the final.

. I still have no idea why Southgate took neither Lallana or Wilshere,

For Wiltshire they didn’t have enough bubble wrap and the insurance would have been ridiculous.

Wilshere would have fallen down the stairs at the airport and broke his leg

And if he hadn’t done that, he’d have got a red card against Colombia retaliating to a shady challenge.

Wasn’t/isn’t Lallana injured?

Except that he actually played a shedload of games for Arsenal last season and looked good doing it. And six months ago you’d have put Dele Alli down as most likely England player to see red. Like I said, they got the mentality somewhere right.

But don’t let your tight embrace of generalisations get in the way of the truth. Let’s lump it over the top towards Sterling and see if he can run up another dead end or fire off another almost pass to Lingard. I get that Wilshere isn’t everyone’s favourite player, but he can at least play a pass in the final third, which is something no-one we took to the World Cup actually seemed capable of managing.

Anyway, my general point is that we didn’t really have a midfield, just a team loaded with full-backs, two defensive mids and a generous helping of players who aren’t quite midfielders and aren’t quite forwards and aren’t really wide players either.

Wasn’t/isn’t Lallana injured?

He was fit enough to be on the stand-by list, so presumably fit enough… there was a whole load of nonsense about not taking players who weren’t fit or playing regularly for their club sides, then we took Stones, who was on the bench for pretty much the entire second half of the season and a bunch of others. Wilshere was fit enough to play almost 40 games for Arsenal, I think, but wasn’t fit enough to take. But Lallana, who barely played all season, was fit enough for the stand-by list.

And then we played Dele, who looked semi-injured all tournament instead of Ruben Loftus Cheek, who looked fit and talented. So yes Lallana was injured, but not so injured that he wasn’t on stand-by.

I actually think he should have brought Welbeck on last night. He seems to score regular, scruffy, slightly flukey goals for England, which is pretty much what we needed…

Anyway, it’s all counter factual. None of this happened, so it doesn’t really matter.

I think he has been for most of the season, but was fit towards the end, got very little time for his team though, so maybe an understandable decision. Personally with Kane, Rashford, Sterling and  Lingard in the squad he would have been a better and more versatile addition than Wellbeck.

I also think that the biggest problem the front players have had, has been the poor link up play by Ali, Southgates’ reluctance to replace him with Loftus-Cheek is probably his biggest tactical error (maybe also Rose could have had more time on the pitch instead of Young).

But these are generally small niggles and hopefully learning experiences for the team and management.

Anyway, it’s all counter factual. None of this happened, so it doesn’t really matter.

True, I think one thing we can all agree on though is if Big Sam was manager we wouldn’t be getting disappointed about going on in the semi final.

Those calling for Jack Wilshere, if he’s so good, why have Arsenal let him go?

If he’s so good, why can he only get a contract with West Ham?

Because he gets injured so much.  This England team has lots of attacking midfielders i think what was needed last night when Cro started getting on top was an additional defensive/ ball playing midfielder.

Those calling for Jack Wilshere, if he’s so good, why have Arsenal let him go?

Because we have other players who do the same thing in the team already – Ramsay, Ozil to a degree, Maitland Niles, Xhaka, and the new Uruguayan signing – and yes, historically, he’s been injured a fair bit. But not this season. He was a luxury for Arsenal, but not for England, who have no-one with his skill-set.

He could have stayed at Arsenal, but the new manager was straight with him and said he couldn’t be guaranteed a starting place. Fwiw, I think he could have done better than West Ham, but I’m guessing they offered him good money and he gets to stay in London and not uproot his family.

Why would you not take him instead of Delph? My take would be it’s worth taking a chance on a player who could change a game rather than a middling utility man who did very little when he played. Obviously everyone’s take differs, but that’s mine.

It’s good to see the normal priorities of the English public returning in the wake of World Cup Fever.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44809213

A mother in Milton Keynes said she had taken her five-year-old daughter out of school to ensure they could get in the queue for a discounted bear.

“She’s only five, they’re not really doing much in school that’s important at that age,” she said.

Regards the question about Adam L above. He is playing all the Liverpool pre season friendlies at present so is playing but still gaining fitness from being out most of last season.

He’ll have a test on Saturday. He’s  playing not Belgium, but Bury. If he can get through that he’ll be nailed on for the next Euros 😂

So, who’s looking forward to the 3/4 playoff then!

WTF does it even exist….Belgium 2XI vs England 2XI was poor first time, do we need to see it again? Do the players* really need to go through another 90 mins even if it is at 80% effort, with no-one wanting to injure themselves before the regular season starts again?

* few remaining ones that aren’t currently carrying some sort of injury

I wonder if Harry Kane will play to cement his chance of a golden boot.

Doubt I’ll be watching the 3/4ters, not 100% sure what it will achieve unless it’s a party atmosphere and they’re all dressed in tutus and carrying fluffy unicorns and glittery wands…

Stay upright 😷

I think there was a collective misunderstanding about just how stuffed with talent the Croatian team actually is by many people who should have know better (I’m looking at you Rio)

Modric, Ratikic, Mandzukic Lovren…they have between them more winners medals than probably the entire England team

Not a massive surprise they beat a relatively young and inexperienced bunch of lads really.

theotherjonv

So, who’s looking forward to the 3/4 playoff then!

Don’t think I’ve ever watched it, not about to start now!

I see the deserting of the ship has started,nevermind next time England do well you will see it on the news and you can run back.

I like the playoffs.  I see it as a free bonus game for entertainment.   Call me strange, but I just enjoy international football, even if we aren’t definitely going to win the world cup.

The only game more pointless than a mid-season international friendly against Liechtenstein

@binners – not always. I know it’s not the final but some countries take it seriously.  Being 3rd in the world is an achievement if you are not Brazil/Germany/Argentina etc. Sweden thrashing Bulgaria in ’94 was a good game,

I see the deserting of the ship has started,nevermind next time England do well you will see it on the news and you can run back.

We was robbed!

Joking aside, I think most people appreciate that England did well with a young, likeable team. They benefitted from a slightly fortunate draw and maybe lacked a plan B, but basically played well and are still learning. Croatia have two genuinely world class midfielders and more experience than us, but if we’d taken one more of the chances we had in the first half, it might have ended differently.

What’s actually refreshing has been the general lack of mindless jingoism and knee-jerk excessive expectation. It’s possible to support a team without being blind to its limitations, no?

Well that want actually a bad match. Woeful first half performance but we looked better (as always) when he took Sterling off.

Hes consistent, I’ll give him that. His performance has got progressively worse with every game. He was particularly useless today. Never ever a final ball. Couldn’t hit a barn door with a shovel. He very nearly hit the corner flag with a shot today

Tomorrow should be a belter! I’ve topped off my shocking betting record with chucking a fiver on Croatia at 5/1. I think France might be in for a bit of a surprise. Then again, me putting money on them is usually the kiss of death

I decided to have a change today so instead of watching England I sat down and watched the Belgium game, decent team that, got it sorted good manager and fairly sound tactics. They could go a long way 😉

So last game of the tournament, just the small matter of the winners to decide.

Classic or ground out?

Will we see another headbutt?

Has there ever been a less deserving winner of golden boot than kane. 2 headers against Tunisia,’3 penalties, a deflection, and nothing against the only 3 decent sides he played against.

2006 – Miroslav Klose (Germany) – 5 Goals

The most prolific World Cup goal-scorer ever topped the chart in 2006 with five goals. He scored twice against Costa Rica and Ecuador during the group stages and then once against Argentina during the quarter-finals. Germany would come third overall.

Read more at https://www.worldsoccer.com/world-cup/world-cup-golden-boot-401078#ET4pIstzOqMJY5kM.99

I’ll go with Klose 😉

As for this tournament no striker has got close to being in the right place at the right time. The penalties really for me showed England working out how play teams that didn’t want to play football.

Anyway France can’t sit back for this one, the same niggling little fouls from Croatia though which might get worse depending on how it goes

France have been the more cynical side so far. Griezman continuing the fine French tradition of making goals out of blatant cheating.

Should have been a few more French players in the book before Kante eventually got one.

Good game so far though.

Beautiful.

Whoa!! That is probably a step too far for VAR there, was it anything other than accidental?