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Neither wing back had a decent pass on them sadly.
We had nothing left in midfield, where we lost out big today.
As for the strikersā¦ helps if you can score. We looked confused in front of goal a few times. Never picked the right pass. Or picked it too late.
Iām not that upset. We gave it a go.
Missed the dynamism of an Ox, and the guile of a Sturridge (not saying we needed those two players, just energy and craft).
Tripperās cross on the volley?
Rose put about 4-5 balls into the box?
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Blather
Well at least the roads were empty
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What a shame, really enjoyed this WC, donāt think I have seen a bad game. For the first time in a long time I enjoyed watching England play and for much of it felt quite calm with the performance, bit too much tonight. There were moments that were odd like the 1st half of extra time v Columbia and to an extent the 2nd half today where everyone seemed to loose intensity and looked like a different squadā¦the exception being the Sweden game. Hope the final is a good one, I think France might edge it.
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Well, they could have had that wrapped up in the first half, they were that good. But the equaliser just seemed to sap away their mental energy and they faded fast in the second half and had nothing left in the tank to go again.
Itās hard to swallow but credit to Croatia for their performance in coming back from a goal down. They looked sharp and energetic just at the right time, after being made to look a shambles in the first half.
Brilliant effort though by Englandās young team to reach the semis. They sensibly took the right route through the draw to get there, and restored pride in English football, reconnecting with fans at the same time.
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At the end of the day , we missed Rooney
Iād all but given up on England after the self serving egos of the last couple generations but pride and belief have been restored. I fear this may lead to a backwards step or at least standing still as the idiots who run our game will now think everything is rosy.
Weāve created bugger all and GS made some poor decisions tactically. Letās hope itās a learning curve for him and the team.
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They have hugely over-achieved in my view and in doing so, have come away with a manager, a spine, and a way of playing which should mean, fingers crossed, that GS has something to build upon. Lest we forget, he took over an absolute shambles and nobody would have believed a couple of years ago that this was possible. Remarkable.
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Yep, I would agree with that. England are a left back, centre back and creative midfielder away from being a really decent side. Of the young players around you can see Sessignon at Fulham being the LB, Gomez at Liverpool or Holgate at Everton (to name but two) being CB candidates. Buggered if I can think of a candidate for the creative midfield role at this point in time though. There is probably such a player on the books of the big clubs, but heāll be fifth in line behind a bunch of foreign players or safe options.
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Keep an eye on Harry Winksā¦he needs to stay fit thoughā¦
Can you really see Spurs building their midfield around Winks?
you are talking about people eligible to play for England hereā¦
That is exactly my point.
On the other Winks is not exactly the deep lying, passing midfielder who can control the game that England needed last night to take some of the pressure off.
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Yup - thatās the price we pay for the quality of the Premier League. Every other country sends enough of their best players here that theyāve got room to blood their up-and-comers at home.
VB
Not being in Albion, the whole ICH zeitgeist thing has completely passed me by
Iāve watched most games with a rag tag bunch of expats with no particular affiliation to England. None of us have been terribly impressed with the quality of our play. Maybe weārea bunh of miserable bastards, but I think not.
Heās got them playing for each other and with a degree of attractiveness. But heās been bloody lucky. None of us were salivating on the basis of the quali campaign. We were lucky with the draw / big-team implosion and so sure enough the first time we met a decent team we fell to pieces. That it came in the semi and not the 2nd round is just down to good fortune, not good football.
IMO Southgate is too rigid, too loyal ( and misguided to have not brought Lallana or Wilshere) but decent & likeable (though so was Roy)
However, it doesnāt perhaps matter. the simple fact is weāre not that bloody good, and yet we were planning for the final (ICH) before getting there. We beat only Tunisia and the Panamanian rugby team,drew with Columbia, and lost to Belgium and Croatia. Saudi Arabia created more chances from open play than we did. In three games.
Celebrate that we were likeable, refreshing, getting simple things right, but please God letās be honest about how well we played.
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Lallana was Englandās best player before he got injured but the injury hit him hard - very hard. Iām not sure heās going to be quite the same player when heās fully back, but weāll see what a full pre-season does for him.
True. He didnāt look terrific in those last few cameos. However, Iād still have punted on bringing him and getting him sharp enough to come off the bench. I accept, though, Iām the minority in that one
The key over the next few years will be to try to see that the U17 & U20 players (who won their respective world cups) find a way to get through to Englandās full side by getting first team football with clubs playing at a decent level. Sadly that would probably need to be abroad where thereās less money sloshing about.
Iāve no objection to the way Southgate is trying to have the team play, he just needs some more talented personnel in key positions.
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Surely this generation of gifted players, schooled in the minted PL clubs academies was that which was supposed to the first āEuropean-styleā / anti-hoof-ball one?