Saw a stat this morning that Croatia had more shots on target last night than England have had in the 3 knockout games. That's the real negative to take away IMO. Can't fault England's set plays but how many goals were scored from open play all tournament? Don't think there were many.
Yes. We. ****ing. Will. Old. Man. I actually got a text from a mate last night saying "we can't die yet mate, I want a shirt with two stars on it".
It was an opportunity missed to at least make a final ... If Kane and Lindgard had taken the chances in the first half we would have likely been home and hosed. I think GS could have reacted a bit quicker to making the midfield changes - Henderson has had a really good tournament for me, but was out on his feet and possibly carrying a knock - I don't think Dier was what was needed at that point - Loftus Cheek would have been a better option in my opinion because we needed to start taking the game back to them more and Dier is not really the best equipped to facilitate that - I also think Alli was struggling for fitness. I'd have swapped Loftus- Cheek for Henderson - Rashford for Alli and also brought Vardy on for Sterling .... hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course. There are positives to be taken
CM (attacking creativity, ability to hold the ball) was always the big issue, and only a matter of time before the team would be found wanting. As I said on the Spurs board, there are no Modrics in the England pipeline, and even if there are, will they get the regular PL game time needed (in a top 6 side etc) in order to be able to develop to that level.
This is also a valuable learning experience for Southgate. I think he should be given the next 2 tournaments to develop with this young group of players he's brought rogether.
As we don’t currently have that midfield player we need, I’d have put Dier alongside Henderson to at least try and shore up the middle of the park and deny them as much possession. Also, Rose should have come on earlier. He pushed them back down our left side when he did.
Agree on Rose. Young didn’t have a particularly poor game but would have pushed them back a bit to have that threat. Personally wouldn’t have gone with Dier as he’s absolutely awful but, with the benefit of hindsight, Delph was probably the man for the job in place of Alli.
Personally I'd have stood in the technical area shouting "don't sit off 'em", "too deep, England", and "don't give it away there ffs"!!! I did this anyway, but I don't think they heard me.
I don’t think Dier is that bad. He can be a bit casual at times and can switch off, but alongside Henderson I think the pair of them would have slowed the Croatian midfield up.
Having spent the entire tournament screaming at them to smack it into row z whenever the ball was within 30 yards of our goal I am now bemoaning how we lost our cool and started lumping it. I also told someone in a meeting with Marketing to **** off earlier. Probably not going to be a great day.
Maybe but we'll never get a Sweden QF and Croatia SF again. Holland and Italy will be there next time, Africas sides will challenge better on their own continent, as will the South American sides ... Sometimes you need to seize the moment and despite the feel good positives of which there are many, when the pressure was on we couldn't handle it once more
Dier was dreadful as he was against Colombia when he came on. He just handed initiative to opposition. His penalty v Colombia was poor. I don't think he can handle pressure of big games atm. Maybe if Spurs improve in big games it will help him at international level
Look on the bright side, we don't have to watch France putting three or four past us in the final. We overachieved in this tournament, semi final is an excellent return. No point repeating what's already been said many times but it's clear where our deficiencies were, midfield. And, for all his pace, which allegedly 'scares' the opposition although I never actually saw that, Sterling is no international footballer. If someone who could control, think and pass or shoot was on the end of some of last night's balls we could have four up by half time. If running fast is what we want we may as well just pick a sprinter who can run at opponents and do absolutely nothing at the end of it,.
We’ll agree to disagree then. He was needed last night to help Henderson, IMO. The no doubt intentional pop at Spurs I’ll ignore. #standard
Funnily enough someone has created a thread about England being Spursy, which is actually better than being Englandy. Trippier was great, and Alli and Kane weren't on their A game. Spurs players did OK
