Saw bits of the game, seemed decent. Belgium are far better than I expected this tournament. I was expecting some good play, but a lot of swagger and a glass jaw - the sort that Wales exploited. If this Belgium had played that Wales it'd be 4 or 5 nil, no sweat. From what I've seen, Belgium and France were the best sides in the tournament, possibly in that order.
Belgium started really well against France in their semi for twenty minutes or so but France dominated it after that.
Lets take it as a good tournament which it had been. As Hull city fans we know that the wait is always worth it. It will come. It may not be fast but its coming. Well done England. Get yer tickets booked for euro 2020 cos the semis and the final are at Wembley and we have a belting chance.
Utterly disgraceful team selection from Southgate and utterly incompetent weak as piss performance from them. I abide by the jock stein, Scottish **** mantra, there is no such thing as a friendly. WTF was Southgate thinking. Don't go on to me about team morale. Butland will be thinking go **** yourself. So will the the rb Arnold. You owe something to the squad. Rabbit in the ****ing headlights. Disgrace.
Must admit I was surprised to see we had no one of the class of Hazard, De Bruyne and Kompany. Who'da thought it?
The only team in the competition to win every one of the games they've played are Croatia. It'll be an interesting final. Croatia have resilience, a fair bit of talent and a strong fighting spirit. France have more talent but a weaker constitution when it gets really tough.
I know it's a series of one off matches but it' be interesting to see who'll come out on top if they played each other more in future competitions Croatia have done well and (just) deserved their SF win. I do think, however, that if we played them 10 times, we'd come out on top. I honestly think we'll finish above them in the International League Group.
I'd like to think that too, but until we find a Modric type player who can read a game and dictate it as well as he can, I'm doubtful. England did well, much better than expected, and Southgate is approaching the team development well, but unless the inspirational on-field generals/playmakers materialize, we may well remain also rans. It pains me to say that. Grass roots development, some sort of restriction in "foreign" content in our domestic top league(s) would help...unlikely to happen with the PL management and TV money enticements that exist.
On the other hand, France only needed a draw with Denmark to top their group and Croatia went to the lottery of penalty shoot outs twice. I was impressed how they shut Belgium out of the game is the SF once they went ahead. I know they didn’t handle the pressure and expectation of being favourites against Portugal at the 2016 Euros but I think there is a stronger mental toughness in this French team. We will soon find out.
Fair retort. They do seem tougher these days, which means Deschamps' work ethic & attention to discipline ( he was a wonderfully controlled & hard working player in his day), must be rubbing off finally. Unfortunately, with the likes of Pogba on the team, there's always an element the boss can't control - French footballers, despite being excellent technicians, can be moody & reckless if the going gets tough. Given Deschamps managed to come back from the dead emoticon-0100-smile), the players may this time hold their end up & take it. Then, there's always Mbappe, who may well win it by himself. Cantona may well come up with a more complimentary analogy for him than he did for Deschamps ("The water carrier"). I'm in good company. My team-mates used to call me "the water boy" when I was player manager. Bastards the lot of 'em.
I thought England put in a reasonable performance, particularly in the 2nd half, if Dier's chip over the keeper had gone in, then the result could have been different. Nevertheless, Hazard and De Bruyne are a class apart and if Lukaku had a better first touch he would also be a world beater.
Agreed. Also that game showed me how we (fans) really never expected to be playing yesterday, 4th in a world cup ffs, a young team, learning, more is yet to come, madness. Belgium really should have been playing today too. De Bruyne and Hazard were where our players should be aiming to be. Fair play to France for doing what they did, and you know, fair play to Croatia too, first time ever for them, what a feeling. I had hoped France would win today, but actually, on balance, I don't care either way.
