Absolutely pointless having Sterling on the pitch. He is shite for England. Just loses the ball constantly with zero end product.
England Discussion | Finish 4th
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Dear Swedes,
We're looking forward to playing you, not because we think you're 'worse' than Colombia by any means, but for the fact that after playing Colombia's 'Prison team XI' tonight, it will be nice to come up against a team that a) play sportingly b) don't look like they're going to shank our players c) don't try to dig mine shafts on the penalty spot and d) won't spend too much time threatening the referee.
Seriously, whoever wins it'll be a much better tempered and more sporting competition than the horror show we saw tonight.
We're looking forward to playing you, not because we think you're 'worse' than Colombia by any means, but for the fact that after playing Colombia's 'Prison team XI' tonight, it will be nice to come up against a team that a) play sportingly b) don't look like they're going to shank our players c) don't try to dig mine shafts on the penalty spot and d) won't spend too much time threatening the referee.
Seriously, whoever wins it'll be a much better tempered and more sporting competition than the horror show we saw tonight.
A shit game and dire performances from either side. Sweden won't be easy, but if ever there's an opportunity to go far it's this year.
I expect a dull as feck game. He who dares wins, and I hope we go for their throat. It would be horrible to go out to a deflected goal or similar in the last 10 mins. We've got Kane, let's get lots of shots on goal and go for the kill.
England are all about looking longingly at past performances though.
Slaven Bilic made a point that in Croatia nobody gives a shit about whether we went out on penalties in the past or anything like that, they just approach the current tournament as is.
In England we pour over every failure in minute detail and the press don't let the current squad forget about all the past problems so it's in their head from the very beginning.
A penalty shootout win is amazing and perhaps it'll go a long way to enboldening our current players to win but I bet they were shitting themselves twice as hard because of our penalty curse over the years.
Finally a positive post in here!
I was just about to waste 1 of my 3 daily posts to ask everyone to shut up with the whining with Glaston about who is better/more driven/wears tighter trousers between Ronaldo and Kane. Because we are in the fricking wc quarterfinal for the first time in 12 years and we have a chance to go even further so everybody (England fans) just enjoy this moment and celebrate that we have fecking Harry Kane (right now who cares who is better because only one man is still in and he's fricking English, which is all that matters) and we might make the semi's, oh feck it, it's coming home!!!!
complete idiot of ref tonight and the Colombians were animals.
several should have been off.
several should have been off.
Yeah but I'm not sure what either of them have ever done in an England shirt to suggest they are suddenly going to start playing better. Has Sterling ever played well for England?
Picking players in the hope they get better after they play poorly umpteinth times in a row isn't waiting for things to click, it's just either poor management or not having other players who are capable of any better. In this case I think it's the former but either way you know it isn't going to change or "click" anytime soon.
Was literally man handled all game, by Barrios and then Mina. Colombia didn't expend half as much energy on Lingard and Alli. Understandably as one break and Sterling will kill you. Not with goals but with his runs (and Kane will finish you off).
Created some good pockets of space for others, namely Lingard who kept mis-controlling it for some reason. Alli was like a zombie so it was up to Kane, Sterling and Lingard to do all the creative work.
England were basically crap, I can't imagine who isn't an understandably delirious England fan saying otherwise, and it was utterly predictable that they would be:
I barely watch any football any more and the above has been glaringly obvious to me since the second half of the Tunisia match. Surely the England manager has to realise this system is an absolute shambles offensively. Unless he's pinning all his hopes on Harry Kane getting fouled in the box in every round of the tournament?
I barely watch any football any more and the above has been glaringly obvious to me since the second half of the Tunisia match. Surely the England manager has to realise this system is an absolute shambles offensively. Unless he's pinning all his hopes on Harry Kane getting fouled in the box in every round of the tournament?
Yes I replied to @Peyroteo because he was saying don't freak out because you go to penalties, I think its understandable the fans might think it, just don't see how the fact England has always hard games vs Sweden will make the game easier or harder.
Different players, circunstances, and all that, when I am watching Portugal I barely remember when was the last time we lost on penaltys, to win this type of tournaments or you are much better than the other teams or you need to be prepared to suffer on the knockout stages, the margins are smaller than the casual fans seem to think tbh.
You're actually going to fecking run this close you cnuts.
In 40 caps each for England Danny Welbeck has scored 8 (eight) times as many goals Raheem Sterling, but one of these players is widely seen a joke figure for the national side and the other is undroppable. For all this talk of a brave new era it's the exact same shit, shoving the big name players in regardless of how they perform or if they fit the system.
edit: correction, tonight brings Sterling to 41 caps, during which he has scored every 1349 minutes. And sure, he's not a centre forward you might say, he can't be judged on goals alone, but then when the everchristing feck is he playing up front?
I did like that he said that. Proves there is some background being done. He’s looking at the mental side of the game which seems to be paying some dividends. A lot of the issue with England has been mental. When you look back at the squad from 2002-2006 the quality in that side is unbelievable, they just couldn’t deal with pressure of the England shirt and media.
I know we looked lost in the first half of extra time but we were on top in the second. Then to actually win a penalty shootout! Icing on the cake!
Absolutely brilliant atmosphere at Brudenell, Leeds. Met Miles Kane too in the beer garden
To be fair, who gets picked for the national team often does tend to be dictated by club form though, and on that basis anyone picking Welbeck ahead of Sterling would be a bit of a mentalist. Can certainly see why you'd want to drop Sterling, granted, because he's been fairly substandard for England, but unsure as to whether Welbeck offers all that much of an improvement.
If we don't win, we don't win. I for one am happy with the progress. A very inexperienced manager in Southgate, a young squad and no midfielder that has any creativity. That aside, the lads have done well and have the whole country talking about football coming home. For me sterling must not play and neither should Dele. Sterling has been awful and not all there, rashford for me should start. I like loftus a lot and I'd back him to start instead of dele.
Despite me starting off with a leveled approach, i have said from the start England will win the world cup (Not on here). Looking at it now, final is very very possible but for me France or Brazil will win it. Runner up is not all bad!
Despite me starting off with a leveled approach, i have said from the start England will win the world cup (Not on here). Looking at it now, final is very very possible but for me France or Brazil will win it. Runner up is not all bad!
It's not about picking Welbeck*, it's about the bolded bit, it's why England will never win anything and Germany usually make the semi-finals at least. Performing consistently well or poorly for your country should mean something, otherwise why not just literally always pick the best 11 English players regardless of position? Of course, that's not a rhetorical question, it has an answer, and that answer is Paul Scholes on the left wing.
*obviously Rashford should be the one taking Sterling's place, although he also has a terrible England record, so, maybe my argument is bollocks...
Judging from his sub appearance, he doesn't offer much of anything.
Rashford should start.
Delle and Sterling are a waste of space.
Delle and Sterling are a waste of space.
England were appalling tonight. Zero goal threat for the entire match, which is totally pathetic. Colombia were/are shit too, but they showed up to get to the quarter finals. England showed up to do god knows what. Pass it around and be the bigger man? Great plan.
It's a decent little team, but they've yet to put in a performance this World Cup. Good luck to them - there will never be an easier route to a World Cup final - but they have to improve enormously. They need jonjo Shelvey to be honest - no idea why he's not there.
It's a decent little team, but they've yet to put in a performance this World Cup. Good luck to them - there will never be an easier route to a World Cup final - but they have to improve enormously. They need jonjo Shelvey to be honest - no idea why he's not there.
Ratings!
Pickford - 8 Saved a penalty. Saved some bizarre 50 yard shot. Looks like he's broken out of jail
Walker - 5 Stop fecking around with the ball and just pass it to the midfield
Stones - 5 STOP feckING AROUND WITH THE BALL AND JUST PASS IT TO THE MIDFIELD
Maguire - 3 STOP feckING AROUND WITH...forget it. -2 points for that moment in extra time where Young threw the ball to him, and then Columbia scored because he was, for no explicable reason, busy looking at another ball that wasn't even on the fecking pitch. The ref CHOSE to stop the game there. He didn't have to. I mean, it's just a world cup knock out game, no need to pay attention to the actual game mate.
Young - 6 Did ok. Too much of the game spent getting to know what the grass looked like
Trippier - 8 He's a lot better than I thought he was
Henderson - 6 You knew he was going to miss that penalty as soon as he walked up to the spot doing flick ups like a prat. Other than that, worked hard
Ali - 6 Was a bit rubbish, then started playing well, so was subbed off.
Lingard - 6 Started well, then started playing a bit rubbish, so wasn't subbed off
Sterling - 4 First half stats from what I could gather: passes to a team mate: 0, no of times he put a cross in: 0, number of tiems he beat his man: 0, number of shots on target: 0, number of tackles: 0, number of times he did anything remotely useful: 0. Percentage to which this differs from his usual performance level for England: 0...has anyone ever played so consistently badly for England and yet carried on being picked? This has been going on constantly for over 2 years. possibly closer to 4...and people wonder why the English press criticise him.
Kane - 9 Best player on the pitch by a mile. Then got moved to midfield (why?), where he proceeded to look exactly what you would expect a half knackered Harry Kane being played out of position to look like...useless
Subs:
Dier - 5 Scored a penalty but other than that, just seemd to be brought on in order to enable Columbia to have more chance of scoring.
Vardy - 5 Took him about 40 mminutes to touch the ball, and then he was offside, then next time he touched it he fell over. Managed to fit a silly dive in.
Rashford - n/a...how about we have an England manager who waits until there's more than about 5 minutes left to bring on a young fast player against tired legs. Seriously, is it just that it's such an obviious thing to do that Southgate has convinced himself he's being clever by not doing it?...did he just forget he had another sub?
Southgate - 3 Keeps picking the exact same team which for the most pat is fine, except that Maguire is a liability and Sterling knows he can hide his way through games without fear of being dropped. Took a game England had little danger of not winning and turned the last 20 minutes into simply hoping Columbia wouldn't score...made changes based on hoping Columbia wouldn't score, which enabled them to score. By the end of the game had the top scoring striker of the whole world cup in midfield, Vardy up front, no actual midfielders doing any midfielding, Rashford on at fullback. Midfielders twiddling their thumbs on the bench. Didn't change anything for the entire first 15 minutes of extra time desite his changes prior to that making it impossible for his team to try and win. Wearing a smart looking snooker outfit doesn't excuse managing your team like a fecking moron. England have a genuine chance to reach the final but there's no way they win two more tight games with him pulling this level of stupidity both times. It reduces the game to hoping the players manage to luck it out in spite of the management...and that's when you're playing someone worse than you.
Pickford - 8 Saved a penalty. Saved some bizarre 50 yard shot. Looks like he's broken out of jail
Walker - 5 Stop fecking around with the ball and just pass it to the midfield
Stones - 5 STOP feckING AROUND WITH THE BALL AND JUST PASS IT TO THE MIDFIELD
Maguire - 3 STOP feckING AROUND WITH...forget it. -2 points for that moment in extra time where Young threw the ball to him, and then Columbia scored because he was, for no explicable reason, busy looking at another ball that wasn't even on the fecking pitch. The ref CHOSE to stop the game there. He didn't have to. I mean, it's just a world cup knock out game, no need to pay attention to the actual game mate.
Young - 6 Did ok. Too much of the game spent getting to know what the grass looked like
Trippier - 8 He's a lot better than I thought he was
Henderson - 6 You knew he was going to miss that penalty as soon as he walked up to the spot doing flick ups like a prat. Other than that, worked hard
Ali - 6 Was a bit rubbish, then started playing well, so was subbed off.
Lingard - 6 Started well, then started playing a bit rubbish, so wasn't subbed off
Sterling - 4 First half stats from what I could gather: passes to a team mate: 0, no of times he put a cross in: 0, number of tiems he beat his man: 0, number of shots on target: 0, number of tackles: 0, number of times he did anything remotely useful: 0. Percentage to which this differs from his usual performance level for England: 0...has anyone ever played so consistently badly for England and yet carried on being picked? This has been going on constantly for over 2 years. possibly closer to 4...and people wonder why the English press criticise him.
Kane - 9 Best player on the pitch by a mile. Then got moved to midfield (why?), where he proceeded to look exactly what you would expect a half knackered Harry Kane being played out of position to look like...useless
Subs:
Dier - 5 Scored a penalty but other than that, just seemd to be brought on in order to enable Columbia to have more chance of scoring.
Vardy - 5 Took him about 40 mminutes to touch the ball, and then he was offside, then next time he touched it he fell over. Managed to fit a silly dive in.
Rashford - n/a...how about we have an England manager who waits until there's more than about 5 minutes left to bring on a young fast player against tired legs. Seriously, is it just that it's such an obviious thing to do that Southgate has convinced himself he's being clever by not doing it?...did he just forget he had another sub?
Southgate - 3 Keeps picking the exact same team which for the most pat is fine, except that Maguire is a liability and Sterling knows he can hide his way through games without fear of being dropped. Took a game England had little danger of not winning and turned the last 20 minutes into simply hoping Columbia wouldn't score...made changes based on hoping Columbia wouldn't score, which enabled them to score. By the end of the game had the top scoring striker of the whole world cup in midfield, Vardy up front, no actual midfielders doing any midfielding, Rashford on at fullback. Midfielders twiddling their thumbs on the bench. Didn't change anything for the entire first 15 minutes of extra time desite his changes prior to that making it impossible for his team to try and win. Wearing a smart looking snooker outfit doesn't excuse managing your team like a fecking moron. England have a genuine chance to reach the final but there's no way they win two more tight games with him pulling this level of stupidity both times. It reduces the game to hoping the players manage to luck it out in spite of the management...and that's when you're playing someone worse than you.
This has a 1-1 draw written all over it. I wouldn't rule out England win on penalties again.
Well, yes, it's definitely true to an extent, and Sterling's record at international level should be seen as concerning, but due to the fact that the number of games player play at international level is relatively small, it's difficult to judge how good they're likely to be on those performances alone, especially when you consider how form and ability changes. I mean, for example, Sterling's goals record may be poor in comparison to Welbeck, but it's only really in the past year or so Sterling's transformed himself into a dependable scorer for England.
Kane's another example of how quickly perception at international level can change. Had he had a poor tournament, people would've been harshly critical of his overall record for England, because he didn't do much for England. Instead, after managing to mount up some goals against Panama and Tunisia, as well as another in a game where England needed penalties to win, he's the countries second top all-time goal scorer in WC's, and will likely always be remembered in a very good light for that reason alone, even if he manages to balls up every big competition he plays from now on.
I think the massive under achievement of those sides in addition to jaded fans and experts giving them no chance has taken a lot of pressure off. Not to mention the squad is a lot more together than others it seems and Soutgate being a manager that came through with the youth teams rather than a superstar 'here's 10m a year now win us the world cup" appointment. There's a good mentality in the squad and little to no complacency.
Guess what. England made it to the QFs, Colombia didn't. If the latter "showed up", then they showed up to play dirty and got what they deserved: a big fat nothing.
The better team went through, justice was done and the England train, with Harry Kane as the locomotive pulling them forward, rolls on down the tracks.
Nonsense it wasn’t his best game but his movement is vital for this England team who have no real creative passers. If anyone should be dropped it’s Dele Alli or Sterling.
The only reason I can think he is playing is because of the internet warrior campaign to paint him as a victim of the apparently racist media, which has maybe made Southgate scared to drop him in case he gets fingers pointed at him. There's no actual logical reason to still be picking him aside from that. He should be behind every other forward player in the squad. He's just about the only survivor from 4 years ago and he was among the worst players back then.
I do think Welbeck would be more useful, but so would Rashford, or you can play Loftus Cheek and push one of Alli or Lingard further up. Any of these options offer more than the feck all that Sterling consistently provides. His performance level isn't going to just randomly change after this amount of time without a kick up the arse. It's bizarre
Rashford in for Sterling, Loftus-Cheek in for Alli, Rose in for Young and England should be too strong for Sweden.
Oh in that sense I agree with you then.
Sterling and Alli have been let downs for England for years now. At some point we have to accept this might just be how they play for England.
First thing Rose did when he came on was charge up the pitch selfishly and force his team to punt the ball out and yell at him, as he wasn't available for a pass. We allso don't need the kind of defennding he produced against Belgium.
I do think Young is a problem area...unfortunately Rose is just a massive idiot it seems and not really a better alternative these days. At least Young is reliable as a team mate.
Here, here!
It's as if people don't understand football and the need for a balanced team. Sterling's off the ball work is very important and he draws players to him and frees up space for others. It's no mystery why we weren't very creative after he went off.
That being said his control and finishing could be improved significantly.
England are obviously favorites to go through but the way Sweden are playing right now and have been playing against some of the best teams in Europe for the past couple of years I think it will be a very close game on saturday. We're much, much better when we don't have the ball all that much and if we can make sure that the 3 guys behind Kane don't have any space to use their speed I think England will have a hard time creating scoring chances. What makes me a bit worried though was your defensive display tonight, every time Colombia countered you had what looked like 29 men on the right side if the ball within seconds, and when you had time to settle they barely even got the ball into the area. Not that Colombia have the offensive fire power that Sweden have mind you.. 
Berg might look like he genuinly doesn't understand that you have to get the ball into the net to score, but surely he will mishit the ball sooner rather than later and get a hattrick before you know it.
In any case it's going to be one hell of a game, may the best team win.
Berg might look like he genuinly doesn't understand that you have to get the ball into the net to score, but surely he will mishit the ball sooner rather than later and get a hattrick before you know it.In any case it's going to be one hell of a game, may the best team win.
I would generally agree, but Sweden are very good at defending aerial balls into the box. This means England need to deliver balls quickly. Having a winger with a natural left foot will be important re this. If it's not working, change it - but I'd like to see us start with Rose, a more natural fit to that position.
Hear hear
Listen listen
Need a tactical re-jig for Sweden.
Alli and Sterling are in the team to be difference makers, and we're carrying both of them. They're both playing at a solid 6 out of 10. Neither are playing badly. But they are the two players that should be making things happen, and they're not.
Rashford for Sterling would be the most sensible change, but if Alli has a knock it may be Loftus-Cheek that gets the nod.
I think we're too tactically brittle to make any drastic changes. (ie Dier in, Lingard being given a different role)
Alli and Sterling are in the team to be difference makers, and we're carrying both of them. They're both playing at a solid 6 out of 10. Neither are playing badly. But they are the two players that should be making things happen, and they're not.
Rashford for Sterling would be the most sensible change, but if Alli has a knock it may be Loftus-Cheek that gets the nod.
I think we're too tactically brittle to make any drastic changes. (ie Dier in, Lingard being given a different role)
The origin of the phrase is due to the particular structure of the British Parliament
not as catchy