England Discussion | Finish 4th

groovyalbert said:
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.
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Not seen any evidence from England that this will happen whether Rose playes or not. Neither wingback has been getting played in to deliver quick crosses. The quick threat in behind has always been from Lingard...and in theory Sterling except he almost never does it and when he does just fumbles the ball back to the opposition before he can control it.

Southgate needs to play Rashford really or ditch Sterling for a midfield so England at least aren't open on the break if they do struggle to create. He will do neither though.
 
Well done to England. I can't believe they actually won a penalty shootout, so rare to see. Columbia were an absolute disgrace, 5 or 6 of their players should've been sent off.
 
groovyalbert said:
Rashford in for Sterling, Loftus-Cheek in for Alli, Rose in for Young and England should be too strong for Sweden.
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noodlehair said:
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.
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Odd. I thought Young had a really good game.
 
Young has been one of England's better players throughout the tournament, I don't think I'd even swap hin for Rose at United.
Injuries aside keep the team as constant as possible, no player (bar perhaps sterling) has warranted being dropped.
 
Thought Sterling played better than he has in a long time tbh. Which is a pretty low bar i guess but i'd stick with him for the first half to give him a chance to play himself into form. It'd make a pretty big difference to your chances imo. Alli i'd have less patience with, but there's less alternatives i guess.
 
GlastonSpur said:
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.
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England - this is why you're so difficult to support!
 
Congrats to England tonight and purely from an honest point of view, England now have a great chance but we need to fix the final third the argument shouldnt be Stirling or Rashford ...as a United fan, I genuinely think Marcus offers us much more but the problem is Southgate's Formation is stiffling the final third and he needs to change his mindset to really propel the team into a fearless attacking unit, just go for broke and we need Kane playing as a 9 further up the pitch not a deep lying 10 trying to create for a Shot Shy Stirling.
Raheem is a great wide player or an inside 10 never a fecking 9 in a million years so what we learned tonight are that the Back 3 are decent but too deep and we only need Henderson as CDM .....Gareth please play this team, be bold and you might just suprise the nation;

J Pickford

K Walker J Stones H Maguire

J Henderson

K Trippier J Lingard A Young

R Stirling M Rashford
H Kane

3-1-3-2-1
#Go for Broke #I Believe
 
Camilo said:
England - this is why you're so difficult to support!
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He's right though. Colombia didn't want to play a football match. They wanted a brawl and were by far the dirtiest team seen in the competition so far. Thankfully, for the good of the competition, this attitude and behaviour did not win.
 
Not sure what to make of today's performance. I mean I'm ecstatic at the result but from a footballing perspective it wasn't a great watch.

What I'm not so confident about is playing 3 at the back. There has been moments where I think a team that can stretch us on the wings and counter could do some damage.

Is Rashford going to start a match? Sterling still hasn't produced and I think Southgate needs to think about that.

I would put the Swedes in the same bracket as the Colombians. Not amazing but potential banana skin.
 

It was a good run.
Must be such a releif for English people to finally win a penalty shoot-out.
 
With @Mrs Smoker supporting Sweden, I'm more confident that I normally am. Whoever she's supported so far in the World Cup has lost from what I've gathered from the match threads.

GlastonSpur said:
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.
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:lol:
 
Camilo said:
England - this is why you're so difficult to support!
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Gladston tends to have that effect.

He actually makes you slightly not want England to win because you know he's going to somehow turn it into a way to be really obnoxious about Tottenham Hotspur.
 
Neo_Mufc said:
Not sure what to make of today's performance. I mean I'm ecstatic at the result but from a footballing perspective it wasn't a great watch.

What I'm not so confident about is playing 3 at the back. There has been moments where I think a team that can stretch us on the wings and counter could do some damage.

Is Rashford going to start a match? Sterling still hasn't produced and I think Southgate needs to think about that.

I would put the Swedes in the same bracket as the Colombians. Not amazing but potential banana skin.
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He wont change the team and the back three is a big problem. I was more worried about what happens if a team presses them...which Columbia did in patches. THe problem is all three of them think they're great on the ball yet all three of them nearly always just play it sideways, AFTER pratting around with it unecessarily. Even Kane was coming back to give them an extra option tonight, on top of Sterling, Lingard, Henderson and at times both the wing backs, and they still seemed to find it a problem to pick a pass without taking an age.
 
Neo_Mufc said:
Not sure what to make of today's performance. I mean I'm ecstatic at the result but from a footballing perspective it wasn't a great watch.

What I'm not so confident about is playing 3 at the back. There has been moments where I think a team that can stretch us on the wings and counter could do some damage.

Is Rashford going to start a match? Sterling still hasn't produced and I think Southgate needs to think about that.

I would put the Swedes in the same bracket as the Colombians. Not amazing but potential banana skin.
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Before tonight's match, most fans, pundits and bookies placed Colombia as a slightly better and more dangerous team than Sweden. I still think that's the case, the two matches haven't changed my opinion on that, but fully agree that Sweden are another banana skin.

I'd say England are slight favourites again. 55/45.
 
I'm still pissed off. Colombia took the piss with their violence. Ref didn't punish them.
 
As long as we take Sweden seriously we should progress to the semis.

IF we make it to the semis I can't decide who I'd rather face between Russia and Croatia.
 
Can understand us thinking to the final itself, but I'm sure Southgate and the players will focus on Sweden on Saturday.

They have had an extra day's rest and not had to play Extra Time.

Still I see a spirit in this England team I have not seen for a long time.

I admit I wrote off Southgate before the tournament. But credit to him, Kane and the rest for getting us so far.

Never give up and Believe.

Proud of them all.
 
Congrats to England for qualifying today.

I just wonder if they didn't spend too much energy and emotions to win the game today, and whether they have enough, physically and (especially) mentally, to go all the way. To win the cup, they will have to win 3 knockout games in 8 days. That is very very difficult to do, but their chances this year are the best in a long long time.
 
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Neo_Mufc said:
Not sure what to make of today's performance. I mean I'm ecstatic at the result but from a footballing perspective it wasn't a great watch.

What I'm not so confident about is playing 3 at the back. There has been moments where I think a team that can stretch us on the wings and counter could do some damage.

Is Rashford going to start a match? Sterling still hasn't produced and I think Southgate needs to think about that.

I would put the Swedes in the same bracket as the Colombians. Not amazing but potential banana skin.
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I found myself incredibly frustrated by the way England were playing. Unfairly wishing for the Japanese style to creep into the match at some point.

Columbia today was very very horrible. The Cuadrado chance that be missed was abysmal.

The Manchester City players having a rough tourney. England's back line being held together by Harry McGuire.

On to the next round tho.
 
All tough games now but I’d fancy England to beat Sweden.
I think they have more quality in general so should be able to take them, hopefully without penalties.
 
GlastonSpur said:
I'm blinkered when it comes to Kane? He's the best striker in the world, bar none (and he's only going to get better) … and what's more, it's those who deny it who are the ones who are the blinkered, largely because he doesn't play for their club.
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He's an excellent player but on par with Ronaldo? I'd like to see him win a trophy first, preferably a World Cup in a couple of weeks time.
 
Good work qualifying, but the doubts haven't been completely swept away. Sure, England look better in terms of their passing and movement, with none of the old lethargy. Good mentality to win on pens as well. But they still couldn't score from open play against a poor Colombian side and chance creation was minimal.

At the moment, they are better, but really don't know by how much.
 
Red Dreams said:
Can understand us thinking to the final itself, but I'm sure Southgate and the players will focus on Sweden on Saturday.

They have had an extra day's rest and not had to play Extra Time.

Still I see a spirit in this England team I have not seen for a long time.

I admit I wrote off Southgate before the tournament. But credit to him, Kane and the rest for getting us so far.

Never give up and Believe.

Proud of them all.
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Sweden played today also. Understand what you mean about the extra time and the mental aspect of things but I think England will be spurred on by today and will do better against Sweden.
 
English defence is perfectly suited to deal with Sweden's attack. I think we have the edge on them with Kane up front.
 
Seb larsson still starts for sweden. Theyre an incredibly average team that are admirably resilient. If england score early it will be game over.
 
SER19 said:
Seb larsson still starts for sweden. Theyre an incredibly average team that are admirably resilient. If england score early it will be game over.
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Forsberg is their only real threat, and the one that would get in the England squad.

Despite the game with Switzerland being a dour affair he stood out amongst the dross with some nice touchscreen and dribbles.
 
Happy to see England through. I had some sympathy for Colombia before the game. I didn't after.

It wasn't a very good performance by England but they should have no trouble beating Sweden.
 
The euphoria of last night shouldn't mask the glaring deficiencies that game showed up.

Walker will make at least one guaranteed serious mistake in every match.

Alli is no more than a bloke picked out of the pub because he's wearing an England shirt.

Sterling is now 41 games into his glittering England career and has scored a massive 2 goals. And please, nobody say "he makes great runs". He doesn't, he makes the runs a forward is supposed to make.

We have no creativity at all in midfield - nothing. Kane is continually coming back into midfield to try to make something happen, instead of being up front waiting for that incisive pass.

If Southgate fields the same team on Saturday it's game over, even to a mediocre Sweden side.
 
P-Nut0712 said:
As long as we take Sweden seriously we should progress to the semis.

IF we make it to the semis I can't decide who I'd rather face between Russia and Croatia.
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Croatia probably. At least they'll play football. Russia will sit back even more than Sweden will.


We score early on Saturday, we're golden. But the longer it goes, the more frustrated we'll get.

At least we won't be scared of penalties anymore.
 
Sweden will miss Lustig's aerial ability in this game. Emil Krafth is much shorter and weaker.
 
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