The "England have had it easy" narrative

[hasanejaz88]

Certainly, this a public forum where people of all nationalities are free to post their opinions and whatnot, just don't be surprised when the England fans respond with highly defensive retorts. We are quite precious where our national team is concerned. Personally, I blame the English press.

Nah, I've learnt that all fans are like this. That's why I haven't been wound up by comments by English fans saying they expect themselves to beat Germany, Brazil etc because they've gone farther than them. That's really how any team's fans would respond.

Remember these same United fans were belittling Liverpool's UCL final run because they faced easier teams than Real. It's not as if one set of fans are better than others.

 

[FlawlessThaw]

Because I don't care for England and Colombia are one of those nations that will always be a bit of an underdog? Because I wanted Belgium to win? How is any of that bitterness?

Your post doesn't make any sense. I don't think United supporters wanting Liverpool to lose in the CL final were bitter about anything - we just wanted to avoid a summer of gloating from their supporters.

Calm down, I never accused you of bitterness in not supporting England. That's completely fine and if you wanted Belgium to win that's fair enough.

I think wanting to avoid a summer of gloating from Liverpool fans is a form of bitterness. You are essentially resenting them getting happiness from their team. It's understandable, a big factor of club rivalry. The non-bitter viewpoint of it all would be not being fussed who won the CL final.

 

[africanspur]

Yeah I am not understanding the "Sweden knocked out Germany" comments. Germany beat Sweden so it doesnt make sense to say that. Mexico and South Korea knocked out Germany, Sweden just luckily benefitted from that.

Sweden finished top of the group with 6 points.
Germany finished bottom with 3.

That is how it makes sense. That is how tournament football with group stages work. Sweden progressed, top of the group and Germany didn't progress at all. Over those 3 games, which is how it is decided, Sweden were the best team, Germany the worst. So how can you say they didn't knock them out?

 

[Minimalist]

Calm down, I never accused you of bitterness in not supporting England. That's completely fine and if you wanted Belgium to win that's fair enough.

I think wanting to avoid a summer of gloating from Liverpool fans is a form of bitterness. You are essentially resenting them getting happiness from their team. It's understandable, a big factor of club rivalry. The non-bitter viewpoint of it all would be not being fussed who won the CL final.

Personally think there's a difference between being bitter (it's quite a childish thing) and just finding something (mildly) annoying. Liverpool winning the CL wasn't going to ruin my summer or anything.

Same as England winning the WC. I don't particularly care for them but I'm not going to be fuming about it or something.

 

[99withaflake]

Yes. I haven’t paid huge attention to the ramblings of people on Twitter though. One example will do for starters.

Fine. You’re unable to use the internet, and have unbelievably managed to avoid the thousands of messages and sentiments that have been swamping social media.

Here is an example:







To this...



We all know there are many people from many nations who claim England will be knocked out, and also claim they have an easy draw. You can deny it all you like, along with a very small group of users, but the rest of us are aware of it.

 

[shamans]

this is pretty sad. It is obvious England have had an easy route so far but if they do win the World Cup that doesn’t matter

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Sweden finished top of the group with 6 points.
Germany finished bottom with 3.

That is how it makes sense. That is how tournament football with group stages work. Sweden progressed, top of the group and Germany didn't progress at all. Over those 3 games, which is how it is decided, Sweden were the best team, Germany the worst. So how can you say they didn't knock them out?

I understand what you are saying, its still an odd and confusing way to describe what actually happened.

If I knew nothing about this World Cup and you said "Sweden knocked out Germany" I would think that meant Sweden defeated Germany in the group phase; that Sweden got a result against Germany that contributed to Germany not advancing.

To use the metaphor "knocked out" is a bit misplaced to describe the actual situation where Germany beat Sweden and it was defeat to Mexico and draw against South Korea that prevented Germany from advancing. I could expand further but its a minor pet peeve

 

[noodlehair]

I agree that this is a pointless discussion but it's not the English who've been saying this since the draw happened.

When England finished second and there was talks of semi finals, there was an uproar of arrogance levelled by the other home nations because England dared to dream, now the home nations are saying 'easy draw' and lucky. I would suggest that the OP is aiming his post at those and not the rest of us who are just happy we're still in the competition at this stage.

I think in fairness most of the "uproar" was from other England fans who thought it was arrogant to plot a route to the final as if it's a given we'll beat this or that team, instead of just worrying about the next game. I mean, one of the people saying this was Alan Shearer, who I don't think is Scottish (I mean, he nearly is, but still).

Easy is still a comparative term. Sweden or Colombia is an easy game compared to say, Brazil, but it's not an easy game in the sense of just presuming England will be better than them, which is what some people were doing. That goes hand in hand in that just because it wasn't Brazil doesn't mean we can't be proud of how well England have done to get to the semis.

 

[africanspur]

I think in fairness most of the "uproar" was from other England fans who thought it was arrogant to plot a route to the final as if it's a given we'll beat this or that team, instead of just worrying about the next game. I mean, one of the people saying this was Alan Shearer, who I don't think is Scottish (I mean, he nearly is, but still).

Easy is still a comparative term. Sweden or Colombia is an easy game compared to say, Brazil, but it's not an easy game in the sense of just presuming England will be better than them, which is what some people were doing. That goes hand in hand in that just because it wasn't Brazil doesn't mean we can't be proud of how well England have done to get to the semis.

He may as well be to be honest, considering how far north his origins are.....

Perhaps it would be easier to just remove our dispensation, combine the 4 home nations and just have a UK football team. Then this sniping and constant bickering would stop.

 

[africanspur]

I understand what you are saying, its still an odd and confusing way to describe what actually happened.

If I knew nothing about this World Cup and you said "Sweden knocked out Germany" I would think that meant Sweden defeated Germany in the group phase; that Sweden got a result against Germany that contributed to Germany not advancing.

To use the metaphor "knocked out" is a bit misplaced to describe the actual situation where Germany beat Sweden and it was defeat to Mexico and draw against South Korea that prevented Germany from advancing. I could expand further but its a minor pet peeve

Fair enough if that is a pet peeve, the difference comes down to wording I guess.

The way I see it, Sweden and Germany had to play the same fixtures. Germany lost both of those, Sweden won both. Germany went out, Sweden went through. So Sweden are directly responsible for Germany's exit. That is how group stage football works surely?

 

[oneniltothearsenal]

Fair enough if that is a pet peeve, the difference comes down to wording I guess.

The way I see it, Sweden and Germany had to play the same fixtures. Germany lost both of those, Sweden won both. Germany went out, Sweden went through. So Sweden are directly responsible for Germany's exit. That is how group stage football works surely?

Yes, you can blame the linguistics classes I took back in Uni days before changing majors. Its hard for me to 'unsee' metaphors now in daily speech

The metaphor "knocked out" comes from boxing. It evokes a situation where one pugilist is punching another to achieve a Knock-Out blow, a KO victory. Its a 1v1 situation not a group situation. It naturally evokes imagery of one contestant delivering the final punch to knock out the other competitor from the competition. A "knock out blow" was delivered. The imagery evoked doesn't naturally apply to a round-robin competition. Since Germany directly defeated Sweden, the metaphor knocked-out seems off and misleading to me when used to describe that group phase.

It sounds like what George Orwell would call a dead metaphor. Its not meant to actually convey imagery of 1v1 competition but its used as a replacement phrase for 'advanced out of the round-robin group phrase instead of'.

Here is a reference if you are really, really bored someday

 

[Alex99]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

Spoiler

Group stages, mediocre team

Tunisia and Belgium (*fingers crossed)

Panama, after England will lose their first game against Tunisia.

Well knock ourselves out from the group stage. We'll draw twice and lose against Belgium. Heard it here first. Also, Jones will probably hurt himself or some else in training.

The most English way possible. Last game in the 1st round with a 3rd place finish on GD because of a late own goal.

Tunisia in the group stage.

We'll go out in the group stage.

I wouldn't actually be all that surprised if England end the group stage with only two points from draws with Tunisia and Panama.

Wouldn't it be just like England to stumble to a draw or defeat against Panama when needing a win...

Themselves. Draw 2 games in a row and face a must win game against Belgium, guess what.

Belgium. We’re always slow starters and need a result off the last group match. We won’t get it.

Can see England finishing second with Colombia winning their group, we'll probably go out here.

Probably finish second then go out to Colombia.

I don’t think you could get past Poland.


So my guess is Poland round of 16.

Poland.

Second round, Poland or Colombia

In no way will England beat Poland «easily». Poland are a real team, unlike England that’s merely a bunch of supposedly better players. They have Lewandowski as well, he always scores in international games.

If they get Colombia in the round of 16 they'll lose.

As long as we don't get Colombia, I think we'll make the QFs.

Colombia.

The first team they meet in the knock-out stages.

Columbia

Senegal.

Poland in the last 16.


v Tunisia 0-0

v Panama 1-0

v Belgium 1-2


v Poland 1-2

Thanks. But they will probably win Tunisia and Panama, 1-0 result, with some silly kinda of a goal, (Karius anybody) only to draw with Belgium, but will end up second, GD. Whole England will be praising them and calling it: "WC winners" only to get disappointed after Poland smashes them.

On Tunisia:

Spoiler

England might get caught out against Tunisia if they don't finish their chances because I think Stones is suspect at the center of the back 3.

Tunisia is looking good against Spain. Pique and Ramos are a bit exposed.

A lot of people underrate Tunisia here but having watched them on a friendly here in Portugal I can see them creating some sort of troubles to Belgium.

Terrible first half, Tunisia with a very annoying pressure. The midfield is not working.

Tunisia will sit in and nick one from a set piece.

It's been a pretty entertaining World Cup so far and, at time of writing, every game has produced a goal.


So I fully expect England to buck this trend.


England 0 0 Tunisia.

Sweden-Korea and Tunisia-England look like draws to me. Panama might be the weakest team here with Saudi Arabia so I think Belgium wins this one comfortably.

England- Tunisia- Tunisia don't concede a huge anount and played well v Spain two weeks ago so likely to be a tight one. 1-0, Kane winner around 60th minute mark.

I honestly think this team will lose to Tunisia, will scramble a

I don't think Tunisia will be a pushover, England definitely play better football but as we have seen from teams like Mexico , Iceland, Switzerland, Australia...it's never as simple as that in a tournament like this. Grit and determination play a huge part.


I'm predicting a tough game, a late 1 - 0 win for us.

Tunisia are absolute bastards. Can see why they gave Spain and Portugal tough game.

Think Tunisia could frustrate Belgium and hopefully nick a point.

Would agree with those scores, Belgium should win but don't see them scoring many with how Tunisia play.

Belgium will find it tough. I can see it being a close 1-0 or 2-1.

On fecking Panama:

Spoiler

Hopefully a win for England but I can see us making it difficult for ourselves. Panama are not to be underestimated.

On Colombia:

Spoiler

Colombia finally.


They will light up the WC again.

Colombia have been excellent. Really impressive.

I’d rather avoid Colombia next round.

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

Finishing second really might be better for us watching Columbia tonight.

Colombia reminding me how Brazil used to play.

Very impressive performance by Colombia. Great atmosphere too.

I am sorry for Senegal, but this Colombia side is going through. They were just unlucky in the first game due to that red card.

Columbia is better than Brazil.

If Colombia win the group, will Belgium still field a weak side? Colombia will be the first real test for both teams, thats why it's good to not change the team too much. Going from Panana to Colombia is is a huge step-up. I can see Colombia eliminating Belgium.

I think second place will get Japan in the next round. If Colombia ends up second, I want us to win the group.

This is just giving Group H all the fuel they need to overperform in the second round - ditto the Swiss and Sweden.


Let's do it the hard way, Colombia, Brazil, Argies and then smash the Swiss in the final.

Even in the R16, you'll probably play Japan if you finish 2nd and Colombia if you finish 1st. Easy choice there imo, even though Japan wouldn't be pushovers themselves.

Will be interesting is Belgium and England risk it and play Colombia. Good chance they will lose against Colombia.

Shouldn't both teams be pretty motivated to finish first and avoid Colombia?

Colombia would beat England I reckon.

This assumption that this England side couldn't be beaten by Colombia or hell, even Sweden/Swiss beyond that is remarkable.

Exactly. No matter what you think of Colombia you have to say that they are at least decent. England haven't beaten a side of decent quality in a knockout game for donkey years. Long term? There's a good chance there won't be a long term. I just want to see us get to another QF at least.

Columbia will tear this defence a new hole with or without james Rodriguez i think.

Southgate has annoyed be a bit here. The momentum has been killed. If it stays like this I can definitely see Colombia beating England and Belgium spanking Japan and Gareth looking like a complete arse.

Interesting how blasé everyone is about playing Colombia. They’re not an easy team and on the same side of the draw as Croatia.


Celebrating being on the ‘easy’ side Of the draw is not in the spirit of football and today’s match was an absolute joke.


This is likely to backfire

Well I hope Englands "A" team players are well rested as they will need to attack for 90 minutes against Columbia.


Our midfield, defence and keeper is crap and Colombia will lambada their way to 3 or 4 goals unless England get a quick lead and break their spirit.

Colombia conceded a very early red card against Japan, and still lost only by 1 goal. They're a strong side.

Goin for a Sweden and Colombia win. England always bottle it when the chips are down. Expect errors leading to goals rather than great play from Colombia.

Think Columbia will be the biggest test personally. No-one can be discounted this WC though, you’re right!

Against Colombia more like.

England are shite.

It’s refreshing to watch the pre-match analysis on RTÉ and get some much-needed perspective on this England team, and indeed, Colombia. England are not playing a band of Panamanians nor Tunisians tonight, which many English-based commentators are giving the impression of.

Colombia by two. Ashley Young is going to be found out by Cuadrado. And as for Stones and Maguire, well if they are your best centre halves then England are in trouble.

A fluke goal from Colombia or this goes to penalties. Either way, smells like inevitable England loss.

On Sweden:

Spoiler

Must say I am surprised, Sweden much better than I expected and should have had a 1 or 2 goal lead now.

Now that Sweden have got one, it could be three or four. The Koreans seem to lack any kind of attacking gameplan.

Well played Sweden it has to be said. They are cruising through in the end.

Brazil will find it comfortable enough. I think Sweden would have been a much tougher match up for them because of their defense. Mexico are a bit naive and will approach them offensively, it’s hard to outscore Brazil if you are leaving yourself wide open at the back.

They do yes. Sweden have surprised me how well they’ve done but looking at who they got past in qualification it probably shouldn’t have.

This assumption that this England side couldn't be beaten by Colombia or hell, even Sweden/Swiss beyond that is remarkable.

All their faults aside, Zlatan-less Sweden look good.

Both Sweden and the Swiss are tough to beat

Sweden will be no pushovers. Very solid defensively and have a few game changers in attack.

They beat France in the qualifiers, knocked out Italy, Switzerland. . . Did a job on Mexico.


Sweden are extremely well organised and hardworking and will be very difficult for either Colombia or England to beat.

Sweden defending very reminiscent of the Italian teams of old. 2 banks of four. No overcomitting. Just shuffling across as a line. Making sure to get a body behind every single shot. I'm sure they will be a tough match up for England/Colombia.

Sweden are a bit like the Greece of Euro 2004, only better up front.


Their defending is superb. Organisationally they are extremely well disciplined. Very diligent and hardworking. They have goal scorers . . 6 in this tournament so far.

I fancy Sweden against this England side.

Genuinely think Sweden will beat whoever wins here.

Whatever the outcome, Sweden must be loving this. I make them favourites.

They don't really....Croatia and Sweden are better teams than England


They got a lucky draw, fixed a loss against Belgium...

They're not much of a team

Sweden are a solid side and it'll be another tight game that will go either way.


It's not like Sweden won't be flying themselves, having made their best run in a World Cup sonce 1994.

France, Belgium, Sweden, Russia.

Not to sure this England team will beat Sweden. Based on today's performances the Swedes do look better.

Sweden vs England. England won like what ? 1 in the last 10 matches against Sweden.

France 1 Uruguay 1 (Uruguay on pens)

Brazil 3 Belgium 1

Sweden 1 England 0

Russia 0 Croatia 2

Uruguay 1-3 France

Brazil 2-2 Belgium (Brazil 3-2 in ET)

Sweden 0-0 England (Sweden 1-0 in ET)

Russia 2-1 Croatia

France 0 Uruguay 0

Brazil 1 Belgium 1

Sweden 0 England 0

Russia 1 Croatia 1

France 2 - 0 Uruguay

Brazil 2 - 2 Belgium (Belgium win on pens)

Sweden 1 - 1 England (Sweden win on pens)

Russia 1 - 3 Croatia


Belgium will beat Sweden in the final.

I put a 5 euro accumulator on the follow correct scores


France 2-1 Uruguay

Brazil 2-1 Belgium

England 0-0 Sweden

Russia 0-1 Croatia


18,900 euro if it wins, ya never know

France-Uruguay 0-1

Brazil-Belgium 3-1

Sweden-England 1-0

Russia-Croatia 0-2

Fra 1-0 Uru

Bra 1-2 Bel

Swe 0-0* Eng

Rus 0-1 Cro

France 2 Uruguay 1

Brazil 3 Belgium 1

Sweden 2 England 1

Russia 0 Croatia 2

France 1-0 Uruguay

Brazil 3-2 Belgium

Sweden 1-1 England (Sweden wins on pens)

Russia 1-2 Croatia

France 1-1 Uruguay (Uruguay pens)

Brazil 2-1 Belgium

England 1-1 Sweden (Sweden pens)

Russia 1-2 Croatia

Uruguay 2-1 France

Brazil 3-1 Belgium

Croatia 2-1 Russia

England 1-1 Sweden (Sweden wins on pens)

France 0-0 Uruguay, Penalties to decide.

Croatia 2-1 Russia

Belgium 2-1 Brazil

England 0-0 Sweden, Penalties to decide.

Sweden to win on penalties obviously.

Sweden 1-0 England

Russia 2-2 Croatia. Croatia win on pens.


Football's not coming home!

I hope for England and Croatia, but think it will be Sweden and Croatia. England surprise me and deliver for once

It should be. I don't see why the English public and punditry imagine they are a superior side to Sweden.

Time to send you home


Good luck today, I’m expecting many of you to be surprised by the intensity with which Sweden will play today. I hope your players will as well.

I think England have benefitted most from incredibly naive defending from their opposition so far.


Particularly at corners and free kicks the defences have been almost comical in grabbing, holding, spear tackles and wrestling moves that make giving a penalty an easy decision.


Sweden will be more professional in defence and will be more subtle in holding shirts etc for a brief moment then releasing, like we see all defences do in the premier league.


So the question is can England create any "special plays" at deadball situations. Southgate has studied American football extensively and i think he will have a couple up his waistcoat.


The key issue is to hold the ball because if we start defending then Henderson gets a yellow and the tournament is effectively over for England. I'm not a massive fan but we have no other alternative in his position.


A nervous time today i think.

I don't think anyone who's seen Sweden play would be surprised. They're not in the QF by accident, they are the most resilient and dogged team in this World Cup.


It would take nothing short of a top performance from England to get through to the semis.

Sorry to the English fans in advance, but I got a feeling that Sweden might pull something off tonight. Things have been going too smoothly for England so far, and they tonight they might regret throwing the Belgium game to finish 2nd in the group. Football works in strange ways after all.

True, but the fact is that Belgium won and had to face "tougher" opponents like Brazil, and Japan also did not make it easy for them. England did not really seemed bothered and the news was that they were happy to finish 2nd so as to be grouped with the "easier" countries. Given how they scraped past Colombia through penalties, their luck might just run out against a well-drilled Sweden side. You really need Kane to be in top form.

Sweden will be a tough opponent today. They are very strong physically, have a strong mentallity and can play dirty when needed. They create chances every game and are very dangerous in standard situations (free kicks, corners). Underestimate them and you're out, they've already done in: The Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Switzerland. They are a tough team, but I give England 60% chance of winning. Good luck in a few hours!

 

[marlowe78]

I think that England have benefitted from something else. The humiliating defeat by Iceland in the last world cup and it's aftermath.

For years England relied on playing names rather than players in form or who have the actual talents to do a job in International football. We have used talismanic "big tall strikers" that rip up the premier league but get whistled and give away a foul every time they jump in International football. So when Iceland humiliated England it showed us the growing trend in international football. That well drilled and motivated teams from "lesser" footballing nations can create a shock when playing the bigger teams, unless the bigger teams are on top of their game.

Look at who has left early this time, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil - and those who did not even qualify, Italy, Netherlands. All of them have had their issues with aging squads, big name players underperforming, Managers making poor decisions to cram in certain talent. England has been there done that, and would have carried on doing the same under Allardyce.

So the other lucky factor is that the farcical loss to Iceland and the poor recruitment that followed, meant that when big Sam slipped up there was a willingness to try something new.

I don't think you can argue that England have not had an easier run to the Semi final than you would have ever anticipated. However they have managed to do a few things so far that they have not been able to do in tournaments for decades like....

Pick players and a system suited to international football
Hold onto the ball and retain possession.
Play the ball out from the back
React positively to a setback eg Colombia's late equalizer
Not get frustrated after 60 minutes and start lumping high balls into the box
Actually practice penalties
Show mental resilience in a penalty shootout

Win, lose or draw on Wednesday England have made great progress that hopefully can continue whatever the outcome.

Agree with all of that. Instead of trying to cut them down with the 'easy' opposition argument, the talk should be about how much they've improved since the Iceland debacle and, what also seems to be missed, that it's a young and fairly inexperienced team on the international level. The Hodgson team looked petrified against any kind of adversity. There were major changes and now it's showing some belief with new players and a new manager.

 

[The Stain]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

I'm swedish but well done on your little summary.

 

[noodlehair]

This narrative has made me wonder about previous tournaments. There must be plenty of times Team A has won it, but maybe another couple of great teams have been pitted against each other and ultimately not had a chance to have a pop at Team A.

I'm more interested in whether there's any evidence that playing easier opponents makes you more likely to do well when you get to the semi final/final stage and play someone better. In the sense of it taking less out of you physically, mentally etc...because if so that will obviously work in England's favour. Croatia have had what you could call easy knockout games, but have had to go all the way to penalties both times. Then in the final whoever is there will be playing a team that's had to beat the likes of Brazil, Argentina, France/Belgium to get there.

Thinking specifically of 98, when Argentina had to put everything into beating England, and then lost to Holland and looked knackered as the game went on, but then Holland had to put everything in to beating them and didn't quite look the same team against Brazil, etc. Meanwhile France were just cruising to the final with the exception of the Italy game.

Similar in 2002...the best team Brazil had to beat on route to the final was probably actually England.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

As you quoted one of my replies, did you have an angle you were trying to display here? Just wondering. Like did you try and show how negative the Caf can be or something?

 

[SteveTheRed]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:
On Tunisia:
On fecking Panama:
On Colombia:
On Sweden:

Good to see I was bang on the money with Tunisia

You'll get a few bites with this one

 

[99withaflake]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

Go home and have a beer. You’ve earnt it!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It looks as though the “bitterness” and excessive sensitivity re same has been created on Twitter, then spilled over here. Explains a lot. Twitter is toxic as feck when it comes to football. Glad I quit it a few weeks back.

 

[Cheesy]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

I'm not sure what this is meant to prove?

I'm sure if I wanted to I could find a ton of quotes about how crap Panama and Tunisia are, and how England were expected to pass through the group stages easily.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm not sure what this is meant to prove?

I'm sure if I wanted to I could find a ton of quotes about how crap Panama and Tunisia are, and how England were expected to pass through the group stages easily.

Or a tonne of quotes from people impressed by the likes of Japan, Uruguay, France or Croatia. As spectacular waste of times go, that post is right up there.

 

[Minimalist]

I'm not sure what this is meant to prove?

I'm sure if I wanted to I could find a ton of quotes about how crap Panama and Tunisia are, and how England were expected to pass through the group stages easily.

Doesn't really prove anything if you read most of the posts.

 

[Random Task]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

Where do you find the time to do all that research?

 

[SqueakyWeasel]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

Spoiler

Nothing to see here

On Tunisia:

Spoiler

Knew you'd look

On fecking Panama:

Spoiler

C'mon, stop it now!

On Colombia:

Spoiler

Still looking

On Sweden:

Spoiler

All the way to the end

Took me about 15 minutes to find my quote: And … vindicated

Think Columbia will be the biggest test personally. No-one can be discounted this WC though, you’re right!

I think

 

[fishfingers15]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

Hope you accomplished a lot more than this selective quoting malarkey during your productive lunch.

 

[Winrar]

Had a productive lunchbreak so I present to you Redcafe's England World Cup predictions and rating of opponents.

On England's chances:

On Tunisia:

On fecking Panama:

On Colombia:

Spoiler

(when it looked like Colombia were finishing second)

On Sweden:

I don't understand what you're trying to say or are trying to prove. Yes my prediction for Sweden vs England was incorrect but 1-1 wasn't a totally unreasonable prediction at this stage and nobody can get predictions 100% correctly. I did underestimate England a little before the tournament but Southgate and co. have done very well and better than I had expected and I see no shame in admitting that?

 

[fishfingers15]

England had an easy route to semi finals but it doesn't matter because you can only beat the teams you are playing and they can't be responsible for a shit German and Spain performance

 

[Alex99]

As you quoted one of my replies, did you have an angle you were trying to display here? Just wondering. Like did you try and show how negative the Caf can be or something?

No idea who's supporting who in those lists, just thought there was a stark contrast between "Colombia are better than Brazil" and "Sweden are reminiscent of the Italian teams of old" before England played them, to them being "Championship sides" after England beat them. Even in the group stage, England were going to need a win against Belgium after stumbling past Tunisia and Panama, only for both to turn into pub teams once England had six points off them.

Not entirely the same set of people, obviously, but while England have had a more favourable draw than the other half's semi-finalists, it's not been easy, and there's a difference between one draw being a bit tougher than the other, and one draw being a climb through the circles of hell while the other is a walk in the park, which is how the difference between France/Belgium's draws have been presented when compared to England's.

@Minimalist in particular has done himself proud there. Going from:

"This assumption that this England side couldn't be beaten by Colombia or hell, even Sweden/Swiss beyond that is remarkable." and "Genuinely think Sweden will beat whoever wins here." prior to the quarter-final to "Sweden were a walk-over" in this thread.

I'm not sure what this is meant to prove?

I'm sure if I wanted to I could find a ton of quotes about how crap Panama and Tunisia are, and how England were expected to pass through the group stages easily.

Undoubtedly. In the same thread I think there were people saying Colombia are better than Brazil and others saying they're awful. Colombia are great technically to Colombia being a team of thugs with no technical ability at all. You've got people praising the defensive ability of Tunisia while others claim their defence is shite. Pretty much everyone agreed Panama were terrible, I just happened to stumble across one post that thought otherwise and thought it was funny. Sweden was similarly contrasting. Some thought England would walk it, others had Sweden pegged as a very good side, much improved as a team since Zlatan left, with a genuine chance of going far.

Or a tonne of quotes from people impressed by the likes of Japan, Uruguay, France or Croatia. As spectacular waste of times go, that post is right up there.

Where do you find the time to do all that research?

It's a slow day.

Hope you accomplished a lot more than this selective quoting malarkey during your productive lunch.

Ate a couple of hobnobs.

I don't understand what you're trying to say or are trying to prove. Yes my prediction for Sweden vs England was incorrect but 1-1 wasn't a totally unreasonable prediction at this stage and nobody can get predictions 100% correctly. I did underestimate England a little before the tournament but Southgate and co. have done very well and better than I had expected and I see no shame in admitting that?

Not calling out people's predictions, just pointing out how many thought it'd be a close game with Sweden even winning according to a fair number of people, but now they're a Championship side.

 

[Minimalist]

@Minimalist in particular has done himself proud there. Going from:

"This assumption that this England side couldn't be beaten by Colombia or hell, even Sweden/Swiss beyond that is remarkable." and "Genuinely think Sweden will beat whoever wins here." prior to the quarter-final to "Sweden were a walk-over" in this thread.

Oh feck off you eejit. One is a prediction/comment on the upcoming match - which in the circumstances I would make again. Sweden looked resilient, England looked really average against Colombia. I was commenting on the idea it would be piss easy.

The latter is after the fact, Sweden really didn't show up, their gameplan didn't work and in the end, apart from a few saves from Pickford, it was straightforward. Backed up by it being one of the more boring matches of the tournament.

How you think that's anything worth criticising is beyond me.

 

[Alex99]

Oh feck off you eejit. One is a prediction/comment on the upcoming match - which in the circumstances I would make again. Sweden looked resilient, England looked really average against Colombia. I was commenting on the idea it would be piss easy.

The latter is after the fact, Sweden really didn't show up, their gameplan didn't work and in the end, apart from a few saves from Pickford, it was straightforward.

How you think that's anything worth criticising is beyond me.

Indicative of a wider trend at the moment innit? England are arrogant for thinking they'll beat a team, then when they do the team were shit. Only picked you out because you posted about three or four times about Sweden beating England.

 

[Minimalist]

Indicative of a wider trend at the moment innit? England are arrogant for thinking they'll beat a team, then when they do the team were shit. Only picked you out because you posted about three or four times about Sweden beating England.

I made a prediction and stuck to it? Wow, what a crime.

(Those posts are from different threads, I can tell)

 

[fishfingers15]

I don't particularly like hobnobs

 

[RoadTrip]

One thing is absolutely certain though, in order for England to win the world cup, we will have to beat a top-ranked team at some point in the near future - be that France, Belgium or Croatia - so any doubting of the England teams credentials after that will be illegitimate.

I agree.

 

[Alex99]

I don't particularly like hobnobs

They weren't even proper hobnobs either so a bit disappointing all in all.

I made a prediction and stuck to it? Wow, what a crime.

(Those posts are from different threads, I can tell)

I'm not even criticising your prediction. I also thought it would be very tight.

I'm pointing out how what was widely considered a tight game and potentially the end of the road for England turned into a "walk-over", for which England apparently deserve little to no credit. Others in this thread have even called Sweden a Championship team.

 

[Aurell]

Well all the teams you talked about are better than Panama and Tunisia

So definitely it was the easiest group to go out because there was no collectively strong teams as Iran, Korea or Denmark, that's why you did score so much even if you are good offensively and probably better at the ending than Spain or Germany

Then you had to beat Sweden and Colombia without James.
Of the 4 left, it's definitely a poor route. The worst part is that you didn't outclass them. You actually succeed to go to the pen against Colombia thanks to a pen. Against Sweden, the 3 in front were also disappointing, Maguire looking as the biggest threat

 

[Minimalist]

They weren't even proper hobnobs either so a bit disappointing all in all.



I'm not even criticising your prediction. I also thought it would be very tight.

I'm pointing out how what was widely considered a tight game and potentially the end of the road for England turned into a "walk-over", for which England apparently deserve little to no credit. Others in this thread have even called Sweden a Championship team.

But nobody should be saying that. Even it's only a small amount (doesn't matter how easy it was), England still get credit for winning a quarter final.

 

[SER19]

They weren't even proper hobnobs either so a bit disappointing all in all.



I'm not even criticising your prediction. I also thought it would be very tight.

I'm pointing out how what was widely considered a tight game and potentially the end of the road for England turned into a "walk-over", for which England apparently deserve little to no credit. Others in this thread have even called Sweden a Championship team.

Not sure why this touched such a nerve. Like i said at the time that is the level the huge majority of their players would be at in england. Or else theres another reason seb larsson is starting in midfield after failing at hull

 

[Alex99]

Not sure why this touched such a nerve. Like i said at the time that is the level the huge majority of their players would be at in england. Or else theres another reason seb larsson is starting in midfield after failing at hull

It's not really touched a nerve, it's just a shockingly bollocks comment.

 

[SER19]

It's not really touched a nerve, it's just a shockingly bollocks comment.

I thought your extremely long rambling hypothetical posts were bad, but perhaps you should stick to them. 6 players in their 23 man squad play in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues despite Sweden generally having a good export record, even at those Lindelöf aside are not exactly fighting for titles. It’s fair to say the vast majority of their squad would not make a premier league squad, but you’re entitled to your opinion.

 

[Alex99]

I thought your extremely long rambling hypothetical posts were bad, but perhaps you should stick to them. 6 players in their 23 man squad play in one of Europe’s top 5 leagues despite Sweden generally having a good export record, even at those Lindelöf aside are not exactly fighting for titles. It’s fair to say the vast majority of their squad would not make a premier league squad, but you’re entitled to your opinion.

You're very good at stating your opinion as if it's fact.