England Discussion | Finish 4th

MyOnlySolskjaer said:
My worry was that we saw it from Southgate too in most of the qualifiers but glad he ditched it. Feel we have so much more drive when a player like Loftus-Cheek is playing but Lingard and Alli are doing alright too.

Personally would love Loftus-Cheek to start, excellent player.
Click to expand...


Think he's been really poor, sadly. Has not really looked at all fit since picking up an early injury against Tunisia. He needs to be dropped, unless Southgate is 100% sure he's over it for the Sweden game. He's also had a pretty poor/average season, still managed to put up some impressive statistics and moments (2 vs Madrid and Chelsea are highlights) but his all round contribution to games has been really lacklustre, and he's been a passenger for this England team thus far. Lingard I think has been decent, end product lacking at times but his movement and work rate have made him basically undroppable .. nobody else can replace it.

Loftus-Cheek looks so bloody dangerous when he's driving at the defence, but I have doubts over his decision making. Southgate has a really tough decision to be fair.
 
I cannot for the life of me work out why Southgate keeps persisting with Alli. He's half fit, in poor form and generally performed shite so far. There are so many alternatives.

(Watch him have a blinder now).
 
Irrational. said:
I cannot for the life of me work out why Southgate keeps persisting with Alli. He's half fit, in poor form and generally performed shite so far. There are so many alternatives.

(Watch him have a blinder now).
Click to expand...

Probably the same reasoning I have for keeping Sterling in the team ‘he has to turn up sometime’.
 
SquishyMcSquish said:
Think he's been really poor, sadly. Has not really looked at all fit since picking up an early injury against Tunisia. He needs to be dropped, unless Southgate is 100% sure he's over it for the Sweden game. He's also had a pretty poor/average season, still managed to put up some impressive statistics and moments (2 vs Madrid and Chelsea are highlights) but his all round contribution to games has been really lacklustre, and he's been a passenger for this England team thus far. Lingard I think has been decent, end product lacking at times but his movement and work rate have made him basically undroppable .. nobody else can replace it.

Loftus-Cheek looks so bloody dangerous when he's driving at the defence, but I have doubts over his decision making. Southgate has a really tough decision to be fair.
Click to expand...
Hasn't happened but I'd have played L-C too. His directness and physical presence would have been better imo. Think his good play outweighs the odd mistake.... and Dele Alli has made loads of them so far (stupid flicks!)
 
Has there ever been an easier run to a final than the one England has?

Panama, Tunisia, Colombia without their best player and now Sweden who aren't exacly world beaters although a solid defence. This isn't far from championship level though :lol:
 
Irrational. said:
I cannot for the life of me work out why Southgate keeps persisting with Alli. He's half fit, in poor form and generally performed shite so far. There are so many alternatives.

(Watch him have a blinder now).
Click to expand...


Are there? The only alternative I can really see is to start Loftus Cheek .. and he's not really impressed me thus far. An improvement on a half-fit Alli for sure, but I think Southgate is hoping that he will come in to form so is persisting. An Alli in full flow would be absolutely crucial to this team, we need somebody to take the goalscoring burden off Kane, and for Spurs that is what Alli does. They have a fantastic understanding at club level and Southgate is probably hoping that will click, because if it were to we'd suddenly be significantly more dangerous from open play.

Also @BeforeKeanetherewasRobson this is my last post of the day (already!) so i'll just attach it to this one, but oh my god THE FLICKS. Honestly the most frustrating thing about him, it comes off once in a while but the majority of the time he's just sat on the edge of the box flicking it to nobody. He's a player who can do some incredible things but also makes you want to headbutt your television set. Sometimes after it goes to nobody he even has the nerve to look around annoyed at his own teammates, as if surprised they haven't yet developed the ability to teleport.
 
broccoli said:
Has there ever been an easier run to a final than the one England has?

Panama, Tunisia, Colombia without their best player and now Sweden who aren't exacly world beaters although a solid defence. This isn't far from championship level though :lol:
Click to expand...
You can only beat the teams in front of you.... and if they've put out other teams they're presumably better?
 
broccoli said:
Has there ever been an easier run to a final than the one England has?

Panama, Tunisia, Colombia without their best player and now Sweden who aren't exacly world beaters although a solid defence. This isn't far from championship level though :lol:
Click to expand...

Suddenly its not arrogant to say Colombia is an easy fixture? Funny that :D
 
Stuck on the BBC Sport app and it's showing the crowd filtering in. Dear god, Sweden produces some women.
 
Irrational. said:
I cannot for the life of me work out why Southgate keeps persisting with Alli. He's half fit, in poor form and generally performed shite so far. There are so many alternatives.

(Watch him have a blinder now).
Click to expand...

The bigger problem for Alli is that he is not - because of Sterling's position/role - being played in the same way/position that he plays for Spurs and with Kane.
 
GlastonSpur said:
The bigger problem for Alli is that he is not - because of Sterling's position/role - being played in the same way/position that he plays for Spurs and with Kane.
Click to expand...

It does seem that way, Alli appears to be asked to fulfil a role that doesn't suit him or get the best from him. He also looks not only short of fitness, but also still carry a slight injury.

I'm more baffled Sterling keeps starting.
 
cj_sparky said:
It does seem that way, Alli appears to be asked to fulfil a role that doesn't suit him or get the best from him. He also looks not only short of fitness, but also still carry a slight injury.

I'm more baffled Sterling keeps starting.
Click to expand...

Neither is Lingard, not sure why this counts as an excuse for Alli.
 
Smores said:
Suddenly its not arrogant to say Colombia is an easy fixture? Funny that :D
Click to expand...

He did say Colombia without their best player, and despite deserving the win we literally fell over the line against the only semi-competent team we played. Thankfully for us they wanted to kick the shite out of Raheem rather than play for 80 minutes. They are not a poor team but played shite v us.

Either way, win today and I couldn't give a shite.
 
SquishyMcSquish said:
Are there? The only alternative I can really see is to start Loftus Cheek .. and he's not really impressed me thus far. An improvement on a half-fit Alli for sure, but I think Southgate is hoping that he will come in to form so is persisting. An Alli in full flow would be absolutely crucial to this team, we need somebody to take the goalscoring burden off Kane, and for Spurs that is what Alli does. They have a fantastic understanding at club level and Southgate is probably hoping that will click, because if it were to we'd suddenly be significantly more dangerous from open play.

Also @BeforeKeanetherewasRobson this is my last post of the day (already!) so i'll just attach it to this one, but oh my god THE FLICKS. Honestly the most frustrating thing about him, it comes off once in a while but the majority of the time he's just sat on the edge of the box flicking it to nobody. He's a player who can do some incredible things but also makes you want to headbutt your television set. Sometimes after it goes to nobody he even has the nerve to look around annoyed at his own teammates, as if surprised they haven't yet developed the ability to teleport.
Click to expand...
Nice to see a Spurs fan with some balance (Glastonbury won't be impressed though). I think he's a decent player and it works for Spurs but haven't seen it for England. No idea if it's a niggle, drop in form, Eriksen helps (for Spurs) or Sterling takes something away (for England) but it ain't happening. Sometimes I see him, back to goal and that's tough to receive/control/turn..... L-C gets it a little deeper and seems to be facing play.

Against Sweden, I think L-C would drive forward, commit a man/pass or pass him and that'll disjoint their three banks of players (youve got to make Sweden's lines break or they'll sit all day and move as a unit.
 
BeforeKeanetherewasRobson said:
Nice to see a Spurs fan with some balance (Glastonbury won't be impressed though). I think he's a decent player and it works for Spurs but haven't seen it for England. No idea if it's a niggle, drop in form, Eriksen helps (for Spurs) or Sterling takes something away (for England) but it ain't happening. Sometimes I see him, back to goal and that's tough to receive/control/turn..... L-C gets it a little deeper and seems to be facing play.

Against Sweden, I think L-C would drive forward, commit a man/pass or pass him and that'll disjoint their three banks of players (youve got to make Sweden's lines break or they'll sit all day and move as a unit.
Click to expand...

He's in poor form, but is it poor form in general, or as Sterling taking up positions around kane that he would normally look to fill. I would have dropped one of them, carrying one player hoping they can find form is difficult enough.
 
Only Lindelof and Larson are kind of having experience with "big clubs". Other than unusual circumstances where it's out of anyone's hands (undeserved red card, unintentional penalty, etc), England should beat them easily. Why the faux pretense of "bricking it", like facing France, Brazil or Germany?
 
Martinez dropped underperforming players to Belgium's benefit. Southgate sticking to Alli and Sterling will cost us - Alli has started dreadfully.

Maguire has been caught out twice early on with runs in behind as well - once with a ball over the top to Toivonen which Stones bailed him out on, and again with a run from Berg which luckily was incorrectly called for offside.
 
Last edited:
Rashford should be playing instead of Sterling. No way should that through ball have gone begging.

We have been a bit flat from open play but excellent from set pieces. So when we get open play chances we need to take them.
 
Training match. Flaws in current draw system woefully exposed this year. Shouldn't be finalised until group finished while still allowing idea of what 2 stadiums you will likely play in so logistics can be planned
 
SER19 said:
Training match. Flaws in current draw system woefully exposed this year. Shouldn't be finalised until group finished while still allowing idea of what 2 stadiums you will likely play in so logistics can be planned
Click to expand...

Was this a problem when Portugal had an easier route to the final in 2016? Or Germany in 2002?

I certainly accept England have had easy run in knock outs but why all these posts saying draw should be restructured and stuff like that? It's a major tournament, these things happen and draws can easily open up if a favourite falls early.

England still got to likely beat 2 of Croatia and France/Belgium so that's going to be tough enough given some of the defensive weaknesses.
 
broccoli said:
Has there ever been an easier run to a final than the one England has?

Panama, Tunisia, Colombia without their best player and now Sweden who aren't exacly world beaters although a solid defence. This isn't far from championship level though :lol:
Click to expand...
I thought Colombia and Sweden are really hard and England should be so arrogant?

To answer your question Germany 2002 had to eliminate Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, USA and South Korea
 
Before the game, Sweden were supposed to be a tough test and England would get find out.

After the game, Sweden are rubbish and England were lucky to have drawn them.

The negativity will fit whatever situation we find ourselves in. For some, the truth is less important than their bitterness.
 
Dante said:
Before the game, Sweden were supposed to be a tough test and England would get find out.

After the game, Sweden are rubbish and England were lucky to have drawn them.

The negativity will fit whatever situation we find ourselves in. For some, the truth is less important than their bitterness.
Click to expand...
Enjoy this.

Being criticized by people whose countries struggle to even qualify for tournaments and play even worse football.

Hope England win the SF and then we are guaranteed a United player as World Champion .
 
Great achievement from this England team even if run has been kind. Let's not forget some of the under 20s will be bubbling up in next 2-3 years (Phil Foden, Sancho, Lookman etc) so this is potential for start of something rather than end particularly with a defined style of play finally determined.

Even though it was comfortable today Sweden still got beyond the midfield 2-3 times in second half to run at back 4. Hard to believe likes of Mbappe, Pogba, KDB, Hazard, Perisic, Rakitic etc wouldn't take advantage of that.
 
Schneckerl said:
I thought Colombia and Sweden are really hard and England should be so arrogant?

To answer your question Germany 2002 had to eliminate Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Paraguay, USA and South Korea
Click to expand...
Tbf Colombia were missing their best player and they are somewhat a one man team. Without James it was always going to be England as massive favourites (and it still went to pens).
England dealt with Sweden well. Sweden are solid but nothing more then that, but was still probably Englands biggest test without being anywhere near as good as any of the sides left bar Russia.

Given the draw, I'd say England has done what was expected so far. In the semis England will be pretty 50/50 if its Croatia, but favourites if its Russia. Both England and Croatia will be underdogs in the final, but anything can happen in a one off game.
 
Whatever happens now no one will be laughing at England anymore. They have surpassed any expectations placed on them and done their country proud.

Well done England.
 
Congrats England! They had the job done. It was pretty comfortable in the end. Sweden being pants but that's in part cause of England too of course. It seems we'll be the one to send you come. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.