Right, I think the best way to explain my frustrations is this:
England have beaten Colombia and Sweden so far in the knockouts, and now face Croatia in the semi-final. The line from detractors is that England could get to the final without having to beat a "top" team. I'm not sure anyone will disagree with that.
My issue is what we're defining as "top" teams. We're using "top" to mean the historically strong nations, which ignores the present strength of the other teams in the tournament. The list of teams England should apparently count themselves lucky to have avoided is consistently the same eight; Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain.
By repeatedly mentioning these teams above the rest, it seems that the prevailing attitude is that England would have been handily dispatched by the above, but should be easily beating anyone else. The reactions to the Colombia and Sweden victories is evidence of this. The crux of the issue is that the traditional "top" teams are not always the strongest eight, and in fact, a number of them can actually be incredibly weak when compared to their reputations, and when compared to the teams who have stepped up in their place. The message from this is that England couldn't beat these sides, which for some, in their current state, is simply wrong.
This is a rundown of the "top" teams that England should be counting themselves lucky to have avoided:
Argentina only qualified for this World Cup in the final round of fixtures. They were very close to not even being in Russia at all. In qualifying, they lost to Ecuador, Paraguay, and Bolivia, and drew with Paraguay, Venezuela twice, and Peru twice, as well as being beaten 3-0 by Brazil. At the tournament, they drew with Iceland, and were beaten 3-0 by the same Croatia side England now have to face in their semi-final. They ultimately finished second in their group, behind group winners Croatia, and were then eliminated by France, one of the remaining semi-finalists.
Brazil qualified very comfortably, with the only real blemishes being a loss to Chile, and draws with Bolivia and Paraguay. They were also reasonably comfortable in the group stage with perhaps something of a stuttering start after drawing with Switzerland and requiring stoppage time goals to beat Costa Rica, but ultimately topped the group. A fairly comfortable first knockout tie against Mexico was followed by elimination at the hands of Belgium, another of the remaining semi-finalists.
France also qualified comfortably, the only notes being draws with Luxembourg and Belarus, and most notably, losing to Sweden. France also had something of an unconvincing start in the group stage, but ultimately beat Australia and Peru to top their group. They beat Argentina in the first knockout round, and Uruguay in the quarter-final, and are now perhaps the favourites to win the tournament.
Germany qualified with a 100% record, but have had a torrid tournament. They lost to both Mexico and South Korea, and their group was topped by Sweden, with Germany finishing bottom.
Italy failed to qualify. They finished second in a group topped by Spain, with no real blemishes other than a draw with Macedonia, but were then eliminated in the play-off by Sweden, not managing a single goal over the two legs.
Netherlands also failed to qualify (after finishing fourth in their Euro 2016 qualifying group and failing to qualify for that too). They finished third in their group, behind Sweden in second.
Portugal qualified comfortably, but were then very unconvincing in the group stage of the tournament, drawing with Iran and beating Morocco by just a single goal, finishing second in their group, before being eliminated by Uruguay in the first knockout round.
Spain also qualified comfortably, but were also unconvincing in the group stage, drawing with Morocco and only beating Iran by a single goal. They topped the group, but were eliminated by Russia in the first knockout round after being taken to penalties.
The idea that England's potential route to the final would somehow have been more difficult had they faced Netherlands, Italy or Germany in the quarter-final, to face Argentina or Spain in the semi-final is just bizarre, because the team England faced in the quarter-final was directly involved in Netherlands, Italy and Germany not being there, and the team they're facing in the semi-final beat Argentina 3-0 in the group stage, and just eliminated the team that knocked Spain out in the quarter-final. It's not just an insult to England, it's an insult to the other teams that have proven themselves better than the likes of Spain, Portugal, Italy, Netherlands and Argentina to be writing them off as "easy passage."
I thought it was quite good.