Two years ago we were humiliated by Iceland.
Four years ago we got a point in the group stage.
Six years ago we got dominated by Italy in the round of 16 and went out on penalties after having like 2 shots all game.
Eight years ago we scraped out of a group containing Algeria, Slovenia, and the USA, before being battered by Germany.
Who would have ever thought we'd lose the semi-final in extra time to a quality team like Croatia? So proud.
You reckon we overachieved or got to where we would have expected?Originally Posted by West Saxon
I mean we had a kind draw as is obvious, but could we actually have beaten France, Brazil, Belgium, Croatia, Uruguay?
Its kinda hilarious that England and Belgium will play two effectively meaningless games against each other, in a world cup where every game is usually do or die
Overachieved, without a doubt. There's no way anyone would have expected to be in the semi-final, you'd have been laughed out the room if you'd said 4 weeks ago that England will get this far.
People say "England had an easy draw", but they ignore the fact that we've made very heavy weather of "easy" teams in the recent past. No game is easy for England, we're simply not good enough to be so arrogant as to say Tunisia and Colombia and Sweden are easy games. We've lost to Iceland, drawn with Algeria, drawn with the USA, with Slovakia, and Costa Rica in recent tournaments. Beating the "easy teams" is not guaranteed, and to actually beat them is positive.
As for those teams, why not. Anything can happen in knockout football, and it's not like England are Liechtenstein. France and Brazil have hardly been impressive, and if things had gone a bit better last night, we'd have killed Croatia off in the first half. Fine margins.
But were the margins that fine last night? For the last 75 minutes of the match we looked like a boxer on the ropes. Most of our goals were set pieces. We definitely lack a top midfielder. I agree, we overachieved and showed great character
And France have, without needing extra time, beaten Argentina, Uruguay and Belgium. That is a very tough run.
On the face of it a semi-final finish is overachieving based on recent form, when you consider the opposition it's about par, although personally I think we could and would have beaten Croatia with a different approach. No need to be too negative just yet, but Southgate has to learn from this and populate the midfield with players who can keep the ball.
Last edited by Jenks; 12th July 2018 at 05:01 PM.
Yeah, I think they were. Croatia dominated us after half-time, but I actually believe that was due to a tactical error from Southgate. He seemed to make the decision to sit deeper and try and counter on Croatia, when the better choice would have been to continue as we were in the first half and finish them off (but hindsight is 20-20 and he's a smart guy, the experience will teach him a lot). Because Croatia were barely in the game in the first half, and could have been several goals down. Had England carried on in that vein then there is no doubt we would be in the final.
As for France, they've got results, but their performances have been far from convincing, and look like a dysfunctional collection of individuals rather than a true team. There's nothing about that team that scares me.
Just love the way lots of English fans got ahead of themselves (won’t name no names) when all that was achieved was a win over Panama, Tunisia and a Rodríguez less Colombia (on penalties). Consequently lacked any confidence when Croatia got at them. Became a neutral long after Colombia game after a few exchanges here.
Overachieved? These players all most highly paid in the World Cup, fetching high transfer fees in the process. Overachieved nope.
Of course not, because you can't.
What you chatting about 😂
Anglo - relaxson 😂
Last edited by gsgosal; 12th July 2018 at 11:11 PM.
@Jenks
I see your youth teams are doing well. Under 19 getting hammered 5-0 off france. Bright future ahead.
When the rush of excitement washed over you when you saw the scoreline, did you not to wonder whether you might look sad or obsessed with England if you were to try to rub someone's nose in a random youth team result? Especially when it's an England C team and England are still reigning champions at this level? France didn't qualify for the last tournament by the way, they finished bottom of their elite qualification group (played in France) behind Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Israel.
Last edited by Jenks; 24th July 2018 at 05:33 AM.
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