Well plenty won’t. It’s just him expressing his dislike for England and it’s politcal views which should be separate from a discussion about a football match

I didn't think you'd be one to take a bit of banter so personally Dules.

I’m not taking it personally I just object to guys like him coming in and taking an unecessary pop. You can’t write that off as banter

There are plenty of people within Britain that made the exact same joke including in the national newspapers. All you've down now is draw attention to it.

Yes Brits make that joke...

Well this is getting awkward...

Mirth wrote:

Ricky1985 wrote:

Southgate's laughable/laudable desire to "play out from the back" and "keep hold of the ball" really came to hurt England in the second half. They were gifting the ball to Croatia time after time. Pickford was very dodgy in just about everything he did, but it didn't help that they kept playing the ball backwards constantly and he was where the buck stopped.

I think the blame should really go to the fullbacks for allowing themselves to be pinned back - say what you like about Trippier and Ashley Young but they carry more threat going forward than Henderson and Alli. Also Kane opted to come short instead of playing up top and against Lovren (not to mention missing two sitters!). England did end up resorting to hoof ball but even that could have been effective if Kane actually channeled his inner Shearer.

Basically, fuck Kane. A half fit Vardy would have been much better at scrapping something out

That's because Trippier and Young have very average close control and passing under pressure. They're no kind of out ball that's for sure.

I don't think you can pin it on them anyway. England quite literally had no midfield. I honestly don't know what Southgate was thinking. I think they would have been much better with a back 4 and two more midfielders in the team instead of Alli and Lingard.

Kane was definitely running scared of Lovren. He went down so soft a number of times and in the end kept away from him.

goon wrote:

Well this is getting awkward...

How so?

I can’t let that go unchecked

Qwiss! wrote:

Gurgen wrote:

I don't think England bottled it, Croatia are a better team. England hasn't produced a player like Modric in decades. Anyway, glad they're out. Brexit means Brexit.

England were playing them off the park until half time. Easily the best 45 minutes I've seen from England in this WC. Then half time happened and when they came back out they sat deep and started making mistakes. "Bottling it" is a bit harsh but I definitely think they got nervy and it changed the way they were playing.

That's one interpretation, but as Ricky said you could also say that Croatia finally came into their game in the second half and made their technical superiority count.

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

goon wrote:

Well this is getting awkward...

How so?

I can’t let that go unchecked

Calm down Dules, it was just a joke. You can't expect non-English Arsenal fans to support an England team full of Spurs and Utd players can you?

No but I can expect them to not needlessly bring in politics with remarks which clearly suggest a disdain for our country

no final thread yet

@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

No but I can expect them to not needlessly bring in politics with remarks which clearly suggest a disdain for our country

He should have just called England a shit country instead.

arsedoc md wrote:

no final thread yet

Make one then!

I laughed out loud in the shop when buying a sandwich! I'm sorry but to me that's just...    

Mirth wrote:

Basically, fuck Kane. A half fit Vardy would have been much better at scrapping something out

Yeah, I think the one mistake Southgate made in this tournament was to not use Vardy more too. You can understand why he didn't; everything leading up to the World Cup had been about Kane's prolificy as a striker and he did get the numbers early, be it that most of them were penalties or easy scraps against titans like Panama.

Vardy had the better form over the past half year or so though, he was in good shape going into the tournament, and I think his attributes would have been extremely useful against a team like Croatia. If football was less politics he would have started a couple games in the WC.

On the contrary to your viewpoint ricky, I think this is much more refreshing from England. I look at it this way- they realize that the team was young and had no expectations, also based on past failures. That's sensible. Now that they went to the semis, and forced extra time before going out-they're happy about it.
Now this is a contrast to prior world cups where england would be built up as contenders or a major team from the get-go -probably based on the behemoth league they have- which would end up in listless displays.
I still maintain this world cup was very low on quality albeit high on entertainment and thus england matched other teams in a low-quality pool. And papers are silly anyway, you know that. Don't think there was much expectation or buzz about england till the quarters either.

Klaus wrote:

Mirth wrote:

Basically, fuck Kane. A half fit Vardy would have been much better at scrapping something out

Yeah, I think the one mistake Southgate made in this tournament was to not use Vardy more too. You can understand why he didn't; everything leading up to the World Cup had been about Kane's prolificy as a striker and he did get the numbers early, be it that most of them were penalties or easy scraps against titans like Panama.

Vardy had the better form over the past half year or so though, he was in good shape going into the tournament, and I think his attributes would have been extremely useful against a team like Croatia. If football was less politics he would have started a couple games in the WC.

I reckon Kane's going to go down the Rooney route and his ego will end up directing the course of the team. He practically does at Tottenham anyway.

This tournament highlighted how few attributes Kane has. Useless, sluggish player if he's not surrounded by athletes and geniuses close-by.