@lorddulaarsenal wrote:

No he’s not.

He's a proper cheat. Disgusting player. 

He embellishes a bit and exaggerates contact from time to time. But not as bad as Neymar, and he can probably eliminate that silliness from his game over time, as he matures.

But those are strong words. I don’t think he’s a cheat, nor a disgusting player.

Nothing he has done is as bad as Henry’s handball against Ireland for instance...

y va marquer wrote:

Not sure Southgate's handbag matches his outfit.

Nice one Ricky

Realistically in terms of international football, much like Arsenal, England aren't in that top bracket of teams. For me we are much more like a Sweden decent enough but no real threat to win the thing. Average progression likely around the quarter finals so this campaign certainly ranks on the successful side for England. Albeit similar to Arsenal's missed opportunity when Leicester won the title, you can make more of a positive from it but the reality is the big boys aren't normally gonna go missing and teams like England need to maximise those moments.

Considering population and football interest, England should absolutely be in that top bracket.

Gad you guys are harsh. I don't think England expected to get anywhere near this far. Granted they got damned lucky with a piss easy group and easy knockout matchups, but most fans had been pessimistic thus far.
Semis was undreamt of for sure. Don't read too much into the "it's coming home" chants, half of which are ironic and the other half just a good ol-fashioned geeing up for the fans.

banduan wrote:

Gad you guys are harsh. I don't think England expected to get anywhere near this far. Granted they got damned lucky with a piss easy group and easy knockout matchups, but most fans had been pessimistic thus far.
Semis was undreamt of for sure. Don't read too much into the "it's coming home" chants, half of which are ironic and the other half just a good ol-fashioned geeing up for the fans.

That's exactly it. I don't think anyone actually believed we would win it. Just keeping up and making the most out of the positive vibe that the games had been giving us. We started to dream even though I think everyone knew it would most likely end in heartbreak eventually.

Folks need to be able to separate the positive vibes and enthusiasm from looking at the performance and quality in the cold hard light of day. Looking at the latter with a critical eye does not mean you're being critical of the former.

banduan wrote:

Gad you guys are harsh. I don't think England expected to get anywhere near this far. Granted they got damned lucky with a piss easy group and easy knockout matchups, but most fans had been pessimistic thus far.
Semis was undreamt of for sure. Don't read too much into the "it's coming home" chants, half of which are ironic and the other half just a good ol-fashioned geeing up for the fans.

If you're going by odds from betting sides they lost the one game they were not favorites, and one of the games where they were favorites. So the opposition considered  theyve done slightly worse than expected. When you don't take the opposition into consideration they've obviously done better though.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44808192

I think that's a fair and balanced article by the BBC.

Back to not caring about England for another 4 years.

Ricky1985 wrote:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44808192

I think that's a fair and balanced article by the BBC.

fair enough, but they're not mentioning the fact that they called on Wilshere to be dropped, when England badly needed creativity. Lo and behold, England had problems creating.

Adrian Durham on talksports blaming Spurs' lack of winning mentality for England going out against Croatia 

Goooooood

Quincy Abeyie wrote:

Considering population and football interest, England should absolutely be in that top bracket.

If only it were so simple but like Arsenal despite being seemingly in a good position to do so we are unable to compete. Similarly just as smaller countries are able to over perform despite the apparent restrictions  there are other factors in play that impact the performance of teams.

England would have absolutely done better with Shelvey in the centre given how much long balls they resorted to and Henderson putting world class pivot performances like this.

Not sure why Southgate didn't use Loftus Cheek more considering he was impressive whenever he played, while Alli is disappointing.

Henderson is shocking.

Henderson is a bit of a joke of a footballer, but it looks like at least half of the situations in that clip are Kane's fault. The midfielders were clearly instructed to play the early long ball. Kane was just too lazy to start his runs before the pass had been played. Vardy would probably have made something out of a couple of those overhit balls.

Tactics wrote:

Adrian Durham on talksports blaming Spurs' lack of winning mentality for England going out against Croatia 

Goooooood

Good to see him putting his trolling to good use for once.

I don't know why everyone is so shocked Welbeck was not given a chance when Vardy was pretty much frozen out himself. The guy only started one game and barely played half an hour in 2 other games. If anyone deserved minutes it was him.

Reckon if we played him we wouldn't have gone out to Croatia. For one he would have made the defenders work a lot more playing off their shoulders and closing them down all game. Plus he is probably our deadliest finisher. The guy is ice cold in front of goal.

Still don't understabd how Alli managed to get so many minutes. The guy is useless.

International football also requires investment in coaches, academies etc. Then there will be cultural and social affects as well that's why Uruguay have managed to produce seemingly disproportionate quality. It isn't just based on being a big football loving nation.