Yes England did well to get to the semi finals of the world cup - on the face of it that's a good achievement. However when you dig a little deeper, all this shouting about how proud the nation is, is over the top. Beating Panama, Tunisia and Sweden is nothing exceptional. 2 decent teams we played we lost.
Tbf the squad is weak, especially the MF, and I wouldn't say England underachieved - they did well but that is it.
Just because losing to Iceland was so bad, it doesn't then mean that beating teams you are expected to beat should be held in such high regard.
We had no creativity throughout the whole tournament and basically only scored set pieces. Easy route to final. Beat teams we are expected to beat.
Sorry but I don't buy into all the hype!
Why so so so proud?
posted on 12/7/18
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 6 minutes ago
Won our first penalty shootout
Scored the most goals we have in a World Cup
Got to the semi finals
Some of the teams we played on paper we should be beating, but does that normally happen with us at a World Cup, the answer is no.
Plenty to feel good about.
There were negatives, but they don't detract from the overall feeling most people got from this tournament over previous years.
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Spot on. Idiots are just trying to be contrarian for the sake of it.
posted on 12/7/18
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Wenger Till I Die (U7482)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 5 minutes ago
You sound like someone that hasn't had much experience with England and major tournaments
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This is the point though: that just because England embarrassed themselves against the likes of Iceland and Algeria in recent tournaments, doesn't mean you should be getting carried away over beating teams that you SHOULD beat. Brazil haven't won the World Cup for a long time and got curb-stomped by Germany in the last World Cup. It doesn't mean they would be backslapping each other over a creditable loss to Belgium. They'd still feel huge disappointment at losing a game they felt they should have won.
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Exactly mate spot on.
Yh its true teams don't always beat teams they "should" beat, but that still doesn't mean it's incredible when u do go ahead and beat them.
Guys don't get me wrong, it's been a good world cup and furthest England have got in my lifetime (93) just trying to keep it in perspective. France for example have beaten Argentina, Belgium + Uruguay all in knockouts alone!
posted on 12/7/18
comment by OneHopefulFan #Spurs (U8366)
posted 51 minutes ago
comment by Sheriff John Brown - Wenger Till I Die (U7482)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by Pride of the North (U6803)
posted 5 minutes ago
You sound like someone that hasn't had much experience with England and major tournaments
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This is the point though: that just because England embarrassed themselves against the likes of Iceland and Algeria in recent tournaments, doesn't mean you should be getting carried away over beating teams that you SHOULD beat. Brazil haven't won the World Cup for a long time and got curb-stomped by Germany in the last World Cup. It doesn't mean they would be backslapping each other over a creditable loss to Belgium. They'd still feel huge disappointment at losing a game they felt they should have won.
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Exactly mate spot on.
Yh its true teams don't always beat teams they "should" beat, but that still doesn't mean it's incredible when u do go ahead and beat them.
Guys don't get me wrong, it's been a good world cup and furthest England have got in my lifetime (93) just trying to keep it in perspective. France for example have beaten Argentina, Belgium + Uruguay all in knockouts alone!
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France were lucky with the draw. Imagine being able to say you’d beaten those three consecutively? We had to settle for Colombia, Sweden and Croatia. If we’d beaten the same teams as France, we could have been as good as them, and in the final as well. Just comes down to the draw really.
posted on 12/7/18
Comment Deleted by Site Moderator
posted on 12/7/18
Well said Galv.
posted on 12/7/18
Good results and got further than most predicted, the performances and the football wasn’t all that. Most impressive display from them in the whole tournament was the first 30 mins vs Tunisia.
Reliant on set-pieces to get as far as they did, technique and skill should always prevail over height and physique.
posted on 12/7/18
comment by Galv: were going ome (U10415)
posted 4 hours, 16 minutes ago
Simple for me really.
Put the last few England squads in this World Cup....your JTs, your Beckhams, your gerrards your rooneys and you realise there was only one of each of those so why pluralise the caants?
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The JTs, the Beckhams... of this world.
What? There’s another one?
posted on 13/7/18
Totally agree with this - England only beat teams you’d pretty much expect them to beat & played unattractive football relying on set pieces. If James Rodriguez had been fit for Colombia I reckon we may have lost to them & everyone would be saying this is a failed campaign again. This is probably the best chance England are ever going to have to win the World Cup given the easy run & it didn’t happen. Probably won’t get another favourable run like this for decades so everyone saying it’s coming home in 2020 or 2022 are deluded quite frankly.
Southgate does deserve credit sure, but this team is underwhelming. The calibration of players is much lower than France, Germany, Brazil or Spain & there’s no real quality players coming through apart from maybe Sessegnon. Maybe just being negative but I don’t see England winning anything for some time yet.
posted on 13/7/18
In a tournament full of shocks, surely beating teams everyone expects to beat becomes more significant? People will play down Spain and Germany now, but most of the people on here practically w**ed over most of their players beforehand.
posted on 13/7/18
comment by villa1987 (U6870)
posted 9 hours, 10 minutes ago
Totally agree with this - England only beat teams you’d pretty much expect them to beat & played unattractive football relying on set pieces. If James Rodriguez had been fit for Colombia I reckon we may have lost to them & everyone would be saying this is a failed campaign again. This is probably the best chance England are ever going to have to win the World Cup given the easy run & it didn’t happen. Probably won’t get another favourable run like this for decades so everyone saying it’s coming home in 2020 or 2022 are deluded quite frankly.
Southgate does deserve credit sure, but this team is underwhelming. The calibration of players is much lower than France, Germany, Brazil or Spain & there’s no real quality players coming through apart from maybe Sessegnon. Maybe just being negative but I don’t see England winning anything for some time yet.
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Villa,
You are being analytical on a subject that is steeped in emotion and probably that is the dividing line among all of the comments. England were average in this tournament, but they did play some exciting football. Hopefully, while the subject is fresh, Southgate will do the following:
(1) Make an objective assessment of all the players and, privately or publicly, identify where improvements must be made for 2022. That should be his focus for the next four years.
(2) Also, hopefully he will also get rid of the blue vest attire, or at least get a color variety!