England V Croatia -Wednesday 11th July 2018

[southendkid]

Sterling particularly went missing after he was subbed off.

Sarcasm or not that's the main disappointment for me (aside from taking Henderson off who I thought was vital to our system), Southgate caved to the people who didn't see what he bought to the team. Sure he can't shoot but Rashford couldn't create anything near the type of chances Sterling made and that meant there was no pressure on Croatia so they were happy to commit men forward. I'd rather a player that created 10 chances out of nothing but couldn't finish than a player that can't create chances for himself, we've already got Kane for that. A Sterling type player means the opposition has to keep men back to prevent a skillful dribbler from breaking through, once he's off there's no reason not to commit men forward.

 

[buffalowolf]

England were crap, the midfielders were non existent ,they have no idea how to tackle an opponent ,but they great at back pedalling.Croatia deserved the victory at least they tried to play football.Anyway on that form France will win the final by 3 goals minimum.How the f**k England made a semi final off a world cup on performances like that has me puzzled ,they were woeful.

 

[mattitouk]

I couldn't disagree more, for all the pace and game time Stirling had had in this world cup. He has done nothing to prove he's worth in an English shirt.

Don't get me wrong, Sterling is better on paper in a Premiership club shirt, but he gets shell-shocked when wearing an international jersey.

Personally I would have given Rashford some more game time......after all, he couldn't do any worse could he.!?

 

[RHB]

England were crap, the midfielders were non existent ,they have no idea how to tackle an opponent ,but they great at back pedalling.Croatia deserved the victory at least they tried to play football.Anyway on that form France will win the final by 3 goals minimum.How the f**k England made a semi final off a world cup on performances like that has me puzzled ,they were woeful.

I don't know how many of the other England games you watched, but they made the semi finals by winning two out of three of their group games and then beating Sweden in the quarter finals. None of those performances were woeful and to say that they were crap in this game is a dis-service to the effort they put in. They may have been guilty of inexperience last night but not too much else. We're all entitled to opinions but for goodness sake give them some credit for what they achieved in this tournament.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Interesting to speculate what would have happened if that result against Belgium had gone the other way. Belgium faced one hell of a struggle to get past Japan, coming back from two goals down. Imagine for a minute what would have happened if we had lost to them. The national press would have had headlines about zeroes rather heroes. Following the debacle against Iceland in the Euros, wouldn't it have been the humiliation of being put out by Japan.........for God's sake JAPAN!!! Would Southgate's job been in jeopardy and would there have been years more of navel searching about british football? The only danger with our successful run is that the problems in the british game may continue to be swept under the carpet.

 

[southendkid]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1017152552717176834

Not impressed that we did this given how much we complained about Panama trying it.

 

[Benfleet A1]

A bridge too far but I'm not too down about this. Croatia are a good team and we went missing in the second half which they made the most of. No one gave us a snowballs chance in hell before the start and we made the semi final and look at the age of our team. They done more than anyone expected and can hold their heads high as far as I'm concerned.

 

[OldBlueLady]

Should have wrapped it up in the first half. Kane/Sterling/Alli all went missing IMHO.

Two out of three. Sterling was causing loads of problems and then was subbed. Alli has been poor most of the tournament - seemed to be carrying an injury in the early part. I felt Loftus-Cheek should have been our first sub on for him last night.

I've said before I'm no fan of his, but he's been seriously under-valued during this tournament. His work in pulling defenders out of position in that first half created loads of space for players who should have done better.

Some huge positives from this tournament - the emergence of Pickford as first choice 'keeper; Stones and Maguire, may have had the odd mistake in them but both immense on the whole; Kyle Walker; Kieran Trippier and Gareth Southgate himself.

 

[ozzie]

if i live for another 80 years,England will never,ever have a better chance of reaching the final.
And we messed it up.

 

[MK Shrimper]

if i live for another 80 years,England will never,ever have a better chance of reaching the final.
And we messed it up.

Hopefully over the next four years the team will grow and learn and it won't matter if we have to play the "big boys" in Qatar and USA/Canada/Mexico.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I couldn't disagree more, for all the pace and game time Stirling had had in this world cup. He has done nothing to prove he's worth in an English shirt.

Don't get me wrong, Sterling is better on paper in a Premiership club shirt, but he gets shell-shocked when wearing an international jersey.

Personally I would have given Rashford some more game time......after all, he couldn't do any worse could he.!?

Yet England constantly looked a better team when Sterling was on the pitch and did nothing after he was subbed nor in the match he didn’t start.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Sterling particularly went missing after he was subbed off.

Yes he can pull defences apart but has he figured in a single shot the entire tournament?

 

[Cricko]

Proud of them all, but we did look like headless chickens during the second half and it was only a matter of time before they equalised. We had a fairly easy ride to the semis but when the time came for us to perform we failed. The should of been dead and buried in the first half when we could of been 3 up. We lived to rue those chances but I always thought they would come back to haunt us later in game, as they did. Its won as a team and lost as a team but a few did go missing last night.

Loved the tournament though and it was great to see the country come together as one.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Yes he can pull defences apart but has he figured in a single shot the entire tournament?

That’s not his role in the side, unless you mean all the times he created space for his team mates to get a shot in, or free kicks or corners he won which resulted in shots.

 

[MK Shrimper]

That’s not his role in the side, unless you mean all the times he created space for his team mates to get a shot in, or free kicks or corners he won which resulted in shots.

He's a forward! His job was to score goals. He had plenty of shooting opportunities in every game he played in, which he fluffed.

 

[Napster]

For once, I agree with Yorkie. Sterling is a great player - he creates space for other players, he is an outlet for longer balls (a la MAF), and defenders have to cover him zonally because he will beat you in a man-to-man scenario. Yes he may have missed a few shots, but Id rate him my 3rd best England player for the tournament, after Pickford and Maguire.

 

[Member]

For once, I agree with Yorkie. Sterling is a great player - he creates space for other players, he is an outlet for longer balls (a la MAF), and defenders have to cover him zonally because he will beat you in a man-to-man scenario. Yes he may have missed a few shots, but Id rate him my 3rd best England player for the tournament, after Pickford and Maguire.

...and Trippier IMO.

Sterling's job isn't to score goals, it's to help his team win matches. He's had a good tournament and what a fantastic foundation of a squad we have to work with and build upon.

In 2022:
Pickford - 28

Trippier - 31
Walker - 32
Stones - 28
Maguire - 29
Young - 37 / Rose 32

Lingard - 29
Henderson - 32
Alli - 26

Kane - 28
Sterling - 27

That's 7 players who'll be in their prime (26-29).

And with players like Alexander-Arnold, Loftus-Cheek, Gomez, Foden, Sessengon, Mount etc all looking like genuine prospects for the next few years.

The future is really bright, let's make the most of it

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Highlight of the game for me was seeing a shot of an old mate in the crowd celebrating Trippier's great free kick goal at the end of BBC1's MOTD programme last night.

 

[GDM]

Me and the kids should probably take the blame for this defeat...we all agreed pre KO that we'd be happy to lose this game if it meant Southend getting promoted...you'll be thanking me in May

 

[Floval Flyer]

...and Trippier IMO.

Sterling's job isn't to score goals, it's to help his team win matches. He's had a good tournament and what a fantastic foundation of a squad we have to work with and build upon.

In 2022:
Pickford - 28

Trippier - 31
Walker - 32
Stones - 28
Maguire - 29
Young - 37 / Rose 32

Lingard - 29
Henderson - 32
Alli - 26

Kane - 28
Sterling - 27

That's 7 players who'll be in their prime (26-29).

And with players like Alexander-Arnold, Loftus-Cheek, Gomez, Foden, Sessengon, YEARWOOD etc all looking like genuine prospects for the next few years.

The future is really bright, let's make the most of it

Edited to make me feel better this morning !!