The ONLY World Cup thread (merged)

[flash gunner]

beating croatia would still have been easy route to the final. saying people raise there games as its WC - well, england would raise there game too, so thats irrelevant. Sweden and colombia are bang average, we should be beating them and would have been slaughtered in the media had we not.

some good posters still caught up on the bandwagon.

realistically England should beat croatia. had it been qualifying we would have expected to.
Had it been the first knockout round that we lost to them,the england team would have been slaughtered.

Just because fate gave us all the cards by easy draw to the semis, most are ignoring that we lost to a team we would typically expect to beat.

firstly, beating anyone at a world cup is difficult, for any team. look at how hard france huffed and puffed vs australia. I don't believe calling sweden or colombia bang aver age is fair - both got huge plauidits for the way they played at this tournament - if they're bang average sides then how many good ones are there?

it was Colombia's choice to go so defensive against us, and try telling France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland that Sweden were 'crap'. sweden beat all of these teams (apart from germany - who were completely dominated) and finished 2nd in a very tough world cup qualifying group - how can they possibly be considered average? what team does that possibly leave who isn't average?

and i feel that your assesment of croatia is hugely out of step and almost disrespectful. they have world class talent all over the pitch, that midfield 3 is probably the best at the tournament and they will be very tough for france to break down.

phew, i'm tired of this world cup shite now. start the season already

Agree with this post

[the playing mantis]

beating croatia would still have been easy route to the final. saying people raise there games as its WC - well, england would raise there game too, so thats irrelevant. Sweden and colombia are bang average, we should be beating them and would have been slaughtered in the media had we not.

some good posters still caught up on the bandwagon.

realistically England should beat croatia. had it been qualifying we would have expected to.
Had it been the first knockout round that we lost to them,the england team would have been slaughtered.

Just because fate gave us all the cards by easy draw to the semis, most are ignoring that we lost to a team we would typically expect to beat.

firstly, beating anyone at a world cup is difficult, for any team. look at how hard france huffed and puffed vs australia. I don't believe calling sweden or colombia bang aver age is fair - both got huge plauidits for the way they played at this tournament - if they're bang average sides then how many good ones are there?

it was Colombia's choice to go so defensive against us, and try telling France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland that Sweden were 'crap'. sweden beat all of these teams (apart from germany - who were completely dominated) and finished 2nd in a very tough world cup qualifying group - how can they possibly be considered average? what team does that possibly leave who isn't average?

and i feel that your assesment of croatia is hugely out of step and almost disrespectful. they have world class talent all over the pitch, that midfield 3 is probably the best at the tournament and they will be very tough for france to break down.

phew, i'm tired of this world cup shite now. start the season already

im not saying croatia are poor, just that i would bet mist england fans would expect that they are a team we should beat. indeed all the its coming home stuff suggests everyone did expect we should beat them...

[Gunner Rob]

the scheduling for Euro 2020 is interesting.
looks like England will get to play all their group games at Wembley but if they win the group they play a Last 16 knockout game in Dublin

[begeegs]

I didn't get the Southgate love-in. His tactical expertise was abysmal imo and not dissimilar to Wenger. He played with effectively one player in midfield because Lingard and Alli weren't really tracking back, tackling or harrassing like a midfielder should in the system that Southgate played. That resulted in lumping the ball up to Kane, who was practically a midfielder, he played so deep. He left on Lingard and Alli who were terrbile (Allis goal vs Sweden aside) and were both awful against Sweden as well. Also, Sterling wasn't great, but he isn't a striker. If Kane had squared to him in the 1st half, I am not sure that he'd have scored.

When England went 1 up and started going off the boil late in the 1st half, Southgate didn't manage the game well. He kept it as it was and when they couldn't get out of their half in the 2nd half, you'd have thought that he would sacrifice Alli or Lingard for one of the midfielders that he took with him...Nope.

So basically, Kane dropped deep and the midfielders vacated their positions (none of whom were aerial threats) leaving Henderson and the back 5 to pass around and back to the keeper to hoof. Croatia had their tactics spot on with pressing because there weren't any outlets when anyone had the ball.

I saw nothing which would indicate a new dawn until they get in another manager.

[Topside Northbank]

Interesting as an Englishman living in Ireland some of the comments on this thread

As stated previously I am not the biggest England fan.They had a more than decent tournament I thought QF at best regardless of the draw two years ago only needed to turn up to beat Iceland

What Southgate needs credit for is uniting the squad and having a group that really wanted to play for the country without the usual ego issues of the past and obvious cliques.Had Allardyce had of taken England to the world cup I am not sure he would have kept the group together let alone give younger players a chance.The lack of a player able to control the tempo was the difference between the sides.

England ultimately lacked the quality required in midfield to stifle a side like Croatia,Kane had of course two great opportunities and on such margins games at the highest level are won and lost.The second half onwards the better side won.They had a great chance to reach the final but didn't will it stand them well for the future,sport doesn't work like that but as pointed out by Keane on ITV many in that squad haven't won a thing.

Had hardly any comments about England during the early part of the tournament here and many of the lads who actually have a good grasp of the game knew how I thought England would do.Today of course a few subtle digs and a relief by more than a few workmates England were knocked out....water off a ducks back

But wherever you live in the world hype when a national team is doing well and a tournament is on go hand and glove,yes Ireland fans are as guilty as anyone else you care to mention.Over here when they drew Denmark in the play-offs most people I know well they thought they would qualify handily enough,don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

It's funny when the lads from different counties here argue about Gaelic games and they gloat when they win a provincial title and then almost all will whinge and moan if they don't win the All Ireland,refs,players managers all get it and players get personally abused when they do go out and trust me I have seen that part first hand,it's embarrassing the hypocrites you will meet.

I backed Brazil to win it and did my few euro on that thought they had the best balanced squad,well not all bad news had Croatia in a local establishment sweepstake so have a few quid coming my way just have to wait until Sunday to see how much.

[augie]

Interesting as an Englishman living in Ireland some of the comments on this thread

As stated previously I am not the biggest England fan.They had a more than decent tournament I thought QF at best regardless of the draw two years ago only needed to turn up to beat Iceland

What Southgate needs credit for is uniting the squad and having a group that really wanted to play for the country without the usual ego issues of the past and obvious cliques.Had Allardyce had of taken England to the world cup I am not sure he would have kept the group together let alone give younger players a chance.The lack of a player able to control the tempo was the difference between the sides.

England ultimately lacked the quality required in midfield to stifle a side like Croatia,Kane had of course two great opportunities and on such margins games at the highest level are won and lost.The second half onwards the better side won.They had a great chance to reach the final but didn't will it stand them well for the future,sport doesn't work like that but as pointed out by Keane on ITV many in that squad haven't won a thing.

Had hardly any comments about England during the early part of the tournament here and many of the lads who actually have a good grasp of the game knew how I thought England would do.Today of course a few subtle digs and a relief by more than a few workmates England were knocked out....water off a ducks back

But wherever you live in the world hype when a national team is doing well and a tournament is on go hand and glove,yes Ireland fans are as guilty as anyone else you care to mention.Over here when they drew Denmark in the play-offs most people I know well they thought they would qualify handily enough,don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

It's funny when the lads from different counties here argue about Gaelic games and they gloat when they win a provincial title and then almost all will whinge and moan if they don't win the All Ireland,refs,players managers all get it and players get personally abused when they do go out and trust me I have seen that part first hand,it's embarrassing the hypocrites you will meet.

I backed Brazil to win it and did my few euro on that thought they had the best balanced squad,well not all bad news had Croatia in a local establishment sweepstake so have a few quid coming my way just have to wait until Sunday to see how much.

GAA people are a breed apart buddy - absolutely no discipline in the game, in their players, in their officials or in their supporters. Everything goes and is excused under the term "passion" or "commitment", but in reality it is tribal warfare, and it will probably never change cos the people in charge dont see the need to do so. In my local club there was an incident in an under 15 hurling game against our local neighbours/rivals last year, in which one of their players was set upon by 3 of our club players and assaulted to the point that he was allegedly struck in the head with a hurl whilst he was lying on the ground without his helmet, and this led to a melee with players and spectators from both sides descending onto the pitch. If this had of happened in a footie game our local club would have made real efforts of reaching out and brokering peace between all involved in the days afterwards, and we would also have punished/suspended the guilty players in our club - of course in the gaa they deny any responsibility and proceed to be confrontational and defiant on their facebook page, so instead of sorting things amicably, it goes to court and two of our players ended up copping a plea, and the father of one of them was also found guilty of assaulting the 15 year old opposition player

Anyway back to your general ethos, are you saying that we (the Irish on here) have been taking the piss since last night ? I would have thought that we were respectful more than anything else

[Jock Gooner]

beating croatia would still have been easy route to the final. saying people raise there games as its WC - well, england would raise there game too, so thats irrelevant. Sweden and colombia are bang average, we should be beating them and would have been slaughtered in the media had we not.

some good posters still caught up on the bandwagon.

realistically England should beat croatia. had it been qualifying we would have expected to.
Had it been the first knockout round that we lost to them,the england team would have been slaughtered.

Just because fate gave us all the cards by easy draw to the semis, most are ignoring that we lost to a team we would typically expect to beat.

firstly, beating anyone at a world cup is difficult, for any team. look at how hard france huffed and puffed vs australia. I don't believe calling sweden or colombia bang aver age is fair - both got huge plauidits for the way they played at this tournament - if they're bang average sides then how many good ones are there?

it was Colombia's choice to go so defensive against us, and try telling France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Mexico and Switzerland that Sweden were 'crap'. sweden beat all of these teams (apart from germany - who were completely dominated) and finished 2nd in a very tough world cup qualifying group - how can they possibly be considered average? what team does that possibly leave who isn't average?

and i feel that your assesment of croatia is hugely out of step and almost disrespectful. they have world class talent all over the pitch, that midfield 3 is probably the best at the tournament and they will be very tough for france to break down.

phew, i'm tired of this world cup shite now. start the season already

im not saying croatia are poor, just that i would bet mist england fans would expect that they are a team we should beat. indeed all the its coming home stuff suggests everyone did expect we should beat them...

But isn't that where it all goes a bit over the top - expectation! Most of the media driven bandwagon persons 'expect' to beat Croatia while anybody that actually spends a bit of time watching football and has a bit of knowledge about the game 'hopes' to beat Croatia. This is based on the fact that Croatia have a decent side with an excellent midfield. In the 2017 FIFA rankings England were up 1 to 12 and Croatia dropped from 18 to 20 so not much between the two sides based on stats. I can understand the 'it's coming home' stuff but it has a nasty habit of becoming over-hyped way too quickly to the point where it must just help to fire up the opposition. That's almost as condescending as announcing ticket allocations for a final when it is only half time in the semi final

[NickF]

Anyway back to your general ethos, are you saying that we (the Irish on here) have been taking the piss since last night ? I would have thought that we were respectful more than anything else

Probably been more respectful than I would imagine to be fair. I know a fair few Scottish and Irish who are frankly more concerned how England do than there own country.

For example during the six nations an Irish guy I know took great pleasure in England losing but strangely said nothing about Ireland winning.

[GoonerMuzz]

To be honest the inter Britain rivalry has never bothered me, fucks sake you cant serve nearly 20 years with lads from all over the country without ripping the shit out of people from the next county never mind the next country, everyone laughs at each others misfortunes its nothing but classic sporting rivalry for most and few take it as seriously as is made out by the media or on social media.

The problem is as always the gobshite serious fuckers are the ones who are always heard because they are the most vocal but also they are the ones who are sought out by the stupid media fucks to make a sensational story of it and stir up the supposed hatred.......

If i'm honest i'd laugh as loudly if any of the home nations got as far as England and lost out and as far as i'm concerned no harm no foul, too many people take this shit too seriously these days, its supposed to be banter, whats next we on here are supposed to support the Spuds if (i know, i know) they ever reach the ECL final, fuck that

England are just not good enough and i've felt for years that for the supposed best league in the world our homegrown players lack something big, i put that squarely on the FA especially at grass roots level there is something rotten in the coaching from the ground up, there never seems to be quite the desire that is shown by players from other nations and it seriously needs to be looked at

[1989]

Ireland to England is what Spurs are to Arsenal to be fair, forever in our shadow, celebrating our losses more than their victories, reveling in our failure due to having fuck all success to shout about.

Hope this doesn't warrant a ban.

[DB10GOONER]

Ireland to England is what Spurs are to Arsenal to be fair, forever in our shadow, celebrating our losses more than their victories, reveling in our failure due to having fuck all success to shout about.

Hope this doesn't warrant a ban.

Well in fairness you'd know all about tottnumb, what with hysterically supporting their players like a starstruck schoolgirl.

But tbh you are starting to come across as a bit of a bitter bastard. Wind your neck in silly boy. Maybe go back to being the hysterical Xhaka fanboy we all know and love huh?

And if you ever compare me to tottnumb again I will have my IT mate spam your isp with animal porn.

[DB10GOONER]

Anyway back to your general ethos, are you saying that we (the Irish on here) have been taking the piss since last night ? I would have thought that we were respectful more than anything else

Probably been more respectful than I would imagine to be fair. I know a fair few Scottish and Irish who are frankly more concerned how England do than there own country.

For example during the six nations an Irish guy I know took great pleasure in England losing but strangely said nothing about Ireland winning.

By "six nations" are you referring to the tedious nonsense of a "sport" that is homoerotic wrestling for fat closet jobs, or "rugby" as it is also known? Well in fairness you are dealing with a whole other level of arsehole right there mate!

[Wilson]

If there is one good thing to come form this World Cup, then the relationship between the fans/press and the team is healed. As an outsider, I always found the English fans and media's relationship with the national team weird. It was full of hostility, mistrust, and fear. Mind you its probably identical to the relationship we had with Wenger in these last few years. You want them to win, but deep down you know they cant & the players sense it & it gets to them

[Wilson]

I agree with the sentiment that it was arrogant to assume England would beat Croatia. This is a team with a Modric-Rakitic midfield duo. Do you think Jordan Henderson & Delle Alli would be getting in the Real Madrid or Barcelona midfield?

[GoonerMuzz]

Anyway back to your general ethos, are you saying that we (the Irish on here) have been taking the piss since last night ? I would have thought that we were respectful more than anything else

Probably been more respectful than I would imagine to be fair. I know a fair few Scottish and Irish who are frankly more concerned how England do than there own country.

For example during the six nations an Irish guy I know took great pleasure in England losing but strangely said nothing about Ireland winning.

By "six nations" are you referring to the tedious nonsense of a "sport" that is homoerotic wrestling for fat closet jobs, or "rugby" as it is also known? Well in fairness you are dealing with a whole other level of arsehole right there mate!

For someone who purports to hate the game with the odd shaped balls so much, you don't half mention it a lot

Maybe some unresolved fantasies going on