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World Cup Discussion Thread - Day 28 (11 July)

Mullers

Unknown member
Jan 4, 2006
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I had not watched England for about 5 years before the world cup. I didn't rate Southgate as a manager, you look at the squad and it's nowhere near as good as the golden generation.

The lads have done remarkably well and got me interested in following England again. Southgate has just been a breath of fresh air, his calmness and his intelligence. He hugged all the players and all the staff. A really good guy and a great representative for England.
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
Walker also made two goal stopping blocks either side of his "mistake" and his pace broke up a lot of Croatia attacks. He wasn't that bad. Stones' error for the second was much worse and he was poor for most of the match. Maguire lost his man at nearly every set piece and could have easily had a penalty given against him.
Agree. Maguire and stones made basic errors which led to goals.
 

SdB

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
1,367
1,878
I had not watched England for about 5 years before the world cup. I didn't rate Southgate as a manager, you look at the squad and it's nowhere near as good as the golden generation.

The lads have done remarkably well and got me interested in following England again. Southgate has just been a breath of fresh air, his calmness and his intelligence. He hugged all the players and all the staff. A really good guy and a great representative for England.

I don't want a manager that can hug the players after a defeat but one that can play players in their right position, realise that the midfield of Croatia was the issue and deal with it. Tactically he got it wrong. As Billic said it took a little while for Croatia to get to grips with England but when they did...result never in doubt.
 

Mullers

Unknown member
Jan 4, 2006
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I don't want a manager that can hug the players after a defeat but one that can play players in their right position, realise that the midfield of Croatia was the issue and deal with it. Tactically he got it wrong. As Billic said it took a little while for Croatia to get to grips with England but when they did...result never in doubt.
Who can we select that would match the midfield of Croatia?
 

Yid121

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2008
3,463
3,139
Want to look forward to 3rd to move on and I think we need to give the younger fringe players a game to build experience:

Pickford
Alexander-Arnold Stones Maguire Rose
Lingard Loftus-Cheek Dier Rashford
Alli
Kane

Kane still in to get the golden boot and Alli in the hole where he's most effective. Also want us in a more attaching set up without 3 CBs. Walker and Trips injured too I think.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
At around 55 mins Basically said to my mate that this is Spurs/Juve repeat, we've seen this story so many times.
 

SlotBadger

({})?
Jul 24, 2013
13,751
43,099
Want to look forward to 3rd to move on and I think we need to give the younger fringe players a game to build experience:

Pickford
Alexander-Arnold Stones Maguire Rose
Lingard Loftus-Cheek Dier Rashford
Alli
Kane

Kane still in to get the golden boot and Alli in the hole where he's most effective. Also want us in a more attaching set up without 3 CBs. Walker and Trips injured too I think.
Would really like to see a strong lineup, but think we should at least give Butland a token World Cup cap.
 

spursgirls

SC Supporter
Aug 13, 2008
19,166
38,961
Saw this on Facebook:

Quote from The Times this morn....

And if you're still feeling down then what better to cheer you up than this statistical treat.

Trippier became the first No 12 to score at this World Cup and the first No 12 to score for England at any World Cup. It was also the 12th goal scored by England at the tournament on what was Trippier's 12th cap. And, it also took the number of goals scored by Tottenham Hotspur players at this World Cup to . . . yes, you guessed it . . . 12.
 

SdB

Well-Known Member
Aug 23, 2013
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1,878
Who can we select that would match the midfield of Croatia?

A bit of muscle in the form of RLC would of been useful instead of the weak Lingard and too deep and ineffective Ali. RLC would have driven out of midfield with the ball.
I would definitely of taken Shelvey and played him to provide the service for Kane and Sterling (if that experiment had to be persisted with). Henderson cannot pass forward accurately and consistently.
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,907
78,644
A bit of muscle in the form of RLC would of been useful instead of the weak Lingard and too deep and ineffective Ali. RLC would have driven out of midfield with the ball.
I would definitely of taken Shelvey and played him to provide the service for Kane and Sterling (if that experiment had to be persisted with). Henderson cannot pass forward accurately and consistently.
We definitely needed another body in there.

I would have had Delph cover the left side and had 4 screening the back 4 from around the 60th minute. Croatia were shifting the ball from left to right quickly and our players couldn't move quickly with it. More players stretched out along the width of the pitch would have forced them back inside and would have possibly saved us energy.

France went ultra defensive as soon as they scored against Belgium and we should have down the same once we notice Croatia step up. We didn't have the legs or quality to keep going toe to toe in the middle of the park.

Going forward I'd like to see Southgate experiment with the midfield, try some players out and see if he can find a decent balance. I have liked this set up against the weaker teams as it allows us to be more dangerous and not get caught up in the completely ineffective possession game we had for many years but a better balance is needed for when we come up against the best midfielders.
 

Gassin's finest

C'est diabolique
May 12, 2010
37,355
87,827
Saw this on Facebook:

Quote from The Times this morn....

And if you're still feeling down then what better to cheer you up than this statistical treat.

Trippier became the first No 12 to score at this World Cup and the first No 12 to score for England at any World Cup. It was also the 12th goal scored by England at the tournament on what was Trippier's 12th cap. And, it also took the number of goals scored by Tottenham Hotspur players at this World Cup to . . . yes, you guessed it . . . 12.
English footballers to have scored in a world cup semi final: Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker, Keiran Trippier.
 

Mullers

Unknown member
Jan 4, 2006
25,914
16,413
A bit of muscle in the form of RLC would of been useful instead of the weak Lingard and too deep and ineffective Ali. RLC would have driven out of midfield with the ball.
I would definitely of taken Shelvey and played him to provide the service for Kane and Sterling (if that experiment had to be persisted with). Henderson cannot pass forward accurately and consistently.
Lol that still wouldn't match a midfield of Modric and Rakitic .
 

trance2020

Member
Mar 4, 2007
30
33
Maybe we will have better luck when we play them in the New UEFA nations league in October.
uefa nations.png
 

Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
This is a pretty good observation.

In the harsh light of day, Southgate did not do a good job selecting nor setting up this team. Not selecting a CM who could pass the ball was a mistake, and no matter how much you like Sterling's runs, he simply does not linkup at all with Kane - Sterling singlehandedly took Kane out of most of the matches. I wish Rose had been a little more stable headed into the WC - he would have done much better than Young.

Still gutted for the Spurs lads, but better team won today.

England are a workman like team nothing more. Just how Sterling stayed on so long I'll never know. How many good chances has he missed or mucked up in the World Cup. He is clueless in front of goal and I assume that is why Pep has bought Mahrez.

He’s missed and mucked up probably less than Kane, who if it wasn’t for set pieces and pens, wouldn’t have scored either. Kane was pretty poor in a few of those WC games.

Kane couldn’t even keep himself onside last night (surprise, surprise). And I know it wouldn’t have counted (because he’d stupidly got himself offside) but why didn’t he just square that ball to Sterling to tap into an empty net and then from 6 inches out still missed and whacked it against a post, again instead of passing.

This was the arch irony of people moaning about the time Sterling tried to score instead of cutting it back (Columbia?? Maybe). Kane does this all the time. Takes on stupid chances when he has team mates in better places.

The last time I looked (around March time I think) Sterling had a better goals to shots ratio than Kane. 18 goals from a AM was pretty damn good, and he also had 11 assists (third best in the league) to Kane's 2, which means for goals and assists he was only 3 behind Kane's total for G/A. Not bad for a non striker.

At around 55 mins Basically said to my mate that this is Spurs/Juve repeat, we've seen this story so many times.

England were nowhere near as good as Spurs in that Juve game. Croatia were much better than Juve.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
He’s missed and mucked up probably less than Kane, who if it wasn’t for set pieces and pens, wouldn’t have scored either. Kane was pretty poor in a few of those WC games.

Kane couldn’t even keep himself onside last night (surprise, surprise). And I know it wouldn’t have counted (because he’d stupidly got himself offside) but why didn’t he just square that ball to Sterling to tap into an empty net and then from 6 inches out still missed and whacked it against a post, again instead of passing.

This was the arch irony of people moaning about the time Sterling tried to score instead of cutting it back (Columbia?? Maybe). Kane does this all the time. Takes on stupid chances when he has team mates in better places.

The last time I looked (around March time I think) Sterling had a better goals to shots ratio than Kane. 18 goals from a AM was pretty damn good, and he also had 11 assists (third best in the league) to Kane's 2, which means for goals and assists he was only 3 behind Kane's total for G/A. Not bad for a non striker.



England were nowhere near as good as Spurs in that Juve game. Croatia were much better than Juve.

Not talking terms of ability, I meant the story/pattern on the match.
 

THFCSPURS19

The Speaker of the Transfer Rumours Forum
Jan 6, 2013
37,886
130,485
He’s missed and mucked up probably less than Kane, who if it wasn’t for set pieces and pens, wouldn’t have scored either. Kane was pretty poor in a few of those WC games.

Kane couldn’t even keep himself onside last night (surprise, surprise). And I know it wouldn’t have counted (because he’d stupidly got himself offside) but why didn’t he just square that ball to Sterling to tap into an empty net and then from 6 inches out still missed and whacked it against a post, again instead of passing.

This was the arch irony of people moaning about the time Sterling tried to score instead of cutting it back (Columbia?? Maybe). Kane does this all the time. Takes on stupid chances when he has team mates in better places.

The last time I looked (around March time I think) Sterling had a better goals to shots ratio than Kane. 18 goals from a AM was pretty damn good, and he also had 11 assists (third best in the league) to Kane's 2, which means for goals and assists he was only 3 behind Kane's total for G/A. Not bad for a non striker.



England were nowhere near as good as Spurs in that Juve game. Croatia were much better than Juve.
Kane was not offside.
 
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